The Wolf and His Queen

Chapter 9: Time to Move Forward

Gabriel's POV:

After everything that we did to prepare for this event, I could not believe that the floodgate actually ruptured. It was very old and it had many leaks in the past, which I have always managed to get fixed in time all before any damage could be done. However, when this issue occurred, there was nothing that was going to stop it from happening, especially like the issue we just had. I was still trying to believe that it actually happened. If it had done that on any other night, that would have been fine with me, but the issue just had to arise and I did it tonight of all nights.

I could not have been more pleased with one fact out of all of this. That is one fact that I felt lucky enough as I was able to get to my Commander just in time and inform him of the issue before it broke completely. Once it did finally break, it sent a massive amount of water in an unstoppable wave. This rush of water went down and through all of the tunnels and pathways so that there was nothing that any one of us could do to even attempt at putting a stop to it. Nothing stood in its way and pushed everything to the side and it did not matter how heavy the item was, it was going to get moved due to the sheer force of all that water being held back for so long.

After the water had subsided enough for me to be able to move around some, I tried to regain my bearings and find the rest of our pack. I had no doubt that we were all scattered throughout these different paths and tunnels. There were way too many tunnels down here for us to know where they all led, so we just stuck to what we knew. However, in that, I knew what we had done earlier in the day and we needed to make sure that the plans that we had set forth into motion were not going to be compromised or hindered by any means. This incident was a bit of a setback but we needed to salvage what we could and move forward with our original plans. We needed to make sure that what we came out here to do was completed before we did anything else.

It took me a minute to recognize my surroundings as all the lights were out in my immediate area. After I realized where I was located, I then began to search for the Commander. I started to push tables and chairs out of my way as some were still floating in the standing water that was left behind by the unwanted flood. That was when I finally found a lantern that was untouched by the rushing water, as it had been hanging from a ceiling post. It was a good thing that the flint was still dry as it was hanging from up high on that rafter. Otherwise, I would not be able to light it and see the evidence that has been left behind. However, due to the massive amount of wind that blew through due to the rushing water, it was blown out.

I managed to find something to light it with and turned it up to the highest setting it would allow. I then began to look around and survey the damage to the various support structures that hold up the wall supports in the room in which I was standing. I noticed that some of the water was still pouring in from the floodgate. I happened to find pieces of that gate, as it was absolutely destroyed once it broke free from the brackets supporting it completely on the wall. I knew what the power and force of the water could do, but to be able to see this with my own eyes was a whole different story entirely.

I thought back to everything that I knew about the place that we chose to hide in for the time being. I knew that the tunnels we were hiding in used to be an old mine of some kind. They were not used to being able to support the massive wall of water we used to seal half of the tunnels with. Once the water broke free from the floodgate we used to seal off part of the various shafts, there was no telling how far our pack was scattered. I took a deep breath and sent out a loud howl that I am sure would have been heard throughout the entire underground tunnels. After that, the rest of the pack members knew roughly where to find me, and, after that, I saw several of them starting to make their way into the large cavern in which I was standing.

The next thing I noticed was that a few of the men were carrying the Commander. I rushed to the aid of the Commander as they were carrying him in his arms. They had his arms draped around their shoulders to help better hold him up. I motioned for another member of the pack to swiftly grab a chair and have it placed behind our Commander. Then the two who were helping to support him could now place him down on the chair so that I could better access him if he had any injuries. As I brought the light closer to the Commander, I noticed that he had an injury on the side of his head.

After we had him seated and I knew the extent of what injuries he had, I sent someone away to go and grab a dry cloth or anything they could find that might be dry. I needed this so that I could therefore place it on the wound on the side of his head. There was a cut that seemed to be a bit deep as this cut was located on his temple. I moved the hair that partly concealed his cut and that was when I noticed that it was decently bleeding at that point. Once the item was brought back, I grabbed it and immediately placed it on the bleeding wound. I noticed that many of the pack members had various scrapes and cuts from being thrashed around the tunnels as the water carried us in a variety of directions.

After pressure was held on the wound for a moment, I noticed that the Commander had finally started to stir a bit. I could tell that, as the pain of the pressure started to arouse him, allowing him to wake at that moment. It finally caused him to come around enough to the point that he became more conscious. While he was coming around, I made sure to stand there as I held onto the piece of dry cloth on his head wound until he started to groan as he came around more and more. Finally, he was able to open his eyes and he looked right up at me as he reached for what I held in my hand.

“What exactly happened?” he finally asked after gazing around the room in the dim light.

As he stated this, he tried to look around the area and see who was standing around him. A lot of our pack was out of breath as we just went for a swim for the sake of our own lives. Some men were still lost as some of the tunnels had weak spots, and there were open cavities in others that fell into the open darkness and you could not hear the bottom. No one could be for sure, as this place was older than the oldest of us. We just knew that this was a great place to keep hidden as it was off the beaten path and no one would think of searching for us here. We all counted on that as a matter of fact.

“The bracket that held the floodgate in place finally managed to give way just after I came to tell you that it was weak, my Commander," I said as the Commander started to stand up at that moment. "It was needing support wood to ensure that it did not break apart, however, we were too late in its needed repairs."

I noticed how he was trying not to show any weakness and wanted to get a good look at who was all joining in on this particular meeting, considering the light in the room was faint and he wanted to see each of their faces clearly. He continued to look around the room as he touched a few of the pack members on their shoulders to steady himself. I knew that he was doing this as he was trying to gather strength on his feet and ensure that he did not fall over due to the apparent head wound that was on the side of his head. He would heal soon enough but you could tell that the effects were still there.

“What about the girl?” He asked me as he stopped walking and immediately turned to face me.

However, this time, when he asked such a question, he did so with a deadly glare in his eyes. He then again went back and sat down in the chair that had been provided for him. I knew, to myself only I might add, that he was hurting for certain. I also knew that despite that facial reaction, he did not show any emotion to this effect, as he was The Commander after all, and did not want the pack to see him as weak. He was like this for my entire life and held himself to a very high and certain standard.

"The passageway to her cell was blocked," I mentioned.

He immediately glared at me and then I managed to continue speaking after swallowing a moment. I was still trying to catch my breath after the swim that I had just done. I was not sure how he was going to get the next bit of news that he needed to know but I was a bit reluctant to want to tell him. Either way, he needed to know the information that I had and he was yet to be aware of it as this was the entire reason that we were here in the first place.

"The water that rushed down these old tunnels caused a cave-in," I started out saying, then I continued before he had a chance to say anything. "No one was able to reach her or get to the room she was located in. A lot of it has been washed away or buried under tons of rock, mud, and dirt. No one has even been able to smell anything or heard any signs of struggle, my Commander."

"Good," he managed to say in somewhat of a relaxed tone.

I watched as his reactions relaxed just a bit and he finally sat back in his chair as he was leaning forward and sitting on the front edge of it when I first started speaking. He seemed to adjust his stature a bit more before he continued his statement. I was not sure what his next decision would be, but I wondered if he would have us continue to stay there so that we could discover the actual evidence that we would be having to dig for, and that would be the fact that we found a body that would now be buried under the tons of debris left from the rush of water through these tunnels.

"Now we need to fully assess the damage and find a way into that room to ensure that she is as we think she ought to be," he took a breath before he continued as he said his next statement. "I do not want any mistakes this time!"

Mistakes?! I thought a question to myself. Was he possibly referring to what happened to her parents? However, he surely could not mean that mistakes were made on that account. Or was he referring to something else entirely? I have to admit that he was a hard person to figure out what he meant and I knew him better than anyone else in this entire pack. All of a sudden, a look of shock came upon all of our faces, and some of the others had a bit of fear that came across theirs at that moment. All of a sudden, we all heard a faint howl coming from the nearby wood.

I knew what that meant. I was doing everything in my power to try everything to maintain my sense of control and attempt to keep cool at that time. We all looked around at each other for a moment with questionable expressions on our faces. Then all at once, we all looked at the Commander, who was still seated in the chair that was located in the middle of the room. A thought came to my mind at that moment. How could they have found us here so soon? Did we leave some unknown detail behind that led them to where we were located? Did we somehow leave a loose end behind? What is it that we miss having them know where we are? So many thoughts started to flood my mind at that moment and it took everything that I had to keep my mind calm and collected. I was certainly glad that the Commander spoke up at that moment. I was shocked by what he said next.

"It's time to leave," he said all at once as he stood and looked around.