32 Stonegarden Castle / The Getaway, Pt 4

Previously, on Usagi Days: An engine roars to life! Not the Usagi, which is still in the castle storeroom—but the Hayate, one of Patty's restoration hobby cars, AKA "Mk II". Ruby looks out from the castle keep, and sees Sylvie and Anemone in the Hayate, coming right for her.

- 32.1 - Flashback: Engine Swap -

(Patty's Brother: "You can't just take the engine out of one car, and shove it into another car, and have it work. The drivetrains have to be compatible, for starters. The transmission, the chassis, the drive shaft …

"And that's if we had two working cars to begin with. The Hayate is completely non-functioning. It's just for show. There's not even a complete set of internals inside—"

Ruby, covering her ears: "Uh-buh-buh-buh! I didn't hear that last part! You didn't say anything!"

PB, at a loss for words, turning to Anemone: "… Is your friend always like this?"

Anemone, shrugging: "… Yeah."

Ruby: "It'll be okay, Patty's Brother. Trust me on this one."

PB: "I have a name …"

Ruby: "It'll work. But you have to cover up the parts of the car the engine would be connected to."

PB: "…?"

Ruby: "Like, so that it's not visible. The … thing that connects things … to other things."

PB: "???"

Ruby: "I don't know! … I don't know cars! I just drive 'em! The point is, to just hide the parts of the internal mechanisms so that you're allowing the possibility that everything is connected."

PB: "… The possibility that WHAT is connected!? There's nothing to connect in the first—"

Ruby, covering her ears again: "LA LA LA LA LA YOU DIDN'T SAY THAT! I didn't hear that! …")

- 32.2 - Anemone Drives, Sylvie Yells -

Sylvie, pointing to the second story of the keep: "Look! It's Usagi-chan! By the window! I see her!"

She stood up in the passenger seat, trying to steady herself in the moving vehicle as Anemone maneuvered swiftly around the area near the keep entrance—dodging not only the Knights chasing after them, but the barrage of arrows now hissing over their heads.

Sylvie, one hand gripping the top of the windshield, the other waving to Ruby: "USAGI-CHAN! JUMP!" She pointed urgently toward the metal cart hitched to the back of the Hayate—the one she and Anemone had piled high with hay. "YOU SHOULD DEFENESTRATE YOURSELF … NOW!!!"

But Ruby, up in the keep's second story, was plenty busy herself, flickering in and out of view as she dashed down the corridor, her figure disappearing and reappearing between the windows overlooking the courtyard. The Knights hot on her heels.

Anemone: "Ugh, we have to circle around. There's too many of 'em."

Sylvie: "Looks like Usagi-chan's in the same boat up there …"

At the gates, the drawbridge was nearly halfway closed.

- 32.3 - Ruby Evades the Knights -

Ruby tore down the corridor.

She knocked over suits of armor, shelves, and vases—anything she could find—to slow her pursuers, but it barely made a difference. The Knights were relentless.

From the sounds of it, Sylvie and Anemone were circling around the keep, much like Ruby was doing—just in the opposite direction.

Ruby passed the main staircase. Guards filing up the steps, swords in hand. Nope—not going that way. She kept running.

More guards were approaching her from the front.

Ruby unclasped the hooded cloak she was wearing. When she neared the guards in front of her, she threw off the cloak, and tossed it at them.

"Catch!"

The cloak tangled around one of the guards, knocking him off-balance. He stumbled back, and crashed into the others around him. As the entire group toppled over in a heap, Ruby slipped past them, turning the corner into yet another hallway.

The entrance to the Great Hall was up ahead. She peeked inside as she passed it. No sign of the King.

She had almost completed an entire lap around the second floor. She was approaching the hallway with the windows overlooking the courtyard again.

Through the windows came the sound of the Hayate's engine revving below.

… Along with Sylvie's persistent screaming.

"USAGI-CHAN! USAAAAGI-CHAAAAN!"

Coming from directly below the windows. Ruby looked out. There they were. She waved.

It wouldn't be long before Anemone had to move again, with the guards closing in on them. Ruby had to jump … now.

She scrambled up to the window. She grabbed the sill and pulled herself up. Down below, the cart full of hay was right underneath her. She could even see the barrel of Sylvie's loot, attached to the side of the cart.

The cart had always been a part of the getaway plan: Ruby was supposed to jump into it, as it came shooting out from behind the provisions shack. After all, the roadster only had two seats. One of them had to sit in the cart.

… Who could have ever expected the King would invite Ruby for dinner?

Crouching now, with both feet planted firmly on the window sill, Ruby breathed in, and then out, and was just about to jump—when she felt two thick arms, like tree trunks, wrap around her body.

The King.

"Not so fast, Lady Hanasaki!"

He violently yanked her away from the window, and threw her to the ground.

- 32.4 - Sylvie …? -

"RUBY!" Anemone screamed, as Ruby was pulled away from the window.

She jumped out of the Hayate, reflexively. She had to get up there, somehow. Second floor … A ladder? There had to be a ladder nearby. Could she scale the wall? … Way too many guards at the main doors. No way she could possibly fight her way.

Around them, the Knights were closing in, quickly. The drawbridge was nearly up. What could she do? Think, Anemone!

She spun around. "Sylvie, we have to—"

She froze.

Sylvie was now in the driver's seat, staring straight ahead. Her gaze distant.

She couldn't even meet Anemone's eyes as she muttered, "… I'm sorry."

Then the Hayate peeled off with a screech, and sped away toward the gates, toward the closing drawbridge.

Anemone stood there, frozen.

Before she could even move, the guards were already upon her.