Chapter 24: Swamp
Suddenly, they were standing knee-deep in swamp water, with a slight mist on the surface, and thick trees all around them.
"Dana, begin the fog spell. Everyone else, crouch down in the water near that stand of trees." Karl whispered.
Nobody was happy about being neck deep in swamp water. It smelled of rot and something even more foul, but they obeyed Karl's order and hid in a circular formation, with Karl and Dana in the middle.
Karl released Hawk and let the bird stand on his shoulder for a moment.
"Hawk, go scout the area for attackers, they're the groups with nobody wearing a black cloak like mine. Don't let them see you, and come back within five minutes." He whispered, speaking out loud so that the others could understand what his plan was.
"You have a pet bird?" Dana asked.
"I do. It's part of my class skills. But it's also a real bird, so I don't want him hurt." Karl explained.
"The bird scouts the area, to let us know when someone is likely to find us so that we're not ambushed. The fog hides our exact location, even if they can figure out right away that it is unnatural. Being in the water makes us difficult to target, and gives us the chance to launch the first strike." One of the warriors deduced.
"Exactly. Dana, don't make the fog as thick at the edges, make it get thicker as you approach the trees behind us. If they are targeting by the centre of the fog, I want them to miss us by at least a few metres. If we're lucky, they'll find each other first, and we can face weakened groups." Karl added.
Dana softly chuckled as she worked. "This is such a dick move. What's next? Tearing vines from the trees to hide under?"
Karl didn't even have to say anything, the warriors immediately got to work pulling some vines free. Not tearing them from the island, but pulling them up so that they could sit a blanket of vines over the group and pretend they were part of the island.
The fog cloud was growing quickly, but the groups were spread out over a square kilometre of swamp, and they weren't alone. There were Common Grade monsters here as well, bullfrogs and beetles, who made a lot of noise and distracted the groups that were trying to search for the defenders.
A few minutes in, Hawk swooped down from the sky, landing on the vines that had been pulled over Karl's head, and then disappeared into his Taming Space.
[I'm full. I'm going to nap now.] He announced.
[Did you eat bullfrogs instead of working?] Karl asked.
[I worked. Nobody is coming this way. Two of the other coat people are close together, and the others are all going that way.] The bird replied as it settled into the nest.
"Hawk says that the other two defender groups started close together, and everyone else is headed that way. So, it's three on two on the other side of the area. They likely won't come looking for us until that fight is over. Is there anything that we can do to help Dana keep up her energy and expand that fog?" Karl whispered.
"Nothing. It's not too draining though, I just need to keep focusing on it. By the time that they come looking for us, it will be big, but if they don't lose people, they will be able to just walk in a line and find us."
The warriors shrugged. That was actually fine by them. The ranged attackers wouldn't be able to see the fight from more than a few metres away, and they were close combat fighters anyhow. Being found at the last moment was just what they wanted.
[Hawk, go rest up in the trees. Keep an eye out for the other groups while you rest, since you can't keep your appetite under control between meals.] Karl instructed.
[Fine, I will go watch.]
The bird was going to need some sort of discipline training soon, Karl decided, but he had no idea how to train an intelligent monster, or what would even work to keep the food motivated creature working hard and not gorging itself at the first opportunity.
The fact that it had managed to hunt a Common Grade creature without any issues and return unharmed was a good sign that the Windspeed Hawk's power was growing quickly, though. Much faster than was normal for the species, and Karl was quite certain that it had to do with their bond.
There was far too much that he didn't know about this power, but as Hawk settled into the tree and began diligently watching the ongoing battles with his keen vision and relaying the play by play back to Karl, he began to understand a little more.
Hawk did what he wanted and whined constantly for more food, as was the way of all baby birds, but when Karl actually gave him an order, the bird obeyed. It was just that Karl didn't give enough orders, or enough details, so Hawk could take full advantage to twist them in the way that he wanted.
Like the first mission, to scout and return. He did exactly that, and probably didn't miss much during the seconds that it took to ambush the bullfrog. Then he promptly tried to take a nap because it wasn't forbidden, and that was what a hawk naturally wanted to do after eating.
When they were training with the mages, Hawk never acted up, but Karl was giving him instructions every few seconds to keep him in place to block the sections that he couldn't cover himself. Without the open-ended orders, the problem didn't exist.
[The fight on the other side is almost over. The old one has taken away most of the people, but there are four young people headed south now. They're not coming this way yet, but they're looking for something.] Hawk informed him.
"Hawk says that the others are headed south after their battle. Only four are left, and they're following the edge of the designated area." Karl whispered to the others.
"Only four?" One of the warriors behind Karl asked.
"Yeah, I'm not sure which four yet. I will try to get details, but for now, I have an idea." Karl added.
The rest of the group eagerly waited for anything that didn't involve crouching in a fetid swamp to become the new plan.
"We will keep up the fog expansion from the same point, but we are moving. They know where the extent of the combat zone is, so we are going to hide and wait for them to search the fog, then return and let the time elapse. Defending the flag doesn't have to mean fighting at all, we can frustrate them to death."