A fox in the snow

Chapter 20

Five days have passed. Four more days until the coronation.

Lilith was still scraping the edges of one of the rocks with the fork and knife. She already displaced a few smaller rocks around the huge one to make the hole bigger for her to escape through. She carefully placed it back in its place so that no one would notice what she'd been up to.

She sang those unbearable songs and this led the Crown Shield to guard the cell in shifts. Well, she's not your quintessential Disney princess.

Whenever he peered into the cell, he'd see her lying on the floor, talking to herself and expressing loneliness and cursing her fate. Once, she looked so depressed with swollen eyes, that he somehow felt uneasy. But as the faithful servant of Catherine, and the King's backstabber, he didn't dare let his emotions overpower his judgement.

After what seemed like many hours, she managed to displace the largest rock from its place. She had to practically drag it off its place as it was too heavy to be lifted off the floor.

She heard the faint click of the door unlocking and quickly sat on the displaced spot, covering the rock with her gown. The guard peeped in but didn't notice anything unusual or out of place. Lilith pretended to be daydreaming while the guard's sharp eyes quickly scanned the walls and the window far above. He peered at Lilith's face suspiciously, and then closed the door. Lilith waited a while to make sure he wasn't going to enter again, and quickly set off to work. She removed heaps of mud with her bare hands, scooping as much as possible.

Panting and sweating, Lilith finally managed to remove enough heaps of rocky mud to get her out. But when she looked below, all she could see was even more soil. There was no trace of a pathway.

Well, I expected this.

She placed her head right through the pit and scraped her fingers over the soil lazily, giving up. Suddenly, a familiar flute melody played in her ears.

She listened intently. "Where's that coming from?" Her brows were knitted together, in confusion. She took her head out of the pit and looked around. But all she could hear was the heavy footsteps of the guard, as he guarded the dungeon.

The sweet melody was heard again when she placed her head in the pit.

It's coming from within.

Her heart beat fast. She scraped more and more soil out of it, like a hungry animal feeding on its prey, only more vigorous.

There's a way after all. Her heart smiled.

It look a long time, but finally, with the last dig, a small hole opened up. She tapped her feet lightly around the hole, to make it bigger.

She jumped right through the hole and walked carefully. There was no source of light except through the hole. The rhythm was much closer now and she managed to walk down the little tunnel. It was quite a small one, barely three feet tall and Lilith had to crouch and walk through it. She crawled on her hands and knees for a little while, and then the hole suddenly sloped downwards and became considerably bigger.

It was quite dark by now, and she made use of her hands and feet to navigate through the tunnel, following the music.

As the melody became louder and louder, Lilith could see a slender, glowing blue figure in a distance, turned the other way. Its silky purple hair rippled when its head bobbed about while playing the piece on its flute.

"Astrel!" Lilith exclaimed in a mix of surprise and relief.

The figure slowly turned to face her and smiled warmly. Lilith scrambled towards Astrel, bumping her ankles and elbows on the sharp rocks jutting out of walls.