The village of Emory was just as hectic in the evening as it was in the morning. The crowds still littered the sidewalks, and the carriages continued to fill the roads.
I only had one thought in my mind as I merged my cart onto the road: blend in.
I had completed the hardest part without running into trouble, but the mission was far from over. A new hurdle was now glaringly in front of my very eyes: the guards.
The Queen’s guards acted as a thousand extra sets of eyes. They claim to be in the villages to “protect” us, but the real intentions of their presence were clear: watch, wait, and report back. Anything you did, the guards saw. It was almost a little game to most of them, seeing how many people they could stop and burden with terrible excuses of why they did so. And if what the woman said was true, I certainly did not want to get stopped for the usual search they administered to any innocent passersby.
I kept my head forward, not daring to make eye contact with the many of them that lined the streets. My heart pounded in my ears as the line of carriages slowly made their way down the streets. I squeezed my hands as tight as I could to try to get them to stop trembling, but to no avail.
I pulled forward to the clock tower, halting in front of it to check no one was looking so I could slip into the alleyway.
Just when I thought it was clear, a man’s voice boomed from behind me.
“Halt!” the guard commanded.
My heart fell to the bottom of my stomach, but I forced an innocent smile anyway. “Hello.”
The man ordered me to step off the horse, and when I did, he eyed me up and down. “You don’t look like you’re from here. What’s your purpose for visiting?”
“Oh, um…” My voice trembled as I prayed for any sort of believable answer to come to my head. “My aunt lives just down the road. I’m visiting for the day.”
The guard seemed content with my answer but eyed the cart behind me suspiciously. “What’s in the cargo, ma’am?”
I was officially freaking out. “Oh, um, just some stuff for my aunt. She’s actually expecting me home now, so I must be going.”
I turned to mount the horse again, praying I had convinced him. He placed a hand on my shoulder to stop me.
“Actually, ma’am, I’m going to search this cargo. Just procedural. Nothing to worry about.”
But there was. There was absolutely everything to worry about.
My ears were now ringing as tears brimmed my eyes. I stood frozen in fear with a fake smile plastered across my face as he went around to the back. I couldn’t breathe. My throat began to close. My feet begged to just run—escape as fast as I could and never return. My mind, however, kept reminding me of Rose. The reason why I was here in the first place… why I needed this money.
The man popped his head around the corner. “You’re all good to go. Have a nice day.”
The wind was swept out of me. “What?” I asked breathlessly.
The guard shrugged. “I said you’re all good to go.”
I swept around the corner and peered into the back. My eyes widened as I took in what was there. Crops—corn, wheat, carrots, potatoes. Crates of them. I laughed almost hysterically, my body seeming to still be in shock.
“Are you alright, ma’am?” the guard asked in a concerned tone.
I quickly fixed my shocked face and rushed to get back on the horse. “Oh, yes, yes. As I said, my mothers, expecting me so I must go-”
“I thought you said it was your aunt?”
My heart skipped a beat. “Yes, yes, right. I must be going.”
I practically flung myself on the horse and began taking off back down the road. I glanced back to see the confused guard shake his head and turn to leave.
I raised my head towards the sky as I sighed in relief.
I had dogged what had the potential to be a horrendous situation no thanks to my trip-ups and scattered words. I was never calm under immense pressure, but this time, it had almost caught up to me. Who knows what would’ve happened if that situation went sour. And, why the hell did this woman send me on a mission to rescue a cart of vegetables?
When I circled back around, I checked my surroundings for guards thoroughly before slipping into the alley. I pulled the horse and cart to the side of the wall and hopped off.
The same woman emerged from behind the crates. She crossed her arms, smirking at me.
“You’re a terrible liar,” she mused, hinting that she saw the whole encounter.
“And you’re a bad hider. I spotted you from all the way in the street.”
She circled around back and peered into the cart. “Maybe I should’ve ratted you out to the guard. Add some extra drama to my life, eh?”
“Sure, and I would’ve just taken off with your whole cart. What’s with the vegetables, anyway? How valuable can a couple of crops be?”
She shook her head and tutted. “Oh, Violet.” She pushed the crates aside and reached to the bottom, revealing a secret hatch door. “Do you really think I would just keep all these weapons in plain sight?”
My eyes widened at the sight in front of me. Hidden away in the door of the cart, stacks, and stacks of bows, knives, and other weapons I couldn’t recognize were tucked away. She began pulling them out one by one, tucking them away in her bag.
“Woah,” I gawked. “what is all this?”
“It’s the key.”
“Key?”
“The key to victory.”
“I-I don’t understand.”
She smirked and slammed the hatch closed once it was empty. “Someday you will, girl.”
I was just about to question her further until a loud, angry voice echoed down the alleyway.
“Hey!”
Our heads whipped behind us. A line of guards stood shoulder to shoulder with the swords drawn. They began closing in on us without a moment to think. The woman cursed and pushed me behind her as she pulled her own weapon beneath her coat.
“What the hell did you do?” she hissed at me.
“N-Nothing. I didn’t do any-”
“Don’t just stand there. Help me!”
I fumbled with my satchel, my heart racing as I pulled out my knife. It was much smaller than hers, but equally no match to the guard’s swords.
I instantly glanced behind me at the towering brick wall at the end of the alley. It was taller than me, but the crates and boxes against it made it possible to climb over. I glanced forward at the guards, then back to the wall.
I flinched when the woman’s knife clanked against one of the guards’, and the battle began. They all advanced on her, raising their swords and shouting inaudible orders. My ears filled with blood and rang out. When the guards swung at her, she slashed them away, kicking out their shins.
My breaths quickened as I examined the two options: help or run.
She was holding them off surprisingly well, seeing that there were three of them and only one of her. The men cried out in pain with each thrash and kick. Over and over, they’d advance, and she’d block, fighting back harder.
Two words slipped from my lips so quietly that I feared she didn’t hear. “I’m sorry.”
My legs beneath me began to run towards the back. I couldn’t bear to look back as I hopped onto the crates and pulled myself over.
I yelped as my body hit the dirt with a thud. My face pinched together in pain before I shot up. I was at the boarder of Emory now, and the forest line was just ahead.
I pushed myself up from the dirt and began to take off to the forest.
Just then, my whole body froze.
Rose… The money.
I couldn’t believe I had forgotten why I was there during all the fighting. Not only had I left her to fight by herself, but I had also simultaneously confirmed Rose’s banishment.
My breath quickened as I took in what I had done.
Then, I was off. Jumping as high as I could, gripping and pulling myself back over the wall. I jumped down, landing on my feet this time.
My knuckles turned white as I squeezed the knife in my hand. The woman was still alive but was visibly losing energy quickly.
I watched as they pinned her against the wall.
I raced over to them, their backs to me as they administered blow after blow. I closed my eyes shut and quieted my mind - shutting off any rational thought that would prevent me from doing what I was about to do.
When I opened my eyes, I was a completely different person. No thinking, no plans, just doing.
I drove my knife into the black of the guard in the middle. He cried out and slid to the floor just as the other two turned to me.
The woman slid to the floor as well, beaten and bruised, but still breathing.
The other two guards lunged at me, knocking my knife from my hands and grabbing hold of my arms. I thrashed and yelled in protest as they began dragging me away from the woman. She tried to push herself up from the ground, but only winced and fell back to the floor.
I didn’t stop trying to pull myself from their grips until I was thrown into a carriage. One I was all-too familiar with. It was the Queen’s carriages, the one I had ridden in on the day of Rose’s conviction.
They threw me on the seat and began binding my arms together.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” One of them hissed as the carriage began moving. “What were you doing with that woman? Why did you interfere?”
I glared up at him. “Go to hell.”
The man shook his head. “When the Queen’s done with you, I’ll meet you there.”
My heart dropped as my mind snapped back to the present. What had happened? What was going to happen?
“The-The Queen? Why?”
The men snickered, then the same one answered. “You stabbed one of our men and you think you can just get away with it?”
My heart dropped. I had finally realized what I had done.
I had made things so much worse. Guilt crept up my spine when I thought to myself that maybe I should’ve just kept running. If I had run into the forest and never looked back, I wouldn’t have been here now.
But then, my mind went back to Rose, to the reason I turned back in the first place.
But it didn’t matter anyway. Either way, I would’ve ended up not helping Rose.
I tilted my head back, glaring at the marble ceiling of the carriage, and prayed that I’d wake up from this nightmare I had foolishly gotten myself into.