A Pacifistic Sword Saint

It was twilight, and Maude was, once again, shredding her bed sheets instead of getting ready to use them.

She sat on the balcony and this time instead of shivering, her warm cloak surrounded her. Her hands moved skillfully, having tied so many knots only days before. Rip, tear, rip, tear.

It was cloudy, and the glow of the moon couldn’t penetrate the clouds. On top of the cloak being so dark, it would be much easier to keep hidden than it had the previous time. The one snag was still her shoes, and her dress, but at least she had a better chance of success than she had her first go around.

Once she had her rope tied, she sat and waited again, staring the guards down through the stone railings of the balcony. They were paying far more attention to the balcony than they had when she’d first observed them.

Will I be able to get down in time? She wondered.

The change-over seemed as though it should be happening soon. Maude’s feet were starting to go numb from sitting crisscrossed so long. Still, the new guards did not come.

Maude felt her stomach muscles tighten. What if they had changed the guard schedule so that it went all through the night without a break because of her? What would she do in the morning when her maid found her with her shredded up bed sheets? It would be obvious what she had intended to do.

She was starting to shiver now from the lack of activity. She hadn’t expected to be waiting this long.

She sighed and rested her head against one of the balcony’s stone pillars. Just think about your cabin in the woods, she reminded herself. I’m doing this for the cabin.

She knew at this point, clinging to the cabin was still only a hope and not a guarantee. She could very well still die out there before she made it to building herself a home. Winter was coming after all.

Her breath was visible, puffing out in front of her face.

I can do this, she thought, trying to ground herself and calm her anxiety. This is easier than going back to the Holloway Estate. I can do it.

Suddenly, faintly in the distance, she could make out two new guards walking towards the guards who faced towards the balconies. She faintly heard one of the new guards call out to the old guards. The old guards turned around, abandoning their vigil of the balconies.

Now, she thought. She stood up, ignoring her feet screaming from going numb. She gritted her teeth, tied the rope to the balcony and threw it over the edge. The rope was a bit shorter this time, but still long enough for her to safely make it to the ground. She climbed up onto the railing, doing everything in her power to ignore pins and needles she could feel in her legs. Carefully, she lowered herself over the edge, clutching the rope with her upper body for dear life. She quickly made her way down, while attempting to remember to take occasional peeks at the guards. They were too busy chatting again, to notice her descent.

Once her feet were on the ground, she gently jogged over to the area of the garden that was almost a straight shot to the fence line with the least amount of plants for her to trample on. The last thing she wanted to do now that she was on the ground was make a bunch of nose crushing flowers and alert the guards to her presence.

She glanced over towards the guards who would inevitably look at the balcony. It appeared they were finishing up their handoffs. She only had a few minutes before everyone would be alert to the fact that she had gone missing from her room again.

She took a deep breath, looking out into the extremely dark garden. She couldn’t even see the fence that she was going to run to.

She started running. She was careful to not breathe too hard, and to hold her breathing as steady as possible. She curled her toes in her shoes in hopes of gripping the flats better. She lifted her skirt a ways to help reduce the burden of trying to run in a dress. She still struggled, and was only able to run about a third of her usual speed.

“Hey!” she heard a guard shout. It came from behind her, towards where the guards must have just finished their hand off. She was, once again, running out of time.

The darkness loomed in front of her, and still the fence was not in sight. The garden hadn’t seemed so big during the day, but running through it at night seemed to tell a completely different story.

Her breath was beginning to come in gasps, against all of her techniques to help keep it calm. Running in a cloak and a dress was much more difficult for a variety of reasons, since she was moving more weight around. In spite of the training she’d done, her lungs burned.

She could hear boots and voices throughout the garden, looking for the missing prisoner.

Faster, she thought. I need to go faster. She tapped on a will power that she’d left untapped at first. She sped up only a bit.

The fence was finally in sight, towering ahead of her. It was much taller than it had looked during the day.

Almost there! I’m almost there! Just a little bit more!

She reached her hand out, and a couple of seconds later she felt the cool stone of the fence against her palm.

I made it. She wanted to scream and jump for joy. After, she reassured herself. I can celebrate as soon as I get out of here for real.

She readily started climbing the fence, struggling once again because of the shoes. She slid a little, scraping her palms. She gnashed her teeth together in pain, and resumed her climb.

“There!” she heard someone shout. “She’s climbing the fence!”

Fuck, fuck, fuck! She thought. These fucking shoes!

“What would I give to have a decent pair?” she wondered aloud.

She’d nearly reached the top of the fence. Her dress’s seams groaned under the strain of attempting to climb to the top of the fence.

“Stop her!” someone yelled out. The clamor behind her was getting louder.

Her dress wouldn’t let her body stretch any farther. She felt a hand grab onto the ankle she had yet to pull up to the top of the fence.

Shit! She thought. She yanked hard, and heard the dress rip. Her shoe fell off, but the guard’s tight grip remained.

“Grab her!” He commanded the others.

Maude kept trying to pull her leg out from the guard’s grip as guards began climbing the wall around her, getting closer. It was to no avail.

“Sorry, miss,” one said as he got close to her. She attempted to fight back, but he quickly smacked her on the back of the head, causing her to black out.

She had failed. Again.