Sven wasted no time, immediately explaining what he needed from everyone, and what the overall idea was.
Every team member was instructed to pack specific tools – they all needed to have an axe, spade, field knife or machete, at least two lengths of rope, and three canteens. Additionally, everyone was required to be armed with a shield and personal weapon, something that they were comfortable fighting with individually, as well as a bow and two quivers of arrows. Bedrolls and enough rations to last 4 days completed their initial load. Then Sven had additional rope, camouflaged nets and sheets of canvas piled before everyone. Overall, there wasn’t a lot of difference with what they had taken the year before.
“I need everyone to carry something from this pile. Pack as much as you can, because if we can take more, we will.”
“Aren’t we going to take some of the stakes like last time?” Anton asked. He had been one of Sven’s earliest picks.
“No, we made a mistake with that. It came up in my assessment.”
“How can it be a mistake?” Anton asked in surprise. “It helped so much.”
“I thought so too,” Sven replied. “But my sponsor pointed out that the stakes we carried with us would have only taken 20 minutes to make ourselves, instead they took up space that could have been used for things we couldn’t find at our camp. The 20 minutes isn’t worth it.”
They quickly divided the rest of the supplies amongst themselves, allowing a few more pieces of rope and some additional nets to be packed. The rest of the space was left for everyone to pack the things they wanted, which many used more luxury items, like soap. Yaric took a third quiver filled with the whistling signal arrows they had encountered the previous year, and a few others grabbed extra weapons. Sven pointedly took a tin of dark grease, making sure Yaric noticed. Yaric ignored him.
Once they were ready, everyone formed columns of four, with Sven and Lauren in front of their column. This time, as 6th years, they were to march in front, and Sven’s team in particular were placed in the lead position. Following their instructors, four hundred students marched through Lekton, taking up much of the main road. Just like before, many of the locals came out to watch, and quite a few waved or cheered. Spirits were high when they began making their way out of Lekton, again heading north and moving away from the river.
The trip north wasn’t as hot as Yaric remembered, despite the sweat running down his back, but the countryside was just as alive as before. A flock of sheep scattered as they drew near, but soon began shadowing them from a safe distance. More than one dog ran up inquisitively, occasionally even approaching to sniff the marching students.
Things began to change in the afternoon, when they started moving closer to the same forest as before. This time they headed to a different part of the Red Forest, and early evening found the students marching up to the entrance of another large, luxurious camp site.
It was almost an exact copy, with the same style of buildings arranged in the same layout. Yaric suspected that every exercise area had its own copy of the same camp site. Everyone claimed their own bunk as quickly as possible, then met outside again, in front of the large bonfires that had already been started.
“Alright everyone, before we discuss our strategy, we need to get the team name out of the way,” Sven announced, looking around at his team.
“Out of the way?” Li Na asked, sounding offended. “That’s the most important part of this team meeting.”
Some murmurs of agreement made it apparent that there were others who felt the same way.
“Either way, we need to come up with our name for the flag to be made. Everyone can put their own suggestions forward,” Sven said, sounding slightly exasperated.
“Dragon Slayers,” Li Na immediately responded, smirking and looking around for approval.
“You only want that name to take a dig at another team,” Sven replied.
“So?”
“Team Shadow,” Lauren suggested quickly, trying to move the discussion forward.
“The scorpions.”
“Vanguard.”
“The Conquerors.”
Names started coming thick and fast, but after a furious debate, they were split between Lauren’s first suggestion, Team Shadow, and the very similar Team Veil. Both had the same connotations, and the whole team was in agreement that their name should fit with their intentions to strike suddenly and disappear again. The matter was settled when Li Na took Lauren’s side, and everyone who had supported Team Veil decided that it would be easier to just agree.
With their team’s name settled, Sven went off to let their instructors know, while the rest of his team loaded up their plates with the food that had just been prepared. They all celebrated with a big meal, before moving aside to go over Sven’s strategy. He had notes for most aspects of the plan, and he quickly went through everything with his team. A few questions were asked concerning aspects Sven hadn’t thought of, forcing them to pause and make some adjustments, but that only improved things. Then they all had an early night, filled with a combination of anxiety and anticipation.
This year Team Shadow was one of the last teams to leave, as their site was closer. Those who had campsites on the far end left first, leaving Team Shadow to sit and wait until mid-morning, when it was finally their turn.
Once again, an instructor took them into the forest, leading them on a roundabout route until they came across a marked trail.
“You all know the drill,” he said, pointing to the trail. “Follow this until you find your camp. This is also the trail that will be used to deliver your supplies. Good luck.” The instructor then turned and strode back into the forest without another word.
Sven repeated their previous years actions, sending scouts out in all directions in order to mark their position on the map. Two rivers made it simple to work out, and this time they simply followed the trail, marking it as they went.
It didn’t take long to find their base camp. At first, it looked like the site was surprisingly good, sitting on mostly flat ground, with a stream that forked to pass on both sides of the building. That is, until Lauren pointed out that it would be extremely difficult to build any kind of wall around their camp, with the rocky ground and flowing water. The stream itself was barely ankle deep and would provide no protection.
It was a good thing that they never had any intention of staying.
“We travelled almost directly north to get here, and it was the shortest distance, so we must have the camp at the southern most point. That means the other camps should be somewhere in this area,” Sven said, making a circle with his finger. The circle started at the location of their own base camp, and moved up and around. “Scouting teams can start moving out now. Find your targets and report back tomorrow.”
Fourteen students took off their packs and pulled out small cloth bags, stuffing some rations inside, before handing their bags over to their teammates. Then, picking up their weapons, they split into two groups, eight moving out to go clockwise around the circle Sven had traced, with the other six going counterclockwise.
Yaric and Lauren had moved off to the side, accompanied by Delmar, Gerrick, Kaylin and Kaeden. They were making up another scouting group, with a very different task.
“It’s up to you guys to find our new campsite. Take the time to find the best possible site, but keep in mind that we are exposed until you do.”
Yaric and the others nodded in acknowledgement, picked up their own weapons and food, then split up. Some headed back the way they had come, intending to scout out the area behind them in their own sector. The others, Yaric included, started heading for the boundary line to the east and west, intending to move around the exercise area and search the periphery.
The rest of Team Shadow started unpacking some rations, only enough to last until lunch the next day, and carried them inside their base camp. Everything else was taken five hundred meters back into the forest to be hidden, guarded by three lookouts. Everyone else went back into their base camp. More lookouts were placed on the roof, but otherwise they all settled down to wait. There was nothing else to do besides exploring their immediate surroundings, which didn’t take them long.
The initial scouting teams, meanwhile, headed out looking for the other camps. They did try to keep quiet, but didn’t sacrifice their speed. There was a lot of ground to cover in just one afternoon. It was only possible because the circle of camps was fairly close to the center, and no more than two hours away with the speed they were running at. Finding the camps was easier than expected, as every camp was a hive of activity. Students were cutting down trees, chopping off branches, digging trenches, shouting instructions, and just making a lot of noise in general.
Each time a camp was found, two predetermined team members would break off to stay behind.
One would find a hidden location to watch everything that went on in the camp they were scouting. Notes were taken regarding the defenses and everything else they could find out, such as who was there, or how they were organized.
The second team member would mark the location on their copy of the map, then move out in concentric rings, taking notes about the terrain and the location of the supply trail while avoiding moving too close to their opponent’s camp. This would continue until nightfall, when they would start making their way back on their own.
Sven was eager to get hold of the maps everyone was making, as they would need to consolidate everything from each map before they could get a clear picture. While everyone else scrambled to get defenses in place or prepared to rush a nearby camp, Team Shadow was scouting out the area and compiling intelligence. Within 24 hours of the start, Sven intended to have an unprecedented amount of information. And if anyone else tried to rush their camp, well, bad luck. They weren’t going to be there.
Yaric and Lauren, along with the other four scouts in their team, focused exclusively on finding hidden campsites. The primary requirement was concealment, as their biggest defense would be to remain hidden. There also needed to be a way to escape. Ideally, the location would be much more defensible than the proper base camps, in which case they could simply fight off an attack before moving to a new location, but that wasn’t a requirement, and Sven knew it might not be possible at all.
Yaric moved west, intending to move clockwise around the border, while Lauren did the same to the east. Kaeden moved with him, but kept closer to the center, letting them cover more ground, while Gerrick did the same with Lauren. Delmar covered the rear along with Kaylin, and he also had the unenviable task of scouting out the center after nightfall.
The sun was high overhead when Yaric made it to the boundary. Moving through the shade had become natural for him, but he found a new appreciation for the habit as he jogged through the forest in the heat of midday.
Ever since spending so much time in the forest the year before, Yaric had dreaded being back out in the wilderness. The monotony became too much after a while. Sleeping on the floor, eating the same rations, always dirty, and having to be constantly on the alert took a toll on everyone. Running through the forest now, listening to the birds that flitted from branch to branch, the soft crunching of the leaf litter underfoot, and the gentle swaying of the tree branches over his head, Yaric was surprised and confused to find that he had missed the feeling.
Being alone in the forest, stalking through the underbrush while hidden from observers, had now become comforting. Yaric no longer felt isolated and exposed, on the contrary, he felt like a predator on the hunt. And he had unknowingly missed this feeling of freedom.
No matter his feelings, he had a task to do, and Yaric focused on his surroundings as he moved through the undergrowth, pausing only to make a note of an interesting landmark or potential ambush point. He had moved past the 5th year sector immediately left of their own, and moved through the sector with the 6th year camp to the west of the area, and was now scouting the northwest sector. There were several potential sites, including two narrow gulleys like the one they had used the year before.
Now though, he had found what he was certain would be the ideal location for a hidden camp.
Right at the boundary line, a single, rocky mesa stood above the surrounding terrain. The difference in rock type had led to the area around the mesa eroding away, leaving a flat-topped hill standing 8 meters above the rest of the terrain. Even better, most of the mesa was outside the boundary line. It only extended 60 meters past the boundary line, with near vertical cliffs.
Walking around the base, Yaric found that it was almost 50 meters wide at the boundary, and slowly tapered down to 30 meters at the end. The end was rather unusual, as the far sides extended an additional 12 meters, forming a small alcove 30 meters wide and 12 meters deep.
As far as he could see, the forest had claimed the top of the mesa just as it had the surrounding terrain, with even larger trees growing on the summit, where the extra elevation exposed the trees growing there to even more sunlight than usual.
The nearby terrain was no different to the rest of the forest, with the only issue that Yaric could find being the location of the nearest water source. The closest stream was 2.5 kilometers away.
Still, Yaric carried on, making it almost all the way around the boundary line before it started getting too dark. He might be able to navigate if he went slowly, but he’d have to practically stumble into another hidden location to have any chance of finding anything in the dark.
Despite falling slightly short, Yaric was eager to get back. He started cutting in toward the center, shortening the distance he had to travel. It was after midnight when he finally got back, using his lighting stone to signal the lookouts on the roof of their base camp.
Yaric went straight to his pack, pulled out his bedroll, and lay down to get some sleep. There was no point in waking Sven when they could talk in the morning, and this would be his only chance to get any sleep for a long time to come.
If felt like he had just lain down to sleep when someone started shaking him, causing Yaric to sit up and squint blearily around. Sven was crouched next to him, with Lauren standing just behind. The sky was visible through one of the narrow windows, and it was already starting to glow with the false dawn.
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“Come on, time to get up,” Sven whispered.
Lauren smiled sympathetically, looking just as disheveled as Yaric felt. She had obviously gone to sleep as well. Their lighting stones kept catching Yaric in the eyes, making him flinch, but they did help to wake him up.
“We’re meeting upstairs in the room at the end, so we can use the table. Hurry up,” Sven instructed as he stood and started making his way to the stairs with Lauren right behind.
Yaric soon followed and found that most of the team was there, waiting for him. Only the lookouts still on duty and the scouts that had stayed out overnight were missing.
“Alright, show me what you guys have found.”
Each scout proceeded to show their copies of the map, explaining all of their notes and pointing out everything of interest. They went clockwise from their own camp, starting with the 5th years in the southwest sector. No one really knew any 5th year students, but they still gave a good account of how each camp had been built, and every single supply trail was mapped out right to the border, with terrain details along the entire length.
Cormac had the camp in the western sector, while Chris was situated directly opposite them in the northern sector. Next to Chris, in the northeast sector, was the only 5th year camp with a captain that they knew, led by Simon, the top student in their year. Next to his camp, in the east sector, was Andrew, the captain of the Mighty Dragons the year before, and somehow captain again despite being held back.
Kaylin covered their own sector, since Delmar was still scouting the central area, after which Lauren covered the eastern half and all of the possible camp sites they had found. Then it was Yaric’s turn.
“I’ve found these sites here,” he explained, pointing to eight of the nine locations marked on his map. “These are small gulleys, and these are catchment areas that have allowed the undergrowth to grow more densely. The other marks along here are just places to use or avoid, because they would make good ambush sites.”
“And this one here?” Sven asked, looking curiously at the odd square right at the edge of the map.
“Oh, that? That’s just our future campsite,” Yaric replied nonchalantly, causing the others to perk up and listen more attentively.
“You sound very confident,” Sven noted, not sounding all that confident himself.
Yaric explained the mesa in detail, making Sven and the others more and more excited as he went on. Sven didn’t seem concerned when Yaric explained the water issue, but he did seem worried about their ability to get everything up the sides of the mesa. They weren’t even certain about climbing it themselves.
Eager to move out, Sven had everyone make sure their things were all packed and ready. By now the sun had peeked over the horizon, casting everything in pink and orange light. The lighting stones went out one by one, as each student left to see to their things, until only the early dawn light from outside lit up the room.
And the flag that stood proudly on the stand.
The entire flag was various shades of gray and black, seamlessly blended together. Instead of looking like a shadow, Yaric was reminded of dense fog. The flag appeared to be like a window opening into thick fog, and Yaric was certain that magic had to be involved in creating the effect.
“Get your things, I want to be gone long before anyone could try and launch an attack,” Sven said, smiling as he did. “Now isn’t the time to gawk at our flag.”
Yaric threw a mock glare his way and quickly left, rushing to pack away his bedroll and grab a quick bite to eat. Once everyone was ready to leave, they all moved out, making for the western boundary line. Marlon was once again on their team, and he’d immediately moved to carry the flag, just as he had the year before.
Kaylin stayed behind, along with eight carefully wrapped bundles with rations. She would wait nearby for the scouts currently watching the other camps to return, and would help each of them to update their maps.
Everyone had marked the major landmarks on their own map, but they had decided to try and hide their potential camp sites. These were indicated by copying the nearest landmark to the campsite, then crossing it out and making a small arrow that pointed at the correct location for the crossed-out landmark. Team Shadow hoped that if anyone got hold of one of the maps, they would assume that the crossed-out locations were errors, and didn’t indicate anything important. The mesa was not marked at all. Kaylin would be pointing it out on the maps for each scout to find their own way.
The rest of Team Shadow hiked to the boundary, and started following it, moving in a large circle. Moving as a team was much slower than moving on your own, particularly when you were carrying all of your supplies, so it was midafternoon before they arrived.
Everyone was impressed.
Sven’s fears were realized, however, when no one was able to find a way up. The entire issue ended up becoming a competition, with most students trying to be the first to find a way up. Not only were the sides of the mesa a near vertical cliff face, but the sheltered rocks had thick layers of dirt wherever natural handholds had formed.
It took 20 minutes for Lauren to eventually get up, but once she did, long coils of rope were thrown up for her to tie off. Climbing the ropes made it possible to get up in seconds, and simply tying your bags to the other end allowed everyone to easily haul their supplies up.
The top of the mesa was exactly as Yaric had suspected, heavily overgrown with trees and thick underbrush. Sven was ecstatic.
“Everyone, we need to start cutting these trees down, starting at the center. I know it will be awkward, so we will start slow. I want to cut the trees down properly so we can prepare them for barricades, stakes, and palisades.”
“Where would we put up palisades?” asked Anton.
“Probably in the center. We need to build a proper base camp for the flag, or it won’t be possible to win even if we collect all eight.”
Team Shadow moved all of their supplies to one side, while Anton hefted his oversized axe and got to work with the others watching.
The sound of chopping was startlingly loud, and Yaric had to remind himself how far away they were from the other teams. Still, several people were sent to the edges of the mesa to keep watch, just in case.
Twenty trees later, there still wasn’t enough space cleared to process them. It was already late afternoon, with the sun starting to get close to the horizon, so Sven called for everyone to stop and rest.
They all knew that they would have another long day ahead of them. Tomorrow was when the first supply drops were expected, and Sven aimed to ensure that many teams would be deeply disappointed.
While seven teams spent their 2nd day chopping down trees, digging ditches, building ramparts or maybe even launching an assault, Team Shadow lay in the shade of some trees, lounging against their packs and grabbing a bite to eat. It had been a long walk, and everyone was feeling satisfied with what they had accomplished so far. They had a great location for a new base camp, multiple fallback locations, and had already scouted out much of the area. The next phase was about to begin, and everyone knew what was expected. All they had to do now was nail down the final details, and for that they needed their missing members.
Yaric had an amazing view from where he lay against a tall redwood, joined by Lauren and Li Na. He was facing north, looking out over the northern edge, with the sun setting to his left. Bright orange light glowed like flames on the left, fading out to red directly in front of him, then shifting to pink, and finally, a deep, dark purple to his right. The same breeze shifted the branches above him, bringing with it the smell of leaves and pine. Dark silhouettes with 2 meter wingspans silently flapped over the trees above, reminding Yaric of his expedition to clear the kobold infestation.
Only Li Na’s deep sigh broke the silence, as she settled contentedly into her bedroll. Sven had allowed everyone some space for personal items, like extra clothes. Li Na, however, had packed a thick fleece blanket for the middle of summer. Not to keep warm, but to use as she did now, as a thick layer between her bedroll and the hard floor. Lauren had laughed when she’d found out, but watching Li Na now, Lauren quickly got up, picked up her bedroll, and nudged Li Na over, joining her on the thick blanket. Li Na said nothing, she just smiled smugly.
The peace didn’t last long. The colors of the sunset had barely shifted when excited chatter drew Yaric’s attention. One of the scouts had arrived.
It was Delmar, and he quickly explained the situation in the center of the competition grounds. There weren’t many landmarks, but he did identify some obvious paths that would be easy to ambush. After that they waited some more, as each of the scouts who had been watching a camp slowly trickled in.
The first three had ropes thrown down straight away, letting them get up quickly and give their reports. The next two weren’t so lucky, as someone decided it would be funny to pretend that they weren’t there. Tiago was close to panic when his teammates gave themselves away by laughing, finally throwing down a rope for him to climb. Sven soon found out and put a stop to it, which meant that Kaylin and the last two scouts were helped up as soon as they arrived. Then it was time to start finalizing their plans.
“We don’t have enough people to hit every supply drop at once. We’re going to have to pick and choose. Does anyone have any suggestions?” Sven asked, looking around at his assembled team.
“I think we should first decide how many we can target,” Varo suggested.
“Good idea. How many people do we need to move the supplies?”
“Around eight should be enough,” Lauren said, looking around. “We don’t need to take everything back here, hiding some of it would work as well. As long as everyone knows what to prioritize, eight people can easily carry the most important items back here and still be able to defend themselves if they come across any scouting parties.”
“That would leave two people unaccounted for,” Sven pointed out.
“They stay here,” Lauren stated. “We need someone to pull up the ropes after we leave, and to let us back up.”
Most of the team immediately backed Lauren up.
“Alright,” Sven said, smiling, “then we all agree that eight will work? Fewer people will mean less supplies brought back from each drop, and more people will mean we capture less supplies.”
Everyone murmured their agreement, so Sven immediately moved on.
“Done. Then with eight in a team, we can hit six supply drops. Obviously we need to fetch our own, I want the things we arranged for. Which of our opponents will make up the other five?”
“I think I’ve worked that out,” Yaric answered, leaning forward to place his map on the ground in front of Sven. “I think we need to hit every 6th year team, because they’re the biggest threat.”
“Agreed. But that’s only three.”
“Yes, we hit those three, and the two 5th year teams that are in the sectors next to our original camp. Hopefully it will look like we are still in the area. Also, if we leave the team in this sector alone, they won’t be sending out search parties to try and figure out what’s going on. I don’t want people wandering around our little corner of nowhere.”
“Won’t that give them an advantage though?” Gerrick asked. “One of those teams is led by the top student in the 5th year, and we’ll be letting them pick up everything they need.”
“Yes,” Yaric answered, “but they are both flanked by 6th year teams that didn’t get what they need. Where do you think they will go to get what they needed?” Yaric smiled deviously. Li Na threw a high five his way.
“The biggest risk will be three furthest from us. Our own in the south, Andrews in the east sector, and the 5th year team in the southeast sector, directly opposite us. They all require carrying a lot of things over a long distance,” Sven observed, frowning over the map.
Yaric leaned over to point out each supply path. “Not really. If we are waiting at the start of our own trail, we can pick up our supplies and carry them past the southwest quadrant before anyone starts getting worried. We only have to get past Cormac, and the only realistic chance he has of running into us is if we happen to cross his supply path at the same time as he arrives at that point.
“Andrew’s supply drop is even easier, there are three paths to cross, and only Chris could be a problem. The other two will be left alone, so they have no reason to go looking. They’ll be too busy carrying their things back to their camps.
“Which leaves the 5th years in the southeast quadrant. They are the hardest, but whoever takes that group shouldn’t bother bringing anything back unless it’s really important. They can just cache everything like we did last year, and hide until it gets dark. Then they can cut through the middle without being seen. We are already getting five supply drops at once, we don’t need that one. The whole point there will be to keep the supplies away from the team that’s waiting for them.”
No one disagreed, so Sven moved on to creating the individual groups. Lauren volunteered to take the most difficult quadrant, the southeast. Li Na immediately chose Andrews’ quadrant in the East, and Yaric took their own quadrant in the south. Anton, Gerrick and Vano took the remaining three.
Night was falling, but they were already running out of time. Ambush sites had already been scouted out along each path, and the specific spots they would use this time were already chosen. Sven wanted everyone to be in place before the sun rose, so some of the groups needed to head out already. They needed to be on the furthest side of the path as well, so if anyone saw anything, or managed to get word out at a future supply drop, they would hopefully search in the wrong direction.
Lauren left almost immediately, disappearing into the darkness with seven of her teammates. She planned to cut through the center on the way out as well, but they needed to be in position early, and Lauren was concerned that there might be problems when moving so close to enemy camps.
Yaric needed to wait for Sven to write out his list of supplies for the 2nd delivery, but as soon as it was done, Yaric climbed down with Li Na, both of them heading off in opposite directions along with their groups.
It was harder than expected. Yaric had no problem moving through the forest at night, but keeping eight people together while not making any noise was surprisingly difficult. Despite the problems, Yaric still made it to their trail two hours before sunrise. They followed the trail right to the edge before backtracking slightly and moving into the forest to get some sleep.
Three hours of sleep was better than nothing. Maybe, because Yaric felt more tired after getting too little sleep than he had before getting any sleep at all. He soon woke up, however, when he caught sight of the surprise making his way down the trail.
Leading the rest of the porters was a bear of a man, almost as big as Hiawatha.
“Grizzly!” Yaric called, stepping onto the path with a big smile.
“Yaric,” Grizzly replied, putting down his load and holding out his hand. “Where is young Sven?” he asked as Yaric shook his hand, looking around with a matching smile.
“He had to stay behind to organize a few things, but I’m sure he will be here next time. What are the chances that we end up with the same supply team?”
“Very good, actually,” Grizzly laughed. “We all requested to be assigned to Sven’s team again, and our request was granted.”
“Sven will be happy too,” Yaric replied, handing over Sven’s list. The other porters were unloading their packs in the meantime, and the rest of Yaric’s group moved forward to start organizing everything. The priority items were stacked together, while the rest was put aside to be bundled and cached.
“It’s a good thing you got assigned to us again,” Yaric smirked. “Right now other groups like this are ambushing the other supply drops.”
“Really?” Grizzly asked, looking shocked.
“We’re taking all the supplies.”
“Well I can tell you right now, none of us like being stabbed with spears or hacked at with swords, I don’t care how powerful these things are,” Grizzly replied, fiddling with his medallion. “The others aren’t going to be too happy if their teams don’t protect them properly.”
“I guess we’ve all had a lot more practice with these medallions, so it doesn’t bother us much. But it could be worse… my sponsor told me a story about taking porters captive.”
“Oh yes, that can happen,” Grizzly informed him. “Never happened since I’ve been doing this, but we’re all trained on the rules and what we have to do.”
“What? I thought Lloyd made that up. You really can be taken prisoner?”
“Yep. Anytime we’re threatened and have no one to defend us, we can surrender. And if anyone triggers the red shield, they can wait until we’re able to move again and take us prisoner as well.”
“Even if you’re considered dead?” Yaric asked, surprised by the revelation. But still more surprised that Lloyd’s story had likely been true.
“They explained that the medallions protect us, but also mess things up. None of you can threaten us to make us keep quiet or stay put, like we would in real life. We would rather get stabbed and trigger the shield than spend days out there as a prisoner. So they made special rules. If we get captured, we have to listen to everything we are told. Right until the next supply drop, no one is allowed to escape or try and alert another team.”
“Why is it only until the next supply drop?”
“We can only be held prisoner until the next drop is missed, then our shields turn on by itself, and we have to leave.”
“But you still miss that drop as well?” Yaric asked, his mind racing.
“Yep, that we do.”
By that time everyone else had finished, so Grizzly and the other porters said their farewells and started making their way back. The members of Team Shadow started moving everything back into the forest, burying much of it 300 meters in. Some of the rations were kept, but most of what they carried back were tools and weapons. Yaric noticed that there were a lot of canvas sheets and yet more camouflaged nets. Sven had really planned to go all out with some items, even if the list Yaric had just handed over had been wildly different.
Hiking back with so many items took much of the day, but they finally made it late in the afternoon. There had been no sign of any other team, even though Yaric had made everyone double back several times to make sure they weren’t being followed. He’d even dropped his load once and hidden, watching their trail, but no one ever appeared.
That turned out to be the case for everyone. Everyone but Lauren had already returned, and she wasn’t expected until midnight. Sven was already going through the supplies. Those taken from Chris and Cormac had been brought back in their entirety by splitting them into two and leapfrogging back. That already gave them double the supplies they would normally have received, but the most important items had also been brought back by three other teams. Twenty-four people in total had brought back everything their augmented strength could handle, though for most the volume was more of an issue than the weight.
Yaric brought something else, however, something that he felt could be far more valuable.
“So you remember when I told you Lloyd’s story about the captive porter?” Yaric asked, pulling Sven aside.
“Yes?”
“Well, we need to get started on building a holding cell. Because we can take porters prisoner, and holding them prisoner means no one makes any delivery on the next drop either.”
Svens’ eyes grew wide as the implications sunk in.
“Are saying that if we take everyone prisoner next time, we will also be blocking the 3rd drop as well?” Sven asked excitedly.
“That’s exactly what I’m saying!”