The Wannabe Warrior
Chapter 192

Madison POV

The relief of being turned back was almost overwhelming. Even the Blue River warriors were happier now we had turned back, none of us were happy to leave, not knowing if Peggy and Zeek were in the hands of Gladys, and knowing the type of torture she would do, we needed to get Peggy out.

When Gerome called to confirm that Peggy was in the room I was in, I wanted to scream, that poor woman would not be able to heal, and the pain she would be in, because of all that wolfbane in the room, and we had no idea where Zeek was, and if he was in the same shape as Peggy or dead.

Just as our little group were about to go through a tunnel that was the last turn heading into the main pack,

I stopped and sniffed the air.

My wolf smelt something and she wanted us to head down that tunnel to investigate.

Having stopped to sniff about, the Blue River warriors stopped too, and watched me. They had seen this from me before, and knew my tracker wolf had found something, and they waited for me to command them. Were we going on or down this other tunnel?

‘Madison?’ one of the Blue River warriors called softly to me, taking me out of my chat with my wolf and I looked at the warrior confused at first, then smiled. I had zoned out as I talked to my wolf and stopped everyone as they waited for me to move on or say something.

‘OH, sorry, can we head down this tunnel, please.’ I urged, and without waiting to replace out if they agreed, started to walk down that tunnel. But deep down, I knew the warriors would follow me everywhere.

I started to jog and move quicker than I had before, desperate to get to where Betsy was urging me to go. She made it seem like it was very urgent to get to where we were going and I rarely argued with her. When she is like this,

‘Wait, Madison, what is going on?’ Zane called out as he trotted to catch up with me. He was the only one to ask about the change of direction, and he is my mate? Wow, so much for trust.

‘Leave her be Zane, Madison is onto something, just follow and Madison will reveal what it is, when she is ready.’ The big Blue River guy that gave me his jacket when I first returned to them, said and continued to move down the tunnel following me, and all the Blue River men followed without question, and having no choice, I could tell, Zane was following too, but reluctantly.

The tunnel was dusty and dirty, parts of it had collapsed, and we had to squeeze through that part of it, but Betsy kept urging me along, not letting a few fallen boulders get in her way. She was on a mission and nothing was going to stop her till she found what she had smelt.

I travelled for about an hour, some of the collapsed areas slowed us down, but eventually, we came to the end of the tunnel.

With care I moved the last large rock out of the way.

This one had a locking mechanism on it and I knew this was the entry and exit of the old tunnel.

On the other side of this door, I found I was in an old shack, dusty and dirty, holes in the roof and snow covered the floor that had come in through the holes. I made it slowly to what used to be a window and was shocked to see we were at the back of the packhouse, an area I recognised from when I had escaped, a part that was rarely used by anyone.

I put my finger to my lips to warn everyone to be quiet.

I let them go to the window and look outside before moving to the back of the shack to talk.

‘Did you see those stairs going up the side of the building?’ I asked the group in general, and got a number of nods and a frown from Zane.

‘That is the stairs I used to escape, I am going to go up there and try and get Peggy out of there.’ I said I was ready for an argument from Zane.

‘How many of us do you need?’ one Blue River warrior asked softly, hoping I would take some along and he would be one of them. I like this guy, always close to the action and ready to assist where needed.

‘I need most of you to stay here, protecting the exit. The guards passed by every fifteen minutes before. Hopefully, that has not changed. I would like three with me, to walk on the wooden beams, not on the floor, or should I say the ceiling? We didn’t want to make creaking noises and be found. When we reached the room, I would drop in, as it is covered in wolfbane, I can’t have you guys harmed by simply entering the room. I would like to try and barricade the door and cover the camera. If it is on, I won’t enter until it goes off, so be prepared to wait for some time. Also, once I have Peggy, I will hand her up to you. It might be a squeeze. She is broader than me, though I am taller, and being out cold, hopefully easier to maneuver, I need you to bring that coil of rope over there and hope that it is still strong enough to pull her up with.’ I gave the orders and picked the men, of course Zane wanted to come, but I asked him to take charge here in the shack, and thought he wanted to argue, he accepted my request.

‘Throw snow over our tracks once we have left.’ I said to no one in particular.

I waited for three turns of the patrol, making sure they were the same before heading to the stairs.

Taking two at a time, I raced up the stairs and opened the door at the top, glad they had not locked it and hoped this was not a trap.

The three men behind me, walking in my footsteps, made sure to make the least amount of noise, whilst up here, this area was not safe to be in, and I was on alert the whole time I was there.