Chapter 113: At The Border

The strife of the Gray Ash pack had been a long-standing issue when she had been Laura. The fall of their village had haunted Laura and spurred her into more aggressive action. Basil had agreed to the increase in taxes set forth by the ministry and refused to set aside money to send out an envoy with supplies when the crops were hit with a disease. Laura had forgone what remained of her budget to get a convoy together with supplies only to find there weren't enough crops to send due to the last-minute party Basil threw at the time.
When the updated census had reported that the entire village had died, she wept for days and started making plans for pack village requirements, including having food stores for the winter. She had fought with the minister of agriculture and general affairs about it and the national food stores, but the endeavor had never gone through as Laura had died before she could get them to sign it.
“What… happened to you?”
His eye blinked and he looked down for a moment. The others seemed uncomfortable but he pulled out a familiar-looking talisman and handed it to her. It was a military talisman from the werewolf kingdom. The man was a soldier. She turned it over to read his name and the unit he’d been assigned to.
“Noah… Jenkins,” she read and looked up at him. “Of the Fifty-First.”
He nodded and took the talisman back.
“You were… a part of one of Adolph’s platoons over the border…”
He nodded.
Her stomach turned. She felt sick. The man had been missing for years if she was right. He was old enough to be her father.
“The vampire queen likes to torture people for sport,” one of them said. “For information sometimes…”
Laurel shuddered. She could only imagine.
“Since he wouldn’t speak… she cut out his tongue.”
Laurel shook her head, “I… I don’t know what to say. G-Gray Ash…”
He placed a hand on her shoulder and met her gaze. There was pride and strength in his eye, though he couldn’t say much. Over his shoulder, he raised his hand. An older woman came, bearing a basket and a familiar mark on her neck.
“Honey?”
He nodded. She sighed and looked at her. She also wore the crest of the Gray Ash pack.
“Hi… Laurel, right?”
“Yes.”
“You’re quite young…” She tilted her head, her lips twitching. “You’re about as old as our niece would have been if she’d survived...”
The tears gushed down her cheeks as the woman sat and began to explain. They had taken their niece in from Noah’s family closer to the border after he and his brother had joined the army and their sister died in childbirth. The only parents the girl had ever known were Noah and his wife.
Noah and his brother were a part of the unit that had been ambushed with Adolph during the first trip over the border. Noah’s brother had managed to escape thanks to Noah stepping in the way. Years later, his brother had been killed in the line of duty during a push into the vampire’s lands.
Adolph had sent a military convoy to return both of their things in a timely fashion. It was the year of the crop failure and the harsh winter when Eden had been traveling through and took the survivors of the pack to Annwn. Among them was his wife. Their niece had died of sickness and starvation despite all attempts to keep her alive. They were reunited while he was still in a coma from being recovered from the queen’s castle.
“He will never forgive Adolph’s son for letting the pack die like that,” she said. “I don’t think he hates Adolph, but I can’t be sure how he feels about his old commander.”
Laurel nodded solemnly, thanking her for telling her the story. She wandered the hall, speaking to people, hoping that she might find someone who might just be here out of a need for money, yet with every story she’d heard, the least likely she felt it would be to find someone willing to leave.
Eden had found people who needed saving, safety, and the peace that he wanted for the human race and had given them a piece of it in the castle.
Annwn, he’d called it. The name nudged some piece of knowledge from her past life, but she didn’t think much more about it.
It was nearing dinner time when she found Eden again. Eden looked up from his place by the fire, sharpening his sword. An older man sat beside him, chatting about defensive measures. There was a map between them, crisply drawn and detailing more than just the vampire nation or the werewolf kingdom. There was a five-pointed star over the land to the west of the vampire kingdom that bordered another section of unclaimed territory which was separated by a great canyon from the werewolf kingdom.
"Eden...can I talk to you?"
He looked up at her and nodded. The man glanced between them, nodded, rolled up the map, and left. She lowered herself carefully beside him, parsing through her thoughts and her doubts before speaking.
"I… can't support your attempts to assassinate Adolph."
Eden hummed. It was non-committal, almost flippant as if he didn’t care about her feelings about it, but Laurel didn’t think that was true.
"Morrigan has to be stopped. You're right, there's only one way for us to have peace if she is truly as vindictive as I've heard."
"Likely more so," Eden said, checking the edge of his blade. "She's a real… piece of work."
Laurel nodded and looked out across the hall, “I… would have never thought vampires and werewolves could get along like this.”
“Common enemies make allies,” Eden said. “And a little compassion heals a lot of wounds.”
Laurel nodded and looked at him, "So how can I help?"
Eden stopped, sharpening his sword before looking at her. His lips smiled.
“Tell me how to get your husband to agree to storm the vampire queen’s castle with us.”

Adolph and his group reached the border nearly an hour later and stopped. He felt her getting farther and farther away. He growled in frustration. Her scent had become so faint that there was no hope to track her. They'd missed them by hours it seemed, more than he'd anticipated if the path through the caves was as complex as he thought it should have been. There was no way they could catch up to them.
"We're too far behind," Adolph cursed, staring into the distance.
His heart urged him forward, but he held back. He couldn't endanger his men by carelessly charging over the border. It could be another trap. They needed more men.
“We need to go to the nearest camp and get reinforcements,” Adolph said. “We’re making a full campaign into the vampire lands.”
He turned to Chasel who nodded, “Two scouts go forward and try to find a path to follow. Be careful and keep your presence.”
Adolph turned his horse as Sam and Lynn took control of two other horses. The two who were being sent as scouts, headed across the border as they rode towards the border camp.
They rode for an hour before they reached the camp. Adolph dismounted and marched towards the head tent. The general was startled.
“Your Majesty!” The man greeted. “We got word from the capital that there had been an attack.”
“A vampire-related insurgent group took Laurel off the streets in the middle of the attack. She’s alive, but we have a very small lead on where they’ve taken her.”
The general looked ill. His gaze darted over him before he nodded.
“The scouts have been keeping track of a large force being created nearby, just inside the border. We don’t know where exactly they are or what the plan is, but their scouts don’t seem to be looking at us.”
Adolph narrowed his gaze, “What does that mean?”
Adolph approached the desk as the general gestured towards the map on the table.
“Here is where we’ve been noticing activity,” he said, pointing to the figures set on a section of the map. “We estimate several thousand, but we have no idea about their strengths, weakness, or equipment.”
There were several lines drawn on the map leading away from the area and a few other clusters of figures.
“These are the most prominent paths. We think their ultimate goal is somewhere north.”
Adolph frowned at the map, skimming over the paths. They had several locations marked with clusters of figures denoting large groups of people. From the placement, they could be cities, villages, or anything else. He eyed the paths between them and those that led beyond the mapped boundary.
“What do we know about these regions?”
The general shook his head, “Rivers, rocks, and more dead trees so far. We haven’t found much more than a few human villages. Those are marked.”
Adolph nodded and pointed. “I’ve sent scouts ahead on the trail we were following. Get me a hundred good men to come with me to follow the trail over the border. Prepare the camp to be back up when we call.”
“Just a hundred?” He asked. “Shouldn’t there be more?”
“I need a small force to maneuver well in those canyons. We can’t risk bottlenecking in a tight passage.”
The general nodded, “I understand. I’ll get them ready within the hour.”