Welcome To Mystery by Dana Smith (best color ebook reader txt) 📖

from the window, leaving his friend there. He walked up to Kessie, a broad smile plastered on his lips.

"You, Kessie, will stay here as my guest." Kessie didn’t know what shocked her more, him stating she would simply stay with him, or the fact that he knew her name. She didn't know what to do as the back of her throat dried up. She felt anger and desperation well up inside of her. She glared at this man, who the hell did he think he was?

"Don’t flatter yourself." Kessie said simply "I'm not a guest, I am your prisoner." what else should I have said, and I was true enough, he was after all keeping me here without my permission. His smile flattered a little and there was sorrow in his eyes, she couldn't help but feel bad for how rude she’d been.

"Very well." he said, the smile gone from his face. They made eye contact once more before he motioned for the commandant to come over.

"Please escort Kessie back to her chambers." he said in a stern voice. I'm beginning to think that escort has a different meaning in this world.

The commandant began to walk, expecting me to follow him, but I stood my ground. I looked back at the old man, he stared back, his eyes full of sympathy. Then as if snapping out of a trance he looked away and made a shooing motion with his hands. Despite being held prisoner here, I couldn't help but begin to like this man.

I followed the commander up two flights of stairs and along a maze like corridor; no matter how hard I tried, I knew that I wouldn't be able to find my way back outside to the courtyard.

We entered a large room; it had a medieval four post bed in it and a lot of other fancy things. The room had a balcony that overlooked everything below. The commandant smiled before leaving the room and with a loud click, locked the door behind him. Oh not again, I sighed.

I sat down on the edge of the bed, not wanting to mess the sheets up. I looked around the room; was this even happening; or was I dreaming all of this? I shuffled back a little onto the bed and drew my legs up, hugging them to my chest. I couldn't be trapped here, no one would ever know, my family would think that I simply disappeared.

Tears threatened to escape but. I quickly wiped them away, not wanting to let anyone see me cry. I have to get out of here. I stood up and walked over to the window, which I opened and stepped out onto the balcony. I couldn't jump, I was too high up, and there wasn't anything could use to abseil or climb down. I was trapped.

The door to my room opened. I turned around to find a young woman holding a tray with something that looked like food on it. Waking back into the room, I looked at the girl.

She was wearing a light blue dress that was dirty and torn, and her pale skin was a perfect match to her blonde hair and blue eyes. The girl smiled at me as she placed the tray in the middle of the table.

"In case you become hungry, Miss." she smiled while bowing slightly. I frowned at her, why was everyone so calm. It wasn't right, it wasn't normal...

Then the thought hit me, they were all really nice, do it would be easy for me to get her to do something for me. I smiled for her to get up, and then motioned for her to come closer to where I was standing; after all I didn't want any knights hearing my plan.

"Can you get me some things?" I asked sweetly, she looked confused for a moment before smiling again. She nodded eagerly for me to continue.

"I need you to bring a rope up here, long enough for me to abseil out of the window." she nodded to tell me that she understood what I wanted her to do. She hurried away, eagerly wanting to do what I had asked. I wonder if she knew that I would escape, or at least try to escape using it.

The maid in blue returned at dusk. She walked in with another tray and placed it next to the other, which still had uneaten foot on it. She then proceeded to lift up her over skirt; which cleverly had a rope attached so that no one would notice it. I gave her a wide grin, maybe my plan would work after all. I tied one end of the rope into a tight loop so that I could place my foot into it while she lowered me down.

"Are you sure you can hold me, Angel?" she had told me her name while we were discussing on how best to lower me down, I thought it fit her quite well.

"I'll be fine." she said getting a better hold on the rope, I nodded, telling her that I was ready. This was it, all or nothing, the great escape.


4 - The great escape


Kessie was lowered slowly down the side of the building, making sure that she wouldn't be spotted in the process. The balcony to her room was high up, at least two normal floors, and Kessie felt uneasy just from the sight of it. Now being hauled over ledge, with just a rope and a weak servant girl to hold her up, she felt even more unsure of how her plan was coming along.

The thunder of hoof beats drew kisses attention to the main gate.

"Stop." she whispered to the servant girl, Angel, who was letting her down. She sure was stronger than she looked. Kessie stopped going down and hung helplessly against the cold stone wall, her fingers wrapped tightly around the rope.

The riders and their horses came in to the courtyard. As Kessie observed, she silently wished that they wouldn't see her, hoping that if she hung still enough that they wouldn't notice anyone hanging out of the window.

The knights all disjointed and entered the castle, leaving the horses to the attention of the servants. Kessie hung there a moment later before slowly being let back down again, Angel obviously realizing that all danger had gone.

The brunette let out a long sigh as her foot touched the familiar solid ground. Only a few servants who were looking after the horses remained, Kessie couldn't see anyone else besides them, so she decided to make a dash for it.

Half way to the gate she realized that she would get nowhere if the knights decided to follow her with horses. So she quickly turned around and looked at each of the horses, the only fully tacked one was a Friesian, with its proud head held high.

With adrenaline pumping through her veins, she ran up to the horse and mounted. The horse reared in response to the sudden addition of weight on its back, causing the servant who was holding him to release his grip.

The shocked servant looked up at Kessie, his eyes never leaving her apologetic ones. When the horse landed firmly on the ground again, she kicked it into canter, or rather she would have if the horse wasn't refusing. After two more attempts she finally gave up and sat in the saddle, her arms crossed over her chest.

The servant had by now ran to tell his master, or so Kessie assumed, and she would waste too much time trying to tack up another horse. It would have to be this one, or attempt outrunning the knights that would follow her. Kessie closed her eyes and began stroking the horse’s neck gently.

Please, she began, I have to get home.

The jolt of movement underneath her startled her, when she opened her eyes she noticed that the horse was on its way out of the castle in a canter. Its rider grabbed the rains in her hands and guided the black stallion down the narrow dirt path which she had come from.

The road stretched on for the next few minutes, although the minuets were all a blur to Kessie who was busy trying to remember how to get back. Abruptly, the horse stopped, Kessie looked up to find herself positioned in front of a fork in the road.

Although the girl didn't remember the fork in the road the last time she came here, something told her to go right, and her thoughts were confirmed when she heard horses, probably of the knights, coming from the left. The horse and rider cantered swiftly on the remaining path, and when an open door came into view they slowed, but Kessie did not dismount, just in case.

As the brunette looked through the door, she could see only the other side of the forest. To test her eye sight, she rode the horse through. Through the other side of the door, the forest looked exactly the same, no details missing at all.

It was then that Kessie wished that she had been wrong, that this door would be the way home. Just as the though came into her mind, the scenery around her fogged up, with a green, sickly mist. As she continued to watch, the mist swirled and twisted, blocking forest from the young woman's view. Then, just as quickly as it appeared, if not quicker, it disappeared, leaving the horse and rider in a large assembly hall type room.

The first thing that caught the rider’s eye, was the countless symbols of a Phoenix in front of a large sun; the second thing that drew kisses attention, was the layer of dust that covered everything, and the sheer thickness of it. I was like the room was left untouched for a number of years.

Kessie dismounted to get a better look at her surroundings.

Thank you, she thought whilst smiling at the horse; which whinnied in return, and for a moment, Kessie actually thought that the horse heard her.

Heading over to the wall that faced her, Kessie noticed that there were even curtains with the phoenix on them. The wall was bare apart from a large portrait hanging on it, which took up most of the wall anyway. There, in the photo, were four people. A man, a woman, and two boys, one reasonably older than the other.

Kessie guessed that the man and woman were married, so the other two must have been their children, which made sense, because they were clearly brothers. The woman and the two children all had blond hair, the mother and the younger of the children had dull green eyes, but the older son had striking blue ones, which made him stand out from the rest of the painting. The father however, had black hair and dark brown eyes, and did. Fit in with the rest of the family.

A noise from behind Kessie made her jump; she turned around to find nothing unusual, apart from the horse having moved and the door having vanished.

Great, Kessie thought, just great.

Taking one last look at the photo, she decided it would be time to start looking for a way out. She made her way over to another door and opened it.

To her dismay, the room in here was also covered in dust, but the symbols were replaced by a moon, and the background of the image was a beautiful moonlit land.

There