Her heart stopped, Esme didn't know what to do. In her state of panic, she made the quick decision to climb a tree and wait for the noise to pass. And just a few minutes later, it did. So she took the risk, climbed back down and carried on with a slightly quicker pace.

An hour later, she arrived at a quirky little market town. Completely in awe, Esme took in her surroundings. The tables were endlessly topped with street food, the scent of herbs and spices filling the air, materials for the townspeople to make clothes and flowers of every colour of the rainbow. The uneven stone slabs on the ground  made the place feel more rustic. This seemed like the perfect place to start her new life.

As she passed one of the market stalls, Esme came across a poster nailed to a tree.

This was perfect for Esme, she couldn't believe her luck. Of course she wanted to enter, she could make new friends, integrate herself in the town, and hopefully soon everything from the last couple of days would be a thing of the past.

But the only problem with that was that the knights were still hot on her trail. If word got out that a new girl was in this town and she was a fencer, it would put her in huge danger. She had to cover her back somehow.

Esme headed back to the market and with the tiny sack of money she had in the pockets of her long skirt, she bought various colours and styles of fabric and thread and headed back to the forest.

Over the course of 4 hours, she tore the fabric, sewed it together and created all the elements of her new disguise.

She tried on her costume. A knee length black layered skirt, high neck white shirt, deep purple corset and musketeer mask. She took the tights and thigh-high boots she was wearing, tied the leather harness that carried her sword in sheath around her waist and pulled black gloves on.

Grabbing the jade-green cape that she found a shopkeeper selling and throwing it around her neck, pulling the hood over her head, she looked down at herself and was proud of what she managed to acheive. This would surely keep her discreet in case of anything, while still allowing her to live her life separately.

The final thing on her list was to create an alias. Looking at the dark colours and the elaborate outfit, the perfect name sprung to mind.

She was Countess Raven. And she was ready to fight.