And we're back :P! I think this might end up on more than twenty chapters anyway :I... Damn his story is a long one... But this is a relatively short chapter though ^^
*** Chapter Eighteen : The Baxters ***
The birds were singing, the sun was slowly rising to warm the Earth down below it and from far away, a rivers steady flow was heard. Bentley opened his eyes and inhaled the fresh scent of the forest around them. Lottie had chosen the perfect spot to camp; in a clearing of the lush, green woods they had been traveling through for the last couple of days.
He scooted up into an upright, sitting position and stretched his back. Lottie was still sleeping curled up on her side next to him, so he moved carefully to not wake her up. He got up and headed for the river, while there he kneeled down to drink and wash his face. He spotted his own reflection in the stirring surface and frowned. He was starting to get a beard and his hair had grown long enough to fall over his eyes every now and then, but too bad Ellie wasn't around to give him a haircut. He started rubbing his chin and tried to imagine how he would look in a goatee when he heard steps behind him, but he didn't need to turn around to hear it was Lottie.
"G'mornin'" He said when she came up to his side, and she replied with a quiet nod before she kneeled down as well. She scooped up some water in her palms and drank, while he hastily looked around the area. "So, what's the plans for t'day? Should we follow the river upstream, or just go somewhere else and hope for the best?"
She shrugged. "It sounds safer if we follow the river..." She looked around as well. "But I do like the woods here! Everything is so harmonic and peaceful!"
Bentley grimaced and looked down in the river again. He did not agree on that; halfway during the night he had been kept awake by an owl, who sat in the tree right above them and talked with his imaginary friend. And when he did the mistake to ask the owl to be more quiet or to move to another tree, the owl began to rant away about the youth today and how everything was different when he was young and how much longer he had lived in that tree before they came here etc. Eventually Bentley had just given up and tried to stuff moss in his ears to keep the owls annoying voice out.
Suddenly a guttural, growling sound was heard from Bentleys stomach and Lottie tilted her head at him and began to giggle. "Maybe we should eat something first, and THEN wonder were we'll go?"
Bentley rubbed his complaining belly and grinned faintly. "Sounds like a plan to me!"
They went back to the clearing and began to rummage through their satchels for something to eat, and came up with a pair of wrinkly apples and a piece of bread each. They had packed food when they left the Aventine Farm, but it was starting to run out. The plan was to reach a town and get a job BEFORE they ran out of food completely!
Lottie fetched some water from the river, made a fire and boiled some dried herbs into tea. She always drank this strange tea. "It cleanses your body and relaxes your soul", she used to say. Bentley was very suspicious to this 'tea' thing, but she managed to convince him to taste a few sips. He wasn't impressed by the spicy and slightly bitter tasting warm water, but he got himself to empty his cup for her sake. No, he was more of a coffee person, whenever he managed to get his hands on coffee that is. Besides, the whole 'body cleansing' and 'soul-relaxing' thingy seemed a bit too fuzzy for his taste!
They had just finished their meal when a loud yell was heard from the river. They both stopped what they were doing and just listened, exchanging confused looks. When the yell was heard a second time Bentley got up and ran towards the river. Lottie quickly stuffed their things back into the satchels, got up and followed him. They had to run for a while upstream before they found the source of the strange shouts; a big, rodent like creature with a huge, flat tail was standing in the middle of the waist-high river with a fishing rod, and whatever was on the other end of the rod was giving him one hell of a fight! The two hyenas stopped by the shore and stared at the man, not sure what to do. And apparently, he noticed them because he suddenly turned his head to them and nearly fell back into the water by a strong tug from the fish.
"Y'know, some help would be appreciated!" He hollered before going back to try to reel in the struggling fish.
Lottie didn't hesitate; she handed the satchels to Bentley before jumping into the water. Her skirt instantly got heavy from all the water, but she didn't care as she made her way through the waist-high water to help the stranger. Bentley looked down at the satchels before putting them down on the ground and go help.
While Bentley and the stranger joined forces to reel in the huge fish, Lottie held out the net, ready to catch it. The fish was a trout, about the size of Bentleys lower arm, and it struggled even as they managed to trap it in the net, and the big rodent let out a victorious whoop.
"HALLELUJAH! Caught ya again, Wilbur!" He laughed and patted Bentley on the shoulder. "Couldn't have done it without ya, kids! Thanks!"
Bentley and Lottie nodded, panting heavily. "W-wait, again?" Bentley frowned, and stared in disbelief as the rodent laughed one more time and then let the fish go. "W-what? Why...?"
"That, my friends, was Wilbur!" The rodent laughed and signed for them to follow him back up on the shore. Bentley and Lotte exchanged bewildered looks before returning to the shore. "Wilbur is a really old friend of mine! He's a real sly devil, but every once in a while I DO get him on the hook and when I do, hooo, he ain't happy 'bout it!" He took of the fishing hat of his head to wipe his brow before putting it back on and turn to the two hyenas. "Why look at you two! You're soaked to the bone!"
Bentley couldn't stop staring at the stranger, who just let a fish go after struggling like a madman and almost get himself drowned to catch it. He shuddered when a breeze swept through, and make him shiver in his wet clothes. He glanced at Lottie and noticed that she was already shivering and freezing as well.
"I know, as a little 'thanks-for-the-help', whaddya say 'bout coming with me home, get yourself dried up and have yourself a bite to eat, eh? My wife is an amazing cook!"
Bentley frowned suspiciously, but Lottie smiled thankfully and nodded. "W-we would very much appreciate that, s-sir!"
Bentley glanced from Lottie to the stranger. He seemed a bit too nice, Bentley thought. He knew how the people were in this new world, and he could swear that this man had something up his sleeve, but not Lottie. She seemed to trust him, and when she noticed Bentleys suspicious look, she nudged his arm and gave him a reassuring smile. Bentley wasn't all too convinced that this man really was as nice as he appeared to be, but still followed him and Lottie to his home further up the river.
"Oh, I almost forgot to introduce myself!" He said while they were following the river. "My name is Elmer! Elmer Baxter!" He exchanged his hand, and Lottie instantly took it.
"My name is Lottie" She said and nodded at Bentley. "And this is my friend Bentley"
"Bentley and Lottie, huh?" Elmer tipped his hat. "Well, thanks again for the help with Wilbur!"
Lottie smiled and nodded once again. "You're welcome, Mr Baxter!"
Elmer was a beaver, and the outside his home looked just like a big pile of sticks right beside a dam, but as soon as they stepped inside, the two hyenas were surprised over how spacious and cozy everything was: the huge room they entered had a dining table and kitchen to the right, and living room with a fireplace by the furthest wall. To the left there was a stair leading to the bottom floor, and probably where the bedrooms were as they didn't see a single door or bed on this floor.
A female beaver stood by the stove and stirred in a big pot when they came in, and her eyes instantly narrowed at her husband. "And where have YOU been all morning?!" She asked and angrily stirred even faster in the pot. "No, let me guess: ya tried to catch that Wilbur again?!"
"Of course!" Elmer snorted in reply and hung his drenched fishing hat on a hook on the wall. "I promised him I'd see him every Saturday and the day I'll let down a friend will be the day the sun goes out!"
His wife let out an annoyed growl and was about to turn back to the pot just as she noticed the two hyenas, shivering in their cold, wet clothes but still curiously looking around. "Gosh!" She gasped and left the stove to run up to them. Bentley took a cautious step back from the approaching beaver, but Lottie only turned her head in curiosity. "What's happened to you two, dears?! You're shivering more than a..." Her voice trailed off and she narrowed her eyes at Elmer again.
"These two brave youngsters helped me catch Wilbur! Never would've done it without 'em!" Elmer beamed and dunked his hand on Bentleys back, making Bentley wince slightly when one of the week-old lashes was ripped up by the sudden brotherly punch.
"Wilbur...! Oh I oughta catch that thing myself so we finally get this over with!" His wife snarled and pushed the two hyenas towards the fireplace. "Now, I'm really sorry you two that my husband made you two look like you've drowned yourselves! I'll get you some dry clothes and warm blankets and supper will be done shortly!"
Lottie nodded. "Th-thank you, Mrs Baxter..."
"Vivian, but please just call me Viv. 'Mrs Baxter' makes me feel so old!"
…
Not many minutes later, Bentley and Lottie was sitting in front of the fireplace. She had borrowed an old dress from Vivian and Bentley was wearing an pair of Elmers old clothes, while their own clothes were strung up in front of the fireplace to dry. Both had blankets wrapped around their still freezing bodies and a bowl of the shrimp and mushroom stew Vivian had been cooking in their hands. Bentley had to admit; these people didn't seem so bad! But he didn't want to trust them just yet. But Lottie did, and she had already told them that they had been slaves on the Aventine Farm, which definitely earned them the Baxters sympathy.
"So, Bentley and Lottie, huh?" Vivian said as she sat in an armchair by the fireplace and knitted on something that looked like it was going to be a scarf. "Where are you two headed, if I may ask?"
Bentley didn't answer, but Lottie put down the spoon in the bowl as she answered the beaver: "Well, now we're just roaming around. We hope to find someplace where we can get a job and earn some money so we finally can go home."
"Home?"
"Yeah, to Africa" She looked at Bentley and smiled when he looked back up at her with a confused look. "That's where Bentley comes from. He's told me everything!"
"Really?" Vivian curiously looked at the male hyena. "How come ya ended up here then, darl?"
He averted his eyes and stared down at the stew in his hands. "I... I don't wanna talk 'bout it..." He mumbled and gulped down a spoonful of the stew.
"Oh, it's alright, ya can tell me-...!"
"Viv, leave the boy alone" Elmer said. He was sitting by the dining table and puffed on a pipe. "If he doesn't wanna talk 'bout it there's gotta be a dang good reason for it"
Lottie gave Bentley a worried frown and gently put her hand on his arm. She had heard his story a long time ago, and she didn't seem to want to hear it again. Vivian sighed and went back to her knitting.
"I'm sorry, darl. I'm just curious by nature!"
Suddenly the door opened and two smaller figures rushed in. "Dad, dad!" They shouted and ran up to their father. Both were young beavers, the boy didn't seem to be older than twelve while the girl looked to be around seven-eight years old, and they were both carrying a ring with caught fishes.
"Look what I caught!" The girl said and proudly help up her ring, which held a lot more fishes than the boys. "Felix helped me to catch these! And I caught more than him!"
"Well, I'm not complaining; mine are bigger!" The boy, apparently Felix, said and held up his ring; his fishes were indeed larger than hers.
Elmer laughed and nodded approvingly at the two childrens catches. "Not bad, not bad!" He said with a chuckle. "I told ya they would be master fishermen like their old man, didn't I, Viv?" He cocked his head at his wife, who only smiled and shook her head before continuing to knit.
Suddenly Felix noticed the two hyenas and frowned suspiciously. "Dad, who're those two?"
"Hm?" Elmer said and noticed that his son was referring to Bentley and Lottie, and grinned. "Oh those two are friends of mine! They helped me to catch Wilbur today!"
"Wow! Ya caught Wilbur today, dad?!" The little girl exclaimed enthusiastically and leaned closer to her dad, while her brother and mother rolled their eyes.
"I sure did, Ida!" He ruffled the little girls short, brown hair and grinned. "And I would never have done it if Bentley and Lottie over there hadn't jumped in to help me!"
Bentley and Lottie exchanged faint smiles. Apparently, Elmers gratitude WAS genuine, to Bentleys surprise.
Suddenly Elmer looked like he got an idea and he hollered to get the hyenas attention. "Hey, ya two said ya were lookin' for work, right?"
Lottie beamed and nodded. "Yes, that's right!"
"Well, I've got some things I might need an extra hand with, are ya up for it? I'll be sure to pay y'all too!"
Lottie and Bentley nodded in unison, even if Bentley still was a bit hesitant to trust this stranger.
Vivian muttered and rolled her eyes again. "Now, you're just gonna make 'em do those things YOU were supposed to do last month, aren't ya?"
Mr Baxter grinned sheepishly. "Well, at least they'll be done now! Doesn't really matter by who, does it?"
…
Lottie and Bentley stayed a couple of days with the Baxters, helping them to work on their dam, fix leaks etc, and Bentleys suspicion vanished almost completely overnight, since he discovered that the Baxters indeed WERE good people! They were funny, friendly and best of all: him and Elmer had the same sense of humor. Their kids, Ida and Felix, had quickly taken a liking to Bentley, while Viv and Lottie became friends, and she was often seen helping Mrs Baxter out in the kitchen. Lottie also took the opportunity to show Vivian some things that could help her through a stressful day, like meditation, special tea and all that stuff that was so typical Lottie.
And one night when Bentley and Elmer returned to the house to call it a day and eat supper, Bentley was met with one of the most delicious scents he had ever felt. In fact, he stopped in the doorway just to sniff the air before he curiously turned to the two women handing out plates on the table. He quickly sat down on a chair and shortly after they put down the supper, which for Bentley was quite anticlimactic to see it was just a plate with a bunch of golden brown, flat discs made from some kind of batter. But they smelled soooo good! He curiously poked on one of them with his fork.
"Do ya like pancakes, Bentley?" Vivian asked with an amused tone in her voice, and Bentley raised a questioning eyebrow at her.
"Pancakes?"
"I don't think he has ever tasted pancakes before, Viv" Lottie said and sat down next to Bentley. "I know you'll like this, Bentley!" She added with a wink at him as he slowly placed one of the 'pancakes' on his plate.
He was about to put a piece in his mouth when Ida interjected and pushed a little jar with strawberry jam to him. "Here! It'll taste a lot better with this!" She said and her mouth was all red with jam.
He was just about to reach for the jar when Felix pushed a glass bottle to him instead. "No! Take syrup! It's a LOT better!"
Confused, Bentley looked from the bottle to the jar. But then he shrugged and added both of the things to his pancake, to the childrens great joy. And it was delicious. The single best thing Bentley had ever tasted in his entire life. And he stuffed himself with pancake after pancake, until he suddenly got an idea.
"Hey! Now I know why they're called pancakes!" He said and first he took a pancake, smeared jam all over the surface and added another one, doing the same thing but with syrup. On the third pancake, he reached for the bowl with whipped cream that Viv liked to have on hers and slapped some of it onto his pile of pancakes. He grinned and gestured at the pile with both of his hands."Look! It's a cake! A panCAKE!"
He and Elmer looked at each other before they burst out into laughter, and the children also began to laugh at Bentleys bad joke. Viv sighed and tilted her head at Lottie. "Y'know, your boyfriend is a real oddball sometimes!"
Lottie blushed and looked down at her plate, which she had managed to keep spotless despite having jam to her pancakes. "H-he's not my boyfriend, Viv" She said lowly. "He's just my friend..."
"But ya wish he was, don'tcha?" Viv raised an eyebrow. Luckily, Bentley and the others were laughing too hard to hear what Viv said, so Lottie hesitated before nodding silently.
Mr Baxter hadn't been kidding around when he said that his wife was an amazing cook: everyday, several times a day, she and Lottie would together cook up a masterpiece. Bentley had NO idea that food could taste like that! And sometimes, she would even surprise them with desserts! So far, Bentleys favorite had been the raspberry and apple cake, made from wild raspberries and apples that Mrs Baxter and Lottie had picked the day before. He knew that whenever he and Lottie left again, he would miss Mrs Baxters cooking. He would miss it a LOT!
They earned quite a lot of money by working for the Baxters, but when they were starting to get enough money to continue on their way, both Bentley and Lottie felt torn. They had really come to like the Baxters, and a part of them didn't want to leave this little family, but they both really wanted to return to the jungles as well, which they called their true home.
…
A couple of days later, Bentley and the two kids were heading out to fish. Elmer would have come along too, if he hadn't fallen down from the roof the day before and injured his leg. He didn't mind the children going out fishing alone with Bentley, what DID worry him though was that he might not be able to make his weekly visit to Wilbur.
Ida and Felix showed the way to the best fishing pond, about a twenty minutes walk away, but just as they got there, a shady looking trio rode up to the Baxters dam. Lottie and Vivian were sitting by the dining table and stitched on a patchwork quilt while talking about tea and healing herbs. Elmer was sitting in his armchair by the fireplace with his pipe in the corner of his mouth and tried to block out the womens infernal chattering. When three rapid knocks were heard on the door the women became quiet.
"Gosh, who could it be?" Vivian thought out loud to herself and curiously cocked her head to the side. They didn't get many visitors out here. "Lottie, could ya be a darl and answer the door for me?"
Lottie nodded and put her sewing equipment down. She got up and walked towards the door, but the closer she got, the more she felt an ominous feeling crawl its way along her spine. But she still opened the door, and when she did, she found herself face to face with a tall, dark lizard of some kind. She gasped in fright and took a step back, but it wasn't the cold storm gray eyes, or the grim grin on his face that scared her. Neither was it the long scar straight across his face, nor the two men behind him; a weasel dressed like an indian and a dark brown rabbit, but it was the sense of pure evil surrounding the men. She could see the aura of evil around the lizard, and it was pitch black. This man wasn't the type you'd turn your back to.
"Sorry I startled you, Miss..." The lizard chuckled and leaned his shoulder against the doorframe as he lit a cigaret.
"C-can we h-help you, gentlemen?" Lottie stuttered in her low voice and averted her eyes. She couldn't even stand to look at the evil.
"As a matter of fact, yes..." He paused and shook the match he had used to light the cig to put it out and grinned down at the female hyena. "I'm Connor, Connor Maddoc. Me and my friends are looking for someone; a brown hyena, male, quite tall; well over six feet five, red eyes, laugh a lot, really annoying..." He paused again and blew out a cloud of smoke, causing her to cough and cover her mouth to not breathe it in. "Sounds familiar?"
"We're sorry sir, but we haven't even seen a fellow like your friend there" Vivian showed up by Lotties side, she didn't like this stranger either. The beaver lady grabbed the door and prepared to slam it shut.
"Really?" The lizard blinked in played confusion. "That's odd, seeing as he's traveling with none other than the little Miss over there!" He grinned even wider and pointed at Lottie with his cigaret.
Lottie flinched, and then looked away. "I-I think you're mistaken, sir..."
"And I think you're lying" Connor growled lowly, but just as Vivian closed the door, the lizard stuck his foot in the doorway and stopped the door. He flung the door open, and the two women yelped and backed away while Elmer looked around for his rifle.
Connor and his men stepped inside and drew their guns. "We KNOW he's here! And we can do this either the easy way or the hard way! It's your choice!" He glanced at the side just as Elmer reached for a rifle that hung on the wall and aimed his revolver. "The hard way it is then..."
… Yup, 'Crazy-Con' got his nickname for a reason... DUN DUN DUUUUN!
Anyway, see y'all next chapter ;)!
