Chapter 23 - Suspicions confirmed.

Dave - 

"Yeah, He has a witch, but he and the witch aren't there at the moment, they left to do some recon or something, I don't know, she didn't really seem to know all that much," Mark brushed some gravel from his trouser legs as he spoke.

"Who's 'she'?" I ask, completely baffled by how he had come by the information he has just laid on me.

"Maddie, from what I could gather it was all she knew, anyway, didn't look much like the polished princess anymore though," Mark looked to the side as though consideringly before turning back, "But she didn't recognise me either, and she didn't know I was Mated to Brian. She wanted me," A shudder ripped through Mark at that and I had to contain a chuckle at his reaction to her advances. "Managed to convince her I was interested, got her alone, got some information from her by answering her questions wrong, then when I saw the opportunity I bolted, not sure what this guy was doing, thought he was following me, but he must have known a short cut and tried to cut me off?" 

"Wow, remind me not to underestimate you, you sure you wanna stay in Rival River? I could use a guy like you back in Twin Lakes," I was only half serious, I knew he wouldn't leave Brian but I wasn't joking, I did need guys like him.

"Thanks, but I'm not leaving Br…" I held up a hand before he could even finish his sentence.

"I know, I know, I was joking, well kinda anyway, I really do need guys like you, but I wouldn't ever do that to you and Brian, or to Jack." I reassure him.

Mark nods his head then goes on to tell me all about what happened, as well as providing details of the camp where the others are currently being held. It crosses my mind to question how he is the only one who managed to escape, but before I can voice my query he explains. He had known from the moment they started approaching the camp that they would all be captured. Mark and the others had been prepared to fight to the death, but it had been Brian's decision to surrender, not wanting to risk the others I suppose. Mark then tells me that it had taken two blows to the head to knock out Brian and that he had faked being unconscious in the hopes of knowing the path taken to get to the camp. Mark having figured that they would cover their tracks and wanting to be sure that someone knew the way there and back. Apparently he and Brian had been placed in a cage together and had been silently trying to come up with a plan to save them all when Maddie had come and chosen someone to question. The fact that Maddie had selected him for questioning had been an added bonus that they had not foreseen but that Brian and the others, though caged, were mostly unharmed, though for how much longer we couldn't begin to guess. Thankfully, although she was the Delta and aspired to be the Luna of the pack, she had not recognised Mark as a twin laker and had simply chosen him because she found him attractive. Mark gave an exaggerated shudder when he told me this, which caused me to suppress the laughter I felt fighting to escape, at his discomfort. 

I call Jason to fill him in, letting him know that we have Mark and we know the who, what, why and where of the situation, I ask him to let Jack know what is going on and to tell him that we are going to go and rescue the others, then we all sit around the destroyed camp and devise a plan that should work even with just the 5 of us. We don't want to waste time going back for others, who knows what Maddie will do with the others now that Mark has escaped, and we don't know when Ace will return. We need to get them out as quickly as possible. Jason agrees that he will await word from us, though I am sure once Jack hears what is happening he will be sending men of his own to try to track and assist us.

Mark tries to explain the route taken by the guards when they were taking everyone back to the camp, but the more he talks, the less sense he seems to make, until finally I stop him.

"Mark, you are not making sense, I think it is part of the magic the witch used to protect the area, they can't be found if those who escape can't describe their journey. We need to find those talismans, according to my source there will be plenty of them dotted about, but they will not look like anything special, this is so they are not easily found and removed. To undo their power we simply need to disrupt enough of them." I don't intend to divulge the name of my source to anyone, it is one thing Daisy and I agreed on, we need to ensure we don't endanger anyone else, so the less people who know Carly is a witch, the better if you ask me.

With the talismans in mind we head towards the mountain, leaving little bread crumbs, in the shape of folded leaves, along the way to help Jack and the others, who are sure to follow us should they arrive before we can get away.

We keep our eyes open for anything that could be a talisman, Daisy told me that according to Luna Carly they would be small and hidden in plain sight, easily overlooked. So we made sure to touch and move everything in sight that doesn't seem to fit quite right, from perfectly smooth rocks, to too perfect looking leaves to branches that didn't seem to come from the trees around us. 

Finally we found one, it was a small perfectly round pebble which seemed completely innocuous but when Mark turned it over in its place it gave him a static shock and the underside had an engraving on it. The engraving was that of a small door, basic in design, almost caveman like in style but nonetheless it was manmade which made it a possible candidate. Mark showed it to the others and we continued to hunt for any others. Turns out, they made a handy little path right to the entrance Mark says they were all thrown down on their way in before.

Without too much thought to what awaits us on the other side, we all jump down one by one into the dark cavern beneath us, then make our way through the remaining caves following Mark who knows where he is going now.