Watching the men through Ruby’s eyes, Drake studied them carefully. "I wonder if they’re going to have someone keep watch?" he whispered to his friends. He needed to know what the men were planning to do so he could come up with a plan of his own.
"Why?" Mike asked, then continued. "Do you want to deal with those on watch and leave while the others are sleeping?" Mike asked, unsure if that’s what Drake was planning. It didn’t matter what Drake planned; he would go along with whatever it was. He trusted his friend’s instincts.
"Yes. I was thinking about doing that. If they sleep and leave only a few on watch, we can easily incapacitate them and leave before the rest wake up," Drake explained. He was thinking about doing exactly what Mike was saying. If they could incapacitate the guards and leave before they realized it, they would be able to finish their quest, send Nelly home, deal with her kidnappers, and get back to the ordinary world to replenish supplies so they could start on the next quest.
Chad shook his head. Creases lined his brow as he thought about the plan. "That wouldn’t work. If there are guards on watch, they would be watching toward the door of the cabin and the windows on every side. They would see us exit. Second, if we attempt to take one of them down, the others would hear the fight we have, regardless of how short it is. If we get Renn or Ruby involved, I don’t doubt that the guards would scream when they saw them, alerting the rest of the men that there’s a beast. We need to think things through a bit better until we figure out a plan that has definite results. There are too many loopholes in your current plan."
Drake sighed, knowing Chad was right. Too much could go wrong with his plan. They couldn’t even come up with one until they knew what the men surrounding the cabin were going to do.
Mike sat down next to Chad on the small sofa and looked between his friends. "What if we leave the cabin here and sneak out? They will be focused on the cabin while we are finishing our quest." It was the only thing Mike could think of to do.
"How are we going to sneak out with them watching the front door?" Chad asked, thinking his idea wouldn’t work either.
"Drake can use his staff to teleport us outside the clearing, where the green glow it produces wouldn’t be seen. Then we can follow the thread again, but under the cover of night. They will be so focused on the cabin that they won’t see us passing them, heading toward wherever the green thread is leading us," Mike explained.
Drake thought for a moment, then shook his head, his green eyes flashing. "I don’t think that will work. They would see the flash through the cracks in the cabin when we leave. They will also see the flash wherever we end up, even from a distance. It’s too bright to hide. It’s too dark, and the flash will be a beacon of where we are," Drake explained.
The boys sat silently, trying to come up with a viable plan. They thought about it for several long moments. They knew Drake was right. Chad smiled. "I think I know what to do. It may work, but it may not; it wouldn’t hurt to try it." He looked over at Drake. "If you teleport to the road and draw them there, you can teleport back immediately, so they don’t know it was done twice. As soon as they head toward the flash, we can get out of here."
Analyzing what Chad had suggested, Drake nodded slowly, but was still unsure if it would work. "It might work, but just in case, I want to try it later. Nelly’s clothes need to be dry, and she needs a good night’s rest. Disturbing her now would only make her scared. We can come up with alternative plans while we’re waiting for her clothes to dry and for her to wake up," Drake told his friends.
Mike had another idea, but didn’t want to say until he knew how Drake’s teleportation worked. "How does your teleportation work. Can it only go to places that you’ve been? Can you teleport anywhere as long as you know where you’re going? How does it work?"
Drake thought for a moment. "I can go anywhere as long as I’ve been there before. It doesn’t matter that I know where a place is. I can’t take us there unless we’ve been there."
"What about Ruby? Can she be taken to places she’s never been?" It was Chad who spoke. He wanted to know if all parties involved had to have been at their destination before or just the one teleporting them. ᴛʜɪs ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ɪs ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ʙʏ novel✦fire.net
"Yes, it only matters where I’ve been," Drake confirmed. "I can take anyone with me, regardless of whether they’ve been to the destination before or not."
Mike smiled. What he needed to know was confirmed, and he knew that his plan would work. "Then I have an idea, but I’m not sure you’re going to like it. I think we should teleport Nelly back to Draco Town, deal with whoever had her kidnapped, and teleport back to the clearing and try to finish the quest before we die." Mike explained. "We can leave Ruby here to keep watch of the men. You have a mental connection to her, so it would make it easy. We can even leave the cabin here, block all the cracks so they can’t see a flash. There are no windows in the bathroom, so it would be an ideal spot to leave from. They will be focused on the cabin while we’re in Draco Town, dealing with Nelly’s kidnapper. They might never even realize that we left."
After thinking about it for a long time, Drake communicated with Ruby, explaining the plan to her. She agreed quickly. She didn’t like being left behind, but understood that they would return. After his communication with Ruby, Drake turned to Mike and Chad. "We leave in the morning. Nelly’s clothes will be Dry, and she will have gotten enough rest. It will also be harder to see a flash when we teleport back because it will be light outside. We all need rest anyway."
Drake, Chad, and Mike lay down on their beds, trying to get some rest, while Renn kept watch. She had good senses, so she would easily hear them, even if she went to sleep herself.
Ruby had enlisted more of her kind to help keep watch. Drake didn’t know it, but her species was connected. It was similar to a hive mind. They had surrounded the clearing, out of sight from the men surrounding the cabin, keeping watch, letting Ruby get a little rest herself.
Unbeknownst to Drake, Ruby had made her entire species allies; At least the ones from their current area of the dimension. It was the hive mind connection. It had been automatic when she became a familiar. It was something that the beast chose.
Renn had done the same, choosing to be a familiar. Her species weren’t hive-minded, so the rest didn’t become allies. Unlike Ruby, who had attacked them on the road, Renn followed him, and his cohort had tried to save him. She knew they were a good cohort. She could feel the light power that radiated around them, devoid of corruption of any kind. She wanted to be by their side because of it.
Regardless of their beast level, Ruby’s entire horde had become allies, resulting in all of their eyes now glowing green. She had communicated what was going on to the horde and made sure they all knew who her master was, as well as his cohort and the child he was protecting. She didn’t want any of them attacking her master or his allies.
While Drake and his friends slept, the clearing was protected by hundreds of allied beasts he didn’t even know he had.
It was a peaceful night. Drake and his cohort, along with Renn and Nelly, slept well. Outside the cabin, the men sat around small firepits. Men surrounded the cabin, as well as the camp, each with their own watch for something different.
Those around the cabin were watching the door and windows, trying to keep those who were inside from leaving the cabin. Although the goal was to keep them inside, they still held their weapons, ready to defend themselves in case their camp was attacked.
The men around the camp were watching for beasts and other threats in the clearing that might be stalking them. They walked the perimeter with their weapons ready to defend themselves. It was dark out, and they didn’t like being out in the open where the beasts could easily find and attack them.
After a while, shifts changed, and most of the men went to sleep, with watch changes every three hours. None of them knew that hundreds of pairs of glowing green eyes were watching them from the dense trees.