Chapter 62 - Birds

  They crept through the jungle, inching their way through the undergrowth as they approached the Wenduags’ camp. They were following the path back to the entrance of their tunnel. Ciao sat on Jack’s shoulder, her sharp claws digging into his leather armor. Jasper was back at camp. Being placed as an assistant to the Settlement allowed him to escape the tether limit his bond with Jack normally imposed. So long as he stayed within the settlement, Jack could go anywhere without worrying about pulling him along with him. Something Ciao was not happy about.

  “He did ask you if you wanted to be the assistant,” Jack whispered to Ciao as she continued to utter complaints under her breath.

  “Then I would be tasked with working all the time,” Ciao tsked. “Absolutely not. Not that this is much better.”

  They moved carefully, not wanting to risk alerting the camp. They were far from the start of the spiders’ and Wenduags’ patrol but the Chualtalas could be anywhere, and they didn’t want anyone to notice what they were up to until they started. Once they made it back to the tunnel, they split off into three groups.

  “Guess this is where we split up,” Bryant said. “You be safe and don’t leave me waiting for long.”

  “I’ll be seeing you soon,” Jack said. They bumped their fist in a familiar handshake they grew up doing. Jack watched everyone leave. Some went through the tunnel with Bryant, others picked their own path through the jungle leaving Zajowle, Elaine and him alone.

  “How long do you think it will take everyone to get into position?” Elaine asked.

  “They have a long trek ahead,” Zajowle said. “Same as us. Best get to it. Got about three hours before sunrise. Once it starts there won’t be much time to act.”

  They continued their way through the jungle. None but Rayne had tried approaching the camp this way. The increase in spiderwebs helped guide them to the camp, but thanks to their True Sight, it was easy to see and avoid these as they came across them. With the use of their Shadow Shifting, they were able to skip around the traps and stay hidden within the trees as they moved.

  It took them two hours before they were finally within reach of the camp, but they still needed to get around it to where the prisoners were being kept. The amount of webbing had increased since Jack was last here. They could still avoid it for now, but moving all the prisoners through this mess was going to be difficult.

  Once in position, they took cover nearby. Far enough away that they wouldn’t be detected, but close enough that they could make the jump with a single shift. Sunrise was still a few minutes away, so they settled in to wait.

  *~*

  “Is everyone in position?” Daniel asked.

  “Distraction team is all set up and waiting,” Rayne answered. “How long should we give the other teams to get in position.”

  “The plan was to strike at first light,” Daniel said. “So, we strike at first light. We have to trust them to do their part.”

  “What are you planning on doing?” Zephyr asked. “Fireball in the center of camp?”

  “No,” Daniel said, taking a rock that Rayne passed him. “Not as an opener at least. I have a new trick I think you will like.” He started scribing a rune on the surface of the rock. As he finished, the rock disappeared and, in its place, a blue-green bird sat in his hand.

  “You turned the rock into a bird!” Zephyr exclaimed.

  “Shh,” Daniel chided. “It’s still a rock, but it will act like a bird for a short time.”

  “I love it!” Zephyr said. “A rock learning to fly! But I’m not sure how much one bird will help us.”

  “He had me place a few hundred large rocks in my Storage,” Rayne said. She started pulling them out as Daniel repeated the process over and over again until there were hundreds of blue-green birds standing around waiting patiently. Every time he made one, Zephyr would place it around the tree and give it a name. She never seemed to run out of names to give.

  “This is where I am going to need your help with,” Daniel said finishing the last one. “I can make them look like birds. I can make them fly but moving them around in complex patterns is beyond me right now. Especially when dealing with so many. I need you to help direct the wind and get them moving around the camp. Can you do that?”

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  “I can do that!” Zephyr said. “More than that, I want to do that!”

  “Try and make them fly around to strategic areas if you can,” Daniel said. “When I drop the spell, they will return to being rocks.”

  “I’ll make sure they get to where they want to go,” Zephyr promised.

  “No, no, like try and make them take out the catwalks, huts, leaders, things like that,” Daniel explained.

  “Of course,” Zephyr nodded. “If that is where they want to go, then that is where I’ll send them.”

  “Zephyr, listen to me. They want to go directly into the largest creatures and buildings. They want to break through the infrastructure holding the camp together.”

  Zephyr cocked her head looking at the hundreds of birds around them. “That’s not what I’m hearing, but don’t worry. I’ll take care of it. Leave it to me.”

  “Guess we will just have to see how this goes,” Daniel sighed.

  Daniel looked up as the first rays of light began to peak over the horizon, lighting the jungle foliage.

  “Guess it is time,” Daniel said. “Are you ready?”

  “Ready!” Zephyr said.

  “Then let’s begin,” Daniel said, nodding to Rayne.

  Rayne readied her bow, as everyone else followed suit. Zephyr took the lead, generating a gush of wind as she passed and picked up the birds as she went. The birds lifted into the air and flew behind Zephyr as she took them for a ride through the camp.

  *~*

  Clayton awoke early in the morning feeling great. Things were starting to finally look up. His new class was growing in strength. His hard work had paid off and now he had gained several new blood spells, and the last puppet he had worked on almost managed to retain a semblance of consciousness after the ordeal. It was only a matter of time before he had puppets capable of functioning without him initiating control over them. Even his Master had acknowledged and rewarded his efforts with a technique for improving his Body cultivation. Thanks to that, he had gained the first stage of Blood Constitution.

  They had made great strides in recent days in improving the camp and his beast’s equipment as well. One of the elves he had gained control over was a skilled leatherworker with some enchanting knowledge. They had even managed to find a few more goblins, though they had become rarer in recent weeks. He was quickly building his workforce back up. With their help he would soon be able to take on anything the jungle had to throw at them. Anything but the Lords themselves that was.

  Clayton frowned at that thought. Perhaps it was time to start packing up his camp and leave the jungle. Better that then risk crossing one of those monsters and he would soon need to expand his power base. The elves had been a great help with him progressing his class, but he would need more than what they could offer him soon.

  He exited his hut, taking in the early morning light. He took a deep breath enjoying the ritual of it all. The only thing that would make this better would be if he had a nice mug of strong coffee. God, he missed coffee. The Wenduags were in the process of waking up as well, but unlike him, they each stopped and started staring up at the sky.

  Clayton turned to look at what they were seeing, but the morning sun made it difficult to see anything. He squinted against the light, but he couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary. Just a few birds taking off nearby. Something probably spooked them. Maybe that was what the Wenduags were looking at. But what could it be?

  The birds flew up and over the camp as Clayton set his eyes on the trees. The Wenduags continued to watch the sky, but there was nothing there. He even activated his True Sight, but nothing came into view.

  Clayton was still busy squinting at the trees when the birds suddenly descended upon the camp. Hundreds of blue-green birds landed everywhere, pecking at everything that moved. Several fell on Clayton, flying down to peck at his head. Clayton summoned his whip on instinct and lashed out trying to take control of the beast on instinct, but when he reached out with his mind, nothing came to meet him. Instead, it felt like he ran headfirst into a wall. His spell bounced back, sending his mind reeling as a spell backlash nearly brought him to his knee.

  These things weren’t birds. He wasn’t sure what they were, but they were not birds. All over the camp, the Wenduags were fighting back against the sudden attack. Clayton watched as one Wenduag punched a bird sending it flying across the camp. It immediately transformed into a large rock, like a cannon ball, slamming into the wall of a hut and crashing through a newly made building.

  A sinking feeling filled Clayton as he looked up at the still flying birds overhead. They started falling from the sky, transforming into rocks as they did. The rocks crashed into the camp, destroying everything they fell on like raining hail the size of bowling balls. The Wenduags and spiders were caught off guard from the sudden shift in the attack and many were crushed under the falling rocks.

  Clayton barely had time to summon a Wenduag guard to shield him before the rocks started falling where he was standing. The guard took the impact of the rocks, as Clayton used its body as covered. The rain of rocks soon came to an end and Clayton pushed the now dead Wenduag off him.

  “Captain!” Clayton called one of his best elites to join him.

  “Sir!”

  “I want to know what happened,” Clayton ordered. “More importantly who is responsible. We are under attack. Get everyone to battle stations and bring me a full guard. They aren’t done yet. Send the spiders once we know where this is coming from.”

  “Should I send the elites?” the Wenduag asked.

  “No,” Clayton said. “Not until we know what is happening. I don’t want any of the Wenduags running off into the jungle. This reeks of a trap. Use the low-level fodder and use the spiders until we know who know more. I want my guard nearby in case there is more to this attack.”

  The captain saluted and made to move but stopped as a giant fireball streaked across the sky angling down as it got just over the center of his camp.

  “Incoming!” Clayton called, taking cover once again as the fireball exploded around them. The spiderwebs covering the ground ignited from the spell and fire quickly started to spread throughout the camp.

  Clayton gritted his teeth in anger. He knew who this was now. “Daniel!”