Ann stepped cautiously towards the third prisoner, the man with the gaze who didn't rest on one spot for more than a few seconds.
He shivered like he had not eaten in a few days and his wrists were scabbed from old restraints, not the new ones that he wore now. He avoided her eyes completely even when she knelt to meet them.
"Name," she said softly, trying not to frighten the man who looked like he was about to break down completely.
"Tomas," he whispered.
"Why did you cross," Ann asked gently as Adam stood at her side, watching for the slightest hint that this man would pose a danger to his mate and his unborn pups..
"Because I wanted to live," he said, his voice cracking.
Ann still hadn't pulled at the ability again as she could feel how tired her body was and if Adam knew, he would go ballistic and pull her out. But this man didn't need it, that much was plain to see.
"Because they started taking our names away when we failed drills. Because the woman with the bone rings said I'd make a better construct than a soldier if I didn't stop breathing so loud." His shoulders shook and he clamped his teeth to stop it. "I didn't want to be a construct."
Ann kept her voice even and she recognised the severe trauma that this man had been through. If he was going to be rehabilitated, he was going to need intensive therapy and support.
"Tell me how they train the handlers."
Tomas blinked rapidly as his eyes flickered from side to side.
"They get oil poured on their arms and a mark cut into the skin. When the mark heals, if it heals, they can touch the cages without vomiting. They learn words that make the constructs stand and do other things. They don't always work. They punish you for that as well." He laughed hysterically for a second and then the sound stopped suddenly as he rocked with his arms hugging his knees.
"Words," Ann repeated softly, "Do you know any of them?"
He shook his head frantically, his eyes fixed on a point over her shoulder.
"I know one, but I won't say it. I won't make anything stand, I don't want to. The dead should sleep."
"That's fine," Ann said gently. "I don't need you to say it. I just need to know that it exists so we can stop it from working." She stood and exchanged a look with Adam.
"We can set protective wards on the outer posts and at the creek bed that can stop the efficiency of the command if they try to use command words mid-fight."
"Phones don't work this far out now, reception is terrible since they destroyed the outlying towers." Adam murmured and he already had his head turned toward the door. "Runners," he called, and a guard's shadow loomed at the frame.
"Get a message to Eva. She'll want the marked locations and the vent shafts drawn before noon. Wake the ward crews and reinforce the south line immediately. I want the vanguard teams at the creek bed before midday and double archers at the east road."
The older Lycan laughed again, but there was less heat in it now.
"You're an idiot if you think that arrows will stop them."
"No," Adam said with a menacing grin, "I think arrows will slow them while I cut their handlers in half."
Ann took hold of his arm before he moved again and lowered her voice.
"Adam, you can't throw everyone forward on this. Not yet."
"They confirmed it all," he said, not looking at her. "He's amassing his forces and it needs to be us hitting first on ground that we choose."
"On a prisoner's word and a map of a quarry you've never set foot in," Ann said, shaking her head. "You're about to feed him two hundred wolves in a line of trees that narrows to a kill zone. All you're going to do is give him more material to use for his twisted fleshcraft!"
He turned then, his jaw tight enough to crack.
"Every night that I close my eyes and do nothing, more towns burn and more people die. I am not waiting to give him another town."
"I'm not asking you to wait and watch," Ann said. "I'm asking you to make him overreach. We use their schedule against them. Patrol radius five at dawn and dusk means they relax midday. They think the creek bed is safe. Good. We can force three mock pushes at the river crossing and the west trail over two days to train them to redeploy toward water or west. Then we cut the east road at dawn when they're light on troops on that line. We pull their first cohort into the creek bed when they try to flank and we collapse the ridge with charges. We seal the mine mouth while our vanguard teams smoke the vents. If anyone gets out, it'll be the handlers first. Those are yours. You wanted something to kill so start there."
Maeve whistled appreciatively..
"That's the attitude I like. Give him blood he's allowed to spill and a plan that keeps our pups breathing. He can't argue with that because it's another win-win for us."
Adam's breath came hard through his nose as he mulled her words over. She watched him fight between the need to strike now and the need to win. He looked past her at the prisoners and back to her again.
"Three days," he said.
"Two," Ann answered. "They said it was the end of the week when new units arrive. We don't let them have the opportunity to settle. I need one day to get the casters here to sort the sigils and wards and you'll need another team to set the charges so I'll arrange that and see what the magick users can contribute. The second day is for the mock pushes and for moving civilians out of any nearby population centers, although I don't think there are many large centers, mainly farms and smaller market towns around here. Then we strike at dawn on the third day. Not a full offensive, just a clean, surgical break of their first push."
His wolf still stared furiously from his eyes but some of the wildness had gone.
"If they move sooner..." he said.
"Then we adapt," Ann said firmly. "We've done it before and we'll do it again."
He gave a short nod and internally, Ann breathed a sigh of relief. It was a compromise. He would wait to act and she would allow him to act. It wasn't a surrender, it was an agreement that allowed both of them peace for a few days.
Ann turned back to the prisoners.
"You'll be moved to a guarded cell and fed. If you try to play games with any of the guards or use any coven words within earshot of my people, you'll lose your tongue. I won't even hesitate in ordering it cut out myself. If you try to break your chains, you'll lose your hands. If you stay quiet and don't give us any trouble then you'll live at least long enough to see your former master fail."
The older man smiled like he didn't believe in her mercy, the boy at his side sagged in relief and then straightened, ashamed of his reaction and Tomas kept staring at the air as if it might bite him.
"Get them water," Ann told the guard at the door quietly. "And a healer to check for infection. If there's a handler mark on any of them, I want it recorded and copied."
Adam raised his voice without stepping away from her.
"Post two on the barn and two on the inner door. No one except Dark Moon and Eva's team goes in without my order.They'll be transported to the closest secure containment facility that we own."
They stepped back into the night air and Ann sucked in a deep lungful of the fresh air. The yard had shifted fully into readiness now and runners loped toward the tower stairs. A pair of scouts were bent over a rough map on a crate, marking the ridge and the quarry with small stones as they discussed the possible alternative routes.
Adam took the chalk from one and drew a small line along the creek bed where the bank cut sharp.
"Here," he said. "The flood line will have left debris. We clear enough to move quickly but leave enough to make it look untouched."
The scout nodded.
"We can do that in a few hours."
"Good," Adam said. "Get yourselves geared up. You'll have Vanguard teams shadowing you within the hour."