An Ape's Home

The sun crept up over the hills. It's thin band of light was beginning to wash over the land that was beneath it. With it, life began to stir. Bugs rustled from their resting spots, birds began to excercise their sleepy voices, fish started leaping in the the water and finally the apes opened their eyes.

Onugba was was awoken by his children who harrased him in his bed. It wasn't Onugba's favourite start to any day but what with the age that his children were at, it was the most common way for him to start the day. He look out over his subjects. No, subjects were not what Onugba thought of them, they were his people, his family, his entire life's meaning.

They were all awake now. Food gathered from the previous week was beginning to run out. Onugba decided that there would be enough to feed the youngest of them but then a party would have to be assembled and sent off to find more. Onugba was an experienced hunter-gatherer, he knew where the other apes gathered, where other predators gathered, he also had a vast knowledge of the movements of his prey. They would not starve today, Onugba would see to that, he would ensure the Orangutans lived to see another day.

Cideo had similar plans, only his meant that he had been awake for longer than Onugba and his family had. In fact, they were already moving. They moved deftly through the trees, they hardly made a sound as they moved closer and closer to their first target of they day. Cideo held up an open hand, 'hold'. Any closer and they ran the risk of being spotted. Cideo struck a look towards his companions, four could be seen, and that was fine, the deer bellow would surely notice twenty chimpanzees looking down on them. Making sure they were all ready, was not Cideo's job at the moment however. Seven doe and one stag were grazing on the leaves and vegetation bellow. The stag was strong and could easily kill any one of Cideo's apes. This needed to be accounted for. Cideo held up two fingers and moved his arm in a curved manner, then he pointed at the stag. Two of Cideo's companions gave a nod and as quietly as they had come in, left again. This left Cideo and his brother, Rídde to watch the doe. Cideo had hunted with Rídde many times before, since they were allowed to by their father, and they knew each other inside-out.

Cideo waited on his branch for thirty four seconds, the exact time taken for his other apes to move into their new position the last time he ordered such a maneuver.

Then, he screamed, and so did the rest of his hunters.

The deer bellow looked up to see a blur of black clouds springing from the trees above and assaulting them as they landed. The noise was deafening to the point that the once threatening stag was soon bucking and swinging his antlers in any direction as he could not identify where one single noise was coming from.

The attack was quick and brutal. Within sixteen seconds, the chimpanzees had their food which would feed all of the family for days. Cideo hoisted half of a doe onto his back, and with the rest of the carriers, he marched on the forest floor while his brothers and sisters watched them from above.

They heard the deers cries. It had been heard many times before. The chimpanzees were very loud and violent when they made a kill. Bonobos had learned to live relatively close to their neighbouring apes without much conflict between the two families. Neyagoru had seen that her family endured the chimpanzee movements. She was firmly installed and recognised as the leader and mother of the bonobos and she was determined to see that her people wouldn't fall prey to the other apes or any other predator on this planet.

Neyagoru was a mother to nine baby bonobos. With four sons, one of them was sure to take over her position as leader and become the new king. Her daughters were likely going to be married off to other worthy males and they would continue to help the bonobo population grow. Neyagoru took her attention away from her children to see someone hobbling up to her and her young. He bowed his head and knelt down respectively while keeping his distance from the young children. He was not here to cause trouble, no Neyagoru could see that, he was requesting her time for whatever reason.

"Speak your mind" Neyagoru said with the type of authority which commanded respect even from enemies

"We have suffered the loss of two apes" he informed while keeping his head down and knee on the floor.

"How?"

"We were ambushed and attack by the apes of Láne" he replied

"Humans" she snarled

"Yes my Queen"

She fell quiet for a moment and pondered the situation

"Bring all the apes back home, close the walls and wait inside until I am ready" Neyagoru instructed.

"Yes my Queen" he bowed and ran off

*Smash* Rocks were being heaved and moved as the king had requested. The king had decided that the placement of rocks instead of timber and wood would prove to be a much better defense to his people. It also meant that more time was being used organising these defenses than gathereing food or scouting new territory. But, in this part of the world, the king ruled with an iron fist. He had gotten himself there by no easy means. It nearly cost him his life and now he was fixng what the old king wouldn't. His name was Quint, King among Gorillas.

The reorganising of the defenses had been Quint's second command when he was installed as the king. His first had been revolutionary to the Gorillas. Have a large food source inside the city walls. It had been clear to Quint from a young age that it made more sense to climb a tree in safety than to wander into the unknown and hope for the best. King Seran didn't share Quint's views. Buthe wasn't in charge anymore. Quint was. Now it was Quint's job to rule as a king should

There was movement and sound inside and outside of Láne. Human sound. Adults and children moved about their business waiting for their loved ones to return from the run into the Death Lands as they called it. It was by no means a moral boosting name when it was first thought of, but at these times it was thought of more as a bad reference or even a joke. Humans weren't the strongest fighters that would be moving in Death Lands so to go out there was to be taking your life in your hands. As a result any parties which tended to go out there were small, fast and lightly armed. Either that, or you were an exile

Davin was not a happy boy at this time. He was sitting on top of Láne Hall, just able to see over the city walls but he could not see his brother. Jon had been asked to go out into Death Lands to retrieve something. Davin didn't know what but whatever it was it must have been important if Jon had agreed to go. Three of them had set off at 7 am, but that was three hours ago, however much Davin wanted to deny it, he knew that the Golden Hour for getting a job done in Death Lands was up, well up at this point. That wasn't the decider though, Jon wasn't guaranteed to be dead. Of course not. But his chances were getting slimmer and slimmer

Davin had faith in his brother's capabilities

*Bang Bang Bang*

Davin froze.