Chapter 266: I heard...
"Then that would certainly be interesting to watch—how they’re going to tear each other apart because of this," Zayn said.
"And it’s even more interesting because the tiger tribe knows nothing about this. They’re definitely going to lose to the eagle tribe, who would have taken everything," Little Black explained.
They sat there, discussing it aloud as much as possible. They were making sure that anyone around and outside was going to hear it. At that moment, the guard outside had heard it.
At first, the tiger guard paused. He thought to himself, wondering if he was hearing things or so. But he wasn’t.
He listened more and heard all they said, shock filling his expression before he immediately jumped into the scene, standing before them.
Sunnie and the rest turned and stared at him, acting all shocked as if they didn’t expect to see him there.
"Oh, you... what are you doing here?" Little Black asked, blinking.
The guard glared at them. "What rubbish are you talking about? What do you all mean by that?"
Sunnie blinked as she looked around and stared at the guard. "What are you talking about? What do you mean?"
"You four... you said something just now. You said something about our tribe. What is it you said? Repeat it," he insisted.
But Sunnie shook her head innocently with a shrug as she said, "I don’t know what you’re talking about at all. I don’t remember saying anything about the tribe at all."
Little Black shook his head as well as he said, "Yes, we didn’t say anything at all. So we don’t know what you’re talking about."
"I’m sure of it! I’m sure I heard it. So repeat it now!" He demanded.
But they stared at each other and stared at the guard. Little Black shook his head as he said, "I think that maybe you’re hearing things now. You should definitely go get checked."
Sunnie and the rest nodded in agreement.
The guard glared at them, pissed. He was sure they said it and he heard it loud and clear. But they were now trying to hide it.
The guard laughed as he said, "You might want to deny it, but I heard it all! My ears work so well!" He said as his brown tiger ears twitched. "Too bad! You can’t hide it from me at all."
He said as he instantly turned and stormed off.
The four of them sat there, watching the tiger storm off and heading to the tribe leader to tell him about all he had heard.
While he left, Sunnie and the rest sat there quietly watching and making sure he was out of sight. As soon as he was out of sight, they turned to each other again with a smile.
"It worked," Little Black said with a triumphant smile. "He bought it."
Sunnie folded her arms as she leaned against the wall with a smile. "That’s good. Now it’s to wait and see how it flows."
Zayn stared at her as he said, "So what now are you going to wait for?"
She smiled as she said, "Simple—I wait for them to summon me for questioning."
---
The tiger guard rushed out and kept running as if he was being chased. He didn’t stop as people stared at him while wondering what was wrong with him.
Soon, he rushed into the tiger tribe leader’s lair. The tribe leader was sitting with some of the elders and important people while having some important conversations.
They were discussing the food that had just arrived while also talking about how they’d handle the prisoners at hand.
And just then, he rushed in, panting and sweating like one who had seen a ghost.
As he stepped in, they turned and stared at him. There was silence through the room while staring at him.
The tiger leader asked, "And what is it? Why are you running, and why do you look like that?"
He kept panting as he looked around at the others there and then said, going down on his knees, "I have something important to talk to you about... something extremely important."
The tribe leader stared at him and asked, "Is it important? Because I’m in some kind of meeting now."
He nodded immediately. "Yes... it’s extremely important. I have to tell you now, else something bad will really happen... and I have to speak to you alone."
They stared at each other for a while through the silence. Then the tribe leader told the others to leave.
They didn’t hesitate; immediately, they all got up and soon left the room for the two of them. When they were gone, the tribe leader turned to the guard and asked, "So? What is it? Speak up."
Immediately, the guard went down on his knees and began spilling all he had heard. "....I heard them talking about it... they said..."
He said everything in detail, explaining all that Sunnie and the rest talked about. As he informed the tribe leader, his face went pale with shock and confusion.
The tribe leader didn’t know what to say. He simply sat there staring as the guard explained everything to him.
When the guard was done speaking, he said, "And that’s why I rushed here immediately to let you know. Because if you don’t know and don’t work towards something, they’ll definitely do something to us. We’ll lose it!"
As soon as he was done talking, the tiger leader sat there in thoughts for a while. He thought through all that was said while he ran a hand through his chin. "Are you sure about this?"
"Yes. I’m sure. I eavesdropped on their conversation while they were not aware. And when I tried approaching them to question them, they denied it all. Little did they know that I’ve already heard it all. And so I rushed here immediately to let you know," he explained.
The tiger sat there quietly in thoughts. He couldn’t bring himself to accept it, but he also couldn’t bring himself to deny it.
Even though the two tribes had been working together for years, they’d always been suspicious of each other. After all, it wasn’t as if they were the best of friends at the end of the day.
It was all business. The tiger leader knew that things like this were possible, especially since that eagle was always so quiet and nonchalant.
He was hard to read, so it made this even more likely.
"That eagle... if this is true... then we’re heading towards a great loss..." The tiger shook his head as he said. "If he runs off with it, then..." He thought to himself. "It’ll be over for him."
The guard nodded. "Yes. Especially since the eagle tribe are already working on their new tribe at a distance... so what if this is part of their plan?"
The tiger thought for some time and then slowly nodded. "Note taken. Let’s keep an eye on them and see what happens."
He stared at the guard and said, "For now, let’s not act out. Let’s not make it obvious that we might have known something... let’s just keep it low."
The guard nodded immediately as the leader stared into the distance and said, "Let’s do that first and see what next they’re going to pull."
---
The next day, the eagle tribe leader and tiger tribe leader had come together to have a drink as usual.
They sat down under a huge tree, enjoying drinks while staring out into the distance. They watched as kids ran around playing, women worked while taking care of their kids, and men practiced their skills while also working for the tribe.
It was a cohesive atmosphere—a coming together of the tiger tribe and eagle tribe, living together in harmony.
The two of them sat there, staring at them in peace as the tiger leader smiled and said, "Interesting."
He said with a smile as he turned to stare at the eagle lord. "Isn’t it beautiful? How they all are living in such harmony and peace? Don’t you think it’s beautiful seeing the two tribes come together and live in such happiness?"
The eagle smiled with a nod. "Yes. I also think it’s a beautiful sight to behold. Something to uphold for a long time."
The tiger nodded as he said, "True indeed. Something to really uphold forever." He sighed. "So it’d be dumb if someone does anything to ruin all these... don’t you think so?"
The two of them stared at each other, silence growing between them. Awkward silence as the tiger smiled, followed by the eagle—the two smiling while staring into the atmosphere.
"Yes. It’d be dumb if anyone does anything to ruin it all. Because it’s just perfect this way... just perfect," the eagle smiled with a nod.
The tiger smiled as he stared at the eagle while asking, "So how’s it coming up? The new place you were working on?"