Foes to Friends

Chapter 13 Kayla

"Hunters?" I had finally got Sherah to calm down enough to tell me who captured Lukas, "What are hunters?" We are still sitting on the ground. Well, Sherah is sitting on her knees with her hands still held close to her chest, and I'm kneeling on the ground.

"Wolves and foxes aren't the only enemies around here. Hunters are the enemies of both," Sherah explained, "They hunt Humanimals for money. They like wolves more than foxes for some reason though and they use tranquilizers and nets. I found the site where they captured him."

"So you're saying that Lukas is in trouble," I clarified.

"Yes, he went missing two days ago. He didn't come back that night after going to see you," Sherah explained, "We waited up for him, but we gave up around eleven and thought that he would be back by morning. "

"But he wasn't," I added.

She nodded, "What happened when he went to see you?"

"Uh... right...," I faltered, "My dad's advisor smelled fox on me-" Sherah gave me a confused look, "He has a stronger sense of smell. Anyway, my dad sent wolves to follow me the next day when I went to see Lukas. I was able to smell their scent so Lukas was able to get a head start. I tried to call them off, but they refused.

"So they chased after him and captured me, the guards even disabled my transformations so that I couldn't help him," I continued, "They came back empty handed, though."

"Why would they try to capture him though, for torture? Or black mail, or just to kill him because they hate us so much?" Sherah asked.

"The wolves hate the Foxes because they think that it was you guys that started The great war. They were just trying to protect me. Their exact words were, 'The foxes are our enemies. If one is interacting with our princess, he must be killed. Or in the least, contained.'," I said in my best imitation of the guard's voice.

"What? The foxes didn't start the war, the wolves did," Sherah argued.

"I don't think it was either," I told her.

"What do you mean?"

"What if it was a set up," I explained, "the foxes think the wolves started it, and the wolves think that the foxes started it. What if someone stirred the wolves and foxes up to make them hate each other."

"Why would anyone do that?" Sherah asked.

"I don't know," I told her, "It could be for any reason."

"True..." Sherah pondered, "Anyway, Lukas is still in trouble. Your story makes sense though. If Lukas was running away from the wolves then he could have walked into a hunter trap. The ones that pull him into the air by net. Then the wolves must have thought that he disappeared and they would go back empty-handed."

"Yeah," I agreed, "He would be too focused on running away from the wolves that he wouldn't see the Hunter trap."

"Poor Lukas, he must be so lost," Sherah sighed, "Maybe Chase was right, I shouldn't have let him sneak out to see you."

I frowned, "But then I would have lost my only friend, and I would have no idea why? That would be worse than being locked in my room for the rest of my life." I wished that he wasn't captured, too, but not like that.

I blame my Dad. If he just trusted me, he wouldn't have sent guards to spy on me. Lukas wouldn't even be in trouble if the guard didn't chase him into the hunter trap.

"He's your only friend? Aren't you a princess?" Sherah questioned.

"Yeah, I'm a princess, that doesn't mean that I'm more likely to have friends. I spend most of my time exploring in the woods, and when I'm around others my age, I don't fit in, most of the time people will just try to be my friend because they want to meet my sister-the future alpha- or my dad or mom," I sighed, "Lukas has been the only one that I have met that didn't treat me different because I'm a princess. We understand each other, and we can joke around with each other."

"That's... sad, I mean it makes sense, but it's just sad," Sherah replied, quietly, "I'm glad that you and Lukas are friends."

"Yeah... me, too," I murmured, "So anyway, how do you know that Lukas was captured by hunters?"

"Right, so this morning me and Chase were looking for signs on where he went. Chase was dead set on the wolves capturing him, I was unsure so I convinced him that we need proof. So we were looking for proof that they did or didn't do it. That's when I found the capture scene."

"Right the place where he got captured," I added.

"Yeah, so I found it by following fox prints that I saw when me and Chase were looking in the woods for Lukas. I tried to tell Chase, but he just said that they were bunny tracks. But I followed them anyway, and found the site," Sherah continued, "The tracks just stopped, and there were net marks and boot prints. I looked up to find the left over ropes from the net trap. But the worst evidence of all is what I found in the middle the net marks." She opened her hands slowly. Sherah had two bracelets.

Friendship bracelets, I think I've seen them in the wolf main store. I never really thought about them when I was younger, cause I didn't exactly have any friends. There were two, one with different wolf colors and the other had different fox colors. Both read Lukas+Kayla. Maybe this is what Lukas was talking about when he asked if I like surprises around when we first meet.

That's definitely enough evidence to know that Lukas was captured by hunters. Okay so Lukas was captured by hunters, mean hunters who would love to get their hands on us, kill us, and sell us for money. Who knows if he is still alive?

No I can't think like that. He is still alive. He could be at the hunter's base. Waiting for the chance to escape. Yeah that's what he's doing.

"So what do we do?" I asked softly.

"I... I don't know," Sherah replied defeated.

"Well we have to do something," I can't give up on him, "We have to rescue him or something."

"What can we do?" Sherah argues, "I can't go anywhere like this, I wouldn't make it."

I stood up from where I was kneeling on the ground, Sherah stayed sitting on the floor of dirt layered with blades of grass. I curled my hands into fist. "Then it's up to me to save him."