Chapter twelve: Premonitions

It had been a long five days for Hansol. After his initial happiness about Soonyoung and Wonwoo leaving Grenhil safely was replaced by the reality of them escaping being part of a plan he had felt down. Chan didn’t bother him too much and he was free to roam around Grenhil, so he slowly learned more about the place and its people. From what he saw the townsmen were all content with their lives. He met several people that originally stemmed from different packs but had been brought to Grenhil after traveling too far into the forest.  They all told him the various stories of their lives before living in Grenhil. He soon learned that the members of the Grenhil pack had a considerable amount of freedom in their everyday lives. There wasn’t really a status quo and their leaders were well loved. The economy was really good, no one ever went hungry. Their houses were build rather well and were able to survive earthquakes and storms alike. There weren’t a lot of downsides to living in this pack, with all its advanced knowledge. Schools were free for all and everyone got educated. Children were required to learn the ins and outs of the forest as part of their education, together with fighting and surviving skills. For the people that weren’t originally from Grenhil there was only one regret. They missed their own families and friends. Some were even missing their mates, which takes a considerable toll on your mental stability. If a person couldn’t adapt to live in the pack they were given the opportunity to leave Grenhil, but only after making several oaths to never lead others towards the town and to never threaten it. Spies and scouts would follow those people around once they left the town and if they did speak up, it was likely that they would meet an untimely end.

The Grenhil forest was apparently filled with several outposts in which scouts would spend most of their days in between missions. No one was able to enter the forest unnoticed and even outside the forest members of the pack would roam around in search off information. It was one of those scouts that had returned to Grenhil that morning and his message had caused a commotion in the castle. After intitially hearing the message Seungkwan, who Hansol had gotten a lot closer with in the past few days, had send for him in order to get his opinion about the matter. Right now said Grenhil member was looking at him expectantly after the report had been read once again.

“Is there any way of communication that you can use to contact your pack members in Strenyard?” Hansol asked Seungkwan.

“Normally we take pigeons with us when traveling so that we can release them to send messages to home if something was to happen, but as far as I know the pigeons we have right now have never been to Strenyard, they wouldn’t find their way.” Seungkwan was still pacing around the room in wide circles nervously. “Why are they not here when we need them.”

Desperation would be an overstatement for the current situation but this really was an emergency. The scouts were long gone and on Hansols advice they had deployed more scouts in the south of the forest to keep a constant watch.

“Are you really sure that it was that pack?” Chan asked Hansol.

“There is only one pack that I know off that is currently residing in the Southern Grey Mountains and that is them.” He was cut off by Seokmin entering the room.

“I am going to Strenyard, I will take two horses with me, a few pigeons and will travel day and night. I should be able to reach it in two days’ time if I take the old mountain road shortcut.”

There was no other solution to the problem at hand so Seungkwan gave his approval along with Chan. Hansol seemed uneasy, wanting to go to Strenyard himself to inform his own people, but one look at Seungkwans distressed stature made him rethink his priorities. Seokmin would inform Seungcheol as well as the other in Strenyard. His help was needed in Grenhil in order to set up a better scout network. “I will stay and help out here, Seokmin I will write a note for Seungcheol, please take it with you.” He changed his attention to Chan, “Chan please get me some paper and ink. We need to hurry up, Seungkwan make sure Seokmin has enough supplies for his trip. Seokmin take as much rest as you can for the next hour, you will need it.”

His authority and confidence as an alpha was taking over and helped him guide the others, who immediately obeyed his orders as they spread out to complete their various tasks. For the next few days rest would be difficult to get by. He really needed a map of Grenhils defences, but he doubted that Seungkwan would relinquish that information to him. No that was classified as confidential for sure… He tried to reorder his thoughts and remember what he had seen from Grenhils outlay. The castle itself was protected better than any building he had ever seen before, but the town was less shielded. Chan returned to the conference room with paper and ink in his hands. First things first, Hansol thought, as he wrote down a few short sentences. Pleased with the result of his work he folded the paper and placed it on the table, he would hand it to Seokmin later on.

A little under an hour later Chan, Seungkwan and Hansol at the gate, watching as Seokmins frame became smaller and smaller as the distance between them grew larger. Hopefully Seokmin would reach Strenyard as fast as he had said. It had only been five days since the others left… Seungkwan prayed that the others had reached Strenyard safe and sound as well.

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Soonyoung felt a sigh escape his lips when he  finally saw the stone town hall of Strenyard emerge in around the corner. It had been a long, eventful and most off all tiresome journey and it still hadn’t ended. Woozi had bid them goodbye shortly before they entered town, disappearing into the crowd that wanted to enter the small wooden barricade that surrounded Strenyard before it would close for the night. Seeing the back of the small beta slowly fade from his sight made him feel a bit sad, even though he didn’t know Woozi at all as a person. Traveling with him for the three days had created a small bond between the three of them. Considering his earlier meetings with the small male he concluded that he was not a bad person, which thinking back could be said about all the pack members of Grenhil that he had met.  None of them had been unfriendly towards them, except the whole capturing people that entered their territory part, but Soonyoung chose to neglect that part of information for now. The small beta intrigued him ever since he first met him while he was playing his weird instrument on the cliff. Although his second encounter with Woozi was still hurting his pride as an alpha. He secretly hoped that he would meet the smaller again and considering that he still had to rescue Hansol, Dongho and the others in Grenhil, he might just have a chance at encountering Woozi again.  

A cough from Wonwoo gained his attention as the dark haired male knocked politely on the elegant oak wooden door that served as the main entrance to the town hall. The door was swiftly opened by a servant that guided them towards the main hall. The sight that greeted him surprised him to say the least, as all heads inside the room turned towards the door Soonyoung recognized all the familiar faces. Jisoo was the first to stand up and literally start running towards them. Next to him was Seungcheol who kept his composure nicely, looking all dignified and leaderlike in his large chair at the head of the filled dinner table. The dinner table that was filled with delicious looking foods that made Soonyoungs mouth water and distracted him from seeing the other persons in the room. The different plates filled with all kinds of food ranging from meat to bread and even pie! He nearly started drooling all over himself while fawning over the sight. Then he was almost knocked over by a overly excited Jisoo, that was happy to see his friends again.

“Soonyoung, Wonwoo!” Letting go of Soonyoung Jisoo turned his attention towards Wonwoo and hugged him. Soonyoung couldn’t help but smile at the ha