Bartok clearly had no idea who he was dealing with. Grant thought his senses hyper alert to everything around him. Ever since they entered the swamp, Grant realized that he had been noticing every detail around him. He had been able to predict exactly where the goblins would search for them and guide his brothers to avoid them effortlessly. Joshua, being the military expert that he was, had correctly had them camouflage themselves using the mud in the swamp. They had made plenty of progress before any sizable number of goblins had rallied to search for them. For some reason, their search patterns seemed practically primitive to Grant. Predicting their every movement became effortless. “Everyone, there’s four goblins coming hide in the mud for 12 seconds and then reemerge. They’ll never see us” The brothers proceeded to so as planned. The goblins could make their way through the swamp faster than the brothers, but thanks to Grant’s sharp thinking and keen senses they’d been able to avoid detection so far. Grant had noticed a bird, a chickadee, staying close to them, which was unusual for a swamp, but had more pressing issues on his mind. They wouldn’t survive out here with goblins searching for them for an extended period. They needed food and shelter as well. Those sweet peas were a long time ago now, and Aden hadn’t even been able to eat any. What’s worse, that wizard could come looking for them at any time, and there was little they could do to stop him now.
The brothers needed to get out of the swamp. This was still goblin territory, and they wouldn’t survive here for long. It would be difficult to make an underground cavern for them to hide in now, due to the swamp, but finding food, leaving the swamp and hiding in a cavern was likely their best chance at survival. Grant was grateful that they had all grown up camping and that this wasn’t overly strange for any of them. Sure, the goblins were strange, but wilderness survival was something that they had done every summer growing up. Grant tried to smell out something edible. He followed his nose to bushes full of red berries. The other brothers needed no prompting to pluck the bush clean. These would be very bitter raw, but it was much better than nothing. Now they just needed out of the swamp, and fast, Grant had the feeling that something bad was going to happen. The wizard would be coming at some point and who knows what would happen then. Grant had been putting them on a trajectory out of the swamp, far enough away to avoid detection from the walls. A few more minutes and they should be there. It was exhausting work, trudging through the marsh, but they made it soon enough. “We should hided underground for now” Grant said. “It’ll be the hardest place for them to find us, and we need to rest.” They had been moving non-stop since leaving their cell, and that would wear out anybody given enough time. He was just glad that they had all seen the wisdom in staying together. Aden still had his pickaxe, thankfully, covered in mud as it was, and dug them a cave quick enough.
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They all entered the cave and split up the cranberries that they had found. It wasn’t enough to fill them up, but it was much better than nothing. The chickadee had found its way inside with them too, which for some reason, Grant was thankful for. If Grant thought about it, his senses and predictive skill had increased around the same time that bird showed up. It might be a coincidence, but then again, it might not be.
After not long in the cave, they hear a loud noise, shaking the ground around them, scattering any loose dirt all around the cavern, waking some of them from sleep. That must be the wizard, Grant thought. That explosion sounded truly massive. Grant was suddenly glad that they were no longer in the swamp. Shortly after the explosion, they heard a scream of rage, audible even underground as they were. Grant hoped that meant the wizard didn’t find them. Tired as he was, he decided to go to sleep.