Chapter Twenty-One

    We got back to the den after dark. Panting, I flopped down on the stone floor(oh boy, more stone!) and tried to catch my breath. Mebh and the others all filed into the den and strode towards the center, where Mebh lay alone. She walked up, and with a glowing yellow light, leaped into her human form and woke up. She walked over to the edge of the den near the wall, where I lay, still sweating after our flight out of Kilkenny. "C'mon townie, get up. Ye look like a fish out of water." She grabbed me by the arm and tried to pull me up.

    "Let me die in peace."

    "Oh, stop bein' dramatic. We need to plan what to do to that Lord Protector."

    I got up and walked towards the center of the den where the pack sat. "Yeah, protector of dirtbags, probably." Mebh laughed and strode to Robyn, who was with Bill and Moll, looking at a map of the forest.

    "Hey, Robyn, got any plans yet?" Mebh asked.

    Robyn sighed. "Not yet. Dad and Moll haven't gotten anywhere either."

    "Well," Mebh said, "You've got me and Sean now! Let's get to work!"

    We planned, theorized(it's just a theory, after all), and strategized through the night, valiantly trying to think up a way to stop the invasion of the Lord Protector. "The thing is, if we run, he'll just keep coming for us. He won't stop until he's dead or we're dead."

    Mebh growled. "I wanna just go in there and kill 'em all! I hate those townies! All of them!" I flinched. My parents were townies. There were good people there, but Mebh didn't know that. She thought that the townspeople were actively against the wolves out of spite.

    Robyn looked Mebh in the eye. "Mebh, we're fighting the Lord Protector, not the townspeople. They don't know any better." I thought back to my imprisonment. The citizens hated the Lord Protector, I knew that for a fact. Why else would they riot if not to banish him out of Kilkenny? They also sympathized with me. I saw their looks in the stocks.

    Then, it hit me. I sat bolt upright. Robyn turned to look at me. "Do you have an idea for how to stop the Lord Protector? We're running out of time."

    "Yes, I do, and I think it's our best shot." Now, everyone's eyes were on me. "You know how the townspeople don't necessarily like the Lord Protector, right? They rioted when I was brought into the town square. They were mad, furious, at him. I think we could use that to our advantage. See, the people of Kilkenny think that they have to fight the wolves to survive. But they don't. If we can harbor peace between them and us, we can have the power and numbers of both the townspeople come in."

    "But how will we broker peace between wolves and humans? We've been attacking them, and they locked my ma in a cage!" Mebh argued. "Who's to say they won't just turn against us once we accept them?"

    I smiled. "That's when the connections come in. Robyn, remember the woodcutter you told me about who introduced you to wolfwalkers?" She nodded. "We can talk to him, and together, we can convince the town to come to our aid! Robyn's father was a guard, and he had connections to the guards. He might be able to turn them to our side. That takes care of both the townspeople and guards, and once we seize the Lord Protector's castle, he'll be powerless to stop us. What place does authority have in justice, anyways?"

    "It's a good plan," Moll said. "With all the connections that you, Robyn, and Bill have to the town, we might be able to make the entire town turn against the person in charge."

    Robyn smiled. "I need to catch up with old friends. And I just might have the perfect people to spark the rebellion."

    "Well then," I announced, "what are we waiting for? Let's put 'Lord Ironsides' in his place."