split up. It’s possible they’ll leave the most of their own closest to us.’
‘We can make a decision after the reconnaissance.’ Adam pondered something. ‘It’s hard to say what’s changed this year, but I’d suggest you go round the Crater on the left-hand side and meet us by the spring. It’ll be a bit of a walk and there might be quite a lot to check along the way, but to start with, we should be able to secure a good vantage point for the raid.’
‘They might be expecting us there,’ Cedric interjected. ‘It’s always been easiest to check everything along the stream first, and then decide which half of the Crater to comb through. Since we haven’t been given any time limit, they might position themselves on the opposite side to the entrance.’
‘They won’t have that much time either,’ someone pointed out. ‘If we’re half an hour behind the last team…’
‘…at a brisk pace, they’ll be almost halfway across the crater,’ Adam interrupted. ‘I assume that, since they’ll be tasked with defending specific points, they’ll be given information on where they are. Even if it’s only vague, they’ll still have the upper hand over us.’ He ruffled his black hair and looked up at the sky, as if out of habit, wanting to check the position of the sun. ‘It’s still a long way to midday, and we’ve got the whole afternoon’s training ahead of us. It looks like it won’t be that easy today.’
‘It seems to me we’re at a disadvantage right from the start,’ said a new voice.
‘Knowing the instructors, they must have made sure it was fair. We don’t know what tasks the defenders will be given,’ said Cedric, looking a little gloomy.
‘I think so too,’ Adam nodded eagerly. ‘It’s quite possible that the checkpoints they’re supposed to guard are in completely different areas, and they won’t be able to help each other.’
‘Let’s assume they’ll split them up more or less equally,’ suggested the elf standing a little further to the right. ‘We're supposed to operate in teams,
