“I need to pee,” he muttered swiftly, turning his head to the side before peering at the curtained bed with lightless eyes.

  “Uh huh, kay-” with broken words, she spoke away, quickly turning to her stomach before pulling the duvet closer to herself. Her sleep unabated from the sound of doors clicking, the man had already closed them again, moving through the no-longer quiet corridor, practically hearing his heart race from within.

  Taking as light steps as he could with bare feet, the man headed for the stairs. Albeit slow, the approach was steady, reaching the ground floor eventually.

  Glancing to the right as he entered the wholly dark space, the man fell silent for a moment.

  Yet, hearing no noises come, he promptly moved left. ‘It should have started working by now,” he thought to himself after grazing through the cold floor.

  Simultaneously, he constantly headed towards his room before finally standing in front of the door. Facing it, he grasped the handle confidently before a harsh breath was let out. Opening it and moving inside, Lutiel adroitly closed it from inside.

  “Light,” he said quietly, only to be immediately engulfed in a bask from above. No longer flickering as before, a new one had been installed under his request a few weeks prior.

  Ignoring the crystal however, Lutiel already started putting his clothes back on, promptly standing in the middle of the room in his usual attire, except for the tie, which didn’t give him any advantage whatsoever. Regaining the warmth similar to Zyponia’s bedding, he swiftly turned towards his desk, on which the sheathed longsword lay.

  Firstly though, he took the leather straps close to it. He put on the dark baldrick before settling the scabbard in place. Then, the man walked over to the wardrobe, lowering his body before looking underneath the furniture.

  Stretching his arm inside the gap, he swiftly pulled it back, along with a make-shift pouch made from one of his nightly shirts. Putting it over his left shoulder and crossing with the baldric, Lutiel promptly put a few fresh sets of underwear inside.

  Before letting it rest, however, he took the chair near the desk before placing it directly below the light source.

  Grasping on the cold, stone-like material, he quickly yanked it away, ripping the metallic pieces attached to the wall together with the light. Kept alight, Lutiel nodded at the dim light before getting it to die out. Tossing it to his bag, the man followed towards his bed.

  Raising the mattress, he watched the nightly shades, swiftly grabbing onto the cloak he kept hidden away. Letting the bed fall silently before he stood with the fabric in his hands, his figure suddenly turned before sitting down on the bedding’s verge.

  Letting his arms plummet down to his thighs before he stared beyond the window on his left, Lutiel glanced down yet again, staring at the black cloak. Countless breaths fell out of the man before he finally flinched.

  Raising himself abruptly, he tossed the fabric to the bed, grasping on the chair’s top rail and sitting beside his desk. From the drawer, he took out a singular, small page, along with a metal pen and a corked ink holder.

  Within a few moment, he started curving the ink along the page, yet, just a word after, he already hesitated, his right hand shaking meekly as it hovered over the paper.

  Still, gritting his teeth, he resumed once again. ‘I will come back as fast as I can, I promise. I truly promise this time,’ he thought to himself, glaring at the page solemnly as words crawled out from beneath his touch.

  Albeit taking a long while, finally, he stepped away from the chair, tossing the pen back to the drawer before going towards the bed yet again.

  Grasping the cloak one more time, he crumpled the fabric tightly, drawing a sharp breath before letting the material fall over his back. Covering himself with the black cloak fully, he promptly put the hood on, right before glancing at the window.

  Slowly, but surely, he went over to the sill, looking beyond the glass whilst frozen in space. His breathing practically halting itself, it staggered after finally coming to the decision.

  A seed of doubt budded within him as he peered over at the world clouded with winter. Regardless, he instantly shook his head, reaching out towards the handle and tightly grasping it. Moving it up to sit horizontally, he pulled towards himself, a nippy breath quickly engulfing him.

  Thankfully, his clothing was there to protect him from the harsh coldness.

  Even as the glittering flakes permeated through to the room and gathered on his attire, it swiftly melted away, unable to wet the fabric properly. At the same time, despite moving right at his face, some sort of a wall protected him from getting tainted by the snow.

  For another time, he released a deeper breath, quickly hatching his arm on the sill before raising the legs. One after another, Lutiel crawled out through the window, his mind racing slightly as he watched the murky night in the distance up ahead. ‘The first step is done. Now, the stable,’ he thought to himself, glancing around the wall he was holding onto before letting loose.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  The room of his being on the ground floor, Lutiel swiftly caught his footing, sinking inside the puffy blanket of snow with a crunching noise.

  Swiftly getting close to the walls of the mansion, he walked along the path of stone slabs, circling the building before arriving towards the right side, away from the front yard, as well as the gardens. Instead, he walked cautiously between the hedgerows bulging from the faintly blue snow, illuminated by the parted skies.

  Walking through the paths, he quickly arrived in an empty space, enveloped with smaller buildings. The man quickly focused his eyes on the longest one of them all. Approaching the stables filled with a few rooms, he saw only two of them being used, the horses inside lying calmly on strands and piles of hay whilst kept behind the doors made solely from iron bars.

  Unveiled before the cold wind, they didn’t wince out however, sleeping peacefully. Yet, suddenly, the pale one he arrived near opened its eyes, raising its head slightly to witness the shadows on the hooded figure.

  Before it could neigh out its panic, though, Lutiel briskly took off his hood, parting his lips as well. “It’s me, Runi, don’t worry,” the man said lightly, promptly glancing over to the wooden box standing near the doors of the stall. Opening it before glancing at the plethora of bright red apples contained within, he swiftly took one of them before kneeling down and reaching the arm out towards the horse.

  “Yes, come here,” he added, seeing as the stallion slowly raised itself off the ground, producing light noises to aid its way. Eventually, the horse quickly moved over to the man’s hand, briskly nibbling on the apple whilst his other hand ruffled through its mane gently.

  “Will you help me? I need to get out of here,” he asked whilst staring deeply into its brown eyes, only to be stared back at soundly. Eating the apple away, Runi released a quiet neigh, as if affirming the man’s words.

  Nodding at the creature for a breath or so, he quickly took the keys above the container with apples before twisting the locks open. Getting inside, he went over to the wooden walls containing the horses, taking the hanged riding gear before promptly putting it on the horse.

  Albeit, he took the gear for a single rider, unlike the double one he rode tens of times with Folvana.

  Within a few minutes, the dark straps were already hanging from the horse’s face, metallic stirrups dangling lightly near its belly whilst the saddle sprawled neatly across the animal’s back. Running his palm across the horse’s neck one last time, he guided him out of the cage by the reins, leaving the keys inside the closed doors before promptly turning to the path covered by hedgerows yet again.

  Albeit their steps sounded out through the snow, Lutiel made little effort to hide them anymore. Simply moving through the manor before reaching the front yard, they soon headed towards the dark gates. However, rather than the gates itself, the man locked his gaze at the smaller entrance of a similar architecture to the right.

  ‘Opening it from inside should pose no threat, at least from what Raeyine told me,’ he wondered for a brief moment, having caught onto the cold, dark handle. ‘They should only feel it if someone from outside tries to force their way in,’ mused Lutiel, promptly opening the smaller gate and letting the horse move together with him.

  However, as he began to retrieve the metal back to its original state, the man hesitated. ‘If I close it now, there’s no going back,’ he ruminated for a while, only for the gate to click shut.

  ‘I’ll be back. Stay safe, everyone,’ he thought, quickly putting his left foot in the stirrup. Jumping to sit on the saddle calmly, he swiftly nestled his right foot inside as well, putting his hood back on before grabbing the reins.

  “Go,” he uttered lightly, however, it was all the horse needed. With the simplest of commands, it briskly dug through the snow, easily warming up its well-rested muscles to stride through the darkened forest.

  Clenching his jaw whilst looking ahead of himself solemnly as the snow tried to battle through his attires, Lutiel gripped the leather reins even tighter. Galloping through the murky path slowly, he only used the light bouncing of the snow as his guidance, moving away from the mansion with each breath.

  He couldn’t glance back, not anymore at least. Had he opened the gates yet again, they would quickly understand the situation.

  ‘This is my only chance,’ he judged, glancing up at the moon hanging between the skies before lightly tossing the reins at the horse, gradually growing in pace. Coming closer to the pale fur, he battled through the wind together with his new companion.

  Countless breaths and thoughts passed away, swallowed by the deep of the night until the duo finally broke from the woods. Practically clinging to the animal as he increased the speed once more, Lutiel stared ahead of him with clear eyes, opened wider than usual as he scoured through the nightly scape ahead of them.

  ‘Sheila, you better be there.’

  …

  “Mmm,” a short mumble escaped through the curtains, flowing across the room before dying out eventually. Yet, the girl that released it rustled about in the duvet, adjusting and pulling it to accommodate herself. Playing around in the red sheen coming through the undulating drapes, Zyponia’s figure gradually hesitated to keep asleep.

  “Ugh,” stretching out her limbs quickly, she finally groaned. Staying in the position for a while, the girl simply nestled in the bed as her breaths passed along the bed.

  Yet, her eyes opened out of nowhere, vehemently looking through the place around her. “Lutiel?” She muttered out questioningly, staring at the bulky bedding before her. Lifting it up however, all she saw were empty sheets.

  A brisk look flashed inside her eyes, the eyebrows immuring in place before she raised herself from the position.

  Parting the curtains and walking out bare, Zyponia glanced around the space hastily. Her sullen face only worsened the more she witnessed, souring especially as the eyes fell atop the collar on the floor. Lying opened up, something screamed to the lady as she kept her sights on top of it.

  Swiftly, her legs started to move through the space, arriving near her late night’s attire before all of the pieces flew up her body within a breath. Zyponia rushed herself immediately. Taking a single step forward, she already appeared close to the doors, going through them like a ram.