Chapter 534: A Path Carved in Desperation

One Month Before

Tobias nodded slowly at first. But then he paused and his eyes widened.

"Wait," he said. "Did I hear you correctly?"

"Except you have a hearing ailment, then yes, you heard me correctly," Annabeth said to him.

Tobias chuckled at that, but the sound was without humour.

"Is something the matter?" Nathan asked him.

Tobias leaned forward, rubbing his forehead with one hand. "Something may very well be the matter," he said. "I need to know something."

He looked between the two of them.

"What exactly is going through your heads?"

Annabeth’s eyes narrowed at that, but before she could respond, Tobias raised a hand.

"Don’t get me wrong."

He pointed lightly toward her.

"I know for a fact my pack would accept you. We don’t forget debts, but we also consider you all family, but that isn’t the problem," he said.

Nathan folded his arms. "Then what is the problem?" he asked.

"The North isn’t just some open road you can casually walk through. Nirvana is dangerous, and that’s coming from someone who is familiar with the terrain. There are beasts at almost every angle, and one wrong path, one wrong misstep, and you could end up in places you didn’t plan to. And you are talking about moving an entire pack, with carriages and boxes... basically uprooting their lives... your lives to start somewhere else. How do you guys even think that you can move all that through the West? How do you think you can even get past the West?" he asked.

"And mind you, from what I know, this full territory is being heavily watched by Victoria and her army. I’m very certain you guys wouldn’t be able to make it past the pack situated just at the entrance," Tobias told them.

"The thing is," Annabeth said. "We don’t plan to pass through the border. There is another way out of the West. But it has to do with climbing down a hill and using a narrow road. It’s dangerous too, but it’s quicker."

Nathan nodded. "It’s an old path that not many people know of, and it’s been abandoned for years too. I doubt anyone has used it, but that’s what we plan on using."

Tobias rubbed his face slowly with both hands.

"You want to move an entire pack down cliffs?"

Annabeth nodded.

"Yes."

"You do realize just how dangerous that is, don’t you? Moving down a cliff... one misstep and people will die," Tobias told her, his voice filled with disbelief.

Annabeth shrugged faintly.

"And it is still better odds than staying here."

"This isn’t a foolproof plan, is it?" Tobias asked her.

Annabeth shook her head.

"No," she said honestly. "Honestly, I’m scared. Everyone is scared. Even the strongest warriors are scared, but it is still better odds than staying here. I’d rather die falling down a cliff than being killed by starvation, whatever black magic is ruling the lands, or by Victoria and her stupid warriors."

Nathan nodded beside her.

"Every pack in the West has already submitted to her."

Her voice had grown colder as she spoke.

"They kneel before her. They offer money, food, and everything they have to her and even her warriors. And the ones who stood up against her disappeared. Either they got infected by the plague or they were killed. And now smaller packs do nothing but submit for the sake of living, even if living here is no better than being a beggar. Packs now sell their young ones for food. Farms are being ruled by Victoria and her warriors and those she considers to be part of her... I... we can’t continue to live here, Tobias."

"It’s either we die from starvation, or from the plague, or from Victoria herself. And mind you, indirectly we are still being killed by Victoria herself, but rather than that, it’s better we leave," Nathan added.

"And everyone in the pack agrees with this?" Tobias asked them.

"We’ve had meetings, Tobias," Nathan told him. "Food is scarce now. The little we get from farms is being taken, and mind you the West was once a fertile land, but now it’s corrupt. The land is infertile. No good crop is gotten when we plant."

"There is nothing left for us. If we stay, we die, hence why we must leave if we want to survive," Annabeth added.

The room went silent after that. Tobias sighed slowly.

He ran a hand through his hair. Then he leaned back in the chair and stared at the ceiling beams.

"I don’t hate the idea," he said. "Honestly, it’s a good one, but it’s one thing to plan and it’s another to execute. And apart from that, the real question now is how we are going to do this right under Victoria’s watch. And also, how to rescue Benny and the others she took."

"You said Victoria has taken an interest in you," Nathan told him.

"That is true, but that also means she is watching me, and quite intensely at that. And I can’t go back alone and with nothing, especially given the fact that all the warriors I came with are dead. That will arouse suspicion from her," Tobias told them.

Nathan was quiet as he pondered Tobias’s words. Annabeth too was quiet for a while and then she spoke up.

"What exactly did Victoria ask you to do?" she asked him.

"To get the alpha of the pack and also the people too. So basically to get all of you," he told her.

"How about you go with me?" Annabeth asked him.

Nathan turned sharply. "Are you okay?"

"I am," she said with a nod. "I think it’s a rather good idea if he goes with me. I’m the alpha currently, and she sent Tobias to get me, and also if I’m taken perhaps we can find where Benny and the others are kept."

"You are the alpha."

"I am not a true alpha. I don’t even have what it takes. I’m just stepping in for Benny. Benny is the alpha and not me!" Annabeth said.