Novel Full 222 222 Their Plan
Wolfe searched the document storage box in the tank and found it empty, but there was an ammunition can in the Commander’s position, the seat at the top of the tank turret, where the vehicle’s team leader would be able to see out, that looked promising.
He popped it open and found it full of maps, order sheets, and a personal journal from the tank’s leader, a Lieutenant named Merkel.
The journal he would take to the base to check over, but the maps and order sheets that were noted in the smaller notepad were much more valuable right away.
The tank commander had taken meticulous notes so that he could move to reinforce the other units in the area if he was called upon, so there were a series of location points for various units that Wolfe could use to plot their likely future paths, and he had even been kind enough to note down the basic components of each of the units.
The thought that this might fall into enemy hands likely never crossed his mind since they were hunting two targets, and one of them was unlikely to be able to read if he had really been the Yeti that the mundane army thought them to be.
“Did you find anything good?” June asked.
“I think I did. I’ve got three units marked here as moving behind the main search group, and they’re not following the usual paths. Their route won’t take them back to the east, so it’s not a direct retreat path. It looks like they’re going for the northern mountain passes to go to their allies that we intercepted on their way down.
I think that will have the majority of the prisoners that they have taken from the camps over the last while. We didn’t recover nearly enough witches to account for the number that are still missing, so unless there are mass graves somewhere, they should all be in one of these units, which the scouts haven’t detected yet.”
“So, we’re not going back right away?” June pleaded with an eager glint in her eyes.
Those missing witches were her people, her neighbours, her friends, her comrades and her battle sisters.
“Give me a moment to charge the bikes, and we will head for the closest of these mystery convoys. We don’t have any verification, though, just these points on the map, so there is no guarantee that they are not a phantom unit, reporting locations to throw off anyone who is listening.
The Witches have cracked the army codes in the past, so there is a chance that the whole thing is misdirection.” Wolfe warned her so she didn’t get her hopes up too high.
“Got it. There isn’t much here. They barely even have supplies for themselves.” June noted as she searched the bodies.
“That’s not too shocking. Gather up what ammunition you can carry since we’re using their rifles for the defence force, and then we can leave the rest for the scouts to find. I will send them here to scrounge for whatever they can glean from the wreckage.” Wolfe agreed.
That lack of supplies was becoming a theme with their engagements, and Wolfe was beginning to wonder if the Covens had quietly been running a scorched earth policy to keep the invaders from having anything to eat.
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There wasn’t much warning of the attack, so whichever they chose was likely done in desperation, with the thought that the human army was going to steamroll over all the villages.
Sylvan’s villages were also majority human villages, so either option would have been disastrous to them and would have led to a lot of resentment, which also explained the defection rate from the villages and why they collapsed so quickly.
If the map was right, the main unit shouldn’t be far from them, with unknown strength, but likely larger than the small patrols that had been feeling out the route for them.
The scouts might be looking for him and Mary, but they would also give reports on where they encountered everything from locals to monsters, which could be used to lead the second group down a clear path.
They had gone much further than anticipated when Wolfe heard the sound of multiple vehicles in the distance. They were travelling northwest instead of northeast, as anticipated, but it should have been the same unit they were looking for.
“Do you think it’s because we took a unit out? They might have detoured to stay well clear of where they thought we were going to be, based on the known locations of our attacks and the other units that they have in the area which haven’t been attacked.” June suggested.
“It’s possible. This is a big convoy, so even if they don’t have any witches with them, it’s worth finding them. They would do whatever they could at this point to avoid having us wipe out another large convoy. From what I can tell, they can’t spare them.”
The unit was heading away from them when Wolfe and June finally caught up to them, and they were moving quite quickly for wheeled vehicles over snow-covered, unknown terrain. The trucks bounced and jostled their cargo, but the drivers didn’t seem to care. They were only intent on getting to whatever waypoint they had set as safe from the known defenders.
[Detect Hidden showed Wolfe that the convoy was exactly what they had hoped. All of the covered vehicles were devoid of supplies but packed wall to wall with witches who were forced to stand for lack of space.
Every bump threw them around, smashing them against each other and the walls, but the convoy wasn’t slowing down for anything.
Even when one of the vehicles blew a tire, they didn’t stop to help. The truck only stopped for a moment and rocked back and forth, trying to get the bead to sit back on the rim so that the tire inflation system could work well enough to keep the tire up.
They would be constantly losing air, but it would keep enough in the tire that they could likely keep going.
Then a few of the trucks got stuck in a pond that had a geothermal vent beneath it which led to a thin ice layer on top, and the convoy finally slowed to a creep. None of them were having an easy time getting through, and they only had a few tracked vehicles to pull the rest through the bog. It was the perfect time to attack.