The Wannabe Warrior
Chapter 196

Zane POV

‘If they leave in an hour, how long will it take to travel those tunnels to get here?’ I asked Peggy, not really knowing how long it took us to get here and if Zeek had taken the most direct route or if he had tried to make us confused if we tried to use the tunnels in the future.

‘They can be here in two hours, after they enter the tunnel, quicker if they jog or run.’ Peggy answered, pointing to a line on the diorama that indicated the tunnel they would be travelling down and to my surprise there were at least three tunnels darting off of it, along the way, and following the line, would end up at another pack .

‘Then we have to make plans. They may run into battle or they might get to rest a little and get a feed before the attacker arrives. They are going to be very annoyed when they replace out they have lost Peggy.’ I said and looked around the room at the Blue River Warriors and knew they were going to be very busy soon and I had begun to really like these guys. I hope we don’t lose any of them.

Peggy called a few senior members to the room and plans were being made. It was hard to know how to fight underground, this was new to us, and the confined area was a little scary. I wanted to suggest going outside to fight, but Peggy insisted we do it in the tunnels.

Madison had asked dad to send a lot more darts and the sleeping potion. No matter how hard I tried to convince her before to make some that would kill, she would not do it. She said some are under orders and should not die because they are doing what they thought was their duty. She was okay to kill them if they proved to deserve it, but she was so tender hearted and wanted to give everyone the benefit of the doubt.

‘Peggy, when the men arrive, they should have more darts. We can get men in the tunnels to set up traps that trigger the darts. We may be lucky and get a few before they make it too far into the tunnels.’ I suggested and looked at her for some kind of reaction. She was good at hiding her thoughts, just like any good alpha would.

‘We can do that in the most vulnerable tunnels. If they get too far and the darts don’t slow them enough, we will have to collapse the tunnels, but the more we can incapacitate the better.’ She said, pointing to the tunnels she was thinking the darts could be set up in.

‘Actually. we can do some now. The Blue River warriors brought a bag full with them.’ Madison reminds me, I had forgotten how many they had brought with them. Dad had insisted it was better to have too many than not enough, good ole dad.

‘Good, let us start with that one there. It is the one I expect Zeek to choose as the easiest to enter, but he would be wrong, he may know a lot about living underground and many of our venerable spots. But he does not know all the strengths. I never revealed them all to him. It is not that I suspected him of being a traitor, but it is our way, not to reveal everything, only to the one you are grooming as your replacement. If I died before giving her all my knowledge, she would know about the secret place. I have hidden all the information for her. She had four steps to go through before she replaces that spot, and I have yet to give her the first step and I am glad I hadn’t, as Zeek would have tried to get it from her.’ Peggy sounded fine, acted as if all was normal, but I felt deep down in my alpha bones, that she might not be as good as she tries to project, I only hope she gets through all of this and when we come out through the other side, we could be good friends and start a trusting relationship with the above and below ground people.

With the Blue River warriors, who had experience with darts, we headed down the tunnel where Peggy wanted the first traps to be placed. We worked well as a team and soon about thirty metres of tunnel was covered in darts that would be triggered by stepping on string lines that littered the ground. They would not be able to take many steps without tripping one, and we spaced the grouping of darts, hoping they would think they were through them and get confident again and walk right into the next set.

Madison had asked Peggy if she had a place to make potions, and was talking down a tunnel. I thought she was going to see what they had available. I heard her say something about making a sleeping gas. I had not heard of this before, but I would not put it past my mate to have a recipe for the concoction, it just comes down to what these people had in the pantry.

Though it was necessary, I did not like having Madison out of sight, I just got her back, and the thought of not having her close was a little frustrating.

As I was building up a sweat working with the Blue River warriors, I was always impressed by them. These guys were perfect examples of what a dedicated warrior should be like.

I got a mind-link from dad.

‘Son!’ dad’s voice was full of concern.

‘What’s up dad?’ I asked, his tone was making me worry.

‘They have pushed the door to the room Peggy was in, they now know she had escaped. Gladys mentioned something about no time for testing something they had been experimenting with. They needed it now, so they could go out and hunt for both Peggy and Madison. We don’t know what it is.’

‘You don’t think they have been trying to make something out of the mine water? Try to take the poison side out of it?’ I asked, wondering if they would even try. Madison had said it was part of the genetic makeup, the scent inhibitor was the lethal part, and to remove that, would mean you lose the desired effect you were after.

‘Then expect some dead men, depending on whether they were successful, but then it will not work as they want it to. If they drink it, they will be dead before they reach you. If they spray it on themselves, as we know, they could live a few weeks, depending on how weak the solution is. So be ready for a big fight and soon.’ Dad was very worried, but we had too much to do and prepare to worry about the stupidity of others, we needed to be ready for a fight.