Whatever the case, it would have to do. I was used to sleeping on a branch, after all. I couldn’t imagine that this would be any more uncomfortable than that.
“We hopefully won’t stay here for long, anyway,” Bastien went on. “I’m hoping that by our meeting tonight or tomorrow, we will have decided on a course of action and will have left this place on our way to the hunters’ lair.”
I swallowed at the thought. I hated to imagine the huge loss of life The Woodlands would undergo if the wolves really did launch a full-on attack. What if the mutants slaughtered them all? All of The Woodlands’ strongest tribes wiped out… and Bastien.
Having still not come across a pack who could inform us of another gate, I also wondered what role I would play in all of this. There was no machinery here for me to use, and I was just a weak human. A burden.
Apparently sensing where my thoughts were roaming, Bastien reached for my hand and squeezed it. Then he offered me a faint smile that didn’t touch his eyes. Clearing his throat, he said, “We ought to focus on one day at a time.”
Bastien
The remaining packs arrived at the agreed upon time, before nightfall. That made us approximately fifty tribes in total. As sprawling as Rock Hall’s accommodation was, there simply weren’t enough chambers to house them all. This only put more pressure on us to come up with a solution quickly so we could leave this place—which wasn’t a bad thing. I feared that brawls would break out in the meantime with all of these rival packs living within such close proximity of one another. Fighting amongst ourselves was the last thing we needed at a time like this.
After the final wolves had entered the mountain, we had not a moment to lose. Sergius had been waiting outside, counting the packs as they arrived to make sure we weren’t missing any, and now I heard him racing along the corridors outside, yelling for everyone who wished to have a say about the destiny of our country to gather in the meeting hall.
Victoria and I had been sitting in the empty room, where I had shifted for her sake. I thought that she would be more comfortable lying against me while I was a wolf. And now I decided to stay as a wolf for the meeting. If anybody dared make a snap at Victoria, I would be better equipped to defend her. I was so very tempted to leave her behind in the chamber, but that also was not safe. I did not trust anyone here. Not even Sergius. I did not wish to let her out of my sight for a moment.
And so I knelt for Victoria to climb onto my back. Then I left the chamber with her, even as I quietly enjoyed the feel of her fingers sliding through the fur at the back of my neck.
The corridors were teeming. I made my way as fast as I could into the auditorium. Here I gazed around at the countless wolves milling around and perching on top of chairs and benches. I did not want to remain on the ground level. Skirting around the edge of the chamber, I headed for a narrow staircase that wound upward. I climbed higher and higher, until there were no more stairs to climb. We had reached the top balcony, about six levels up. I ventured onto the rigidly cut platform, pleased to see that nobody had ventured up here yet. Victoria and I were on our own. I allowed Victoria to slide off my back before the two of us gazed down at the auditorium from a bird’s eye view.
Sergius stood in the center of the circular cavern, where the floor had been left clear. He gazed around, watching the hall fill up. He seemed to have taken on the role of general organizer in all of this—certainly more so than any other wolf so far as I could tell. I guessed that he would also be the moderator of this meeting as he called for the chieftains to join him in the center.
Perhaps, if Victoria had not been with me, I would’ve gone down there myself to represent my own tribe, but currently, I had no tribe. I was a prince without a kingdom. If I lived through this war we were about to wage to save our realm, I would return to my cousin and fight for my rightful place as ruler. It was what my father would have wanted. But that was a long way off. For now, my cousin and uncle would continue to usurp my position.
I scanned the wolves sitting in the front rows and spotted Dane, a stocky chestnut-brown wolf, sitting next to my aunt, Brucella. Her fur was a lighter brown, and when shifted, she was actually the larger of the two wolves. I would not have been surprised if she would even win in a fight against him. She was among the most renowned alpha females in The Woodlands.
My eyes were drawn away from them as Sergius’ voice boomed around the chamber. The chieftains had finished gathering in the center. “We have assembled here to discuss a most grave and urgent matter,” he began, “to put aside our differences for the sake of our country and our children.”
He glared at the wolves surrounding him, as if daring anybody to pose a challenge. Then he gave a recap of the situation for the benefit of all those who might not have yet heard the full story—the discovery of the hunters and how they had already infiltrated or destroyed an unknown number of lairs. During our journey gathering all these wolves together, at least we knew now that the hunters had not spread quite as far as I had feared. They had reached my own lair, and possibly all nearby, but it seemed they hadn’t ventured much further than that. This gave us hope.
My uncle went on, “Thus, the challenge before us is to drive them from our land, and with such force that they will never dare return. This is our country. Our habitat. Our home. They may have fire-breathing monsters, but they are still out of their element. If we hit them now with all our strength, nothing is impossible.”
He paused, letting his words linger in the airy cavern. Uncertain murmurs swept around the room, then died down as Sergius ordered the various packs to begin discussing amongst themselves for the next hour, after which he would request each of the leaders to present their ideas.
And so the hall broke out in discussion. I looked to Victoria, whose eyes were still fixed on my uncle, and wondered what she was thinking. She and her family had more experience with these men than we did.
“If only I could get help from The Shade.” She sighed. “I’m sure I would be able to persuade my people to help you guys in some way.”
I scowled inwardly. I believed that many of these wolves would be too proud to accept Victoria and her people’s help in fighting for our country, even if they were offered it.
But that would not stop me from accepting it. If we could get help from The Shade, I could splinter from these wolves, who were as good as strangers to me anyway, and forge ahead in a separate attack with Victoria’s people.
I thought back to the one gate that we knew still existed—the gate situated within the hunters’ compound. After my escape, I was sure that they would have doubled down on security. Even roaming within the perimeter of their base would be risking our lives, let alone attempting to actually climb down into it and reach the portal. And then, even if we managed to leap through it, there was the matter of what we might meet with on the other side. What if there were more hunters and mutants roaming that jungle now? It was so close to their base. There were simply too many things that could go wrong with that plan. I could not entertain it. If it was only my own life on the line, I might’ve risked it. But not with Victoria.
The two of us passed the next hour in mostly silence as I lost myself in my own thoughts. Then Sergius called for the chieftains to step into the center one by one and pose their suggestions to the assembly.
Weldon came first. His suggestion was fire. Hurling a storm of burning arrows over their fence, burning the entire wood down where the hunters were located, if need be. I grimaced. Fire had been one of the first methods that had occurred to me when I first started pondering this issue. But I was not naïve enough to think that it would be as simple as Weldon made out. Not after my brief venture into hunter territory.
They were surrounded by fire-breathing creatures, and hence were also equipped with the means to put out fires. They would be fools if they weren’t. The moment they detected the fire starting, they would use their technology to put it out. We would also be utterly stupid to think that we could creep up on
them unawares. They had guards—and mutants—roaming the facility. And by now, for all we know, they could have installed more “alarms”, as Victoria had called those magical devices.
Despite all the obstacles I foresaw, there was much nodding and murmuring of agreement to the idea of fire. I bit down on my lip, resisting the urge to point out the many obstacles in the plan. Right now was not the time to discuss detailed strategy anyway. That would come later, once the wolves had agreed on the general way forward.
The next leader who stepped forward—of the Kaelin clan—suggested an all-out, physical attack. All of us would gather and launch into the base at once, swarming their compound and buildings and flooding them. In some ways, this was a savvier idea than relying on fire. If all of us launched at once, we would not be as easily put out as fire. However, this idea would result in a staggering number of casualties. I had seen those mutants they kept with my own eyes. A werewolf was simply no match for one. How could even the strongest wolf be a threat, when the mutants could fly and breathe fire? The only thing a werewolf could do in the face of such a creature was run.
Next came the Cuthral leader’s suggestion. His I found to be the most interesting so far, though I could not quite see how it would ever work. He suggested that we contrive a way to bait a large number of hunters away, rendering the base more empty and vulnerable to an attack. I was not the only one who found this idea interesting, but when asked, the Cuthral leader could not provide any details regarding how we would do it. He said that we would need to discuss it further amongst ourselves.
The suggestions that followed his were mostly repeats of the first three, and those that weren’t went gradually downhill in quality, until it got to the point where some ideas became so far-fetched that I wondered whether some chiefs were putting forward ideas simply to be contrary to the others.
Once every tribe had finished putting forward their suggestions, it was time for Sergius and Brucella’s. Sergius claimed that they were torn between the idea of fire and baiting the hunters into a trap.
Sergius then announced that we all had another half an hour to think everything over before deciding which route to vote for deeper discussion. When it came time, I raised my paw in favor of baiting. And I was not alone in this. The majority of the hall elected to discuss this route. It was hardly a surprise that the Kaelins’ suggestion of a brute-force attack was the least popular; everyone knew that it would lead to an unthinkable amount of bloodshed.
Thus Sergius announced baiting as our topic of exploration. As conversation broke out in the hall again, so did the bickering. Nobody could agree on any particular way of going about it, and to me, everyone’s suggestions seemed doomed to failure. As the hall again descended into chaos, with some wolves even beginning to arch their backs and snarl at the differences of opinion, Dane’s voice boomed out around the hall, so loud and pervasive that it stunned everyone into silence.
“We already have a hunter in our midst! Why don’t we just ask her?”
Victoria’s breath hitched. My eyes froze on the man. He had swiveled in his seat and now was gazing directly up at our balcony. Directly up at her. I wasn’t even sure how he knew that we were up here. From the corner of his cunning eye, he must’ve seen us enter the stairwell.
Every other wolf in the hall followed Dane’s gaze, all of them on Victoria, as she stood, staring down at them.
My blood was boiling. How dare he. I had already explained countless times throughout our journey to various wolves who had asked about Victoria that she was not a hunter, and that she had no affiliation with them whatsoever other than the fact that she was a human. I’d told them that she was from The Shade and her people disagreed with everything that the hunters stood for. Still, she had received suspicious glares from them, which had been yet another reason why I had been anxious to keep her up in the trees at night and distance ourselves from the other wolves.
And now here Dane was, stirring up the storm of doubt that I had fought so hard to quell.
Victoria took a step back, the blood draining from her face.
“She is not a hunter!” I bellowed down.
“How do you know she is not one?” Dane asked, finally having the courage to look at me directly. The challenging tone of his voice brought me to the edge. It was a good thing that I was not down there with him, because I might not have been able to restrain myself from flying at his throat.
“An absurd question,” I shot back down. “In making such a wild accusation, the onus is on you to prove that she is one.” I tore my eyes away from Dane, and addressed the rest of the assembly. “As I have already explained to many of you, Ms. Vaughn lives in The Shade. Her parents are supernaturals, as are all of her family.”
I couldn’t stand the doubt in the wolves’ eyes—doubt instilled by Dane’s injurious statement. I glared at my aunt sitting next to him. Fury welled within me at the look of smugness on her face. I was sure that she had something to do with Dane’s behavior.
I continued glaring down at the wolves until finally, they turned away. Sergius drew their attention back to him by saying, “I fully believe that my nephew speaks the truth.” I had never felt more grateful to him than in that moment. “I request that we turn our thoughts away from the human and return to the matter at hand. Let us resume our discussion, but this time without arguments. Remember, no matter what differences exist between us, we are all in this together.”
I caught Brucella scowling at her husband for his prompt change of subject. I was just relieved that the wolves were no longer glaring up at Victoria. For several tense moments, I had been terrified that they might all come rushing up to her in a rage. I might be strong, but I wouldn’t last five minutes if this crowd washed over us. I would be ripped to shreds and so would Victoria… if Dane didn’t have something else in mind for her first.
As the wolves continued the discussion, despite my uncle’s request, more arguments broke out again. By the end of the night, we were still no further forward. No suggestions were put forward that had any legs whatsoever.
Then Sergius called the meeting to a close. “The meeting is adjourned until morning! We will take a break for rest and contemplation, but by noon tomorrow, we must have settled on a plan.”
With that, he and the other chiefs left the center of the room and mingled with the crowd.
Wolves began piling out of the hall and back along the corridor toward the residential quarters. I hung back with Victoria for a while until the room became a little emptier. Then Victoria climbed on my back and we made our way down the staircase. I sped up as we reached the ground level and bounded toward the exit before making my way as quickly as possible back to our chamber.
Victoria had almost closed the door behind us when a heavy paw jammed it open. Growling, I nudged Victoria backward. It was Brucella in our doorway. Behind her was another wolf—another female—whom I did not recognize.
“I have some good news for you,” Brucella said.
“What?” I asked, narrowing my eyes on her. I wasn’t sure if I had ever received good news from Brucella.
“I was just speaking to Ethel Krepler here.” The Kreplers had been gathered by a different tribe, and I hadn’t yet gotten the opportunity to speak to any of them. “She informed me of something incredibly interesting… a hidden portal. To the human realm. Only about a mile away from Rock Hall.”
My jaw dropped. I felt winded, like I’d just been punched in the gut.
Brucella went on, “Ethel says that our ancient ancestors were aware of it, but hardly any wolves know about it these days. Though it is knowledge that has been passed down through the Krepler family for decades.”
My mouth had lost all moisture. A portal. So near? My first and only instinct was to immediately discount my aunt’s words. As selfish as it was, I didn’t want to believe that her words were true… I didn’t want Victoria to leave.
I turned on Ethel. “Is this true?” I asked hoarsely.
“It i
s,” she replied.
“We can all go there now if you like,” Brucella added, “and take your human friend back. There is no point doubting us, Bastien, when you can come and see it for yourself. In fact, you two could go alone. I can describe to you the exact location. Head out of the entrance and take a right turn. Walk until you see a tight cluster of five oak trees. At this point, climb the mountain immediately next to you, right to the top; you’ll reach an overhanging ledge, above which you will find the portal. It’s very simple really.”
“Where does it lead?” I shot the question at Ethel.
“Last time I ventured down there,” Ethel replied, “about four weeks ago, it led to the interior of a gated city. A human settlement. Where exactly on Earth, I am not sure.”
“But from there I’m sure Victoria could find a way back to her island,” Brucella went on.
My gaze turned slowly and reluctantly on Victoria herself. She was looking quite speechless, almost breathless. Her cherry lips were parted as she stared at Brucella and Ethel.
“We could go and check it,” she said slowly, running a tongue along her lower lip. “If it really does lead to a city, I would try to contact the authorities and get in touch with The Shade. I’m sure that eventually I would figure out a way to get back.” She paused, her blue eyes rising to meet mine. “But I need some closure, Bastien. I need to know what’s going to happen to you and your people while I’m gone.” She swallowed. “I would like to stay until tomorrow, when your plans will be finalized.”
The idea that we had a few more hours before she left was somewhat comforting. But as with all things temporary, I knew those hours would be hard to truly enjoy.
I turned back to my aunt. “You heard Victoria. We will take her there tomorrow.” When I can check for myself if there really is a gate there and this isn’t some kind of ruse to separate me from Victoria. I was still selfishly hoping that this would be the case. But I couldn’t shake the nagging feeling that Brucella had been telling the truth. What would be the point in lying when she was inviting me to see for myself? I had little doubt that there really was a gate there… and that this would be the last night I spent with Victoria.