Chapter 13: The Silver Horn Found
With a great splash, the water below broke his fall, but the force of it nearly left Yohan senseless. He tried swimming to the top to get air, but his legs and arms would not cooperate, and slowly he began to sink deeper; loosing more air in the struggle. Strangely he began to move upward; it was as if someone or something was helping him. Yohan continued to swim until he was free. The water ran into his eyes, he was unable to see who had saved his life. On shore he wiped his face and thank his rescuer,
"Thank you," he said spitting up some water.
"Ah, you are welcome small cat, but you king still has need of you."
Yohan quickly wiped the water from his eyes and there was Anzar with a grin on his face. Yohan went to run, but Aznar pinned him to the ground.
"We are at our journey's end. Where is the horn? Speak up!" Aznar said squeezing his arm.
"Ouch! I don't know!"
"You lying right to my face worthless cat!" spoke Aznar menacingly. " You better speak; the wolves aren't here to help you."
The tiger looked around and saw a cave nearby.
"How about we look in that cave over here? That was apart of the dream, wasn‘t it? Come on, get up."
The tiger yanked the kitten to his feet. He quickly made his way over to the opening. Yohan did his best to keep up with Aznar‘s pace. The cave was dark. They had no torches per say, but cats can see quiet well in the dark, and after a few seconds Aznar and Yohan were able to see all the rocky formations, and the dangerous steps that we once hidden by the dark. Along the ground were a set of three footprints; they were wolfs' tracks.
"SEBASTIAN, SLY, BRUTE, HELP ME!"
Aznar grabbed Yohan's face with such force that he thought it would be crush by the tiger's strength.
"Do that again and I will break your neck, you hear me?"
Yohan took a deep swallow and said nothing the rest of the way. The cave went deeper and deeper until Yohan had no idea of where the beginning was. Stalagmites and stalactites grew on the ground and the ceiling of the cave; some where large as trees, while others grew like strong columns of an ancient building. Water ran down the formations and the constant dripping was enough to drive madness into a creature‘s mind. The stalagmites were grouped close together and getting around them proved to be a challenge. A settlement of water was seen in the background and Aznar would have paid it no mind if he did not see something sparkly in it. He made his way over to the water.
Upon a rock that sat by under water like a pedestal was the silver horn. Aznar was flabbergasted. It in the open. There were no traps or obstacles from prevent Aznar from grabbing the horn out of the water---it was as if it wanted to be taken.
"Amazing!" he said in rubbing his hands together. "My father and grandfather dreamt of this moment and now I can achieve it!
In his awe, Aznar let Yohan go. The kitten stepped backwards until a hand came out of the darkness and grabbed him. Aznar walked into the water and stood at the foot of the stone. The silver horn shined in the darkness and it wasn‘t long until Aznar was enchanted by its beauty. The tiger placed his hand in the water removing the horn from the stone. Aznar lifted the horn high above his head with the joy of victory.
"I‘ve done it---- I shall be the greatest of all the kings."
"If you live to see it," said Sebastian coming out of the shadows, holding his shoulder. Brute emerged from Aznar‘s left and Sly, with Yohan, was on his right.
"It‘s mine!" Aznar replied shaking the horn at Sebastian, "Now the unicorn will come to me. With this horn Dranus will be at my command---the world will be mine!" Sebastian went to confront Aznar, but Sly did something that was unexpected.
"Sebastian, stop---don‘t move."
The wolf briefly looked at the short wolf and turned his attention back to the tiger.
"Give me the horn Aznar!"
"NEVER, I KILL ANYTHING TO KEEP IT!
"Fine have it your way. Once we kill you, I‘ll take the horn from your dead hand. I have spent all this time searching for it. I put all of my energy to retrieve the horn. I believed in it just like you, Aznar. All the times you tortured the Shavronites to find it, I knew it wasn‘t just a myth. Now I will take the horn. I will be rich. THAT HORN IS MINE!"
"I thought it was ours, Sebastian?" asked Brute.
"BE QUIET!" he shouted.
"Sebastian, just let him have that thing," said Sly. " Our freedom is enough treasure for me. Just let him go, Sebastian."
"That‘s a good little slave, Sly," Aznar said concurring. "I‘ll take the horn, you three can go your separate ways. I can always have better slaves anyway."
"You‘re a fool old wolf," Sebastian said growling. " Come on, Brute, let‘s get the horn."
"No, you‘re on your own."
Sebastian‘s face slowly showed signs of confusion.
" Are you stupid, HUH!!? BRUTE, I NEED YOUR HELP! IF WE WORK TOGETHER WE CAN BRING THIS TIGER DOWN!"
No one moved for quite some time and then in a quivering voice Yohan spoke the words that they all wanted to hear,
"I want to go home." Sebastian growled at Yohan.
"YOU SHUT UP! YOUR NOT GOING HOME UNTIL THAT HORN IS IN MY HAND. YOU DON‘T KNOW HOW LONG I‘VE THOUGHT OF IT! YOU WANT TO GO HOME? I SHOULD HAVE GOTTEN RID OF YOU IN THE JUNGLE!"
Yohan, deeply hurt by the words, ran over to Sly and cried quietly.
"What‘s wrong with you?" Sly replied holding Yohan. Sebastian ignored the question.
"Brute, let‘s go. We‘ll take him together."
"No, I won‘t be apart of your greed. You fight him yourself since you want that horn so badly."
Sebastian was caught. He knew he had no strength to beat Aznar; and with his shoulder it was impossible to even attempt another fight with him. The wolf backed away and leaned against one of the stalagmites. The tiger slowly made his way from the scene. Sebastian took a step towards Aznar and the tiger turned with a hiss. After a quick stare down, the tiger disappeared into the darkness. Sebastian dropped to his knees, he was breathing deeply as he looked at Brute and Sly.
"I hate you----both of you! You took advantage of me. You know I was hurt; you knew I could not take him by myself, and when I asked for help you abandoned me."
"You had no intention of sharing the horn with us, did you? This was all for you." Sebastian laughed at Brute‘s comments. He continued to laugh openly like a madman.
"My words were not meant for a joke."
"We could have been rich beyond our dreams," Sebastian said shaking his head. " The palaces we could have slept in, the food we could have eaten. I was a fool for trusting you two, I should have gone in alone.
Sebastian rose to his feet. He was clutching his shoulder tightly.
" We‘ll talk about this later," said Sly. "You need to get that fixed. Let us help you."
"Get away from me!" throwing a punch. " Don‘t touch me!"
The Sly jumped out of the way avoiding the blow.
"Calm down, Sebastian, calm down!" said Brute
"Don‘t tell me to calm down! We could have been rich beyond our dreams," he said backing into the darkness, "Fools, all of you, fools!"
Sebastian‘s voice echoed throughout the cavern, he continued to back away, shouting, until they could no longer hear his cry. Yohan, Brute, and Sly went back out of the cave; the rain had dwindled down to a light shower. The tiger was no where to be found.
"How are we to get back up?" said Yohan.
"There must be a way," said Sly. " Aznar must have found something."
"What about Sebastian?"
Sly lowered his head and closed his eyes. He took a deep breath before he spoke.
"The treasure hunt is over and we must take you back home. Don‘t worry about him."
"Hey, look over here!" said Brute point over the water.
Sly and Yohan looked across the water. A long ladder was placed up against the canyon wall; it led back up to the city. They swam across the water; and after reaching the top of the ladder, they left the abandoned city. Returning back to Tajir involved returning back into the forest, but the wolves retraced their steps back to the Runaway village.
They were greeted warmly and taken care of. The next day they departed to Tajir, and Lobin sent three escorts with them for safe passage through the jungle. The escorts carried with them a large canoe. Once they arrived at Titan‘s river the three took their places in the boat and waved good-bye to the jungle- lands forever. Passing across the river was just as peaceful as it was before; and although they did not meet the great eye of the river, there were feelings of great loss in the canoe.
"Will Sebastian be o.k.?" asked Yohan.
The two wolves continued to paddle without speaking.
"I really don‘t like it when you two get quiet on me."
" I say again," said Sly, "the journey is over. Don‘t worry about us or Sebastian. Your job now is to get back to your family. We‘ll take up camp upon the shore. We should be on the border of Tajir in two days."
Over those two days, the wolves said little and when they did speak it was not to Yohan. Once at the Tajirian border, the wolves walked with Yohan over the same path the caravans had taken. It wasn‘t long when the city gate was seen over the hill.
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