Princess Runs Away

[IsabellaRose]

You don't think. You just turn and run.

The gown tangles around your legs, the heavy skirts threatening to trip you with every step, but panic drives you forward. Your bare feet slap against the cold stone, the floor slick with something you don't dare think about. The shattered remains of stained-glass windows cast fractured colors across the hall as you sprint toward the archway ahead.

Behind you, the knight laughs, low and cruel. "Run, then," he calls, the sound of his armored boots striking the stone in pursuit. "Let's see how far you get."

Your breath comes in ragged gasps. The castle is in ruins, walls crumbling, bodies strewn across the floor. You don't recognize this place, but your body does. Somewhere deep inside, some part of the princess you now inhabit remembers the paths, the hidden corridors, the places to hide. Your mind races to keep up, your instincts screaming at you to move faster, to get away before he...

There is a crash behind you. He's gaining.

You turn a sharp corner, catching yourself against the wall, your fingers scraping across jagged stone. Down a circular staircase you run as if your life depends on it. It may. At the bottom of the stairs, a long hallway stretches before you, lined with massive wooden doors, most of them thrown open, their contents ransacked and ruined. You know that the door at the far end is the way out, but a long straight hall will give him time to catch up, and there's no way to know what awaits you once you get into the main areas of the castle. You also know that there is a secret door inside the second room, the entrance to a hidden passage that will take you to the library downstairs. Glancing to your left, you see that the windows are open. You used to climb out onto the roof outside as a child and play despite your parents warnings.

The guards' footsteps thunder down the stairs behind you. You have seconds to make your choice.

• If you run for the door at the end of the hallway and escape outside, click here.
• If you try to make it through the secret door before the guard catches up, click here.
• If you jump out the window onto the roof outside to make your escape, click here.

Edited Monday at 04:30 PM by IsabellaRose