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“Lower your blade,” Cassius hissed into the blackness. Even his fae sight could not see through the shadows around them. He knew it was Valen’s magic blinding him. He could not even see the glow of the moon behind them at the cave’s entrance.

“Damn it, Valen, lower your blade,” he struggled to keep his voice steady. The witch’s long obsidian nails brushed his neck where her blade had been only moments before. Small orbs of floating flame appeared, illuminating the cave with their warm smokeless fire.

“You forgot the password,” she hummed in amusement. Witches were a strange breed of Etherie, and Valen was stranger than most. Her nail scraped across the black obsidian blade. She flipped it in her hand before shoving it back into its hilt.

The witch was a beauty and a terror to behold. It was like the beauty of a dragon. Marvelous, yet horrible at the same time. All witches bore marking that told of their power. Cassius had never seen another witch with markings like Valen’s. Nor had he ever met a witch with power like Valen’s, granted he had not met many witches. Several small dark brown markings circled her fingers, usually hidden by gloves. Three small circles crowned the top of her forehead. Her dark curly hair poked out from under her black hood. The firelight revealing the slight green color of her hair. The ringlets framed her nearly flawless face, the only imperfection a single scar that traced down her left cheek.

"Yeah because knocking on a door twice with your boot, coming in closing the door, waiting for the door to magically unlock, and locking it behind us is not enough?" Cassius countered. He had indeed forgotten the password, but he would not admit that to her.

"You can never be too careful," Seth laughed from the shadows of the cave. Cassius was honestly surprised their Commander was in the cave at all. Even though he knew Seth’s presence meant that Kat and Aaron must be out on patrol, it did not stop him from looking in the shadows for the small halfling female. Yet she was not there.

Seth was usually on perpetual watch during missions like this. The Commander rarely took a break. He could see the dark circle’s under his friend’s eyes, indicating that he had not been sleeping much these past few nights. Callum did not blame him. Undercover missions like these were becoming more and more dangerous.

Callum’s one green eye was alight with amusement as he looked at Cassius. Cassius’s brother was his mirror. Their dark skin and golden blond hair were a stunning combination. Their emerald green eyes were like jewels. The only difference between the two was the eye patch Callum wore over his right eye and that Callum was mute.

“You shut up,” Cassius said pointing at his brother before unceremoniously plopping down on a flat-topped stone. He leaned back against the cave wall, tossing his mask onto the floor.

They had been embedded in Prince Thidal’s guard for almost a month now, almost half that time had been spent marching here, and Cassius had quickly remembered just how much he hated the military in that short period of time. At least this time, he was not looked down on for his lack of magic. Barely any of the males serving the prince had magic to speak of. All of them, it seemed, were halflings.

“What is your report?” Seth said, coming into the firelight. Fates he looked so tired. Cassius could already see his friend bracing for the bad news. That yet another mission was a failure.

“Not much to report on, there has been no news or whispers of the Princess’s location,” Cassius kept his voice low as he spoke, even knowing that Valen had probably already spelled the cave to keep any listening ears from hearing what was being said.

“If she is here at all,” Cassius added even quieter.

The witch narrowed her eyes at him, her black nails curling around the sleeve of her black quilted jacket.

“Don’t you say that!” Valen hissed in annoyance, her body launching forward. Seth grabbed her arm, stopping her from yanking Cassius off the rock he sat on.

The sharp black nail of her finger pointed at his face. Cassius raised his hands in surrender. It was not that he did not want the Princess to be here, but it had been years since the Princess of Ameron had been taken. So many times they had infiltrated prisons only to find that she had already been moved, or had never been there at all. If they did ever find her, he wondered how much of that smiling Princess would still remain. He more than most, knew the toll a place like this took on a person.

Valen knew what he was thinking. The pain in her cold tawny eyes said it all. Despite Valen’s indifferent and sometimes impatient attitude towards their small band of friends, he knew she cared about them and about this mission. She was the only one in the group who had never known Princess Ellinna. She had offered her help, simply because it was the right thing to do. And from the hundreds of times the witch had used her strange magic to save their asses, he knew she cared about them too.

“So, there is no confirmation that the Princess of Ameron is actually here,” She said.

“No,” Cassius shook his head sadly.

“I see,” she muttered. Seth was strangely silent.

‘Someone is here though. Someone important enough for the Prince to take a special interest in,’ Callum spoke into their minds. Valen was one of the few people able to hear Callum’s words, other than Cassius. It was a trick that came in handy many times in the past.

“What did he say?” Seth asked, picking up on the way Valen stiffened whenever Callum spoke to her.

“Callum says someone that the prince has taken interest in is here,” Valen said.

“It is hard to explain,” Cassius sighed filling in what the Witch did not know, “but there is a cell being guarded by the Prince’s guards, not the prison guards. No one, save for the Prince, is allowed to enter it,” Cassius explained. He knew Callum had spent the better half of the day standing outside of that cell.

“Cell 304. If the Princess is here, she is in that cell,”

Valen nodded. Saying nothing as she thought over the information they had given her.

Cassius could already see the hope in Seth’s eyes. He hoped to the Fates that this was not another dead end.

‘The Prince’s guards have been ordered not to speak to anyone regarding a few prisoners in Arden,’ Callum added. He did not have to say that such an order, from the Prince himself, meant not a single guard was willing to say a word. Seth had already wandered away from the conversation, he stared up at the full moon outside and the snow falling on the ground.

“Thank you,” Valen nodded to them both.

After a long moment of silence, Seth spoke. “We can’t waste any more time, we attack tomorrow night, at the shift change,”