Hyperventilating, the idea of getting caught overwhelmed every thought she had about this creepy place. As a store front, she managed stay in the dark and sneak out into the back storeroom, an action that helped calm her down. There were no other humans in this place, no one to help her hide or rescue her if she got caught. Glancing left and right she darted across the street. Another office building that had three stories was built there. Animals of some sort must have inhabited this area as there were signs of traffic on some of roads not buried in tall grass.
There was little cover in the official building, so she climbed the shaky stairs slowly to the top. Despite a small hole large enough for a person the third floor was relatively pristine. Out one of the empty windows she could see two small people, below fanning out amongst the streets. They failed to hold her attention as her eye caught something over the forest canopy.
In the distance rock protruded above the trees, the section leading up was almost barren by comparison to the deep forest. Faintly one could make out sheer faces of walls crafted of earth. Though there was darkness in that general area, it could never be worse than returning to the nightmare she left. Looking once more to see where the pursers were she slowly wound her way around the town in the general direction of the far-off rock formation.
Despite her best efforts to remain unnoticed, noble's luck didn't hold up and the girl failed to sneak away. Tired from weeks of travel, exhausted from the long day of hiking, she stumbled on a roof corner. Lose rock and plaster fell to the ground attracting the attention of one of the men searching nearby. Clambering quickly, she got a few houses down before she hid. The man was not as quiet as her, wearing steel that clattered as he walked. Holding her breath slouched against the wall she waited to hope the man would fail to notice her passage.
Noise was still prevalent from the living forest, not as deafened in this less traveled space, enough that the noble could not tell what actions the pursuer was taking. Her heart sank when she heard him cry out.
"I found something." He cupped his hands to cry out, and after a few moments of panic Tiffaney decided to just go for it.
While the pursers converged, she snaked through the various back yards, laboriously working her way in the direction she wanted to go. When she hit the main road out of town she looked and noticed no one in her path and chose to rabbit. She couldn't sprint so she ran. For a moment there was hope, that they wouldn't see her leaving and she could escape unnoticed. Unfortunately, there was no such case. Glancing back, she could make out a barely moving dot on the roof of the building she had been on.
"There off the main road, she's running away!"
"Where?!" The three on the ground looked left and right franticly unable to see anyone.
"That way! Northwest morons!" Two of them bumped into each other before the third who hopped around him managed to see the small figure retreating in the distance.
"She there she's there!"
"Go after her!" The man on the roof yelled exasperated.
Tiffaney missed the skit as she was too far away, breathed laboriously as she pushed herself to keep running. Ducking around some shrubs she kept moving through the woods hoping to be harder to find. She couldn't stray too far from the road until she saw shining glint of breastplates. Abandoning that idea, she just ran deeper into the woods, scrambling around desperately avoiding branches and trees.
Finding a small hallow, covered with moss and roots, she ducked in. Panting wildly, she attempted to listen over her own thumping heart. It took several minutes before she managed to hear something that sounded like people traversing through underbrush. Having regained some composure, she slowly crawled along the floor. Wincing, the noble child tried not to cry when her knees and hands found hard stone and prickly plants.
Something had started to change, the dense wood and undergrowth fade slowly, more light could be seen. Glancing upward, the noble noted appeared that the sun was working its way towards sunset. It suited her nicely as she was sweating in a gross manner and was not happy about it.
"That's…" She found what appeared to be a stone wall. Hesitating she clambered into it placing her palms on the stone before she swung left. Her guess was good and in short while she found the main entry gate, warped wrought iron dark in the evening sun. The entry gate was large especially to a small runaway. Weathered mismatched stone formed the gate post and if one looked the twist gate had some sort of gargoyle stamped upon it.
"They are still behind me, no time to be scared."
"Okay maybe a little bit of time to be scared."
Crossing the gate line made her a little apprehensive what she saw on the other side was positively terrifying.
Placed delicately on the edge of the stone was a monumental sized castle. Dark granites formed the entire structure out of human sized blocks. A Main entrance was once a beautiful ornate path leading to doors fit for giants. Stone pavers were shattered, the curbs and dividers cracked and scattered, wither dead plants clung to everything. Vines and weeds stubbornly held to life in desolate landscape. Behind the main building stood several tiers of battlements, three rotund towers, and a single spire behind it further into the precipice. Sky rending tall, the girl felt insignificant before such structures.
Lighting arched into enormous rods placed at the top of the castle. Tiffaney turned and looked behind her, confirming that it was sunny just a few feet behind her. Dark nebulous clouds lit briefly as they lashed thunder out at the castle below. As she watched she could see the bright blue sky on either side before she managed to realize that this storm was only occurring on the cliffside alone.
"What on earth is this?" No one had told her that storms could occur in one place, how it worked she had no idea. While she wanted to go back, back was a known nightmare, before her was a nightmare not yet experienced and her only hope forward. Step by careful step she slowly walked towards the massive doors of the main hall. Swallowing when a very loud peel of thunder shook her world, she marched even slower. Twelve steps made of dark stone. Her courage failed her at this point, so she stood unable to move forward.
Light spilled out from the center point of the double doors, making the gloomy eerie place stand out in turn. Thick clouds boiled above but no rain fell, causing her to loosen up her clothes that had been sticking to her all this time. Noble lady tried to figure out what manners would be needed for greeting a stranger in the middle of a lightning storm.
"Look the brats there on the other side of the gate!"
Barely audible over the racket the nobles' ears pricked realizing that her pursuers were close she crawled hand over feet to ascend the stairway. As she sprinted for the door, she realized it was open. Having lost the option for a polite entrance, she squeezed through the crack and tripped over her own feet, tumbling into the room.