CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX: "Breakthrough"
After Rufus' threat, the red wolf moved slowly toward the group, mostly keeping his eye on Diego and Tate. Tate kept behind Diego as the saber circled the wolf. Both predators were growling low, sizing up one another. Manny side-stepped, keeping out of their way, and faced the five wolves that kept around the hole where Cindy and Adah fell into.
Sid held tight to Manny's wooly fur, his courage slowly leaving him the more he stared at the wolves before the mammoth. As ordered, Rufus' pack guarded the trap hole Cindy and Adah were in, and before Manny could make a move, the missing two ran past him from behind, joining their companions. Three wolves stood in the front, with two in the back and one on each side of the hole. Sid heard Manny huff, stamping one large foot in defiance, or maybe nervousness, he could not tell. To the other side of them, the sloth spotted Diego and Tate facing off with Rufus. At this moment Sid felt entirely useless, Diego and Manny had claws, teeth, and tusks to fend off attackers, but Sid had nothing. He wanted to do something to help. Cindy's life was in danger, he had to do something.
His grip tightened as Manny charged, rearing up as much as his weight could allow him to, trying to intimidate the wolves. They looked frightened, but they did not scatter. To a mammoth, wolves were not a particular threat unlike sabers, but it didn't mean their teeth still couldn't hurt. Manfred swung his head from side to side, tusks threatening to knock the nearest one away. He tried to herd them from the hole before actually striking any wolf. Who knew what trouble would happen should one fall into the trap with their friends.
"Manny! Behind you!" Sid cried.
Manny turned as quick as he could only to hear the yelp of a wolf who tried to attack from behind. His large leg smacked into the dog, but with his attention focused on that, the rest of the pack decided to make their move. The three wolves in the front charged. Sid cried out again and Manny turned to face them, luckily knocking the first one with his tusks. The two wolves guarding the opposite sides of the hole joined their companions in the assault, but the two guarding the back kept vigil on their trapped victims. The other pack members worked to surround Manny and Sid, all of them barking and snarling, trying to confuse and scare the mammoth. Manny winced as a couple took a snap at his limbs. He tried swinging his tusks at them, but they dodged and darted. Some feinted leaving him open to the attacks of their other companions. Sid tried his best to coach and warn Manny of behind attacks, but slowly, they both saw, the wolves were trying to herd Manny towards the edge of the cliff. And with all his might, Manfred did his best to hold his ground.
Across the way, Rufus smirked smugly. Diego saw his friend's dilemma and immediately charged to Manny's aid, but a flash of red suddenly came before him. The red wolf blocked the tiger's path, snarling this time. Diego replied with one of his own. Behind him Tate approached, but it didn't seem to intimidate Rufus one bit. He was determined to keep the two from helping the mammoth, even if he had to fight them both at once. Again, Diego snarled and this time he swung a paw at the red wolf, but he easily dodged.
"Get out of my way," the saber ordered, his muscles were taut, ready to pounce at any notice.
Rufus eyed him carefully, moving slowly lest he trigger an attack. Behind Diego, Tate paced anxiously, attention focused on the ex-major, but Rufus paid him little heed. Rufus' main concern was the tiger. Both he and Diego were of the same height and heft, which was not uncommon for a dire wolf. Yet he knew Diego had larger teeth and sharp claws, and one well-aimed hit from either would end the wolf. Right now, Rufus tried to stall in order to think of a way to deal with Diego. Tate was a more simple matter and he could deal with him later.
"A few more moments and my wolves will have your friend against the cliff's edge," he taunted, "It's been a while since we had mammoth meat, so we'll definitely savor it. Although I'm not very fond of sloth, and I've never tried saber, but waste not, want not."
"I don't think so!" Angered, Diego roared and lunged, swinging a paw at Rufus again, but the wolf only dodged.
Diego kept on him this time, surprising the wolf. Tate saw the chance to come at him from the opposite end but Rufus anticipated this and rushed past Diego. The saber turned to continue after him but collided with Tate. The gold-colored wolf yelped and was then shoved off by Diego, irritated and his ego bruised yet again. Ahead of them Rufus only grinned. How easy they fell for such simple tricks. It was also easy to rouse the tiger's anger, and if he did it enough, he would be too distracted to anticipate a serious attack.
"Do me a favor, mutt-face." Diego began, and Rufus realized he was talking to Tate. "Keep out of my way, or else I'm going to hurt you like your red pal here."
"Geez, I was only trying to help ya, kitty-littah"
"Stop calling me that!"
"Stop calling me mutt-face! You started it after all!"
"You're seriously trying to pick a fight now?"
Rufus laughed, bringing the two out of their argument. "This is incredible! By now I could have dealt with you both."
"Yeah? Well why didn't you?" Diego taunted. Rufus stood tall. His confidence annoyed the heck out of Diego.
"I wanted this to be a fair fight." he said coolly.
"Two against one is hardly fair." Tate barked a laugh, but Rufus only smirked.
"I thought it would be a good handicap for you two."
"I don't need one!" Diego lunged without warning.
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The small cub approached the large saber sitting before him, sniffing curiously at the new visitor. It was uncommon for a cub his age to wander off from his mother so often, but she did not worry. Behind the cub stood his father, just as vigilant as his mate when it came to protecting his son. At the moment, however, Hagar was calm. He knew the saber before him had a reputation of being vicious and fierce, but a cub did not interest his brother, Soto.
"Have you named him yet?"
"Ben." Hagar answered with pride in his voice. "His name is Ben."
Hagar's younger brother bent his head down to meet the cub. One snort from his large nostrils could have sent his nephew flying back. He pulled away before Ben could swat at his face.
"Awfully small, isn't he, Hagar?"
"You were small too, Soto. A runt, father called you, and look how you turned out." Hagar smiled. Soto bristled, glaring daggers at his brother, but his temper cooled. "It runs in the family. Soon he will be large as both of us."
Soto lifted his forepaw as the cub tried to engage in play. He ignored his nephew's antics and looked at Hagar. "He's got a lot to learn."
"He's a smart cub for his age."
"Reckless."
"Brave, and inquisitive."
"You know what mother used to say about that."
"An old cat's tale," Hagar shrugged. "He'll grow to be a fine saber."
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Even though the cub's mind was elsewhere, his paws had no trouble following after Ellie's lumbering form. Ben's mind was a tangle of thoughts, and for some reason all he could think about was a specific memory back when he was still a nursling cub. Diego's words reminded him of everything else other's had said to him; helpless, reckless, troublesome. Ben didn't want to be any of those things. His father believed in his potential, and he wanted Adah, and his new friends see him in that light too. The others needed help, and that's what he was going to get.
So where the heck would they start looking in order to find Tala?
"This has to be it!" Ellie said, bringing Ben back to the present. She paused and rubbed her head with her trunk. "At least I think it is."
"There's no way in!" Crash exclaimed. Mammoth, possums, and tiger all looked up at the towering rock wall before them.
"What about there?" Eddie pointed. Crash shoved his brother aside and looked to see a small cave opening in the wall. Both possums slid down their sister's trunk to inspect it. Crash waved for Ben to come over and the cub did so. All three peeked in.
"Go on, Ben." Eddie urged, "Go inside!"
"Uh...o-okay."
Ben took a sniff at the cave; it didn't smell dangerous but he didn't like it. Still, he wanted to be brave even though he wasn't sure why Ellie headed to this spot in particular. He took a deep breath as the possums gave him a thumb's up. Smiling nervously, Ben stepped into the cave entrance.
Only to be shoved right out!
"Oh, excuse me! I didn't know this entrance was guarded."
"Rose!" Ellie bent down to peek into the cave. Ben moved aside as Rose waddled out into the daylight. She squinted, staring at the four figures for some time before recognizing the giant blur before her.
"Ellie!" the red she-sloth hugged the shemmoth's trunk in a sloth hug.
Ellie smiled and giggled, wrapping her trunk around the sloth, returning the hug. As they hugged, noises from the cave caught the attention of the possums and cub. Lavender, followed by a small troop of mini-sloths emerged from the entrance. They chattered in surprise causing the others to take a step back. Rose slid down from Ellie's trunk and stood between the two groups.
"It's alright, Lavender!" she spoke, "They're friends -- herd-mates to your fire-king!"
At the mention of their deity the mini-sloths fell to the ground, bowing. Crash looked at Eddie and made a circle motion with his finger to near his head. Rose only smiled, and turned to face her friends again.
"It's so nice of you to visit! They made me matriarch in my Sidney's absence! Where is he anyway?"
"That's why we're here, Rose. Manny, Sid, and Diego went to find Adah and Cindy." she tried speaking as calmly as possible, not wanting to send Rose into a panic.
"They're in trouble!" Eddie came in, hopping up and down. "A group of wolves attacked us and they trapped Cindy and Adah!"
"Tater went with them but we're supposed to find his girlfriend! I don't know how she can help; we could be wasting time for all we know!" Crash added, also in a panic.
"Tater set a trap! I just know it!"
"Will you two be quiet?" Ellie scolded.
Immediately, her two brothers shushed, huddling close together for comfort and restraint. Rose looked confused and worried at the same time, unable to speak, trying to take in all that was said. Ben understood why Ellie came now. It was only right for Sid's family to know, but the look on her face made his heart sink, as if she just received news of her son's death. That was not going to happen.
"Don't worry, Mrs. Rose. Once we find Ms. Tala we'll rush back to help Sid." he tried to reassure her.
"Wolf?" Lavender spoke, walking up beside Rose. Everyone else looked down at the small sloth. She only smiled and blinked her big googly eyes. "Mini-sloth tribe know of wolves!"
"Do you, Lavender?" Rose almost exclaimed.
"Yes, one was spotted this morning asking for her pack. We gave her directions to head to the fissure in the crescent formation. Due to the floods, I believe it has driven them to look for new tracking grounds. You should probably look there."
The others stared at Lavender and her sudden knack in articulate speech. Crash and Eddie made similar faces of bafflement.
"Dude, that was so weird." Crash said.
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"To your left! No, right! Front! Right! Manny!"
"I know, Sid! I know!" Manny snapped as he took a step back to avoid a wolf.
Inch by inch the pack slowly urged Manny closer to the cliff's edge. The ones attacking from behind had moved to join the ones in the front to begin a full-on assault. It was instinct for Manny to move back away from them, but Sid's shouts brought him out of it and the mammoth charged, gaining a bit of ground every time. He faced seven wolves in the beginning, with the last two still guarding the hole Cindy and Adah were in. He managed to knock two others out; a well-timed swing from his trunk sent them both over the cliff. Shelves or not, he knew they wouldn't be returning right away, if at all.
Snarling caught Manny and Sid's attention, but it was not from the pack in front of them. Roaring followed soon after and they knew it was Diego. Both Diego and Tate fought with Rufus, but he dodged most of their heavy hits. Every time Diego had a clear opening on Rufus the other wolf would get in the way, causing the two allies to bicker with one another. The tiger did his best to keep his anger in check though half the time he wanted to tear Tate limb from limb. He needed to keep Rufus at a distance should he be distracted so he could react quickly enough when the wolf charged. It was the wolf's teeth that posed the threat. As small as they were compared to his, he could not allow him get a grip at his throat or it would be the end.
Smaller fangs, better grip. Diego recalled Adah's (quite smug) remark. He couldn't believe she was right, but he owed her for it too. He fought the urge to look back at the trap she was in. He had to keep an eye on Rufus, and Tate was already doing a great job in preventing that.
"AHHH!!" Manny and Sid's shouting made Diego's head turn. The mammoth had reared up to avoid a particularly brave (or rather insane) wolf trying to go for his throat. On his back, Sid flailed, causing him to lose his grip. The sloth tumbled down the length of the mammoth's back and crashed on the hard, cold ground.
"Sid! Are you alright?" Manny asked, but had little time to look back as the wolves saw the chance to go for the vulnerable animal. He wasn't going to allow that to happen, so he charged forward swinging his large head, daring the wolves to come at him.
"Way to go, Manny!" Sid cheered, keeping well behind the girth of his large friend.
More growling ensued but Sid realized with a start it did not come from ahead, but from another direction. Not to far from where the sloth stood, the two wolves guarding the hole eyed him. With the mammoth currently preoccupied facing their comrades, they figured Sid would make an easy meal. Rufus was also busy in dodging and snapping at Diego and Tate to notice they were disobeying orders. The two wolves made their way around the trap hole and slowly walked toward Sid.
"Uhh...Manny!" he cried, but it was only drowned out by the howls and barks from the wolves, and the exceptionally loud trumpeting cries from Manny. Sid smiled nervously at the approaching predators and slowly backed away. "Nice doggies..."
They didn't waste time stalking in order to strike fear in their prey. Lunging worked well enough which caused Sid to emit a high-pitched scream and break into a waddle-run in a direction that was not blocked by mammoths, wolves, and tigers. Despite the large cliff area, the chase was short lived as Sid skidded to a halt upon reaching one of the edges. He spun around only to see the very smug looks on the faces of his attackers. Desperately, Sid leaned down, his claw feeling for anything on the ground. Luckily he felt something hard and round: a rock! Not caring how large it was, Sid grabbed it and chucked it at the nearest wolf. The rock aimed true and one wolf yelped in pain, eyes clenched shut, and sent into a panic. His companion barked, but soon yelped as the injured wolf shoved into him. Close enough to the edge as Sid was, he lost his footing and slid off the cliff-side leaving the other wolf half-blind and confused.
"Bull's-eye!" Sid was about to break into victory dance, but the half-blind wolf still had one eye to see from, and he snapped angrily at the sloth. He screamed again, barely dodging, managing to waddle his way past the confused wolf. His eyes darted from left to right looking for another rock. The nearest source of ammo was near the trap hole and Sid darted for them.
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"What's going on up there?" Adah said out loud, even though she knew no one would be able to hear.
Up above she saw the two wolves leaving. If they were gone she could get out and help the others. Deciding to chance it, she gathered herself up and jumped. Her front claws dug into the side wall and with all she could muster, Adah hoisted herself up to peek out of the hole.
She didn't see the wolves, but a fat sloth running straight at her.
"Sid?!"
"Adah! You're okay! Is Cindy down there with you?"
"Last time I checked---Sid look out!"
The sloth managed to turn his neck only to see his attacker barreling down on him. Reflexively, Sid jumped back, but instead of falling down the hole, his foot landed on something soft. He had little time to realize he was stepping on Adah's head, and even the grey saber did not have enough strength to hold up the fat sloth. The dirt her claws were embedded in gave way and both tiger and sloth slid down the hole. The half-blind wolf skidded to a halt before he joined them.
"Phew that was close. Good thing I landed on something soft. Where's Cindy?"
"Errrgh...Sid! Get off me!" Adah growled.
"AHHH OW! Someone help! It hurts where the tiger's biting me!"
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"Ah, Sid! You idiot!" Diego growled, glimpsing his friend's scene.
"At least he got rid of one, who was that anyway?" Tate glanced at Rufus, "Lono? Grey?"
"Will you just keep focused on what's going on here, mutt-face?" Diego snapped again. Tate lowered his ears and growled back.
"We're winning, aren't we kitty-littah?"
"What did I just tell you?!"
"WATCH OUT!"
Tate leaped in front of Diego, suddenly tackled by Rufus who was lunging for the tiger in his distracted state. The two wolves scuffled with one another, and the larger one gained footing, slowly shoving Tate towards the cliff. Diego rushed to help, but Rufus already had Tate over the egde. As he was falling, the smaller wolf bit at Rufus's thick fur. The red wolf could not yank away quick enough, as Tate's momentum dragged him down the cliff-side as well. Diego rushed to the edge only to see them tumbling down the side.
"Mutt-face!!"
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A/N: Hello again! D I finally have some time off from college work and I figured it would be a good time to update (besides it has been a while!) I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I'll be updating some time in June. Well, Diego did tell Tate to go jump off a cliff in a previous chapter, didn't he? LOL Oh and the "tiger biting" line is dedicated to my friend bdlywrtten who I trust will get the reference XD X3!
Is anyone out of school yet? It's time for summer and unbearable heat XD Yay for freedom! Everyone enjoy the summer and see you in my next update X3