12.. Flight

Mirello was already in motion. Tien leapt to her feet, uncertain of what to do. She saw that the others were slipping the belts from around their tunics. Tien watched in surprise as, with a neat flick of Fen’s wrist, the three braids of her belt unravelled to form a single strand. Noth, Baran, Renda, and Mirello huddled together. With fluid, practised movements, they somehow connected the strands from their belts, creating one long thin cord. Saka, Fen and Berry did the same with their belts, and then Renda and Saka opened the windows. By some means, each of the men attached the end of their cord to a windowsill. The cords stuck, holding firm against the testing tugs they were given.

Fen was beside Tien. “We must slide down these ropes and be gone before the Raseen come up,” she murmured in Tien’s ear. “The cord is thin, but it will hold your weight easily. Wrap your scarf around your hands like this, so you don’t get rope burn.” She held out her own bound palms to show Tien. “Saka will go first; next you and Berry. I will go last. We need to hurry,” she added unnecessarily over her shoulder, before crossing back to the window.

The other group gave a fleeting wave of farewell, and began their descent out one window. Tien pulled the scarf from around her head, as she walked her jellied legs over to where Saka was sitting on their window ledge. Saka twisted around to face the wall, and then he was gone. Tien leant over the sill. She watched him sail down the rope and land softly onto the street. Tien’s mind whirled. It was all happening so fast. She fastened her scarf around one hand, and gingerly lifted herself up to sit on the edge of the sill. She ventured another peek down. The ground was so far away! She was so high up!

Tien closed her eyes to the dizzying sight. She arched herself back against the safety of the window sill, gripping the ledge with white-knuckled fingers. I can’t, she thought in a panic. I tried, but I cannot go out that window. But if I don’t, I’ll be facing the Raseen. Alone. Tien shivered. She glanced over at the other window, in time to see their final person Renda, going down.

The stairs outside creaked under the muffled tread of footsteps, sending a rush of adrenalin coursing through Tien’s veins. Propelled into motion, she reached for the cord that dangled between her legs and gave it an experimental tug. It held firm. She looked over the ledge and saw Saka, peering up from the shadows. He was motioning frantically for her to come down. “What if my weight dislodges the cord? I’ll fall,” she muttered in a low wail.

“Please,” a voice hissed in her ear. “Please tell me that you are not a molly-coddled Aryk princess that has to be carried all the way to Pasco. Come back in.” Berry stood behind her. Tien was too stunned to protest. In her all-consuming fear, she had been oblivious to anyone else in the room. She clambered back over the sill, under Berry’s impatient gaze, and fell clumsily back into the room. The humiliation! she groaned inwardly, feeling like a giant. But there is now way I can go down that rope.

“Watch carefully this time,” Berry said, swinging her legs over the sill. She flipped herself around to face Tien briefly, before sliding smoothly down to Saka. Fen came back to stand alongside Tien. She motioned for her to go next.

A soft rap at the door spared Tien from answering. A deceptively polite rap. The two women froze. An icy shiver of dread tingled down Tien’s spine. Through a panicked blur, as if in slow motion, both she and Fen moved out onto the window ledge as one. Together, they grasped the rope and shimmied down. Tien’s insides lurched as the earth rushed up to meet them. They landed with a thud and rolled onto their backs. Tien sat up immediately. For a moment she stayed like that, light-headed and breathless; grinning helplessly. But there was no time to marvel in her accomplishment. Saka hauled them both to their feet. He grabbed the end of the cord, and with a flick, it came away from the window. He rolled it up, clumsy in his haste, and pocketed it. Tien looked around for the other group, but they had already melted away into the night.

A splintering crash above them, shattered the silence. Tien spun around and looked up to the window. They’ve broken the door down. Rasping voices grunted in surprise. She could hear the scrape of furniture as the Raseen searched the room. Fen grabbed her. The four of them pressed themselves flat against the other side of the wall. Several Raseen leaned their big braided heads out the window, muttering oaths. After looking carefully up and down the street, they disappeared from view, and moments later, Tien could hear them stomping down the stairs. The companions gazed at one another as though they were frozen to the spot. Berry broke the spell.

“Lets take their goats!,” she cried, gesturing wildly at the beasts. ”We’ll never outrun them otherwise. Erenraps are swift. If the child cannot ride a goat.” She nodded over at Tien, as if she couldn’t hear, “we can take three, and she can ride behind one of us. Come on!” They sprinted over to the enormous goats, which stood, tethered to a post opposite the inn.

Child!, Tien shrieked at Berry, in her head. How dare you presume to know what I can or cannot do. At that moment, her fury at Berry surpassed her fear of the Raseen. It would have been satisfying to see Berry trip over, or slip off as she mounted her goat. But Tien knew it was unlikely. Those were everyday occurrences for herself, not Tiran beauty queens.

The Raseen spilled out of the inn. When they saw that their goats had been untethered by their intended victims, they broke into a run; screaming with a ferocity that even Tien had not seen before. Flee, she told herself. Mount the goat, and flee. But her legs had seized up. They would not obey the frantic message her mind was relaying. Fen pushed her up onto a goat with strong arms. She placed the reins placed into her hands. Tien glanced over her shoulder. The Raseen were so close, she could see their black teeth bared, and smell the rancid odour of their unwashed uniforms.

Fen urged her beast over to nudge Tien’s. “Gidlopa! “ she commanded with a hoarse shout. The goats lurched off into the night, fast reaching a canter.

In truth, Tien had only ridden about four times in her life, and never on a goat this size, or on one bred for speed. She gripped the reins, leaning her chest close to the goat’s back. Her eyes watered in the breeze, but she kept them open. She could see the others ahead, racing down the long lane in single file. The Raseen’s angry shouts faded into an insignificant babble, as the gap between them widened. Soon all Tien could hear was the drumming of the goat’s hooves on the road. She blinked dimly, trying to make out the jolting shapes of the others just ahead. The goats trotting through narrow lanes and skidding round corners onto wider streets for what seemed like ages.

They left Tira behind and were soon racing along a paved road. Tien willed herself to stay awake, as they galloped steadily through the remainder of the night. It was only as dawn crept its first pale fingers of sunlight over the horizon, that the Erenraps slowed to a canter and then to a steady walk. Finally Saka nudged his goat off the main road. The others followed him into a wood that stretched out to their left. Once they were concealed from the road, the weary riders dismounted and took the saddles off their grazing beasts. Tien discreetly watched, and then copied the rubdown Fen gave her goat. Berry’s harsh words still echoed in her mind, and Tien was determined not to incur any more of her scorn. In fact, she reflected, it is a shame that Berry has joined us at all.

© 2006 by Shelly Taylor