When I woke up I was laying on the hard ground as the hay was compressed to a hard thin layer. There was light outside, but it seemed to be early in the morning, just before sunrise. Milly was sitting on the ground with her back to a wooden support beam in the center of the barn. Tilly and Caroline were nowhere to see.

“Awake?” Milly looked at me smiling.

“How long did I sleep?” I sat up and started to stretch myself.

“The whole night. It’s near the end of dawn.” Milly got up.

“Where are Tilly and Caroline?” I got to my feet.

“We found a way up to the roof and decided to keep watch up there.” She came over to and gave me a hug.

“Good idea!” I hugged her back.

I heard someone walking above us. Then there was a thump and a creak of wood. There was a ladder at the side of the barn which disappeared in a hatch in the ceiling.

“There is a hayloft above, with a door to fill and empty it at the side of the barn.” Milly looked at the hatch.

“There is a cart approaching! We can’t leave without being seen. We should hide on the roof!” Tilly stuck her head through the hatch.

I took my bag and another one and put their straps over my head. Then I started to climb the ladder. Carrying two of them was a bit taxing, but nothing serious.

I squeezed myself through the hatch with Tilly’s help. Milly followed a few moments later. We went through an open door on a small platform. A large beam was put in place over our heads to to pull things up to the loft. Tilly jumped at the beam and pulled herself up.

“Give me a bag.” She squatted down on the beam.

I gave her one of the bags I carried. Tilly walked to the end of the beam and put the bag on the roof.

In the meantime Milly put down her bags and pulled herself up onto beam as well.

“Give me the next bag!” Milly sat down on the beam.

I gave her a bag which she handed over to Tilly, who took it to put it on the roof as well. I gave Milly the last two bags which she put down on the beam in front of her..

After Tilly put the last bag on the roof she pulled herself up. Milly and I balanced over the heavy beam and a few moments later we stood on the roof as well.

We took our bags and walked up to Caroline who was near gable of the roof. We sat down and secured our bags.

I could hear someone opening the door of barn. After an hour working and cursing rolling stones the man left again.

“Let’s leave. We can eat something later.” I looked at Milly.

“We ate when we woke up Lilly.” Milly shrugged.

“Then I’ll eat something later. As there are only a few clouds today everyone will be working on the fields. There will be plenty of time waiting until we can advance unnoticed.” I got a length of rope from my bag.

Never go adventuring without a rope.

Then I slung my bag over my shoulder and went to the loading beam. It was about five meters above the ground. I let the rope slide to the ground and threw the rest down on the other side of the beam.

Then I carefully climbed down. The others followed without an issue. Miss Tessa’s training was a pain in the ass most of the time, but making this a walk in the park is nothing to complain about. I recovered my rope and we started to head south again.

As far as I could see when we could see the mountains again we had roughly kept the right direction. We reached the forest just as the suns set in the west, with plenty of breaks because of passing carts. The dirt roads were flanked by hedges most of the time, thus it wasn’t difficult to avoid the people working on the fields. As evening neared they started to appear on the roads for a while though.

After that we carefully crossed the road along the edge of the forest. As most people were already at home now there was no one around as we crossed over into the forest.

“Finally we left the civilized parts.” I looked back at the farmlands.

“Will we rest now?” Milly slung her arm around my shoulder.

“We had plenty of rest over the day, waiting for carts to pass.” Tilly leaned against an old oak tree.

“Let’s use the rest of daylight to continue.” Caroline propped her hands on her hips.

“We should continue as long as we could, but will keep away from the road for now.” I leaned my head on Milly’s shoulder.

“Then let’s go.” Milly gave me a peck on the cheek.

We started to head east. I headed a bit south as well and we soon lost the road.

“Shouldn’t we follow the road?” Tilly asked.

“The road we normally use to get to the lodge comes from the north and continues south. We should reach that road sooner or later heading east. Then we follow it until we reach the junction to the lodge. We keep away from the road to the north, avoiding people on the road completely. We should asume that there a people searching for us already. It should be a bit shorter, too.” I looked over my shoulder and smiled at Tilly.

“We may get lost.” Milly frowned.

“In doubt we turn north again and come back to the road there or settle for the night. When the suns rise again we have a decent marker of direction.” I spotted a deer crossing roughly heading east and started to cross the undergrowth in the direction.

We walked through dense forest for a while following deer tracks as much as possible. It got darker and at some point I didn’t see colors anymore. Caroline started to struggle with the lack of light after a while and we slowed down considerably . I could see perfectly well, which was quite convenient, but if Caroline strained an ankle we would be much slower the next days. Maybe we couldn’t move at all.

“Let’s find a place to rest and get some sleep.” I stopped as the deer path split again.

“There seems to be a clearing up the hill to the left.” Tilly stopped Caroline from stumbling into her.

“Let’s climb that hill. Help Caroline, since the footing is going to get tricky.” I looked at Milly.

“Okay.” Milly took Carolines Hand.

“But I manage!” Caroline protested.

“We don’t want to hurt our legs at the moment.” I started to twist myself through the undergrowth while scaling the hill.

While I concentrated finding a convenient way up the hill Milly and Tilly helped Caroline avoid bad footing.

After a while we reached the clearing. An old beech had come down and had taken many smaller trees with it. The night was clear.

“It would be nice to have a tent.” Milly looked at the skies.

“Unfortunately they weren’t that popular at the castle.” I sat down on the trunk of the fallen beech.

“We set a watch?” Tilly spreaded a blanket just beside the trunk.

“Of course. I take the first watch.” I nodded at Tilly.

“Then I take the first watch as well. We wake you up when it’s time” Milly sat down beside me.

“Alright. Come Caroline, let’s get comfortable.” Tilly had pulled some more blanket out of her bag.

“Good night!” Tilly and I said as they had tucked themselves in.

“Good night!” they answered.

Soon Tilly and Caroline fell asleep.

Silently I enjoyed the clear night sky, a small purple moon stood just over the horizon while the stars sparkled. There wasn’t a milky way I noticed. At home it was normally invisible due to light pollution and I hadn’t been outside at night I realized. Only that night with these bright purple polar lights we only few stars were visible.

It felt good to be in charge of my life again. I laid my arm around Milly’s shoulder. The future wouldn’t be peaceful, so much was sure.

I sighted.

“What’s troubling you?” Milly whispered.

“The future.”

“You regret running away?”

“No. Sitting under the stars with people I like is wonderful. We may have to fight for living the way we want though.”

“I am enjoying the view as well. I’m ready to fight for it until my last breath!”

We sat there for a while silently enjoying the peaceful night.

“They know we’re gone at the castle now.” I looked north.

“How long do you think the Arhitrheans will need to realize it?”

“Difficult to say. Let’s assume the worst.”

“Do you have plans to deal with them?”

“Not much for now. Later, when it’s clear they’re following our tracks, we may try to lay some traps at certain points.”

“Hmm.”

“We should try to find out how many they are. It might be possible in the mountains. I’m sure we need to even the odds before we could confront them.”

“I agree. They followed us across the continent. I would be surprised if they won’t keep following us. We have to get rid of these slave marks sooner or later.”

“They’re a pain in the ... chest.”

Milly giggled.

We huddled together as I got quite cold after a while.

A few hours later we woke Tilly and Caroline to get a few hours of sleep as well. After we woke up we had a simple breakfast. I climbed up one of the larger trees on the top of the hill.

I could see the rim of the forest to the north. We were a bit more south than I’d thought, but to the east beyond the forest there was farmland again. We will head east until we hit the main road.

We headed out as I came back to our camp.

A while after noon we reached the main road. I remembered this part of the road from our visit at the lodge.

“We will reach the lodge either late this evening or early tomorrow morning.” I headed back in the forest again.

We followed the road north at a distance. It was mid afternoon as we crossed the side road to the lodge.

Following the road we reached familiar terrain after about an hour.

“Now we’re near the lodge. We’ll arrive in about two hours!” I headed down a deer trail to the left.

“How do we contact Loraline?” Tilly asked.

“Either we find her around the lodge or we knock at her window in the evening.” Caroline smiled at Tilly.

“We should aim for the place we had the picnic near the hot pool.” she added.

“Sounds good. It’s secluded and near the lodge.” I pondered how to reach the place best without being noticed.

We arrived at the picnic spot half an hour before sunset.

“Don’t start a fire for now. Maybe we could try later in the night. I’ll go and try to meet with Loraline. It may take some time, since I have to be careful.” I leaned my bag against the rock face.

I got some cheese for little dinner on the way.

“Take care!” They waved at me.

I waved back. After I climbed down the steep path again I carefully approached the lodge. I checked the wind to avoid the attention of the dogs. Finally I climbed an oak near the lodge with a good view on the estate. The shutters at the window of Loraline’s room were already closed. I waited until the lodge laid silent and dark in front of me.

Carefully I climbed down the oak. The window of Loraline’s room was dark. I fetched a ladder from one of the barns. I made some noises removing it from it’s place, but I didn’t hear someone after listening for a while.

Slowly I carried the ladder below Loraline’s window. It took some effort to raise it without making too much noise. Nobody seemed to notice the noises I made. After waiting for a while I climbed up the ladder carefully.

I tried to rattle with the shutters a bit, since knocking at them would be to too loud. The wood would transmit the sound all too well. The shutter didn’t budge. At all. This was unusual, since they were only hold by simple latches. Examining the shutter more closely I found nails at the edges away from the hinges. Nails without much rust.

Never go adventuring with a sturdy knife.

I pulled my knife from its sheath and tried to insert it’s blade between the shutter and window frame. It got stuck after a few millimeters, as expected. Carefully I started to wiggle the blade a bit to widen the gap. It worked for a while, but at some point it got stuck because of the nail on top was still deep in the wood..

I climbed further up, balancing myself without holding the ladder and started the same at the top of the shutter. There were some noises from the nails from time to time, but nothing too concerning. I paused from time to time to listen for unusual noises, but it remained silent.

After a while, I heard footsteps from inside the room. Somebody opened the window from inside.

“Who’s there?” someone whispered.

“It’s Lilly.” I whispered back, climbing down below the window again.

“It me, Loraline!” she was a little bit too loud.

“Sssh!”

“Sorry. Can you open the shutters?”

“I’m trying. Try to push the left shutter. Carefully!”

“Wait for a moment.”

“Okay.”

I looked at the gap. It was too small for my hands. I could put my fingers in to pull.

“Now I’m ready. Mostly.”

“Take care not to fall out of the window when the shutter gives way.”

I heard Loraline climb in the window frame and with a final creak the shutter gave way!

“This will be tight!” Loraline handed me a bag.

While I climbed down she started to squeeze herself through the window. I hold the ladder to keep it stable. Looking up she was wearing a nightgown, but had put on her boots. Finally she stood beside me.

“Let’s hurry! I’ve got to fetch some things before we leave.” She hurried towards a barn near the treeline.

“I’ll bring back the ladder.” I took the ladder and put it back where I got it.

When I reached the barn Loraline went to, she just left it, closing the door carefully. She was carrying her bow and two quivers with arrows.

“Where are the others?” Loraline closely watched the lodge.

“At the picnic place.” We entered the forest to pass the lodge in the cover of the foliage.

Silently we followed the deer tracks to reach the picnic place after a while. Since Loraline seemed to struggle with the darkness on our way up the ledge I conjured a small light over her head. The chances for someone noticing it were slim as it was way past midnight now.

“Thanks. We’ll need light anyway soon.” Loraline smiled at me and sped up considerably.

A few minutes later we reached the others.

“I was considering to follow you.” Milly hugged me.

“Did you have any problems?” Tilly looked at Loraline.

“We had.” I smiled at Tilly.

“Let’s enter the crevice. We talk later.” Loraline walked over to the entrance.

“Do you want to have a bath now?” Caroline shook her head.

“I want to get dressed first, and then we continue to the place where I hid the stuff I put aside.” Loraline vanished into the crevice.

We quickly packed our bags and followed Loraline into the crevice. The crevice was narrow the last, but we had to literally squeeze our way at some points, especially Caroline.

We all reached the pool after a while. Loraline had just finished dressing.

“Follow me!” Loraline started to follow the creek upstream. “And avoid stepping into the water.”

We followed the steaming creek a few meters upstream, carefully stepping on the wet stones. The pool soon was out of sight.

“We’ll need light for a few minutes.” Loraline vanished into a small cave about one and half meter above the ground.

The cave lead down steep enough we had to climb. Milly and Tilly conjured a light as well while I refueled the light spell for Loraline. Then we followed Loraline into the darkness.