Chapter 12
"Bucky! Damn you, ape! Not again!" Carson howled as he bumped into Alto on his way past.
The light coming into the cave was blocked again by the upside-down head and neck of the ape. Bucky glared at them and snarled, showing his teeth. He grunted a few times and hammered a hand or a foot against the cliff wall before he pulled back and away. They heard him scuffling against the side of the cliff again and then nothing until Namitus cried out for help.
"I'm going," Alto said as he rushed to the entrance.
"You can't!" Carson grabbed his arm and tried to hold him back. "Bucky's using him as bait! He's done this before."
The warrior yanked his arm free. "He picked the wrong wolf to trap," Alto spat before he swung around on the ledge and grabbed a handhold. He started pulling himself up, his mind focused on Namitus and not on the long fall to certain death below.
Alto pulled himself over the edge and saw where the grass had been trampled down. It was an easy trail to follow. Alto drew his sword and started after the ape, plunging through the squashed undergrowth until he ran into a wall of greenery. Alto stopped, surprised at the sudden absence of tracks. He turned around and wondered whether the ape doubled back.
Bucky was a monkey, or at least related to one. Alto turned back to the thick vegetation and looked up. Sure enough, the trees of the jungle were nearby. Close enough, perhaps, for the ape to leap and grab a limb.
Snarling at the lost time, Alto hacked his blade into the foliage and plunged into the gap his magical blade opened. In seconds, he was through the weeds and stumbling into the darker jungle beyond. He blinked and grunted when a dark shape slammed into his chest. He flung his arms and legs, trying to stop himself from falling. A heartbeat later, he realized he wasn't falling: he was trapped in the hands of one of the apes.
Alto hacked with his sword, cutting into the black-haired arm of the ape that held him. The high-pitched shriek as the ape flung him to the ground told him that Bucky hadn't attacked him; it was one of the female apes. Alto rolled and managed to come up on a knee before the ground shuddered from another female ape landing beside him.
Alto swung his sword and hacked into her ankle. She howled and leapt away, only to tumble and crash when she landed. She bent a tree with her weight before she fell away from it. The ape that had first grabbed him swung her hand at him, trying to recapture him. He jumped back but her thick-nailed fingers grazed his leg.
The impact from the glancing blow was enough to twist the warrior and send him into a tree. He grunted as he hit it but managed to grab on to keep from falling. He was ready to push himself away when he was hit from behind. His armor saved him from being crushed but the impact knocked his head into the jagged bark and stunned him.
Alto tasted blood and felt a numbing warmth spread over his face. His sword slipped from his fingers and with it some of his strength. The warrior's legs buckled but he held on to the tree and forced himself to focus on regaining his sword. He shook his head and started to kneel down to grab it when the ape smashed him into the tree again and he knew no more.
Isle of the Ape Page 19
