Isle of the Ape

by Jason Halstead

  Chapter 10

  "Do you hear that?" Namitus hissed.

  The rogue's companions stopped and listened. Alto and Patrina looked at each other and then Namitus. "Sounds like a woman wailing," Alto said.

  "That's no woman," Patrina said. She paused and then nodded. "Nobody's got that much wind in the chest."

  "Sounds like a long ways away," Alto added.

  Namitus chuckled. "That's the wind carrying it away."

  Alto frowned and bent down to pick up a handful of the fine sand from the beach. He tossed it up in the air and watched as it swirled about. He frowned. "The sailors said the wind was blowing to the west, but now I'm not sure."

  "It's probably shifting," Patrina said. "That happens at night sometimes."

  "Why?" Alto asked.

  Patrina shrugged. "I live inland, not on the sea. I don't spend much time on the sea."

  "The air cools but the water is warm from the sun; it changes things," Namitus said.

  "Oh, so now you're a sailor?" Patrina asked.

  Namitus snorted. "Hardly. I keep my ears open, that's all."

  "Come on," Alto said. "Woman or beast, we won't find it standing on the beach."

  The others followed the young warrior as he trudged through the sand. He passed a line of tall grasses that marked the end of the beach and firmer footing before the sand was packed hard enough for trees and bushes to grow out of it. Alto frowned until he saw a path that seemed filled more with grass and weeds than it did with trees and heavier undergrowth.

  "Where are you going?" Patrina hissed.

  Alto shrugged. "Following a path."

  "This is a path?" she challenged.

  "Yes. Or at least it used to be."

  Patrina harrumphed but made no other noise. Alto took that as a sign to continue, at least for now. He pushed through the waist-high grass and kept scanning ahead of him. He'd convinced Tristam that he knew how to track when he joined the retired warrior's company, the Blades of Leander. With Tristam's injuries and promotion to baron of Highpeak, the Blades of Leander had fallen to Alto to lead. Alto had other duties ahead of him, but his friends and the company, now renamed the Band of the Dying Dragon, were never far from his mind.

  Alto had learned how to track passably well, and then his time alone in the mountains had forced him to hone his survival skills. The tropical island held terrain unlike anything he was accustomed to but he figured his self-taught survival skills were better than nothing.

  A snuffling and grunting sound brought him to a halt. Alto reached for his sword but it barely cleared the scabbard before something gray and brown burst out of the foliage and slammed into his left thigh and hip.

  Alto cried out as he was knocked to the ground. The impact jarred his magical blade free from his hand. Without contact with the bonded weapon, Alto felt worn down and weak. The creature that knocked him down pawed at him with sharp hooves and tusks that struck his plate and pushed him deeper into the grass.

  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."