Chapter 7: The Wolf Pack
In the morning, Aznar awoke in a panic. The young cat was nowhere to be found and he was becoming uneasy with every second. The king went over to his soldiers, who were still sleeping, and kicked them in order to wake them up.
"Where is he?" he said scanning at the group. "WHERE IS HE?!!" The soldiers stood dumbfounded, Aznar‘s patience was running out. "Go get the Shavronites, move!"
Three soldiers went back to where they had chained the wolves. When they saw that they were not there, they told Aznar of the circumstances. The king put all the pieces together and there was such a rage in his heart that he was ready to kill all life in that jungle to find the kitten. Aznar led the tigers through the jungle in pursuit of the runaways.
Further away, the wolves were leading their captive through the thick brush of the morning. Sebastian held Yohan by his jacket, and whenever the cat would struggle to get away, Sebastian would shake Yohan in order to suppress his will to escape.
"I wish I was there to see the look on Aznar's face." Said Brute. "If you were, you would probably regret it." Replied Sly.
"Stupid tigers!" said Sebastian laughing, " Taking kitten right under their noses was too easy, it is almost as if we had some help," he said glancing up.
Yohan continued to fidget to get away from Sebastian's grip. "Let go of me!"
"Stop squirming, squirt." said Sebastian. " I said--- let go-- of-- ME!"
Yohan, in an aggressive tiff, broke away from the wolf‘s grip. He hissed at his three captors, bearing his teeth and extending his claws ready to fight. The wolves were taken by surprise.
"Well, looks like we got ourselves a little firebug," replied Sebastian crossing his arms.
"What are you going to do, little cat?" said Brute.
Yohan, regretting his present action, remembered what his parents told him to do when he was in trouble; so, he turned and ran with all his might through the thick vegetation leaving his troubles behind, or so he thought. The wolves wasted no time in pursuing Yohan. The kitten could hear one of the wolves heavy on his heels. He turned to the left; then made a sharp right, and it seemed that he had gotten away. A grin came over his face as he ran along side a group of bushes. Suddenly the bushes gave way to a clearing, but when Yohan turned to dart through, Brute met him. Yohan ran in the other direction.
Sebastian, hiding among the brushes, lunged in front of him. Yohan tried to scurry away, but the skinny wolf grabbed him. Sebastian hung the kitten on a tree branch by his coat.
"Put me down, put me down!"
" You‘ve got spunk kid---I don‘t like spunk," said Sebastain. "I‘ll put you down on one condition: that you don‘t run away again."
Yohan squirmed and twisted himself to break the branch. Sebastain addressed him again.
"Look cat, it would be in your best interest to stay with us. A youngster like you won‘t be able to survive on his own here. You will die. You want to go back to your family don‘t you?"
This got Yohan‘s attention. He calmed down, and directed his attention on Sebastian.
"Good little cat, very good." he said placing the cat on the ground, "Now we need your help, there is a reasons why we took you away from the tigers."
"Why?" asked Yohan.
"The Horn." replied Brute. Sebastain gave the details.
"You see little cat, there‘s no doubt that Aznar is greedy for that treasure; and since we‘ve taken his map, that means you, he's lost. When we find the treasure, we will sell it and split the profit three ways. All of us have decided to gain some wealth with our new found freedom. Now, if you do your part, we will return you to your family without harm. Cross us or run away and one of us will be certain to lose you, understand?" Yohan crossed his arms; the wolves did the same.
"Think fast, cat," said Sebastian.
Yohan nodded his head reluctantly, knowing that he wanted to see his family again; and the wolves, for the time being, were his only avenue back.
"What is your name?" asked Sly kindly.
"My name is Yohan," he said indignantly.
"Yohan," said Sebastian making a frown, " that name doesn‘t sit right with me. I‘m going to call you "Map" for short," he said, as he tapped Yohan on his head.
"What do we do now, Sebastian?" said Brute.
"Map is going to tell us where to go next." Yohan thought for moment.
"Well, after the river, there was the jungle, and then after that there was--"
"Was what?" said Sly.
"Something very nasty is next; something that makes a hissing noise, and it‘s very loud."
"You mean a snake," Brute said with a chuckle, "those little reptiles, if that is all we have to worry about, the horn will be ours in no time."
"What about Aznar?" inquired Brute.
"What about him? He won‘t find us. We‘ve traveled far in this jungle in one night."
"But a tiger‘s senses are just as good as ours. They could probably catch our scent."
"He has a point, said Sly. "We should move as quickly as we can."
So off they went through the deep jungle. The pace was fast and Yohan found it hard to keep up. Brute gave him a lift upon his shoulders. Yohan found that although the wolves came off as nasty creatures, they seemed to be kind despite their cold demeanor. The trail they left in the jungle was nearly impossible to follow. The wolves would travel in a straight line for a few minutes, and then they would either steer to the right of the left in order to throw off any pursuing tigers. The notion of breakfast was far from their minds until their stomachs began to speak to them. Nothing was in sight that was fit for eating. The pace began to lag, and the wolves found it hard to continue. The area around them looked the same as it had before. There wasn‘t a real break in the vegetation; it seemed to smother them under the humid temperature. Yohan was able to find a few insects that were edible. A cat of his nature considered insects, although a second rate meal, the best nourishment for the moment. His father had taught him a little rhyme that reminded him which ones to eat:
If the crawler is green or brown; go and chow down. If it’s other than that; you’re one dead cat!
He offered some of his findings to the wolves, but Brute and Sebastian rejected it. Sly tried six; and, after feeling sick, swore never to try another one again. Yohan needed to understand that wolves needed some type of meat, cooked or raw it didn‘t matter to them. Brute and Sebastian left for a hunt, while Sly stayed with Yohan. The stillness of the jungle left an unsettling mood for the two; neither of them had anything to say to each other. Yohan made drawings in the dirt to stay entertained.
"You‘re doing it all wrong, "Sly said looking at Yohan‘s drawing, "A house doesn‘t look like that."
"It looks fine to me." he said hiding his work.
"Come now, no reason to be unseemly. You might as well get use to traveling with us. Here, let me introduce myself."
"I already know your names," the kitten said as he continued to draw in the dirt.
"Aznar has been talking to you. Whatever he told you about us is a lie. Those names are not our own." said Sly
"Then what are your real names?"
"I‘m Uri, Sebastian is called Nahu, and Brute; well, Brute goes by the name B.A.D."
"What does B.A.D. mean?"
"Big and Dumb."
Sly held his belly as he laughed. Yohan‘s hard attitude slowly softened and he began to laugh too.
"That‘s so wrong---funny---but wrong." said Yohan