Magic Of The Golden Flower Chapter 20
Starting from sunrise the apes went straight to work in digging through the sewer access tunnels underground. Luca, Maurice, Spear, and Rocket barely took any breaks determined to reach a spot where they could see inside the cages instead of the outside like they did yesterday. They'd dug far enough to the point where they could see the post for a railway crossing that they glimpsed above top, but the group still had a very long way to go.
Aurora and Shadow were down there with the diggers giving them food and water when needed or asked. Shadow had to be assisted in the climb down. Maurice was required to carry him with one arm, but Shadow didn't mind. Aurora thought he actually came to enjoy the ride. This time Luca was keeping a close eye on his charge personally. He wasn't going to let her pull another stunt like she did last night and put herself in danger getting caught.
To the dismay of Bad Ape he was the one "selected" to stand guard on the surface as the lookout and monitor the humans base camp. This was because of his failure at the simple task he'd been given the night before to keep an eye on Aurora the night before. So was consequence he was faced with a choice. Face the demotion like an ape or Luca's angry fist. For all of Bad Ape's idiocy he wisely chose the lesser of the two.
It was while Bad Ape was observing the military facility that he partook a scene that spelled trouble.
Abandoning his post Bad Ape hastily climbed the rickety rope ladder into the tunnels and followed the tracks in the mud to find them. Spear was the first of the group he encountered and it was pretty obvious he was far from pleased to see the chimp away from where they told him to stay. Everyone else was ahead of him and they were alerted when Spear hissed angrily at Bad Ape. Shadow followed suit and by all appearances he very well looked like he was going to take great pleasure in tearing a bite out of the fool.
Quickly Bad Ape raised his hands submission to pacify them. Frantic, He said "Wait! Wait! Come above! Something is a happening!"
Luca, Rocket, Maurice, and Spear exchanged unconvinced and doubtful glances unsure whether to humor Bad Apes ramblings seriously.
But Bad Ape was undaunted and his uncommonly serious persona is what managed to sway the others. Despite only knowing him for a short time Bad Ape wouldn't be acting like this unless it wasn't important especially with the fear of messing up again.
"Please come," said Bad Ape. "Must see! Must see!"
So after dropping everything they were doing the gang followed Bad Ape back to the entrance and climbed to the surface with Aurora clinging comfortably to Luca's back.
Once they were safely behind the boulders shielding the hole and themselves Bad Ape finally revealed what'd gotten him so distressed in the first place.
They were met with a heart-wrenching gruesome scene.
Caesar was being beaten again, but far more brutally than previously. This time not only was he being whipped, but the majority of the Donkeys were wailing on him good. The onslaught was so massive Caesar's body could barely be seen, but judging Bad Ape's confidence and the ape prisoners it most certainly was Caesar.
It was ugly to witness.
Tapping Bad Ape on the shoulder, Maurice asked "What happened? What did Caesar do?"
Shrugging and shaking his head in confusion, Bad Ape said "I don't know. One minute Friend was working and the next he was pulled into the open and humans began hurting him."
From what was gathered the humans had just started torturing Caesar for no good reason. Although these barbarians didn't necessarily need one anymore. The Colonel probably ordered this to remind Caesar and the rest of the apes who was the boss.
This hit Aurora hard. After all the trouble she went through to get in there and relieve Caesar of his suffering it was now proven all for not. Caesar was back to the pitiful state he was in when he was lacking her healing touch.
Helpless all the small splinter group could do was stand there, but none of them really wanted to do that. Realizing this they opted to return underground rather than observe the rest of this traumatic experience. Least of all marking Aurora for life any further than she already was.
Bad Ape dutifully took up the guard position using the binoculars so he could report anything else strange that went on after this. To be honest he was quite happy he wasn't the victim of a beating himself, but the one he'd be given by the others would be absolutely redundant compared to what Caesar was currently enduring.
Below in the camp the Colonel smirked extremely satisfied with the performance.
"Take him away," said the Colonel, lazily waving his hand.
Two Donkeys grabbed Caesar by the arms and dragged him away in the dirt with members of the Colony trailing sad eyes after him.
Red, Boyle, and Preacher flanked the Colonel on either side joining him to see Caesar taken back to his cage.
"Do you think it'll work, Colonel," asked Preacher, concerned.
Laughing, Boyle sneered "Of course it'll work you idiot."
"But what if Aurora wasn't watching," persisted Preacher. "What we did could be all for nothing."
The Colonel, who'd been silent up until this point, scoffed "Oh she saw it all right and if she truly does care about these monkeys as much as we suspect then Aurora will come running to save him at the soonest opportunity. Give the men their marching orders for tonight, but forewarn them that they need to act as they usually would. We mustn't tip our Flower off and when we have her she won't be blooming freely on her own anymore."
Having heard this Caesar prayed silently in his mind telling little Aurora that if she had seen the torture she wouldn't interfere to assist him this time. He desperately hoped his comrades could keep a better eye on her after the last. Never mind his own, Aurora's very existence depended on this.
Authors Note:
Oh no. Looks like the Colonel is hatching a very evil plan. :O