Isle of the Ape

by Jason Halstead

  Chapter 24

  "Deal's over, Bucky," Carson called out to the great ape. He considered unslinging his bow and then changed his mind. Bucky would be on him too soon. For that matter, drawing his swords would be just as foolish.

  Carson ran.

  He made it around the corner of the manor and ducked between it and the wall. Bucky bounced off the corner of the house and would have fallen if it hadn't been for the castle wall. Mortar and chips of stone broke free from the stress of supporting the ape's massive weight but it held. Bucky launched himself off it and slammed into the other corner of the manor house that Carson had run around.

  With less than twenty feet between the estate and the western castle wall, Bucky had a harder time pursuing the ranger. The ape would drag against the wall or the estate, twisting and tripping himself. It helped Carson keep ahead of him until he saw one of the females come around the other end of the estate, blocking his escape. Carson slowed and saw the servant's entrance in the ruined manor house.

  A smile spread across his face. He could follow Patrina and the others into the tunnel she'd talked about! He just had to find it in the building. He had a rough idea of where it was based on where they'd climbed in from the other side.

  He was about to turn for the door when the other female climbed on top of the long building. The roof bowed and broke as she moved on it, getting herself into position to attack him. His smile faded. His only escape had just been snatched from him.

  Carson slowed and then stopped. He turned to face Bucky and saw the great ape was slowing down to a walk. The ape lifted his left arm and punched the roof of the manor, caving in a section and sharing without words just how unhappy he was. Carson reached up and drew his twin swords, both blades long enough a sane warrior would never even consider dual wielding. With nothing but animals to fight, Carson found having two blades a benefit, not a curse.

  Against Bucky and his two lady-apes, Carson's swords felt like toothpicks.

  As he turned, he saw the tower set in the middle of the castle's western wall. It was square, like the others, and had a door at the base. Bucky could break the tower apart, given time, but it might be time that gave Carson another option. Or better yet, another way out. Without warning, the castaway leapt to the side and ran the five steps he needed to reach the tower door.

  He burst through the aging wood shoulder first and then had to pick himself up from the floor. The inside of the tower was simple: a wooden bench and stone steps that went up around the wall. There was a landing halfway up next to a narrow window with bars in it. The last rays of the setting sun shone through it, adding a reddish tint to the tower.

  Bucky's roar preceded the ape's fists into the ground just outside the tower. Large black fingers curled around the door frame and yanked on it, tearing the wood and causing the aged mortar holding the stones together to crack and give way. The entrance was being enlarged faster than Carson had imagined.

  He looked at his swords and considered hacking at Bucky's fingers. That would buy him a little time and drive the ape into an even greater rage. He sheathed his blades and ran up the staircase instead. By the time he was at the top, Bucky had made a hole big enough to reach in and feel around. The bench was crushed right away but Bucky didn't know to reach up, nor were his arms long enough.

  Carson sat on the metal ladder bolted to the stone that led to the trapdoor in the ceiling. He took his rope off and tied it around the bottom rung, and then twisted it around his hand several times before he climbed the ladder until he was crouched beneath the trap door. This close to it, he could see how the wood had been rotted and worn down by weather and age. All he had to do was throw it open and jump over the edge. The rope would keep him from falling over the cliff and he could make his way along the ledge to safety.

  What could go wrong?

  Bucky grunted, drawing Carson's attention. The ape had removed his arm and had squatted down so he could press his face against the opening. He stared into the tower, his eye glancing back and forth in search of Carson. Bucky's dark pupil dilated as it focused on Carson. He snarled and Bucky felt the tower tremble as the ape punched it.

  He had to act now!

  Carson rounded his back and thrust his shoulders up into the trap door. It broke and blew apart, nearly causing him to lose his balance and his grip. He recovered and climbed onto the roof just as Bucky straightened and rose up to look at him. Bucky reach for him with a dark hand but Carson had already fallen back.

  The hunter's legs pumped in the air as he fell. He grabbed the rope with both hands and kept falling. He saw the cliff pass before him, alerting him that he'd jumped too far back, and then the rope snapped taut and burned through the skin on his hand. It yanked at his arm and stopped his fall, but it felt like he'd crushed his hand and dislocated his shoulder. Then the cliff rushed at him and smacked him in the face, stunning him.

  A tug on the rope roused Carson from his stupor. A second tug moved him to the side. He shook his head and blinked the blood out of his eyes, and then tried to look up. Bucky was on top of the tower. He'd tried to get down to reach him but he couldn't. Now the ape was playing with the rope and seeing how it was attached to Carson.

  Carson reached for the cliff and found cracks and uneven rocks he could wedge his feet into. His hand was bleeding from the burnt and torn flesh on his palm but that didn't matter. He reached over his shoulder and drew one of his swords and then hacked at the rope. It took three tries but he finally cut through the rope so his arm could fall at his side.

  Carson almost fell from the sudden loss of support and the explosion of pain from his shoulder that radiated through his body. He grabbed on to the cliff with his fingers around his sword hilt and focused on breathing until the pain faded to a constant agony. Then he risked sheathing his blade and wondered how he was going to get down.

  Bucky roared again and pounded the wall and the tower. Flakes of mortar and broken stone fell around him and on him, but aside from a wince of pain when a rock hit him, he ignored it. Carson focused instead on trying to find a way to climb down the cliff wall with only one hand and two feet. He managed a few feet of movement and decided that yes, he could do it, but it was going to take a really long time.

  Carson looked up and saw one of the females had taken Bucky's position. She glared at him, her black fur ablaze with the setting sun. He frowned and turned his head in search of Bucky. He found the ape with the other female, running down the road to the castle.

  "Damn the saints," Carson cursed. The ape was rushing to get to the bottom of the cliff so he couldn't get away. He looked down at the jungle roughly sixty feet below him. Another forty or fifty feet once he reached the boughs of the trees. Carson frowned. There was no way he could beat Bucky to the bottom. His cage had gotten bigger but he was still trapped.

  Carson lifted his head to look to the west just as a green light swept across the ocean. He grunted, surprised at catching the sun at the perfect time as it sank beneath the horizon to see the green flash. Darkness would come quickly now and only the stars and moon overhead would guide his way.

  He looked down at the jungle canopy. The apes seldom hunted at night, especially deep in the jungle. Perhaps he could slip past them in the dark. That, or he could use the trees to his advantage. If he could go from the branches of one tree to another, he might yet get away. Carson nodded and tried to move his arm. It burned when he moved his shoulder very much, but his elbow seemed all right. His hand and wrist felt numb and refused to fully cooperate.

  "I can do this," Carson whispered to himself. He glanced up and saw the outline of the ape still sitting watch on the tower. "I will do this!" he shouted up to her.

  She grunted in return and shifted her position. Pebbles and dust rained down around him. He scowled at her and turned his attention to the wall of the cliff. It was going to be a long night ahead of him but he was determined to see it through.