The rough ground grazed her elbow and knees, but the girl ignored it as she crawled her way through the narrow path.
"I can't believe I am doing this!"
Lily grumbled as she squeezed herself through the darkened tunnel where the chasm was connected.
Among all the things she hated, crawling on cramp spaces was becoming one of the top.
"The things I do just for revenge."
She was a bit surprised that Rizza, the mother fox, had released her and allowed her to make a parley.
"I can't waste that opportunity. It is my only chance to get that ingredient."
Lily saw the light at the other side of the tunnel. Moving faster than before, she finally emerged and found herself in the middle of tall herbs and dwarfish trees.
"So, that place was still connected to the Forest of Silence. Quite unexpected." She muttered as she let her eyes drank the scenery. "Time to work."
"Now, where could that sly fox have gone to?" tracking the cub was not that challenging.
Lily was able to locate the fox's whereabouts after a few minutes.
Only downside was that he was not alone. He seemed to be captured by hunters. By the looks of those men, they seemed to be Azalean knights.
Lily's eyes narrowed as anger rose inside her. But instead of charging head on, she calmed herself.
"Now is not the time for vengeance Lily. You are far from ready." Muttering to her self, she turned her attention towards her target.
At the right side of the camp, a boy who was about Lily's age was tied on a tree. Lily's eyes zeroed in on the boy who had fox ears and nine bushy tails.
"That must be him." She said to herself.
All the while Lily thought that the fox would be scared, however, the fox did not seem shaken at all. He was considerably calm and for a brief moment, his eyes met Lily.
Knowing the risk if she will act impulsively, Lily decided. "I'll wait for night to fall."
Few hours later, the moon was well up into the darkened sky and the camp was illuminated by bonfire.
One of the men had started drinking a steaming cup of beverage while his other companions was getting ready turning in for the night.
After sprinkling invisibility dust on herself, the dark haired girl crept towards the slumbering men.
For good measure, she cast a sleeping charm on the hunters, especially the one who was on guard duty.
Lily gingerly made her way to the boy.
Taking the cloth that gagged the young fellow, she whispered. "I'm Lily. I am here to help you escape, Rei."
"I did not ask your name." Rei answered with an air of annoyance. "and don't call me by my name as if we are friends."
The witch was so taken aback that she was not able to say anything.
"You also did not have to help me escape. I can take care of myself." with that said the ropes loosened. They fell to the ground as the fox stood up.
The young witch just stared at the boy with disbelief.
After she had gotten over her initial surprise, she hissed.
"What an arrogant jerk. Indeed you did not ask me, but your mother did. Besides if you know how you can get away, then you should have done that before you have your family worried."
"If I had escaped after I got caught, where is the fun in that?" he replied while kicking one of the men who captured him.
The man just groaned but stayed asleep.
"Fun? Do you realize how your mother got worried just because of your fun?" she seethed as she stopped him from kicking the man.
"Who cares?" Rei said as he turned to leave.
With her patience almost snapping, Lily drew a pentagram on air, and then from its center a thin golden rope shot forth and attached itself on the Rei's left wrist. Using its other end, Lily tugged him back.
"What the?" he cried out while trying to break the bind. "Untie me!"
"No way. I am taking you back to Ardour." Lily pulled the fox towards her. She then attached the other end to her wrist.
Rei produced a red flame and tried to burn the rope but it remained intact.
"Do you honestly think you can burn a stalwart bind?" Lily asked with a smirk.
After that certain incident with the old hag, Lily made it a point to study bind spells. Fortunately, she was able to learn how to make a stalwart bind after a few tries.
The fox just glared at her. However Rei noticed that one of the sleeping bags was moving.
"one of them is waking up!" he panicked.
Using that as distraction, Rei fled. The bind extended as he gained distance from the girl.
Though the fox was able to get away, Lily was not able to escape in time.
As she turned around, her eyes met one of the few people she wished to exact revenge on.
Images of Hazel's death flashed before her. This man, who was struggling to stand before her, was the Azalean knight who had caught Hazel by her hair... Sir Wayne! He had helped in killing her lady-in-waiting.
"A child? Who are you, young lass and what are you doing here?" Wayne groggily asked as he unsteadily made his way towards her.
Lily was not able to answer. She was restraining her self from taking her dagger and stabbing the person.
Though she felt rage bubbling inside her, she could not keep her hands from shaking as it neared the concealed dagger inside her cloak.
"What are you doing her young lass?" Wayne asked again. His eyes widened when he saw her face up close. "Princess Lily?"
Lily tried to compose herself. This knight was not her priority now, she needed to take the fox to his mother in order to get the ingredient for her potion.
"I am sorry, sir but I am not a princess. I am just a child from the outskirts of the woods and I lost my way. I saw the light of your campfire and thought that maybe you could help me go back home."
As Lily said those words, she removed her hood to reveal her visage.
The middle aged knight was slightly taken aback.
"Oh… I'm sorry I mistook you as the princess of Marjoram. You look like her. But I see that you have black hair while the princess had been blonde."
Lily nodded while getting hold of her dagger. She would strike if opportunity comes.
"Why don't you stay with us for a while? It is already around midnight. And a young girl like you should not be alone in these woods." He offered.
When he turned around to tend to the fire, Lily inched her way near the man. She would have stabbed him but at the last minute she hesitated.
Before she could gather the courage to kill him, Wayne suddenly turned towards her. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing…" Lily shook her head. She was able to conceal her dagger before the knight could catch her.
"Why was I unable to kill him? Why am I hesitating?" Lily mused. "This is my first time killing. I never thought that this would be that hard.
Zeke's words came back to her. "Revenge is a double edged sword. Not only the person whom you wanted to exact revenge on will suffer but you, as the perpetrator will suffer as well."
"What should I do? I wanted to avenge Hazel. I need to do something." she thought to herself.
A few of Mrs. Caraway's lessons came to mind. "There are many forms of revenge. Killing is not always the answer. Malice disguised as kindness is the worst type of revenge you can bestow. A present or blessing that can turn into a curse or jinx people may work really well..."
"Excuse me sir…" Lily began. "I had seen a fox fleeing earlier. Were you the one who caught him?"
"Fox?" he looked for Rei who was tied on the tree, but could not find him. "Damn! It got away!"
"What were you planning to do with him?" Lily asked while approaching him.
"We plan to slaughter it and sell its pelt to the market."
"Since it has gotten away, I think I should replace it." Lily caught the knight by surprise. She concentrated her mana on him. A pentagram formed beneath his feet.
"You will become the animal that you have hunted." Her eyes glowed bright red as she commanded his body to change shape.
"I could not kill you for what you have done to Marjoram, to my parents and Hazel, but I can let you suffer with this." she said after she finished casting her spell.
Wayne fell on his knees as if he was in pain. Then he gasped as he could feel the change. His body contorted as his frame gradually shifted into a fox's.
"Hope and pray that you can escape your companions. If not then they will most likely slaughter you and sell your pelt to the market."
Wayne who was changed into a fox scampered away in fright.
Lily then left him to search for Rei. "That was odd. For some reasons, I do not feel happy for cursing that man."
"That was one wicked curse." Rei suddenly appeared before Lily. "You are quite interesting young witch."