Chapter 33 – Reconnaissance Mission

  Night hid them as Elaine and Jack stared up at the cliffside in front of them. They had made it to the bottom of the valley as the sun was setting, but they wanted to wait until it was completely dark before attempting their climb. All the while, they hoped to see some sign of the Wenduags keeping watch. If only to know what to look out for, but so far neither of them could get an eye on the Wenduags up above.

  “Where are they?” Jack asked.

  “Perhaps they switched the usual guard with the spiders?” Zephyr said. “They would be hard to spot. I can go check.”

  “No,” Jack said. “You said Clayton was able to see you last time. If I can see you, then Clayton can as well. Your invisibility won’t work here, even in darkness.”

  “Are we risking it then?” Elaine asked.

  “Maybe,” Jack sighed. “The only other thought I had was using my Shadow Shifting skill to teleport everyone to the entrance, but I need to know where I am teleporting to do that.”

  “I’m up for trying that plan,” Bryant said. “There isn’t any chance of me climbing that. Not in darkness. I can barely see as it is.”

  “Forgot about that,” Jack said. “Yeah, that might have to be the choice then.”

  “Does that skill work with more than one person?” Elaine asked.

  Jack shook his head. “Only one, right now. Maybe when it increases again I’ll be able to take more.”

  “Alright,” Elaine said picking up Jasper. “You take Bryant with that skill. I’ll take Jasper and climb up normally. And Ciao...”

  “I’ll be just fine,” Ciao said. “I dare anyone to try and find me when I don’t want to be found.”

  “Are you sure? Once I know where to shift, I can take everyone one at a time.” Jack offered but Elaine shook her head.

  “It’s too risky,” Elaine said. “You will have to enter and leave multiple times. It might draw too much attention. We should be fine if we are careful. I’ll go ahead and once I am at the entrance, you will know where to shift. Then you can bring Bryant up.”

  “Fine,” Jack said. That was all Elaine needed before taking off into the night, Ciao disappearing shortly after her. Jack watched her climb up the cliffside, following her with his True Sight.

  “Can you still see her?” Bryant asked after a few minutes.

  “Yeah, I have a sight skill that makes it easier for me to see things. Even at night.”

  “I need something like that,” Bryant said. “By the way, what’s going on between you two? Are you two a thing?”

  “Eh, oh look, I think she found the entrance,” Jack said.

  “Dude, it’s only been a few minutes,” Braynt said. “There’s no way she climbed that cliff that fast.

  “Time to go,” Jack said, grabbing Bryant and shifting them up to where Elaine was.

  “Wh…” Bryant started but Jack place a hand over his mouth and shoved him down into the entrance. Elaine followed shortly afterwards.

  “That went smoothly,” Elaine said, once they were out of sight again.

  “Yeah… about that…” Jack said.

  “You’re heading back out again, aren’t you?” Elaine sighed.

  “Zephyr mentioned that Clayton got new slaves,” Jack said. “I don’t know if I can do anything right now, but I have to see. Even if there is a chance, I have to at least try.”

  “Then I’m coming with,” Elaine started, but Jack stopped her.

  “I can teleport,” Jack said. “If anything happens, I’ll be able to get in and out quickly. It is the only thing that might help. If my skill hadn’t upgraded, I wouldn’t even try this much.”

  “Let him go,” Jasper croaked. “He’s made up his mind. So long as he’s careful, his stealth and shadow jumping ability should be enough to keep him safe. We’d only get in the way.”

  “Speak for yourself,” Ciao said.

  “Does that mean you will come with?” Jack asked. He still wasn’t sure what Ciao was able to do, but she probably had some spells that might be able to help keep them hidden.

  “No,” Ciao said. “This plan reeks of stupidity. I just resent the idea that I could possibly be in anyone’s way.”

  Elaine looked at Jack pleadingly. “It will be okay,” Jack assured her. “I’ll have Zyne with me.”

  Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  “See, everyone loves me,” Zyne said. Jack slipped out of the entrance again before anyone could stop him.

  Elaine watched him go more than a little annoyed. “Why does he keep doing that?” she muttered aloud. “I’m surprised you’re okay with this.”

  She directed the last part to Jasper. “If he dies, don’t you lose your summoner?” she asked.

  “It’s not a Familiars place to dictate the actions of their summoner,” Jasper said calmly. “Just as it isn’t the summoner’s place to dictate the actions of their Familiars. We are only supposed to help assist him if he needs us, and him, us. It’s a partnership. And right now, I think he at least has to try.”

  Elaine grumbled at that but didn’t argue. She moved to lean against the wall, waiting.

  “You know, I was just asking Jack,” Bryant said, interrupting the sudden tension. “But what is the situation between you two?”

  “Why? what did Jack say?”

  “He teleported us up here and didn’t give me an answer,” Bryant said.

  “I’ll wait here for him,” Elaine said instead of answering. “Zephyr can lead you back to the others.”

  “How long do you think he will be,” Bryant asked.

  “He better not take too long, or teleporting skill or not, I’m going up there,” Elaine said.

  *~*

  Jack appeared outside the entrance once again. He shifted up the rest of the way and appeared near the camp’s edge. Glancing around and making sure no one noticed him, Jack saw several Wenduags and Spiders on watch, but none of them had seen him yet.

  Not wasting the opportunity, Jack shifted again, this time appearing in the trees above the camp. Below him, Jack could see several torches lighting the camp and the creatures within. Just as Zephyr said, the camp had undergone a change since he was last here. Along with the bamboo structures and bridges that Jack remembered, several new structures were added including a few towers, and the whole camp was coated in a web-like substance that even encased some areas completely.

  He remembered hearing about spiders being able to feel when anything touched their webbing back on Earth and didn’t doubt the spiders here could do as much. They were probably even more sensitive given how this world worked. That would make it hard to move around the camp unnoticed. He would have to be careful when he shifted. Even the slightest touch may result in being discovered.

  But He wasn’t trying to infiltrate the camp right now. He was only interested in finding the prisoners. He shifted from tree to tree, making his way around the camp as he made sure to look out for not only Wenduags and Spiders, but also webbing as he moved. The webbing proved the easier of the three to avoid. It lit up with a faint glow in Jack’s vision and he could sense a very faint magical energy emanating from the threads.

  As Jack moved, he tried to make note of anything important about the camp that he could see. There were hundreds of spiders, small and large, and dozens of Wenduags. They moved around the camp on a near constant basis. Unlike back when he was a prisoner in the camp, now there appeared to be patrols even in the middle of the night. Jack tried to avoid these whenever possible, hiding if needed. Only when the patrols passed by would he begin moving again.

  Eventually, Jack found the area he was looking for, the mine that Clayton had them working at every day. Now, it looked abandoned with not even a single Wenduag keeping watch over it. He had never seen the camp from above, but he was easily able to trace the path back to where the prisoners were kept. He had walked the path several times.

  He just hoped Clayton wouldn’t have restructured the camp completely. If he didn’t, then he should be able to locate the new prisoners. His hunch proved accurate as Jack saw several non-beast-like creatures huddled below. They almost looked human in his sight, but it was difficult to see details on who or what they were as the whole prison area was encased in thick webbing.

  Regretting what he was about to do, Jack took a deep breath and shifted down to the middle of the prisoners’ camp. Several things happened at once. Jack appeared in the middle of several cells. The cells themselves had barely changed, though repairs were done on some of them. Each cell contained several people, and Jack realized immediately that, with the exception of a few goblins, every single person was an elf. Likely, the ones that Rayne and Sylvian had mentioned needing to find. Lastly, Jack was standing on the webbing. The Mana moving through it was the only confirmation he needed to know that he only had a few moments before something came to investigate.

  “Who are you?” Jack heard one of them whisper in Elven.

  “A friend of Rayne and Sylvian,” Jack whispered back. “I came to try and rescue you, but I don’t think I can take this many people at once.”

  “Take Alzona,” a different voice said.

  “I will not leave my people here to suffer,” the first voice hissed back.

  “I don’t really have a lot of time,” Jack said.

  “Leave us then,” Alzona said. “Even if one person leaves, that monster will notice, and things will only be worst for it.”

  “What should I tell Rayne and Sylvian,” Jack asked.

  “Only that they should leave us and get help. Go back and get help from the kingdom of Altur. They may be able to do something, if they will listen.”

  “Right,” Jack said. There was a trembling across the ground that He wasn’t a fan of. “I’m sorry but I have to leave now, but we will be back.”

  Jack shifted out of the camp, just as several spiders converged on the location he had just been standing. He watched from his hiding spot in the trees as the spiders looked around confused at finding nothing there now. Several Wenduags showed up a few minutes later, but they left shortly after finding nothing as well. Jack continued to watch for a few minutes to make sure his stunt hadn’t alerted the camp.

  Interestingly, he saw that there appeared to be some conflict between the Wenduags and the spiders. It was slight, but neither appeared to like being around the other for long. He only had their body language to infer from, but both appeared tense and hostile the closer they got to each other.

  He glanced around the camp as he made his way back to the cliffside, but the more he watched the more certain he was of it. While there were several patrols, they either consisted of only spiders or Wenduags and neither path crossed often. It even felt like the camp might be divided a bit, as one side had a lot more webbing than the other.

  Jack wasn’t sure what to make of the situation, but he still found it interesting. He was worried he might have stirred up a hornet’s nest, but the camp quickly went back to the way it was before, undisturbed by Jack’s intrusion. The rest of his way back went as smoothly as his trek through, and Jack quickly found himself back at the entrance to their underground tunnel. He dropped down into the hole only to be greeted by Elaine who stuck around.

  “Where’s Bryant and the others?” Jack asked.

  “They went on ahead,” Elaine said. “Did you find out anything?”

  “Yeah, a few things,” Jack said. “I found the prisoners.”

  “Couldn’t take any with you?” Elaine asked.

  “There were too many to take and not enough time,” Jack said. “I might have been able to take one, but they wouldn’t leave any of their comrades behind for even a short while. Probably for the best. If one went missing, it would only alert Clayton. We should get back to the others. We are going to need to stage another jailbreak, but I don’t think it will be as easy as last time.”

  “I wouldn’t call last time easy,” Elaine said.