I check and see just how much gold I have. I have 390 gold pieces. I decide to spend some of it on traveler's clothes, a sheath for my sword, and a horse. I decide to wait until nightfall before I head back to the castle. I hide my horse in one of the tall hedges so she wouldn't give away my position. I pull my hood up and begin sneaking down to the dungeons. Ever since Melch was captured, there has been added security to the perimeter and the interior of the castle. I sneak around various corners until I realize that there is no way that I can get to the dungeons undetected. I remember that there are various secret passages in the castle. I used to hide out in them whenever I needed some time to myself. Being the introvert that I am, that was quite often. I look around and realize that I'm near one of them. I begin pressing on various bricks along the wall since I forgot which one opens the passage. Finally, one of the bricks that I have pressed sinks in and reveals a staircase leading downward. The opening of the passage was quite loud so guards begin racing toward me. I quickly duck inside the passage and close it off. I hear the guards loud footsteps race by me. I let out a sigh of relief and begin descending the stairs. Once I reach the bottom I begin wandering the various corridors. Symbols mark each path in an intersection. I find the one that represents the dungeons and follow it. After about fifteen minutes, I reach a door. I slowly open it and see a tapestry. I quietly pull it aside and look around. Thankfully, no guards are anywhere nearby. I realize that I am directly in front of Melch's cell. I break one of my many hairpins to use as a lockpick to unlock Melch's cell. He wakes up and looks at me with wide eyes.
"Who are you?" he asks, unable to recognize me with my hood up.
"Who else promised to get you out of here?" I whisper.
He smiles and begins looking at the various corridors in case a guard comes walking by. I eventually open his cell and he races out.
"Where do we go?" he whispers.
I walk back over to the door, open it, and walk inside. Melch quickly follows and I quietly shut the door. We begin walking back down the winding passages until we see symbols that represent the gardens. We run, following the symbols, until we reach the outside. The full moon illuminates the area and allows us to see where we're going, without walking into a bush or fall into the fountain. We hear guards talking, but they are rather far away so we don't really worry about them too much. We hop over the fence and off the wall so we can make it to the front steps. I find my horse, which is still in the hedge and hop on. Melch gets on behind me and we quickly race off, away from the castle. We manage to get a room at an inn and we sit on our own beds.
"Thank you, Allison! You didn't have to rescue me!" he exclaims.
"I made a promise, didn't I? What were you in there for, anyway?" I ask.
"There was a war between this town and my home, Ashbourne. Ashbourne is a town full of criminals, but it is a rather peaceful town. You know, considering the circumstances. I guess they wanted me to tell them everything that I know about their strategies since my father is a well-known guard there," he explains.
"There are guards there?" I ask, taking a sip of tea that we had ordered when we arrived.
"Yeah. They mainly just make sure that no fights break out, no one kills other citizens, stuff like that," he explains.
"Wow! That place sounds awesome!" I exclaim.
"Well, I do need to get back there. If you join me, you are more than welcome to live with me!" he chirps.
"I'd love to!" I exclaim.
"So, what happened with your family? Won't they miss you?" he asks.
I explain everything that happened three years ago and he sits with his eyes wide.
"I'm sorry! I shouldn't have asked," he says sadly.
"It's fine. It was hard at first but I had to deal with it in order to do my job properly," I explain.
"I guess. So, what do you wanna do?" he asks.
"It's midnight. There's not a lot that we can do except for sleep," I say.
"True," he states.
"We should leave before the sun rises. Once they realize that you're gone, they will search the entire city for you. So we should get some sleep," I reason.
Melch nods and gets under the covers of his bed. I follow suit and blow out the candle that is sitting on the nightstand.
"Goodnight, Melch!" I exclaim.
"Goodnight, Allison!"
We wake up the next morning when the sun is far from rising. We pack up and leave the inn as inconspicuously as possible. We hop on my horse. Before we have a chance to leave, we hear a commotion coming from the town square. I take off my cloak and give it to Melch so he can hide his face. A makeshift gallows has been set up with a girl, who looks to be in her mid-twenties, with the noose around her neck. She is looking straight ahead with an expressionless face.
"Today marks the death of the infamous Tia Phantom. She has stolen from countless individuals and has murdered twenty innocent civilians whom she had robbed. She is to hang for her crimes against countless innocent civilians," the executioner states loudly, gaining people's attention rather quickly.
"It is true, I have killed. However, I only killed those who attacked me. I had no choice but to steal. I have nothing. In order to survive, I had to steal," she states.
Then, the executioner pulls a lever which opens up the floor beneath Tia, and she falls. Her neck is obviously broken, but she is still blinking and we can hear her struggling to breathe. Slowly, she dies due to suffocation; not her broken neck. My eyes widen and I can hear Melch gasp behind me. Even though I have just watched someone get executed, I have a sense of empowerment and motivation. I can't quite place the reason, however. I turn back to Melch.
"Which way is Ashbourne?" I ask.
Melch points in a direction and I follow it. We race out of the city, catching a bit of attention, but the citizens eventually turn their attention back to what they were doing. The wind whips my face as we ride. The sun begins to rise as oranges and pink begin to illuminate the morning sky. The smell of dew on the grass reaches my nose and a smile appears on my face. We ride for about three hours until we reach a dense forest.
"What now, Melch?" I ask.
"We go through. Let me steer since I know the way," he says.
Melch hops off and I scoot back to give him room. He hops on and guides my horse into the forest. It's very dark as the sunlight can't get through the densely packed leaves above us. The hairs on the back of my neck stand up as I begin growing increasingly nervous. Suddenly, a loud noise circles behind us, causing me to jump.
"What was that?" I ask my hand on the hilt of my sword.
"Just a spider. This forest is full of them," he states.
"Why didn't you tell me?" I ask.
"I thought you wouldn't be scared of anything, especially spiders. Since you broke me out of the dungeons," he reasoned.
"True," I state.
We continue going through the forest and suddenly, one of the large spiders jumps out at us from the darkness. I quickly pull my sword from my sheath and jump on top of the spider. I begin slicing it with my sword until it falls limp on the ground. I get off the back of the spider and notice that my sword and my shirt is covered in blood.
"Damn. That was awesome!" Melch exclaims.
"Thanks! I didn't even know that I could do that!" I exclaim, getting back on the horse.
The rest of the ride to the city is uneventful. We come up to the gates and immedietly one of the guards comes up to us with his sword drawn.
"Adam, it's me. Calm down," Melch says.
"Oh! Melch! I didn't know it was you! What happened?" he exclaims, putting his sword away.
"I got captured during the battle and Allison broke me out!" he exclaims, pointing to me.
"Get off the horse," the man orders.
We both get off of my horse and Melch stands beside me. The guard walks up to me and examines me up and down.
"Why are you covered in blood?" he asks.
"A giant spider, sir," I answer.
"Come with me," he orders.
The both of us follow the guard into the city. I hold the reins of my horse tightly as we walk. We end up walking to a building that is slightly larger than the others The guard opens the door and walks inside. We follow him after I tie my horse to a nearby post. We walk until we reach a back room. The guard knocks and we hear a faint voice coming from the other side. We walk inside and see a distraught looking man with his head in his hands.
"Sir?" the guard asks.
"What?" the man at the desk groans.
"You might wanna see this," the guard states.
The man looks up, his eyes glassy and red. His eyes glance over us until they land on Melch. The man stands and walks over to Melch and the guard quickly leaves. The man quickly envelops Melch, in what looks like, a bone-crushing hug. This goes on for a while, with small whispers being exchanged between the two of them. I smile slightly but I quickly end up zoning out. Eventually, the man pulls away from Melch and faces me.
"Were you the one who rescued him?" he asks.
"Yes, sir," I say.
The man walks up to me and puts his hand on my shoulder.
"Thank you. Thank you for saving my son," he says.
"You don't have to thank me, sir. It was just the right thing to do," I respond.
"I can grant you permanent residence here if you'd like. It's not the best city, I know, but it's the least I can do to repay you," he says.
"I'd like that!" I exclaim.
"Great! Your home will be set up before sunset tonight. Thank you again," he says, smiling.
I return the smile and I leave the building. I look around at the city and smile.
"I guess this is a new start for me."