Claire held her breath.
"We're here." she whispered as she put her map away.
She turned around to face Eunice.
"Check the outside first." Eunice suggested.
Claire placed a cloaking spell on herself and peeked out of the exit.
The exit was underneath a tree, positioned in a way so she had to climb out.
She peered outside to check the surrounding and she quickly spotted the Royal Palace, but...
...What?
There are guards...
Everywhere.
Soldiers were lined up in rows. In fact, there were soldiers lined up in several rows, and they were all armed and on alert, ready to fight back.
She climbed back into the tunnels and tapped Eunice to reappear.
"They..." Claire paused, "There are guards. Lots of them."
"Let me see." Eunice whispered.
Claire placed the cloaking spell over her.
A few seconds later, she felt Eunice tap her and reappeared the same as she had done before.
"How are there this many? They have nearly four rows of soldiers around the entirety of the Royal Palace!" Eunice exclaimed.
"What?" Sara yelled in a hushed voice.
"There's way too many! Even with the cloaking spells, we have no chance at winning this fight..." Eunice said, disappointed, "We have no choice but to turn back."
"Are you serious?" Sara asked, "Did we really walk all the way out here for nothing?"
"I guess..." Eunice muttered. She turned around to her soldiers.
"Due to... an unexpected change, this attack is going to be cancelled. Step aside and let Claire reach the very back so she can lead us back." Eunice sounded really upset.
The soldiers groaned as they stepped aside.
Claire, Sara, and Eunice walked to the back of the line.
It had been about an hour since they had turned back, and Claire had noticed that Eunice had a look of disbelief and shock on her face the whole time.
"Are you going to be okay?" Claire asked.
"Yeah..." she replied.
"It's a shame we came out all this way to just turn around. It would have been better if we didn't move."
"No." Eunice muttered. "We have some valuable intel."
Claire and stared at Eunice in silence.
"What?" Claire asked.
"I think we may be dealing with a spy."
