"Don't ever say that again, milady," Eliza protested looking behind to see if anyone had been listening. "You don't know these creatures. I'm surprised you're even still alive. Escaping is like offering them your head, let's just stay put, milady."
Althea was not having it. She shook her head. "It'll just be like back at Ravenshore when we escaped to go to the carnivals."
Eliza rubbed her temples. This was not the time for her lady's rebellious spirit to surface, she thought to herself. She then cleared her throat, trying to be logical, "Okay my lady, if we succeed in escaping, where are we going to go to? We definitely can't go back to Ravenshore because we'd be caught the very next second."
"Leave that to me, my dear Eliza," Althea hummed excitedly in a sing-song voice. Getting out of bed, she picked up a trunk and started packing some clothes and valuables. "We can go to my Uncle's, Baron Gilbert of Barrowville. He resides in the east, though it's a far journey from here."
She then turned to Eliza thoughtfully, "Or my aunt, Marchioness Colly of the Northshire kingdom. She'd be glad to have me. We have options, Eliza. Plenty!" She said excitedly.
Eliza didn't know if she should laugh or cry in this situation, but her lady was smiling as usual so, everything was alright, maybe.
Soon, night blanketed the white mountains pack and Althea and Eliza began their mission.
They tied ends of bed sheets together and when they noticed how high up they were, they added other pieces of sturdy clothing material to their makeshift rope.
"Just how high is this building!" Althea groaned when she looked down and the rope wasn't even half of the building. Half of this rope would have gotten her safely to the ground back at her home in Ravenshore.
"Let's just stay back and try to convince Alpha Nathaniel to…"
"You and I know he won't," Althea said sternly and scrambled across the room looking for more clothes to add to the rope.
Finally, the rope was at least long enough for them to jump so they wouldn't hurt themselves.
Althea used her fine-tailored clothes which broke her heart, but she told herself she could sew a thousand more when she left this place.
They got down the pack house and Althea heaved a sigh of relief. The bigger part of the mission was done.
Eliza was still worried, whispering warnings in Althea's ear, "It's not too late to turn back now, my lady."
"Rubbish!" Althea scolded her. "This will be over soon."
Althea walked stealthily, holding Eliza's hand as they tiptoed through the gardens. They saw a guard and leaned their backs into the stone walls of the pack house.
"My lady!" Eliza squirmed but Althea pressed her palm to her lips.
"Calm down Eliza! We'll get caught because of you," Althea whispered. By the time she looked out the corner of the wall again, the guard had disappeared.
They kept on walking and soon Eliza grew tired. "Isn't this the tree we saw last two times?"
Althea scratched her head looking around. She just realized that she doesn't know her way around here, so she has no idea where the exit was. "True, we've been walking around in circles."
A guard on patrol then passed and instead of hiding, Althea had a great idea.
"Good evening, my good sir." She greeted smiling brightly.
The guard didn't recognize her and wanted to draw his sword but Eliza was quick to intervene. "We're esteemed guests of your Alpha, it'll do you good to put your sword back in."
The guard looked them up and down skeptically before he bowed at them.
Althea then gathered courage. "We've been looking for the gate. We would like to tour around the community as this is our first time here. Could you help us?" She batted her eyes at the guard hoping he would fall for her charms but the guard didn't even spare her a second look.
"Let me inform the Alpha." He said but Althea rushed at him,
"You can't do that." She said hastily before she realized that she looked suspicious. She wore a sweet smile. "You don't need to disturb the Alpha, just show us to the gate and you can be on your way."
The guard frowned wondering what was there to see at night but he didn't push further. Probably the nightlife. "Come with me," he said and Althea and Eliza followed him.
When the guard had his back to them, Althea heaved a sigh of relief and winked at Eliza in a silent show of victory, a bright smile claiming her lips. She had told her everything would work out.
How big was this manor, Althea groaned inwardly as they kept walking on and on. It felt like a maze with all the corners they took and Althea began to feel a bit dizzy.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Althea saw the big gates.
"Please wait here while I arrange a carriage and a guard to accompany you."
"Just the carriage will do. We'll be fine by ourselves." Eliza chipped in, her hands shaking even though they were almost successful at their mission. Something felt wrong. Everything was too good to be true.
The guard nodded and a few minutes later, he arrived with the carriage.
"If you need anything, just let the coachman know. Alright then." The guard bowed and left.
Althea and Eliza settled inside the carriage.
"Where to?" The coachman asked in a thick accent that Althea wasn't familiar with.
"Take me to the market square," Althea said.
She would hire a new carriage from the market square and head to her aunt's house in Northshire. Northshire was quite far from here and she was sure Nathaniel would never find her.
Meanwhile, from the balcony of his room, Nathaniel watched Althea scramble around the pack house with her servant. He had been watching them since, laughing at their futile attempts at finding the gates.
He had Infact sent the guard who saw them to the gate. Maybe a bit of time away from the pack house, will make Althea less guarded. Either way, she'll be back here faster than she can realize.