Mirabel had to admit that, however small Omsk was, they were good at hiding their tunnels. She had searched high and low but had found nothing to lead her out of the castle. The wardrobe had been out from the start; there was no way the tunnel lead elsewhere.

She had searched behind the tapestries - and there were a great many more of those in this room than the last - but that had revealed nothing. It seemed that her luck had run out. The window was looking more and more tempting as an option.

In her desperation to find a way out, she had even begun to look in the most obvious of places. Around the bed, the fireplace; she had even tried pulling the torches in hopes that one of them could be a lever. All to no avail, unfortunately. But she knew there had to be something somewhere. No builder in their right mind would leave the king no way out.

Glancing around, her eyes fell on the rug beneath her feet. On impulse, she stepped to the edge of it and lifted, rolling the heavy material out of the way. After a moment, she stopped, panting a bit. This was useless. It was clear from how far she had rolled the rug already that there was no trap door underneath as she had hoped. That would have been far too easy, she mused dryly. And since when had her life been easy lately?

With a short grunt, she kicked the rug back into position. Her legs were stronger than her arms, after all; it would have been smarter to kick the rug in the first place. Moving the rug had only made her more tired. Her eyes wandered traitorously towards the bed, and she shook her head sharply. She would be discovered missing soon, and she had to get out of here before that happened.

She stood in the middle of the room now and looked around, hoping for a secret door to appear.  Unlikely, she knew, but she was fast running out of ideas. She needed a way out.

It was then that a ray of sun bounced off the large mirror across the room, momentarily blinding her. She had left the curtains open, and as the sun dipped over the horizon, it had found the mirror. She squinted and turned away. And then stopped.

The mirror. Turning back, she eyed it carefully. It was an elaborate piece with a detailed gold rim. But more than that, it was huge; almost full-length. The bottom edge reached just a few inches above the floor.

Mirabel walked towards it. The gold rimming was detailed with flowers and vines, winding up and down the edge; it was undoubtedly one of the most ornate mirrors she had ever seen. Probably commissioned especially for the king, she mused. Perhaps it had even been a gift for him at one time.

She reached up and trailed her fingers across the flowers. She had once read a story in which the detailing around a door had hidden the trigger, and she hoped this mirror would work the same.

Her fingers traced the intricate roses as she searched; even if there was a trigger, it would be difficult to find in the complex design. There were too many places it could be.

Over the vines, behind the leaves, her fingers continued their nimble search as her mind raced. Maybe the trigger wasn’t even in the carving. What if it was part of the wall beside the mirror? She paused as she considered the possibility, and her eyes flicked to the stone wall. Why was she so sure the mirror was even the answer?

She blinked and dismissed the thought; there was no reason the mirror wasn’t the answer. Instead, she closed her eyes and, letting her fingers follow the delicate pattern, sent up a silent prayer to whatever god might be listening. Please, please, please-

And there it was. A quiet click sounded as her finger found the small trigger. She opened her eyes; it had been behind one of the leaves, a small switch. A smile twitched at the corners of her mouth - the builders really were clever. It was a well hidden trigger.

The mirror had swung out from the wall by an inch or two when the switch had activated, and she now pulled it open the rest of the way. A breath she hadn’t realized she had been holding released itself as she saw the dark tunnel behind it. She never thought she would be so relieved to see a dark tunnel.

She retrieved her candle from the table she had set it on. Thankfully, it hadn’t burned down as far as she had feared; she should have enough wax left to make it out of the tunnel. Or so she hoped.

Glancing around the room, she checked to see if she had disturbed anything, but it all appeared to be in place. She didn’t want to leave too many clues laying around. She needed time to get away.

Satisfied, however, she lifted her skirt and stepped into the darkness. Her heart pounded against her ribcage, and she took a breath before pulling the mirror back against the wall. It clicked back into place, and she was left in the darkness with a single flickering flame to illuminate her way.

====================

The tunnel seemed longer than the last one. Maybe it was her fear that the candle would burn out that prolonged the journey, or maybe it really was longer than the last. Either way, the candle was burning low, and she had yet to reach the end of the tunnel.

It felt like hours since she had first entered the tunnel. Walking was tedious, and she had little to distract her but her own mind. The only thing she could see was the candle she held in front of her, shedding a small amount of light on the stones surrounding her. It was almost enough to drive her mad; there were only so many things she could think about before getting sick of her own company. While she had never been one to crave others’ presence - being unable to hold a conversation except through her tablet - she would gladly now have accepted even the company of her nanny when she was eight. That woman could talk the ear off of anyone.

But she was alone. Now she thought about it, this was one of the few times in her life she had ever been alone. She had almost always been supervised, someone hanging over her shoulder at all times. Not that it had done her any good; she had still ended up kidnapped.

Really though, wasn’t that your own fault?You were the one who decided to go out to the garden alone. Mirabel scowled at the thought. She couldn’t deny the truth of it, though; she had been the one to leave her chambers. As much as she hated to admit it, if anyone was to blame for her current circumstances, it was herself.

Her foot caught on the hem of her dress, and her breath hitched as she stumbled. While she didn’t fall, it was enough to bring her back to reality. She needed to pay more attention to where she was going. She had walked in worse dresses than this before and she had been fine; the only excuse was her tiredness.

Composing herself, she lifted her skirt just a bit before continuing down the tunnel. Tired or not, it was better to be safe than sorry. She didn’t need to drop the candle, or worse.

A few minutes later - though it felt longer - she noticed something just ahead. Slowing down, she walked closer. A ladder. Her eyebrows knit together. Why was there a ladder-

Then it hit her. She glanced up; sure enough, there was the door. The tunnel must have gone down at a slight enough decline that she hadn’t even noticed she was underground. Relief and excitement flooded her mind as she set down the candle and began to climb.

Steadying herself, she pushed up on the wooden door. She grunted a bit under the weight. It was sturdy, that was for sure. Then, with one final shove of her shoulder, it lifted, and she could see the last vestiges of sunlight seeping through the crack. She pushed it open the rest of the way, squinting as more of the sun’s rays reached her vision.

The trapdoor fell against the grass, and she clambered out, collapsing onto the soft green. Her breathing was ragged, and she laid there for a moment in an attempt to calm it again. She wasn’t built for this sort of thing. Embroidery she could do in her sleep, but escape from a castle?

A giddy grin lit her features; that was what she had just done, though. She had made it out, and all on her own. She was out.

She rolled over onto her stomach and stared at the last traces of the sunset. Freedom. She didn’t think she had ever appreciated the outdoors as much as she did now.

She glanced back at the castle; the tunnel had taken her just past the edge of the trees. She likely wouldn’t be seen. But still, she decided it was time to get moving. The sudden burst of energy wasn’t likely to last long, and she needed to get as far away as possible before someone came to check on her and found that she was gone.

Maybe there was a town within walking distance; she hadn’t been able to see much on the journey through the small country, but she knew they had passed through at least two towns since the border. Which meant she had to pass through two towns before she could cross the border.

She pushed herself to her feet, despite most of her energy having disappeared. The thought of how far she had to travel was less than encouraging. But before she could do anything else, she had to get as far away from the castle as possible before nightfall.

A road. If she could find a road to follow, maybe she would be able to find a town. She turned, taking in her surroundings; if she was to find the road, she would have to get to the front of the castle. Which wouldn’t be such a problem if she didn’t have to worry about being seen.

With a sigh, she began walking along the forest’s edge. The rush of energy she had felt upon escaping was gone now, and her tiredness was settling in again - as was her hunger. What she wouldn’t give to be back at her own palace, in her own bed. A good palace meal, a feathersoft bed…

And so her thoughts wandered until a rasping voice sounded behind her.

“Where do you think you’re going, princess?” Mirabel froze. She would recognize that voice anywhere. Boris.

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A/N ... why do I even add author's notes, anyway? Meh. Whatever. Hope you ejoyed the chapter ^-^ I admit it's not actionpacked, but oh well :P Not everything is. Leave a comment below telling me what you thought, and thanks for reading! xx