Fortifications

Sweat rolls down my forehead, as I catch my breath. Dogman corpses lay still on the grass, and Monica wipes her blade on one of their backs; a broad smile flashed across her face. Did she enjoy this life? What was her life like before? She had said that she attended a university, right? I can't imagine a well-adjusted individual before all of this, would have a smile that broad after work so grim, yet I find her smile mirrored on my face as well.

She catches my glance, and I look away.

"We work well together." William says, "Us three."

"I know, right?" Monica chimes in.

"Now what do we do? If there's a main force they know we're here."

The last curling strand of the smoke signal was now vanishing in the fog-filled sky.

"Even if there was a main force, what could we do?" Monica follows the direction of my eye's gaze and watches as the smoke sinks further into oblivion.

"Realistically? Depends on the number of Dogmen. We easily took down a good number of them. I think we could probably take on 2 or three times the number; if we position ourselves well."

"But what about the godbeast?" I chime in, "You guys don't know what it is either, right?"

They shook their head.

"...well, how about we do that? Fortify our position? We're on a hill, after all, right? High ground advantage and all that, and the fogwall is advantageous as well...." William says, tapping his finger on his chin. "Could we do that? The only variables are the numbers and the godbeast, but I think we could do it."

"What do you suggest?" Monica asks.

"Well..."

For the next five minutes, William details his plan to fortify the hill. It's a good plan, and so we put it into action.

"Shadow, can you go to one of those trees over there and keep an eye out to see if anything is coming?"

Will it help Mister and his friends?

"It will."

Okay.

With that, the grass near the tree where the cat had been hiding depressed, and parted at her movement. The parting, moving grass moved down the hill and curved around the bodies of the fallen until she got to the treeline far on the other side.

"Anything there?"

No, mister. Just lots of grass and fog and trees.

"Good, keep us informed."

Brrow. Stay safe, Mister.

The fulcrum of William's plan relied on two factors: the first being that the dogmen's main force would seek to avenge their fallen comrades, and the layout of the fogwall. Unlike most other gates and doors, the fogwall closed in on either side of the hilltop, ensuring that we'd only have to guard one side against attack. This continued on for miles, as far as we could see, and thus, the approaching army would be forced to attack head-on. That was also probably why this supposed forward camp was placed here as well; the people who come through the door would have no choice but to encounter it, with the ways around it being blocked off by the wall of fog. If their numbers were only twice, or three times, we would have an incredibly easy time of it, and so we worked.

With the buffs provided by William, we were able to work all the quicker. He and Eye worked on cutting down some of the trees with a pair of axes that some of the dogmen carried, and with the support of two rows of my earth spikes, we set the logs on top of one another until we had created a wall barely tall enough to conceal the top of our heads. Meanwhile, Monica gathered up the remainder of the weapons and armor of the fallen dogmen and put them in front of the door so, we could more easily take it back to earth once we were finished.

With the spears, however, she jammed them far in the ground pointing downhill, so that it would slow the ascent of the dogmen all the more. In addition to that, we sharpened the branches of the black trees we felled, and set them up in such a way that it made a snaking path up the hillside, added to that were the ribs that held up the canvas tents in the dogmen's camp.

With the boosts of strength from William, these stakes were jammed so far into the ground that it would be difficult to pull them out. To make it much more so, we coated them in a slippery substance. Animal fat; according to William. Good for fire starting, and apparently bountiful where they were from.

We tore up the ground; ripping out any and all grass in the path so that finding purchase for their pawed feet would be difficult. The day passed on as we continued. It had been the first time in a long time that I'd seen the sky change inside of Efra. The pink hues of early morning faded into the bright white of noon. In those hours we built up quite a good fortification and stopped to have a shared meal of whatever each of us had. The tension was palpable, and not one of us dared to speak. Would this be worth it in the end?

William was putting the finishing touches on the last bit of our strategy by tying together a bundle of fat-soaked rope and setting them up near the middle of the hill. After that was all finished he approaches the wooden palisade we have set up to further narrow the field attack they have near the top of the hill and pulls something from his backpack — a small hand cam.

"Hey, Lawrence; can you help me up here?"

"Sure."

I kneel down and let him step on my back like a stepladder. There he takes his time setting up the camera in place.

"What's this for?"

"Hm? Oh, some Chosens have taken to filming themselves to put on the internet. Some of the footage is even making the national news."

"Like a steamer or something?"

"No. There's no internet connection on Efra. It's more like war footage. Getting super popular lately; there's potential to make good money with it."

"Don't you already make enough money from the doors?"

William looks down at me as he finishes mounting the camera on the wall.

"You can never have enough money, Lawrence." He states in his monotone voice. "There. It's finished. Can you cast that shield thing on it once the fighting starts?"

"Sure."

He steps off of me and brushes off my back of the dust. Monica smiles as she watches us.

"I'm glad you finally have a friend, William."

"Shut up."

She laughs and slugs him on the arm as he takes a long drink from her metallic bottle.

"Thanks to your buffs, we finished this pretty quickly," I say as I step away from the wall to observe our work. "But don't you think this is a bit overkill?"

"No. Can never be too safe."

"What if they don't come?"

"Then we go to them; but the Jackals sent the smoke signals for some reason, right?"

"What if it was to tell them to fortify their positions?"

"If that was the case, the two that sent it would have retreated, no? The others as well. Instead, they rushed for us. For some reason, they want us dead."

"Because we killed their comrades?"

"Possibly. Or possibly, they know if we die, it weakens Earth's chances of fighting back. I'm certain they'll come. And this strategy is designed to keep my sister out of the fight as long as possible. I don't want to risk her getting hurt again."

"Again, wh—"

Mister! Mister! Bring me back, please!

I turn away from William.

"What's wrong, Shadow?"

While talking to Shadow; Monica drags her brother backward out of earshot, and somewhere to my left so that I cannot see them and tells him something.

They're here! Lots of them! Mister, they have something else with them!

"What is it?"

"You're talking to Shadow, right? Are they here?" Monica says as she leaves an embarrassed William behind.

"They're here," I say.

Big crow! Big crow! It takes up the entire sky! Mister! I think it knows I'm here! Mister! Mister, please! Please please please, please.

I point my cane to the ground in front of me.

"O companion of mine, come to me." I incant as fast as I could.

A scared Shadow falls out of the air and scrambles to hide between my legs. From the area she had been hiding a great shadow emerges; a bird with feathers as black as ink, and as large as a house beats its mighty black wings.