"That is a beautiful sunset," Ava remarked as she watched the sun slowly shrink behind a wavy carpet of pasture, forest and water.
It seemed like there was a never-ending array of colors and textures artfully arranged together to sooth her mind. She realized that it had been quite a long time since she'd been able to simply sit and enjoy a sunset.
'What a peculiar wench, to see beauty at a time like this,' Tristan grumbled.
'Talking to me again are you?' Ava replied with affected sweetness.
'I suppose I must. How else am I to make my wishes known?' he grouched.
She could tell that he was getting over himself, but didn't want to let it show too easily.
'So what are your wishes, sir?' Ava replied with a little yawn and a stretch.
The cage did not allow them to stand, but it couldn't stop a smaller person like her from stretching out at least half of her body at a time.
'To eat, drink and piss,' Tristan told her sourly.
'I'm afraid that'll all have to wait just a little longer,' Ava replied optimistically.
'Well, we could take a piss now,' Tristan suggested.
'And risk showing them our knife?' Ava noted studiously as she glanced back at the guard nearest to them on the rampart.
He wasn't even watching them. No one had spared them a glance for hours. Still, he could have chosen just that moment to glance over at them.
'Since when be thee the one with common sense?' Tristan grumbled, admitting that she was right.
'Since you're too irritable to think straight,' She replied sweetly.
He went quiet a while, and she let him. She glanced around again, double checking the width of the beam holding up the rampart walkway, and the distance between the cage and the wall. There was a mist rolling in over the greenery below. It would be helpful in hiding them from view. Tristan shifted uneasily.
'Perhaps we should risk exposing the knife. It is too large to fit in the lock in order to pry it open,' he noted despairingly.
'Oh Tristan – If I were planning to try and pick the lock, I'd just use a hairpin,' Ava told him optimistically.
The last rays of light finally dipped below the horizon, plunging them into the darkness of night.
'How is it thee can be so cheery?' Tristan asked as he wondered why he hadn't thought of that first.
'Because we finally have a chance to get out of here,' Ava told him as she turned over onto her hands and knees determinedly.
Tristan glanced at the iron bars around them and the massive plummet to the ground below.
'Be thee daft, woman?' he asked incredulously.
'I did gymnastics till I was 16. I've been rock climbing for the past two years, and I've done a ton of stuff between all that. Trust me – I've got this. The only part you need to worry about is what we do when I get us down out of here,' she told him confidently.
'You're going to pry open the lock?' he asked with confusion as she rolled her shoulders and neck out in preparation.
'No need,' she replied with a confident smile as she moved towards one of the larger openings between the cage bars.
A second later she'd wormed her head and shoulders through the opening. Then she gripped the bars with her hands and twisted and rolled her hips until they too followed her slender waist through the narrow exit. Because the cage was small, the last part was tricky – she had to flex over backward with seemingly impossible suppleness in order to slide her thighs and legs out safely.
'How be that possible?' Tristan asked with amazement as he stared back at the tiny hole that they'd just slithered through like a snake.
'There's advantages to having a smaller body too,' Ava shot back.
'Smaller and lither,' he noted with admiration as she quietly slipped the knife out of her boot and started hacking at the skirts of her dress.
'I'm going to need to use my legs for the next part,' she explained before he could ask her if she was crazy again.
'What next part?' he asked instead.
Ava let the extra fabric fall soundlessly to the earth below and replaced her little knife.
'This next part,' she told him as she began to carefully clamber to the underside of the cage like a monkey.
She paused just before taking the last turn and glanced over to the beam that jutted out just beneath the rampart. Tristan suddenly understood her plan.
'That be madness,' he told her in no uncertain terms. 'Thy doth not have the strength for it.'
'Not being as strong as you doesn't make me a useless weakling,' Ava shot back determinedly as she let her legs hang down and started to move under the cage using only her hands.
Her confidence and strength in maneuvering herself like that surprised him.
'I know that I have the strength to carry my own body. I'm just not sure that I have the courage,' she admitted with a terrifying glance at the drop below them.
She swallowed hard and tried to focus. This was why she'd stopped doing uneven bars and started focusing on floor routines instead. At least with rock climbing she didn't have to fly through the air executing dangerous twists and turns that could break bones and tendons if she missed her mark.
'This uneven bar activity doth sound rather dangerous,' Tristan remarked as he heard her thoughts.
'It's only really risky if you lose focus,' she told him honestly, 'which can be a problem if you lose confidence in yourself,' she confessed.
Tristan could sense her nerves as she lined them up and started to swing the cage. It was clear that she was going to make the attempt, whether she believed she could do it or not.
'Then we go together,' he suggested heroically as he reached out to share control of her body.
The sensation of him joining her soothed her nerves and strengthened her. She started to count them down, and then made the leap.
For a terrifying fraction of a second, they were airborne at least three stories in the air. But they had timed the release so perfectly that they as good as slammed into the castle wall with just about enough force to wind them. Tristan focused on catching the support beam determinedly, while Ava flailed around fearfully in her mind. When she realized that he had them, she calmed down and fought to regain her breath.
'Thank you,' she panted with genuine gratitude.
Tristan's spirit soared just a little. He wished that he has his own body to take her in his arms and comfort her further. Instead all he had was the knowledge that they were not yet done with their risky undertaking. He glanced first down, then up.
'No, not up,' Ava told him. 'In there.'
She directed their eyes to a small window about two meters below them to the left as she wedged the corners of her shoes against whatever crevices she could feel on the stones to help ease the strain on her already taxed arms. The adrenaline had cramped them up a somewhat, but she knew that if she could relax them even a little, they did have the endurance to last as long as they needed to.
'How?' Tristan asked, understanding that she already had a plan.
'It won't be easy,' she admitted. 'There's only maybe eight stones jutting out enough to give us comfortable grips. But there must be more that I couldn't see from up there. I know I can do this,' she told him somewhat more confidently as she started to feel the stone wall next to her for grip. He realized that her hands were surprisingly strong, and that they were deft at feeling out any useful little twists or bulges in the stone.
Though he was more used to natural cliffs or trees, climbing wasn't something that Tristan was estranged to. Together they worked tirelessly until they reached the window. Then, with some difficulty, they maneuvered around it until they were finally in a position to wiggle through.
Ava collapsed in an exhausted, heaving pile on the floor inside the wall.
'We did it,' she smiled with caution-dampened exhilaration.
'We did,' Tristan noted with a dash of admiration as he pulled her drained body back onto its feet in readiness.
He drew the little table knife from her boot, and started to lead them forward wearily.
'This knife be too small,' he noted with concern as they stalked down the passage. 'You are small, but maneuverable and fast. You should have something with a least a little range to take advantage of that,' he reasoned strategically. 'Jarin's dagger skills would suit you better than my ability with the long sword.'
'Well you're the fighter, remember?' Ava replied. 'That's why you're in charge of this part.'
They rounded a turn and just about bumped straight into a guard. Tristava dove to the side of him, twisting as they moved to slice the back of the man's leg and cripple him. He roared with pain and surprise, and reached for the hilt of his sword. Tristava ducked under his arm lithely as he drew it to strike again, goring open the underside of the man's arm with the little eating utensil. The sword clanged to the ground noisily behind them while the enraged, injured, bear-of-a-man swiped at them with his good arm.
Ava ducked instinctively, then danced out his reach a second time. The man roared and lunged at them again, this time only just managing to clip her on the shoulder. Tristava fell backwards. Tristan curled them into a roll in order to bring them back to their feet swiftly. Ava gripped the sword and swung it towards the man with everything that she had at the exact moment that he lurched towards them. He fell on the blade by accident. They stared at each other with surprise, then Tristan gripped the hilt harder with battle-hardened instinct, and drove it deep into the man's body with every ounce of strength he could muster from Ava's little body.
The man gurgled, then a little blood trickled out of his mouth before he fell backwards. The sword tip met the ground behind him and somehow pushed the blade back into Tristava's hands. Ava tugged at it to release it from his still warm corpse, and stood with it held ready, her legs and hands trembling.
Tristan let the weight of the steel drag to the ground. He'd been right. While she could lift the sword and swing it, she was simply not strong enough to wield it with any power or control. He sensed her shock as his eyes searched for options. They needed to move quickly to make good on their efforts to escape. He wrapped a comforting arm around Ava and soothed her shoulder gently.
'We must make haste,' he suggested softly.
'I... I killed him,' Ava murmured stupidly. 'You... you were supposed to do the killing...'
'We got lucky,' Tristan assured her, 'The man as good as fell on his own sword. But now 'tis done and we must move on if we are still to escape.'
He took a step forward. Ava resisted him, stuck in a sort of barely registering brain fog. He sensed the moment that her thoughts started to come back to her. She gripped the hilt of the sword to bring it with.
'No, leave it. I was right. It be an especially large and heavy sword for a particularly large and heavy man. It would take months for you to develop the strength to even remotely be able to use it with any effect,' he told her.
He kicked the guard over and drew the dagger sheathed at the man's back.
'This shall suit us better,' he suggested as he tucked the small eating knife back into her boot.
The large man's dagger was halfway between a knife and a sword. It was near perfect for her.
Ava clutched at the handle anxiously, as though she finally understood that such a simple tool could be both a death dealer or a deliverer. It was a start. Tristan pulled the dagger's sheath loose from the man's belt and tied it to the belt loop on her trousers. Then he took firm charge of her body and set them running to the nearest exit. Beyond the doorway lay a short flight of stairs. They were more or less above the stables. With a little maneuvering it was possible that they could even make away with a horse. He couldn't help notice how awkward and unpleasant running was with her breasts bouncing about all over the place.
'No such thing as too much jiggling, eh?' Ava mused in a half-hearted attempt at regaining her composure.
'Maybe, in this one instance, it be a concern,' he conceded with a little grin as he tucked the dagger along her forearm to keep it out the way yet ready at the same time.
He hoped, for her sake, that they wouldn't have cause to use it.
Outside, the baily was dimly lit by badly burning torches and small fires.
'He be a stingy bastard on top of being a dishonorable one,' Tristan noted with distaste as he snuck them noiselessly down the little wooden stairwell. 'Ah well, in this instance he may have given us some assistance. The less they see, the easier it will be for us,' he mused as he took quick note of how many horses were in the stables and how far the gatehouse was from them.
The gate doors were closed, but not barred. For the most part, the men were relaxed. It was apparent that they expected no threat, nor did they yet realize that anything was amiss. Tristan crept over to the hay stack and quickly put a torch to it, then snuck to the stables to prepare while the stack slowly started to catch alight. He threw a saddle and bridle on a suitable looking horse, then looked around. Someone had left a tunic to dry over one of the stall dividers, and there was a blanket rolled up and stored in one corner. He pulled the tunic on over what remained of her dress, then grabbed up the blanket to cloak them with. He tied it closed in front with a little string, creating a deep hood which would help to disguise them somewhat.
By that point the fire he'd set was raging enough to draw attention. Men scrambled to douse it, and the opportunity he'd created was upon them. He quickly opened a number of stall closures, making it easy for the horses inside to congregate together in the sizeable stable chamber. Then he sheathed the dagger, set one foot into the stirrup, and started chasing the horses out of the stable in front of him.
They streamed out eagerly, causing yet more chaos in the courtyard. Tristan hung off the side of his horse, hiding in its shadow till it neared the gate so that they wouldn't be easily spotted in the ruckus. When he saw his chance, he pulled the horse closer to the massive wooden barrier and hastily opened the smaller door within it so they could pass through. It was a tight squeeze for the horse, but once they were free on the other side Ava helped them vault up into the saddle and flee as quickly as they could.
'Who knew that all those years of gymkhana games would come in handy one day? I didn't even know that I could still do that!' Ava breathed with exhilaration as their horse pounded away beneath them.
They streamed out into the night. The wind tugged at their clothes and hair, and the sweat smell of horse sweat floating up to greet them and offer them the promise of freedom.