The Fairest (Sample)
Chapter 18: The Ledge

Mageia put her stealth skills to work. She descended the narrow stairway. Her feet were as soft as pillows on the marble floor, and her body was relaxed, save for her heart scratching against her ribcage. Her head was tilted slightly down, with her hair covering most of her face. At the bottom, she was greeted by a circular foyer, plain and dull, with two entryways. She chose the hall to her left and scurried down it with great urgency until she came to a corridor of wooden doors, which she assumed were rooms belonging to the slaves.

Trying the doors was not an option. It was known that the palace possessed ten times the number of slaves than any slave-owner in the kingdom. They were all from different backgrounds and stories, once Fair or never Fair, which meant not all of them could be trusted. The end of the corridor brought her to a main hall bright with windows. One glance out of them showed that she had possibly two floors to descend.

She did not stop. Every second of every minute counted when it came to an escape. She descended a staircase and passed a few more adjoined hallways with doors. Some slaves appeared here and there, too occupied to give her any attention. She hid her face by turning away ever so calmly, like she was gazing out the windows to avoid having her purple eyes spotted.

Heart thumping wildly in her ears, she knew Rasheem and the girl had noticed her disappearance and had either raised the alarm or tried to figure out what to do.

Her only goal was to exit the palace and slip off the palace grounds without getting caught by foot soldiers.

Gods help me, she prayed.

Finally, she came to the end of one hall, where a fancy stairway sat alone. She must’ve, at some point, exited the slave quarters. This only meant one thing: guards. She peeked around the corner down the only hall scaling an extended balcony over the next level. No guards, but if she descended, she could run smack into some on duty.

“What to do? What to do?” she whispered.

You could go back and try another hall.

A guard entered the new hall from somewhere, tugging on the front of his pants. He must’ve come from the privy, because he looked very relaxed and vulnerable. Instead of approaching the hall where she stood, he went the opposite direction. She exhaled, only to hear footsteps approach her from behind.

She spun around to face a guard on patrol. His humming grew louder, and the smirk on his face sloped as they caught eyes for a dragged out second.

“Hey!” he shouted, his hand going for his sword.

Mageia dashed to the stairway and descended. The guard’s footsteps thundered with the thumps of her heartbeat. He shouted at the top of his lungs, his voice echoing in every direction.

“Purple Thief! Purple Thief! Intruder! Stop!”

Two posted guards flew around a corner in response. Seeing her, they drew their sword and raced to meet her at the bottom.

The lead guard sliced at her, only to cut air. She had the upper hand by being above him. She dropped to the steps and kicked him in the groin. He yelped and hunched over as he stumbled to the floor. The second guard was on her fast and tried to slice her in half with an overhead strike. She managed to roll to the right against the railing just in time and kicked him in the kneecap. She jumped up and punched him in the face. The guard behind her tried to slash at her head, but she slipped away, causing him to lodge his blade into the railing.

Mageia ran as a few guards came from a hall behind the staircase. Their countenance was furious after seeing what she had done to their comrades. She kept running, eyes focused on the corridor ahead, and blocked out their demands for surrender.

Not a chance, she thought.

A bell rang somewhere outside the estate. Everyone now knew an intruder was in the palace and was on alert. She made a sharp turn to the right, hoping to come across another stairway, but the area looked as if she’d been here before. She hadn’t, and it made her worried that she was lost and may never fully exit the palace.

Guards entered the corridor ahead of her, and picked up their speed once they spotted her. She ran into double doors propped slightly open, the only place to go. Every wall possessed shelves of books that shot high up to the ceiling, with long ladders and balconies connected to each. Books were everywhere, stacked professionally in a presenting manner on glass tables, showcases, and stands.

No one was around, so Mageia quickly slammed the doors closed and shoved one of the armchairs under the knobs. At the same time, the guards plunged into the doors on the other side. Mageia jumped and stumbled backward, out of breath. When it came to being chased, she never found herself sucking in oxygen like this before.

“Great gods,” she muttered.

If this was like any other chase, she would be laughing at the guards’ failure. However, as of late, being spotted had only gotten her captured and condemned.

She stumbled her way through the library, passing a slave woman who was in the middle of cleaning but was now trembling behind a bookstand.

“Don’t worry, I’m not going to hurt you,” Mageia said as she scanned the room. “Is there any way out of here?”

The woman, possibly in her late thirties with short cropped hair, nodded her head and stepped out of her hiding space. Her hands began to move in swift motions in the silent language. Thanks to one of the children in her family who was also mute, Mageia could understand keywords.

“The windows? I can get out from there?”

The woman pointed her index to the floor and nodded.

“Down?” Mageia asked. When the woman bobbed her head, Mageia quickly signed, Thank you and ran to one of the large windows and grinned. Indeed, the woman was right. The glass window opened to a stone ledge trailing the side of the building, wide enough for a person to walk across.

Mageia climbed onto the ledge. The sun was at its highest point in the sky since it was around noontime. Its rays were hot and directly on this side of the palace, but it didn’t bother her. She was a skilled climber, and heights barely frightened her.

The doors to the library burst open and thunderous footsteps entered. Mageia glanced back at the balcony, knowing for sure that some brave guard would follow. She picked up her pace, and as expected, three guards climbed onto the ledge.

She was on the second level and needed something sturdy to help her climb down. Time was of the essence. Any minute now, guards could appear below in the grassy courtyard from any direction. She tried some of the windows she passed, but they wouldn’t budge. The ledge eventually came to a dead end.

“Damn it,” she sputtered, looking for a new exit.

The guards were closing in, and they were angry. Pounding on the window behind her were more guards, trying to open a latch that had been sealed for some time.

Mageia trembled, but then spotted a clutter of vines that had grown on the side of the building beside the end of the ledge. Jumping to it was the only option, but it appeared too far. So, she backed away and held out a stopping hand to the guard in the lead.

“Surrender now, Strange,” the guard snarled. His white-blonde hair flickered in the sudden breeze.

“Get away from me!” she demanded.

“There’s nowhere for you to go but down to your death.”

“Oh, you’d like that, wouldn’t you?”

He gave her a sly smirk and narrowed his daunting sky-blue eyes. Then everything happened so quickly. He bravely lunged for her. Mageia pressed herself against the wall to keep them both from tumbling over. She fought against his hands, and somehow, he punched her in the jaw, but it wasn’t hard enough to knock her out. She tried pushing him against his breastplate. However, he was oddly good at keeping his balance.

“Be careful, Royce,” the guard’s comrade said, edging towards them and holding shackles.

The guard landed a powerful underhand punch to her left side. The pain shot through her pelvis and belly and erupted unnatural sounds from her mouth. He took that moment to bring his arm beneath her chin and pressed against her windpipe. She strained for air, slapping at him to force a release, but the determination in his eyes was filled with the merciless intent to kill.

She struggled against him as his bodyweight pressed her against the wall. Sight blurring and lungs screaming for oxygen, Mageia remembered something. She felt along the pocket of her skirt, found the seal opener, and pulled it out.

The window finally popped open. The league of guards had an open advantage of grabbing both of them, but it was too late. She plunged the sharp item into the guard’s cheek. Blood squirted everywhere as he screamed, revealing the blade inside his mouth. He released her enough for her to push him off the ledge. The last thing she wanted was to kill someone, but he was trying to kill her. The man gave a nasty yelp before it was cut short with a thump.

She wasted no time and didn’t stop to see everyone’s reactions or see if the man was truly dead. She ran the remaining length of the ledge and jumped across the clearing. Her hands were outstretched as water flooded her eyes and blinded the view of the vines that zoomed closer to her vision. When she latched on, she came to the horrid discovery of thorns decorating the vines. With a great scream of agony, she couldn’t stop the momentum of her jump and slid the rest of the way down to the grass.

Mageia plopped onto the grass, blood drenching her hands and arms and possibly her face, too. Still, she urged herself to keep moving and tried to climb to her feet. But every inch of her body was on fire, causing her heart to beat faster than normal.

She tried crawling, only to feel a sudden wave of exhaustion that slowed her down.

No, get up. But her body wouldn’t respond.

As if a boulder had been placed on her back, she slumped to the ground, laid her heavy head on the grass, and fought to keep her eyes open but lost.