Alto found his weapon, the Soulsword, when the creature rolled him on top of it. Energy flooded through him, sharpening his wit and speeding his reflexes. Alto rolled away from his attacker, bringing the Soulsword with him. He slashed up as soon as his arm and the blade were free, earning a sharp squeal that reminded him of a pig.
The warrior jumped to his feet and pushed his advantage. Blood-stained weeds moved as the creature tried to retreat. Alto waded through them and caught up with the wild boar within a few strides. He saw that his sword had shaved one of its tusks and opened a bloody furrow along its shoulder. He leapt forward and brought his broadsword down across the spine of the bore between its legs.
The beast fell to the ground and kicked, still trying to flee with a broken back. Alto finished it with a thrust to its chest. He stared down at it and felt the adrenaline of battle starting to wear off. His chest heaved for want of breath, reminding him that he had let himself fall out of shape.
"Dinner," Namitus said when he stepped through the grass and stared down at the bloody mess.
Patrina stepped up on Alto's left and frowned. "Are you okay?"
"I think so. Just surprised me is all," Alto said as he sheathed his sword.
"You're bleeding," Patrina said as she looked up and down Alto's left side. "Looks like a tusk slipped under your armor."
Alto scowled and tried to twist to see the wound. It was low on his back where the plates met and beyond his ability to see. He reached back and felt around, wincing when he put pressure against the area. His fingers came away wet with blood. "Is it bad?"
Patrina knelt down behind him and pushed and prodded, drawing a few hisses of pain from the warrior. She shook her head and slapped her metal gauntlet against his rump before she rose. "Just a flesh wound. We can bandage it later, when we camp."
Alto grunted and looked down at the dead boar. It was large, probably weighing over a hundred pounds. No wonder it had rolled him so easily. He knelt down next to it and drew a dagger.
"What are you doing?" Patrina hissed. "There might be more of them!"
"It's a wild boar," Alto said. "I startled it as much as it startled me. They're dangerous but usually they'd run away instead of attack."
"Well, this one attacked," she said.
"Like I said, I startled it," Alto said. "And like Namitus said, dinner."
"You're going to roast it for dinner? We don't even have a camp yet!"
"Too big to carry, plus we don't need that much meat," Alto said. "I figured I'd cut out the back straps and we could roast those later."
Namitus nodded. "Beats the salted pork and dried fruits on the ship."
Alto glanced at Patrina and saw her lick her lips. She frowned and then nodded. "Be quick; this grass is too tall to see what's around us."
A few minutes later, Alto secured his grisly prize and held the meat up. He turned to his companions and held it out, but neither looked anxious to take it. "I can't fight if I'm holding this," he argued.
Namitus laughed. "Slay your enemies with your pork sword!"
Patrina's eyes bulged and she burst out laughing. "Pork sword?"
Alto blushed but soon found himself chuckling. He forced it down and glanced around. Namitus and Patrina grew silent when they saw him keeping watch. "Let's see where this goes," he said and switched the meat to his left hand. He wiped the blood off as best he could on the grass and started down the overgrown path again.
They walked up a rise and then around a ridge. Behind it, the ground leveled off and the grasses grew shorter. A breeze from the east pushed against them, carrying the eerie sound they'd heard on and off more clearly.
"Not a woman," Patrina confirmed.
"Sounds like one," Namitus argued.
"There's no woman who can carry on that long!"
"I don't know—I've heard a few."
Alto chuckled and kept walking. He knew without looking that Patrina was glaring at his friend. The other thing of interest he noticed was a short mountain with a flat top in the distance. Atop it, he could make out the walls and towers of a castle. "Our mystery woman is probably up there," Alto said, pointing to the east.
Namitus and Patrina followed Alto's hand. Patrina sighed and then let out a gasp. "There's a village!"
"That's a castle," Namitus corrected her. "You haven't seen many living in your city with sharpened sticks for walls, but trust me."
Namitus cried out as Patrina's smacked him in the shoulder. "Ahead of us!"
Namitus rubbed his shoulder but looked ahead. Alto nodded his head; he'd been caught up in the castle, too. "Lucky we didn't trip over it," he said as he took in the crumbling buildings. "My guess is it's a good place to camp for the night."
"We've got an hour or more of daylight left," Namitus argued.
"Aye, but not enough to reach that castle," Alto said. He pointed at the base of the cliff at the ridges and forests. "There's no telling what's waiting in the forest and hills over there. Here we can have some shelter and defend ourselves."
"That's why he's going to be the thane of Rockwood," Patrina looked at Namitus and said with a smug smile.
When she turned away, Namitus pantomimed her talking, drawing a smirk from Alto. The warrior turned and headed into the ruins of the village, looking through each building before he nodded and turned to the others. He held up the long strip of meat in his hand and said, "Somebody make a fire. I'm going to find a stick to cook this on."
* * * *
The wailing grew louder throughout the night as the wind blew from the east. As dawn broke over the island, the wind began to change again, taking the howling noise with it. The three gathered together and, with Alto's wound freshly bandaged, they set off down a road that hadn't been used for anything more than a runway for animals in years.
They followed the abandoned road into the forest, though the trees and plants were unlike anything Alto had seen before. Large leaves and massive brown nuts hung from the trees high up the rough trunks. He saw bananas hanging in great bunches and trees laden with oranges.
"Do the Shazarim get their fruits from here?" Alto asked, in awe at all the fruit on the island.
"Hardly," Namitus said. "This island is haunted, remember?"
"They have farms along the Khalalid River or buy them from merchants," Patrina said. "I asked when we were there. I'd never had fruits like those before. I think I liked the pineapples the most."
"Haven't seen any of those yet," Alto said with a glance at the trees.
"I'm sure there are some around," Namitus said. "The Britanly people would have wanted all of it available."
The mention of the Britanly reminded him of the ruined village. "Funny how we haven't seen much of them."
"They're all gone," Patrina reminded him.
"Looks like it, but shouldn't there be other houses and farms?"
"Maybe there are," Namitus offered. "We haven't seen much of the island yet."
Alto grunted and pressed on, following the road deeper into the jungle. It grew darker as the trees grew taller and thicker, blocking out the sunlight from above. Tropical birds called out from overhead, alerting the forest of their passage. After a few moments of silence, a gentle hum of insects began to rise.
The coastal breeze fell away and left the sweat rolling down Alto's skin beneath his armor. He pushed the discomfort aside and sped up when he saw a bright spot ahead, marking either a clearing or an end to the jungle.
A shrill shriek carried through the jungle ahead of them. They froze and listened, only to hear an even louder and lower-pitched reply. Alto looked at his friends and saw their surprise and confusion mirroring his own. He turned and started ahead, jogging easily in his armor until the bright light at the entrance to the jungle left him squinting.
Alto slowed to a walk and moved up to the partly overgrown archway into the jungle. Through it and his narrowed eyes, he could make out several figures moving in a large clearing. They were on the far side of it but towered above the gra
sses and wildflowers that were chest high on Alto.
"What is it? I can't see." Patrina shaded her eyes with her hand and whispered.
"Five very big, um, monkeys."
"Monkeys?"
"Yes, furry beasts with a tail. They swing from trees and—"
"I know what a monkey is," Alto snapped. He'd seen one for the first time during his trip to Shazamir. He blinked to try to force his eyes to adjust to the light faster. "Monkeys aren't that big, maybe as high as my hip."
"These are," Namitus said. He nodded. "Yes, definitely big. I can't be sure—they're a ways off—but I'd say at least twenty feet tall. That's the four little ones. The big one is probably another three or four feet."
"Giants!" Patrina cried out in dismay.
"No, monkeys."
"Giant monkeys," Alto compromised. He shook his head. His vision was focusing the longer they watched. "They don't look like monkeys. I mean, they don't walk the same way."
"Apes then," the rogue said with a shrug.
"What's an ape?"
"Like a monkey, only bigger."
"Much bigger," Alto muttered.
Namitus chuckled. "Not normally."
"So what was all that screeching a minute ago? That wasn't the wailing we heard," Patrina asked.
Namitus nodded as the biggest ape picked up what looked like, from a distance, a large snake. He wrestled with it, roaring a few times until he threw it down and jumped on it. The ape pounded it with his fists several times before he straightened again and thumped his fists against his chest and roared anew.
The four others had cried out during the short battle and now shrieked louder, confirming the earlier noises. They fell on the slain creature, ripping into it and feasting.
"Never mind," Patrina said a moment later.
"You can see now?" Alto asked her.
"Wish I couldn't."
Alto nodded. "So we know we have to avoid those giant apes. How do we get around them?"
They looked at each other without an answer. Alto frowned and was about to turn around when he caught movement from the corner of his eye. He turned, his hand going to his sword, and saw a man dressed in dark leathers standing in the shadows of a tree with a bow drawn and an arrow pointed at him. A pair of matching swords rested in scabbards on his back.
"Been a while since I've had visitors," the archer said. "At least the human kind. Why don't you three take your hands off your swords and we can talk like civilized folk?"
"Why don't you lower your bow first?" Alto asked him.
One corner of the archer's lip curled up in a smile. "Spend some time out here and you forget how to act civilized," he said.
Patrina let go of her sword and held her arms up. "Do it," she hissed to the other two.
"What's this? A beautiful young maiden on my island?" The archer's gaze went to Patrina and his bow dipped an inch or so.
"Your island?" Patrina asked.
"Well, it's mine or Bucky's over there," the man said.
"Who are you?" Alto asked as he let go of his sword.
"And who's Bucky?" Namitus added and followed the lead of his companions by releasing his grip on the hilt of his scimitar.
"Name's Carson Twoblade," he said. Carson lowered the bow and released the tension under control. He kept the arrow nocked but turned to watch the apes in the field as they finished their dinner. "That's Bucky. Looks like he killed a crawler."
"Crawler?"
"Yeah, thirty feet long or so from head to tail, kind of like a giant centipede except big enough to bite your arm or leg off. Fast and mean. I think they're cousins to the crocs in the swamp on the south side of the island."
"Crocs?"
"Crocodiles," Namitus supplied.
"Yeah, that's right," Carson said after he gave Namitus a funny look. "Let's get away from here. You guys stink and the last thing we need is Bucky catching wind of you!"
"We stink?" Patrina said.
Alto scowled and started to reach for his sword again. Carson ignored him. "Not your fault; you just have scents on you from other places. Oils and spices. Some of it's in your skin, some of it's on your clothes. I could smell you from a ways away."
"You could smell us?" Alto echoed. Namitus sniffed his arm and wrinkled his nose.
Carson nodded. "Come on, Bucky's got a better nose and so do most of the critters here."
"How long have you been here?" Patrina asked him.
The woodsman frowned. "Please?"
"All right, let's go," Alto said.
Carson flashed him a smile but his eyes went back to Patrina quickly. Alto scowled and moved closer to his betrothed. The armored couple followed the strange woodsman as he led them into the jungle and away from both the clearing and the cliff they'd been headed towards. In moments, Alto couldn't track their movements anymore. He became lost as the trees closed in around them.
Chapter 11
"Carson, where are we going?" Alto asked after the man had led them through the jungle for more than an hour. He'd kept them away from any clearings and barely even paused to let them drink when they cross two small streams.
Carson looked back at him and frowned. "A safe place," he said.
"We spent last night in the village; it seemed safe enough," Namitus ventured.
"I know. I didn't expect you'd last the night," he said with a grin. "You got lucky."
"There's more to us than you might think," Patrina said.
Alto caught her eyes with a glare and shook his head. She bit her lip and said no more, reading his look, if not his mind.
"We can handle ourselves," she finished.
"Sure you can, that's why you were about to walk into a mess of crawlers and lions. Not to mention Bucky and his girls."
"Who's Bucky?"
"Remember that big ape? He's Bucky."
"Why Bucky?"
Carson shrugged and glanced away. "He seemed like a Bucky to me, so that's the name I gave him. Now come on, I've got a place where you should be safe. No more talking."
"Wait, how much farther is it?"
"Half an hour."
Alto glanced at his friends. They met his gaze without a word. "Let's go," he said.
Carson was off, slipping through the trees and moving like a ghost. Alto watched whenever the man stopped and studied tracks in the ground. At times Alto had to search for the prints to be sure they were there. The woodsman glanced up at him once and saw his interest and confusion. With a grin, Carson traced a track with his finger. It popped out in Alto's eyes as though it had been painted red against a sea of green. He shook his head and acknowledged that Carson was a far better tracker than he was.
Carson turned away from the large-clawed footprint he'd traced and led them around a section of the jungle filled with undergrowth. If possible, even more insects buzzed about them. Alto found that his armor might be good for blocking swords and axes but it did little against the sucking bite of a mosquito.
They emerged into the sun and felt the wind from the sea on their face. Alto heard his friends gasp at the relief from the humid heat of the jungle. The sun was behind them, confirming his belief that they'd made it to the north side of the island. The angle of the sun in the sky made him realize more time had passed than he'd realized. It was almost evening.
"Come on," Carson urged them. "It's nearly time for the nighttime hunters to rouse."
"We've wasted the day," Alto muttered. "Our ship won't wait much longer."
Carson stared at him and then turned to look at the ocean through the tropical flowers and bushes at the jungle's edge. "You can head back if you want but you won't make it," he said after he turned to look at them again.
"Doesn't seem so dangerous to me," Alto said. "We've seen nothing but those apes and a boar that I startled."
"You saw the print of the panther," Carson reminded him.
Alto shrugged. It looked about the size of a large wolf's paw and he'd dealt with his share of wolves. "I doubt a panther could sto
p us."
"One, maybe, but they hunt in packs here. They know how to take down bigger game. Dangerous game. The crawlers come out at night, too. By day, they stick to the fields full of grass; at night they hunt the jungles, too."
"What, you're not going to try to frighten us with Bucky again?" Patrina asked.
"They settle down at night, so you don't need to worry about them," Carson admitted. He sighed. "Look, I haven't seen or talked to another living person in years. Stay tonight and I'll guide you back to your boat in the morning."
Alto frowned but before he could respond, Namitus spoke up and said, "I'll stay."
Alto scowled at his friend and received a weak smile in return. "All right, we'll stay."
Carson grinned. "Right this way then, my new friends. Pray tell, do any of you know any games of chance?"
Alto closed his eyes and took a deep breath before he followed after the tracker. Carson didn't take them much farther, only nearer to the cliff and then he stopped at the edge of it. Alto peered over and saw the jagged cliffs ended in frothing water as the waves pounded against the rocks nearly a hundred feet below.
Alto stepped back and groaned.
"What, afraid of heights?" Carson asked.
"I had a bad fall once," Alto offered. Patrina smirked beside him and reached over to brush her hand against his.
"No falling here," Carson said. "Just an easy climb to a cave."
"You live in a cave?" the princess asked.
Carson shrugged. "It's my home away from home."
"How many homes do you have?"
"Never know where you'll end up when the sun goes down," the hunter said. "I've got six or seven safe places set up around the isle. This is the best for you guys, what with the stink and all."
"We do not stink," Patrina snapped at him.
Carson's brow lifted. "To civilized folk you don't, but to the beasts here you smell like fresh blood in the water to a shark."
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