Rosangela: The Runaway Princess (Book #2)

“Get out of our way, Xavier!” Maximilian boomed.

“I’m not going to prevent you from going anywhere, idiot,” Xavier talked back to him, “I myself have just managed to wrench myself free from my father’s soldiers. I come straight back here to help you and Rosangela, but apparently you’ve managed to get away from the guards.”

“Yeah, we managed to escape from those guards’ clutches, thanks to him.” I said, flashing Sigmund a smile but my smile was not reciprocated by him. Instead he fixed Xavier with a venomous gaze.

“Pardon my ignorance, but who is that man?” Prince Xavier pointed at Sigmund.

I was about to answer, but Sigmund pre-empted me, “I’m Princess Mirabelle’s uncle.”

‘It’s really weird hearing Sigmund call himself my uncle. However, if I think about it, Sigmund is King Bellamy’s adopted son and he’s like a real brother to my mother. So I think I can consider him my uncle,’ I thought.

“Uncle? Is that true, Rosangela?” Xavier asked me in disbelief.

“Yeah, he’s an uncle on my mother’s side,” I answered.

Prince Xavier wore a puzzled look on his face. “But I thought Princess Claribelle is King Bellamy’s only child.”

“Sigmund is Princess Claribelle’s adoptive brother,” Maximilian elaborated.

His explanation astonished Xavier. “Hey, I’ve never known that Princess Claribelle has an adoptive brother.”

“Look! Can’t we just drop the subject? We must dash now before more guards turn up,” Sigmund said impatiently.

“Sigmund is right,” I agreed, “We ought to get out of this place soon.”

“All right. Let’s go!” said Maximilian. We were just about to walk away, but suddenly Prince Xavier intercepted us, “Wait! You can’t go that way!”

I frowned. “Why?”

“Because there are a lot of guards back there chasing after me. And it’s only a matter of time before they get here. So you’d better go to the opposite direction,” he replied.

“Do you really expect us to believe you?” Sigmund sneered.

“I hate to admit it, but I completely agree with Sigmund this time. I can’t put my trust in you again after what you have done to Rosanne, Xavier,” Maximilian spat.

“It’s up to you if you don’t want to trust me. But I’m warning you! If you want to get out of here alive, you must go to the opposite direction. It’s safer for you there,” Xavier stated.

“Excuse me, but we came from from that direction. There are guards waiting for us back there too. Though they are still unconscious now, but they’ll surely come around anytime soon, so it’s unsafe for us to go to that direction either,” I said.

“Oh no, we are cornered in both directions. How can we get out of this place now?” Maximilian said, his voice containing a hint of the panic he felt.

“Don’t worry! You still can escape through the secret passage. Come on, follow me!” Xavier began to walk down the corridor.

“Okay.” I was just about to start after him, but Sigmund stopped me.

“Wait, Princess! I advise we shouldn’t go with Xavier. We’d better think of another way to get out of here,” Sigmund suggested.

“Yeah. Xavier might try to lure us to the guards’ place, so that they can capture us easily,” Maximilian added.

“We have no choice but to follow Xavier, Maximilian, Sigmund,” I stated.

Maximilian and Sigmund said simultaneously, “But--”

“There’s no time to lose!” I cut them off, “We ought to get moving now! Come on!”

“Fine,” they said in unison.

At last, I, Prince Maximilian, Sigmund, and not forgetting Jasper, caught Prince Xavier up and fell into step with him. Xavier led off and the four of us followed closely behind. Unexpectedly, the corridor we took turned out to be a dead end.

“I told you he’s only going to lure us into trap,” Sigmund scoffed.

“Just shut up and watch what I’m gonna do, will you?!” Xavier snorted with annoyance.

“So what are you going to do, young man?” Sigmund asked irritably.

Xavier sighed. “Look! The secret passage that I talked about is behind this wall. So, I am going to open it for you.”

“Oh,” Sigmund said awkwardly.

Prince Xavier edged closer to the wall and pressed one of the bricks on the wall. Shortly afterwards, the wall parted, disclosing a long dark passage.

I never thought that this palace had a secret passage like the one I had ever seen in the kingdom of Clanbella. Maybe every kingdom had a secret passage that could be used in an emergency, such as when they came under attack, so that they could escape to safety without being noticed by their enemies.

“This secret passage leads to the back of the palace,” Xavier told us, “Just go down this passageway! You’ll find the exit at the other end of it.”

“You won’t come with us?” I queried.

“No,” he replied, “I’ll stay here and try stalling the guards off while you all get out of the palace.”

“Thanks for your help, Xavier!” I said sincerely.

A shadow of a smile touched Xavier’s mouth. “It was no bother.”

“Let’s go!” Sigmund exclaimed.

Maximilian, Jasper, and I nodded in agreement.

The four of us finally crowded into the the secret passage, and the walls automatically shut again. We walked slowly along the long dark passageway until we found a huge carved oak door.

Sigmund detached himself from Jasper, and moved forward, inching towards the door. He gave the door a sharp pull and it opened. At last, we all spilled into the night.

Like Prince Xavier said, the secret passage led to the back of the palace, to be exact, it led to the paddock which was located at the back of the palace. The door to the secret passage was hidden by trees. Thus, other people would not notice it easily.

Without wasting time, the four of us started plodding our ways across the field. When we just got to the farmhouse, we heard the the tramp of marching feet approaching. And a sinking feeling of panic was beginning to sweep over us.

“Oh no, that must be the guards! They are getting closer. What shall we do now?” I wondered aloud.

Sigmund attempted to answer when the hay barn door was suddenly flung open and Jose stuck his head around the door. “Angela,” he called.

“Jose,” I called back.

“I know the guards are running after you right now, Angela. You’d better hide from your pursuers in this barn. I guarantee that they won’t be able to find you here,” he reassured me.

“All right. Thanks, Jose. Come on, Guys!” I intended to walk into the barn, but Sigmund caught hold of my arm, holding me back.

“Wait! We can not trust him, Princess. What if he’s trying to lay a trap for us?” Sigmund warned me.

“Jose is a friend of mine. He’s perfectly trustworthy, I can assure you,” I stood up for him.

“Although he’s your friend, but you can’t ignore the fact that he works for King Joaquin. So I wouldn’t trust him an inch if I were you,” Sigmund stated.

“You have a very suspicious mind, Sigmund,” I commented.

“You can say that again!” Maximilian agreed with me.

“We must be vigilant at all times, Princess,” Sigmund reasoned, “We can’t--”

“Come on, Maxim,” I interrupted, “let’s go into barn! If Sigmund doesn’t want to hide in the barn with us, then so be it.” I pushed Sigmund away from Jasper before I draped an arm around Jasper’s shoulders, and together with Maximilian, I guided Jasper into the barn.

“Wait for me! I’m coming with you.” Sigmund reluctantly followed us into the barn.

“Don’t come out until I signal, okay?” Jose warned us.

“OK, I got it.” I nodded my head, and with that Jose strode out of barn, shutting shut the door after him.

I, Prince Maximilian, Sigmund, and Jasper crouched down behind a bale of hay so that the guards couldn’t see us from the outside. Moments later, we heard the sound of footsteps just outside the barn. I held my breath because I was afraid my loud breathing would give us away.

Finally, I sighed with relief when the sound of footsteps went past the barn, then faded into the distance. Maximilian, Jasper, and Sigmund did the same thing.

Shortly afterwards, the barn door flew open and Jose stepped in. “You can come out now,” he called, “The coast is clear. Those guards are gone.”

I and Maximilian were just about to stand up but Sigmund stopped us.

“Just a second! I’ll check it myself first.” Without waiting for our response, Sigmund got to his feet and padded across the room to the door. He poked his head around the door to check whether the guards were still outside the barn or not.

“He’s right. They’re gone. You all may come out now,” he told us.

“He has told you they’re not here, but you didn’t believe him!” Maximilian grumbled.

“No offence, Joseph, but I can’t trust anyone now,” Sigmund spoke to Jose.

“I’m sorry, Sir, but my name is Jose, not Joseph,” Jose corrected.

“Same different.” Sigmund shrugged nonchalantly.

Maximilian rolled his eyes, while I let out a deep sigh.

“Let’s just get out of here, shall we?” I said.

“Okay,” Maximilian and Sigmund spoke together. Meanwhile, Jasper only nodded feebly to signify that he agreed.

Prince Maximilian and I rose up and helped Jasper to his feet before the three of us started making our ways towards the door to join Sigmund and Jose.

“Thank you for all your help, Jose. I hate to think what would have happened to us if you hadn’t been here to help us,” I talked to Jose gratefully.

“There’s no need to thank me, Angela. That’s what friends are for, right? We must all try and help each other,” Jose stated.

“Though I’m not sure whether I still can consider myself your friend after knowing your real identity,” he added. His face suddenly fell.

“What are you talking about, Jose? Of course you’re still my friend, and you’ll always be,” I emphasized.

“But we are worlds apart, Angela. I’m just a lowly stableman, while you’re a princess. I am not appropriate to be befriended by you,” Jose said sadly.

“So what if you’re a stableman? To my eye, everyone is equal no matter what their occupancy or status is. Everyone has a right to be treated with respect,” I stressed out.

“You’re a true princess, Angela. You have a kind heart and are very wise,” Jose praised me.

I felt a warm blush rise to my cheeks at his compliment.

“That’s enough! It’s time we’re getting along now,” Maximilian said in annoyed tone.

“Right! Let’s get moving now!” I agreed.

“You may take the horses in the stable if you want,” Jose offered.

“No thanks. I don’t want to get you into trouble with King Joaquin,” I politely refused his offer.

“Fine. If you don’t want to ride the horses, you’d better take a shortcut to the nearest town through the woods. Once you reach a human civilization, you all will be safe,” Jose suggested.

“Is there no an alternative route to get to the town without having to go through the woods?” I asked apprehensively, “You know, every time I wandered into the woods, I always got lost.”

“Unfortunately, the quickest way to get to the nearest town is through the woods. There is another route indeed. But it’s much further,” Jose answered.

I huffed. “It seems that we have no choice but to go through the woods. Let’s just hope we don’t get lost!”

“Don’t worry, Angela! It’s very easy to get to that town. Just follow the footpath through the woods until you hit the road. Then, keep straight on for two miles and you’ll eventually reach the nearest town. If you didn’t wander from the path, you won’t get lost,” Jose elaborated.

“Okay, I understand.” I bobbed my head.

“There’s no need to worry, Princess! As long as you’re with me, I assure you that we will never get lost,” Sigmund said confidently.

“I doubt it,” Prince Maximilian commented with a sneer in his voice.

Fortunately, Sigmund just brushed his remarks off. Otherwise, those two men would started arguing again.

“Goodbye, Jose. I hope we’ll meet again some day,” I said tearfully.

“Yeah, I hope so, too, Angela,” he responded with a sad smile.

At last, I, Sigmund, Maximilian, and Jasper walked out of the barn before we hastened to the woods.