"Do you think they are still out there?" Caitlyn asked nervously. Her voice quaked with uncertainty. "What if they find us in here?"
"Then we will hope that we will be able to get to Father and explain what has happened. That is our goal anyway, to let him know that Lakyle is invading." Rose winced as she spoke.
The princess did not like the idea of being discovered one bit. She had not been sure of her plan when they escaped from Ingrid's and Fed's clutches. Rose only knew that if she stayed in the tower like a good princess, she would probably never see her father again.
"Don't worry; they won't find us in here. They think we went out the window. No one knows this place exists except us and father. We didn't even tell Ethyn." Rose touched the wall which abutted her closet. The safe room was indeed keeping them safe.
"And your brother. Didn't you say he hid in here from the Captain?" Caitlyn wrung her hands.
"Silver won't show them. He would rather die than let anyone hurt me." Rose's heart clenched. She mentally added freeing her brother to her growing list of thing she needed to accomplish.
"That isn't what I meant. I meant if Silver can find this hideaway, then it can possibly be found by others..." the lady-in-waiting hated speaking the words aloud, as if that might cause them to come into being.
"My brother is not normal. He's a Guardian and a thief. I would think he is the exception not the rule. Anyway, they think we went out the window. Why in the world would they search my closet or yours at all? So as long as you keep quiet, there is no way we will be found here by those brutes or anyone else."
The princess's last words brought a stifled sob from her lady-in-waiting. Rose could see she had pushed too hard. She placed her arm around Caitlyn's shoulder and pulled her into a side hug. They sat on the stone bench as the blonde wiped at her tears.
"I'm sorry," Rose felt her own eyes welling. "I was trying to be comforting and came out just the opposite. I am not handling this well at all, am I?"
"It's not like they give ladies training for what to do when the Commander of the army turns against the king. Unless I skipped that day of tutoring," Caitlyn tried to joke to stop them both from breaking.
"You have never skipped a lesson in your life. The day you do is the day the world ends." Rose clicked her tongue softly. "So we will have to attend to another of your lessons for today and start making a real plan. We cannot stay in here forever."
The ladies could try and wait until things were all over, but if they didn't intervene, they likely would not like the results.
"First things first. If it is not too late, we need to warn father ." Rose would do it quietly if she could. That would be the easiest way for Silver to be released and for them to stand a fighting chance at getting the men removed before they launched their attack.
Assuming they had not already attacked...
"First things first," Catlyn corrected her, "You need to get out of your room."
"I do not think that will be hard. If I had to guess, getting out of here will be the easiest thing we do today. The least guarded place in the whole palace is likely the one we just escaped from..." Rose gave a mischievous grin.
"I hope you are right. I may have something that will help you go unnoticed once you get out of the room. I got ahold of a servant's livery after you took my other simple gown to escape to the stables." The Lady-in-waiting had calmed down enough to give her friend an accusatory glare.
Eventually Cait would be able to replace the gown with her own money, but in the mean time she had borrowed a simple uniform in case of emergency.
"Do you think you can pass for a page boy?" Lady Caitlyn asked with a small smirk.
"I think I can do the role justice, thank you." Rose turned up her nose and then frowned. "But you are just as recognizable as I am, Cait. You cannot go gallivanting around without someone wanting to question you about me."
"Maybe that is not a bad thing. I'll appear and make them take me straight to His Majesty. Wouldn't that fix our problem?" Caitlyn could tell the king what had occurred without Rose being put in danger of being caught up in the ensuing altercation.
"Did you forget what Borit told all the men when he stormed into my room a while ago? He said to bring us directly to him so as not to disturb the king... If you get caught by anyone except maybe Rabert or Philip, you will be taken to the Commander and probably tortured for information. I cannot stomach that thought. We need you to have a disguise as well." Rose tapped her fingers on her knee as she thought.
'They are looking for two ladies. Not a lady and a pageboy...' she mused.
The princess had heard the angry shouts of the Commander permeate through the false wall. Borit believed that Fed and Ingrid had not only let the messenger bird escape, but also the princess and her friend.
While he had doubted their ability to successfully descend the makeshift rope, he could not argue that Rose and Caitlyn were missing. Borit had ordered all of the soldiers to seek them out and bring the women to him immediately. He could not risk the ladies being loose.
An idea entered Rose's head. "Cait, didn't you say that Ethyn brought up an extra outfit to keep here after needing to change yesterday. Where did he put it?"
"It is in my closet. The idea was so he would have spare items as needed..." the lady-in-waiting began to realize what her mistress was thinking. "I don't want to wear his clothes. Among other things, they will be too big in some areas...and too small in others." The blonde was rather shapely.
"I will be suffering the same with the page boy's uniform, most likely. You are the taller of the two of us--" Rose saw Caitlyn shake her head.
"I got the page's uniform to fit me. You can impersonate the man you love. And you do a terrible man's voice. I can cover for you as a page and you can pretend not to speak to those below you." The lady in waiting crossed her arms.
There was only one thing to do. And neither of them were happy about it.
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A servant holding a tray of food began to ascend the stairs to the tower when two men met him halfway. Both men were exceptionally fair and had their long hair pulled back in low ponytails.
When the pageboy looked at her, she blushed and looked away, feeling terrible for staring. The servant lifted the tray in front of her face.
"I am bringing this to the princess," she said before she caught herself.
Thankfully the nicely dressed gentleman did not reprimand her. He simply gave a light grunt and nod.
The page boy was more sympathetic. "The princess is not in her room," he whispered.
Startled, the servant was unsure what to do. But before she could react, the two men continued down the stairs on their way into the main castle.
"Thank you!" the servant said belatedly. She turned around and returned to the kitchen wondering idly if the page boys were getting prettier or if her standards for beauty were getting lower as she aged....