The Lion Guard: The Northern Crocodile

Chapter 28

"Just trust me on this one, Makuu."

{Even though you have no real reason to.}

"I promise, I know what I'm doing."

Makuu seemed doubtful, but he didn't argue with Kiburi about anything. Surprisingly, he was willing to follow his lead. The walk, however, was far from easy. The foliage, which acted as camouflage for the crocodiles, slowed them down. Kiburi seemed to be the only one unfazed by the jungle's obstacles, whereas Makuu constantly lost his footing, causing Kiburi to double back and help the other crocodile not fall over the edge. As for the twins, aside from somehow getting temporarily stuck, they were doing just fine.

{At least I don't have to worry about the two of them. Looks like Makuu is the only one having a hard time here.}

"You doing alright back there, Makuu?" Kiburi called, turning his head to look over his shoulder at his rival, who was paying attention to his footing more than anything else.

"Sort of," Makuu answered. "Really wishing to be back on flat ground right about now. I don't know about you, but I'm not entirely keen on falling down the side of this thing."

"If it's any consolation, it isn't as bad of a fall as you may think it is."

"How would you know that?"

"Uh...long story."

"Care to give me the short version?"

"No, not really."

"Um, Kiburi, are they supposed to be going that way?"

"What are you..."

Kiburi stopped midway through his question. Makuu pointed to something behind him and he turned around just in time to see the twins cross the gorge on a well-hidden stretch of land that connected both sides of the gorge to the other. Kiburi couldn't even begin to imagine why the twins decided to move to the other side, but didn't put much thought into it as his only instinct was to follow them and see where they were going. He could hear Makuu protesting behind him, but eventually the rival leader gave up trying to convince him otherwise and went after the others. The two leaders chased after the twins until they finally managed to catch up to them in a clearing with a grouping of large stones next to the treeline on the opposite side.

"Hey! Where do you think you two are going?" Kiburi questioned when he managed to get ahead and block the way of the twins

Aziza and Azizi skidded to a halt, then turned to see if they could escape the other way, but Makuu was blocking that path as well, looking just as irritably confused as Kiburi.

"You two seem to be in an awful hurry to go somewhere other than the one place that we're trying to get to," Makuu commented. "Care to explain what you're doing?"

"Uh...sis?" Azizi whimpered.

"I know, bro," Aziza sighed. "We're totally screwed."

Kiburi was slightly taken aback by this. He looked up to see Makuu giving him a questioning glance, one that read 'What the hell are they talking about?'. Kiburi only shrugged, letting Makuu know that he had absolutely no idea, either.

"Do either one of you want to explain to us what's really going on?" Makuu demanded.

Silence follows.

"You know how we - and by 'we' I mean Aziza - said that we - once again, I mean Aziza - don't do anything for anyone without payment?" Azizi started nervously.

"Yeah," Kiburi replied. "So what?"

"Well...we didn't just happen to get involved with this entire 'situation' by chance. We were employed by someone who needed our assistance in dealing with some of the problem."