Chapter 270: Fall into Place
Sunnie smiled like someone who had been waiting for this for ages. She kept her cool as she casually said, "Oh, I see... now you’re curious." She hesitated as she casually said, "This night, they’ll be making their way to the cave. So if you’re quick enough to stick around... you’ll find something."
The tiger hesitated, staring at her while he slowly nodded. "Okay... I’ll believe you on that. I hope you don’t disappoint."
She smiled as she said, "You’ll just have to see for yourself."
---
Just as Sunnie had said, the two parties had waited and taken action that night.
The eagle leader had sent his men to operate that night.
That night, some of his men had secretly set off to the storage cave. When they arrived at the cave, they had made some tricks which drove the guards standing at the entrance off.
They made some sound by throwing pebbles into the distance. Creating that suspicion, the tiger beastmen standing at the entrance of the cave keeping guard had set off to check what was happening.
With them gone, the eagle beastmen sent by the leader made their way into the cave.
The leader had given them instructions on what to do when they got in there. As they got there, they began making their investigations around the food.
They were searching through the foodstuff to see any details that could indicate that someone was tampering with the food—the evidence their leader had demanded they get.
As they took their time going through it, they finally saw something.
One of them paused as he caught sight of something. He leaned closer with the others as they saw the sight of a part of the food which looked like someone had tampered with it—as if someone was taking a bit of that part or something.
"What do you think? Do you think someone is tampering with it?" He inquired.
The others stared for a while, trying to study the scene. Then someone picked something up.
"This is..." One said. He pointed to the scene as they leaned closer and caught sight of what he was seeing as well.
They had seen some furs belonging to a tiger. They leaned closer and confirmed that this was a tiger fur. It simply meant that a tiger had actually been in here because they went around looking and also finding more particles around.
"This means the tigers did tamper with the food," one said.
"That’s exactly what we’re looking for." He turned and stared at one of them. "Let’s go and report our findings," he said as they all set off.
---
On the other hand, while these eagle beastmen had made their way into the storage cave for their investigation, they were being watched.
It was all part of the plan. The tiger beastmen who were keeping guard had already known that they’d be coming. So they had intentionally fallen into the plan and stepped aside for a while, letting them make their way in.
From a distance, the tiger tribe leader’s men stood in the woods watching. They were sent by their leader to confirm the female’s information—to see if the eagle tribe men would actually sneak into the food cave.
To their surprise, they actually did. They stood there watching them sneak in and waited for them until they were done and out.
While they were out and gone, the tiger beastmen stared at each other and slowly nodded. They turned and headed back to the tribe leader to present what they had discovered.
---
The eagle beastmen soon returned to the eagle tribe leader, who was waiting for them.
"So? What did you discover? What did you find?" He inquired.
The beastmen didn’t hesitate. They presented their discovery before the tribe leader as soon as possible.
They explained what they had seen while confirming the words of the female.
"With what we’ve seen, I think it’s safe to say that what the female said might actually be true. These tiger beastmen might actually be up to something we should be on the lookout for," one explained.
Another agreed. "Yes, Lord. It seems they’re actually working towards getting all the food for themselves and are planning on it now. So I think it’s best we also begin our plot for it. We should start now and outsmart them before they succeed. We should do something."
They expressed their thoughts while the eagle lord stood there with both arms folded, staring into the distance in thought.
He had confirmed his thoughts on this. Now he could say that these tigers were actually up to no good, and they were certainly plotting hard behind his back.
With that confirmed, he knew he had to do something to counterattack—something that would keep them ahead of the others.
To do that, he would need to summon the female who apparently seemed to be able to predict all that was happening. He would have to get more information from her to know how he’d work towards outsmarting the other party.
---
The tiger beastmen had also stood before their leader and presented the information they had gotten.
They had explained how they had seen the eagle beastmen make their way into the cave and act suspiciously in the process.
After they were done reporting all their findings, one of them said, "So I think it’s safe to say that what the female said is actually true. These eagle beastmen are actually plotting something against us... they’re actually plotting to take the whole food for themselves and betray us in the process."
Another agreed as well. "Yes. That’s exactly what happened. And I think if we sit around and don’t act fast enough, they might actually try something else... they might actually try to attack us and pin us down to their commands."
"So I think it’s time we do something. We should also take actions to make sure they don’t win in any way," another suggested.
The tiger was calm for a while in thought. He couldn’t help but think through what he had just discovered while exploring how he was going to handle this.
"So what do you want us to do?" One of them asked. "Just give your instructions and we’ll handle the rest."
But the tiger hesitated in thought. He couldn’t jump into taking actions right now. He had to sit through and give it some thought so it wouldn’t backfire. To do that, he knew he had to meet the female for it.
"Summon the female," he explained. "I’d like to meet the female and see what she has to say about this. I believe the female will certainly have something to say about it."
The beastmen stared at each other and then stared up at the tribe leader. They didn’t bother questioning anything at all. They simply nodded and said, "Okay, then... we’ll do just that."
---
Sunnie was back in prison, sitting down and enjoying the bowl of soup meat that was brought to them by the tribe leader.
She was so calm and relaxed while she enjoyed her meal that the others couldn’t help but ask, "So? What’s happening? How’s it going? Is it going as planned or...?" Little Black asked.
"Did they fall for it?" Zayn inquired.
Sunnie smiled as she said, "Today will determine everything—if they’ll fully take the bait and if they’re going to fall into our plan."
She hesitated as she stared into the distance. "But I sure do have a feeling that they both will." She sighed as she added, "We’ve already taken enough time. We need to start working towards heading back. So they certainly need to take the bait as fast as possible." She smiled as she stared into the distance.
Just then, a knock came on the prison gate. As they turned, they caught sight of an eagle beastman standing there and waiting for her.
Sunnie didn’t even need to ask what it was. She already knew that her plan was falling into place. Without hesitation, she followed him out.
---
Sunnie was soon sitting with the eagle tribe leader. There was silence for a while before Sunnie cleared her throat and casually asked, "So... what am I doing here again?"
The tribe leader was quiet for a while before he said, "I’ll be quick with my statement and won’t waste any time." He stared at her as he said, "I’ll need your help to get more information from the tiger beastmen and know what they’re up to."
He added, "Help me to outsmart them before they even act."
Sunnie smiled as she stared at him. "Is that all?" She slowly nodded as she said, "Sure... I can do that. But you’ll have to keep to your word. If I help you as you’ve requested, then you’ll set us free. Remember?"
The eagle tribe leader hesitated and then said, "Sure. You have my word for that."
Sunnie smiled back. "Then it’s a deal."