*Jared*
I led my scouting team straight to the capital. The reports we’d been getting about a rogue army and all the destruction were entirely disturbing.
Not only that, but the refugee numbers were growing. All the smaller packs in the area couldn’t sustain the entire population from the capital. There were too many people.
We set up camp a couple of days outside my village.
“I’m not liking how the skies look,” Archer reported to when we t up by the campfire.
“We can’t stop, not with everything we’ve heard about the rogue army.”
“I know. But it might slow us down.”
“We can worry about that tomorrow,” I told him.
“Goodnight, then.”
I tossed and turned all night, thinking of Eliza and how she was handling the rogues all on her own. She was so strong and tenacious, always wanting to help others. If it hadn’t been for her, I would have given up a long ti ago.
The refugees didn’t know how lucky they were to have her on their side.
BOOM!
I bolted up in my bedroll. The sky outside my tent flickered with blue light.
Rain pelted down on my tent.
My heart leaped into my throat and I could still feel the ground rumbling from the lightning strike.
I threw on my boots and a rain jacket and I stepped outside. We were right in the middle of a furious thunderstorm.
Wind whipped around, ripping tent stakes right out of the ground. The sky flickered with lightning and thunder rumbled all around.
This was definitely going to slow us down....
My scouts ran out of their tents, soaked through to the bone in seconds.
“Jared, what do you want us to do?” Archer shouted to over the pelting rain.
“Take the camp down before the tents are destroyed. Get to the tree line. It will help block the wind and rain.”
I pointed to the trees.
Archer nodded and relayed my orders to the others. I pulled my own tent down and helped them.
When the camp was packed up, we raced to the tree line and took cover. Sighing, I plopped down at the base of a tree. All we could do was wait out the storm.
It took until late afternoon the next day before it even started to lessen. Slowly, the rain cleared and the clouds parted just in ti for us to see the sun setting.
This wasn’t good. We’d lost a whole day of travel.
Before we could leave, we needed to evaluate our supplies.
I had my n lay their tents out and check for damages. We went over our rations and all our other supplies.
“Nothing was severely damaged. A few tent patches will fix the worst of it, and we didn’t lose any food or rations.”
“Good, get everything dried and packed up. I want to be on the move as soon as possible.”
We weren’t able to leave until the next morning. After all our supplies was dried out, it was so late that my n needed rest.
As hard as we tried, we couldn’t make up the ti we lost.
The roads had been damaged and washed out by the storm. For days, we hiked around the damage and slogged through mud. It was the slowest I’d ever moved. Every two days we traveled what we should have been doing in one day.
Finally, we reached roads that hadn’t been damaged by the storm. I sighed in relief.
“Alright, we’ll make camp here tonight. It should be smooth sailing from here on out.”
“I’ll doublecheck the maps and see if there is anything else we should be aware of on this route. I’ll also mark any alternative routes in case we encounter more washed-out roads.”
“Thank you, Archer.”
I went to sleep that night, relieved that we’d finally be making progress when we got moving tomorrow.
“AWOOOOO!”
My eyes snapped open. I’d barely fallen asleep before getting woken up again.
“What now?” I grumbled.
I ran outside to see rogue wolves closing in on our camp.
“Archer!” I shouted.
“On it!”
He shifted and ran to et the rogues. I tossed my shirt and pants aside and shifted, running right into the fight.
The rogues outnumbered us.
Archer and I held them off as best we could, but several of them got into the camp.
I turned and chased after one of them. He snarled over his shoulder at and kept running.
I gained on him and pounced, pinning him down. I slamd my front paws into his chest, knocking the wind out of him.
He whimpered and wheezed, unable to get up.
I left the rogue there and went back to the camp. The other rogues were gone.
Archer was already back in human form. He handed a pair of pants. I shifted back and threw on my pants.
“What happened?”
“They just... left.” Archer shrugged.
“Left?”
“Yeah. They ran in, destroyed the camp, and took off.”
I sighed and rubbed my temples as I looked around the camp. Tents were shredded, and so were a bunch of our supplies.
“We need to clean this up.”
Why was this happening? We should have been at the capital days ago....
We lost another day of travel inventorying our supplies and repairing what we could. A lot of our rations were destroyed, which ant we’d be slowed down even more. We’d have to hunt for our food and that would make each stop even longer.
At this rate, it would take us weeks to get to the capital....
***
Finally, we made it to the capital. If I thought that would sohow ease the insanity of our journey there, I was severely mistaken.
Even before we set foot inside, I could hear screams and wails. They were accompanied by howls and snarls.
“That sounds bad,” Archer muttered.
I nodded. “Here’s what we’re going to do. I’m splitting us into three groups. I want everyone to sweep the streets, one by one. If you find refugees, round them up and get them out. Avoid the rogues as much as possible but take out anyone who gets in your way.”
My scouts nodded and I split them into groups.
“Archer, you’re with . Group one, take the east side, group two the west. Group three, I want you on the south side. Archer and I will go to the north.”
He nodded and fell into step behind .
We snuck into the city. I wasn’t sure what I was expecting, but when we got in, I paused.
The streets were littered with debris and rubble. Stores and hos had been looted, their windows broken and things tossed around in the streets–furniture, clothes, food, whatever could be looted from hos and stores.
“Oh, the stench....” Archer covered his nose with his sleeve.
I wrinkled my nose and nodded.
The entire city slled of rotting food and the stale, rancid scent of death. The capital had taken a huge blow from the rogue army. This kind of damage would take years to repair.
“We need to get to the palace,” I whispered to Archer.
“This is worse than we thought, Jared.”
“I know, but we can’t turn back. Stay low and we will work our way to the palace.”
Archer nodded. We moved from rubble pile to rubble pile, keeping out of sight as we navigated the destroyed city.
Entire buildings had been destroyed by the army. So of them had been burned down. Others looked like they’d been dismantled from the inside out, like a bunch of rogue wolves ran through them until they just collapsed.
Bodies covered the streets. Most of them had dried, crusty blood on them and showed signs of decomposition for at least two days.
“Wait!” I held my fist up to stop Archer.
He froze behind .
“Do you hear that?” I strained my ears. It sounded like heavy breathing and small whimpers.
“If there are survivors, we need to help them,” Archer said.
“Absolutely. This way.”
We followed the sounds to a nearby alley. There was a group of survivors huddled together. They whimpered when they saw us and tried to hush each other.
“Shh, it’s okay,” I said, holding my hands up. I crouched down, speaking in a soft tone. “We’re not going to hurt you.”
“Wh-what do you want?” one of the survivors said.
“We’re here to help. We have a rescue team here that can get you out of the city.”
“Where will we go?” One woman spoke up, lifting her head from the huddle.
She was young, no older than , and she clutched a newborn child to her breast.
My heart lted and went out to her. I imdiately thought of Eliza and our unborn child. I couldn’t let anything happen to this woman or her baby.
Getting them out of the city wasn’t enough. I needed to ensure that they were absolutely safe.
“Follow us. Stay quiet and low to the ground. We’re going to et up with my other team mbers.”
The survivors didn’t argue. They obeyed without question. I imagined that after weeks of uncertainty, the promise of help was a blessing.
We t up with the other scouts in the middle of the city.
Each of my teams had other survivors they’d collected along the way. I addressed my scouting team.
“I want you to bring these survivors back to Midnight Sun. Make sure they get there safely, no matter what.”
“We will.”
“Archer and I will stay here and assess the situation around the palace. Report back to Eliza and the village what has happened here.”
They agreed, collected the survivors and got moving. I chose two others to stay with Archer and .
I knew the entire scouting party wouldn’t be enough to take on the rogue army that had dismantled the capital. It was better to give the survivors more protection.
When I was certain the survivors were out of the city, we resud our approach to the palace. It was quiet in the streets, and that made very uneasy.
Sweat trickled down the back of my neck as we moved to the palace.
So far, there was no sign of Aries or Hestia, but that didn’t an they weren’t here.
What bothered most was that no one was patrolling the streets. Why weren’t there rogues sniffing our survivors and looking for intruders?
It made no sense.
A strong, pungent scent perated the air and I wrinkled my nose. It wasn’t the scent of death this ti. It was the scent of hundreds of shifters all piled together.
I frowned, my stomach shifting uncomfortably.
When we got around the corner and saw that palace, my heart sank.
The entire palace was surrounded by the rogue army. They were ravenous, clawing at the fence, howling and hooting. So were in human form, banging at the gates.
I swallowed hard and glanced at Archer. He was thinking the sa thing I was.
This was going to be impossible....
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