Summary: Zaphias has been a city on the edge since the death of the old Emperor. There are two candidates in line for the throne, but the Council of Nobles wants control of the Empire for themselves and it's an open secret that the Commandant of the Knights is looking to stage a coup of his own. In the midst of all of this, the head chef for a modest Inn located in the lower quarter should be of no consequence at all... except for the fact that his childhood friend was, until a week earlier, on assignment protecting the Princess Estellise.
Tonight, all hell breaks loose.
Notes: Part 1 of the Folk Heroes series
Midnight Escape
It's in the middle of dinner when Estellise has the first inkling that something has gone very wrong. She hears the sounds of knights running down the hall, their armor clanking loudly.
There are shouts outside and she rises from her chair to go to the window, prying it open in order to better make out the words. Only a few make any sense. "Prince missing... kidnapped... blood."
Ioder had been taken - kidnapped - and Estellise felt her blood run cold. Zaphias had turned into a powder keg since her uncle, the Emperor, had passed away. Their relation was more distant than mere uncle and niece, but he'd insisted she call him uncle since she was a child and she'd grieved him terribly when he'd been lowered into the ground at the state funeral. He hadn't been a good man, but he'd always been kind to her. But she couldn't afford to grieve him long because even before his death, when it became clear the next illness the Emperor caught would be the last, Estellise had seen the Council's true colors. And the Commandant's as well.
Though Estellise and Ioder were both candidates for the throne, they were the only allies either had in the power grab they both knew was coming.
And it was clearly beginning already.
Estellise had a plan in place, however, for exactly these circumstances. Goddess bless Sir Knight Flynn Scifo.
Step one was to ditch her shoes. High heels are not conducive to running away. Even short heels are not ideal and Estellise has a tendency to trip over her feet in anything taller than half an inch.
Her shoes are left behind at the dinner table with the last of Estellise's dinner. Though she does grab a roll to go.
She'd been dining alone that evening and the guards were meant to wait outside. She can't say she's surprised their missing; it's a relief that she doesn't have to find an excuse to sneak past them... and a worry because it's likely she's been left undefended for a reason.
Estellise turns left, away from her rooms. She'd like to go there and change, to gather the things she can't bear to leave behind... but she has no choice. She has to learn to bear to live without her mother's jewelry and her father's books, the only mementoes she has of parents she never knew. They'd want her to live far more than they'd want her to have their things, though, and that thought helps push Estellise to move faster.
Step two is to reach the trap door beneath the goddess statue. She has to go swiftly but quietly, unseen.
So Estellise does as she practiced with Sir Flynn. She crouches down below the window line, grateful that she's still short enough to hunch over and still be able to run on the pads of her feet without loosing her balance. Her skirts are hiked up with no thought to propriety. Her gait is awkward, but she can't afford to run normally. The slap slap slap of her feet on the stone floor would echo all too loudly. She fears she's making too much noise as it is. But she reaches the goddess statue unseen.
But there are sounds of fighting from down one of the connecting halls now. Estellise has to hurry.
With difficulty, Estellise triggers the catch on the statue and pushes it just far enough that she can slip down beneath the floor. Then with even greater difficulty, slides the statue back into place from below all while clinging to a ladder leading into a dimly lit sewer system below the castle.
She rests there for a long moment, breathing hard and terrified. But then comes the sound of swords clashing in the room above and Estellise can't risk staying put any longer.
Step three is to retrieve the pack Sir Flynn left for her in the sewers.
Estellise climbs down the ladder and has to bite back a scream when a rat skitters over one of her bare feet. She stands stock still in the dark for a long moment, breathing hard, before carefully walking two feet to the right where loose stone in the wall gives way to the promised pack and an unlit lantern.
The lantern is lit first and then Estellise investigated the contents of the pack. A pair of sensible brown flats inside, which she immediately put on. They were a pair she'd given Sir Flynn herself when they'd put together this escape plan. There's a dress too, something less constricting and more sensible than the blue gown she's wearing now. She's never seen this dress before, but it fits her comfortably enough when she changes into, shoving the gown into the opening in the wall and blocking it back up with the loose stones.
Next she retrieves a set of knives. One goes into a hidden sheath within the sleeves of her new dress and the other she returns to the pack. There's food in there and money as well. Estellise wishes for a sword, but she knows she'd look conspicuous. Commoners who went about Zaphias armed with swords, particularly this time of evening, were subject to far higher scrutiny than those who were unarmed. Besides, she would likely be able to get a sword when she arrived at her next destination.
The last thing Estellise removes from the pack before pulling it over her shoulders was a long scarf that paired nicely with the new dress. She carefully looped it around her shoulders and head to hide her distinctive pink hair that marked her as noble born.
Then, lantern in hand, Estellise moved on to step four. Head to the Lower Quarter and the Comet Inn. Find Yuri Lowell there. And ask him to help her in Sir Flynn's name.
Yuri had just started to doze off when a banging at his door jerked him awake with a very unwelcome adrenaline rush that sets his nerves jangling unpleasantly. Repede looks similarly disgruntled from his pad on the floor as he uncurls and stretches.
There's another bang bang bang in rapid succession as Yuri grabs a sword off his wall. Just in case.
"I'm sorry to disturb you so late," calls a woman's voice from the other side of the door, "but I'm looking for Yuri Lowell. Please, is this the right place?"
Yuri tugged open the door and frowned at the woman on the other side. He's never seen her before in his life and, if he's being perfectly honest she's too clean looking for the lower quarter. Never seen a hard day's work with hands that soft and well manicured. She had to be from the citizen's quarter at the least.
"You've found who you're looking for. Now, who are you?"
"Please," she looked around furtively. Frightened of something or someone. The knights maybe? "Let me inside. It's not safe out here."
"No offense, but I don't let just anyone into my room, especially at this time of night." Pretty and clean did not rule out thief, after all.
"Sir Flynn Scifo sent me. He said I could depend on you when I'm in trouble." Her voice shook. "I'm in trouble," she repeated.
Hoping he wouldn't regret this, Yuri held the door open and stood aside.
The woman - a very young woman, really just a girl - crosses over to Yuri's desk and lights the lamp there after pulling the curtains on his windows shut. And then, hesitantly, she unwrapped the scarf around her head and turned to face him with wide, frightened blue eyes and the unmistakable pink hair that once marked the ruling family of Zaphias and is the current hallmark of several noble families, including one girl approximately eighteen years of age. Princess Estellise Sidos Heurassein. And Flynn had sent her to Yuri for protection.
Oh goddess... what had Flynn gotten Yuri into now.
The whole point of quitting the knights had been so Yuri wouldn't have to deal with the political bullshit they were embroiled in. Politics had gotten Captain Niren killed. Had gotten Flynn's father killed before that. Yuri was terrified it would take Flynn from him too, but he couldn't exactly have that conversation with Flynn when every time they talked these days their discussions began, and ended, with Flynn trying to cajole Yuri back into the ranks.
Never going to happen.
These days Yuri worked at the Comet Inn as basically the head chef. And he'd surprised himself by enjoying it, even. He got to determine the menu and when that menu changed and experiment with new recipes whenever he wanted. It certainly wasn't the dream job he'd envisioned as an angry teenager looking for his next fight, but as an adult who liked having steady pay and enough food every day for himself and his dog, it was ideal. And his employer didn't care if Yuri occasionally ran afoul of the Knights so long as he was never in jail for longer than a week at a time. Janice knew he wasn't doing it to make an ass of himself, but to act as a shield for others in the lower quarter.
And when tensions in the city broke out into civil war and fighting on the streets of Zaphias, Yuri had intended to be there in the thick of things, protecting the citizens of the lower quarter. But now there was a Princess standing in his room at the Inn and Yuri could feel his plans rapidly changing.
Flynn had sent her to him for her safety and as much as Yuri would like Flynn to be there so Yuri could punch him in the face for springing this on Yuri without even so much as a 'by your leave'... well... Yuri couldn't exactly abandon the girl to her own devices. His conscience wouldn't allow it, never mind Flynn's sensibilities.
"We have to get you out of the city tonight," Yuri told her. He still had a map of the local area from his time in the knights, so Yuri put that on his desk. Then went for his money. Both his ready money and the stash he kept behind a loose slat in the ceiling. Clothes were next, something for him to wear laid out on the bed and a spare set in a worn knight's pack that he'd kept. He had one bedroll, but he might be able to get his hands on another if he went to Janice. He hated to wake her up for this especially since he'd be abandoning his job tonight, but... she'd understand. And she'd, hopefully, let him raid the kitchen for food for travel.
The last thing he wanted to do was steal from his place of work before running off into the night. But if he had to... better to ask forgiveness than permission, Yuri supposed.
"Can you use a sword?" he asked the girl. She nodded. Yuri gave her a considering look and then took the rapier out of the back of his closet. It wasn't his preferred weapon, but he thought it might suit the princess well enough.
He usually brought it out when teaching a group of kids who hoped to be knights one day. Yuri hadn't the heart to tell them what being a knight was really like, but he taught them all the same. They'd need the skills one day, one way or another.
Yuri had Estellise turn away as he quickly changed from nightclothes into his traveling clothes and then finished with his pack. Then he helped Repede into his knife harness. "I need to get a few more things elsewhere and then we'll be good to go," Yuri told the princess. "You need to stay here with Repede and then the three of us will head out towards Deidon Hold. That was Flynn's first stop on the pilgramage he was supposed to take his company on. From there, our next stop should be Halure. Does that sound good to you?"
"Yes. The plan was that if things fell apart while he was gone, I was to go to your for help and then rendezvous with him at an old fountain courtyard in Halure," Estellise confirmed guiltily. "I'm so sorry to be putting you in this position."
"Don't worry about it." Yuri let himself out of the room and headed for Janice's. He knocked on her door twice and then twice more.
Blearily, the Inn keeper opened the door and scowled at him. "Do you know what time it is, Lowell?"
"I'm sorry, but it's an emergency. One of Flynn's friends showed up needing help and I have to get her out of the city right now. It's not safe for her here."
Janice closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She wouldn't realize just who Yuri meant by 'Flynn's friend' but she clearly recognized the significance of why Yuri'd need to get someone out of Zaphias on Flynn's behalf. "Do you think there'll be rioting?" she asked.
"Depends on how quickly whatever's happening at the palace gets covered up," Yuri replied. "I'm only taking two of my swords. So that third one is all yours if you need it."
"Take whatever you need from the kitchens," she told him. "You'll have a job waiting for you when you get back. However long it takes."
Yuri smiled in relief. "Thanks Janice. You're a goddess among women. I don't suppose you've a spare bedroll I can borrow? We'll be camping rough and I've only the one."
"You always only flirt when you want something," Janice sighed, but she disappeared and returned moments later with the bedroll. "Goddess be with you," she said in blessing before shutting the door, presumably not to sleep. The whole climate of the city might be irrevocably changed come morning.
Janice would be preparing for the worst tonight. And hoping for the best come morning's light.
Yuri dashed downstairs to the Inn's kitchen and scrounged some bread, meat, hard cheese, and fruit that'd all travel well. Then back upstairs to his room to put it all together. He went through a mental checklist and added a cooking pan for camping to his pack. Canteen went over his shoulder - they could fill that at the fountain and use it sparingly until they could purchase another. Estellise covered her hair back up and they blew out the lamp.
That was it. Time to run.
All the official exits from Zaphias are covered by knights on guard duty and there are extras out tonight.
Estellise knows at least some of them are there to recapture her should she try to leave. The scarf won't be enough protection from their inspection of anyone coming or going from the city. But those are only the official exits.
Yuri Lowell knows the hidden ways out of town.
They stop by a large fountain that acts as a communal well for this part of the lower quarter. After filling up his canteen, Yuri leads her down an access ramp for the river flowing beneath the city, that feeds the various fountains and wells across Zaphias. The blastias that connect to the river below require regular maintenance, but are generally unguarded in the lower quarter.
"Isn't there a concern about stolen parts, though?" Estellise asked, concerned. "If something happened to the functionality of the fountains in the lower quarter..."
"It's not something most nobles care about," Yuri told her bluntly. "The noble quarter has blastia on every corner and knight there to protect every one of them. The citizen's quarter has plenty of blastias and knights making the rounds to stop thefts. In the lower quarter, we have to protect the blastia ourselves. Though the only part worth stealing is the core and there's always someone watching, even if you can't see them from the fountain itself."
"I'm sorry it's like that," Estellise said, feeling guilty. She'd never asked Flynn what kinds of hardships the people of the lower quarter faced. She should have. Now there was nothing she could do to help. Though... there hadn't been much she could have done before anyway.
"It is what it is," Yuri replied, "and it's to our advantage right now, because it'll help us get out of the city unseen."
The riverway is partly open to the sky and less frightening than the rat infested sewers Estellise had traversed on her own, but its knowing she's no longer alone that has her breathing easier even though they're not free yet. They creep quietly together, two humans and a dog, just out of sight of the knights patrolling the city above. Eventually Yuri has to lead her back up out of the riverway, as the support system doesn't go outside the city and the river itself is too dangerous to be their escape route directly. It was narrow, but deep, and the tales of drowned workers and unattended children had reached even beyond the palace walls.
The area Yuri had brought her to was even more dilapidated and broken down than the part of the lower quarter where he worked was. There were homes built right up against the outer walls of the city, and it was one of those that Yuri quietly led her inside.
Once the door shut behind them, Yuri said, "this whole block was abandoned a few months ago when there was an outer wall collapse that destroyed some of the rooms in the houses built against the wall. The city walls have been in need of repair for years, but the council had been ignoring our petitions for just as long. And of course those affected by the collapse were promised restitution and a swift rebuilding of their homes, but, well..." Yuri opened the door to the second of the house's two rooms to show a crumbled wall leading out into the field beyond. "A group of us have been working to repair the houses ourselves, but it's slow going. This one is the worst off, which is why it's been left for last. Also makes it the easiest to escape from. The city barrier ends just a few feet away and none of the official exits have a clear view of this part of the outer wall, meaning we have a clear shot to the road to Deidon Hold. And once we're covered in road dust, well... then we're just another couple of travelers looking for job opportunities somewhere outside Zaphias."
Which meant that Estellise had to continue to be brave, so far from the only life she'd ever known.
"It won't be safe for me to be Estellise anymore, will it?" she asked quietly.
"No," Yuri agreed, giving her an appraising look. "Estelle. It's similar enough for you to answer to easily and it was a popular variation on your name in the citizen's quarter after you were born. As long as you keep your hair covered..."
"Then I'm just another traveler from Zaphias. And if we can get some hair dye, then I can change my hair too. A shame I can't pass as a boy like princesses do in the story tales," Estellise mused. She'd need to start thinking of herself as Estelle now. Yuri was right, though. It wouldn't take her long to adjust to the name change. Taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly, she promised herself she'd come back one day.
Zaphias was her home and she had been born to nobility here. Even if she did not become Empress, she owed the people of Zaphias the promise of a government that cared for them and she had the solemn duty to see that promise through to the end.
So... she would be back.
Facing forward, Estelle climbed through the hole in the wall and left everything she'd ever known behind.