IT STARTED WITH RIVER'S PLAN

25 FEBRUARY, THURSDAY, NIGHT

Not that I was counting, but this would be River's second attempt at "fixing" the warlock problem by himself. But first, we had to fix his plan.

Here's River's plan:

1 River is going to throw a tantrum at Beta Glenn at breakfast and storm off to my house to get a ride to school.

2 I'm going to give River a ride, but instead of going to school, we will drop him off before the long road out to Gate City. The rest of us would go to school as usual. Keanu would be in charge of covering for River at school.

3 From here, there is a borderline into the warlock forest. They might have to walk awhile to get there, with their jelly legs after tonight's training, and also avoid getting caught by all the warrior wolves on duty at the checkpoint. How hard could that be?

4 Anyway, assuming that they manage such a feat, they would have to follow the stone's direction without walking into the Rogue King's hideout or any other dangers until they make it to wherever the Warlock's home could be located. They also have to do this before lunchtime.

5 If this wasn't impossibly stupid enough, River's plan pretty much ended where he meets the Warlock and returns the stone.

6 River honestly believed that he would be able to just walk out after returning the stone and hitch a ride home with us after school.

"They won't even know I was gone." River concluded.

Silence. You could hear a pin drop.

Ben was holding his head in his hand. His face was crumpled like something was hurting him. I think River's plan was hurting his brain or something.

Harvey and Wilhelm were exchanging looks. I was sure that they couldn't possibly be mindlinking, but it was quite clear that neither wanted to be the first one to speak.

Keanu sighed, "I told you it isn't going to work."

"Just because it's impossible doesn't mean it won't work!" River argued.

"It's not because its impossible." I tried to explain, "It's because its stupid."

For one, at the speed that River ran, it would probably take him till lunchtime just to get to the border of the Warlock Forest - that is if the warriors on duty at the checkpoint didn't catch him first, which was a real possibility.

"I don't think you'd even get to the borders." I told him.

River froze and then slumped in his seat, "I thought you would at least understand, Sam!"

"It's not that I don't understand (even though I don't), but you need to at least consider the distance you'd need to travel." I tried to explain again.

"That's probably the least of his problems." Ben muttered.

I decided to ignore him, "Like do you know how long your Dad plans to be in the Warlock Forest?"

River frowned, "To be honest, I didn't give my dad's plans much thought."

As compared to your own haphazard sounding plan?

Keanu raised his hand, "I think since the betrothal ceremony is scheduled for Saturday afternoon, Alpha Gunter should be back by then."

"Then he'll have 18 hours." Ben said, "Assuming he doesn't have any other plans."

"Your father will be travelling with Beta Glenn, Wolfgang, and Adele." Wilhelm noted.

Who?

"Alpha Gunter and Beta Glenn are snow wolves. Wolfgang is a fierce warrior of fire wolf descent, and Adele is Snow Moon's most powerful healer." Keanu explained, "You can say, they're the A-list of our Snow Moon forces."

Ah. Cool, a fire wolf. Oh wait, "You mean there's a fire wolf in our pack house now?"

A real fire wolf! Wow!

"Can he really eat fire, and self ignite, and..."

"Sam..." Ben said.

"What? You don't want to meet him?" I asked.

Ben shrugged, trying to look indifferent, "Even if he is a real fire wolf, its probably not going to be like the fire wolves in the lycan legends, you know."

Finally, Wilhelm spoke, "I don't think there would be a problem meeting Wolfgang. I can introduce you to him tomorrow morning. Although, your beta is right, Wolfgang, while a very powerful and respected warrior, is not quite like the ones portrayed in lycan legends."

"Yeah, now that you mention it," River considered all this, "I've never seen him eat fireballs and his wolf looks like a normal warrior wolf."

Oh. So I guess I shouldn't be expecting his wolf form to have flames instead of fur. Such a pity.

"Are you sure you want to meet him, Sam?" River began to worry, "Wolfgang is kind of difficult to get along with."

At that, Keanu laughed, "At least that part recorded in lycan legends is accurate."

Fire wolves were known to have hot tempers. Hahaha, so it wasn't just a lazy cliche in this case?

"Don't worry." Wilhelm assured me, "I'll just let Beta Glenn know you desire an audience with Wolfgang tomorrow morning. He would know to act with propriety."

"Yeah, but why?" Ben asked, "Why bother to do this?"

Wilhelm smiled, "When Prince River decides to do something, it is impossible to stop him. But perhaps we can increase the chances of success if we rope in the right people."

"What? You too Wilhelm?" Keanu bemoaned, "River's plan is too impossible!"

"I believe in Prince River." Wilhelm sounded confident.

"I believe you're all gonna die." Ben the doomsayer informed them in his usual monotone.

"If we're going to make this work, we need to make some changes to River's plan." I said.

"I stand corrected." Ben said, "It's not just you, WE ARE ALL GOING TO DIE."

"Don't worry, Ben." I tried to reassure him, "It'll be fun."

I knew this from the bottom of my Wolfie heart.

"Well, at least its not going to be boring." Ben allowed, and I knew I had won him over.

Here is our combined new and improved plan:

1 Wilhelm will inform Beta Glenn that the Alpha Princess admires fire wolves very much and would like to meet Wolfgang in person. He would then arrange for Wolfgang to meet us over breakfast at the Packhouse dining hall tomorrow morning. It would be very early.

"Wolfgang hates waking up early in the morning." River worried.

"Breakfasting with the Alpha Princess would be his honor." Wilhelm was confident, "He would have no reason to refuse."

2 At breakfast, I should use my "charm" to rope Wolfgang in. We also shifted the entry point to the back of Mr Greene's home near Lullaby route. Basically, we cut off all the bits about walking long distances at human speed because Ben said it was a waste of time.

There was only one glaring flaw, but no one else at the discussion seemed to feel that charming Wolfgang would be a problem.

"I've never charmed anyone before in my life!" I protested.

"Just be yourself, Sam." Ben brushed it off. Easy for you to say! You try charming him yourself!

"It shouldn't be a problem." My good beta conceded. Wth.

"It's not like I can just tell him to meet me at the warlock forest!" I sputtered. River's stupidity was contagious.

But this was when Keanu outlined quite the insidious plot. I really had to hand to the humans. They're level of deceit was profound.

Basically, all I had to do was "be myself", have a nice breakfast and then invite River and Keanu to take my car to school together.

"Why not invite Adele for breakfast too?" Wilhelm asked.

"Why not?" Keanu nodded, "Another healer would increase our chances. Just say that the Alpha Princess sensed the presence of powerful wolves of special lineage and would like to meet them."

Apparently, that wouldn't sound suspicious at all.

Harvey would drive the Porsche and it would look like any other trip to school, but instead of heading to school, we would make a turn to Morning Light and drive over to Lullaby Route near Mr Greene's. Ben and Ki would meet us there with Harvey's truck and all the necessary equipment (read weapons).

Meanwhile, back at the packhouse, Wilhelm would happen to find River's map print out with our entrance point clearly marked out. He would report immediately to Beta Glenn and fear aloud that their young Prince must have taken the Alpha Princess into the Warlock Forest.

This would be terribly alarming news to Beta Glenn for multiple reasons and many fronts.

For his pack, his young prince had just committed another taboo, in fact, this one was far worse than the first. It was one thing to run away with your own mate (even though it was the Alpha's daughter), but it was still somewhat excusable as one of those foolish escapeds of youth in love. But to run away again, with the Green Packland's Alpha Princess...i.e. the future alpha of the combined packland. If any harm was to befall the Alpha Princess, now that was nothing short of declaring war.

At a professional level, Beta Glenn would be well aware that his Alpha was about to return in the afternoon. Alpha Gunter had entrusted him to take care of things while he was gone. How would he account for this massive failure?

That's not all. Keanu's glasses glinted as he smiled deviously, the icy and seemingly unbending old Beta had a personal hidden weakness, "He has a soft spot for cute things."

Eh, what?

"How did you think River got away with so much and ended up so spoiled?" Keanu asked.

I would have said it was Alpha Gunter's doing but according to Keanu, River used to be super cute as a kid and Beta Glenn would oftentimes look the other way.

"What's that got to do with me?" I asked.

"Nothing at all." Ben quickly assured me, but he was smirking, "We all know you're not cute at all."

Harharhar. He thought he was so witty.

Anyway, Wilhelm should then suggest catching up with us to intercept our plans. He should nominate Beta Glenn, as well as Wolfgang and Adele for this mission.

After having breakfast and meeting the charming Alpha Princess, Wilhelm was quite sure that Wolfgang and Adele would voluntarily offer their services to hunt down our party and prevent any catastrophe from befalling.

River's reputation for catastrophes were rather infamous back home.

Wilhelm will then lead Wolfgang and Adele to the entry point. With some luck, Beta Glenn would join them too. They would reach the border at lullaby route and find our Porche. Then it would be a matter of tracking us into the Warlock Forest.

"Once they catch up with us, all we have to do is apologize, let River take the blame, and then Sam can convince them to join us." River concluded.

Wth? How was I supposed to do that?

Everyone else around the table nodded like it made perfect sense. Everyone must have gone mad.

This...

And then before I could protest, they moved on to the "hard part" of the quest - locating the warlock's home quickly, return the ring, and get back home before Alpha Gunter reaches Night Leaf.

We'd break into three groups. Based on our understanding of the warlock's song, and the fact that I was lucky with directions, River and Ki would come with me.

Harvey, Ben, Keanu, and Wilhelm would be in the next team. They would be in charge of securing our passage safely out.

Beta Glenn, Wolfgang, and Adele would set up ambush. If the warlock gave chase, they would delay him, or even better kill him, and retreive the stone for Alpha Gunter.

"Wait, why are we taking back the stone?" River asked.

Why were we even plotting to kill him?

"It's just a precaution. If the warlock is friendly, he won't give chase, and he would keep his life and stone." Keanu assured us, "But if not, then it would be better for us to be ready to snuff out the threat quickly."

Ben was satisfied with this, "True. It'll be best if Beta Glenn didn't have to return to his alpha empty handed."

"Ben!" I scolded, "The point is to return the ring. It would be best if we can be friends with Fount again!"

"Yes." Harvey agreed. I thought he was coming to my aid, but my good beta had to add, "I'm sure with our Alpha there, if this Fount is good, Alpha would be able to sway him to our side."

And how was I supposed to do that? Was I supposed to use my alleged charm to win over the warlock too? Wth.

These guys! What kind of power did they think I have?