Isle of the Ape

by Jason Halstead

  Chapter 14

  "You don't look so good," Namitus told the warrior as he held his arm and slumped against the crumbling crenellation on top of the tower. "Does your hand hurt that badly?"

  Alto looked over at his friend and shook his head. "No, that's not it," he said. "I mean yes, it's broken. I probably shouldn't have taken my gauntlet off to look at it; now it's too swollen to put it back on."

  Namitus frowned. "So is it bad or not?"

  "It is, but that's not what's bothering me," Alto explained.

  Namitus chuckled. "It is kind of embarrassing, being trapped on top of a tower by a family of giant apes."

  "What? Oh, I suppose, but that's not it, either," Alto said. "It's my sword."

  "You lost it, you said. I've got mine and you've still got a dagger, not that it's much good against those beasts."

  "No, it's not," Alto agreed. "I've never been without it for so long before, nor so far away."

  "It's just a sword," Namitus dismissed the warrior's magical weapon.

  "It's got part of my life in it."

  The rogue blinked. "What? Part of your life? What are you talking about?"

  "While you were cheating Tristam and that knight out of their gold at cards, we were forging a weapon mighty enough to let me kill Sarya," Alto reminded him.

  Namitus waved his hand and winced as the movement jostled his broken leg. "I was there for parts of it, I remember."

  "Remember Thork's magic healing me while he drained my blood and used it to cool the sword? That and his magic bound my life to it. Or my soul or something—I don't really understand it." Alto shrugged and sighed. He glanced over the crenellation and when he wasn't quite high enough to see, he gave up and slumped back down. "Without it at my side or in my possession, I feel like I've been fighting for days without rest, but sleep won't come."

  "And now it's lost," Namitus said with a frown. "You remember where you dropped it?"

  Alto nodded. "By a tree."

  "Oh good," the rogue quipped, "shouldn't be any trouble finding it in the jungle then."

  Alto's lip curled into a quick scowl but he didn't have the energy to hold it for more than a fleeting moment. "It's near Carson's cave. I'm sure I can find it."

  Namitus gazed at him for a moment and then looked away. "That was pretty stupid of you, charging after me."

  "It's not the first stupid thing I've done," Alto said. He sighed and added, "But it looks like it might be my last."

  "You leapt off a mountaintop to land on a dragon and kill it, yet now you're giving up because some overgrown monkeys captured us? This doesn't sound like the Alto I know."

  Alto stared at him and nodded. "It doesn't sound like me, does it? I'm so tired without my sword, I just want to lie down and give up."

  "I'll create a diversion—you climb down and escape," Namitus offered. "Go get your sword and come back and get me."

  "Yeah, because me fighting the apes worked so well the first time," Alto scoffed.

  "So bring Trina and Carson back next time. Strength in numbers."

  "They'll still outnumber us," the warrior reminded him. "Besides, you're in no shape to be moving or providing any distractions."

  "I'll figure out a way if it means I don't have to put up with you moping around!" Namitus said with a grin that failed to bring a smile to the warrior's face.

  Alto forced himself to his feet, grimacing as he brushed his broken left hand against the stone parapet that ringed the top of the square tower they'd been placed on top of. The tower overlooked the stables, a smithy, and the courtyard in front of the castle's gatehouse. Walls had once connected their prison-tower to other towers along the castle's perimeter, including the gatehouse, but the stone had been smashed and broken next to the tower, making it impossible to escape. There was no trapdoor leading down into the tower.

  Looking away from the castle, as Alto did now, he could see almost straight down the northern cliffs of the mesa the castle sat upon. The top of the jungle waited over sixty feet below for anyone foolish enough to attempt to scale the cliffs or walls. Farther out he could see the ocean to the north and northeast, but no ships sailed the calm waters.

  Alto turned and glanced over the far roof to where Bucky sat with his back against a partially crushed building. One of the female apes was picking at his hair while another one was chewing on either a tree limb or a sapling. The other two females were gone; either they'd left before the sun rose or they hadn't come back with them.

  Alto turned back to the north. Something pulled his attention that way. He frowned and studied the jungle and water below. He couldn't imagine climbing the cliffs to escape and trying to jump would be certain death.

  "What is it?" Namitus asked him.

  "I don't know," Alto admitted. "Probably nothing. It just feels like there's something out there."

  "I think there's enough in here," Namitus muttered.

  Alto nodded but he continued to stare. He turned when he heard one of the apes moving. Bucky rose up to his full height, standing tall enough that his head was just above the level of the tower. He walked towards them, each step sounding loud enough to make Alto unsure if he felt the ground shake or if it was his imagination.

  Bucky stopped next to the tower and reached up to place a large hand on the crenellations. He grunted a few times, his breath blasting over Namitus and making the rogue gag. He tried to move away but shifting his lower leg made him groan.

  Bucky turned away and looked at the gate to the castle. One of the missing apes crawled through the gates, moving on three legs and clutching her right arm to her chest. Alto wondered if she'd been hurt by something.

  As soon as the female ape was through, she straightened and walked towards Bucky. She held a branch torn from a tree with several bunches of bananas hanging from it. Bucky took it with the hand that had been resting on the tower and grunted at her a few times. She reached out and petted him and then turned and used her hands and feet to walk over to rest against what might have once been a guard house. Bucky plucked three bunches of bananas off the branch, crushing and bruising most of them, and set them on the top of the tower.

  "Feeding time," Namitus muttered.

  Bucky grunted and pushed the bananas with his finger, shoving one bunch towards Alto and the other towards Namitus. The third he left sitting in the middle of the tower. He grunted again before pinching off a fourth bunch and tossing all of them into his mouth at once and chewing on them. He grunted again, pointing at each man, and then stopped and watched.

  "He wants us to eat," Alto said. The warrior shook his head. "I didn’t know monkeys were smart."

  "Everything eats," Namitus said.

  "Yes, but why does he care if we do?" Alto asked.

  "Fattening us up so he can eat us," the rogue suggested.

  Alto frowned and reached out to tear a green and yellow banana from the bunch. "They've been eating trees and fruit so far. I don't think he wants to eat us."

  "You forget about that walking snake?" Namitus asked him. "Carson called it a crawler."

  Alto frowned. He had forgotten. "Carson distracted me. Did they eat that crawler or just kill it? I didn't see."

  Namitus tilted his head. "I guess I don't know. I thought they ate it, but maybe they didn't. You're right, we were distracted."

  Bucky grunted again and reached over to push the bananas near Namitus even closer to him. The slender man sighed and broke one off the bunch, and then peeled it back and took a bite. "There, happy?" he said to Bucky with a mouthful of fruit.

  The ape grunted again and showed his large teeth. Bucky slammed his hand into his chest and then turned and walked away, using his hands and feet to cross the courtyard so he could settle in with his back to the broken building. His eyes stayed on them even when all three of the females moved closer to him.

  "He's got a harem," Namitus chuckled. He laughed louder and added, "A hairy harem!"

  Alto shook his head and began to eat his own banana. The
ripe fruit was flavorless in his mouth. He swallowed the pasty substance down and took another bite, telling himself he needed to eat to keep his strength up even if he wanted to do nothing more than lay down and give up.

  "No baby monkeys, though," Namitus thought aloud. "If you had four women falling over themselves to be with you, don't you think you'd be spending some quality time with them?"

  Alto sighed. "I've got one and I can't manage much more than crossing her and making her angry."

  "That's because she's hopelessly smitten with you," Namitus said while waving his banana. "You had your chance once, but you let your mouth get in the way. Stop talking and being so respectful and just take her!"

  "Take her?" Alto echoed.

  Namitus thrust his banana forward. "Take her!"

  Alto shook his head. "I think you hit your head when you broke your leg."

  The rogue grinned and let the topic die. After a few minutes passed he asked, "Think the Kraken left yet?"

  Alto glanced over at him and nodded. "I doubt they stayed past the first night."

  "So this is how it feels to be a pet," Namitus mused.

  "The pets I had on the farm were free to come and go as they pleased," Alto said. "We're like the birds the Shazamir keep in cages."

  Namitus pursed his lips and nodded. "And we've both got broken wings."

  Alto glanced up at the rising sun in the east. Clear skies promised a warm day without any shade. He considered taking his armor off but relaxed against the parapet instead. That could wait until it got too hot to handle; it was too much work and he didn't have the will to do it.

  He lifted himself enough to stare over the edge of the tower and the cliff. Whatever it was that seemed to be calling him had moved. It was closer now, or at least he imagined it was. Probably his own delusions. He'd start raving soon if he wasn't careful. He wondered if he should warn Namitus that he might have hit his own head. Alto stared at the jungle below, his thoughts drifting away as he wondered what it was that lay beneath the green blanket far below.