Loch moved through the thick woods, keeping an eye on the giant-made clearing to his left. He could see the thick legs, almost trees themselves, of the giants as they moved around. He’d gone up into the fire tower before setting out, watching the giants, trying to gauge patrols or anything else they might be doing.

  No patrols, no set patterns. The giants looked kind of bored, just wandering around with nothing to do. They cleared more trees, but it just looked like busy work. What they’d been looking for had been found, there was nothing else to do until the Si-Te-Cah finished doing what he was doing.

  For Loch and his people, that was ideal. It gave them an advantage. There was no watch, no giants guarding or watching the forest. They weren’t under attack by wandering monsters, most of which were smart enough to stay away from the large amount of giants. There was no one for miles around, no other Clans or tribes. Loch could understand why the giants were lax. Their leadership was failing, and Loch intended to take full advantage of it.

  He looked over his shoulder, trying to see Little River Stone. The Sasquatch was impossible to find in the forest. He blended in, turning almost invisible. He hoped Little River Stone was still there.

  Turning toward the clearing, Loch moved slower, making sure each step was solid and not going to break a branch or crackle a leaf. Surprisingly for their size, the giant's senses weren’t enhanced, but he was close enough that almost anyone would hear the sound of a branch snapping.

  He stopped right at the treeline, seeing the hill about fifty feet away. The entrance was on the other side, away from his view. He hadn’t been able to get a good view from the firetower, he didn’t know if there were traps or anything. It wouldn’t be long until he found out.

  Looking to the right of the hill, he saw a handful of giants. None were looking at the hill, or the bald face of Blue Job beyond, they were just milling around the treeline, trying to look busy. One grunted something, Loch couldn’t hear it. Another shoved the first. A third broke it up, pointing toward the collection of tents. That’s where Loch assumed the Hillgrowl leader was. He wanted to attack the tent, attack the leader, but that wasn’t his role in this fight.

  Loch had made the plan himself, but wasn’t a huge fan. He wanted to be in the thick of the action with his people, able to respond and aid them when or where needed. Able to intercept a giant attack, or reinforcements. But that wasn’t what he’d be doing. He had to completely trust his people to handle the giants without his presence.

  He did trust his people. He just wanted to be there. This entire fight, he wouldn’t know what was happening. Loch didn’t like that, but he’d do what he needed, go where he needed and trust that Clan Brady would do their job.

  ***

  Harper crouched down at the edge of the bare rock, behind one of the few bushes that remained. She’d been to Blue Job many times, and explored almost every inch of the exposed rock. How many times had she and Piper played behind the small wall that had been built against the rock, making a little fort? That was gone now, destroyed by the giants.

  She was getting tired of seeing so many of her childhood memories destroyed by the Connected System and those it allowed to come to Earth. She hated that so much was destroyed. By now, her house was probably gone. Some random monsters tearing holes in it to get at anything left inside, or using it as shelter.

  She knew she could find out. There were Clanmember living just up the street, farming the Turkey Spawn Field for the birds. They’d probably know the status of her house, but was it that important? Did she really want to find out it was destroyed?

  No, she had decided. She’d cling to the memory of how it had been the last time they’d been there. Even more, she’d cling to the memory of how it had been right before the Connection. When it had been home.

  She watched the giants, saw the hill her father would be going for. Harper couldn’t see her father, not from this distance, but she could guess where he was. Looking over to the left, she could see Elora, further beyond were the Clan’s archers and the special surprises that Lewis Bergmann and Patrick Verner had come up with. Harper didn’t know exactly what they would do, but the two men had said it would be explosive.

  Looking back, she couldn’t see the mass of Clan Brady’s people. They were crouched down on the opposite slope, just waiting for the signal. She glanced at the sun, trying to gauge its height, glad she wasn’t the one that would give the signal.

  That would be Drew, who was near Elora, looking at the sun. Harper knew her father would be in position, but would the others? How long was it going to take? Drew couldn’t wait forever. From what she understood, it wasn’t vital that they get in position right away.

  Harper liked having additional responsibilities, but she was glad she didn’t have the one Drew had. Wait too long, and they might lose their chance to surprise the giants. Even as lazy as the large humanoids appeared, at some point they would detect the Clan Brady attackers. Call the signal too soon, and the others wouldn’t be ready for their part.

  It was a delicate balance.

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  Harper knew that someday she’d be in that position. The Clan would be hers someday in the far future, hopefully the very far future. She was just glad she didn’t have to do it now. Her level of responsibility was enough. Her father trusted her on her own, to handle herself. At fifteen, she knew that was something that never would have happened Pre-Connection. She wasn’t one to fool around, rarely got in trouble. She did her schoolwork, maybe not the best student but it got done, and she focused on her athletics. She practiced, she was dedicated.

  She knew a lot of kids in her school that had goofed around, fooled around, just did enough to get by. That hadn’t been what she had wanted. She wanted more than to just get by.

  The same for her new life in the Connection. She wanted to Level, to be one of the strongest, and eventually be the Clanleader. There were many in the Clan just working to get by. That wasn’t the life she wanted. She wanted the thrill of Advancement and the responsibility that came with being a future leader.

  But for now, she was happy the choice wasn’t hers to make.

  Glancing back again, she tried to find where Piper was. She’d been told to stay at the rear lines, using her summons to reinforce the Clan where she could. Harper knew Piper would mostly do that, but her youngest sister had been working on something in that sketchbook of hers. She had some plan. Harper didn’t know what it was, but hoped it would still keep Pipes safe.

  ***

  Piper made a couple more lines across the drawing. The detail was coming in. She had learned where and how to apply details. If she put too much detail into the entire drawing, it would sap a lot of her strength when summoned. The inksummon would be strong, but she had learned that it didn’t always need to be that strong. Not enough detail, and it would be too weak.

  There was a fine line to give the inksummon just enough for it to last a while, be strong and not use up all of her Spirit. She was slowly learning how to find that line. What made it difficult was the line was different for each type of summon. There was a lot of guessing involved.

  She was learning that if she did more detail in a specific area, like an inkcat’s claws, and less elsewhere, it was easier to find that line. The whole purpose of an inkcat was to attack with its claws. The tail didn’t need a lot of detail, the body just needed to look like a cat’s and have the flexibility and agility. She didn’t need to define much more than that. Anything else would be a waste of her Spirit.

  For the coming fight, if her idea worked, she was going to need a lot of Spirit.

  Piper moved the sketchbook away, angling it to see better. The lighting wasn’t good. She was in the shadows, her back to the rock, facing the woods, able to see the firetower over the trees. Everyone around her was facing the stone, some just looking over the top, watching the giants. She had looked when they first got there, when her dad had set off on his own mission. The giants were scary. Huge. She’d never liked giants in stories, even the BFG movie. She hadn’t like that and never bothered reading the book, even though she loved most of Dahl’s stuff. Just the idea of gigantic humans. Piper didn’t know why that bothered her. Jack and the Beanstalk had been one of her least favorite childhood stories.

  She didn’t need to look to know what was happening. Her role wasn’t in the frontline attackers. She was support, hanging back, using her summons where needed. As such, she didn’t need to see what happened right away. Piper had been told to give it a couple minutes, let the others start the attack and then look to see where she would be needed the most.

  It had bothered her that Harper got to be more in the action, but she was starting to understand more about Classes and roles. Her Ink Summoner Class was support. She wasn’t meant to be in melee fighting, or in-close combat. That was what her summons were for. She understood, but still wanted to have a more active role. Not just throw her summons into the battle.

  Cerie had told her that in the future, her Class would grow to where she could be a solo combatant. More than anyone in the Clan except her dad’s Class, she would be able to do Dungeons and fight on her own. Harper was strong, but she couldn’t tank or have ranged damage. She was limited to in-close combat.

  Piper would be able to have a tank, melee damage and ranged damage. The only thing she was missing was healing, and there would be ways to compensate for that. She thought of one of the new wands.

  WAND OF GENTLE CARESS

  It had a strange name but the Abilities were awesome.

  THE WAND WHEN ACTIVATED WILL CAST A HEALING SPELL THAT RESTORES HEALTH AND STAMINA AT THE COST OF THE CASTER’S SPIRIT. THE SPELL CAN BE DIRECTED AT ANY TARGET, INCLUDING THE CASTER. HEALS 5% OF TOTAL HEALTH OVER ONE MINUTE. HEALS 5% OF TOTAL STAMINA OVER ONE MINUTE. CAN ONLY BE USED EVERY EIGHT HOURS. HEALS +1% HEALTH FOR EVERY FIVE LEVELS OF THE CASTER. HEALS +1% STAMINA FOR EVERY FIVE LEVELS OF THE CASTER. EVERY FIVE LEVELS OF THE CASTER REDUCES THE TIME BETWEEN CASTINGS BY 10 MINUTES.

  It wasn’t that strong. The wand’s single spell wouldn’t heal much, but it was something. It was also an indication that she could get stronger healing items as she grew in strength. The other wands helped with her other shortcomings.

  With her summons she could do a lot of things.

  If the new summons worked the way she hoped it would, she would be able to do even more. Stuff that her dad wouldn’t be happy with. But she wanted to help. She wanted to do more.

  Understanding and doing were two different things.

  This would be the perfect time to test things. Her dad was going to be busy elsewhere, he wouldn’t be able to see what she tried. Harper would be busy. Everyone would. No one would be watching her.

  Piper smiled, adding some more detail to the drawing.