“This is stupid,” Minho muttered under his breath.

Key shot him a warning look and made a shushing motion, eyeing the orc closest to them. Minho narrowed his eyes at him but turned his attention back to the camp they were observing, hidden behind a cluster of bushes. Taemin and Onew had disappeared into the night somewhere to keep an eye on the other side of the camp. Jonghyun had morphed into the shape of one of the orcs they had killed previously after Key had described it, and was now grunting around with the other orcs.

“You didn’t contribute much to the plan, so you don’t get to say anything,” Key hissed once he had apparently deemed it certain the orc hadn’t heard Minho. “If you have any–”

Another orc, passing the bushes hiding them, paused and shifted its head a little, as if listening. Minho clamped his hand over Key’s mouth and prayed to every god he knew the orc’s innate low intelligence would be enough to make it think it hadn’t heard anything.

They watched it in tense silence, barely daring to breathe, for what seemed like eternities.

Finally it shook its head and continued on its way over to the campfire. Minho and Key shared a relieved look before Key scowled and slapped Minho's hand away, mouthing ‘’ at him. Minho rolled his eyes and went back to observing the camp, watching Jonghyun play orc while waiting for the signal they had agreed upon to begin their attack.

Minho thought it would be better to just eliminate the camp and keep one survivor to question instead of wasting time dancing around, trying to sneakily get the information out, but everyone else had been adamant they be stealthy and careful.

The plan, as it were, was to get as much intel out of the orcs as they could, which was easier said than done since they weren’t the brightest creatures. Apparently this particular gang of orcs had kidnapped half orcs from the town and was supposedly torturing them for s and giggles. Jonghyun had been hired to gather information about the location of the half orcs, since he was a shape shifter and knew orc. Once he had told his employer he would now have the help of a former head mage of the Eastern Royal Court and an Eastern Royal Palace guard they had been asked to take out the entire camp as well as get the information.

Now, half orcs were looked down upon in most of the nations, but in the Northern Alliance they were free to make something of themselves without being judged because of their background. They were also considered citizens whichever city, town, or village they decided to settle in, which meant the law protected them and if they needed help, they would get it.

Hence, the situation Minho now found himself in.

He didn’t have anything against half orcs nor helping those in need, it was the reason he had trained to become a peacekeeper in the first place – though he had taken the job as a palace guard since it paid better and his mother needed the money. If he had the choice he would actually rather patrol the streets and solve crimes. Those plans were put on hold for the moment, however.

It was also the reason he had gone along with the plan for as long as he had instead of leaving to continue his search for the prince. And much as Key about only doing this for the information Jonghyun had on the prince, he had smiled softly in a way that made Minho think he knew exactly why he was doing this.

It was a little disconcerting, since that could mean Key was able to read minds and Minho would rather not have his thoughts invaded. He still wasn’t entirely sure what Key was, but he was starting to think he wasn’t entirely human. It also seemed as if he were a magic wielder, but he had nowhere near the level of magical abilities he should have. It didn’t seem as if he had gotten his abilities recently, either. And he had been schooled, as well. His teachers should have helped him develop his abilities to a higher standard than they were at the moment.

A sharp elbow jabbed into his ribs. Minho almost groaned in pain before catching himself and glaring over at Key. Key shook his head in irritation and pointed. He followed his finger with his eyes to see Jonghyun, morphed back into his natural form, with his daggers drawn in the middle of an oncoming hoard of orcs.

“That moron didn’t even do the signal!” Key growled as he drew his bow. He whispered something to the arrow he pulled from his quiver before swiftly putting it in place and shooting.

Minho watched as it whistled through the air only to explode into dozens of smaller arrows, hitting five orcs simultaneously. Three of the orcs fell screaming to the ground, their eyes pierced, and the two still standing spun around, spotting Key as he stood up.

“Hey heads!” Key yelled. “There’re more of us!”

He turned to Minho and nudged him with his foot.

“Come on!” he said. “Don’t just sit there!”

Minho finally gathered his wits and stood up as well, drawing his sword. Onew and Taemin had just emerged from their hiding spots on the other side of the camp. There were vines shooting out of the ground, pinning a few orcs down, and Onew had two orcs restrained against a tree, much like the spell he had used on Minho, except he was choking the orcs this time around.

“Took you long enough,” Jonghyun groused when they reached him.

Minho ignored him. Instead he made his way over to one of the orcs Taemin had pinned to the ground and stabbed it in the heart. He saw in the corner of his eye how Key smacked Jonghyun's head as he passed him and climbed up the nearest tree to straddle the lowest branch strong enough to carry his weight.

Taemin let out a small yelp and Minho spun around. One of the orcs he had pinned to the ground had managed to break free and was now advancing on him. Minho raised his sword to swing at it, but before he could move new vines had shot out of the ground and wrapped tightly around the orc’s throat. It garbled as it tried to breathe before falling unconscious to the ground, Taemin standing over it.

“Are you all right?” Minho called.

Taemin turned to nod at him, looking a little green. Minho decided he could take care of himself and turned to take care of the rest of the orcs who weren’t restrained and were trying to decide if they should target him or Jonghyun, who looked like the easiest targets since they didn’t know any magic and didn’t have long-range weapons.

Minho ducked underneath the oncoming fist of the closest orc and looked up in time to see Jonghyun grinning at him before throwing his dagger at another orc advancing on him. Minho shook his head and, using the hilt of his sword, hit the orc’s ribs on the right side. It groaned in pain and put its right hand on it, which was exactly what Minho had wanted since that seemed to be its favored hand for holding weapons.

They made quick work of the camp, the numbers of the orcs dwindling fast. It went well, considering. They only suffered artificial wounds, nothing serious, and Minho felt more confident about the entire endeavor. Of course they could have done this from the beginning instead of wasting time hiding and waiting. There was still that orc Taemin had strangled unconscious, which they could question.

Just as Minho sank his sword through what seemed to be the last orc and Jonghyun hit it with one of his daggers, killing it off, there was a loud curse and a growl. Minho turned, his heart sinking.

An orc, which had clearly been smart enough to hide, had pulled Key down from his branch and was now pressing a blade to his throat. Key grimaced as it cut into his skin, drawing a steady stream of blood. He had a cut above his eyebrow as well, which he must have gotten when he fell out of the tree, and it ran down his face, forcing him to shut an eye so blood wouldn’t get in it.

A distressed sound came from Onew and he moved, most likely to cast a spell, but the orc growled something, pressing its blade further into Key’s throat. More blood washed down Key’s front, blossoming through his clothes fast, and a pained frown appeared on his forehead.

Minho and Onew exchanged a worried look. He was loosing blood much too fast and if they didn’t get to him soon it could be too late.

Jonghyun narrowed his eyes at the orc and grunted something back.

“What’s happening?” Onew whispered.

“She’s telling us to retreat or she’ll kill him,” Jonghyun muttered. “As if she won’t do it anyway. He’s already about to bleed out.”

The orc said something again and Jonghyun's eyes widened a fraction, before a wicked grin spread on his face. He held up his daggers as if in surrender.

“Minho, drop your sword,” Jonghyun said.

Minho eyed him suspiciously, his grip on the hilt tightening.

“Trust me.”

Minho reluctantly loosened his grip and let his sword slide out of his grasp, to the ground. The orc motioned at Jonghyun, who shrugged and bent down to carefully place his daggers on the ground as well.

Then, so fast Minho couldn’t catch the action, a dagger had sped through the air and imbedded itself in the middle of the orcs forehead. The orc and Key swayed for a moment. Then the orc’s grip loosened and she fell backwards.

“Nice aim,” Key said weakly, continuing to sway on his feet dangerously.

Minho moved instinctually and caught him just as he fell over, face first. He was a little heavier than he looked and Minho had to sink to his knees. Key rested his chin on his shoulder and let out a small, tired sigh. Onew rushed over and dropped to his knees beside them, taking Key from Minho's arms and gently laying him on the ground on his back. He grimaced in pain and his breaths turned even shallower than they had been before.

“Sorry,” Onew muttered softly and worried his bottom lip. “It looks like you’ve lost a lot of blood but it’s okay. I’ll heal you. It’s fine. You’re okay. Everything’s fine. It’s not hard, it’s just a spell.”

Key gasped out a small laugh at his rambling and closed his eyes.

“Taemin, make sure the orc you strangled is restrained, should he wake up,” Minho said as he watched Onew prepare to heal Key’s wounds.

“Okay,” Taemin said somewhere behind him.

Jonghyun joined them, looking down at Key with his head tilted. Onew gave him a quick glare but didn’t say anything as he put his hands to Key’s neck. For a few seconds it looked like nothing was happening. Then the wound began closing up slowly, the flow of blood ceasing, and soon there was only a small pinkish line left.

Onew breathed a sigh of relief and sat back, rubbing his face with his hands.

“What happened to the signal?” Key asked when he opened his eyes and noticed Jonghyun standing there. “You could have gotten us all killed you know.”

Jonghyun grimaced.

“I forgot what the signal was,” he said sheepishly. “Sorry.”

All of them stared at him in varying stages of disbelief and anger.

“What?” he said defensively. “I usually work solo, ergo, I don’t need signals.”

Minho glared at him and got to his feet.

“Did you at least get the information you needed?” he asked.

Jonghyun bit his lip, not meeting his eyes. Key, now fully restored, sat up, looking at him expectantly.

“I’ll take that as a no,” Minho sighed after another moment of silence. “So, why then, did you attack?”

“I might’ve… gotten provoked,” Jonghyun admitted. “They were talking about this kid they had tortured and how they had enjoyed his screams and I just couldn’t sit there and pretend I enjoyed the story.”

Minho had nothing to say to that, neither did Key or Onew it seemed, so they all fell into solemn silence.

“Hey, guys!” Taemin called. “He’s waking up!”

Minho turned to see him standing right beside the stirring orc, bent over it and watching it intently, his right fist clenched to keep the vines wound tight around its body. He quickly made his way over followed by Jonghyun, who pulled Taemin back a few steps so he wouldn’t stand too close. Onew helped Key to his feet and they came to stand beside Minho, all of them watching the orc wake up.

The orc’s eyes flew open and its gaze flickered between all of them, unable to find the one who posed the most threat it seemed.

“Ask it where they’re holding the victims,” Minho muttered to Jonghyun.

He nodded, dropped to one knee by the orc’s head and gave small slaps to its cheek so it would focus on him. Once he had its attention he gave a sinister smirk and growled something at him. The orc grunted something back, a long string of what Minho supposed were words, the eyes still moving over all their faces in fright. Jonghyun sighed and pressed one of his daggers to the orc’s throat. The orc sputtered something but didn’t get further before there was a deep slit in its throat and the only thing making it past its lips was a gurgling noise.

Taemin stared at Jonghyun as if he had never seen him before and Onew sounded as if he would throw up, but Jonghyun simply stood and brushed dirt off his pants.

“Well,” Key said and walked up to Jonghyun's side to stare down at the orc. “What’d he say?”

Jonghyun glanced up at him, then at Taemin who was still staring at him.

“There’s an entrance to an underground cave deeper into the forest,” Jonghyun told them. “It’s underneath a tree’s roots, hidden behind some bushes.”

“Okay,” Minho said and sheathed his sword. “Let’s find this cave and get the prisoners out.”

Jonghyun nodded, face grim, and motioned for them to follow him.

Onew cast a spell, creating two small hovering orbs of light and handed one to Minho, who blinked at him for a moment.

“They all have dark vision,” he explained with a vague wave of his hand and smiled a little. “We’re human though, so we don’t.”

“Oh.” Minho took the small orb carefully. “Thank you.”

Onew simply nodded and went to stand beside Key, who was talking to Taemin in a low voice.

The orb was pleasantly warm in his hands and he studied it for a moment before following Jonghyun. The other three fell into step behind him. The murmur of Key and Taemin speaking had Minho throwing a curious glance over his shoulder at them from time to time.

Onew still looked a little nauseous and Taemin had a deep frown on his forehead. Then his expression hardened and he squared his shoulders, quickening his pace until he caught up with Jonghyun. Minho gave Key a questioning look, but he simply shrugged.

“Did you really have to kill that orc?” Taemin asked.

Minho could see Jonghyun glance at him, his eyebrows raised.

“He was scared,” Taemin continued. “And you just killed him in cold blood even after he helped us.”

“I thought you knew what my job was, Tae,” Jonghyun said calmly. “He was scared yes, but does that excuse him for all the things he’s done?”

Taemin frowned.

“No…” he said uncertainly. “But we don’t know what he’s done.”

Jonghyun stopped abruptly, which forced the rest of them to stop as well, and turned to Taemin fully.

“Taemin,” he said gravely. “If you want to see the world you need to take the good with the bad. There’s nothing you can do about it. If you’re not ready to face the ty parts of reality, then all I can say is you should turn back home. Right now.”

Taemin glared at him.

“I can take it!” he protested.

“Really?” Jonghyun said. “Because right now it sounds like you’re way too naïve to even go on this rescue mission.”

Taemin opened his mouth to argue but Minho – tired after the fight and more concerned about the state of the prisoners and Hae, who he had left in town, than their little squabble – spoke up.

“Can you two argue about this later?” he said. “We have a cave to find and people to rescue. And I’d like to do that as soon as possible.”

“Yeah, about that,” Key piped up. “How are we supposed to find it?”

Jonghyun stared at him.

“It’s deeper into the forest,” he said.

Key let out a deep sigh.

“I know that, genius,” he said. “But you killed the orc before we could question just where deeper into the forest was. And it’s dark too.”

Jonghyun's face went blank and he blinked.

“Oh.”

Minho leaned his head back and groaned.

“Great,” he muttered to the few stars visible through the canopies. “So we still don’t know where the prisoners are. Well, this was just a waste of time.”

Jonghyun wrinkled his nose and Key and Onew looked at each other in defeat, but Taemin stared at the ground in thought.

“I might be able to find it,” he muttered and they all looked at him.

“Really?” Key asked hopefully.

Taemin nodded.

“Yeah. My mom taught me this thing where I commune with nature and it can tell me things,” he said. “I’m not very good at it though, since I didn’t learn it properly. It might take some time.”

Jonghyun looked at him incredulously and Key grinned.

“That’s awesome,” he said.

Taemin smiled a little, sat cross-legged on the ground and closed his eyes.

“You can rest,” he mumbled. “This’ll take a while.”

They all watched him slow his breathing and fall into meditation for a moment before they took a seat on the ground as well.

No one dared to speak during the first few minutes except Jonghyun who sat humming under his breath as he cleaned and inspected his daggers. Onew, who had first busied himself with casting a cleaning spell on both Key and Minho to wash away Key’s blood, settled against a tree, made his little light orb float beside him and procured a book from his bag. Soon he was clearly as gone from the world as Taemin. Key sat doodling on the ground with the tip of one of his arrows and Minho, in lack of anything better to do, watched him draw small stick figures or write words in a language he couldn’t understand, though it looked familiar, while he gently rolled his own light orb between his hands.

“So…” Key started after all the space in front of him was filled up with foreign words and stick figures. Minho really shouldn’t be surprised he was the first to speak; he never seemed to stop really. “Do you really know the prince?”

Jonghyun stopped humming and looked up from his daggers.

“Are you asking me?”

Key nodded and Minho gave Jonghyun his full attention, curious as well. He had said he knew where the prince was.

“I wouldn’t say I know him,” Jonghyun answered. “I just saw him. Though he was under some spell to keep people from realizing it was him.”

“Then how did you realize it?” Onew asked suddenly.

They all started a little and turned to find him peering over the edge of his book at them.

“Uh, well…” Jonghyun scratched his neck, looking self-conscious, “I’m a shape shifter. We see through that kind of magic. There aren’t many of us so most people don’t know our secrets.”

“Huh…” Key said and frowned.

Jonghyun raised his eyebrows at him.

“I didn’t have a reason to tell on him before, because he clearly wanted to stay hidden,” he continued. Then he looked at Minho with a mischievous grin. “But I do wonder what he’ll do once you find him.”

Minho narrowed his eyes at him.

“Why?”

Jonghyun shrugged, though amusement was clear in his eyes.

“No reason.” He laughed. “Except maybe to see the prince panic over being discovered, cause a little mayhem.”

Onew heaved a sigh and returned to his book as Key and Minho exchanged raised eyebrows.

“Your sense of humor is horrible,” Onew muttered under his breath.

Jonghyun threw his head back and laughed.

“But you haven’t given the prince away yet,” Minho informed him.

Key agreed and Jonghyun grinned.

“No, I haven’t,” he said. “Didn’t we have a deal?”

“That was just for the orc camp though!” Key said. “You said you’d tell us once we had helped you with it.”

Jonghyun leaned back on his hands and appraised him, head tilted.

“I suppose,” he acquiesced.

Key leaned forward, Minho barely dared to breathe and Onew looked up from his book again. This could be it. The break Minho had been waiting for, for months on end. He would finally have a direction of travel instead of just aimless wandering.

Jonghyun let his gaze slide over them all, clearly amused and enjoying the attention. Then he shrugged.

“All I know is that he left for the mountains up north to see the midnight sun.”

Minho blinked at him, opening and closing his mouth a few times.

“What?” Key said before he could, disbelief clear in his voice.

“The midnight sun,” Jonghyun repeated and smirked at him. “He wanted to see it. So he made his way north to take the overpass to the Mountains of Faith. I’m guessing he’s a few days ahead of us.”

Minho's heart skipped a beat and his breath caught.

“But that’s back to the East. Why would he go back home?” he murmured to himself. Then he looked up at Jonghyun, eyes narrow in suspicion. “Are you telling the truth?”

Jonghyun gave a coy smile and fluttered his eyelashes.

“Would this face lie?” he asked and Minho saw in the corner of his eye how Key pretended to vomit and Onew hid a smile behind his book

He resisted the urge to snort and glared at Jonghyun instead before he turned to Key and Onew, who leveled him with matching blank looks.

“We should hurry, then,” he said. “You’re the ones who can recognize the prince. And you!” he turned to Jonghyun. “I need you as well since you can se through–”

Jonghyun held up a hand to stop him.

“First, free the prisoners,” he said, all humor gone, instead replaced by a hard glint in his eyes and a grave expression.

Minho frowned.

“Of course,” he said. “I never said anything about leaving them. It–”

Just then they heard Taemin draw a sharp breath and turned in time to see his eyes fly open.

“I found it!” he gasped and bent over to catch his breath, one hand pressed against his forehead.

Minho was on his feet in seconds.

“Great,” Key said and stood up as well while Jonghyun helped Taemin to his feet. “Time’s running. Lead the way.”

Minho took up the rear this time, too deep in thought to deal with the chatter of Taemin and Jonghyun.

The prince had been fleeing The East to flee his marriage, so why in the world would he go back there? It didn’t make sense. What could he stand to gain from returning home? Unless he thought it would be easier to hide somewhere no one expected him to be. But as far as Minho knew, there were still guards searching the entire country for the prince in case he had stayed in The East after all. Not that they would recognize him if he had a disguise or confusion spell put on him, but surely he couldn’t have changed his behavior that much. Spotting princes should be easy, they were used to a certain lifestyle and Minho doubted they would give it up so easily.

He didn’t notice Key falling back to walk beside him until he spoke.

“What are you thinking?” he asked.

Minho started and his head snapped up to look at Key before he glanced at the rest of the group, a few steps ahead of them. Onew glanced back at them, but Taemin and Jonghyun were still leading the way without looking behind them.

“Well,” Minho sighed. “It all seems a little weird. Why would the prince go back to the East?”

Key hummed.

“I agree,” he said, a frown on his forehead. “I wonder why Jonghyun would lie about something like that.”

They were silent as Key seemed to mull over what Jonghyun had said. After Onew had glanced at them for the fifth time, he sighed and rubbed his face.

“It just doesn’t make sense,” he said. “Why would he lie? What is he planning?”

“We can’t be certain he’s lying,” Minho said.

“No, he’s lying,” Key muttered. “I just don’t know why. Is he protecting the prince? Or is he just playing games?”

Minho frowned. Well, that was a very good question. Jonghyun didn’t seem to care either way, so unless he was getting immense joy out of leading them on a goose chase, he really had no reason to lie and go with them on a search mission instead of staying home.

“Hey,” Key said after another moment of silence. “What will you do when you find the prince?”

Minho blinked.

“Take him back home of course,” he answered. He thought it was fairly obvious.

Key pursed his mouth.

“What if he doesn’t want to?”

Minho scowled.

“He has to. I’m tired of this. I just want to go home, see my mother and friends again.”

Key looked at him thoughtfully.

“What?” Minho asked.

“Nothing,” he said. “I just never thought about my parents until now. Maybe they actually miss me…”

Minho frowned.

“Why wouldn’t they?”

Key smiled a little.

“They were always talking about all the duties I have to fulfill, it just felt like they wouldn’t miss me as a person all that much,” he said.

“I thought they gave you permission to travel?” Minho said.

Key laughed.

“More like I didn’t ask in the first place,” he chuckled. “I left because they said I could travel if I had Onew as a companion, though we were only speaking hypothetically at the time. I took that as permission though and we left.”

Minho raised his eyebrows.

“Don’t blame me! I just… wanted to see the world. And it’s amazing! For the past…” He frowned in thought, counting something. “Five years I’ve done whatever I wanted, without worrying about pleasing my parents. You have no idea how suffocating life was before I left.”

Humming, Minho looked down at the little light in his hands.

“No,” he admitted and glanced up at Key, who smiled at him. “I don’t.”

“Are you two done flirting?” Jonghyun called and they snapped their heads up to look at him.

“We’re not flirting,” Minho huffed, but caught the faint blush on Key’s cheeks in his peripheral view.

Onew narrowed his eyes at Key and a slow grin spread on Taemin's face.

“Oooh,” he said. “I see how it is!”

Minho scowled at him before turning to Jonghyun.

“What is it?” he asked.

Jonghyun motioned behind him and it was only then Minho noticed they had stopped in front of a large, old oak with bushes crowding up at its base.

“We found the cave entrance,” he said.

Minho nodded and watched as Taemin cleared the bushes away with magic to reveal a hole shielded by a large root. They squeezed through one by one, dropping a few centimeters into a dark, long tunnel.

“Who do you think made this tunnel?” Taemin whispered. “I mean, it doesn’t look like it was caused naturally.”

“Probably those orcs,” Jonghyun answered and began leading the way down the tunnel.

They travelled quietly for about ten minutes, the tunnel walls changing from damp earth to hard stone, until it widened into a small cavern. Stalactites and stalagmites decorated the interior of it and up ahead were a few steps leading down. They would hear the faint sound of a river and followed it into an even bigger cavern.

Jonghyun swiftly descended the steps, but Taemin and Onew froze on them. Minho and Key came up to look over their shoulders.

Inside were about twenty people ranging from adults to teens to children, all bound up to stalagmites in groups. They looked haggard and worn and shied away from the light Onew’s orbs omitted, backing up in fear. When they realized there were no orcs there to torture them, some began to sob and others plead.

Minho pushed between Taemin and Onew.

“Let’s get to work,” he muttered and made his way over to one of the stalagmites to begin working on their bounds.

It took them a while to free everyone and heal the ones who absolutely needed treatment. Then it took them a few hours to get everyone back safely. The sun was already beginning to rise when they finally arrived at the outskirts of town.

As they were greeted by early risers rushing to help them with the victims Minho pondered over if he could prevent things like this from happening if he wasn’t a palace guard and tied to one place. Before he had been sent on this mission, he had basically been trapped to one place, unable to leave unless he wanted to neglect his duties.

Suddenly he understood what Key had been talking about a little better and he wondered if that was how the prince felt as well.

A/N: So, I hope this makes sense to someone at least. Right now I just feel like it's crap though. Maybe I'll feel better about the chapter later... It's a little of a slow progress, so I apologize for that as well!

Anyhoo, still no idea who the prince is (Well, I know. Ha!) and I don't think I ever said it was anyone in SHINee... but we'll see! xD It will be nice seeing you try to figure it out in future chapters, hehe >_<

I'm also sorry for being crap at updating, but I want to make all the little things come together in the end so it's quite a lot of planning, which I usually don't do all that much haha. 

Nothing's proofread, but then again it never is!

Hope you liked this chapter! :)

Bye~!