Escape

Lylyth allowed herself to return to the present, whispering to herself, "What afre they going to do with me? I have been here for three days and they have merely brought me meager rations of food and water. There has been no torture, no questioning...Nothing."

Aelric pushed his way into the tent as the sun set, frowning as he heard her contemplate to herself. "Are you well, m'lady?" the young man asked, concern obvious in his deep voice.

"No, I am not. In fact, I am angry, dirty and wish to be home. Do any of these things truly surprise you?" Lylyth retorted, anger in her eyes and tone.

Aelric shuffled his feet, sympathizing with how trapped she must feel. "No m'lady. I understand them completely." He set down her rations for the day, crouching down to untie her hands. "Your dinner, Lylyth...I know you would rather have it delivered by the servants at your castle, but I am what we have."

A knowing expression touched his eyes as Lylyth glanced at him sharply. "But who..." she whispered, wondering if it were that obvious, "Who told you? Who else knows?" Questions fired off of her tongue as she began to truly panic for the first time since her capture.

"Lylyth!" Aelric said abruptly, bringing his face close to hers and grabbing her shoulders to halt her constant movement. "Listen to me! I am the only one who knows, okay? I figured it out on my own. Everybody was going mad about this 'missing princess' of the Bretons and I put it together. Calm down."

Lylyth took a deep breath, looking him square in the eye before starting on her dinner. She ate quickly, the wheels of her mind turning fast as Aelric continued to calm her. "You will not tell anyone, will you?" Lylyth finished the small amount of food on the plate, cleaning the unappetizing mess up with a slice of hard bread.

"Here are some clean clothes," he replied, seemingly avoiding the question. Aelric picked up her plate and turned away. "Change quickly so I can return the old ones to the wash rack."

Lylyth looked at the back of his finely featured head, nervousness blossoming throughout her. The sun had now disappeared completely and darkness was creeping into the camp. She stood quickly, steeling herself as she tucked the bundle of clothes under her arm. "I am sorry," Lylyth whispered to Aelric's back before bringing her clasped hands down hard on his neck.

Aelric collapsed to the ground in a graceless heap and Lylyth bent to check his vitals, caressing his cheek affectionately. He was still alive, thankfully. Lylyth had grown to like him and would never wish him ill. She stepped over his immobile frame, slipping through the tent door silently.

Lylyth closed her eyes, her mind flipping into motion, seeing the camp as it had looked in the daylight. She remembered a space where there were no tents, the only obvious feature in that direction being a large copse of trees and smiled to herself. "The perfect escape route," Lylyth whispered to herself, knowing that there were not only no tents to the north, but if she continued on that way, she was sure to find the castle.

Slipping through the shadows like an invisible wraith, Lylyth quickly reached the edge of the trees. She turned, looking at the encampment of the Saxons to mentally chart numbers and other specifics before forever leaving the barbaric world of these brutish men. Lylyth set off at an easy jog that she knew she could maintain for hours if necessary, weaving through trees and being careful to leave few if any traces of herself to be found. She stopped briefly at a small stream, washing her hair, face, and body clean of the grime it had acquired during her stay with the Saxons. The young woman remounted quickly, eager to get far away from the Saxons.

Before long, Lylyth topped a familiar rise, smiling to herself until she heard the sound of feet trampling their way through the bushes behind her. She hunkered down low, determined not to be caught once again by the Saxons. Lylyth vowed to herself that she would kill this man with her bare hands if she had to, but never would she return to the clutches of the Saxon army.