~Chapter Three~

~Escaping the Forest Walls~

Later that evening, Blumiere was made to stay in his room the entire night, no exceptions. There we're at least five guards standing outside his door… a few of them snoring, but regardless, he did not want to take any chances trying to get out through the door. And it was locked anyway. Although, there was one way of escaping that had been overlooked for some reason…the window! It was most likely unlocked and unguarded because Blumiere's room was so high up in the castle, that it would be insane to try and climb down. He opened up the window, he could see over the forest walls he was so high up! It was a beautiful night, and all he could think about was Timpani as he starred at the moon. He did not know why, but she would not get out of his head, not that he wanted her too. He looked down out the window, he was at least 100ft high in the tower where his bedroom was, maybe even higher, he continued to look down and then sighed, he felt a bit hopeless at the moment… would he really have to wait three weeks to try to leave again? …as he was sitting on his bed, he got an idea, it was a bit crazy but he had to try something! He went into his closet, and began taking every piece of clothing he owned, which was a lot, he even took the curtains off the window, the sheets and blankets off of his bed, and the towels from his bathroom. It took more than an hour, but he made a thick, long chain out of the garments, blankets and towels, it was extremely long, but it may not reach all the way down the window, but it would at least let him go down far enough to where he could jump from it and not get injured. He started slowly sending the makeshift chain down the window. The whole chain was finally down to the bottom, or almost, anyway. He took the end and tied it to end of the bed; he tied as many knots as he could, and made sure it was secure. Finally, he started to make his way down the window; he kept pausing to look around to make sure no one was around, and after about ten minutes or so of carefully scaling his way down the tower, he safely landed on the ground. He was so relieved that he made it down; now all he had to do was find the path that he took when he first made it back to the forest, if he found that, he would be sure to make it outside to the mountain faster than aimlessly wandering around the huge forest! After a while of searching, he found the path, thankfully he was able to make it past the guards…or so he thought…

Meanwhile, unknown to Blumiere, one of the guards did see him! Before telling the king anything though, he thought it was wise to issue a single guard to follow the young lord, that way, they would know exactly what he was doing. The Guards' orders we're to follow him silently, he was not to make his presence known under any circumstances, after he found out where he was, he was to report back to the castle. The other guard was on his way to alert the king; he burst into his bedroom suddenly, awaking the king.

"Are you insane? How dare you barge in here! I should have you thrown in the d-"before he could finish yelling, the guard raised his voice saying. "Your majesty! It's important! Your son has escaped!" The king stopped yelling and said "What!? How!?" The guard replied "He used his entire wardrobe, blankets, sheets and towels to create a long chain to go down the window…" The king could not believe what he just heard, he said "Are you joking?! How!? The bottom of the tower near the window was supposed to be guarded!" The guard replied nervously "W-well…apparently it was not…" The king was extremely angry at this point… he yelled "So why are you just standing there?! GO AFTER HIM!" The guard remained calm and said "It's already taken care of. I issued another soldier to follow him. His orders are to follow the young lord, find out what he's doing, and report back, all while being completely unseen by outsiders." The King calmed down and said "…so all we can do is wait?" the guard replied "Apparently… The young lord is already to far ahead for any more people to go after him. And in my opinion this is the best way. If too many people go after him, we risk being seen by outsiders. We just have to wait…" The king sighed and sat down in one of the chairs in his room and said "…I don't understand….what could be out there he's so fascinated with…it makes no sense…"

Meanwhile, Blumiere had made it out of the forest, unknowing that one of his fathers guards lingered some 30ft behind… He was so excited; he could not wait to see Timpani again! He made it down the mountain path, it was a lot faster going down the path then going up it, and so he was near Timpani's village in about a half-hour. Finally he could see her house in his sights…He got to the door, he could not see any lights on inside. He thought to himself "I guess I did not think this trough very well… I don't want to wake her up…but what do I do… I can't just sleep out here. What if someone finds me? ….*sigh*" just then, suddenly, a voice came from behind saying "…boo!" Blumiere jumped and screamed and turned around to find it was Timpani with a very sly grin on her face, Blumiere laughed and sighed out of relief, then Timpani said "Hi there!" Blumiere said "Timpani? What are you doing out so late?" she smiled and said "Oh, I was visiting a friend, I lost track of time and before I knew it, it was dark outside!" Blumiere replied "Well…just be careful…you never know what's out there at night…" Timpani laughed and said "Oh don't worry about me! This village is pretty safe…nothing too bad ever goes on here…since there are not too many people…" There was a moment of awkward silence when Timpani finally said "So why are you here so late Blumiere?" Blumiere replied saying "Oh…yeah sorry about that…well…do you mind if we go inside and talk about it?" Timpani nodded and said "Yes…of course…".

~End of Chapter Three~