The Wannabe Warrior
Chapter 142

Madison POV

I woke around two am, something made me instantly awake. I c****d my head and listened as I climbed out of bed and got dressed as quickly as I could, it should be Graham on patrol.

‘Graham.’ I called softly.

‘What’s up?’ he replied.

‘’You on patrol?’ I asked, getting my shoes on.

‘Just got up, and am walking around. I can’t replace the guys that are supposed to be on patrol yet.’ He replied sleepily.

‘Where are you?’ I went out the door and headed towards the stairs.

‘Near the kitchens.’ he replied.

‘Hide and wait for me.’ I instructed.

‘Mitch, wake up.’ I called softly, trying not to put any alarm into my voice.

‘Huh, what?’ he g****s, shaking sleep from his head.

‘I heard something. Graham is hiding near the kitchens, and he has not been able to locate the last hour patrol.’

‘Where are you?’ he asked, now wide awake.

‘On my way down the stairs, heading to the kitchens to support Graham.’ I whispered, as I stealthily fully crept down the stairs.

‘Have you called some of the Blue River pack to come help?’ he sounds annoyed now.

‘Nope.’ I absentmindedly answered as I looked around for Graham.

‘’I will rouse up some. Don’t go it alone.’ Mitch warns, but it is too late. I am already down the stairs, and hiding close to the walls and I make my way towards the kitchen.

‘I can see you, Madison.’ Graham called softly into my head. I turned and saw him against the wall in a little alcove. I backed up and stood with him.

‘Mitch is waking some of the Blue River Warriors, who was on patrol?’

‘Royal warriors.’ He replies with disgust. We had hoped we would get rid of all the traitors.

‘Don’t assume they are in on this, maybe they have been knocked out and are on the floor somewhere.’

‘Let’s hope they are knocked out and not dead then.’ Graham growls softly, he does not want to lose any more good men.

Mitch arrived quietly, with eight of the Blue River warriors behind him. The other Blue River warriors had only recently finished a patrol, so Mitch let them sleep. He would call them if we got into trouble.

‘Where?’ he asked as we gathered together.

‘Back door, to laundry. I heard someone trying to break the door.’ Graham answered as he pointed in the direction.

Mitch takes the lead and I take the rear, Graham up front with Mitch, and we slowly make our way down to the laundry entrance. It has two doors to break to get in.

We locked both, the outer door and the one that leads into the packhouse.

Then they made it to the inner door and waited and listened.

We can hear someone on the other side trying to break in. We took position near the door and waited for them to break in. They were being very careful not to make too much noise and I was lucky that I had even heard it.

The door slowly opened, and a head popped into the partly opened door and looked around. I immediately recognised the smell and called the fight off.

‘Zakary, why are you breaking in? Did Ezekiel tell you we were here?’ I asked incredulously, trying to break in, knowing we were on high alert.

‘Yes, he did, but he also told us to be wary as you have some traitor warriors and Emery had not been caught yet.’ He answers as he steps into the room and pulls me in for a hug.

‘Guys, this is Zakary, Alpha of the underground pack that lives up here.’ I introduced him to Mitch and Graham and the other Blue River warriors, and explained what we had completed so far and offered him a bed or breakfast.

He takes the breakfast and the warriors get together and chat in the dining hall, while I take Zakary to the kitchen. Mitch secures the doors and puts a bolt on this side so it will not be so easy to get in next time.

‘Zakary, I know Alex’s pack is a Deep Earth pack. What is your pack called?’ I looked at him quizzically.

‘We are also Deep Earth Pack, we all are, but we have section names. Alex is central, and I am northern, but we are all the same pack, well sort of, our hierarchy is different to yours aboveground. One day we can talk about this in depth. It will be fascinating to hear how each pack works.’ Zakary offers.

‘You are lucky I woke up to your breaking in, our guys would not have known you were friendly.’ Zakary looks at me with a smirk and I giggle at him, he really does make me laugh at the wrong times.

‘Is your mate here? I have yet to meet him?’ Zakary asked, looking around the room for him.

‘No, Graham, here is my twin. Can’t you tell?’ I joked at him.

He puts his hand on his chin and looks between me and Graham and then chuckles.

‘You have the same eyes and hair, but you, my dear, have a better body and charm.’ He said with a straight face.

Graham spits out his mouthful of coffee and nearly chokes on it, and we laugh at his red face.

‘What is wrong with my body?’ Graham asked, standing up and waving his hand up and down his torso.

‘Nothing for a guy, but your sister, to me, is much better to look at.’ He replied sweetly and Graham blushed and I giggled. Mitch m****d at the conversation and quickly changed it.

‘Let me go and check if the patrol have returned to their beds and not checked in with me.’ Graham said, and left to hunt down the warriors.

‘Zakary, when it gets light, will your men assist us in cleaning up the last of the pack grounds?’

‘Yes, that is the agreement with Ezekiel and to watch for Emery, and I believe last heard he has six men with him. I hope he has not found more men along the way; we don’t want surprises.’ I was concerned he had managed to replace more warriors somewhere, he had many supporters we had yet to discover.

‘Our guys have now met yours, so we know each other’s scent. We should be good for a battle or two, side by side.’ Mitch countered back, light-heartedly.

‘Wonderful, I shall get more warriors above ground and we can bring them here to meet you and then send them out to scout and watch for Emery. I truly hope he shows up, once we are ready. That will give my men some real fighting for a change. It has been a while since we have been in a battle.’ Zakary looked at Mitch as if sizing him up for some reason, but I was too distracted to really pay attention.

‘Graham, any sign of the other patrol?’ I asked when he returned.

‘They were in bed. It seems they never went out on patrol at all. We are going to have to deal with that group too. I don’t understand what is going on with them, Madison, do you have any of that truth potion with you?’ Graham asked, having found the men he was to take over from.

‘Yeah, I do, it is in my room. I will give it to you. It is the new batch, and maybe Zakary would like to join you with the questioning. He may have some different methods of getting information for others.’ I looked at Zakary as I spoke.

‘I would love to join you in that, and if they are traitors?’ he queried, eyeing Mitch, and it appeared he was testing how far we were prepared to go, after the questioning.

‘We slit their throats and throw them in the fire, no second chances.’ Mitch answers for me.

‘Then we have our hands busy, while we wait and see if Emery wishes to grace us with his presents.’ Zakary beams with unknown joy. Almost as if he is looking forward to doing some killing, maybe some revenge for past grievances.

‘So far, we have removed ten of the royal warriors. Now we have another ten that need to be dealt with. I think we will have to consider that all sixty of them are against us. I have enough darts to put them all asleep. We have eighty of the Blue River warriors, twenty of the original and sixty as part of what Alpha Daniels brought with him, so I think we can take the last sixty. Zakary, with your help, can your men capture the remaining fifty Royal warriors that may not be in bed? We should get them now, while it is still early and the bulk of them may still be in bed, and get them into the cells. There is plenty of room in the cells, just make sure that they have wolfbane on them so they cannot talk to Emery and warn him.’

‘Sounds like a plan, let’s get to it.’ Mitch said, and the men took off to replace the warriors.