The exhaustion hung heavy across the group as they exited the long tunnel. The sun's low-hanging light seemed to cling to the edges of the cavern, casting long shadows all around. They had been lucky enough to avoid any pirate guards, but Red wasn't sure that would last long.
The sailors stayed well away from the edge of the cave, preferring to sit in the shadows. After everything, Red wanted to just collapse as well, but he knew they couldn't. They had spent a long time trekking through the jungle, and he learned the faults of sitting and waiting.
Silas's spear faded away to mist, and he began to tend to his wounded side. A few of the soldiers helped wrap his chest in bandages to prevent it from bleeding anymore. In a couple of days, the injury wouldn't be a problem for him anymore.
They didn't have a couple of days.
"We need to keep moving," Derrin said as he surveyed the surrounding jungle.
"Go where?" One of the soldiers asked, "There's nothing out there."
"We certainly can't stay here, though. We're too close to the fort and likely to be discovered quickly. If we want to survive, then we need to put as much distance between us and this… as we can," Derrin continued.
Silas remained silent, as he seemed to mull over these words.
"Certainly, we could head out into the jungle as you say, but then what? There is nothing beyond," Another soldier remarked.
"Actually, there is," Red cut in. "There's a cave on the far side of the island by the sea. The pirates never journeyed that far originally, and it would give us time to prepare at the very least."
"This cave? Does it connect to the rest of the catacombs?" Silas asked.
"No, it's large. Larger than this at least, but it's too far out. It directly connects to a massive plateau, though. That could be a good place of defense, assuming the pirates do attempt to hunt us down," Derrin replied.
"This is assuming they think we're still alive."
"They know we survived," Derrin said, shaking his head. "They are being led by the gearborn now. Remember that. The gearborn are no fools. They have plans upon plans upon plans. They will have definitely prepared in case we survived that bombardment."
Silas nodded his agreement. "They'll be hunting for us. That you can all guarantee. Derrin is right; we do need to move from our current location. I doubt they know about this tunnel, but they will certainly be scouring the surrounding areas. They may have already begun. We can't sit here any longer."
He pushed himself to his feet and wobbled slightly. The wound in his side was severely inhibiting his full range of movement. If they were found now, there would be a lot of deaths.
Silas turned to the gathered group and pulled on every ounce of leadership he possessed. "Everyone, we must move at once. If any of you wish to survive this war, then you will come as well."
His gruff voice echoed across the chamber, making several of the sailors flinch. The soldiers only nodded their agreement. Silas was now in charge with Zara gone; he was their commanding officer.
Turning away, Silas started into the jungle, the soldier following close on his heels. Derrin joined him at the front to indicate where they were headed. Everyone else seemed to reluctantly join the procession. No one wished to be left to the mercy of the pirates or the tin cans.
Red remained silent as he followed. His attention was all on their surroundings. He really didn't need to, not with so many powerful fighters in their group. If they were attacked, Derrin, Silas, or some other soldiers would notice first. However, with the sun falling behind the canopy, the jungle grew darker and darker.
It reminded him of their mad rush through the jungle when they had been rescued by Zara. Now, no one was coming to rescue them. If they were to survive, they would have to rescue themselves.
Their party journeyed well into the night. They thankfully didn't have to worry about pirate patrols. Not yet, at least. If the pirates had begun combing the jungle for them, they would have started near the fort. With all of their forces converged on the central camp, it would take them a while to fully disperse across the island.
In the meantime, they had been able to escape the sights of their enemies. Red knew that it was only a matter of time. They were being hunted. Still, it didn't help to wallow in those thoughts. Battle would come, and he simply needed to prepare for it.
Many of his gadgets had been designed to combat the pirates, but mainly the Gearborn. However, his minor gadgets had never been meant to help in a broad battle. If a true battle broke out, he could protect himself, but that wasn't enough to ensure victory. Success could only be determined if he worked on a bigger scale.
Vizim seemed to have the same idea. Despite both of their exhaustion from the day's events, they worked well into the night, discussing and planning. Vizim had the basics for a relatively large blast cannon. One of the biggest issues with their circumstances was their lack of proper artillery.
Red wasn't sure if Vizim's idea would be successful, but if it was, he would have essentially created a bomb launcher. Created wasn't really the right word. More like thrown together in bits and pieces. It would be too big to lug around without breaking, so they needed to just be ready to finish it upon their arrival.
As they traveled over the following day, Red's mind raced, trying to come up with anything that he could create to help them. Bombs weren't the biggest thing. He still had a few extras, mostly made from their bombing run. Those would definitely be beneficial, but it wasn't enough.
At the end of the day, preparing for the pirates was only a minor concern. Their biggest threat was the Pirate King and, beyond that, the Gearborn. Assuming they survived the fight with the pirates, they'd need to rescue Zara. Red knew what type of monsters the robots were, and he wouldn't let her remain trapped if he could do something about it.
However, they first had to deal with the looming concern of the Pirate King and all his supernatural powers. That had already shown that his defeat was possible even if unlikely. Defeat wasn't enough, though. The Pirate King could simply escape by teleporting to any of his minions and then returning the next day. Without Zara to aid them, they would also have a much harder time in any actual fight.
Defeating the Pirate King could be done; Red was sure of it. They just had to make certain that he couldn't escape before they did so. For that, he was going to need Zara's help or, at the very least, Silas and Derrin. They would know far more about how the man's powers worked than he did. It had something to do with marks, but Red himself wasn't knowledgeable enough.
His work was cut out for him, and all he could do was continue forward.