Chapter 17: Trapped
Meanwhile, Sid slowly comes to from being unconscious as he looks around to see that he was tied up to two logs like a scarecrow and tries to get out of the vines that are trapping him before he felt a slap on the face by a tail as he looks up to see Carlotta giggling evilly at him and mocks: "Naughty, naughty. you don't wanna anger the master more by escaping"
"W-Where am I?!" Sid panicked.
He then sees Victor next to him as the alpha wolf coldly spoke: "You are at Forbidden Rock, my domain"
"V-Victor..." Sid gulped.
"You remember my name then, How thoughtful of you" Victor mocked.
"But wait, it gets even better" Carlotta laughed before she reveals Peaches with vines wrapped around her body to a giant rock near the edge of the mountain.
"Peaches!" Sid cried out.
"Uncle Sid! Help me!" Peaches sobbed.
"Your precious uncle can't save you now" Carlotta mocked the young mammoth.
Sid pleadingly looks at Victor and begs: "Please don't hurt her, she didn't do anything wrong"
"Oh don't you worry" Victor chuckled. "She won't be hurt as long as she does as she's told and not try to escape then she'll be fine"
"What do you want from me?" Sid demanded.
"Do you see this scar?!" Victor growled. "You did this to me and now I want revenge for what you've done to me"
"Don't you dare hurt my uncle!" Peaches yelled.
"Hush or I'll slash your little trunk again" Carlotta growled at the young mammoth.
"Now don't be too hard on her, she can't do anything to stop me" Victor evilly chuckled.
While Carlotta evilly watches Victor toying with Sid; Balthazar, who cannot bear to see any harm to Peaches from the wicked wolves, privately cuts the vines off from the rock, untying her.
Victor then looks at Carlotta and said: "Carlotta, since you were outsmarted by that thing here, you can have the first strike"
"Ooooh thank you, master!" Carlotta excitedly giggled.
"No! Don't hurt him!" Peaches cried out.
"I'll deal with you later" Carlotta wickedly laughed at the young mammoth before she goes up to Sid and sneered at him: "Now which part of that ugly body should I attack first?"
The female wolf pokes at Sid's body roughly with her claws and said in a squeaky voice: "Eeny, meeny, miny,..."
As soon as she touches Sid's belly, it made a rumbling noise before Carlotta grinned deviously and growled out: "Moe!"
She then punches Sid on the belly which accidentally made Sid let out a large burp as the foul odor from Sid's mouth stings Carlotta's eyes as she screams out: "My eyes! That horrible smell! Gah! My nose!"
As she falls back, she accidentally bumps into Victor as they roll down near the edge of the mountain and were struggling to get back up from being tangled by the bump in.
"Get off me, you idiot!" Victor snapped.
"I can't! I can't see where I'm going!" Carlotta cried as her eyes still sting from the odor.
Peaches soon realize she was free when she moved a bit to get out before she rushes to Sid and attempts to free him but Sid stopped her and said:
"Peaches, no! Get out of here! Go!"
"No! I'm not leaving you!" Peaches refused.
"Peaches, please! Do this for me" Sid begged.
"B-But!" Peaches whimpered, worried for her uncle.
"I'll be fine! Now go!" Sid cried out.
Peaches stood back in tears, not wanting to leave her uncle like this before Sid cried out again: "Go now!"
The sobbing young mammoth fled from the mountain as fast as she could before Victor and Carlotta got back up as the alpha wolf growled:
"And this is why I don't let you do things with me"
"S-Sorry master" Carlotta apologized.
Victor then turns to Sid and evilly chuckles: "Not a bad move, sloth but now it's my turn to have some fun"
"Um...sir' Carlotta whimpered.
"What is it now?" Victor groaned in annoyance.
"About that little brat, she's gone" Carlotta whimpered again.
"What?!" Victor snapped as he turns to see that Peaches is gone.
"Where is she?!" The alpha wolf demanded before he goes over the edge of the cliff to see the young mammoth fleeing into the forest. He turns to Balthazar and yells out: "After her! Don't let her escape!"
"Yes sir" Balthazar bowed before he chases after Peaches but had no intention of capturing her.
"She got away" Sid sighed in relief.
This made Victor viciously growled at Sid before he storms up to the tied up sloth, grabbed his neck, and yells: "Where is she going?! What have you told her?!"
Sid did not answer as Victor smacked him in the face and bellowed: "Answer me! Where has that brat run off to?!"
Sid looked up to the wolf, knowing that there is no escape and since he is convinced that the herd and his best friends never loved him because of Leo, he firmly mumbled: "I don't need to answer to you, I don't have anything that you desire..."
Victor just glared at the tied up sloth before he snarls: "I'm going to enjoy torturing you before I kill you gruesomely..." as he then brings his sharp claws closer to Sid's face.
Carlotta grins wickedly as she watches Victor beginning to torture the poor sloth in gruesome ways that made the sloth screams echo all around the mountain...
Meanwhile, the herd was still following Leo as the red sloth eventually takes them to the gloomy cave; Inside of the cave was large but rather dark with little light inside. There was a giant ledge where the rest of the cave was down below as the other side of the cave's entrance was blocked with boulders that are rooted in vines.
"Are you sure this is Forbidden Rock?" Carrie asked.
"I don't see Peaches or Sid or even Victor" Manny said, looking around desperately for Peaches.
"Leo...are you sure this is the right place?" Dodger asked the red sloth.
Suddenly the rocks that the group was standing on breaks down as the herd and the sloths fall to the bottom of the giant cave, tumbling roughly to the ground as they got up, groaning and grunting in pain from the fall.
"Is everyone alright?" Manny asked the herd in concern as everyone eventually voice their agreement while a little sore yet they are unharmed.
"Such a shame, really"
The group looks up to Leo with a sharp rock and ripped vines as the evil red sloth mocked: "But then again, you won't last a day or two in here without tearing each other apart"
"L-Leo? W-What are you d-d-doing?" Niamh whimpered.
'W-W-What am I doing?" Leo mocked before he angrily growled: "I am finally getting my revenge on you three for ruining everything that I was promised back at home"
"Have you lost your mind, Leo?!" Carrie angrily snapped.
"Of course not; I just play my part and you all fall for it, hook, line and sinker, just as I promised Victor I would" Leo evilly chuckled.
"What?! You...You're working with Victor?!" Manny angrily exclaimed.
"Of course I am! You think Victor and Carlotta finding you were just coincidences? They all knew where you were because I made it possible! And let's face it, did you think Victor would come and snatch Peaches and Sid like that away? Of course not!" Leo coldly explained.
"You lured my daughter to Victor?!" Manny bellowed.
"You should've seen the look on her stupid face when she found out what was going on...I just couldn't believe how desperately dumb she was to believe in me, she's dumber than Sid himself" Leo evilly laughed.
"You...!" Manny growled and was about to rage at the red sloth.
"Leo, you backstabbing traitor! If I ever catch you, I'm going to break every bone of your filthy body and throw you deep into the ocean to drown below, you hear me?!" Ellie angrily screamed.
"Yeah, can you also tell your husband to lose weight while you're at it? Thanks" Leo mocked the mammoths.
"You cowardly sleazy mother-!" Manny furiously exclaimed.
"Why, Leo?! I thought we were your best friends!" Dodger yelled.
"We were no friends, to begin with! You were nothing but thorns in my sight with your despicable family, causing idiotic spectacles against my father and my potential rule in the village but now all of that is gone because of your stupid sister!" Leo yelled back.
"What is he talking about?" Buck asked the pink sloth.
"Do you know why the village was flooded that night? It was because of that stubborn pink sloth! She was the one who caused the flood that night and it's because of her, my kingdom and my home are destroyed and now like Victor, I want revenge!" Leo growled.
"Is that true, Carrie?" Buck asked.
Carrie didn't even answer but stare down in shame before Dodger shouted at Leo:
"You're insane! Even if Carrie did flood the village, Killing us won't bring back the pack or the village"
"Maybe not but it should've been just your family that died that night because after all, I did plan it for the wolves to come" Leo sneered.
"You were working with Victor beforehand the entire time the wolves were slaughtering our village?!" Carrie snapped in bewilderment.
"Of course! Who do you reckon let the wolves into the village and rid of half the idiots I hated there? I did; That throne was mine and mine alone, of course, I'd had to deal with my father if I wanted the throne when I come to age but ever since that night after I hid away from the chaos, I return to find that you took everything that was meant to be mine and I swore to kill you three if it was the last thing I do!" Leo ranted.
"So that's how you escaped!" Dodger growled. "You went into hiding outside the village while the wolves did the dirty work for you!"
"Correct! Oh...and um...do you remember that time the vultures' attack?" Leo evilly chuckled.
"That was...?" Niamh whimpered.
"Bingo!" Leo evilly laughed. "Before I made the deal with the wolves, I had connections with the vultures to let them have what they want to eat, in exchange I let them kill who I order to kill but unfortunately that stupid leader had to be interested in Carrietta's dumb necklace".
"Carrietta?" The herd asked.
"Oh, yeah! I forgot about that name, it was her nickname and it mostly peeved her off," Dodger chuckled.
"Shut up, Dodger!" Carrie snapped before she turns to Leo and snapped at him: "So everything that has happened to our village including the vultures' attack resulting in getting Sid exile was you?!"
"Well granted I did break the deal with the vultures after that stupid sloth got your necklace back and the leader had a fit at me and didn't just take no for an answer and quite honestly I was trying to get rid of you and your family out but that dumb sloth had to take the blame to save you" Leo shrugged.
"You are twice as dumb than Sid ever will be" Carrie yelled.
"Enough! I may never get my throne but I'll settle for your deaths just like what's going to happen to that precious little Peaches of yours" Leo evilly sneered at the herd.
"Peaches!" Ellie gasped.
"So long, you fools!" Leo laughed evilly as he left before calling out in a mocking tone: "I'll make sure Peaches gets your goodbye message before Victor eats her apart"
"Nooooooo!" Manny screamed as he tried as hard as he can to escape but couldn't climb up the steep rocky walls of the cave before Leo closes the top entrance with another cave-in, trying the herd inside.
Meanwhile, Peaches was hiding in the forest, looking for the sea cave to return to her family before she bumps into Balthazar who stares down at the shivering mammoth.
"D-Don't hurt me, please!" Peaches whimpered. "Don't take me back to that evil wolf"
"Don't worry, I won't do that" Balthazar gently assured her.
"W-What?" Peaches asked.
"Come with me; I'll take you back to your family," Balthazar told the young mammoth.
"No! You're lying! You're just like that evil sloth that tricked me!" Peaches cried as she tries to run away again.
Balthazar caught up with Peaches again and gently, he spoke: "I know you don't trust me but I was the one who freed you from those vines back there"
"Y-You did that...f-for me?" Peaches said as she tilts her head in confusion.
"Yes, I was about to do the same for your uncle but Victor spotted me before I can do anything else and you'd be slaughtered by him if you didn't run off like your uncle told you to" Balthazar replied.
"You're not like the other wolves, aren't you" Peaches slowly approaches the large wolf.
"No, I'm not a monster like you think I am" Balthazar shook his head.
"Then help me save Uncle Sid" Peaches cried.
"I will do that but first we'll need your family's help. I know where they are but we must hurry" Balthazar responded.
"C-Can I trust you?" Peaches stuttered in fear.
"You must, it's the only way to save your uncle," Balthazar said before he starts walking away then turns to Peaches and asked: "Are you coming?"
What happens next?
Stay tuned to find out!