Putting aside Leafy and Istan’s change in attitude, I said, “Well, let's go get them then.” The guard had been right, we should be quick.

“Not so fast.” Tide grabbed onto my hand and pulled me back as I started to head for the door. “Only one person who is not in this room knows why we are here, and I doubt he is going to be making any reports that you let us in.” Tide eyed the guard prompting him to confirm her assumption.  

“I am sure that is the last thing on his mind,” the guard stated without hesitation. He was being surprisingly helpful. “The worst case is that the next shift would ask why I was not at my post. But I doubt that would raise any flags.”

“Tell us where Faun and Mist are and what we need to do to get them out,” Tide pointedly asked after confirming that no one was going to be calling the guards on us.

“As I said, if you turn left at the end of the hallway you will end up in a courtyard. They are both there. But Faun is locked in a cage and only Maximus has the key.”

“We will be fine without a key.” I waved off his concern. I doubted any cage would slow me down even without my magic. Metal could bend with just some strength.

Tide continued to ‘interrogate’ the man for a full minute, and then another, and another, getting details on the layout of the courtyard, Maximus’s relationship to the “Lord” they mentioned earlier, and how we could get out quickly. I am not sure interrogate is completely appropriate. He seemed to genuinely want to help us now that Leafia had a knife to his throat. On second thought, I guess this really was an interrogation. 

“Are you done yet, Tide?” I said tiredly when it did not seem like she was going to stop. I had already lost count of how many minutes it had been. “We do not want to be sitting around all day. Eventually someone will notice him missing.” Tide just shrugged at my words, but seeing as no one complained, I opened the door and made my way into the hall. As we stepped out of the room, the knife that had been on the guard’s neck now moved to his back. I guess it would be painfully obvious that something was wrong if we were walking around this place holding a knife to the guard. 

As we approached the end of the hall where we were about to turn left, we saw two guards going in the opposite direction. Leafia tensed as they walked past and by the slight squirm of our guard I am sure a little more force was being placed on the knife at his back. He seemed willing to still cooperate with us and just nodded to the others as they passed. It was then that I realized a problem that all of us have overlooked. There really were a lot of guards in this place. Once the hall was empty, I looked over at our guard.

“Hey, what is your name?” I asked quietly.

“M-Michael.” He looked confusedly at me as he responded. 

“Why are you asking this now?” an incredulous sounding Leafia sighed at me.

“Well, I just realized there were a lot of guards here,” I replied.

“And this is a surprise when we are storming a castle?” Leafia was still looking at me in disbelief.

“If we just called him ‘guard,’ most of the people in here would reply. We can't exactly call out, ‘Hey, you who we are holding at knife point,’ now can we? Michael will work much better.”

“I thought you would be worried about fighting our way through all the guards!” Leafia was still looking at me skeptically and yet managed to roll her eyes at the same time. We were talking quietly while we walked to make sure we were not overheard by another party in these echoing halls. 

“Even tens of thousands of guards would not be an issue for Tide and myself. Maximus is the only one the two of us have to worry about.”

“Turn here,” Michael said, interrupting the whispered conversation between Leafy and myself. The location he indicated was an open doorway letting in light from outside. We stopped for a moment in the doorway to let our eyes adjust to the light. Then as we stepped through the doorway I saw a large cage off to the side. In the corner of the cage was a gray lump with two triangular brown ears poking out. My heart raced at seeing Faun even if most of her was obscured by what I hoped was a blanket. And behind her filling the courtyard with a faint splashing sound was the small fountain that contained Mist.  

I could feel both of their presences. Fuan’s energy radiated from all corners of this courtyard. But it felt sad. The vibrant energy of the forest was never meant to be cooped up in this small space. Mist’s energy was faint in comparison, but it was still fresh in the air. I found I had a tear of relief in my eyes as I thought, I have missed feeling their energy so much. I think once we get home I am going to stay at that pond for another 500 years and just be with my friends.  

I started to walk forward to release my friends when my companions who had accompanied me all stopped. I was just about to ask what was going on when a large shuffling noise pulled my eyes to the center of the courtyard. Dozens of guards were hastily standing up and forming themselves into ranks to face us. 

I hastily took a step back to rejoin my companions and whispered, “Michael, I thought that you said no one would be in here.”

“I have never seen anyone else in here. Faun might not even eat if I took a day off.”

“What do we do now?” Leafia asked uncertainty. Even she did not seem to like the idea of facing dozens of armed guards. 

“Do you think it is too late to tell them ‘we come in peace’?” I could not tell if that was an uncharacteristic joke from Gray or if he seriously wanted to give it a try.