Escape the Woods

by Gabriella Catherine

  We began walking toward the castle. “What do you plan on doing today?”

  “I think I will ride out to see Lady Grizelda. She is staying with her uncle for a while, and his house is only a few hours ride from here.”

  “I wish I could come with you. It gets boring here without Jack.”

  “You know you cannot come.” He didn’t have much sympathy.

  “Well, why can’t I?” I asked, looking up at him.

  “What do you think Father would say?”

  I let out a small grumble. “Father is too strict. Even you know it’s true.”

  “No. He is a duke and your father. He is only trying to protect you.”

  “But it’s annoying, isn’t it? Never mind; you wouldn’t understand what I mean. He lets you do whatever you wish. You and Jack. Even when you were my age, you had much more freedom than I.”

  He paused. “You and I are both part of a noble family. Not everyone in the world — or even in this region — is going to love us. That’s why Father and Sir Malachi try to protect you.”

  I stared at the ground. I couldn't really argue with him on that.

  We stopped in the courtyard. “Here you are,” Cordel said, motioning toward the entrance.

  I thanked him for walking me there and went inside.

  ###

  Britta knocked on my chamber door and came running in. “Lady Scarlett! Can I talk to you?” Excitement filled her voice, as well as her expression.

  “Yes. Of course.” I motioned for her to sit on my bed with me. “What is it?”

  “I have to tell you something, Lady Scarlett.” She pushed her dark hair off her shoulders. “I’ve met a man, my lady, and I think I may be in love.” Her face glowed with enthusiasm and hope.

  “Please, tell me about him!” I begged.

  “Well, his name is Eric Devon, and he’s from Rugart. He is here in Darrenberg visiting a friend. I met him while I was buying fabric in the village last month. When I saw him today, he invited me to come riding with him and a group of friends!”

  “Oh, Britta! How exciting! Did you say yes?”

  “I did! I said yes.”

  I didn’t think I had ever seen my maid looking so happy! “Look at that. You’ll be married to this Sir Eric Devon in no time.”

  We both giggled.

  “Oh, my lady, I think it’s a bit too soon to speak about marriage.”

  “I’m sure Eric is thinking about marriage.”

  Britta was beautiful and kind and motherly. She had spoken to me about her desire to have a family of her own, and I prayed her dream would come true soon.

  “Oh, Lady Scarlett.” She shook her head.

  “Just promise me you’ll be careful when you go riding tonight. I can’t imagine how horrible I would feel if something ever happened to you.” She was the closest thing I had to a mother.

  “Of course, my lady.”

  CHAPTER 14

  Britta rushed into my chamber that night. “You’re back!” I exclaimed. “How was your time with Eric?”

  “Wonderful!” She looked as though she was floating as she danced across my room and collapsed onto my bed, her arms spread out wide.

  I giggled. “Do tell, Britta!”

  She sighed and slid down onto the wooden floor. “Oh, Lady Scarlett! Tonight was delightful. I have never in my life met such a man! Eric is chivalrous and strong and handsome. He told me I looked beautiful, and he walked me back to the castle courtyard gate so I didn’t have to walk alone.”

  I sat down beside her on the floor. “He sounds like quite a man.”

  “The most amazing man in the entire Holy Roman Empire!” Her eyes danced with candlelight.

  “Oh, Britta. Don’t be so dramatic!”

  She giggled. “Forgive me. Someday you’ll understand — someday when you find an amazing man as well. Any man would be lucky to wed you.” Then her eyes light up. “I should introduce you to my cousin! He is such a handsome man, and his wife will be a fortunate woman.”

  “Oh, Britta.” I laughed and gently pushed her shoulder. She was always trying to find me a man.

  A knock came from the other side of the door. I looked at Britta. “Who could that be at this late hour?”

  “I know not.” She stood and walked across the floor. Slowly and quietly, she opened the door just wide enough that she could peek out. “Oh, my dear!”

  I jumped up. “Who is it?”

  She opened the door all the way, revealing Sabine, who stood in her nightgown, her face stained with tears.

  “Sabine, what is amiss?” I led her into my chamber and closed the door.

  After a moment of sniffing and wiping at her tears, Sabine finally spoke. “I want my mother.” Fresh tears fell down her face.

  For the first time since she arrived, I understood this little girl. “I know.” I wrapped my arm around her and pulled her against my chest. “I know.”

  ###

  I decided it did no good to allow the princesses to isolate themselves inside the castle where thoughts of their parents would consume them. I needed to find a way to get them out, to let them experience something that would take their minds off their region’s suffering.

  When I needed to clear my head, I went for a walk in the woods, so the next morning I told Elsa and Sabine that we were going out for a walk. The girls met me in the courtyard, dressed in formal gowns fine enough for the king’s ball.

  “We are ready to go!” said Elsa.

  I laughed. “In those?”

  “Well, what are we supposed to wear?” she asked cluelessly.

  “We’re walking through the woods. Not the Great Hall.” They didn’t seem to understand. “Come with me.” I led them up to my chamber and Britta found new dresses for them — ones much less formal. Once the girls were changed, they looked like different people.

  “This is the craziest thing I've ever done.” Lady Elsa stared down at the casual dress.

  “This is the best thing you will ever do,” I corrected her.

  I was able to talk Malachi into letting us go to the woods, but he insisted Sir Jeremiah and another knight, Sir Brendon, accompany us. “For the protection of Lady Elsa and Lady Sabine,” he assured me.

  When we got to the edge of the woods, Elsa looked intimidated, but Sabine seemed to be enjoying herself. Finally, she was smiling.

  The men walked a couple yards behind the princesses and me and conversed among themselves. I pointed out my favorite climbing trees to the girls, as well as mine and Malachi’s resting spot by the stream.

  We were so distracted from talking and laughing, that we stepped in a shallow pit of mud. Sabine began to slip. She grabbed the skirt of my dress to stable herself, but pulled me down with her. The two of us landed in the big puddle of mud, and the sticky stuff splashed everywhere.

  Elsa had been able to step out before losing her balance, but Sabine and I fell in the deepest part. Pools of mud like this one often formed in the woods after rain showers.

  Malachi, Jeremiah, and Brendon rushed over. “Are you all right?” they all asked.

  “I am fine.” I turned to Sabine. “Are you all right?”

  Sabine looked up at me and, to my surprise, burst into laughter. “That was fun!”

  I looked at her in shock for a moment, and then I laughed also.

  We both looked down at the deep mud we sat in.

  “What a mess,” I said. My dress was filthy. But I couldn’t deny that it felt wonderful to break so many rules of propriety by sitting here, on the forest ground, covered in mud and surrounded by three unmarried men.

  Sabine still giggled mischievously. Then, in one swift movement, she scooped up a handful of the sticky, cold mud and threw it right at Malachi. The glob hit its mark on his cheek.

  Malachi stood unmoving and nobody made a sound, shocked by Sabine’s actions. Finally, I burst out laughing. I grabbed a bunch of mud in my own hand and threw it at Sir Jeremiah, and it splattered across his chest and neck.
/>   He smiled and ran over to the mud pile we sat in. He scooped some up and threw it at me. The glob skidded across the side of my face, and some flew into my hair.

  I squealed as Malachi came and helped me up, and Sir Brendon helped Sabine. Then Malachi and I bent and got more mud. I grabbed his arm and quickly led him behind a large tree while Sabine, Jeremiah, and Brendon ran in the other direction. But before they were able to find shelter behind a tree, Malachi and I pelted them with the gooey mud.

  Sabine's hair began to change from golden to brown, and the men’s chain mail wasn’t shiny anymore. I was shocked to see Malachi actually enjoying himself.

  Sir Brendon took a large glob of mud and threw it right at Elsa's clean, pale face. It skidded across her cheek, and all of us stared at her, holding our breaths. She had been standing a few yards away, observing the scene from a safe distance.

  After a moment Elsa gave us a small smile, then she ran over to the mud pit and scooped up a large amount of mud. She threw it directly at Sir Brendon’s face. We all laughed — even Malachi! Sir Brendon attempted to wipe it off, but his attempts were useless. His face was covered in slime and grit.

  Elsa grabbed some more mud and ran to join Malachi and me. When I ran out from behind the cover of the big tree to grab more mud, Jeremiah hit me hard again. The cold mud felt wonderfully uncomfortable as it dripped down my neck and into my dress. I enjoyed every moment that I got covered with the dirty, slimy stuff. I had never felt more alive!

  Finally, the mud began to run dry from the pit, and we were all covered in it. It was time to go back to the castle.

  “Are we really going to walk through the town gate and the village looking like this?” Lady Elsa asked, her face turning a little green.

  “What other choice do we have?” I pointed out.

  So the six of us emerged from the forest, covered from head to toe in gooey mud, and walked through the town wall gate. Everyone we passed by in the village stared at us. Malachi looked slightly ashamed. I rubbed at the mud on my cheek, which had grown itchy as it dried, plastered to my skin, and Elsa walked with her head down.

  I thought the worst part was over when we got to the courtyard, but then I saw Father standing there, talking with a guard. I kept my head down while we walked past him, silently praying that he wouldn't look our way.

  “Scarlett?”

  I froze. Slowly, I looked up at him and smiled, trying to look innocent.

  He looked completely mystified — as he should have — as he stared at the six of us. He looked about to ask what we were doing, but then he shook his head slowly and turned back to the guard he was talking to. I let out a breath, and we continued walking up to the castle.

  The men went to get cleaned up in the men’s garderobe, and Elsa, Sabine, and I went to the women’s. While Britta helped us bathe and put on clean dresses, we laughed and talked about the mud battle we had just taken part in.

  “I wonder what my parents would say if they knew I walked through the woods and had a mud fight all in the same day!” Elsa said, giggling. She and Sabine put on the fancy dresses they’d worn earlier, and I got a clean dress from my room — a navy blue and gold one Britta once made me.

  “You have such pretty hair,” Sabine said. “May we braid it for you?”

  So she and Elsa had me sit on a stool and they went to work, pulling my hair into a thick, tight braid. Then we went to the Hall for the midday meal.

  Malachi and Jeremiah were there, looking clean in new chainmail and leather doublets. We exchanged amused glances, but then Father and Cordel entered, and we all stared at them nervously.

  “Your Grace.” Malachi and Jeremiah both bowed.

  “We will be getting back to our stations now. That is, if you don't have any business in which we can assist you,” Jeremiah said.

  Father shook his head slightly. “No, I don’t at the moment.”

  The two men nodded and quickly began walking away, trying to avoid having to answer the question we were all hoping Father wouldn’t ask.

  “Sir Malachi,” Father said suddenly, just as they were about to exit the Great Hall.

  I cringed.

  “And Sir Jeremiah.”

  They stopped, turned, and slowly walked back.

  “May I ask what the two of you, along with my daughter and the princesses of Dovehoven, were doing returning from the village, completely covered in filth?”

  We all stood silently for one very long, awkward moment.

  “Your Grace,” Jeremiah began. “There were…um” – he glanced over at me – “wild boars.”

  We all stared at him with wide eyes. Wild boars?

  A slight smile formed on Jeremiah's face as he went on. “Yes, that's it. Boars. And though we ran from them, we were not quick enough, and so the only way to keep the princesses safe, was to fight them off. And in the process…we got slightly covered in mud. We ask your forgiveness for the mess.”

  Being sarcastic with the duke? He was bold.

  Father looked amused. He wasn't fooled, or agitated, by Jeremiah’s fictional account. “And did you defeat these…boars?”

  After glancing quickly over at Jeremiah, we all nodded.

  “Obviously, Father,” I added. “Did you not see the condition we returned in? We fought nearly to the death.” I winked at Jeremiah.

  Father nodded slowly. “Well, I'm glad there are such brave warriors in the region.”

  We all laughed then. My father was a patient man.

  “Now, Sir Jeremiah, Sir Malachi,” said Father, “return to your work. Ladies. Let’s eat.”

  CHAPTER 15

  I looked out the window of the hot library, daydreaming, as my tutor taught me about the Christian religion and how it spread throughout Saxony, Rome, England, and the rest of the British islands. But my mind was not on Ireland, England, or Scotland. The library was too hot and stuffy for me to focus on the lesson.

  I lifted my hair off my sweaty neck in an attempt to cool myself from the summer heat that came through the open windows. The castle was built to preserve heat in the winter, but it was dreadful in the summer. I longed to get out of the stuffy place.

  As I continued staring out the library window my tutor, Brother Joel, called my name.

  I blinked and turned to face him. “Will you please repeat the question?”

  He sighed. “Not very focused today, are we, Lady Scarlett?” He raised his eyebrows at me.

  I bit my lip and let my hair fall back down over my shoulders, realizing he had caught me. “No. Perhaps the warm weather is fogging my mind.”

  Someone knocked on the door then. Father entered, and my tutor stood to bow. “Good day to you, Duke William.”

  “And to you as well, Brother,” Father replied. He walked further into the library, revealing Cordel just behind him. They both wore leather doublets, and I assumed they were going hunting.

  A week had passed since the mud fight incident, and Father hadn’t said a word about it to me.

  “Scarlett.” Father focused his attention on me. “Cordel and I are going out to hunt. I want you to stay inside until we return. Verstehen? Understand?”

  I sighed, seeing the image of me riding Caleb today disappear in front of my eyes. “I understand.”

  “Good. We’ll be back before dinner tonight. Finish your lesson.” He motioned at Brother Joel to continue. “And don’t leave the castle.” With that, he and Cordel left the room.

  Brother Joel looked at me and smiled. “How would it be if I gave you the rest of the day off? Perhaps tomorrow you’ll be more focused.”

  “That is the best idea I’ve heard all day.” I smiled with relief, pulled myself up from the chair, and exited the library.

  Some sort of rebellion came over me, and instead of going to my chamber I walked down to Malachi’s station, despite what Father had told me.

  “What can I do for you, Lady Scarlett?” he asked when he saw me. He was occupied adjusting his sword on his belt.

 
“Can we go riding? Or walking? Or just do something to take our minds off this hot weather?”

  “I’m sorry, my lady, but your father asked me to accompany him and Lord Erguston on their hunting trip today.” When a sad look fell across my face, he said, “But don’t worry, we will do something fun again soon. Something like that mud fight we had.” He grinned. When I smiled back he said, “And by something fun, I don’t mean something dangerous.”

  I laughed. “Why do you say that?”

  “Because knowing you, that’s what you were anticipating.” I couldn’t prove him wrong, so I didn’t say anything. “But I do need to go with your father. He is waiting for me now.”

  “You’re right, you should go. Father doesn’t like waiting.”

  “I will not leave until you’re back inside the castle, where you belong.”

  “As you wish.” I rolled my eyes and walked away.

  I watched out my chamber window as Father, Cordel, Malachi, and Jeremiah rode off. I sighed. Today was so boring. There was absolutely nothing to do, and the heat of my humid chamber was suffocating. I stared out the window at the mountains and blue sky, trying to pass time. But it didn’t work.

  Finally, I’d had enough. I pulled on my boots, placed an arrow in my belt, and threw my satchel over my shoulder. Then, in my scarlet dress that Britta had finally washed the mud out of, I exited my chamber and went down to the stables.

  Before entering, I waited outside until the young stable boy exited with a large fork in his hand. I couldn’t risk him telling my father I had gone out.

  I walked down the rows of horses — all in their stalls — until I came upon my stallion, Caleb. When I entered his stall, he shook his mane and pressed his face against mine. I spent only a moment petting and rubbing his face. Then I opened his stall and led him out, not bothering to put reins or a saddle on him, figuring I would just hold on to his mane.

  I walked the horse out of the stables and toward the back gate. This way would take longer to get to the meadow, but it might have been my only chance of getting outside the castle walls without a guard stopping me.

  Once I got to the exit of the back gate, I swung my right leg over Caleb’s back and, grasping his mane with both my hands, hoisted myself up onto him. Then I spurred the horse into a fast gait and headed for the meadow.