The legend of friendship: Never losing faith again

Chapter 11: At Home with Squirrels

"GAH!!" Arvid cried out in fear. "Talking squirrels?! Do all animals in these cursed woods talk?!"

"Maybe?" Regi said with a sneaky smile.

"Oh, Good lord!" Arvid cried. "These vermin are speaking to me!"

"Who you callin' vermin?" An obese squirrel with a deep voice said. "We ain't vermin. We squirrels from the country."

Madeline and Arvid stared at the fat squirrel in confusion.

"The name's Hank." The fat squirrel said. "I am the head of this here clan of squirrels. And the squirrel law says-"

"No squirrel left behind!" All the squirrels said in unison.

"I was just gonna say that." Hank sighed in irritation.

"But, here you are, not sayin' that." Hank's wife, Leslie, said. "I'm Leslie, by the way. Hank's wife."

"It's an honor to meet all of you." Madeline said, bowing her head with a smile. "...........ahem." She lightly nudged Arvid's leg. Arvid sighed and bowed as well.

"Please make yourselves at home." Regi said, as he and a group of other squirrels jumped onto the table and placed bowls on in. "We're serving up some acorn soup."

"That does not sound good." Arvid said in disgust.

"Oh, you guys have poor taste." Hank said, rolling his eyes. "Let's eat."

Arvid sat at the table while a group of squirrels pushed a bowl on the ground towards Madeline.

"What am I, a dog?" Madeline questioned.

"You........might not want us to answer that, kiddo." Hank said. "Now eat. Or you have to leave." Both Madeline and Arvid reluctantly ate some acorn soup.

"This is okay." Arvid said, sipping the soup. "Not too bad."

I've had better... Madeline thought, rolling her eyes. But, it is the thought that counts...

An hour later...

Madeline and Arvid went back to sleep in two separate rooms while the squirrels all slept in the living room. It was super quiet in the cabin. Not one living soul is making a sound. Not even a snore. Madeline slept softly on her bed curled up like a puppy dog.

Knock, knock, knock!

"Open the door. It's the patriots." A voice said outside.

"Oh, no!" Madeline cried, suddenly waking up. She jumped off her bed and out of her room as Arvid ran out of his room as well. "They found us!"

"What are we gonna do?!" Arvid whispered anxiously.

"Everyone just stay calm!" Regi whispered. "Let us handle this. You two, get in Madeline's room. Hurry!" Madeline and Arvid dashed into Madeline's room and hid under the bed.

"It's open!" Regi called out. Two patriots opened the door.

"Hello?" One of the patriots said. "Anyone here?"

"It is just a bunch of squirrels, Rich." The other patriot said. "Rather inferior if you ask me."

"Hey!" Hank shouted. "Who are you calling inferior?!"

"Oh, good lord, they talk!" Rich cried out. "What are we gonna do?!"

Ignoring Rich, the other patriot spoke, "Ignore this fool. He is new at this. Excuse the interruption, but we are looking for two fugitives, a congressman and a white wolf on the run from the law and we'd like to know if any of you know where they are."

".................We don't know where they are at all." Hank lied badly. "It's not like they're hiding in our cab-"

"Okaaaay! We don't know anything about them!" Regi lied, seldom better than Hank. "Afraid we cannot so anything about that."

"Are you all sure you know nothing of these fugitives?" Rich asked.

"We are sure!" All the squirrels said in unison.

"Good day to you gentlemen!" Hank said in a bad fake accent, as he closed the door on the patriots, who walked away. Madeline and Arvid climbed out from under the bed and walked out of Madeline's room.

"Thank you for saving us from getting in trouble.." Madeline sighed in relief. "How can we repay all of you?"

"We will think about it." Regi said. "For now, let's all go back to sleep. You two need rest."

Meanwhile...

Williams III, Father Wolf, Mother Wolf, Ben, the patriots, and the wolf pack walked through the darkened woodland landscape with the patriots having their rifles aimed high and the wolves fierce and determined. Except for a completely distraught Mother Wolf and Father Wolf. As they continued following the foot tracks, the two patriots from earlier approached them.

"Did you find anything?" Williams III asked them.

"Nothing." Rich said. "We found an old cabin inhabited by talking squirrels and they said they never saw or heard of the two fugitives."

"One of those 'fugitives' has a name, snake!" Mother Wolf growled. Williams III held his hand out in front of her and continued speaking, "Did either of you search the cabin?"

Rich and the other patriot, whose name is John, looked at each other."

"No, we did not." John said. "We never looked into their cabin."

"Then, we have to go there and search the entire cabin by force." Williams III said. "Let's move out."