Elionwy's scream died on her lips. She stepped back away from him one step, her foot splashing into a puddle. She barely noticed the cold water seeping into her shoe and stocking. The princess felt cold all over. Her eyes flickered from the man, to his knife, to her maid, and then back again. Elionwy swallowed, her hands tightening around her book. She didn't dare move, for she could not put her maid at risk.

It was her maid that broke the spell, the woman struggling a bit to free her mouth and yell, "Don't stand there! Run, princess! Guards! Guards!" Her maid was all but dead now, as far as Elionwy could guess. The second the maid had struggled, let alone yelled, it had been over for the woman. So Elionwy moving would not kill her maid.

Elionwy dropped her book, hiked up her skirts and ran. She ran blindly, not knowing which direction she was going but simply [i]away[/i] - away from the man and his knife. Her feet led her away from the palace, Elionwy not noticing she was going farther and father away from anything close to safety. The rain picked up its pace as she ran, no longer a drizzle but a downpour. Her breath came in fast pants, her sight blinded by the rain. She had lost one shoe in her run, and not thinking enough to remove the other, ran on with one stockinged foot and one shod. It slowed her down, and as she dashed down a side ally, Elionwy tripped, sprawling on the uneven cobblestones, her hands and arms getting scraped in the fall. Her blonde hair had fallen out of its style, and she was soaked to the bone.