Chapter 5: Old Frenemies

The sun rose in the valley the inayofuata day. kwa then, Viggo and his men had begun to once again make themselves at home. Some of the Crimson Pack had been put on border patrol, others were guarding the western Mbwa mwitu loups with some of Viggo’s men in the western area of the territory.

kwa midday, Robert arrived, along with some zaidi men and supplies from the base in the Northern Region. As the men began setting up, Robert approached Viggo.

"Well,” he said, “where are they?”

“Where do wewe think?” Viggo asked casually. “They’re gone.”

“You mean they escaped? Again?” Robert inquired.

“Oh, please,” Viggo replied, blowing his off his concern, “if anything, I encouraged it. They’ve abandoned their only defensible position, I have their Marafiki and family as bargaining chips, and they’re running scared through the woods. But don’t worry, I have them right where I want them. I know exactly where they’re headed, and I’ve got a surprise waiting for them. Come now, I thought wewe were a hunter. So, where is your upendo of the hunt? You’re meant to savor it, not let it pass wewe by. wewe had your fun. Now let me have mine.”

“If wewe know where they’re going, then why aren’t we going after them? Robert asked.

“You seem to have forgotten what it means to savor the hunt, my friend,” Viggo replied. “I’ve waited so many years for my revenge. I can wait a little longer.”

Meanwhile, Humphrey and the others were wandering around the southern area of the Northern Region, trying to keep their distance from the valley, but not wanting to get too far away from it either.

“Where do we go now?” Runt asked.

“I can think of a place where we could lie low for a while until we can find a zaidi permanent place to regroup,” Humphrey replied.

“Where?” Stinky asked.

“Follow me,” Humphrey said, smiling.

He led them through the forest for a while. There wasn’t much to note as they made their way through the woods. Eventually, they came across a large clearing and as they crossed it, they soon found a fairly large lake that was surrounded kwa a layer of fog. Stinky suddenly stopped after he noticed something on the ground, hidden in the fog.

“What is it, Stinky?” Kate asked.

“I don’t know,” he replied. “I’ve never seen anything like it before.”

Humphrey walked over, already knowing exactly what Stinky had found.

“It’s a kubeba trap.”

“A what?” Oscar asked.

“You don’t want to know,” Humphrey replied with a grim, sorrowful look on his face. “All wewe need to know is that it’s very dangerous and you’re lucky this one’s been triggered.”

“I know that look, Humphrey,” Kate said, walking up to him. “We may have been apart for seventeen years, but I can still tell when something’s bothering you.”

Humphrey didn’t respond. He only stared at the moss-covered kubeba trap.

“What happened to wewe here?” she asked.

“It was so long ago,” Humphrey said, quietly. “When I had been taken from my parents, I lived alone in the woods for a couple of months.”

“We know,” Kate replied, “you told us.”

“Well, I wasn’t alone the entire time,” Humphrey continued. “I met a coyote in the forest, and he helped me to survive. We had many good times together for the mwezi that we knew each other, and we became like brothers. Then one day, we were wandering through the forest and I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going. He shouted out my name and then grabbed me kwa the skin on my neck and threw me ahead. I heard a metallic snapping sound and when I got up, I saw that he gotten stuck in a kubeba trap. I had no choice but to leave him. I never saw him again.”

“Oh,” Kate said, “and this is where it happened, wasn’t it?”

Humphrey nodded.

“His name was Arnold and he was one of the best Marafiki I ever had,” he told her.

Everyone was silent for a moment, until Stinky began to pick up a strange scent in the air. He sniffed around with a confused look on his face.

“What is it, Stinky?” Oscar asked.

“I’m not sure,” he replied.

“Come on, bro,” Runt said, “don’t tell me your sense of smell is going bad on you.”

“What? No, of course not,” Stinky remarked, “it’s just I’ve never really smelled an animal like this before. I don’t know, it smells kinda like a-“

“Like a fox?” Humphrey asked.

“Yeah, actually.”

“Good.”

“So, how exactly do we find this friend of yours?” Kate asked.

“He’s zaidi like an old frenemy,” Humphrey said. “But don’t worry, it’s very easy. Just listen for the high-pitched screams. That’ll be him.”

It wasn’t long before they heard panicked, high pitched screaming. Everyone turned and looked in the direction that it was coming from.

“Like that?” Steven asked.

“Exactly like that,” Humphrey replied, smiling. “You guys wait here. I got this.”

With that, Humphrey rushed off into the woods. It wasn’t long before he came upon a maroon colored fox, mbweha who was being chased kwa a fairly old looking bear. He chuckled as he approached.

“You guys just can’t seem to stay out of each other’s fur,” he shouted at them.

The two stopped in their tracks and looked over at Humphrey.

“It seems Arnold and I started something, and it doesn’t look like a good something,” Humphrey continued. “What happened now?”

“Humphrey?” Gerald said. “What are wewe doing here?”

“Gerald,” Humphrey replied, “we need your help.”