Chapter One - The Not So Great Escape

The pain started years ago, but I've lived with it for so long, I now accept it as an inevitable part of me. To live life is to suffer, to overcome the suffering is to survive and become stronger. I have lost my way I will admit, but I am still searching for the path I was meant to walk, I haven't given in, not yet..

I slowly folded shut the worn journal, tied a knot in the string which held it together and threw it on a pile of several identical ones. Sitting back in my chair I couldn't help but sigh. My life felt a little more pointless each day and if being heir to the Pethenian Empire wasn't enough to make me feel important and good about myself then nothing would be, or at least that is what I thought. I never cared much for all that royalty treatment. In fact, it got on my nerves more than anything else. "Please, let me your highness." "Oh no your highness, I will do that for you." What was so wrong about wanting to pull out my own chair or open my own door? They made me feel incapable and uncomfortable. I suppose they were partly to blame for me feeling so depressed all the time.

I got up off the creaky wooden chair which sat at my desk and changed into my nightwear. Silk shirt, silk trousers, silk sheets. It's hard to imagine you're just the same as everybody else when you're lay in your fancy four poster bed and expensive clothing knowing there are people out there sleeping, in the same clothes day and night, without even a soft surface to lie on. There was certainly no forgetting my position in the world. I closed my eyes and hoped that I'd dream of a world which was closer to my vision of perfection, a world which I might finally become happy in.

0600 hours, I heard a faint knocking on my door and one of the maids entered my room. "It's time to get up your highness," she said while pulling out my clothes for the day. "Erh..you don't need to do that, I can do it," I said, still half asleep. "Nonsense your highness, this is what I'm here to do." I decided not to continue arguing since it wasn't the first time I had tried stop a maid from doing my own tasks. I slumped out of bed and was handed my clothes. "Breakfast is in 15 minutes your highness," said the maid on her way out of the room. "Thanks..," I said with little enthusiasm. I didn't know how many more days of the same routine I could take. I got dressed and sat at my desk for a few minutes, holding my head in my hands.

 A short while later I left my room and walked through the endless stone hallways to the dining hall for breakfast, possibly my least favourite part of the day. As I reached the door I greeted another servant, waiting for me. "Your highness," he said while opening the doors. I nodded and smiled back as a thank you, walking through into the dining hall. "Good morning my dear boy," said my father, who was already sitting at the table waiting. "Morning father," I replied. "I have something I wish to tell to you," he said as I sat down in my velvet cushioned chair at the long oak table. I knew that could only mean bad news for me. "Luke," he continued. "you are at an age where I believe you should have a woman in your life - at that moment my eyes widened in terror - and so I have invited Lady Ellena to visit us and stay for a few days." I froze in shock and was speechless for a moment before managing to say, "Oh, that's great.." That, of course, was not how I felt about the matter but I didn't feel like arguing with my father as I knew I'd always lose.

Through breakfast, conversation was virtually non existent. I tried not to make eye contact to avoid any further discussion on the Lady Ellena topic. Once I finished eating I excused myself and went back to my room to mull over my father's proposal. Sitting at my desk once again, I kept thinking about how much I hated the life I had. How much I did not want to be married, not to anybody. How much I wanted to leave it all behind. I paused for a second and thought, maybe that isn't such a bizarre idea.. Maybe I should leave..

The rest of the day went on as normal: lunch at noon, dinner at seven and game of pool with my father at eight. However, instead of retiring to my room at eleven like I usually did, I had excused myself early to plan a way of escaping as soon as I could. I sat, hunched over my desk, looking over plans of the castle that I had managed to sneak out of my father's study earlier that day. Marking the possible whereabouts of each member of staff as well as all of my possible exits which were the least likely to get me caught. Oh the joy of feeling like a prisoner within your own home. Not allowed to go out anywhere without a body guard hot on your tail at all times.
After enough scoring and scribbling over the plans it was obvious that I had little chance of going unseen. I should have guessed, if nobody was breaking in any time soon, nobody would be getting out without being spotted either. It wasn't over yet though. I still had another option. One which could either be a life saving miracle or a life ending failure, but I was desperate, and decided to take my chances. I crammed the plans into one of the drawers in my desk and pulled out a notebook from another along with an envelope. I ripped out a page from the notebook and grabbed my pen. "Dear Marie," I wrote. "I seek your help with an important matter. Please come to my room as soon as you receive this note." Thought it was best to add little detail in case for some reason it ended up in the hands of somebody else. I would have went and found her myself, but of course my father had set me a 'room curfew' which every staff member knew about. I was already seeking to break one rule, I thought it best not to break another.

Shortly after one of the maids knocked and entered my room to lay out my night wear, draw the curtains and ready the bed. Yet more tasks which I was perfectly able to do on my own. "Could you please make sure Marie gets this straight away," I said, handing the envelope to her as she was on her way out. "Of course your highness," she said, taking it from me and putting it into the front pocket of her apron. As she closed the door behind her I sighed deeply, hoping that it would reach her soon. I sat on the edge of my bed anticipating her arrival.

Around fifteen minutes later there was a quiet knock on my door. "Come in," I said, just loud enough for them to hear. The door creaked open and Marie entered my room, closing the door again behind her. "What can I assist you with your highness?" she asked. "Come on Marie! Don't talk to me like that. You know I hate it. I need you as my friend right now, not as my maid," I moaned. "Sorry Luke," she replied. "What is it you need? I'm supposed to be doing the laundry right now. I can't stay here for long." I stood up off the bed and starting pacing the room with slight worry. "Erhm..well," I decided to be blunt. "I want to leave this place..for good, I don't want to come back and I need you to help me. " She immediately went into a state of shock. "Wh-what! I..I can't do that! If anybody found out I'd be done for!" she screeched. "Shhhh," I said, while trying to calm her down. "Please Marie, no one will know, I promise." Unsure what to do I decided to retreat a little. "Listen, go get back to your work..we'll discuss it tomorrow when it's less risky. Just please don't say anything to anyone," I begged. "I won't..I won't," she replied, still shaken up and confused. I guided her out of my room, closing the door behind her. I got into my bed and lay there, hoping that she would calm down by the next day and agree to help me.

0600 hours, Marie arrived at my room to speak with me before breakfast. After a while of repeating what it was I wanted her help with and why, she began to calm down. "Ok. Ok. I..I guess I will help you. If I get caught out though, I will come find you and kill you after I've been thrown out," she said, jokingly. I chuckled before replying, "Deal. Come back here after breakfast and we'll talk details."
 
At breakfast my father announced that Lady Ellena would be arriving later that day. It then became even more important to get out of there as soon as possible. However, it also meant my father would be upping security for her arrival. As if it wasn't risky enough already. "Go prepare yourself son," my father said. "You need to look your finest for Lady Ellena." I raised to my feet. "Yes father." I noticed Marie dusting at the far end of the room. I quickly tried to think of a way to excuse her. "Ehh, father?" I said, with an edge to my voice. "Would it be alright if I were to borrow one of the maids to help me?" I asked, while looking over towards Marie hoping it would also draw his gaze over to her. "Go on then," he said, signaling for Marie to follow me. I sighed quietly in relief and left for my room with Marie behind me.

"Right!" I said, with the most enthusiasm I'd had in me for a while. "We're going out through the kitchens. There's only one member of security there," I stated. "Oh yeah? And what about all the people in the kitchens Luke?" Marie screeched. "All we have to do is sneak past them, go through the food store and out the other side. Then when we reach the corner before the door, you distract whoever is guarding it while I sneak through. It'll be ok," I assured her. She leaned against the wall and looked as if she was about to cry. I edged towards her and put my hand on her shoulder. "It will go smoother than you think. I promise," I said, in a soft voice. She looked at me before saying, "I hope you're right."

After I had packed everything I could carry into a crumpled rucksack which had been buried in a drawer for years and changed into more casual clothing. We began sneaking through the maze of hallways towards the kitchens, trying to avoid any routes which were likely to be busy. Once we reached the kitchens and peered in, we saw that there were only two cooks in there. This let us slip past quickly into the food store. The first and mostly like only good thing to happen during this escape. We walked through and came out the other side to a short hallway which turned into a longer one. "So how do I distract the guard then?" Marie whispered. I scurried back into the food store and grabbed an empty potato sack, filling it with a few things to bulk it up. I also grabbed a wooden rolling pin from one of the shelves. "What's all that for?" she asked. "Take this sack and pretend you're going out the back to throw out some stuff," I said, handing her the sack. "Wow. That's your great idea?" she said, with a concerned look on her face. "Just do it Marie." She looked at me with a hint of resentment and walked down the hall as I hid at the corner.

When she came to the guard standing in front of the door I could hear him ask, "Where are you going?" in a harsh voice. "Just taking some things out to the bins," she replied. As he opened the door letting her out, I slowly tip-toed down the hallway. Noticing me as she was standing on the outside step, Marie quickly thought up something to say to keep him looking her way. As they were conversing I edged closer and closer until I was a single step behind him. Then, with every inch of might I was capable of, I bashed the rolling pin down over his head, knocking him out cold. Marie jumped and screamed a little. "You could have said you were going to do that!" she screeched. Walking down the steps I looked at her and said "Well where's the surprise in that?"
Joining me at the bottom of the stairs she started to worry again. "Luke! They're going to know I had something to do with it! When he comes round he'll tell, I'll be done for! Why did you do that!" I walked back up the steps, shifted the guard and closed the door. "Because you're coming with me," I said, with a smirk on my face. She froze and was speechless for a moment. "Wh-what? I..I can't. No. You don't even know where you're going. You'll run out of money. They'll come searching for us. No..no I can't!" I pulled my hood up and tried to cover my face as much as I could. "Marie, what do you have here? Working til your hands bleed and receiving crappy pay in return? You'll be my side kick. The Much to my Robin. It'll be fun!"

After sneaking out through the village and into the forest, where we wouldn't be seen. Along with much persuading to get Marie to stay. She started to relax. "They're still going to find you Luke. The King's son. Heir of the empire. They will just keep searching and searching," she stated. I perched on a rock to catch my breath. "That's why we stay in the shadows. Keep moving. They won't search far straight away. They'll spend at least a day looking in the village. That gives us a fair bit of time." She sighed, and looked at me. "Except we're on foot and they're not." I walked over to a steep drop in the forest and side stepped down it. "Where are you going?" she shouted from the top. I stayed silent but signaled for her to come down. I disappeared through some bushes with Marie still shouting at me. A few seconds later came back through leading two horses and she had reached the bottom of the drop. Marie's jaw dropped. "I may have asked an old friend of mine from the village to do me a favor," I said, smirking as I handed her the reins to the chestnut coloured horse with a white line marking down it's forehead. "So," I continued. "Marie Rosa Harscoet, will you join me in becoming somewhat of an - I paused - outlaw?" I asked, still smirking and chuckling.