223 223 That's Too Easy
“Just wait for a moment while I disable the lead vehicles. Be careful not to hit any of the personnel carriers or covered trucks with your attacks since they’re all full of witches.” Wolfe whispered, then led June forward through the scrub and grass until they were close enough for her to use her own magic and not just a rifle.
She wasn’t one of their strongest witches, but she was capable enough to tear apart some infantry with vines and trap them with hexes. That was enough to set Wolfe’s mind at ease as he took aim at the tracked vehicles which were hooking up to the bogged-down convoy.
The engines in these vehicles were in the back, so that’s where Wolfe aimed, intending to disable them immediately and then begin working his way through the other vehicles.
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The mundane army didn’t realize right away what had happened, only that the rescue had stopped, so they continued to mill about for another few seconds until the incoming arrows from Wolfe targeting the lead vehicles caught their attention.
[Don’t panic. It’s one witch with an enchanted bow. We’ve got truckloads of them. Find her, and hit her with the Null Stone rounds.] The team leader ordered over the radio.
June started grabbing soldiers with magical vines, wrapping them up and pulling them into the mud to drown without a sound.
Because it was a combination of Earth Magic and Witch Magic, she didn’t have to see her targets to find them. The vines would follow her will even if she left the area, so she remained hidden in a depression, out of direct line of sight from the trucks.
Wolfe moved around to his left, placing himself on the opposite side of the convoy from June so that she didn’t attract any attention by accident, and continued to fire, disabling the trucks.
The soldiers began to pour out, taking firing positions and filling the area with bullets, hoping to hit something.
That should have moved most of them away from the witches in case they had grenades or other explosives on them, so Wolfe set a [Lightning Array] on the ground, with contact activation.
The trucks wouldn’t set it off, as it was set only to target living creatures, and all of the witches were still locked up.
The crackling lightning raced across the bog, and thick magical vines grabbed everyone who tried to get back into the trucks to escape being electrocuted. The mud crackled for a few moments, and the residual heat caused fetid steam to rise from the mud as the battle fell silent.
Wolfe searched the area for survivors using [Detect Hidden] while June began to pop open the locks on the transport vehicles with her vines.
There were still some survivors hidden in trucks and in the tracked vehicles, but they were keeping their heads down and not doing anything as the witches began to pour out of the vehicles.
“Everyone move east over the hill. I will join you in a few minutes.” Wolfe yelled at the herd of freed prisoners as he got to his feet.
They were in no mood to question his decision. They just ran as fast as they could, right past where June was hiding and over the hill out of sight of the trucks.
The humans seemed to have gotten the memo, and they weren’t coming out or trying to do anything to recapture or track the witches. They just remained in hiding.
Their sudden change of heart seemed a bit too abrupt for Wolfe’s liking, though. They had all sorts of high-tech gadgets, so there was a good chance that they had placed some sort of tracker on the witches, expecting them to be taken away.
Wolfe felt a twinge of familiarity in the back of his mind, reminding him of something that Cassie had said to him before. That there always seemed to be a reason for everyone to be naked.
The warmth of affection that the thought sent through the bond startled the witches, but they were beginning to get used to the way that the stronger bond sent random emotions through the link when one of them had a stronger-than-usual emotional attachment to a thought about one of the others in the link.
Only Cassie would know that it was about her, but under normal circumstances, it was much easier to determine the answer.
[Things must be going well.] Stephanie laughed through their link while Wolfe followed behind the witches to make sure that they weren’t being followed.
[I found a large convoy of captured witches, and there is a good chance that there are trackers on them.] Wolfe replied.
[And you remembered Cassie giving you trouble about always finding a reason for the witches to be naked. It’s like you’ve got the devil’s own luck, finding all these witches to build your own harem village.] The Familiar Cat teased him.
[What can I say? It’s a gift. Or a curse. Possibly both.] Wolfe sensed that Stephanie had begun to laugh out loud, which came out as purring and a snorting noise that was clearly laughter to anyone who was listening. He also sensed Priya’s confusion at the situation, so she must be in the same room as Stephanie.
Wolfe focused back on the task at hand and wondered what the best way to search for trackers was. Likely, one of the officers would know. They had been trained to deal with the humans and their technology over the course of the battle.
June had led them much further than just over the hill. Wolfe had to follow them for three kilometres before they finally stopped and regrouped, dressed in matching orange jumpsuits with anti-magic zap strips on their wrists.
Forget a tracking device. That colour was loud enough to track them from the horizon. He would have to get them free of their restraints, and then any of them which had the ability to recover the aura that was suppressed could help with the search for tracking devices.