Out the Back
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Prompt: Pride of Place
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“Look out!”
Tilly really should have known better. Politics were difficult of course, and the kingdom was a safe one as far as things went, but she had two unguarded Royals in her kitchen. It was only a matter of time before someone noticed.
Of course, the kitchen was a much worse place for an attack than most people figured.
“Get them out of here,” Coppa told Tilly hurriedly, all sense of awe for their royal company gone at the sight of ragged, desperate men crowding through the door. “Keep their heads down. They’re dressed simple. Get into the gardens and vanish.”
“Right,” Tilly said, terrified, but willing to put that aside until she got Atteila and Hanver to safety. “Watch yourself.”
“Will do. Go!”
Tilly ducked away and blessed her short stature. She was nobody’s idea of a threat, and it helped her now. When she reached them, Hanver had one of the long meat knives in hand and a hardened expression on his face that belied his usual carefree cheer. Atteila was behind him, pale with fear.
“Keep that knife low and come with me,” Tilly whispered to both of them as the men started pouring into the kitchen. There was a subtle shifting in the kitchen ranks. The tallest of the men moved towards the back, offering cover. The scullery maids, always quick and quiet, eased the door to the scullery open and cleared a path to it. “Come on. Move quick.”
“I can fight,” Hanver protested, his eyes on the men who were shoving through the kitchen staff. They laid about them with their fists, but it was clear that they were focused on their goal. “If I get them in a door, I can give you time to get Atteila away.”
“If you get yourself killed, I’ll beat you flat with my best rolling pin,” Tilly growled at him, and nudged him after Atteila, who was very sensibly creeping towards the open scullery door. “Go on. Out the back. Follow Atteila.”
He looked like he wanted to protest, but Tilly just shoved him onward, nearly as strong as he was after years in the kitchen, and much more determined. They didn’t have long before they were noticed.
In fact, they had no time at all.
There was a shout behind them and Tilly didn’t hesitate.
“Scatter!” she yelled to the kitchen staff and trusted them to find their own way out of danger. Hanver paused again, so she simply muscled him through the scullery door and slammed it behind them. Before their attackers could get through, she snatched up the heavy bar and slammed it into place. It was a heavy wooden door. It would hold for a long while. “Go! Out the back. Don’t stop.”
“Where are we going?” Atteila asked when Tilly pushed past them towards the little door that led out into the kitchen gardens. Most people didn’t even know it was there. Now it would get them clear of the castle in a hurry. “Tilly? What about the staff?”
“Don’t you worry about them,” Tilly said and hauled on the door. It was always sticky when the weather was bad,. Hanver threw his muscle into it before it budged. “Those men aren’t after them.”
“Where are we going?” Hanver asked. His long knife went into a loop on his belt and he followed along a step behind them, a self-determined rear guard. Tilly might not know anything about fighting, but he did, and she was glad for him. “The castle must be badly compromised if they were able to get so far into the kitchens.”
“Where will be safe?” Atteila asked. She was out of breath, and small wonder. She wasn’t exactly allowed to run about as a princess. She had put on some muscle since she started helping Tilly with the bread in he mornings, but that was a far cry from proper training. Tilly was puffing herself. Running was not her favorite thing. “Will the castle guard help us?”
“You’re royals, so I assume so,” Tilly said, and decided on the stables. There were lots of good places in the stables, and there was a small guard post there. It wouldn’t be much, but there might be a real sword for Hanver. He was the only one of them who could fight, and even Tilly knew that a knife was a bad weapon against an armed assailant. “But first we need to get somewhere safe enough to make a plan. This way.”
The stables were far enough from the castle that the smell of horses wouldn’t stink up the place, but they weren’t a difficult run if they cut through the gardens. Tilly put all her experience into taking them through the little side-paths left only for the gardeners and used by servants who didn’t want the nobles to see them. It was longer, but hopefully safer.
Someone screamed in the distance. Tilly flinched hard enough to stumble over her own feet. Hanver caught her and kept her steady without breaking pace.
“Keep going,” he said grimly, but not without the kindness she had come to expect from him. Atteila was terrified and Tilly was sure she wasn’t much better. “We can’t help them like this, and it will do them no favors if our enemies catch us.”
“You know a lot about this?” Tilly asked to try and take her mind off the noises from the castle. Noises that sounded uncomfortably like the deaths of people she knew, and cared about. “Running from people trying to kill you?”
“I’m a spare prince. My father sent me to war as soon as I was old enough,” Hanver said bitterly. Atteila reached back and took his free hand for a quick squeeze. “I’m told my presence was very good for morale.”
Nobles and their spare children. Tilly should have known. She would have to keep a closer eye on him. He wasn’t the first former soldier she had met. No wonder he was so willing to die to get them out of the kitchen.
She hoped she wouldn’t have to take him up on it.
“There,” she said when the stables came into sight. “Slow up. Are any of those fighters here?”
Together they peered through the bushes. The stables looked deserted, but Tilly wasn’t willing to trust that. Not with her lover and her friend’s lives.
“Wait here,” she said and swallowed down her fear. She pulled off her apron and stuffed it into a nearby bush before dusting as much of the flour out of her hair as she could. When she was done, she looked like any other kitchen maid. Atteila caught her hand, and Tilly threw caution to the wind. Hanver knew they were lovers. She cupped her princess’s face tenderly and kissed her, slow and sweet. “Wait here until I whistle for you. Promise me.”
“You shouldn’t go alone,” Hanver tried to protest. Tilly leveled a hard gaze on him. “Let me go. I’m expendable.”
“No, you’re not,” Tilly and Atteila said in unison and shared a wan chuckle as the three of them huddled together. “If I get caught, they’ll just think I’m a maid. If you get caught, they kill you. That’s why I’m going, not you.”
“Be careful, my honey-sweet lady,” Atteila whispered. Her hands shook with fear, but her faith gave Tilly strength. “I cannot be without you.”
“I’ll be fast,” Tilly said and steeled herself. Terror nibbled on her mind like rats on a rotten loaf of bread. She pushed it away. She couldn’t afford to be afraid now. “Remember, only come if I whistle. If I call for you, don’t come. It means I’ve been caught and they know we’re together.”
“Better than a war-trained general,” Hanver said, and clapped her shoulder as he would a soldier. “We’ll listen for you.”
“Get her out of here if they catch me.”
“I promise.”
Tilly leaned over and kissed Atteila once more before she steeled herself and slipped through the low bushes away form them, towards the too-quiet stables.
Time to find out if their enemies were smart enough to guard the horses.
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Pride of Place :
Strawberry Roses
Orange Bubbles (Subscriber Only!)
Wine Shower
In Hot Water (Subscriber Only!)
Under Orange Blossoms
A Little Bitter
Folding Puff
Cookie Cutter Friends
Out the Back
Rescuing Allies (New!)
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MASTERLIST
