Free?

I winced in pain as I took a silent step towards the back doors. These shoes were far too tight for comfort and I wondered why Darrell had asked me to wear them. I didn’t bring myself to think too much of it, though. Darrell was a master thinker. Whatever reason he had asked me to wear this voluminous dress with a death trap for footwear, I’m sure it was a good one.

I saw him the moment I stepped out, leaning by the Shepherd’s abandoned cottage. The erected fire lamp cast a golden glow on his features that transformed him delectably in my eye.

There was a reason I was set to abandon my family for this. He promised me freedom. The kind that seemed like a fruitless fantasy just months before. Meeting him had been a cliché beginning but it was my reality. The new gardener whose portions were to clear just outside my bedroom window. He had the warmest smile and the wittiest comebacks. But what endeared him to me most of all was because he came when only one thing ruled my mind. Escape.

And so every day he’d listen to my fantasies. Never interrupting. Never judging. Just listening. And the night he scaled the walls and into my bedroom to say that he had found a way, I knew that there was nowhere else I needed to be, than wherever this man went.

“You look stunning, Princess.” His voice interrupted my reverie.

The night sky wasn’t nearly enough to hide the blush that crept on my cheeks. Having him stare at me this way, in his favourite colour – green, made the ache in my toes nearly bearable.

“I’ve told you not to call me that, Darrell,” I shyly whispered.

“And I’ve told you that to me it’s more than just a title. It’s your very aura. Unmistakable royalty.” Goosebumps swept my skin. He had such a way with words. But then I looked around.

“We must hurry, dawn is approaching.”

“Of course, Princess. Are you ready?”

I nodded. “More than I’ll ever be. But wait,” I glanced at myself. “Why did I need to come out like this when we’re aiming at being discreet?”

He gave me a doting smile. “I just love seeing you in green.”

I didn’t attempt to hide my smile then. Just as we set off, he turned to me. “Did you bring it with you?”

I handed the satchel of coins to him. "I don't know if it's enough."

His eyes lit. “It will be,” he whispered. Then, he took my hands in his and we set off.

We walked briskly through the elaborate bush track he said led into the outside world. I stifled my winces of pain and trudged ahead. Judging from what Darrell had said, we would soon be at the boat. And I knew I’d be free then.

Twenty minutes later, we had burst into what looked like a midnight market. Each stall was lit with coal lamps and everyone seemed to be too busy to notice the lady in the bright emerald-green dress. Good for me.

We stopped at a stall and just as I was about to speak, Darrell pushed me behind and motioned me to quiet down.

“What’s going on?” I whispered. The alarmed look on his face was even more pressing than the thought of how hard he had pushed me. And then I heard it. A good twenty yards away.

“The Princess is missing!” I lifted my head a bit to see men. Men I recognized. My father’s men. They walked from one stall to another. Asking questions and receiving confused shrugs from everyone. I swallowed the terror rising in my throat like bile. I couldn’t lose my freedom. Not when I could already taste it.

When they passed the stall we were crouching behind, I turned to Darrell. He was staring at me.

“What are we going to do?”

He looked conflicted. “I don’t know. I didn’t think they’d know so fast.”

“I don't understand.”

He looked at me for a moment. “Come with me,” he said suddenly. And together we walked through the back of the stalls till we stopped at a building. He pulled out a key from his pocket and opened it, motioning me to come in.

It was a single room with a single window and stacks of bags at each end. A storehouse. I turned to look at him.

“They won’t find you here.”

“Me? Where are you going?”

“I need to get supplies. I’ll be back before the sun is fully up.” He held the doorknob.

“Wait,” I called out. He hesitated a second before turning slightly. “You promise to come back?”

He looked at me fully then and pulled me into a hug. “I’m not leaving you, Princess. I will be back. It’s a promise.” And with that, he was gone, locking the door securely behind him.

I sat on one of the stacks overlooking the window. I tried to fight the dread but I felt it washing me with a dead finality. Questions that I should have asked from the beginning came now. The gardener that had been perfect. Too perfect. And I knew then without a doubt. Darrell wasn’t coming back.

Taking the crown of my head, I tore one of the bags with its sharp edge and watched little green fruits topple down. The sun began to rise then, casting its morning glow dark storehouse. I fought the tears that threatened to flow at my naiveté. So so stupid.

I sighed. “Father’s men should be here any moment now.”