In the darkness of night, lit only by the bright starry sky and the light of the moon. Accalia sat in a tunnel dug into the side of the well, which had a small opening in its side from where she could peek out to see her daughter's face.
Waiting there she expected to hear the sound of her daughter's light footsteps approaching her soon, but instead what she heard this night were heavy footsteps of a man. She could also make out the light clinking of metal, the sound of a sword scratching against its owners belt, if she wasn't mistaken.
Hearing this she became slightly distressed, but quickly managed to compose herself as she started to quietly close the hole.
Then the footsteps came to a stop, she froze and then a young man's unsure sounding voice was heard calling out into the well saying.
"Hello, Miss Accalia, are you in there? Mmm, Miss Lili asked me, Sir Jack Bell to come and deliver you food and offer you whatever assistance that you might be in need of, as she is not capable of seeing you now."
For a moment silence rained, until finally after a moment of waiting Accalia spoke up with a clear feminine sounding tone of voice saying.
"Hmm, and who are you to my daughter, where is she?"
Hearing her words, Jack looked into the well to see if she could see this mother of Lili, but sadly he couldn't. The woman was completely hidden within the well and so with a disappointed sounding voice he said.
"Oh, I'm Miss Lilis personal knight. I'm usually close by when she comes to visit you here. Hasn't she ever mentioned me before?"
To this, a clear, and an immediate answer came.
"No, the only boy she ever talks of is a boy named Art. Mmm, well then again she did say something about having a bodyguard of her own, but nothing of your name or sex. But more importantly now, answer my question, and tell me, where is my girl, where is Lili? What has happened to her?"
Seemingly disappointed by this answer, Jack fell into a moment of silence, but quickly managed to pull himself back together as he answered Accalia by saying.
"Mmm, well basically Miss Lili and Princess Eadlin had a small fight in the training grounds today. It was an agreed upon fight between the two, but sadly, it didn't go quite like it should have. The two of them got a bit, wild with each other as some would say. And so because of this, the both of them are under house arrest, awaiting further punishment as they recover. But worry not, I assure you that Miss Lili is going to be fine, since the Princess hasn't made any demands for a punishment for the miss and the Queen seems to look favourably upon her, at least for now. So I'm sure it will be fine, but for the time being she will not be able to come and see you and that is why I have come here in her stead to tend to your needs and whatever request you might have of me."
Once more the well stood in silence, and then after a while Accalia spoke up again with strange demands of knives, clothes, blankets, food and other miscellaneous things like tools.
Accalia knowing of Lilis power was not worried for her, she mainly just felt disappointed that she would not be able to see her daughter this night. And so she instead turned her attention onto this Jack boy and decided to test his loyalties out first.
Jack was taken aback by all of this, but before this Lili had made him vow that he would not tell of her mother to no one and to help her without question. And so if that was what her lady, miss Lili wanted then he was going to do it no matter what, even if it was going to hurt his coin pouch greatly and potentially get him into trouble.
With this in mind, Jack sped off to town and after some time returned back with all that Accalia had requested of him and started lowering everything down to Accalia with a rope.
During this process Jack tried to catch a glimpse of this peerless beauty that Lilis mother most definitely was in his mind. Time and time again he peered inside the well as he lowered the items to the woman, but all he managed to see was the womans milky white arm, with nicely toned muscles, mixed in with elegance and femininity that made his imagination run wild.
To Jack this was a bit of a disappointment, he would have most definitely wanted to see more. But for now he felt contempt, knowing that he had done a great service to two beautiful women. He had not only helped out the all so beautiful Miss Lili, but her sure to be a stunning mother as well.
As a knight, Jack's goal had always been to help out damsels in distress and to save the weak. And today he felt like he had finally gotten to do just that, which brought him great joy and satisfaction.
While Jack was lost in his thoughts about chivalrous knights saving sexy ladies and getting kisses. Accalia had already sealed up the entrance in the side of the well and went to work.
She had transformed into her furry werewolf form, and dressed herself up in an all black outfit, making herself look like a bandit or a hooded ninja of some kind. Although it wasn't a full bandit outfit as her big furry wolf feet held no shoes and her sharp claws were sticking out of black gloves like small knives. But overall she felt quite satisfied with the stealthy look that even had a black cloak with a hood that she could hide her red hair under.
After that she started hauling all the supplies further into the darkness of the underground base. With the help of her fluffy werewolf strength she did the lifting part with ease, but when it came to seeing where she was going, that was a lot harder.
Her wolf eyes while being great for seeing in the dark just didn't work in this underground base, as they still needed some kind of a source of light to work. Her eyes merely gathered light into them and enhanced it so that she could see in the dark. And so she had to rely on the light stone in her hand to guide her way through the pitch darkness.
Through the small corridor, down many sets of stairs Accalia went. Until she came to the greenhouse as Lili called it.
Stepping inside the greenhouse Accalia was met with the familiar sight of the elder tree as she called it. Unlike before it didn't seem as sickly as before, as already on its many mighty branches there were signs of new sprouting leaves. And at its base there were many bright glowing light stones that had grass and little tree saplings starting to grow there.
But still, despite this all the place was quite dark and empty, and void of life. But this Accalia was about to change.
During her time here Accalia had done a lot of cleaning, especially in the laboratory where she intended to store all her things and use it as her main base of operations. Along with this she had done plenty of exploring and found a new exit deep within the underground.
And so after storing all the supplies in the laboratory that is where she headed. To the other side of the greenhouse, past a set of doors and heading into a long hall. She went deep past many small and large places, many of which she had not yet explored.
Then after what felt like many kilometres of walking she came to a section with many circular doors that all pointed downwards. Some of them led to metallic pods of some kind, with many metallic seats at their sides and a singular seat in the end of the pod that was pointing outwards past the hard glass of the pod.
While the glass was too hard for her to brake, she had luckily found that many of these circular doors held no pods within them. And instead they led to a large and long metallic tube, with an even larger circular door at the end of it.
These doors were tough, but after searching for a while she had found one that held many cracks in it. And so with a lot of force she was able to make the cracks even larger. And there, behind this cracked door she had found soft soil that she was able to dig. And dig she did.
For a long time she dug and dug and dug. She went past many stones and through roots, until in the end she came against a wall of stone bricks.
Like an intelligent furry rat she pulled and pulled away at these bricks placing them gently and quietly to her side, until the whole became large enough for her to crawl through.
On the other side there was a space big enough for her to crawl into, but not large enough to stand as something wooden was held above her. They seemed like wooden barrels of some kind, and the room seemed like a possible cellar storage room to her.
Laying on her belly for a while, Accalia watched and listened for any possible signs of movement in the room before her.
All around in the room she could hear light sounds of tiny feet moving about, accompanied by fast scratching sounds. By the sound of it these were most likely the sounds of small mice moving about, and there were lots of them here.
Then there were also louder thuds and scraping sounds accompanied by light skittering and grinding of wood. To her this sounded like rats.
But after a while of listening there were no sounds of humans, just the sounds of little furry creatures. From all this Accalia could conclude that whoever owned this cellar was clearly neglecting his duties of keeping the furry pests away.
Fearing a rat and mice infestation of her own Accalia made sure to close the wall behind her as she crawled further inside the room.
Emerging from under the large wooden barrels, she was immediately met with the sight of a decent sized, but dusty and old looking cellar. There were many barrels that smelled of strong alcohol and shelves full of food that were actively being eaten away by the rats and mice.
Standing there looking at all this, some of the little things almost immediately took notice of her presence. Their red beating eyes looked upon her with curiosity and then fear, as they then quickly scurried off past her.
They were like a small swarm of fat furry little black and gray things. Clearly by the looks of them she could see that they had been feasting down here for a while, completely undisturbed.
Watching them go she looked as they hurried off up a set of old creaking stairs and out of her sight into the darkness of the space upstairs.
With Lilis light stone as her one and only source of light here, she curiously followed the little fat things up the stairs. Her furry form, as heavy and big as it was, caused loud creaking noises as she slowly went up the stairs.
For a moment she felt alarmed by this. What if someone heard her, but then again, she figured that if anyone was here then they would have already heard her long ago and so sneaking around was pointless now. She figured that her digging behind the walls of the cellar were most likely already loud enough to awaken anyone who lived here.
And so with this in mind she moved onwards and emerged into a small kitchen. There her nose was immediately assaulted by a horrible stench that made her stomach turn. She could smell something rotten and dead in the air, and the smell was strong like a thick cloud that covered the whole place.
Looking around she could see a butchers table with half eaten pieces of meat with large bones sticking out, pig heads and bloody guts all over the small room. Implanted into the table there was also the culprit of all this blood, a bloody butcher's knife.
But none of this was the cause of the real stench in the air that bothered her and so she moved onwards, past a bar counter and into a decent sized tavern by the looks of it. There were empty and dusty chairs and tables all around. A perfectly fine stage for performers.
Overall everything seemed fine here, except for the knocked down chair on the stage, and the clearly dead and rotting man who was hanging off of a rope there. The rope was long, going all the way up and around a wooden beam in the ceiling.
Coming in closer, she could see what looked like three wooden tags in the man's dead right hand. On them, were names of men, but she couldn't focus on them as the stench was too great. As under the man there were his final excrements that had come dripping down his pants and onto the stage below. The sight was horrendous and caused Accalia to puke then and there as she quickly tried to make her way further away from the smell.
Checking out the upstairs she also found a similar sight up there. In a fine bed a woman clearly eaten by the rats lay with dried up flowers all-around her. It seemed that her death had been peaceful, but she never got a proper burial.
From all this Accalia could only deduce that something bad had happened to this family's boys, as tags such as the three she saw are only handed out to soldiers. And so with the place being completely abandoned by the looks of the dead husband and wife who were most likely the owners, she figured that this place was at least safe for the time being.
But it definitely wasn't good on her nose and so she continued her journey onwards. But as she turned around to leave the room she noticed a glow of something shiny. Turning towards it, she noticed the shiny thing tucked partially inside the dead woman's cleavage.
Getting closer to it Accalia noticed it to bee a key that was hanging around her neck. With one hand on her nose she quickly snatched it off of the woman and ran outside, where she tied it around her neck. Now with this done she felt confident to continue onwards as all the other rooms here seemed vacant without any bodies.
Following the smell of the slightly stinky fat rats she went back downstairs. Headed to the kitchen, went past the bloody shelves and the butchers table, and then came to a wooden backdoor.
On it she found a large lock and now, luckily she just so happened to have a key that opened it. Opening the door she came to a small alleyway with piles of stinky trash bags piled along side of the streets. And finally up above her she could see the light of the stars and the moon shining down upon her.
The moon was not full, but even as it was it gave her strength and energy to move further than she normally could. Taking in its light her senses felt sharper and body more alert to all that was around her.
She could hear rustling, squeaking and biting within the trash bags. It seemed that the rats were having another feast over here, but more than anything she couldn't help but notice how silent the streets were around here. Behind her she could hear the metallic sound of the guards patrolling the main streets, but in front of her there were no such sounds.
In front of her in the far distance, she with her sharp ears could hear the hideous laughter of drunken men, cries of women and the sounds of lustful acts being committed. These sounds were all too familiar to her ears and they made her blood boil and stomach turn in disgust.
Despite this, she managed to keep a calm mind and think somewhat rationally about the situation before her. The city seemed quite silent and dark, most likely due to it being the dead of night. And by the looks of the people inside the house she left, the war was also having an effect on the city. She could only guess, but most likely many of this city's men were either on the battlefield, or just simply dead. Which meant that it was the perfect time for her to go sneaking abouts the city.
Remembering to lock the door behind herself, Accalia then headed for the cities tall roofs and slowly started making her way towards the sounds of the wailing women.
Covered in all black, having black fur and her red hair tucked under a black hood, Accalia was like a shadow as she leaped from rooftop to rooftop. But sadly the rooftops quickly came to an end, and a wide street came before her eyes. Further ahead, over this street there were other rooftops, but they were too far for her to jump to. And so she was forced to go down again to cross this wide street.
But before that she looked from side to side and listened for movement. To her left she could see a young looking couple, lantern in hand walking off into the distance as they laughed and talked happily. And to her right where she could see the towering sight of the royal castle in the distance she could hear the metallic clanking of guards approaching.
Seeing that the streets were barely even lit, she was tempted to just make a quick run for the other side. But during her time in captivity with Lili, she had learned a few things from her, about how to stay undetected.
Lili had talked a lot about it, but overall she had figured that there were mainly two ways of avoiding detection by your enemy. Either you act naturally and dress in a way that you blend in with the enemy, or then you can simply hide and dress in away that you are just impossible to see.
And one thing she now knew for sure, was that she definitely didn't fit in with these enemies of hers, and so she could only rely on not being seen. And sure she was quite hard to spot now, with her black fur and black clothes. But she also knew that if anyone would see her now, even from a distance, then that would for sure raise an alarm.
And so she played the patient waiting game. From a top the roof she watched the shadows of the two guards coming from behind the corner of the street, followed by there big clanking figures that were covered in armour. The two didn't turn left, but instead continued forward.
She watched them walk slowly across the street and then head into a side street there.
After that Accalia turned and looked left and right, up and down the long wide street, but saw nothing of note close by and so she climbed down.
Once more before crossing she looked both ways as that was also something Lili had talked about. Lili had talked of stories involving stupid people who got into accidents because they simply forgot to look both ways, before crossing. And so with this in mind she started to quickly cross the street as she had already, wisely looked both ways. Making sure to stick to the shadows she came to the other side of the street.
Standing there next to a tall white stone building of many floors, she then headed into the side streets. There she was forced to climb up to the roof as the further she went, the louder and closer the voices of the men came.
From rooftop to rooftop she went until familiar sights of drunken men and chained women came into her sights. All along the narrow streets there were now caged or simply chained women of many ages to be seen.
Most of them were not of her kin, but many of them were, and this more than anything angered her greatly. Around the women men were bidding for them as their owners laughed and happily called out the prices.
But some girls that were simply just chained or bound to some wood by their necks were not this lucky. These women held very low prices and had small lines of men, lining up to use them, either from the front or from behind.
Absolutely repulsed by the sight Accalia wanted to pounce on the men and rip them all apart right here and now. The only problem was the armed men standing guard around the street and the alarm bells that they carried with them. Plus Lili had wished to show restraint, because according to her, violence would only create more violence and so it was important not to kill these people for the enslaved girls sakes.
With this in mind Accalia held her anger at bay and moved onwards. She could feel herself getting close to her target, she could even smell it, the familiar sent of her sister's.
Quietly whispering to herself Accalia merely said.
"Worry not, I'm coming for you my sister's. You're days of suffering are over now."