James turned back carefully to avoid disturbing Arthur, and saw Kaiser and Bjorgimm walking up to him with purpose.
James was surprised. “You couldn’t possibly need me for defense.”
“Yer right lad, we don’t.”Bjorgrimm grinned.
Kaiser cut in. “I want you for another job. The General here has defense covered, but if we want to win we still need to take the Flag.”
“I still don’t see what that has to do with me.”
“You,” he pointed at James, “come with me,” he pointed at himself, “to sneak and take Flag,” he pointed across the forest to the enemy Hill.
“And you need me for this?”
“No la-James, I want you for this. You have a great eye for detail and you make connections real quick-like.” Kaiser squatted down to James’ level and put a hand on his shoulder. “Can you honestly tell me that you will contribute nothing or hold us back?”
James gave it honest consideration, Kaiser deserved at least that and came upon an immediate snag in his hopes to stay behind. His Talent. He sighed, “No.”
“Great!” Kaiser grinned. “You, me, and the explosives fella will head out and I’ll explain the plan on the way.” Now that everything was settled, Bjorgrimm walked off and began barking orders.
Just as they were about to head off too, they heard a small clearing of the throat. James and Kaiser looked down at Arthur, who took a deep stretch before facing them.
“I hope you’re not forgetting me,” Arthur said imperiously, her tail lashing.
James and Kaiser looked at each other and then back at Arthur.
“Well,” Kaiser said, “I suppose you can’t do much better than a cat on a stealth mission.”
“Obviously,” said Arthur.
Kaiser laughed and stood up. “Well then, let’s pick up our last member and go. Time is not on our side.”
Just as James stood up to follow him, Kaiser turned around. “Just one thing, James. Bjorgrimm said not to react to his looks.”
As they began walking James couldn’t help but feel a bit curious about their new teammate. First, he wondered how the man had either acquired or brought any explosives with him considering that everyone had been taken with the clothes on their back and whatever they’d been holding in their hands.
And how strange could he look for it to warrant a warning? Could be severe burns from an accident. He is supposed to be an explosives specialist after all.
Once they started closing in on their target, James had his first question answered. They were walking directly towards a huge backpack. The man was sitting with his back to them but it was already nearly James’ height. Considering that the man was being called the ‘explosives fella” there was really only one thing it could have been full of.
“Hello there, Anthony was it?” Kaiser asked. “We—” the man stood up and turned around. Kaiser continued smoothly as if his hesitation had never happened. “Bjorgrimm said you were just the man to look for if we were looking for some extra firepower.”
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Despite Kaiser’s apparent nonchalance, James was just hoping that his eyes weren’t bugging out. In front of him stood a man sized ant, about a head shorter than James, wearing khaki looking shorts, a knife belt laden with small leather bags, and a vest. And his name was Anthony of all things.
“Yep, I’m Anthony. Here to provide for all of your explosive needs. What does the General need from me?”
For a moment, James couldn’t help but wonder where the tutorial was pulling these people from and why. Even stranger, why did everyone speak perfect English? The ant definitely did not have the facial muscles to pull that off. Or lips.
“Infiltration,” Kaiser said. “The other team’s coming en masse and we can’t stop them if we split our forces between offense and defense. We’d lose that in a heartbeat—and we all heard what would happen if we lose. But just hunkering down around our flag won’t win us the game either.” Kaiser grinned. “That’s where we come in. While Bjorgrimm keeps our Flag saf, we take a small group through the trees to take theirs before they even notice. But we must leave quickly.”
“I’m in,” said Anthony
“Perfect,” Kaiser said. “To survival!”
“I could drink to that.”
Wait, can ants drink?
—----FD---—
James kept his questions to himself as they began their trek through the woods. It was supposed to be a stealth mission after all. They’d stayed near the paths so as not to get lost and it was not even ten minutes in before Kaiser signaled them to stop with a raised fist. Arthur was beside him, her ears already laid flat. Huh, I hadn’t even considered that.
The new team crouched down and waited until they heard it too. And saw it. The enemy team was marching down the nearest path, clearly visible in the daylight. They’d slowed down from their previous charge down their Hill but still going strong.
They hadn’t left a moment too soon.
James shivered. To be facing that… he was almost glad that he was out here. He resolved to keep his hands by his pockets where the cough drops were. And to get better shoes, he thought. The grass is soft for the most part but I keep feeling like I’m going to step on something that is very much not eventually.
A few minutes passed before they couldn’t hear the enemy troops marching and they felt safe to go again.
James waited a few minutes more before speaking up. “Did anyone see any ability usage from the other team?” he whispered.
Kaiser paused a moment before looking back and grinning. “This is why I brought you along, James. No I didn’t. Anthony?”
“No.” He shook his head. “It’s possible they were saving it until they met the our team. I heard some of the gifts have finite resources.”
Kaiser nodded as they continued through the jungle. “True. Some of them might have figured it out and kept it to themselves though. They also didn’t have much time to cooperate before charging down that hill of theirs.”
Speculation continued for a while until they heard sounds of an explosion behind them. Everyone turned to Anthony.
His face was as impassive as ever, considering the whole carapace on top of it, but there was definitely an aura of smugness coming off of him.
“Bjorgrimm asked me to leave a…welcoming gift behind for our guests,” he said.
Kaiser gave a grin and a quiet clap on the shoulder. A tap, really. “Ha!” he whispered, “good work la—ugh. That Bjorgrimm’s rubbing off on me already. Second time I almost called someone a lad today.” Kaiser’s smile faded quickly though. “But our people are fighting as we speak which means we’re on a timer now. Let’s pick up the pace.”
And pick up the pace they did.
—----FD---—
They’d been walking for just nearly an hour and James’ legs felt about ready to fall off. He felt a sense of kinship with every classmate who had complained about leg day. The sounds of fighting long behind them except for the occasional explosion. Some of which were definitely not something Anthony had left behind as evidenced by the confused clacking coming from behind them.
Before James could ponder how he knew that the clacking sounded confused, they came upon their target. Which wasn’t as undefended as they’d hoped.
In an ironic inverse of their strategy, the other team had left a small group of three behind.
To be clear, the group was small, the people were very much not.
They were hulking, eight foot tall brutes, with thick, grey skin, horns, and a uniform of a leather pauldron and skirt of studded leather that clearly showed thick, corded muscle, dense with explosive power underneath and very big, studded clubs.
James looked at them and back at himself.
I take back what I said about the machete. It still probably wouldn’t make a difference but boy would I feel a lot safer.