Crumbled

Plan of Attack

"Can you be quiet? It's like I'm walking next to a tank!" Bramstone called. Markel continued what she had been doing, which was stomping on every stick that came across her path.

       Unfortunately, the group was walking through a forest, which meant that there were lots of sticks.

       "How did that girl ever make it as a spy?" Bram groaned, pulling at his hair. Walz shrugged.

       "The kids did say they weren't taking orders from us."

       "Why are you siding with them? You're supposed to be on my side!" Bramstone pouted.

       "Uh, Bram, last time I checked, we were all on the same team." Bram did not reply. Instead, he squinted at the trees.

       "Kinda funny how we haven't been spotted. I mean, we've been trampling through the forest in the middle of the day, and yet no one has seen us? I mean come on," Bram said loudly. Walz turned to him, looking murderous.

       "Are you trying to get us caught, you idiot? Shut your mouth."

     "Actually, I think he was being quite fair," James remarked, strolling towards the pair.

       "Okay, just because you are my brother does not mean you can listen in on my conversations, dimwit! Go away! I'm trying to have a conversation," Walz said, pushing James away. The older boy just wobbled a bit before straightening up. Walz continued shoving, but to no avail.

       James sighed, sidestepping his brother's assaults. He turned to Bramstone.

       "Look, I know these kids. They aren't going to listen to reason, and they'll wind up hurting themselves. Help me out here, we need to send them on a side-quest to distract them," James hissed. Walz dropped his arms and looked up at his friend. Bramstone shrugged,

     "Look, they all volunteered to be here. They know what they're doing. Besides, they're not kids, they're trained spies. Some of them have killed people! Let them help James, otherwise we'll have no chance of winning this fight!" James furrowed his brows.

       "Yeah James, we're coming along, like it or not! If you try to stop us, we'll cut your ears off, and we'll-" Markel said loudly. Walz shushed her.

       "I heard something moving!" He said. Bram huffed.

       "Idiot, we're in a forest, things move all the time!" The rest of the group said nothing. A few of the kids slipped behind trees, or finessed their way up the spindly trunks. James unzipped his backpack. He pulled a small box from inside, and pushed a tab to open it. Out fell three pills, wrapped in a thin layer of plastic.

"I should have given these to you before we left, but I thought some privacy would do us good," James said, passing a pill to Walz, and another to Bram.

  "Fallemer calls them Inks. Stupid name, I know. But they're pretty useful. Snap it, toss it up, and they release a black powder in the air. Good for a quick getaway. You shouldn't inhale the powder though, it's pretty poisonous," James said. He reached around to his quiver, and deposited his pill into a small zip pocket on the side.

Bramstone paused for a moment, and then slipped his pill into his shirt pocket, and buttoned it. Walz stood, his mind split.

My shoe? He thought, and then discarded the idea.

I'd crush it. Maybe my belt? No. I'd drop it. He looked down, as if a spot would appear. Walz scanned his person, eyes finally falling upon his jeans pocket. A while ago, only women's jeans had a tiny, seemingly useless pocket in the front.

Now, because of equality laws, large companies and their designers had been forced to choose. No tiny pockets, or pockets on both. And, some of those idiots had chosen to put the coin sized slot in all of their pants.

Walz had never been more grateful for other people's idiotic decisions. He finessed the pill inside of his pocket, where it fit snugly.

Finally, a use for the frickin' thing! He thought with a smug grin. Markel dropped from her tree with a thud. James glared at her.

"Look, I don't know what the hell that whole thing was, but I thought you might want to know that we're being followed," she said snarkily. Other members of their group materialized from places Walz hadn't even seen. A few had weapons drawn.

One of the boys, Axel, was gripping his dagger in one hand. Axel's other was entwined with another boy's hand. Walz turned back towards Markel.

"In that case, we need a plan. They're planning to catch us off-guard, which means we have to pretend like they have the upper hand. We do this carefully, we can't spare anyone," Walz said, a cruel smirk playing his lips.

"Still not in charge of us," The boy next to Axel said. Axel smacked him.

"Anyone else have somethin' to say?" Axel asked. No one replied.

"Then let's get started," Bramstone said.