The Wannabe Warrior
Chapter 198

Zane POV

My stomach grumbled, so I followed my nose to the kitchen and grabbed a sandwich and quickly ate it, then grabbed a plate for Madison, knowing she was not likely to have time to stop and think about food. When she was in her zone, all else went away. I grabbed two coffees too and headed to the room behind the kitchen where I knew she was making her brews.

I place my coffee on the table nearby, and stand and watch Madison. I know from experience, not to say or do anything till she has finished what she is doing and looks up at you, or you see that she is about to start another one of what she is creating. Sometimes the wait is short, other times I have to interrupt her, as it is a long process.

Luckily, I understood what she was doing and just needed to wait for a little bit.

‘Madison.’ I almost whispered to her, and she looked up. Lost for a moment in her thoughts.

She took the plate and started to eat as I explained what dad had told me earlier and we talked about how we should handle it.

I was not that keen on going through another lot of bodies to burn, but that would be the best solution for us really.

We could hope for fewer deaths, both of our warriors and the Deep Earth warriors.

We have managed to get a lot completed a lot and yet it always seemed there was more to do, before we knew what we were dealing with, whether it is body retrieval or fighting. Either choice will not be pleasant.

‘Hey Madison, have thought of putting some mics in the tunnels, or just outside the cave entrances. It might give us the edge and maybe hear something before it happens.’ I asked, as the thought had suddenly occurred to me.

‘Yes, I had some on the outside of the caves, before we set up the dart traps, but had not thought about the tunnels themselves. Do you think it might be a little late to do that now? The traps are all set.’ She looked in deep thought again, as I kept coming up with ideas to try and aid us.

‘We can send a few Blue River Warriors down with them, it won’t matter where we put them, how about we just throw them in the tunnel and hope for the best.’ I suggest, as I have no idea if we can go down the tunnels now. They are set for defence. Once the fighting is over, any tunnel not used in the war, we will have to have all the traps and darts removed before we can use them safely again. Cannot risk children running down them.

‘Can you ask Gerome to set up some mics for that purpose? I have some here in the bag, but he will need to set up links to them, maybe call them tunnel one, two, three, like that and the mark on the diorama for each tunnel is linked to the mic.’ I take the bag of mics from Madison surprised the Blue River warriors had come so prepared and I wondered how much was from dad’s instructions and how much was their own idea.

Taking the last few canisters from Madison and the mics, I headed to the diorama room and called two Blue River warriors to join me there.

‘Gerome.’ Hoping he is not too busy to talk to me.

‘Speak.’ Came his usual reply.

‘We are going to place some mics down the tunnels. Could you set some up: one, two, three etc. We will throw some down the tunnels, but need to know which ones are in which tunnel, and can we be linked to them so we don’t have to keep calling you when they go off?’ I asked hopefully.

‘Yep, I can do it. What I can also do, is have the mic say the number before it starts sending transmissions. That should help you.’ Gerome was always innovative, and his suggestion sounded good.

The Blue River guys came to me and I gave them the mics as Gerome setup the numbering. The Blue River warriors were quick at understanding our intensions and offered to go further into the tunnel. Having set up the traps, they knew how to avoid setting them off and that meant getting the mics further into the tunnels. That was a good idea and supported them. As long as they were sure they could do it safely, then I was agreeable for them to go further into the tunnels and place them.

Things were starting to come into place, traps and mics were set, the men were about to arrive, and I was getting prepared to fight. I wanted Madison to stay in the diorama room and direct us from there, and we would see how well the Deep Earth warriors fought in confined areas. It is an art in itself. Fighting in the tunnels would even test our men, and I am glad dad was sending them. I was a little disappointed that Zakary and Alex would block the tunnels, but I understood their intension. If this pack could not contain Gladys and her men, then they were next and the whole Deep Earth people would all be at risk. By blocking everything, you have a chance to save the bulk of your people. I don’t necessarily agree with how they do things, but would not challenge or judge them for their ways.

A cheer was heard and I rushed out to replace our men were arriving.

They found Madison and I and gave their report.

‘Madison, Zane, we are reporting for duty, we have two thousand five hundred men arriving, we have darts, blow guns, here is your tablet and some other items the alpha thought you would like to have.’ The Blue River warrior may have included me in the greeting, but the bulk of the report went to Madison, she took the bag the man had offered her and she opened it, and squealed with delight, I guess Madison was pleased with what she was given, by the happy grin on her face.

I stood there, next to Madison and watched as more and more men came out of the tunnel and bowed to us, before heading to join the other Blue River men. Thumps on their backs and other strong greetings were given, and I was happy we had so many men arrive, and what pleased me even more, was not one was our own Royal warriors. Dad was still seething at the betrayal of the other men, and would not risk our men by sending us any that were suspected of betrayal and he had sent more than double of what we had requested.

Madison gave each a greeting of appreciation of coming to our aid and where she wanted each to go. The Blue River warriors were all team leaders and each would gain some men and organise them into their team and give them instructions that Madison had already planned out. Most would go to different tunnels and wait out the attack, others would go to one of four main caves, where the entrances were the weakest and would most likely be the first entry points and help reinforce the walls and doors, with the hope that none would enter. We were ready. We needed to wait and hope that we had done enough. That was one of the hardest parts of war, the waiting and not knowing where the enemy was. Madison had said she had set some mics outside the cave entrances, so hopefully we will get some notice before the start of the attack. I am also worried. They will start the attack with explosives. The cave and tunnels do not go well with explosives and I hope Zeek will tell them it was not a good idea, as the tunnels could collapse under the explosive force, and they would be digging a lot longer to get in, if they did that. But that would also trigger other issues, and I am not sure how well Peggy had the internal walls fortified. Could they cope with a large blast? Again we wait and see.