Princess on the Roof

[IsabellaRose]

The knight’s boots thunder down the stairs behind you, but you don’t hesitate, you don’t think, you just move. You veer left, heart hammering, raises your arms up in front of your face, and launch yourself through the window. Glass shatters and explodes outward as you fly out into the day.

There is a moment of panicked freefall as the cool outside air hits you and you see everything in a freeze-frame moment. Enemy guards in the courtyard below look upward at the sound, shards of glass reflect the sunlight all around you as blood wells in tiny lacerations all up and down your arms, your feet pedal at nothing below you, and then the moment is past. Your feet hit the sloped tiles of the roof outside and you skid and slide on the moss-covered tiles as glass tinkles down around you. Your slippers were not made for this kind of thing, and you lose your balance, falling onto your backside. You see the edge of the roof getting closer as you slide slowly to a stop. For a moment, you lie there, breathless, the rough tiles pressing into your bottom and palms. Then you hear a crash behind you.

"Damn it!" the knight snarls from inside. He sees you. He's climbing into the window frame, ready to come out onto the roof after you.

You push yourself up, the wind whipping at your hair, your balance uncertain on the angled roof. The sloping roof circles around the tower, and you know just around that lies the gardens, perhaps a softer landing in the manicured topiary. Below, the castle grounds stretch, but a sea of enemies is down there before you make it to the outer walls. You can see a lower rooftop, part of an adjoining tower. You might make the jump, but it's a frightening distance.

The world feels too open, too exposed, but there’s no time to think. You have to keep moving.

Behind you, the knight is making is way through the window frame. "There’s nowhere to run, Princess!" he barks.

But he’s wrong. There’s always somewhere to run.

• If you choose to run across the steep slates of the roof, and try to reach the far side of the castle to climb down into the gardens, click here.
• If you brave the long leap to the lower rooftop of the adjoining tower, click here.
• If you try to climb down into the courtyard and hope you can evade the soldiers, click here.