Chapter 40
CHAPTER 40
I t was a large group that walked out of the pack house after lunch. They were looking for the two generals, as well as the new shifters who had arrived while they were holding vigils for the fallen.
Frederick spotted them by the training ground. They walked over and stood watching everyone practice. A man paused in his training and looked at the group. Seeing Frederick, he smiled and quickly walked towards him.
“Freddie,” he said happily, pulling Frederick into a hug.
“Battle, why didn’t you message me and tell me you were coming?” he asked, pulling back.
Battle smiled. “And spoil the surprise? Never.”
Frederick laughed. “Let me introduce you to my mate and then around.”
“You’ve found your mate?” Battle asked, smiling.
“He did, indeed,” Hades said, stepping forward.
“Battle, meet my mate, Hades, God of the Underworld,” he said.
Hades held out his hand to shake Battle’s.
“Nice, cuz, scoring yourself a god. Hi, I’m Battle Barbuda, Freddie’s cousin.” Battle laughed, clasping his hand. “Just wow, I mean, you’re the Hades and now mated to my cousin,” he continued, shaking his head.
“Nice to meet you. I’m truly honoured that the Fates gave me the gift of your cousin,” Hades said.
“Batty, let me introduce you to everyone,” Frederick said. “This is the Alpha King and Alpha of the Fortuna pack, Blake Hayes, and his consort, Baylan Adams.” He introduced everyone.
“Welcome to the Fortuna pack,” Blake said, shaking his hand.
“I was honoured to be asked. My old Alpha wanted me to come as I was one of the best fighters in his pack,” Battle told him.
“He really is good,” Frederick confirmed. “He’s given me a run for my money a time for two.”
“High praise indeed,” Baylan said.
“We need to meet the other new shifters, but thank you for coming and we can’t wait to get to know you,” Blake said.
Battle bowed.
“Oh please don’t bow no one needs to do that here it’s so old-fashioned don’t you think?” Tudor said, stopping talking when Alex squeezed his hand.
“Got it, no bowing.” Battle grinned. He looked at Hades. “If you ever want to know any of Freddie’s secrets, let me know.”
“And on that note, we’re leaving,” Frederick said, scowling at his cousin.
Everyone laughed.
“I heard Charlie was here as well, but I’ve not seen him yet,” Battle remarked.
“He’s currently residing in our cells. Your cousin can fill you in on everything that’s happened lately, which is a lot,” Blake told him.
Battle turned shocked eyes to Frederick.
“It was for his own good, Batty. As soon as I get a moment, I’ll fill you in.”
“You could always come to dinner at mine,” Hades offered. “That way, once Freddie has told you everything, you can then spill his secrets.”
Frederick and Battle burst out laughing.
“Deal, but for now I best get back to training.” He looked at his cousin. “It really is good to see you, cuz.”
“Same, now go train.”
Once all the new shifters were met and pledged to Blake, they moved away from the training ground.
We need to see about those who are in the cells. A decision needs to be made on what to do with them, Puff said through the pack link.
“We do,” Blake agreed.
“We should think of having a meeting room that isn’t in the pack house,” Mateo suggested.
Blake nodded. “I like that idea, maybe we could attach it to the cells.”
Hades clicked his fingers and now an extension was added to the cell block.
“Thank you, Hades. Can I just say, I’m loving having magic users in this pack, it saves so much time.” Blake grinned. “Puff, Tudor, can you message the generals and ask them to join us?”
Puff and Tudor nodded. They’re on their way, Puff said.
“Thank you,” Blake replied.
“Do you want me to bring Charlie and the others to the meeting room?” Frederick asked.
“Should we not discuss what we can or can’t do to them before we see them otherwise they would have to wait longer if we see them send them back to the cells only to bring them out again,” Tudor said, stopping when Alex gently squeezed his hand.
Blake smiled at him. “Good thinking, Tudor. Let’s go into the meeting room and discuss everything.”
Blake, Baylan, Tudor, Alex, Puff, Frederick and Hades, and the two generals were sitting around the table. Mateo was next to Puff when Dane, Ash, and Paris arrived. The three had tablets ready to take notes of the meeting.
The meeting room was comfy but formal. In the middle of the room was a round table, where everyone currently sat. At the back of the room were three large thrones: the middle one showed a wolf, the left one featured a gargoyle, and the right one had a dragon. There were two smaller thrones off to one side for the consorts.
Towards the front was more seating.
“Are you sure you want me here?” Hades asked, generally.
“We do. Your wisdom might be needed,” Blake said to him.
Hades nodded.
“Thank you, General Delinga, General Gasgoyne, for joining us. We need to discuss what to do about the assassins and Corporal Williamson.” Blake sighed. “Guards died and Corporal Williamson needs to be held accountable for those deaths. The potential assassins need to be punished. But can we? They were all under the influence of a dream walker or walkers courtesy of Barnabus. So what are our options?”
“I know in situations like this the sentence is usually death but I don’t feel comfortable passing a death judgment on them because they were infected by the dream walker,” Tudor spoke up.
Alex touched his arm.
The same, Puff agreed. There must be a way we can punish them a little.
“Should they be punished, though? Nothing they did was by their own action,” Ash noted.
“They should be punished,” General Gasgoyne said definitively. “But not severely.”
“How about if Tudor turns them to stone for a week, would something like that work?” Frederick suggested.
“It would,” Blake sighed. “Passing judgment shouldn’t be this hard. If a shifter does these heinous acts, the only sentence we could pass is death. I think this might be the first time dream walkers and Barnabus were used as a defence.”
“That’s why Frederick’s idea is a good one. We can’t pass a death sentence, and they need to be punished. This way, we can show everyone that a sentence has been passed, but we’ve taken into account the unusual circumstances,” General Delinga added.
“That makes sense,” Blake replied. “Now, do we pass the sentence here in this room or, as this affected everyone, should we pass judgment outside in public?”
I’m inclined to say pass it in private, because of the whole dream walker thing, Puff said.
Blake looked at Hades. “What do you think?”
“I think you’ve made the best decision.”
Blake nodded. “Thanks.” His gaze took in everyone. “So, they are all to be turned to stone for a week. However, I think Corporal Williamson should be there for two weeks. Does everyone agree?”
Everyone answered yes.
Tudor, are you okay meting out the punishment? Puff asked him.
Tudor nodded. “I am plus you will all be there offering support I don’t need to wear my crown do I because well it’s the crown.”
Alex touched his arm. “I think you, Puff, and Blake should wear your crowns. Barnabus tried to kill the three of you – you need to show that you stand united.”
The three crowns suddenly appeared in front of them.
Bob brought them, Puff told them.
“Frederick, Ashton, Mateo, can the three of you go and collect the prisoners?” Blake asked.
“We can,” Ash said, standing up. Frederick and Mateo also stood and the three walked out of the room.
Let’s get our crowns on and stand up while waiting for them. Where are we going to keep them while they’re stone? Puff asked, picking his crown up and settling it on his head.
“How about we keep them in the cells we can keep them together so they won’t be alone I don’t like the thought of them being lonely,” Tudor said quickly. He stopped talking when Alex put Tudor’s crown on his head.
“The cells it is then,” Blake said, standing up and putting his crown on.
The three kings moved to the middle of the room and waited for the prisoners to be brought in.
A few moments later Ashton walked in leading the prisoners, Frederick in the middle and Mateo walking behind them.
The pale men walked to stand in front of the three kings with Frederick, Ashton, and Mateo standing behind them. Hades and the others were stood off to the side.
“Gentlemen. Forgive us for taking so long to see you, we’ve been holding vigils for our fallen,” Blake told them.
Puff looked at Blake, who nodded.
“King Puff still has no voice, so I shall speak for him. We have discussed what sort of punishment we could give. Corporal Williamson, you killed dragon and gargoyle guards and injured many more in the explosions.
“Charlie Curshaw, Corporal Barrow, and Sergeant Bordon: The three of you tried to kill King Blake, King Tudor, and myself.”
“We know you were under the influence of dream walkers and dark magic because of that none of you are being sentenced to death as we didn’t think that was fair.” Tudor stopped talking when Blake touched his arm.
The men breathed a sigh of relief.
“But you do need to be punished. Corporal Williamson, you are being sentenced to be turned to stone for two weeks in your gargoyle form. Charlie Curshaw, Corporal Barrow, and Sergeant Bordon, the three of you will be turned to stone for a week,” Blake told them. “Do you have any questions?”
“No, Your Majesty,” Charlie said softly. “This punishment is better than the one we thought would be passed. I’d understand if once the week is over you’d rather we left the pack.”
Blake shook his head. “We now have protection necklaces created by Hades to protect everyone from dark magic. You will be given yours before the sentence is carried out. They should stop anything like this from happening again.”
“We know none of you did these things voluntarily and we’re all very sorry you were infected and that we have to punish you and that doesn’t seem fair but?—”
“But it really is fair,” Sergeant Bordon interrupted. “We understand. Thank you, Your Majesties.”
The men all bowed.
Hades passed some necklaces to Alex.
“If you follow Frederick, he’ll lead you back to the cells where your punishment will be carried out,” Blake instructed.
They turned and followed Frederick out, Tudor and Alex following.