The Shattered Plains (Aphrika #1)

Chapter 7

Splash looked over to where the commotion was just in time to see an army of termites march in. They were the biggest termites Splash had ever seen.

How did they find us? Splash wondered.

"Attack!" Thye yelled. He launched himself into one of the heavy armored insects and fought it. Splash ran over to give him assistance. He found one of its many legs and bit it. The termite kicked him away and the breath was knocked out of him.

Ceros came running into the cave followed by a group of different kinds of animals. They all joined the battle.

Splash got back onto his paws and started to attack the termite again. This time he would bite one of the legs then run away and bite another one. It resulted in not getting kicked. The termite tumbled to the ground. Thye dove forward and killed it.

Thye looked over at Splash and nodded his thanks before running back into the fight.

Splash turned around and spotted Sunny cornered by a couple hyenas. He looked around and spotted Dust and Bero fighting off a fennec fox. He ran over to them. He helped them fight off the fennec fox. It ran away whimpering.

"I need your help!" Splash mewed.

"Okay, what is it?" Bero asked.

"Sunny is trapped by two hyenas." Splash said urgently. "This way." Splash led them over to where Sunny was trying to scare the hyenas off with her horns. It wasn't working too well though.

Splash ran over to them and jumped on one of the hyenas back. He saw Bero and Dust leap into the battle. They both went for the same hyena. Splash focussed on the hyena that he was fighting. It was now focussed on Splash and not Sunny. Splash dug his claws into the hyena's back and reached down to bite its neck. Before he could the hyena rolled over onto his back and Splash got squished.

He suddenly heard the clicking of hooves against stone and the hyenas weight was pushed off him. He looked up and saw Sunny standing there with her horns lowered, getting ready to charge again.

She leapt over Splash and rammed into the hyena. The hyena got up on its wobbly legs and ran away. Sunny ran over to Splash. "Are you ok?" She asked.

"I think so." Splash replied. He checked over his body to make sure he was not hurt too bad.

Splash looked around and saw that the battle had gotten more ferocious. He searched for Thye and spotted him standing in front of Ceros. He was guarding her from a cheetah. Splash could hear their conversation.

"Move out of the way dog." The cheetah spat.

"No." Thye barked. He planted his feet in front of Ceros. The cheetah jumped at Thye. Splash started to run over to them. Thye was stuck underneath the unfriendly cheetah. They both fought on the ground.

Splinter landed on the ground in front of Splash. "Hurry, we need to go." He cried.

"But Thye needs my help!" Splash told him.

"Thye is a big dog, he can deal with that cheetah." Splinter squaked. Splinter reached towards splash with his talon.

"No, let me go!" Splash shouted.

Splinter knocked him over and stuck his claws over Splash's chest. 'Let me tell you something. About the time when we first met." Splinter said with a mysterious glint in his eyes. "I was actually trying to kill you."

"What?" Splash basically shouted. Thye needed him.

"You see that cheetah over there?" He asked. "That is Onyx, he is the leader of the other side. The one you call bad. Anyway, that is my leader, not Ceros."

"Why would you follow him?" Splash asked.

"Because together we will lead Aphrika and it will be a place where prey fears predators and we rule over it." Splinter laughed. "Now you know that before I kill you."

"No!" Splash struggled against the force of the talons. An idea popped into his head. He stopped struggling and acted like he was very weak. He then pushed Splinter with his back claws. Splinter toppled for a little while. Splash pushed him again and Splinter's talon fell off his chest.

Splash got up and continued to run over to Thye. He was very close to him when a bush viper came up beside him and bit into his flesh. Thye went still.

"No!" Splash cried. He ran forwards only to be stopped by Bero's tight grasp. "He's gone."

Tears sprang into Splash's eyes. He freed himself from Bero's grasp and ran towards his cave. He removed the stone from the hole and crawled in. He sat beside the stream and cried.

Thye is really gone. Splash thought to himself.