Monkey Wars (38 page)

I
n the disused water tower at the steelworks, Papina had been waking up night after night, plagued by the same dream.

It always started so pleasurably, scrambling through a tree canopy in the brilliant sunlight, relishing the freedom, the clean air, the glowing green of the sunlit leaves. But as she ran, the branches would start to get thinner and thinner, until impossibly, she was somehow running on twigs…and the moment she saw this, Papina would fall, plunging down and down, the air rushing through her fur, branches flailing painfully past her hands, until finally she would grasp a hanging vine and swing into the tree.

And then the moment of horror as she realized it wasn't a vine she was holding, but the tail of a massive snake. She'd turn to run, but the snake was always quicker, whipping round to engulf her.

Papina opened her mouth to scream, but nothing would come out; her lungs were empty as the huge snake crushed her body…and then the sickening click of the monster's jaws unhinging—

Papina woke with a start, trembling. She sat bolt upright in the darkness and fearfully checked the shadows between the sleeping monkeys to make sure that no snake had slithered in. Reassured, she clambered up the ladder and stood on the roof, breathing in the sticky night air, trying to calm down.

Always the same dream, and she always woke at the same point. At first she put it down to old memories raked up by the stress of battle; then another idea occurred to her: perhaps there was a reason for the dreams, perhaps her mind wasn't tormenting her, but was trying to tell her something.

As she sat on top of the water tower, letting the sweat from her nightmare ease away, Papina tried to think how a vision of her own death could possibly help the war.

As thoughts collided in an unexpected way, slowly the notion came to her: the problem of the unbeatable could be solved by conquering the unthinkable.

The idea was so perfect it sent a physical jolt through Papina's body. Unable to contain her excitement, she swung down into the tank and shook Mico, who woke with a start.

“What's wrong?!” He sat up and went to cradle her in his arms.

“I know how to beat the langur,” she burbled excitedly. “I've seen it in my sleep!”

Mico took her hand to guide her to the ladder. “You need some fresh air.”

“No, listen to me!” she insisted. “The killer blow…I know what it is.”

T
he monkeys were often tetchy first thing in the morning, so Mico thought it best to wait until they'd all had breakfast before calling the meeting. Only then did they gather in the shade under the water tower.

“Papina's got an idea,” he said, trying to sound nonchalant. “We all know she's not prone to flights of fancy, so you should listen to her with…an open mind.” He gave a wry smile. “It's a bold plan. It may even be an insane plan, but
I
think it's brilliant.”

He looked expectantly to Papina, who immediately felt the intensity of all the monkeys gazing at her. What had seemed like a good idea in the middle of the night suddenly felt ridiculous in the harsh light of morning, but it was too late to back down now.

“There's a snake, a huge snake—a python—that lives under the trash mountain in the slums.” Papina saw the monkeys shuffle uneasily just at the mention of the word
python
.

“When we first escaped from the cemetery, this snake killed one of our females. Swallowed her whole. And it would've got me if it hadn't been for the quick thinking of my mother.”

Papina hesitated. Suddenly she remembered what it meant to be loved by a mother, and like an ache deep in her heart, she felt a longing for peace. That was why they needed this plan, she reminded herself, forcing her thoughts back on track.

“If we want to win this war, we need to capture that snake. We need to take it into the heart of langur territory and release it, so that it can kill Tyrell and all his henchmen.” Papina sat down. “That's my plan.”

Her calm, matter-of-fact delivery was utterly at odds with the astonishing conceit of the plan; it left the monkeys frozen with incredulity.

“Exactly,” said Mico. “Just hearing the plan has shocked you into silence. Imagine how you'd feel if you'd witnessed it…watched as your leader was devoured by a giant snake.”

Mico gazed into the anxious faces. “This is about striking a blow so terrifying the enemy won't understand how mere monkeys could've achieved it.”

“It's also suicidal,” pointed out Cadby.

Joop and the other young monkeys laughed, relieved that someone had objected to the madness.

“I don't want to disappear down a python's gullet,” agreed Twitcher. “Dying in battle's one thing, but a snake…” He shuddered at the thought.

“Fear is the point,” replied Mico. “By conquering our own fears, we'll terrify the langur all the more.”

“But it's impossible!” exclaimed Cadby. “We can't catch a python—it'll kill us!”

“Look at the victories we've already pulled off,” countered Mico. “Not so long ago you'd have said those were impossible too. How could a small band of refugees take on the langur empire? But we trained; we used our brains; we found a way. It's the same now. We know the objective…all we have to do is think of a plan.”

The monkeys exchanged anxious glances. This was so far outside their normal thinking they found it hard to make any kind of rational decision.

It was left to young Jola to break the deadlock. She turned to Gu-Nah and asked with disarming frankness, “Can it be done?”

The old warrior scratched his head thoughtfully. “Can it be done? I don't know. But if we
could
find a way…” A mischievous grin spread across his face.

So they talked.

They talked through the oppressive heat of midday, and through the torrential rain that deluged the city in the afternoon.

And as they talked, the python became less a terrifying monster and more a strategic problem. With the fear removed, the monkeys were able to roll the problem around their heads, experimenting with different approaches, treating the whole thing as a game.

Until gradually a plan started to emerge. A plan that was strong and bold, that held its shape no matter how hard it was prodded and pulled, a plan that stood a fighting chance of achieving the impossible.

Two days later, everything was in place. As Mico led his rhesus fighters downtown on the roof of a tram, he'd never felt more proud.

Or more apprehensive. This time there was no margin for error.

As the tram pulled into the terminus, they jumped from the roof and scampered into the sidestreets, where they gathered round Fig protectively.

“Is there anything else you need?” Papina asked gently.

Fig shook her head.

“I'm sorry you have to face it on your own.”

“Don't be sorry,” replied Fig. “It's how it needs to be.”

The monkeys fell silent.

“Well…,” Mico said, looking up at the sky, “we'd better get on with it.”

Fig nodded. “Good luck.”

“I think you need it more than us,” he replied.

“We'll see.”

Then Fig put her arms around Twitcher and held him tightly, for a few moments rekindling memories of happiness they'd once known.

“Live for me,” she whispered.

Twitcher nodded silently, clinging to her fur, desperate to prolong the moment. But too soon, she let go.

“Goodbye,” Fig said gently; then she turned and headed off on her lonely mission without even a backward glance.

“Well, well,” said Sweto with a malicious smile. “This really is our lucky day.” He pointed across the bustling street; the langur troopers with him looked over and were stunned to see a couple of rhesus monkeys lazing in the sunshine.

Sweto knew that if he returned with enemy corpses he would be handsomely rewarded, but
live
captives who could be tortured and interrogated would secure his place as Tyrell's favorite.

The problem was, three against two didn't give them much advantage. In situations like this the protocol was clear: keep the enemy in sight and call for reinforcem
ents.

But Sweto was too ambitious for protocol.

“Let's get them…NOW!” he roared, and led his troopers charging across the street.

Which was exactly what Twitcher and Cadby wanted. Immediately they turned and bolted into a side alley, scampering as fast as they could. But the langurs were faster, and as Twitcher and Cadby raced toward a fire escape at the far end of the alley, they heard langur feet thundering through the puddles behind them, gaining ground with every heartbeat.

Cadby glanced over his shoulder, saw the angry faces and sharp incisors, saw the excitement of violence in the langurs' eyes.

“Don't look!” roared Twitcher. “RUN!”

It jolted Cadby to his senses and he refocused on the fire escape, trying to ignore the pain splitting his lungs, the heaviness pulling at his legs.

Ten paces, five…he had just reached out to grab the ladder when suddenly Rafa and Joop leaped down from a first-floor window, locked eyes with the pursuing langurs and ran.

For a few confusing moments Sweto didn't know what to do. The two rhesus they'd been chasing were tiring, but once up the ladder they'd have the run of the rooftops, where their size and lightness would give them the edge. The new rhesus may be fresher but they were down here, and when it came to it one rhesus scalp was as good as another.

“THEM!” Sweto commanded, and he charged along the alley after Rafa and Joop.

As the langurs hurtled through the maze of backstreets their nostrils flared with bloodlust, their judgment clouded and they forgot about everything but the kill…so when they emerged into the dump and saw two monkeys standing on a mound of trash, they assumed these were the ones they'd been chasing. In their frenzy they scampered over the garbage hills, creating an avalanche of plastic.

Only when they were halfway across did Sweto realize that the rhesus weren't trying to escape; they just stood there defiantly. He blinked in the hard morning light, looked closer, and saw that these were different monkeys—one rhesus and one langur.

Could this really be the traitor Mico? Could Sweto now return with the greatest prize of all to offer Lord Tyrell?

But as quickly as hope raised its head, reality whistled past and cut it off at the neck—Sweto watched, openmouthed, as two ropes dropped down, allowing Mico and the rhesus to escape by scrambling up to some overhead cables.

Yet strangely, the monkeys didn't scamper along the wires and disappear; they just clung there, looking down, enthralled.

Sweto glanced around the dump, wondering what could be so interestin
g…and then he heard the sound of movement close by.

The rubbish was stirring.

Sweto's spine tingled with fear, but it was already too late. In an explosion of debris the monstrous python burst into the light and loomed over the monkeys.

The langurs staggered backward…s
traight into the waiting coils of the snake's grotesquely long body. It happened so terrifyingly fast Sweto didn't even have time to put his thoughts in order.

A sudden jerk of the python's body and the monkeys were being dragged down toward the mysterious subterranean world under the trash.

They clawed at the rubbish, desperately trying to pull themselves back to the surface, but their efforts were pathetic against the strength of the mighty reptile.