by Noel » Wed Apr 25, 2012 1:10 pm
By the time Ren made it back within the grounds of the castle, noon had come and gone. It had been a bit over two days since he had fled the castle, assassinating two he would not let be named his successor. About fifty hours of freedom... it had been move then he could ever wish for, and yet it was far longer then he had ever intended to stay away, and it was already over. It was an... odd and highly depressing feeling, but there was nothing he could do about it, or at least he until he learned that it was already too late.
etting out of the castle was often difficult, as there was nothing to climb to get over the walls, and guards were everywhere. Usually a bribe or two in the right hands was enough to get him free passage through, but after being gone for as long as he had with no idea what was waiting for him, that was not a good idea. Thankfully, Ren recalled as he walked along the outside wall, it was easier to get in. A fault of the castle, in his opinion. But right then, it was befitting him. A small forest rimmed the walls and stretched about a mile out, and since the pay cuts when his advisers took control the guards weren't very good about cutting down large trees that stretched over the wall. So Ren, looking among the trees, quickly located one with a cut in the bark he had made many months before. Scaling it in about a minute, as climbing trees seemed to be one thing he could actually do well, Ren poked among the branches for a minute. As usual, the rope was there, and he quickly knotted it around a branch, letting the other end drop to the ground below. He slid down that, and decided to leave the rope hanging down in the shadows just in case what he found proved to be unpleasant. After all, shortly before disappearing he had threatened to shoot his attendants, and his advisers could find many ways to use that against him. Leaving the way out would prove to be perhaps his smartest idea in his short life.
Ren had little trouble navigating through the maze of the castle, where he had lived his life. To his surprise, there were shockingly few guards in comparison to what he had been expecting given their king had vanished. But it wasn't like his guards were loyal, it would be to catch him when he returned, so Ren was wary of a trap.
The sound of approaching footsteps, and many of them, made him freeze up. He was in a courtyard, it wasn't hard to find a tree that could hide his slim form. Crouched there, Ren winced at the sight. The first two people to enter were two guards, that was unsurprisingly. His advisers had assigned most of his guards to themselves. But then followed another two guards, two of his advisors, some ancient aunt-once-removed of his or something that he had long since forgotten, another guard, and then something that made Ren's breath catch. The last person in trail who mattered, talking with an tall, bearded man that was one of Ren's most hated advisers, who usually held the gun when they were threatening him. The last person was one of his cousins, Rinalle, the most rotten and spoiled person Ren could swear he would ever know. The sight of the bright yellow hair and twisted expression was unforgettable.
With a elaborate golden gown, decked in jewelry, and a crown marked with the King's Seal resting on her golden-curls, Ren didn't care about anything else. He knew what had happened while he was gone just from the sight. His advisers had probably decreed him dead. His absence, where he could do nothing against them, was a perfect time to do something they had been planning to do. Apparently they finally thought they had enough power and a much better puppet then Ren had proved to be.
Rinalle had been named Queen.
Ren tried not to well, break down into tears there. He knew very well what that implied. What had previously been his kingdom would crumble within a year, he was sure of that, under the greedy fist of Rinalle, and behind her, his -previous- advisers. He couldn't do anything there, The guards were looking wary, pondering if not confused, and others looking around as if searching for something with evil and wanting expressions. Without a corpse it was hard to prove Ren to be dead. So some guards were unsure of everything, and others had been told that Ren still lived and they would be rewarded richly if they could provide his body. Ren didn't know this, but he had a good guess that was very close to the truth.
The procession soon passed by, and Ren's body thought before his mind. As soon as he was sure he would not be heard, he turned and ran. As fast as he possibly could, away from there. Being seen would mean his death, and with it any hope of saving his kingdom. And if they saw the rope... they would surely guess that he had returned.
Running against the shadowed side of walls, keeping the rooms he knew to be darkest, Ren achieved a near miracle; once again no one saw him. Before long, out of breath and still in a daze, Ren was climbing back down his tree, bringing the rope with him, on the other side of the castle wall. For a moment he stared at the rope in his hands, wondering why he had carried it down but not really caring.
Fight or flee, twas the instinct of man. Ren was small and weak, with too many against him to fight. So he fled. Running as far as he could, in full sprint, back to near where he had previously been with Sapphire what seemed like an eternity ago. He only slowed when his legs gave out underneath him and he collapsed, which given Ren's frail state wasn't that far. The escapade had taken away his attention, but once he was sitting on the ground with his knees pulled up to his chin with only the sound of his ragged breathing to be heard, reality struck hard. Without another sound he buried his head into his knees, and for the first time since being crowned king, Ren broke down and silently began to cry.
They were all going to die, unless he managed to do something. But he was the lost king, who most of his people hated, not knowing he had only been a puppet to his advisers, kept at gunpoint half his life. What was there to do? Hide away and wait for the end? While he had still stood at the throne, his advisers actions were limited. But now with only Rinalle to persuade... and it was all his fault in Ren's mind, for having taken those precious two days.
To Ren, the end was within sight.
((Whoop, plot upheaval! Something will happen from here though that shall prevent the end though. xD ))
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