TRIAL AND ERROR | short stories + snippets

Music box acquired.

Now, all Diwa needs is to figure out a way to get rid of Cassius for long enough to be able to run away. She tries to ask him to get her a drink but he only waves a waiter over.

How long can she keep claiming that her husband will arrive soon before Cassius realises that there is no husband?

He keeps telling her stories about battles he's won and whatnot. She can't take it anymore. Time to go for the standard 'I'm going to the toilet' card.

"Where's the–?"

"Thief!"

The exclamation from the king immediately silences the ballroom. The music stops, everyone stops dancing, heads turn. If they had a record, it would scratch.

The king has jumped to his feet from his throne to point an accusatory finger.

At Cece. Frozen with a gold animal figurine in hand.

"How dare you steal from your king?"

Cece straightens up, pocketing the figure despite being stared by literally everyone in the room. "Fuck the monarchy, mate. You stole all this shit from someone else first, innit."

"Treason! Arrest him!"

"Oi! What happened to free speech?"

The Lord Chamberlain scoffs. "This is a fantasy world based on a historically inaccurate understanding of the Middle Ages. We don't have that here."

"Well... fuck." They take a slow step back, slow enough that none of the guards react. Then they spin around, shoving Diwa into motion. "Run!"

She glances in the direction of the stairs but several guards are rushing down them. Cece tugs her in the opposite direction. There's no exit.

She doesn't get the chance to question his plan before he grabs a chair, tells her to cover her eyes, and hurls it right through a window. Next moment, they're helping her up onto the ledge.

The heels Madhukar enchanted for her are definitely not made for parkour hijinks. She slips, cutting her arm on a shard of glass still poking from the window frame.

When she lands on the grass, she kicks the shoes off, leaving them wherever they land. It'll hurt much less to run barefoot than with those things on. Sorry Madhukar.

She bolts forward. The garden is too dense for her to know where she's going but as long as it's away from the castle, it's probably the right direction.

A string of curses lets her know that Cece's behind her.

"Go faster," they say when they catch up.

"You try running in this fucking corset!"

"Maybe you're just in bad shape."

Though each inhale stabs her through the throat and she definitely should save her oxygen, Diwa spits a response. "Well, I don't make running from law enforcement a regular hobby."

Cece laughs, then glances behind them to see the swarm of guards rushing after them, and stops laughing.

The path ends, a two-metre hedge marking the perimeter of the castle grounds. The pair stops running. Diwa might have been excellent at octopus tag when she was seven, but they won't have any chance of getting out through the gate.

"Can we get through it?" Cece asks, trying to shove an arm into the hedge.

"Not unless you can bend the iron fence on the other side. Why the fuck did you have to steal that shit? We already had the stupid music box."