Premonitions of war

"That most certainly was stupid."

"Yes, you wouldn't let something like this happen normally."

"But what's so bad about helping that girl? We shouldn't have had any problems with that, right?"

"Idiot. Of course not if it is only for a few days, but what then?"

"What do you mean?"

"That's why you are an idiot! That girl was incapable of taking care of herself and it would have taken a long time until she would be able to. If we help once, it wouldn't make much of a difference if we help a second time. And then a third, fourth and fifth time.

It's no big problem to help once or twice, but you know how stubborn she can be. She would use the first and second time as a precedent and we would be stuck helping every time."

"I see..."

Alex had come back some time ago together with Gardos and explained to the other four boys what had happened between him and Alice earlier.

At that point in time, Gale had already come back after he wasn't able to find Alice again who had just gone of in a random direction.

Back when it happened, the other boys had been sitting only a few meters away, but they still weren't able to understand what happened. It was no wonder, whenever they were inside the hideout they would lower their voice. They didn't want anyone in the neighboring houses to get alarmed after all.

"But still, shouldn't someone go and talk to her? She is still one of us after all!", Eric asked with a worried tone in his voice. Back then when Kyle had left their group, it had hit him the most and he didn't want something like that to repeat itself.

"Yeah, but how do you intend to find her, you idiot?"

He hadn't even been able to find her when she had only been gone for a few minutes at most, so he wondered how that idiot brother of his intended to find her now that several hours had passed already. She might not even be in their territory anymore.

"The bear's territory.", Jayden commented, rolling his eyes. He

had thought that at least Gale would be able to think of this, but it seemed like he had overestimated him a little.

"Right! Risa lives there! But we don't know where exactly she lives... And the bear's work with the orphanage, so she is probably going to ask them for help.", Gale realized his mistake, embarrassed that this possibility hadn't occurred to him. The last week must have tired out his mind.

"But we still don't know where exactly she is, so makes it only more complicated to find her if she is not in our territory anymore.", he continued. After all, even if they knew that she was in the bear's territory and they had a good relationship with them, they couldn't just start searching their territory.

"Yes, that's why I want to ask Forster to look for her tomorrow. Can you do that?", Alex said. He was the last of the first generation of the guardians, so he was well respected even in the other groups around them. He was also the one who knew the most about the surrounding territories and had the skills to find Alice as long as she wasn't intentionally hiding.

The boy nodded.

It's no problem, but why not now?

"It's still too early, Alice probably needs some time for herself. I don't think it would be a good idea to have someone go to her right now.", he explained. He feared that she would get even more stubborn when one of them came to her now that she was still riled up.

Forster gave another nod.

He would look for her tomorrow first before he would do anything else.

"But that is not the only problem right now.", Alex told them. After the last week, there would definitely be some changes. It had been very chaotic and they were actually very lucky that they had come out of this without any big damages, although it was also thanks to the preparations they had made.

"Right, those soldiers that conducted the raid. They weren't normal city guards. They were thoroughly trained warriors with at least a mantra or two. Not at all like those lazy guys that were at best in a brawl or two. Does anyone of you guys know why they were here?", Gale asked. If they hadn't prepared several smaller hideouts all over their territory with small stocks of water and food, they would have definitely caught him before he would have reached this place.

"I overheard some of them talking. They were raiding some criminal organizations and the city lord asked them to take care of us while they were at it. But I don't think that's what Alex meant. Right?", Jayden explained. Those soldiers would be gone in a few days at the latest, so they weren't a real problem anymore. The real problem was the chaos they left behind.

"Right, that wasn't what I meant although its good to know. Turtle's, Free-Zone, Slum Rat's and Bears'. All the territories on the outside of the city should have lost a lot of people that got either caught when they surprised them or when they searched for food and water later on.

Though the bears are probably not so bad off since they work together with the orphanage and probably some other adults as well, the other territories probably lost almost half their people. This completely disrupts the power balance.

Now that the surrounding territories are weaker, the wolves will probably get even more aggressive than they originally were already."

"But that shouldn't be much of a problem, right? The only ones that got weakened like that who the wolves can directly attack are the turtles and the free-zone after all.", Eric wondered. He didn't think that they would dare to attack the turtles and they could attack the free-zone whenever they wanted from the start.

"That's true, but also not completely right.", Alex started explaining: "Even if the foxes and cats didn't lose as many people, they will still need two or three days to properly reorganize themselves. During that time, they will be vulnerable. And if the Wolves are fast enough, they can make use of that time window to attack them while they aren't prepared."

The chances of that happening are very high, Alex thought. The wolves had already been attacking the foxes previously. If they aren't completely stupid, they are going to make use of this situation.

Before Alex could voice out his biggest worry about the situation, Gardos beat him to it.

"Wait, doesn't that mean that they might start another war!?"

He hadn't been there when it happened the last time that the different territories went to war, so like the others he looked to the only person who had experienced that time.

With a grim expression, Forster gave them a nod.

That risk clearly existed, and that was certainly not something good.

"Hmmm... But I don't think they will start seriously before spring.", Gayle tried to calm the others down a little.

"Heh? Why would they not?", Eric asked confused.

"We have to start preparing for winter you idiot. Most of them will be busy with that, but they will probably set aside some people to obstruct the foxes in their preparation. If they cant sufficiently prepare themselves, they will get weakened severely during winter and become an easy target when spring comes.", Gale continued explaining.

"Yes, but we will see in a few days how severe the situation really is. I think we should call for a meeting. The others should have realized this as well, and it's going to get dangerous for everyone if we don't work together."

Forster gave Alex a nod.

That is definitely the best plan.

"Hmmm... The only question is when. I think its best to wait for three days, if no one does so before that, we will organize the meeting then!"

Now he was completely sure. It was just as Gardos had said, they would meet Alice again sooner or later. As one of the strongest fighters in the northern territories, there was no way that she wouldn't get involved. And at that time, he had to have a talk with her and clear everything up. He didn't want to leave things on such bad terms.