Chapter 1

Princess Lilette, upon learning something quite horrible, has decided she has had enough with her Father's plans for her. Following those lovely romance novels, she's making her way out.

          The room was dark, save for the few lanterns lit.  Rows of books lined the walls, stories high.  Slowly, an elderly man walked down the aisles.  His withered hands tightly held the texts.  His head was bald and wrinkling.  He had a long and crooked beak like nose, and his sand colored eyes were sunken in.  He wore long crimson robes with gold embroidered thread that made a shuffling sound in the otherwise silent library. 

            He came to a stop and turned around.  He stared intently at a knight statue positioned by a window.  Moving slowly again, he frowned.  “Come out.”  He demanded in a quiet voice that commanded obedience.  Carefully, a small form moved into view.  “…Princess?”

            “Yes,” a pretty voice mumbled.

            “What are you wearing My Lady?”  The librarian raised a gray eyebrow.  She usually ended up sneaking in here, that was nothing new really.  But her outfit was not something she usually wore.  The princess wore a coat, the hood pulled forward.  Everything else she wore was hidden, either from the coat or because of the darkness of the library.

            “I’m leaving George,” she stood up, fixing her coat.  “I refuse to be apart of my parents plans.”

            “They will not let you go easily Princess.”  George stepped forward, setting the books on a nearby table.

            “I realize that, but I must try!” she stared up at him.

            “Why did you come to me?”

            “Because you have been here the longest and like me.  I thought that you would know of an easy way out.”

            “I’m honored that you trust me so.”

            “Can you help me George?”

            “My lady…”

            “I understand if you don’t want to get involved.”

            “… This way Princess.” The librarian turned and made his way down the rows.  The princess followed shortly after.  His robes shuffled softly, while her boots made a delicate tapping sound against the tile. 

            “Princess Lilette,” George turned to her, “this should help you.”   He smiled, and tapped on the floor like a drum.  Slowly, a bookshelf to her right slid downward, a stairway showing itself.    

            “Thank you George.  You don’t realize how helpful you have been.”  Lilette curtsied as best she could in her outfit.

            “Go, My Lady, and please, be safe.”

            “I will try,” Lilette smiled, and made her way down the steps.  The farther she went, the colder it got.  She pulled her coat closer, wishing for some heat.  Her steps quickened as the hallway got darker.  Lilette only feared the things that hid in the dark, not the dark itself.  The teenager bit on her bottom lip brutally before she tripped over herself and rolled down the last few steps.

            “That… was… very painful,”  She mumbled, sure her delicate skin was bruised black and blue.  Rubbing her arms, and making sure her bag was still in tact, she looked for some type of exit of the passage.  Rubbing the tip of her fingers against the wall, she smiled when a door knob filled her hand.   Pushing it open, she glanced outside.  She was at the back of the castle, outside one of the libraries walls.  Stepping out, she pushed the door closed and rearranged the shrubbery to cover it.  She then turned to the wall.        

             “Now, how do I go about getting over you?”  She mumbled.  It was easily twice as tall as she was, not that Lilette had ever been considered very tall.  The stones were sturdy, smooth, and white. All the trees were to far away, not that there really was all that many trees around the area.  The only good thing about coming out on this side was that only fat Garry watched this wall, since nobody would come this way to attack the castle. 

            Lilette huffed in annoyance.  Why couldn’t this be as easy as the books made it out to be?  True, in the books the hero were usually being chased through the court yard, but at least they knew how to get over the wall.  Lilette resisted the urge to cry out and stomp her feet on the dirt ground.

            Turning to her left and walked along the wall.  When she had decided to run away, it sounded really good, like most things do.  Then, like most of those ideas, it starts to look really stupid and hard.  Of course, this idea had better reasoning than most of her stupid ideas.

            Lilette stopped the train of thought and froze.  She had reached the gate.  Although an easy way through, the guards probably weren’t about to let her through.  But then, those large lion statues were looking quite lovely under the pretty silver moon.  Biting her bottom lip and sucking in a deep breath, she scurried to one of the statues.  She did a mix of a leap and a fall to get behind it.

            Checking her surroundings, she tried to climb the lion.  It took her three tries to get a good grasp.  Then it took two tries to actually start the climb.  During all of it, her love for those blasted romance novels was fading rapidly.  Making it behind the head, she glanced to the wall.  If she could get better footing she might be able to jump to the wall.

            That meant only one try, if she could even get the footing without being noticed.  She achieved it on the ridges of the mane.  Silently, she thanked her ancestors for picking lions and for thinking bigger meant better.  Holding onto the ear for balance, she got ready to jump when a whistle went off and some low voice hollered out something like ‘Stop intruder!’.  Eyes wide, Lilette jumped from more than likely fear. She ended up screaming as she grabbed the wall for dear life. 

            The guards were going crazy now, a couple more running over.  Lilette glanced down, and squeaked.  She pulled herself up, and ended up falling over to the other side.  She fell into a bush, face twisted in pain.  Rolling out of it, she looked up at the gate.  They were rushing to open it.  Biting her bottom lip, Lilette pushed herself up and ran as fast as she could into the town.

*  *   *

            The princess sat behind an old potion shop, stretching from the small nap she had stolen when reaching the secluded spot.  With a yawn, she pulled off the coat.  Her long light brunette hair was pulled back into a braid, a white ribbon holding it back.  Her large bright aqua eyes jumped out from light skin. 

            Folding the coat, she made her way out of the alley way.  Truth be told, she had no idea where she going or what she was doing.  She didn’t want to play heroine and stop her mother and father, she just wanted to get away.  So she was being selfish, but that didn’t bother her.  Lilette’s rosy lips formed a smile as she skipped out into town, hoping to find town square before noon.  The task would be difficult, since never being in town before hindered her mental layout of it.

Author's Note

This is a little older of a piece, so they're probably more to rip apart. Please, though, have at it.