It was so much harder to put a scheme into place when you're used to working in a trio but have to go solo. It's even harder when you can't let anyone know what you're doing, or that you're doing anything at all. Luckily, Gwenna was fairly distracted with Ada, still firmly in the honeymoon phase of matehood where they've just marked the other and now can't bare to be apart, and Nate was still alternating between moping and searching the nearby camps for his mate, so neither of them were paying too much attention to me.
I had been keeping secrets from my da for years now, so one more wasn't too tough, but I still had to act quickly. After all, every day I waited, Nate and his tapper friends got a little closer to breaking in the alpha's mind, and given I didn't know what would happen to me when they succeeded, it was best I get him out before then.
The first step was to get my hands on some sedatives that I could slip into his guard's food or drink, though I couldn't be the one to deliver it. I also couldn't just bribe the camp doctor, because her silence wouldn't hold if she thought I had broken out our most valuable prisoner. So, I needed to sneak into her office and steal some sedatives, that she kept in a locked box, without leaving any scent behind.
I could wear someone else's clothes and hope that that would mask me enough, but the only one's I had access to were those of my family, and if they got blamed it would lead back to me. I knew that the packlings had developed a spray thing that would mask any scent that their patrols were starting to use so we couldn't scent where they were, but getting my hands on it would be tricky.
I helped arrange a raid at the Crescent Sun pack, knowing that their barracks lay near the edge of the territory. If I sent my raiding team elsewhere, they could draw the fighters away, leaving me free to deal with any left behind and get a bottle of the spray. I told Nate and Gwenna that I wanted to take a look at the recent weapons and technologies they were developing, and it was decided that Gwenna would go with the team to help guide them, and Nate insisted on coming with me for backup.
The day of the raid came, and I waited for Gwenna to tell me that they had crossed the border into the little village before myself and Nate began to creep towards the barracks. As soon as they started breaking in doors, waving knives around and stealing, the fighters would mostly be sent to see them off. I trusted that they were experienced enough to know when to run.
We were waiting downwind of the barracks, lying low in bushes that we could see the building's entrance from. Soon, they started streaming out, some still wearing their sleeping clothes. Nate closed his eyes, reaching out carefully with his mind so he could sense how many people were inside.
"Five left, and they don't seem to be going anywhere. Can we take them?" I snorted and nodded.
"Of course. You stay here and take a few out mentally, and I'll-"
"Like hell am I staying here! I'm coming in with you, so let's go." He decided, grabbing my arm and pulling my forward. Damnit. It would make it harder to smuggle out what I needed if he was right there, though I could use the help with the fighters. We crept closer, before bolting out of cover to the barrack doors, Nate right behind me as I opened them and rushed in. There was a fighter right in front, facing away, and I raced forward, grabbing him by the side of the head and slamming him hard enough into the wall to knock him clean out.
"Three to go." Nate muttered. I looked back at him and he tapped the side of his head with a smirk.
"Should we split up-" I cut myself off when I saw the look on his face.
"Why the hell do you want to get away from me so badly today? Have I done something- DOWN!" He yelled, launching himself forward as I dropped to the ground, letting him sail over my head. Instantly, I spun and popped back up, flicking my knife out as Nathan grappled with the fighter. I ducked out of the way as the two of them staggered back, the fighter not even looking at me. I didn't know if it was because I was a girl, and therefore obviously not a threat, or because no decent person would interrupt a one on one fight, and I didn't care. I stepped up behind him and stabbed him through the gap in his ribs, pulling it back out and wiping it clean on his shoulder as he crumpled.
"Two more on their way." He warned me, and the two of us went to flank the door. Now, if they were smart, they'd chuck a can of tear gas in here and let that clear us out, but if they were stupid-
They barged right in, not seeing us for a second too long. In sync, we stepped forward, though we took them down in very different ways. I leapt on mine, wrapping my legs around his waist and wrapping my arm around his throat, pulling it tight and choking him out. It took a few minutes for him to finally be felled, during that time he landed a few blows on me and rammed me into a wall, but I liked the sense of satisfaction when they finally succumbed. Nate had finished his off quickly, putting his hands either side of the fighter's head and then just battering his mind with his own, I presume. So now he was in a pile on the floor, blood pouring from his nose and ears.
"Hope that's not permanent." I commented lightly as I turned and walked off into the barracks at a fast clip, checking each door on one side of the corridor while Nate did the other side.
"Right, so we're looking for the lab, right?"
"And the storage cupboard. I reckon we try and look through both, yeah?" Nate nodded as I came to a locked door. Quickly, I took a knee, pulling out my lockpicking tools and slotting them in. I hadn't seen many movies, but in the ones I had watched, lockpicking always looked so quick and fun. In real life, not so much. It was slow and painstaking and frustrating, and even though I had had a lot of experience, it still took me around five minutes before I finally managed to get it open.
"I'm working on this one. Yell if anything happens." Nathan told me from where he was crouched by a door at the end of the hallway.
"Same for you." I said, shoving the door open and sighing with relief at the storage cupboard before me. I began to rifle through the shelves as quickly as I could, not caring what I knocked over or broke in my haste to find the scent cancelling spray. Finally, I found a small vial of it, clear and oily, and shoved it into my pocket just as Nate came in, a polaroid camera in hand.
"I've taken a bunch of pictures of the plans in the lab to show da, you found anything?" I shook my head.
"Nothing that's worth snatching. Gwenna just mind linked me, the guards have run me off, so lets go." I lied, hurrying him out of the barracks. I needed to be clear of this place before the fighters came back, because I couldn't shift and keep hold of the spray, so I sprinted for the trees with my brother close behind me.
"Why aren't you shifting?" He asked me, after pausing for a second to prepare before noticing I wasn't doing the same. I looked back with a shrug.
"We don't need to, and it's been a while since we had a foot race." He looked a little confused, but his eyes lit up when I mentioned the race, and the next heartbeat he had taken off at a dead sprint.
"Try and keep up, Nattie!" He whooped, and I took off after him. Gwenna told me that they had just crossed the boundary of the territory, and I told her not to let the team wait, to start making their way back to camp.
And then I heard a howl nearby, triumphant as they picked up on mine and Nathan's scent. On instinct, he shifted, switching to four legs so he could keep ahead, but I clung to the bottle in my pocket and resisted the urge.
Natalia, what the hell are you doing? Shift! He yelled down the link, but I still didn't. I couldn't.
I have a plan, just split up and get yourself clear! I ordered him, letting my wolf lean on him so he'd do as he was told. I could feel his reluctance, but he did veer off to the left while I continued to go straight. I kept going, making a quick scent smudge before realising they were too close behind me for me to make one that was really worthwhile, so I just kept running. Soon, they were close behind me, but I had a plan. There was a quarry up ahead, with a pool at the bottom that I could tombstone into and crawl out the other side, having crossed out of the territory. Hopefully that would be enough to shake them off my tail.
The trees began to clear as I glanced over my shoulder and saw snatches of fur through the trunks and put on another burst of speed to carry me over the edge. I leapt, and for a beautiful moment I felt weightless before I began to plummet the thirty feet down to the grey, polluted water below, snapping my legs together and crossing my arms over my chest.
I sucked in a deep breath in the seconds before I hit the water.
I cut through it easily, plummeting to the bottom, and realised my mistake. The weather had been hot lately, and the pool wasn't as deep as it would be during spring or autumn- which I only realised when I hit my foot against the bottom and felt something snap.
The pain that shot through me was enough to knock the air from my chest, and for a moment I completely forgot how to swim. Finally, I kicked upwards, managing to break the surface and gulp down air. I looked up, shoving wet, dark hair out of my eyes to see the wolves on the cliff above as I struck out for the shore with strong strokes, crawling onto land and keeping my injured foot away from the ground. Glancing back up, I saw a few of them break away, no doubt to make their way around the gash in the earth to the entrance so they could back me up against the wall.
If I hadn't broken something in my foot, then I would have made a run for it and been fairly confident I could make it into Eastburn to shake them off, but that wasn't the reality I got to occupy. Damnit. I really needed the scent blocker, but I guess I could carry it in my mouth.
Unfortunately, I didn't think it through before I shifted. My coat fell to the ground as I turned into my fur, and I heard a distinct smash as the vial hit a rock. Frustration burned through me and I snarled out my frustration before shaking my coat and taking off on three legs.
Well this hadn't gone to plan at all. I'd have to find another way.