Chapter 10 - Monkeying Around

Deep inside the mountain forest I sit perched on top of a tree branch with my three best friends. I look to my left toward an orange-blonde short messy haired teenager with light speckles of freckles on his face. His teeth now perfectly straight and white he gives me a friendly smile before concentrating back toward the ground below where the enemy stands unaware of our presence.

To my right is Aarushi with her thick brown fur and golden eyes. Her tail flails in the air with excitement of the hunt. I look down to see Aarushi standing before the Quadwolf we are about to kill. Her smooth crimson hair flowing behind her like a lion’s mane perfectly opposes the dark red iron like fur matted over the wolf’s black body. Her porcelain white shin and sturdy build opposes the deep black wolf’s foreboding girth. She holds a face and posture of a determination and confidence, while the wolf holds intent of gnarled murder.

I look back to my right then back at the ground. I shout out of shock “What the!” Silently in my head I think “why is Aarushi on the ground in front of the wolf, she is supposed to be to my right. No more importantly why is there a dam monkey next to me.” The monkey mimics Aarushi’s normal pose and turns its head with a finger on its lips.

Lucarus grabs my shoulder and whispers “Hey the wolf noticed us, should we attack now? Or do you want Aarushi to handle it?”

I look down to the wolf who is staring at us with its front eyes while keeping one of its side eyes on Aarushi. I command. “Attack formation 3, goooo!” Then I plunge from my perch towards the wolf.

Midair I pull a rock sharpened into a small dagger from its leather case at my side. At the same time Aarushi kicks up a cloud of dirt and shoots a stream of smoke and fire out of her hand to blind the wolf momentarily. I Stab at its neck but miss due to his jerking motions from the surprise attack from Aarushi. However I manage to land on his back and wrap my arms around his neck and my legs around his midsection. The momentum from the drop rolls both of us over onto our backs. Moments later I feel the pulse of Lucarus landing on top of the pile of fur and limbs I made. A trickle of blood falling from the wolf’s head and its sudden stillness explains what happened. A red flash emits from where Lucarus had struck his blade as he ignites his blade to finish the wolf off.

I let go of the wolf and stand up when a barrage of shouts and screams sound from the tree tops. The monkey from earlier is clapping its hands and feet while dangling from the branch with its tail. “Whoooo haaa wooo hahahaha mua!” The monkey calms down and gives a thumbs up before swinging away from branch to branch.

Aarushi looks at me and turns her head sideways, her long hair falls over her shoulder as she asks “What on earth was that thing, I have never seen something like that before!”

I explain to the group what I know. “It’s called a monkey. They don’t mean any harm; mainly they are just tricksters and like to play games. However they shouldn’t be around this region of the forest. They usually live south of here near the water tribes”

Lucarus Perks up his ears. “Hey lets grab the body and go back to the village I think I hear something big coming. It is either more wolves or maybe a bear I can’t tell.”

Aarushi and I grab the bear and Lucarus climbs a tree. We walk back in silence. It has been over five years since we have passed the challenge exam.

When we passed the challenge exam, we were told of the forest layout. About a mile in every direction from the walls we will only meet small animals like rabbits. This is where we had our hunting ground for about a year as we trained in pyromancy and hunting. After that we had our range grow to ten miles in every direction so that we could hunt wolves and other medium sized animals such as deer. We have been avoiding bears and rock golems that appear near the outer limits of our range. Bears will come to see any commotion or to the smell of blood. Rock golems are easier to ovoid but are much more dangerous. They lay motionless on the ground until something disturbs them. So far we have not had a problem with them. We have only met bears while we are caring other prey back to the town and have never had a chance to attack them. Tomorrow we plan to change that. We have wanted to go to the town of Twin Trees for a while. However to do this we must kill a bear to be considered adults and leave the town.

I get out of my day dream as we get back to the village, one of the guards greets us “Good day everyone, looks like you caught a big one today, you keep getting quicker each time too, but who is your friend?”

I respond “Tomorrow the catch will be bigger than ever! And what do you mean friend?”

Almost in response to the question I hear a “muah ha!” behind me. I turn around to see the golden eyed monkey smiling and walking behind me holding the tail of the slain wolf.

Lucarus hops down from the tree. “He started doing that about a mile back but I didn’t bother saying anything, he looked like he wasn’t going to hurt anything.”

The monkey slams his chest with a small thud and nods his head as if he was agreeing with Lucarus.

Aarushi drops the wolf and runs toward the monkey with open arms. “You’re so cute!!!! Give me a hug mister monkey!” The monkey jumps from its spot and runs behind me.

The monkey wraps his hands around my arm and peaks out from behind me like it’s looking out from behind a corner. His tail comes up and rests on my hip. He makes a small whine then sticks its tongue out at Aarushi.

Aarushi stops running and hangs her head in defeat; a similar whimper to the monkeys was made from her direction. “Fine I won’t give you a hug… stupid monkey.”

I make a deep sigh before talking. “Monkey why are you using me as a shield from Aarushi?” I peel the tail off my hip and turn around.

The monkey stands up straight and raises his arms. “muah Muaah!” He then gives me a large hug, and pats my back. He steps back a few feet then climbs back into the forest leaving without another word. I simply stare in shock not knowing what to do.

Lucarus gives a small chuckle. While walking past me he pats me on the shoulder. “Looks like you have a new admirer.”

Aarushi crosses her arms while muttering under her breath. “Why did he get a hug? Stupid monkey.”

…

The next day Lucarus and I are waiting by the gate outside the town checking our supplies. I list off a mental check list to Lucarus. “Water bag, check.” The water bag was made from the stomach of a wolf a few years back. I used fire to burn the edges together into a nice round shape then made a small melted rock cork for opening and closing. “Rock knife, check.” I have two Rock knives; I made them myself one day while waiting for prey. Shortly after Lucarus copied me and made a larger one for himself. “Gloves and boots, check. Alright looks like all we need is Aarushi!”

Lucarus perks his ears for a moment then says “I think our friend is back.”

I look around for a moment and see the monkey in a nearby tree. “Dam what does that monkey want this time?”

“Oh come on he isn’t that bad. Hey monkey I brought you something.” Lucarus pulls some berries from his pocket. “Come over here if you want them.” The monkey jumps down and walks over on the knuckles of his four limbs. He reaches out and grabs the berries from Lucarus and makes a small nodding motion and a satisfied grunt. “Good monkey, now why do you keep following us?”

The monkey looks side to side and walks over to me. He stands up like a person and then points at me. “Whauu hahaaa.”

I raise one of my eyebrows with a puzzled look. “Does the monkey understand English? More importantly why are you pointing at me?” The monkey gives a motion that says ‘follow me’. “Why should I trust a monkey like you?” The monkey crosses his arms and pouts. “That’s what I thought!”

“It’s the monkey! Come here monkey give me a hug!” Aarushi comes running from the village gate. The monkey goes wide eyed and drops the uneaten berries and rushes into a tree! “No wait monkey I love you! Don’t leave me alone with these turds!” Aarushi hangs her head in depression as the monkey disappears. She turns toward our direction with her finger on her lip and tilts her head. Slightly pouting, giving off her cutest face she asks. “You guys love me right?”

I walk up to her and flick her in her forehead, if she didn’t call us turds I might have said yes. She is rather cute when she gives us that face though. “You idiot, did you think we wouldn’t notice you calling us turds?” Lucarus gives a small chuckle crossing his arms.

Aarushi slams her hands to her sides and turns red slightly. “You idiot!”

Lucarus chips in. “Stop flirting you two we need to go catch us a bear!”

I begin to speak “Flirting wha..” But I am cut off by Aarushi.

“Ok!”

…

The three of us are about fifteen miles from town standing on the tree tops staring down at a giant brown ball of fur scurrying around in the underbrush. A giant ten foot tall brown bear walks on all four below us. I silently nod at Aarushi, our plan already set. She jumps down from above in front of the bare and ignites a spray of fire into its face. The flame gushes out causing the bare to stop in its tracks and stand on its hind legs. I jump down onto its back stabbing my daggers at its shoulders.

“Roooooaaawwwwrrrr” The bear cries out in pain as the daggers piece its thick hide. It shakes its body and starts flailing its thick grizzled arms around trying to knock me off. This is useless as Lucarus sneaks up behind it and cuts at the back of its hind legs. A snapping sound is made as Lucarus’s red hot blade slices through the Achilles tendons. In coordination Aarushi stops her barrage of flame and charges at the bare throwing flame behind her to accelerate her tackle. She strikes its soft under belly with her shoulder at full speed. As the bare begins to tumble backwards I unleash a large explosion inside the bear at the tips of each blade. I get flung off as the twin explosions launch the blades out of the bear.

The three of us circle around the bear as it wriggles around. Lucarus asks “Did we do it?”

I silently walk up to the bears head raising one of my daggers. “Let’s put it out of its misery.” To increase its piercing power I ignite my rock blade, it gives a red amber glow. I stab the glowing blade into the temple of the beast and twist it hard. A searing noise comes from the beasts head as it becomes motionless. I remove my dagger and wipe the blood from it. “Double tap!”

We start to grab the bear when we hear a blast of lightning shake the forest around us. “Dam, I guess we should find shelter first.”

That’s when a rustling in the trees is made and a furry brown head pops out. “whuuuaaaa whuaaa.” The monkey sticks its paws out and makes a small house shape above its head. He then points behind us. He jumps down and waves us to follow while heading in the direction he indicated earlier. I guess he will bring us to shelter. Maybe the monkey isn’t so bad to be around.

…

We arrive at a cave that feels oddly familiar. My vision blurs into black momentarily and I see the same cave with a fire inside, I vaguely remember having a dream like this a while back. What happened during that dream?

The monkey begins to gather wood and helps us place the bear inside the cave. He is rather capable. I wonder if he was raised or trained by somebody. I help him start the fire with my fire magic and he claps his hands in excitement. A few minutes later the pitter patter of rain drops echoes within the cave. We settled down just in time to keep from getting wet. This is good because Pyromancers are weak in the rain or wet environments.

I sit down and the monkey sits next to me. “Why do you like me so much monkey?” He points at me then at his chest then puts his arms together and rocks them together. I ask the monkey. “What does that even mean?” The monkey shakes his head and motions me to forget it. He sits back down staring at the fire with his golden eyes.

Aarushi slowly scoots toward the monkey as the monkey scoots toward me. After a few moments she lounges at the monkey trying to give it a hug. The monkey climbs up my body and onto my head. She fails and only grabs the monkey’s tail. Aarushi cries at the monkey. “No monkey come back here! I just want to love you!”

Lucarus begins to roll on the ground laughing at the scene develop.

The monkey dances on top of my head screeching from Aarushi grabbing his tail. I grab at his feet and legs trying to pull him off but he is a master of avoiding me. I finally give up and decide to attack Aarushi. I swat at her hands but she just strengthens her grip causing the monkey to screech louder. That’s when I get a devilish idea.

I wrap my hands around Aarushi and tickle her armpits relentlessly. She immediately drops the monkey’s tail and starts to flail around laughing uncontrollably. I do not stop as punishment for her actions. She wiggles around and giggles for a several seconds before crying out. “No! hahaha no hehe please stop!”

I rasp back at her. “Only if you promise to stop attacking the monkey!” the monkey cheers me on jumping up and down hollering. Lucarus still rolling on the other side of the cave laughing uncontrollably adds to the noise.

Tears form in her eyes as she holds on for a few more seconds before finally giving up. “Ok, I quite I won’t touch the monkey!” I stop tickling her after a few more seconds and let her body fall still. Her upper half rests on top of my lap while her legs rest against the cave wall. Her limbs are sprawled about. She is practically hanging upside down as she pouts with her green puppy dog eyes. “I can’t believe you did that!”

Lucarus sits up and wipes a tear from his eye. “Aarushi I didn’t know you were so ticklish.” Pointing his finger at Aarushi’s exposed belly he says. “Oh and also you might want to pull your shirt down.”

Aarushi looks down at her stomach and squeals in embarrassment. She scrambles to her feet kicking and punching frantically. She fixes her clothes and turns away from us covering her body with her arms. She walks a little ways away and without looking in our direction she bashfully asks. “You guys didn’t see anything did you?”

I jokingly say “I think I saw basically everything.” I then give off a hoarse whistle through my fingers. The monkey mimics my actions and whistles several times over.

Aarushi turns bright red and scurries deeper into the cave “You jerk!” she shouts as her figure fades into the darkness.

“That was really funny! I never knew she was so ticklish, in fact I would have thought in these 15 years she would have overcome that by now.” Lucarus loses part of his smile. “But you know in a few minutes you should probably apologize to her.” The monkey nods his head in agreement.

I take a deep breath while sitting back next to the fire. “She can’t be that mad at me, she is always playing around like that.”

Kicking a little dirt around with his feat Lucarus thinks for a second before speaking. “You know she is a girl right? You can’t treat her like you treat me.”

“So you’re saying I should tickle you instead of her?” I raise my hands in a threatening fashion and begin to inch toward him.

Putting his hands up in defense and getting a worried look on his face Lucarus claims. “No, no don’t tickle me!”

Before I have time to even respond or get any closer to Lucarus a scream from within the cave steals my attention. I look deeper into the cave. Nothing but darkness and the glow of the fire behind me can be seen. An ominousness feeling comes over me. “Did, you hear that? I think it’s Aarushi! Let’s go check on her!” I unsheathe my daggers and rush toward the source of the scream.