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 na?ve 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.