THE WALKING FORTRESS SNEAK PEEK

True to his word, Lord Wolfgang brought Dan over to the Walking Fortress after their meeting with Alpha Henri.

Despite looking like it was hovering on the edge of Night Leaf, the Fortress was actually parked out in the wastelands so they had to take a car out. Dan was surprised because Wolfgang pretty much strolled into the Alpha's garage, picked a car, and assigned Wilhelm as the driver by tossing the key to him. There was a warrior washing one of the cars, he helped Wolfgang fetch the key, but seriously, that was it. ZERO forms, or permissions, or anything.

And as their car turned round the driveway and out to the road, Dan realized that they were going to be traveling without escort. Dan had never traveled without escort even when within the Three Kingdoms. He briefly worried about what his Captain would say when he found out about this excursion, and then he realized that he was the boss, not the Captain of his guards.

The other two men were surprised at something else entirely.

"Is there a cat in the car?" Wolfgang asked from the front passenger seat.

Dan looked to the empty back passenger seat next to him where the loud purring was running, "It's Edel, I think…"

"Since when did the cats ever rode in a car?" Wolfgang frowned.

"I guess they really like Dan." Wilhelm laughed from behind the wheel.

Oh well, but it wasn't just Edel. Dan realized this only later, but Ori (the black one) was hiding under his car seat. Dan decided to just take mental note and make sure both cats returned with them. It would be really bad if he lost the Alpha's cats, right? The other two men were discussing something about the young snow warriors in the delegation, and Dan didn't want to bother them about the cats, so he sat the car ride watching the view of Night Leaf Town, and then what must be Morning Light because it was a wider and more sprawling layout. The drive through the Warlock Lands was surprisingly short - like literally 2 minutes from one end to the other.

"Wha?" Dan gasped when it happened. Like the scenery was just open grassy space beyond the forests, and then voop - the Walking Fortress was looming over them.

"Magic path." Wolfgang explained, "It's a shortcut through space - like the ones we use on our expressways."

Yes, but the ones used on the continent wide expressways did not reduce what must be a 2 day drive into a 2 minutes one. The magic stones used to power the expressways were also growing increasingly expensive and the High Council had motioned for the shut down of a couple of expressways - but this was always fierce protest from whichever colored packland at the end of those expressways.

If Dan could logically make the decision, the expressway connecting the Green Packlands, as well as his Blue Packlands should be the first two to go. BUT its not like anyone would dare offend Moon Bell, so that particular expressway had not even appeared in a single proposal. The Blue Packland one, and also the Three Kingdoms relied on, was in every single proposal though. His King had been furious. The only reason the Blue Lands hadn't been axed was because of King River's Snow Moon Pack. Unlike Moon Bell, Snow Moon was just a small pack at the end of the Blue Packlands, but no one wanted to mess with it either.

That was the frustrating truth in today's political arena - even though the human to lycan population was 2:1, the wolves - particularly the powerful packs in every colored land were the top dogs. No matter how much talking or negotiation happened, Dan had always suspected that unless one of the top five packs moved, nothing moved.

"The wolves here tell me it's a technological marvel." Wilhelm said conversationally as their car drove across the drawbridge. Dan felt his jaw drop again. "Technological marvel" was an understatement. The Walking Fortress was the single most mind blowing thing Dan had ever seen to date.

He had expected to have to alight and travel on foot, but the Walking Fortress was even larger up close, and as they drove in beyond the hulking red metal reinforced fortress walls, Dan realized the Walking Fortress was a full town - with roads, buildings, and people - no, they had to be wolves. And fruit trees - orange trees fruiting along the roads - the smell of it was like a sweet fresh citrus in the winter sun. Dan knew because they eventually did get out of the car.

"This is the control tower." Wolfgang explained as they entered a white stone tower.

Why were they bringing human outsiders into the control tower? The cats had followed them - at least Edel was walking behind them, but for some reason, the white cat had decided to walk about supersized - it was the size of a motorbike.

Wolfgang lifted a brow, but said nothing of it. From the look on Wilhelm's face, it was the first time the other man had seen the cat in such a state too. Dan exchanged shrugs and wry smiles with Wilhelm, and they continued walking as if they hadn't noticed the giant cat stalking them.

Alpha Sam met them at the heart of the tower - a red crystal room filled with large screens and computers. Her beta was busy at one of the screens, but she was swinging on a swivel chair like a bored child, "Hurry up, Ben! Wolfie'll be here anytime now!"