Night’s Reprieve

After the guard left once she again refused his advances, she knew she must escape.

It was only a matter of time before the rebellion broke out, and she knew they would eventually target her as a martyr, despite her attempts to keep out of it.

As the evening’s revelries coursed onward, she knew no one would think twice about her absence, so used to her same withdrawn introspections that never gave outward variations as she’d walk the halls and outer gardens.

Only this time, she deviated, heading out toward the cliffside in the deep of night – and at the last minute, making a sharp turn to trace along its edges until an openimg down to the beach below revealed itself.

Heart pounding and breath becoming ragged, she was tentative with each step as she carefully scaled the slippery path in the pale moonlight and then safely reached the shifting sands that compress-crunched quietly underneath her slippers as she lifted her dress hem and swished-stumbled forward toward a small,  beached boat.

Within it, she found a change of clothes in a napsack weighted with stones, a sachel with food and water, and a coin purse with a rough-sketched map folded inside.

Then, she quickly pushed the boat into the edge of the calming ocean waters that were mid-shifting between tides.

Once she had maneuvered it to where she could climb into it without getting herself too wet, she leveraged the boat the rest of the way off of the sand and began rowing with renewed determination.

As she worked on maintaining a smooth yet fast-paced rhythm, she angled the boat out to just past the tucked-in cove to where a ship made ready to sail was still waiting for her in the deeper water.