Chapter Twenty Nine: Trained Warriors

Ralph's Point Of View

We got to the warrior camp, but it's the same old way it has been for decades, nothing changed about it. "Do you think we could, years from now, stop women from joining?" I asked Liam, who didn't seem to understand me.

"Stop them from joining what exactly?"

He asked as I looked at him, "The women, should they be at home learning how to make a home and take care of themselves with their mother rather than sit here and do nothing" I said as we walked through the large gates that guarded the camp, even though it was situated in the high mountains, will definitely be tired from the running and shouting half way up here, as Liam and I are extremely tired.

And we will need a second rest before we can go ahead with our agenda for today.

"I sincerely do not see any reason why we should retract the old custom that has made us unique, and moreover, we are shouting at men; this isn't even about custom to start with.".

This time standing while he faced me, I understood his point clearly, but I don't still see the main objective as to why any king would allow women who should be loved and cherished in the comfort of their home out here, in the cold training day and night with the men.

I have been bullied by the men to the extent that some leave while others keep on going, just because their family depends on them to become warriors and make them proud. It was a sign of relevance to the kingdom:

"I understand that it is not about custom but that we are short of soldiers and we need all hands on decks to protect ourselves, but something can at least be done. I beg to differ.".

"You beg to differ nothing," my beta countered my words. "You are the future king; do not allow your youthful knowledge to rule you; this is not about love and sentiment but about protection in the long run.".

I couldn't be more understanding. I just had to let go, and we walked towards the main wing of the camp. The whole group of warriors were out, training and working on different forms of fighting. You could clearly see thoes who were still struggling to be among and to blend, but it was way too obvious. I walked around the whole mountain to see if there was a little bit of comfortability for them, even though being here isn't about being comfortable.

The commander in charge, who was with the warrior and didn't notice my presence earlier on, came through the outer wing of the camp to welcome me.

"Alpha Ralph it's a pleasant surprise to have you here, even though you come in once in a while, but today it was just kind of different.".

I know he was referring to not informing him about my coming; before I could respond, my beta said, "Well we just thought to stop by; it wasn't planned.".

He led us into his office to give us a report on the activities that went on in the camp, and if there was a need for us to be worried about something or not, I lost time during this point of the visit.

"Please come in and sit."

The commander said as we both walked in and sat down as he walked around the table to the other side and sat,

"As you can see, we have more soldiers to account for this year than last year.".

The man said, smiling as I shook my head in response, waiting for his next word:

"As a matter of fact, we have more men than women this year, compared to last year, when a woman was almost made the elite warrior, such a disgrace to the men.".

The commander said with a disgusted face that I couldn't agree more with him, but, thinking about it the other way around, she deserved and earned the position. If by chance, she doesn't win the competition I might consider making her the elite warrior or a second in command if need be.

"Apart from that, everything is going on quite well here, and we have nothing to worry about, according to the record we now have. There are ten thousand trained warriors who are qualified to fight for the kingdom, and just two thousand warriors are still undergoing some training.".

The commander said, I smiled at this revelation.

"We have more than enough to fight the war for us." I asked to be sure: "Not that they are enough; it is just an average of what a kingdom should have, but we are working on getting to thirty thousand trained warriors before the war.".

My wolf scoffed at this: "We are barely twenty thousand people living in this kingdom; how does he want to pull that off?" My beta seemed to mind link me at the moment, and I could hear what my wolf said. I smiled, and I quickly looked away from the commander.

As not to give away that, my beta and I were laughing over his unbelievable assumptions: "Alright, I am sure we can beat that, but for my advice, we stick to the ten thousand while we look for a way to avoid the war entirely.".

"That would be great !!" The commander exclaimed

My beat and I stood up. After this meaningful conversation, we started our journey right before the sun went down. Very soon it would be evening and darkness would start taking over, and we might have to hurry home.

"Do you think we can get to thirty thousand soldiers before the war starts? Because as it is going, I do not see any sign of stopping the war before it starts," my beta asked, but at that moment I had no answer to that question.

All I could say was, "Let's see what the moon goddess has in stock for us." We walked all the way to the palace in total silence.