National Park

Chapter 20

Raja's disbelief grew as O-el and Busi smiled at each other and turned to walk away. He stopped trying to break free from the elephant's firm grip, and lay helplessly bouncing as the elephant followed them. He could only pray that Sqwee had escaped somehow and was on his way back to the river to gather the other animals. As they arrived at the area in which the new council members had convened earlier, Raja could make out the shape of Dhinoo, who was still chained down, but, to his horror, Niol now lay motionless at Dhinoo's side. He too was chained, but Raja was more concerned about the large swelling on the side of his head. The large elephant slowly lowered Raja to the ground, but did not loosen his grip. Raja searched frantically for some sort of help, but his hopes sank completely as he saw Niya and Sqwee chained together in the centre of the area. They were surrounded by the remaining conspirators, who turned quickly to welcome O-el and Busi. Seeing Raja trussed in the elephant's trunk brought a loud laugh, and their thoughts were voiced by O-el.

"This is the last one. Busi managed to catch him before he could blow the whistle. Poor little dog!" He laughed. "Thank you, Busi! If you hadn't decided to join us a bit later, this little dog would definitely have escaped and our plans would have totally been ruined!"

Busi simpered and bowed in recognition, causing a soft giggle amongst the animals present. Raja felt his stomach turn. It seemed all hope was lost. Niya and Sqwee watched with the same helpless expression. Busi stepped forward, delighted to be the centre of attention.

"We have been lucky, my friends. Now we need to act quickly to tie up these loose ends. We cannot afford to allow them to speak to anyone! Our plan was to remove Niol from the picture by informing the animals that another animal had attacked him in revenge, and that this animal had escaped capture. I believe we need to change this plan now that we have a few more animals involved."

Busi looked at Raja, her big eyes glinting cunningly. "We could easily suggest that Raja was found by the humans and didn't get a chance to say goodbye to everyone." She turned to Niya and Sqwee and stared at them. "We could then say that these two were attempting to break Niol free, but we stumbled upon them and, although we tried to rationalise with them, Niol attacked us and told them to do the same. We could suggest that, before attacking us, he had admitted to killing Lenoh and Dhinoo, and that Niya and Sqwee had assisted him. The only reason Dhinoo was included was because Dhinoo had stumbled on Niol's plan. So he had to get rid of Dhinoo. They attacked us and, in the process, they were all killed." She stepped back and faced the others.

"O-el, I believe we need to obtain a corpse or two. We need to show that there were casualties from our side too."

There was a general stomping of feet in approval as the excitement began to grow.

"Brilliant plan, Busi. Thank you! None of this would have been possible without you. What about the wild dog?" O-el asked.

Busi looked at O-el with some annoyance and rolled her eyes. "Can't you think of something?"

Taken back by the rude retort, O-el walked menacingly towards her.

"Calm down, O-el! I'm just teasing. We will just say that, when the fighting started, the little wild dog ran away. He's really good at that and I'm sure his father will believe that!" Busi responded with a loud laugh.

O-el smiled grimly and circled the area, stomping his feet, followed by the other council members reciprocating in approval. Raja felt as if his head was going to explode! He scanned the area desperately, hoping that a bird or some other small animal had overheard Busi's plans, but, to his disappointment, there was nothing.

"O-el, I believe you should head back to reassure everyone. Many of the animals from the surrounding regions are now here. You should address them as the new chairperson of council. Explain that you have followed the process as guided by the laws of the park. It was a unanimous vote that had you elected as the chairperson. You must promise them that, as the new chairperson, you will do all in your power to ensure justice is served, and that Dhinoo and Lenoh will be found. Tell them you will also ensure that no more animals will disappear! Arrange for a search immediately, and, after the search is finished, explain how we stumbled upon Niol's plans etcetera, etcetera," Busi directed O-el.