Chapter 17

The team spent most of the three days of the cruise going over contingency plans.

The Ghost would wait over the horizon for four days to give them time to get the wounded. They were to stay with the Company to gather intelligence until the Ghost got back to pick them up in three to four weeks.

The team then got issued with Japanese uniforms should they need them. If Anton was surprised that they didn’t groan about the extra weight, he didn’t say anything. He had long since used the spells that Jacky had on his own gear.

Anton was unaware that Jacky and David mistrusted him. He hadn’t tried to teach them any new spells, told them about where his magical items came from or anything much about himself.

While he was a Major, he had been rather reticent about talking about magic to the couple and didn’t mention it at all to the rest of the boys. Jacky couldn’t understand why Anton couldn’t see the new stronger glow around the men that indicated that they were all capable of doing magic.

For some reason, Anton thought that only Jacky’s spells were working on the men, not that they could do magic too.

The team all knew that Anton had magical items, as Jacky had told them that he did, and they had learnt how to recognise other magical people. As far as all of them were concerned, it wasn’t as if there were that many people like them around to share information with.

Jacky had basically solved that problem by making his own novice mages. He had even made sure that he put the same spells on the boys’ items as those that were on his and David’s.

The boys didn’t complain as he was also teaching them basic spells that they had all learnt that they could do. Levitation, rain and sound shields, camouflage, lighting fires and making wet wood burn had become some of their favourites.

They also found that Jacky was a willing teacher, so they learned without hesitation.

The beach landing was a success, mostly thanks to Jacky and her unit.

The ship’s crew were relatively green and hadn’t tied the floats onto the lorries well enough for rough seas. It didn’t help that the floats were just not good enough to hold the weight of the trucks in any sort of surf.

When the first lorry tried to tip over, Jacky got half of the boys to do a ‘levitation’ spell and the rest to do a ‘stabilisation’ spell. They were then able to guide the lorry to the shore through the surf.

The boys were sure glad that Jacky and David had taught them those two spells. Without the lorries, they would be doing a lot of walking and manual labour. It was as if Jacky had known that they might need them sooner rather than later.

The squad then floated the second lorry to shore with little effort. It was probably just as well that it was a ‘dark and stormy night’, so the sailors couldn’t see what the team was doing.

The team then went ashore in two amphibians with all of their gear. They magically assisted the boats loaded with the extra supplies to ensure all of the equipment got to the beach. It was easier from the shore because they could link up and just let Jacky control the spells.

Amusingly, the amphibian that brought the Major ashore nearly got swamped by a big wave just as they let the back down onto the beach. The team let him get wet. He hadn’t helped them at all. In fact, they had barely seen him on the ship unless he had called a meeting.

Abe sent four men to have a quick scout around, and they found the road easily enough. No vehicles, lights or buildings were in sight, so they turned the lights on the lorries on and drove them up onto the road.

Anton did his block and told the men still on the beach they should have loaded up the trucks first. The men all looked at Jacky.

Jacky sighed and said, “The only way the men got the empty lorries to the road was by using magic. This sand is too soft, and we would have bogged them down. Also, this way, we don’t leave tire tracks.”

“Then how do you intend to get all of this lot up there?” Anton asked in a scathing voice.

Since they hadn’t had any interruptions, they had gotten the rather large number of stores onto the shore, including the extra barrels of diesel for the trucks.

Jacky just shrugged, “The same way we got the lorries up there. Boys are you ready?” he asked the seven men still with him. They all nodded, touched each other and him, and formed the spell.

The boxes, crates and barrels of diesel lifted into the air about a foot off the ground and floated before them. The supplies then started drifting up the beach. The team walked behind and directed the items over the dunes and scrubby bushes and then up to the roadside.

They took it easy as it was better if they stayed in contact with each other. Since the night was so dark, the men used the torch end of their batons to look around once on the road.

Jacky had been delighted when she had managed to build the telescopic wands, also known as batons, for her team when they had stopped in Darwin. Anton didn’t see the handles of the torches the men were using, so he did query them.

Abe, David, Eddie, and Ernie scouted out a good place to put the stores. The rest of the men sorted out what they wanted in the trucks and what would be hidden.

David and his team deepened the hollow under a large overhang of rock to form a modest cave. They extended the side walls and flattened the floor. The men were having a lot of fun using their magic.