55 Hooks and Vines

"What happened?" Doevm asked. Both squads were standing straight, but they shook nearly as much as Hopi. Their exposed skin wasn't damaged, so nothing happened yet. If Doevm and Frey hadn't shown up when they did, it would have probably resulted in a brawl.

"They said too much." Hopi said. His hand opened and closed over and over again. He stood in a salute, but for him it was hard to be still. "They went after my ears." He had to take deep breaths between each short sentence. "I couldn't hold back. I attacked them. They ganged up on me and beat me. Squad six and one saw what happened and came to help. If you hadn't come..."

'One person from the Von Trike household started a fight with Hopi. They probably see Elves as the enemy since most nobles are racist. I taught Hopi to keep his emotions in check by getting squad six to accept him, but the other squads must have reignited his anger. Squad one must have defended them as well because they feel that commoners need to stick together even if they didn't know Hopi.'

Frey was about to say something, but Doevm stopped him. "Squad six and squad one, both of you saw everything, right?" He stood in front of everyone ignoring the angry old squad leaders approaching from behind. "You saw how they provoked and attacked your comrade. Just know that those three squads are not commoners like all of you. They are dogs of nobles. They embody their racist beliefs, and this is what happens. Do you all remember Hopi's back? Now think about how you treated him on the first day. You used to be like them."

The two squads hid their faces a little behind their salute hands. They casted their heads down. "The next time Hopi is in trouble; you go help him like you did today." The heads were picked up once more. The old men were getting closer. He could almost make out their cursing. "Beat the crap out of anyone that disrespects Hopi, I don't care if they're in the same army. We are one squad, but they are not a part of us." By now the old men were standing right behind him, ready to burst. Doevm turned around and walked in front of all three of them. Before they could open their mouths, he threw his spear into the ground. "Your men are undisciplined, insubordinate, and disrespectful. The next time I see them antagonize my men I'll kill them on the spot. Clause three of the Acrin Kingdom war rules, if a squad leader deems it fit, he will defend his squad in any way necessary."

"But we are the leaders." One tried to rebuke as he pulled out the paper again.

"And I am a person." Doevm picked up his spear and pointed it at them. Red life essence flowed out of him like a roaring current. "Shut the hell up, turn around, and go back into your camp. Listen to the rules you preach so much. You're supposed to be better than commoners, right?" At this, the old men furrowed their white brows and the squads cheered. They went back to their base defeated.

Doevm waited for the cheering to die down before he relayed the bad news. "We're going to be bait for those old crones. Those rules I mentioned earlier put them in a temporary status to order me and Frey around."

"So," Frey took the time to speak his mind to his squad. "We need to get prepared for a night raid on us. Since the bodies are buried, we need to get everything ready for when they arrive. I want watches to go around every hour and for…"

"Hold on," Doevm interrupted. "I have a better idea." He smiled with all the sadistic fantasies swimming around in his head. "I don't know about you, but I don't want to act as bait for those guys."

"But we have to." Frey didn't get the meaning, but he had a feeling Doevm would pull something off. He always does.

Doevm pointed into the crowd: "First, Hopi come here." Hopi walked forward while taking deep breaths. "Can you teach us how to make and use hooks? We are going to need a lot."

"What's happening?" Frey asked. "What are those hooks for?"

"They're for climbing trees." Doevm turned Frey around to see the giant tree behind them. "They only said we had to stay at the base. He didn't say where we had to stay at base."

"Can we even climb that?" Frey looked at the hooks. "Won't we run out of strength before we get to the top. Isn't this dangerous?"

"You're just afraid of heights. What a wuss." Doevm teased. "With these hooks, we use all four limbs to go up. They go into the tree and act as hand and footholds. They are easily removed so we can go at walking speed up the tree. At the top, it will feel like we just went on a light jog."

"Have you used these before as well squad leader?" Hopi asked.

"No, I read it in a book." Doevm lied. "Can you show everyone how we make these? Everyone needs a set before the sun sets." He glanced at the leaves overhead. "It's probably an hour past noon by now, so we need to hurry."

"Very well." Hopi stood on top of a root above both Doevm and Frey. "Listen up, these things are called hooks," he said as he held out the climbing equipment. These are made out of metal, but you can also craft them out of wood. I need each of you to find four pieces of flexible wood that can go completely around your feet and hands, about three feet of vines, and four Arc Weeds."

Before the crowd dispersed, one asked, "What is an Arc Weed?"

"It's a type of plant that grows on the forest floor. It is easily spotted by the shiny coat covering its thin yellow stem. Be careful when pick them. The Arc Weed works by attracting and trapping insects using its mucus coating and then stabs them with the point on its end. To harvest them, you need to cut it off from its roots. Right after cutting it from its roots, you need to bend it within a few seconds to a hook shape just like this. After those few seconds, it will solidify as hard as wood. If you make a mistake, you will have to find another one."

"Any other questions?" Doevm asked the crowd, knowing that wasn't nearly enough information. When no one else raised their hands, he sighed. Relying on his experience constructing these hooks for his Undead minions, he told them of the other issues such as, "Flexible wood is not any wood. It is the roots that lie under us right now. You need to dig a little and harvest thin roots from the trees for yourself. I suggest going in groups to dig yours up. As for vines and sticks, you don't need much help finding those."

As the two squads dispersed, Doevm made Hopi go assist them and bring back materials for himself and Frey, who talked about their strategy. "So if we climb up, the enemy will think that we're gone," Frey tried to work his way through Doevm's plan, "But how will we get down? They will hear our hooks and we will be defenseless as we go. In addition, what if the enemy uses the branches instead of approaching on foot?"

"I highly doubt that." Doevm said. "Especially since I will send my men out to set traps on the surrounding branches. I made Hopi learn about Elves and what they did to survive here against the Manticores. He, in turn, taught our squad many valuable things. Getting down, however, I did not plan for yet. I think we can use vines, but we need to lower ourselves slowly. That decreases the risk of getting caught."

"I have an idea for that." Frey said. "We can just go down by swinging on a vine. On the swing, we can impale our enemies."

"No," Doevm laughed. "We can't hold onto the vine. The longer the swing, the more centripetal force would put pressure on both the vine and our arms. I don't think either can withstand it."

"Centripi-what?"

"It's nothing." Doevm sighed, remembering that no one else had studied mathematics as long as he had, nor was the information in his old library even known to others. "Swinging from that height will rip your arms off." He put it in words Frey would understand.

"Fine," Frey put his arms up. "What if we used the vines to lower ourselves?"

"I already said that."

"No, no, what if we slid down vines really fast." Doevm held his spear up and pointed it at a steep angle to the ground. "Then we put hooks over the vine and slide so we don't burn our hands."

"That, actually might work." Doevm pat Frey on the shoulder. "Good work."

"Why does it feel like that was more than an insult than a complement?"