The Alpha's War/Soul Mate - Book 2

Part 49

*A.N.: Hello great readers and wonderful voters! About our contest:

Dedicated to our winner, Mr. @MichaelSmart5 with 8/8 - the initial number I gave you, though some of you are so awesome, that you pointed out there are actually 10 possible references. Congratulations and feel free to contact me privately about the two character names :)

@nyja1922 - a shoutout to you as well for getting 7/8

@zaneebar_blessing - for the most imaginative way of interpreting the references, always nice to see how you guys think!

The characters/Entities talking:

1. Balance - Larger of the Two Moons (the entire series is called The Two Moons /wink)

2. Change - Small Moon

3. C. - Conall

4. U. - Umani

The characters/entities being talked about:

5. Little Sister-Self/Avatar of the Small Moon - Sandra, the witch

6. Auntie C. - who could be the Aunt to the Moons? Calla itself of course

7. Monster - The Master, the one who controls the warhogs.

8. The girl - Jena

And now, about the other two references you guys found:

9. The girl's mate - Al'Aeen

10. Calla's children - all the were-inhabitants of Calla, but in this case Balance and Chance are referring to the ones who lived before and during the Techo-War when most of the water on the planet and Calla itself got irradiated.

It is indeed implied that Calla knew what was about to happen and let it happen anyway, as for the why, well that should become clear in book 4 at the latest.

Guess we are done for the day, see you next time!

Wait!

Wait!

Put away the pitchforks and torches, I was just kidding!

On with the STORY!

"So, to recap, you don't have 270 warriors able to fire those sleeping darts accurately."

"Just... do you have a plan, Alpha Jena?"

"Maybe, but I need..."

"All the facts, I know. My total number of warriors is at 250."

"But?"

"But only 70 of them are capable dart blowers."

"By capable you mean elite. As in able to guarantee each of their shots lands properly. Can we just..."

"No. Not even considering the logistics to have 250 people close enough to use the range of the blow pipes effectively, yet keep them all hidden, we simply do not have the amount of sleeping darts that would prove effective with such unreliable accuracy. The sleeping agent..."

"Is hard to obtain. As one would expect. And you trap works only for a maximum of 60 warhogs."

"Yes."

"How skilled are your warriors in hand to hand?"

"Their training is very good."

"But? Oh right, you've never actually had to fight them up close, have you?"

"Well, that wasn't..."

"Necessary, wise, or efficient. I get it; I wouldn't let my people fight them directly either if it was possible to avoid it."

"I'm sure we could overpower them if we attacked them with all our warriors at once..."

"No. Too many casualties."

"Exactly my thoughts."

"Have you ever tested your sleeping darts on warhogs before?"

"Yes, like I said. 3 will put one warhog down."

"All right. Can you explain how the sleeping agent works?"

"It delays the information coming to the brain from being interpreted properly and affects decision making and how fast the body then responds to the signals from the brain. When the entire dosage is released, the body simply stops responding with other than basic functions that are done automatically, like breathing."

"May I see one?" Jena asks and is handed a pouch with sleeping darts from a nearby warrior. "Do you and your people have any kind of resistance to the sleeping agent?"

"Yes. All the warriors can take one dart without phasing, they will get incapacitate after the second, though not immediately."

"And you elites? Like your daughter? I'm guessing three?" Jena says throwing by hand two of the darts directly at Sandheeya, who protects her face with one arm, not having enough time to dodge.

The cats present immediately growl at Jena, preparing to attack. Two pipe blowers are also aiming at her. They are stopped by a raised fist from their Alpha.

"I really hope you have a point here, she is one of my best pipe blowers."

"But she shouldn't be able to hit anything right now, correct?"

"Go on."

"Quick test to demonstrate to myself. Sandheeya, I'm going to slap you," Jena says and raises her hand at the girl.

"Wh-What?" Sandheeya asks confused and raises her other arm to deflect the blow out of instinct.

Jena however only flicks her nose.

"I see. Her reaction is slowed, compared to our previous fight. Though only about 20 percent?"

"Hmm, true. Keep going," Abbigor answers, his interest peaking.

"Would the first dart get her to this point eventually?"

"Yes, but it would take about 20 minutes and then already start to wear off."

"Great!"

"What?"

"I believe we now have a good plan of action, with a good chance to have minimal casualties on our side."

"Wonderful! Let's hear it!"

"As you know, all my wolves are experienced in fighting warhogs. And we've had success with separated groups of warhogs in the past."

"Separated? Why would they be so dumb as to separate?"

"That's where your pipe blowers start working their magic."

"You know we can't hit them all, and if some of them suddenly drop, the others will notice."

"I know. Listen. This is what we are going to do."