The rest of their day goes as follows: Soul, without hesitation, agrees to sneak out with Maka that night (despite the worries he has, he stifles them and agrees when he sees the smile that breaks across the Princess's face like the sun rising after a storm.) When Maka began to pack a bag of supplies they may need, Soul went on a search around the castle for Hero. Once the guard had found the royal advisor, he'd informed him that the Princess had 'fallen ill' and would be resting for the entire day. Hero, frantic and worried about how this would affect her birthday the next day, shook Soul senseless. Soul urged the Princess would be fine tomorrow (because she would be, she wasn't sick) and that she just needed rest. He then asked him to inform the King and Queen of the Princess's sudden ailment and went on his way.
Their white lie seemed to work. In the two hours they sat in silence in the Princess's bedroom, no one paid a visit. No one called the Princess down for anything either, which they took as a good sign.
"We should head out now before the sun starts setting," The Princess suggested after an entirety of silence. "We don't want to arrive late at night and have everything be closed for the night."
And so, Soul listened. The guard discarded his armor to the corner of the room as the Princess changed into something more 'bland'. Once they were ready, both wearing cloaks of similar colors, they padded down the stairs of the tower and threw open the window.
"How many times are we going to sneak in and out of this window, Princess?" Soul couldn't help but laugh as the Princess slipped through the window, shooting daggers at her guard.
"I don't know, Soul, aren't you supposed to be the one stopping me from sneaking in and out?" Maka raised a challenging eyebrow as she dropped to the grass gracefully, a mischievous grin plastered across her face. With a sigh, Soul shook his head as the Princess extended a hand toward him, a gesture of help. Despite knowing damn well he didn't need the assistance, he took the hand graciously, reveling in the warmth that Maka radiated as he pulled himself through the window frame.
"If we wanted to get anywhere and get back at a reasonable time, I think we may have to borrow a horse," Soul commented as he closed the window behind him, missing the contact he once held with Maka.
"Okay," She sounded in agreement," Let's sneak over to the stables. Do you know how to ride a horse?"
With a snort, Soul turned around, downcasting his eyes toward the Princess. "Do I know how to ride a horse? Who do you think you're talking to?"
"You just strike me as the type of person who doesn't know how to ride, that's all."
"Should I be offended?"
"Greatly."
With a cheeky smile, Maka pulled up the hood to borrowed cloak, turning her attention elsewhere. Too distracted, Soul hadn't noticed the hand that was reaching out for his. The moment Maka finally grabbed hold of him, he was being tugged through the garden with an assemble of giggles attacking him. Soul found that he didn't mind much, especially when Maka's laugh sounded like music to his ears.
When they made it to the stables, they hushed one another as they peered into them. Finding that they had been all but empty, excluding the horses and such, they trodded right in.
"I'm guessing you've ridden a horse before, right?" Soul found himself asking as Maka paused in front of one of the stables, eyes focused on the large amber horse that resided within it.
"I did when I was much younger. Maybe thirteen? I haven't had the chance to ride since."
Maka pushed open the stable, grabbing onto the reins of the horse with care. Soul watched in careful silence as the blonde cooed at the horse, leading him out of his stable with care. "I'm sure Soul will take good care of you."
"Oh, so I am the one who's going to be 'stirring' the horse?"
With a sharp gazee, Maka turned her head over her shoulder. "You're the one who knows where we should go, are you not?"
He didn't put up a fight after that, not like he wanted to anyway. Taking a confident step toward the horse, he took the reins from Maka and patted its mane with care.
"I am pretty sure her name is Ember, but I may be wrong," Maka informed him as he pulled himself onto the saddle, pleasantly surprised that the horse didn't try and move as she did.
Once he was situated on the saddle, he turned down to meet Maka's gaze. "Pretty fitting, I think." he laughed out before leaning down, extending an open palm to the Princess. There was no hesitation as Maka grabbed onto his hand, no ounce of questioning as she allowed him to pull her up onto the saddle.
The moment Maka was settled in front of him, her back pressed against his chest, Soul felt the world come to a halt. He perhaps hadn't taken into account the fact that riding a horse together meant sitting so damn close, that he'd practically be holding Maka in his arms; not that he was complaining though. It was nice having her so close.
As he began leading the horse out of the stable, something hit him. There were a few things that Soul had failed to take into account when they decided to leave so early in the day. One, there were still guards stationed around the castle. How on Earth were they supposed to get past them without causing a scene? And two, there would still be guards at the gate, one of which would be Blackstar himself.
When he'd brought his worries to Maka as he led the horse to the proper path, all she said was,"We tell them we're letter carriers going out to deliver something special for the King."
So he listened. It sounded like a reasonable idea.
When they were stopped at the exit of the castle premise, questioned to state their business for leaving, Maka pulled a stray piece of paper from her satchel, taking Soul back. Surely, the paper had been stamped with the royal seal. He was honestly impressed that Maka had been so prepared.
"We're taking a letter from the King to the village over," She informed him, mocking an accent he couldn't quite put his finger on. He did all he could to hold in a laugh as the other guards glanced at the paper and nodded, backing away and motioning for them to pass through.
As they did, Maka sighed, pressing up closer against his chest.
"That was a funny accent, Princess." He commented, refusing to glance down.
"Thanks, I tried sounding like you."
He scrunched his nose. "What?"
"You heard me, I was mocking you. You and your weird accent."
This time, Soul erupted into a fit of laughter, wheezing as he did. "I am the one with a weird accent? Okay then."
They didn't initiate conversation again after that. In carefully crafted silence, Soul led their horse down the path and through the kingdom, toward the gates that would lead them far from there. Despite his attention certainly being on the road ahead of them, Soul couldn't quite ignore the way Maka shifted in his arms, her head turning every once in a while like she was surveying the land around them.
Part of him wished that he could tell Maka to bring her hood down so he could see her, but he decided against it. He knew that it'd only lead to more of a distraction.
It took them all but thirty minutes to reach the gates, which was twenty or so minutes faster than it took walking. Not that Soul necessarily took count of how long it took, he just knew it was much faster than walking.
As their horse trodded up to the gates, Souls eyes landed on one familiar guard. He was standing tall at the gates, his red cloak swinging behind him in the cold October air. His eyes caught his in a moment flat. Ashamed, he dipped his head down, inhaling sharply.
There was no way Blackstar wouldn't recognize them and stop them.
As he brought Ember to a halt, Blackstar was the one approaching them, telling the other guard to stay at the gate.
"State your business," he spoke, projecting his voice. His tone was laced with seriousness, a tone that Soul didn't hear all too often from the blue haired boy.
Thankfully, Maka was the one answering, mocking an accent once more as she retried the 'letter' from her satchel. "We're delivering a letter from the king to the village over."
Raising an eyebrow, Blackstar threw his head over his shoulder, glancing out of the gates. "Which village?"
Maka squirmed in his arms for a moment, tilting her head up. He silently cursed at himself for not informing the Princess beforehand. Clearing his throat and raising his voice an octave, Soul replied.
"Loew."
There was some sort of hesitance to Blackstar as he turned back around, folding his hands in front of him. His eyes didn't meet either of them this time, instead, his attention was set on the horse.
"Okay," he finally spoke after a few beats of silence, "Safe travels."
The guard behind him motioned for them to move. As fast as he could, he was regaining his grip on Embers reins, signaling for her to move.
As they broke through from the gates and into the forest just outside of Eibon, Maka was leaning back into him, wrapping her arms around both of his.
"Oh my God," She laughed out, dipping her head back against his chest. Unable to help himself, he glanced down, his eyes catching Maka's.
"We did it!"
