My nerves started to rise as I approached the river. I know it was ridiculous since we still had a good twenty minute walk to the gates of the town. But this was it.

The river was shallow this morning and the bottom sandy, making it an easy ford to cross. However, the looks on Leafia’s, Gray’s and Istan’s faces showed they were not looking forward to getting wet on this brisk morning. Even despite his misgivings Istan did not hesitate and plowed straight into the water. Or at least that is what everyone expected to happen. But everywhere he put his foot the water seemed to flee away from. Istan took a few more steps in amazement. 

I looked over at the source of the disturbance and saw that Tide was just walking through the water as if nothing was happening. I wanted to scold her for using her power when we were still trying to hide. But when I looked for the signs of her power there were only small traces. This must be second nature to her just like me using the plants to help me walk.

The far bank of the river was... anticlimactic. The road just continued up the side of the valley to the stone walls of the village, but that did not ease my nerves as we continued on the path to the gate on the north side of the village. 

Approaching the walls we could tell that Terra was right in calling the north side of the village a fort. The walls were almost as impressive as those for the capital and Yana. The dark gray stone of the walls stretched several people tall over our heads. 

We were a few dozen paces away when one of the two guards at the gate called out, “This gate is only for business of the fort. Civilians need to use the gates on the east or west side of the town.” I looked over at Tide with her blue hair and grabbed a lock of my own, checking that it was still the yellowish green of a fir tree and wondered why he would think we were civilians. At this distance, if they were paying any attention, it should be clear that at least four of the five of us were not humans. I can’t think that they get enough non-humans here to call them civilians. The second man standing guard shot his companion a questioning look, seeming to agree with me. 

“We have business within the fort and have come here to meet with Maximus,” Gray called back, taking his usual role as spokesman. 

This seemed to quiet the guard for a moment but that did not last long. A smile appeared on his face as he said, “Maximus is meeting with the Lord today and will not be able to meet with you. Try again tomorrow.” I heard him mutter in an undertone, “I really don’t want to have to log them in now and escort them. Couldn’t they have just shown up after shift change?”

It was now my turn to be halted and not know what to do. I wanted to retort about the laziness of this guard, but the lack of response from the other guard seemed to confirm the truth that Maximus was going to be out. I guess there goes my plan to just ask for Faun back. Wait a second, this was even better. There was no way a few humans with swords could stop Tide and I if they would not let us in the door. But once again, there would go my reputation. So what should we do? I could just pry open the doors…. Gray also seemed to have trouble finding a response to the guard. 

“We are acquaintances of Miss Faun, who has been in Maximus’s care. We have come to check on her. And escort her back home.” I looked at Tide in shock. How did she make us rescuing the person that you abducted sound so polite?

The first guard that had been speaking showed little reaction to this statement. Clearly the name Faun did not mean much to him. Either that or he really did not care about anything but not doing work. But the one behind opened his eyes wide in surprise. 

“Will you please let us in so we can wait until Maximus is done with the Lord? Surely by this afternoon he would be able to spare us a few minutes of his time,” Gray added on.

“No, I can’t just let you in the fort and I don’t want to sit with you all day long. It's about to be shift change. And I want to talk to the new maid serving in the kitchen.” This time the lead guard did not even bother muttering about his lack of desire to work. I had not yet met a mortal so loudly committed to self-indulgence. I could only stare at them after the tirade the first guard had just given us.

It seemed like his companion was doing all he could to stop from face palming. “I will take them to the waiting room. So you can go talk to Mary. I don’t want Maximus to get mad that we turned his guests away.”

“But then you are leaving me here to do guard duty all by myself,” he protested.

“You just said yourself it was going to be shift change soon, and do you see anyone else on the road right now? You won’t have to do anything until shift change anyway.”

“Fine, be that way,” the first guard grumbled his consent. 

“Please follow me,” the responsible guard said, leading us through a small door next to the gate. As the door closed behind me all external power was cut off from me. But unlike what happened when I rode into Yana’s capital, I was ready this time and did not faint. I could not understand how any human would choose to live in such a dark and narrow space. The hallway reminded me much of the caves these humans would often use in the winter many millennia ago. Did humans still have some inner longing for these dark dank spaces? 

Katuwarrior

Sorry for the long delay. Life really is good at getting in the way. I do not quite have the whole mass release ready yet but I am mostly there. I will schedule the next several chapters to be released twice a day. I am starting to release now so that I start feeling pressure to finish this up.