Road to Rhohas – Chapter 11

His father— that was the last time. His father with a switch in his hand, cold anger directed toward his son when he was discovered with the box of old city artifacts. He'd borrowed them without permission from the orangutan archeologist next door when she wouldn't let him take them to show the cute female from his class. He didn't steal anything. He would have brought it all back…

That was the last time Judan felt the icy grip of fear that muted all his senses. Then he realized this was worse. Much worse. His father's strikes hurt but weren't meant to damage. The silent rage that filled Urko's face held no such promise.

The silverback gorilla stared at the broken timbers of the cage bars, some tipped with dried blood. The low growls emitting from deep within his chest caused Judan's fur to prickle. That and the utter stillness.

Urko and Osmur had rumbled into town at mid-morning, the smell of charred wood woven into their fur, its cinders coating them like a mantle. A wagon carrying a few apes including Gressa, the prefect's wife, led a slow procession of humans into the square, but most split off and wandered on to their own to places of rest.

Judan and the two guards emerged from the jail to stand at the empty cage at the sound of the approach. The gorilla troopers tensed, their breathing shallow with anxious grunts, increasing as the horses neared. The orangutan attempted to hold on to a sense of dignity, his hands held one atop the other with stoic resolution. He had wallowed in a fear induced denial the night before. The keening of his cries wailed like death throes as he ran around and through the empty cage, arms flailing out to find what was no longer there. To their credit, the guards began an immediate search of the square for the hiding prisoners, but their bodies lumbered back, dejected, to stare, mouths agape, at the same broken space Urko stood before now. Utterly still.

The orangutan began to shake and worried his knees would falter as the powerful gorilla turned oh, so slowly, on his axis. The presence of Osmur moving next to him gave him strength enough to stand, although not enough to meet the vicious, rage-filled eyes of the general.

"My cage is broken," the words were spoken concisely. Judan felt the burning gaze as he continued, "My prisoners were secured by my alert guards, of course."

The painful moan in the throat of the guard nearest Judan was palpable. The other croaked, "Both were missing when we returned, sir."

"Returned?" his voice dropped another register.

"They were needed when the wagon collapsed." Judan heard the sound of his voice before realizing he intended to speak. He dared to meet the commander's glare and was locked in its iron grip. His breaths came in short snatches.

"You took them from their assigned duty."

"The greater need—" The assistant prefect needed no more than the gorilla's raised glove to cut off the empty excuse that was to follow.

Urko glowered without speaking. He allowed the trembling fools before him to quail, but he needed the time to quell the quivering of his innards. Admonishing himself, he could not escape the folly of his own cockiness. His main force, including his second-in-command and the garrison commander, continued their duties at the mine. Ullic tracked traces of the saboteur with Meelar underfoot. Balden directed the last stages of containment of the fires and of the human labor to ensure none escaped in the chaos. Not even a full squad milled about in this wretched town. The two humans were gone with not even a dead lieutenant to show for it.

The cunning general saw a glimmer to reverse the swelling disaster.

"Prefect." Urko barely moved his shaggy head to the chimpanzee. He felt a growing discomfort as Osmur's unnatural calm continued. "Since your assistant has managed to lose my prisoners, it would be in your best interests to locate them." At least the chimpanzee had the decency to flinch.

Osmur snatched a hurried glance at his wife, who remained fixed to the seat of the wagon a few feet away. At the thoughtful narrowing of Urko's eyes, he immediately regretted revealing his reliance on Gressa, but it did give him precious seconds to think. He had a woeful lack of resources available with much of the town either at the mine or sensibly abed after the exhaustive activities through the night.

"One of the humans knows the hills and woods as well as anyone. He is a skilled tracker," the Prefect stated. He should be. Trayus taught him, was left unsaid. "Judan, go find Casper."

It had not been his intention to be cruel but rather to spare his assistant from Urko's fierce scrutiny, yet the fall of his shoulders suggested he took it as another blow: the ultimate insult, an ape fetching a human. Osmur may have let his sympathy linger had Judan attempted to help salvage this predicament with him.

"But Prefect, send one of the…," Judan's indignant retort withered under the heated stare of the chimpanzee. "Yes, sir." The young orangutan took sullen steps in the direction of the human dwellings outside of the town proper. Osmur frowned as Urko's scowl deepened. He held in check his own growl, and the foot he wanted to place in the ape's rear. He did not withhold the acrimony of his next order.

"By all the fires, boy! Be quick about it!"

He couldn't find it right away, but he also couldn't risk lying about finding the dwelling of the half-grown chimp—the leech lover. He idly wondered if they used leeches on the leeches and allowed himself a low chuckle in his dry throat at his wit. He figured the stench alone would guide him right to the place. How any sensible ape came to think that caring for the hairless creatures should be a chosen profession was beyond any reason Meelar could suss out. 'Use 'em til there was nothing left to take, throw it out and grab another,' was his thought on the matter. There were plenty enough of the things and a few less in the world suited him fine.

And then there was Hafva. A gorilla whose size alone would have made him a natural in enforcement. He'd be a garrison leader, sure enough, and the only time he'd need to touch a human would be with a very thick stick. He couldn't think that any extra sembles paid out was worth being stuck in the dust and stink of the mines, much less the constant reek of unwashed vermin. He realized, despite his private moanings about it, he had the better life after all—get your shift done and go home 'til the next one. He only had a minute to blast Hafva for setting the explosives early, but the huge gorilla jumped down Meelar's throat thinking he had sent someone to do the job for him. Left both of them wondering who else had joined the plot.

That was it. He'd decided then and there it was all too much for him. He didn't need to feel special or be in the know or count on Bulta's promise of an extra clatter of tiles in his pocket. Instead of his long overdue good fortune, bad turns and worse luck had twisted tantalizing riches into dangerous risk pointed squarely at his head. The price was too high. He had never chased a fugitive human on his own—just followed the orders of those that did it all the time. So, despite Urko's orders that he join in the hunt for the one that blew up the mine—and it looked like it really was a human and not Hafva—he just trailed behind Ullic and tried to stay out of the way and let them all forget about him.

The lieutenant seemed pretty certain that the creature, although wounded, made it to the river without bleeding to death. Bloody prints were found on the ladder the humans used to climb down the stone wall to the riverbank. It seemed clear to Meelar that it swam out, and maybe drowned, or slipped away, and would show up in one of the other border towns. Some patrol would put an end to it. If it made it across to the Forbidden Zone, the monsters he'd heard about all his life would have a nice, even if it was already nicked up, meal. The tired gorilla thought once the search was over, he was freed up to head back to his tent, and maybe sleep for the first time in days now that his secret meetings had come to an end. He could have shit where he stood when Lieutenant Ullic ordered him to find the leech doc, and make sure no injured human showed up on her doorstep, threatening the little chimp to take care of its gunshot wounds.

He had wandered along the main road like Gustus told him—the chimp that did the shooting. Meelar wanted to ask why that chimp couldn't just go since he knew exactly where she lived, and since it was his kill by rights, and—if it was there—he could finish it off. Ullic pulled Meelar to the side and hissed that this was Urko's operation, and it stayed under Urko's command. Then he clapped him on the shoulder like sending him off on this tiresome search for some chimp—or human—he didn't want to find in the first place was something to be proud of. Shit. He'd be proud to make it back to the camp about now. He realized it was just because he was so exhausted and watching his feet drag that he saw the fallen sign off to the side of the road. The wood was faded and worn but was fancy enough once upon a time to spell out the whole word 'Veterinarian' and had an animal carved in each corner: a horse, a pig, a goat, and a human. Meelar thought he would have used a cow as the last figure if it was him. He liked cows. They didn't talk. Or stink.

Adjusting his rifle across his back, he followed the narrow trail that wound up a hillside into some trees. Although it was mid-day and the sun bright, an odd sense of dusk fell around him as he picked his way along the sometimes narrow trail that wove through the woods. He sniffed aloud to keep himself company, but kept his tongue quiet, still half concerned he might alert some stalking beast of his presence. When the sounds of the birds and the on-going rustle of the underbrush quieted as if a priest of the Lawgiver had risen behind the alter, his feet froze in place. The rifle found its way into his hands, his fingers trembling over the trigger. A slow, ominous whooshing sound sounded above him. He ducked his head between his shoulders, raised the barrel up to see a huge dark body fly over, its full shape hidden by the treetops. His mouth dried, his heart beat faster, and then to his relief, the song of the birds returned. Danger gone. Life continued.

By the fires, he missed the City.

Taking short, stunted breaths, the gorilla released a lengthy exhale. It was time for him to be back home. Back to his life, uncluttered by mysteries in the dark. Just a half full mug of dark cider with another on the way, and a game of Shells in front of him at any one of his favorite local pubs. He kept his rifle drawn and continued walking uphill.

Just when his calves began to ache, and he worried he must have missed it, the trail took a bend around tall bishop pine and thin incense cedar trees opening into a clearing with a barn and a large cabin, smoke coming out of the chimney. The chimp had a wide stone porch with a bench and a couple of padded chairs to one side of the door. He suddenly wasn't opposed to making use of one of them even though the thought of that bedroll of his was getting more and more inviting. A hitching post stretched across half of the porch. Another set of posts topped with a rail stood taller than his head to the right side of the house. Perhaps the chimp used it for curing hides of the beasts that died. A long-eared donkey wandered through the barn doors, and an unstabled horse stuck its head through the open doorway. Chickens and goats danced around in the yard with squawks and bleats as he picked his way around scattered blackened pellets. Humans weren't the only thing this ape kept that left an odor. The gorilla blew out a puff of air and followed the worn trail to the door.

"City Watch," he announced out of habit as he pounded his fist against the wood. Immediate banging sounds came from the interior. Meelar tightened his grip on his rifle.

"Everythin' al'right in there? Open up for the City Watch." More banging followed without an answering voice. The gorilla turned the handle and pressed the door open. Maybe because he'd been around so many lately, along with a mix of odors he didn't recognize, the smell of human hit his nose as soon as he opened the door. Jerking his rifle off his arm, he cocked it and ran halfway across the room as the small veterinarian he had seen before came out of a side door to his right; she was barefoot, wearing a light gown.

"What is the meaning of this?" she snapped, her temper rising as she approached the armed gorilla. Meelar scanned the large room that served as both kitchen and receiving area.

"Where is it? It may be able to find a hole to slip in but ya can't hide that beast stink," the gorilla snarled as he knocked past her. Meelar saw the chimp's eyes dart to the floor to ceiling curtain that blocked off the far side of the room.

"I've got you now, you stinkin' whore's welp," Meelar chuckled, his feet swiveling out as his bent legs trotted over the floor.

"Stop immediately!" Kaykos tried to step in front of him, but he shoved her away with little effort. He jerked the curtain aside revealing the human tucked into a bed on a thick mattress. The gorilla's eyes widened at the large catlike animal lying on the leech's feet and a thing bigger than any rat he had ever seen curled next to its shoulder. The rat thing scampered under the bed while the cat creature lifted its front shoulders, its eyes locked on the small chimp for direction. The trooper crossed the room quickly and rested the barrel of the gun under the male human's chin.

"Chief Urko is gonna be mighty pleased to see you," Meelar proclaimed, suddenly feeling the energy to drag his captive straight to the general's feet. He had a colorful vision of a long overdue sergeant's stripe painted on his vest.

Kaykos was momentarily stunned, her mind racing to guess how Urko's trooper had known Burke could be here. A choking groan from her patient as the gorilla dug the gun barrel into the soft part of his throat, pushing his dark head back into the mattress, kicked her back into motion. No matter who he was, no gorilla was going to roughhouse a patient in her clinic. She rounded past the guard with a gesture to push Vandos off the bed, protecting the bobcat from the trigger finger of the gorilla, then grabbed the barrel in her hand, and pulled it away from Burke to direct it to the floor.

"By all the fires, what are you doing?"

"This human's a criminal," the gorilla snapped. "Tried to blow up the mines. Maybe you can tell us who he is and where he came from. Maybe who else is gonna die with him for thinking they are better 'an apes. Or better idea, we'll just let Chief Urko ask him. They always answer his questions—eventually. Don't worry," he sneered, "you can tell Chief Urko how you didn't know and all. Knowing how he feels about humans and their doctors, I'm sure he'll believe you."

Kaykos' relief whooshed through her. This fool knew nothing.

"I don't know who you think you are barging into my home and my clinic, waking me from much-needed sleep after being at the mine all night, and then threatening young Gabin here. This boy was attacked by a bear. Chief Urko knows alllll about it so there's no sense in me repeating the story to him. Not that I need to explain any patient in my clinic." She would apologize to Gabin later.

Meelar took half a step back from the fury of the tiny chimp, her fist thudding against his chest. He had heard about the bear attack. Several of the troopers had joked about it over their campfire. He smacked his lips before finally trying to be clever and asked, "Patient? Is that what you call it?"

"Of course. And what would you call him?" She crossed her arms as she continued to push him back with her firm steps forward. She kept her eyes on the gorilla and away from Burke. She forced her anger to override her growing concern. She could hear his soft utterings threatening the beginning another nightmare. Although he remained unconscious, he'd had several in the hours she had cared for him, and his ramblings were not always as incoherent as they needed to be while this gorilla was in the room.

"If I was the bear, I'd call it dinner!" he guffawed. The trooper who said it first got a round of laughter and few pats on the back, but the chimp only glared at him. They pushed into the living area, and she yanked the curtain closed.

"If I were you, I'd get back to searching for your missing criminal. You can assure Chief Urko that he'll be the first to know if any humans that need reporting show up at my door." Kaykos flung it open and gave the gorilla another push in that direction.

"See that you do," Meelar tried to get in the last word, but the wood barrier had already slammed in his face.

Cold buried him, a white mass that enveloped him like a beast that nibbled then gnawed at his flesh leaving a sense of nothing behind. An ice cocoon spun by an unseen predator whose turning, turning of his body sought new entry points for its hungry mouth to spike and drain the tiny pockets of heat that proclaimed, 'I still breath.' He welcomed the pain. The pain meant he still lived. With the pain to guide him, he fought to return to a place of consciousness.

His nerves screaming, awareness gave his hunter a face. A chimpanzee, her eyes as cold as her restraints that held him. She walked around him, studying him through the lenses of glasses paned with ice. As his mind opened, he saw it wasn't she that moved. Spinning. He was spinning at her command. An endless vortex meant to deceive and confuse. Sounds broke through the muted muffles of the cold. Her voice always found a way to touch him.

"You will tell me what I want…"

"Burke, Peter J. Rank Major..."

"You will do what I say…"

"You will not control me…"

"You will be who I tell you to be…"

"You will never own me…"

"You are mine, Burke. You simply haven't accepted the truth of it yet…mine…mine…mine…"

A new danger threatened. Hard rounded metal, hot against the cold, jabbed into the soft flesh under his jaw forcing his chin to lift, his throat to gag. Death threatened at a place where he was but wasn't yet a part of it. He struggled to find that place. He couldn't be taken by her again, but the cold had not released its paralyzing hold. His mind burned with ferocity—and fear—but his flesh lingered in the cold: limp, flaccid, weak—useless.

The ice began to splinter. One threat gone as the pressure of the metal released his throat but another menaced. His senses assailed him: the pungency of her fur overwhelming his nostrils causing his throat to gag, the leathery touch of her fingers replacing the peril of gun barrel with a different foreboding, the sound of her voice speaking his name and demanding his obedience. Her hand lifted his head, pressing the metal edge of a cup to his dry lips. He wanted the taste of water, was desperate for it, but turned his head away.

"… water, Burke. You have lost too much blood. You need water," a voice that was not Wanda's voice spoke but, in his delirium, she carried Wanda's face and touch and smell. She was trying to hide in the voice of another, but he could see the truth of her. And he knew the gifts she gave were not gifts at all but weapons to use against him.

"No… no… hell no!" he refused as his head began to thrash, and then he realized that they had forgotten to retie him. He was still free, and his hands sought to push her away, but it was so hard to move.

"The trooper is gone, Burke. You are safe. Urko cannot find you here."

URKO! His muscles found strength to grapple against her.

"No! I won't go back!"

Wanda, who wasn't Wanda, pressed against him. His back arched, his legs kicked, his arms flailed, but he wasn't strong enough. Her weight lay across him, pinning him. "I will have to give you something stronger than water if you fight me," not Wanda's voice warned.

Fear took him then. Spikes drove into his eyes with shocks of pain rattling his bones. She could force him. She could control him. She could own him—if he let her.

"No, no, no, no, no…!"

Her strong fingers squeezed his jaw and his mouth opened. Bitter liquid poured in. He thrashed against her. She pinched his nose closed. He spit it out, but more poured in. She slammed his mouth shut hard against his teeth. He had to swallow or drown.

"Do not fight me, Burke. You must drink," the one who wasn't Wanda ordered, but sounded— hesitant? sad? The liquid burned as it entered his throat and spread through his chest. But he had to fight. He couldn't give in. If he gave in, he was lost. The world began to spin again, and he cried in anguish as he felt what little power remained in him leech away. His arms and legs fell to stillness, tied with invisible ropes. He was weak. And tired. Oh, so tired. And so damn weak. God, he hated himself. His head locked in place, but his eyes slit open. The chaos decelerated into a peripheral spin. The wild pictures that roiled in his head slowed and faded. She released his jaw allowing him to swallow away the nasty taste lingering on his tongue. He blinked.

The voice that wasn't Wanda wasn't Wanda at all. A chimpanzee, no more than a child, held him down. He despaired knowing he was so fucking weak even a female ape child could keep him in the places of his terror. He thought he felt a trickle of moisture roll from the corner of his eyes across his temples. If she wouldn't give him freedom, maybe she would give him pity. From far away, his voice cracked, and begged of the child, "Please make it stop."

The cold had left him, but the blackness returned, and he fell headlong into it.

Kaykos wiped the tears from Burke's face as he succumbed to the sleeping draught she had given him. His body needed rest. His mind needed it more. She brushed her eyes blaming lingering effects from the smoke, denying that her own tears had joined his, although Wisake pressed his head against her in comfort. The veterinarian tucked Burke's now still hands back beneath the thick blankets. She gently brushed his dark hair away from his face, a healthy color returning, at last, as the cold was driven back, but his muscles flinched with an on-going turmoil. She stared at his face, studied every line as a chill settled in her chest.

"Sleep, Burke. You are safe here," Kaykos assured him, resting her hand along his forehead. The warmth of it was reassuring. He had stepped away from death, although the physical lesions would need to be cleaned and ointment re-applied later. She frowned as she considered the best approach to treat his invisible wounds. "When you wake up, Wildling, we will talk. Galen and Virdon certainly did not tell me all the truth about you."

The Rhohas town square was eerily quiet as evening approach. Galen readjusted his elbows which had grown stiff pressed into the hard ground. Alan remained completely still, focused. Both remained on their stomachs where they had lain and watched Urko's spectacle, was it really only yesterday? The man squinted his eyes, shoving aside the memory that it was Burke who laid with him then. Burke who was not here today. Burke who would not be here tomorrow.

The wooden cage sat empty, unguarded. the ragged hole just visible from their angle. At least it remained empty. Alan had been fearful Urko would start over randomly declaring any passing human as insurrectionists. Instead, Rhohas reclaimed its streets. Businesses had opened and served numerous customers. Its citizens—the ape citizens—lingered in pockets of demonstrative discussions, their arms waving toward the mines while its humans scurried from place to place fulfilling the orders of their masters. The doors and exterior booths were closing now, except for the tavern which boasted a milling crowd around its entrance. Troopers had come and gone with only the humans shying away and avoiding their attention. A few of the guards stood around, especially at key intersections and buildings but they weren't stilted at attention like before. It looked like the peaceful town Galen had promised on their not-so-peaceful journey here. Virdon pushed aside thoughts of Burke again.

The Prefecture door opened. Judan, the young orangutan, paused in the doorway, turned back one foot inside, one out. He raised his free hand, gesturing to make some point to the distraction that stopped him. He stepped out, closed the door firmly, but lingered momentarily on the threshold, his head down. Dejection draped him like a blanket when he dragged himself into motion passing several structures before slipping into an alley.

Galen resettled again but kept his thoughts to himself. Three of Urko's troopers rode into the square from the direction of the fields. They tethered their horses at the jail. They waited, a conversation with bent heads, each pointing to the other. They finally went inside.

"Don't think they found anything either," the chimpanzee speculated with a hint of mischief in his voice.

"Urko's temper, maybe," Alan deadpanned.

"What does Pete say? A blind squirrel could trip on a nut…?" Galen grinned. Alan nodded. The chimp frowned at his wince.

Only a few minutes passed before the troopers ducked out of the jail at a faster pace. They mounted their horses and trotted west toward the garrison returning to Urko's camp. No blood was visible. Shortly thereafter, the Prefecture closed for the night as Osmur exited. He tugged his long vest down and started a brisk walk toward his home. He nodded and waved at apes doing the same.

"Did you want to talk to Gressa?" Alan's voice seemed flat, Galen thought.

"May be too risky. We have placed them in enough danger. I think it is working, don't you?"

"Too early to tell."

"Somehow, through it all, we have totally escaped Urko's notice," the chimp offered.

"Too bad Trayus and Phyn didn't have the same fortune," the human remarked. Galen's nose twitched. He heard no acrimony in his friend's voice, so let it lay between them. Neither of his human friends seemed to have the capacity to accept that humans would always pay a price when Urko was involved whether they intervened or not. Their presence had simply become the latest excuse. The gorilla would have found another had he never heard their names. Galen had to admit to himself, he hadn't seen it as a problem before he met them. It was Urko's style. Every ape knew it—and none sought to change it. He found an uncomfortable itch behind his ear. He should have cared sooner—

The jail door slammed. Alan reflexively stiffened. Urko slapped his helmet atop his head. His arms rocked angrily as he went in the same general direction Osmur had taken. They saw him stutter-step at the cage but refused to stop. His fury carried him out of sight.

"Osmur said he was staying at the prefect guest quarters," Galen sighed. "Hopefully he can convince him—"

Before Galen could finish his thought, Alan pushed himself back along the ground away from the peak of the hill out of causal view but did not stand. He rolled to a seated position, his hands on his bent knees. He stared at the western sky streaked with vivid color. Galen followed and sat cross-legged next to him. They watched the sun's light fade into dusk in silence.

"I don't know what to do if he dies," he finally uttered softly, his blue eyes fixed on the sky.

Galen let the quiet fall around them for a moment.

"Each of us face death, Alan. Everyday."

"Jonesy. Stephen Jones. He was our mission specialist. He died alone. We were strapped right next to him, but he died anyway. I was close enough to touch him, but I did nothing to save him. We never even mourned him. We need to do that. Let him know we didn't forget him. Let him know that his life mattered." Alan began pulling bits of grass from near his foot as he spoke.

"I would be pleased to honor him with you."

The brightest stars began to push through the graying sky. A buzz of insects filtered to them.

"I won't let Pete be alone, Galen. I can't let him think we left him."

"Alan, we can't go there without risking his life. I think I would rather have him be alive whether we are together or not."

"I don't know. Urko would have kept him alive after that brain surgery if we hadn't found him, but I don't think Pete would thank us for that life."

"Stop it. You are walking in a darkness that doesn't suit you. We are not abandoning him," the ape chastised him. He dropped his head, retrieved a twig fallen from the nearby tree and dug it into the dirt.

"It sure feels like we left him all over again," the continued flat tone of Alan's voice prompted Galen to finally face him.

"Alan. We didn't leave him to Urko—or Wanda. He was taken from us. As for Kaykos, we left him with the only individual capable of helping him. As much as you want to, you can't solve every problem on your own." Galen raised his hand when Alan turned as if to speak. "Instead, you made the best decision, the proper decision, and allowed the right individual to step in. Alan, Pete is strong, and incredibly stubborn. He is not going to leave us without taking the opportunity to point out that it was his decision to go out on his own—twice—and that, in turn, allowed us to save the prisoners and my cousin. What did you tell me about drawing a line…?"

"Walking up to a line," Alan corrected. "Drawing a line is something completely different."

"You humans have a lot of lines." The chimpanzee rolled his eyes.

"Yeah," Alan allowed a grin, "And Pete knows 'em all."

Urko ached. Head, shoulders, back. Even his damn toes. And his eyes stung, demanding sleep. Soot clung to his fur, shedding the odor of smoke each time he moved, a constant reminder of a disaster his weary brain had yet to resolve. He had come to Rhohas for a victory, a flag staked to ram up the asses of the orangs and chimps who questioned his leadership. Not enough gorillas on the Council to give him the unflinching support he needed.

With a huff, he swatted at nothing in the air as he stood next to the table where he lay his helmet in his quarters provided by the prefect. Osmur. That damnable chimp might dodge his fate after all. Urko still had the human school he uncovered to present to the Council but even the gorilla knew that was no more than a slap on his wrist, not the twist to his balls that had escaped his grip—

—escaped—

A growl rumbled in his throat. The rage exploded behind his eyes. When the powerful gorilla stopped, his chest heaving, sweat gathering between his shoulders under his leather vest, his eyes scanned the room. Furniture flipped, at least one broken chair, statuary tossed across the room, and plates were strewn throughout the single room that served as a sitting and dining area. His hands squeezed into fists, and he realized he clutched a cup in his hand.

"Ahhh!" He flung it across the room striking the wall with a dull thud, and it landed half-way back among the ruins. "A bear must have broken in," he mumbled, his teeth locked tight.

Urko walked back to the table where his helmet sat, undisturbed. He pulled each glove off by the fingers and set them in place next to the symbol of his authority. He placed one hand atop the rounded top, the other rubbed at the crest of his snout, just below his eyes.

He had earned that honor. He had risen from an impoverished hovel with three hungry siblings, a mother laboring in the fields, a small step above the human vermin that surrounded them, and a drunkard father who one day wandered into the underbelly of the border town where they lived, and never returned. His free hand strayed to his pistol, but it wasn't a gun; it was a blade that cut through the stinking flesh of the humans who had risen in insurrection, leaving his mother dead in the fields, their hut awash in flames, and his mind locked onto the battle of revenge and hate that had never left him. General Neros recognized the potential in the poorly educated young gorilla and directed his steps into the military preparation program reserved for the sons of troopers. Although grateful to the old ape, now buried in a place of honor among the warrior dead, Urko fought the rest of the battles on his own. When the general's helm was placed upon his head in the ceremony welcoming him to the rank, the shadow of his own paws gripped Neros' as he placed it where it belonged.

Other shadows lurked all around him, attempting to snatch it away. The destruction of the mines was a catastrophe which would drain the pockets of the cursed merchant Warsa to restore, and no breathing culprit to hang for the crime. The vermin intended to showcase his military arts and tactic had escaped—just like Burke—and vanished—with Galen and Virdon. Why did those bastards ghost around him at every turn!—away from his hand-picked guard. No matter they were picked as punishment and not ability. His enemies would use it like a cudgel to hammer the demand for his replacement—demotion. The gorilla sagged. His feet rested on wavering stilts that would soon be kicked away, throwing him back to the hell of his childhood.

He needed to think…

Urko jerked at the knock on the door. He shook his head, the remnants of memories dissipating like smoke. By all the fires, he needed to sleep. Sleep first. He needed sleep before he could think. The knock sounded again.

"Enter!" he shouted across the room. He'd be damned before he answered the door like a servant in this place.

Osmur was a full step in before he paused, surveying the damage. He held up two goblets crooked by their stems in his hands. "Good thing I brought my own."

"What do you want, Osmur?" Urko heard the defeat in his voice, despising it.

"Will you sit with me?" The chimpanzee gestured at the overturned table. He lowered the goblets and a carafe to the floor, allowing him to turn it back to its legs, then pulled two chairs into place. Urko watched, his snout jerking.

"Please?" Osmur set the bottle that whiffed of berries onto the table, set a goblet before each chair and gestured to the seat closest to the security chief.

Exhaustion filled the gorilla. He lumbered to the chair and dropped into it. The chimpanzee slid into his own, pulled one cup back, filled it and set it near Urko's hand. The prefect filled his own then lifted it toward the gorilla.

"I came to offer my congratulations, General."

Urko's eyes narrowed. He detected no sarcasm in the chimp's smooth tones, but his hackles rose along his neck, nonetheless.

"Your masterful handling of the situation you uncovered will be in my written report. Since I must go to Central City to request supplies and labor to rebuild the mine, I hope to make a verbal proclamation to the Council as well," Osmur continued when the gorilla sat, unmoving.

"Warsa and the mining coalition will need to forfeit a quarter of profits before the mines are fully operational; however, Vulko's negligence for allowing the labor to have access to the explosives was unforgivable. But the perpetrators have been identified and punishment will follow."

Urko tilted his head as he broke his silence. "Ullic showed me the evidence, or more accurately, lack of evidence, at the river—"

"Oh, you haven't heard? Hafva found the body, obviously succumbed to the wounds of the alert chimpanzee who shot it." It was a worn creature who ultimately died from the smoke in his lungs but shooting a bullet into its corpse and then leaving it along the riverbank to be discovered by Urko's trooper was simple enough. Hafva meant to keep that from the prefect, but he had reliable sources in that operation to tell him what happened. Gustus wanted a transfer. The papers on his desk already had his seal affixed. Osmur leaned forward with his cup and tapped the one next to the gorilla. "Please join me, Urko. It is bad form to toast alone."

The security chief reluctantly wrapped his hand around the cup draining it in one gulp as Osmur sipped at a more leisurely pace, his eyes attentive over the rim of his own. The liquid settled on Urko's tongue, pleasant, warm as it traveled through his throat. The prefect refilled both goblets.

"A wine from one of the larger vineyards southeast from us," the chimpanzee offered. "I can send a bottle with you." The gorilla grunted but brought the goblet to his lips for another drink. He let his mind plot as the prefect continued to speak.

"Hafva acknowledges no other humans admit involvement, as one would expect, but he has troublesome creatures he can whip to reinforce the utter foolishness of challenging their masters." Urko grunted aloud at that.

Osmur went on, taking another swallow. "But your genius, General, your brilliance that explains your deserved post as Chief of Security of our grand State was your handling of the prisoners. True, there was no proof of insurrection that my humble eyes would have seen," the prefect studied the gorilla carefully as the words flowed like honey, "but to invoke the old gods as the harbingers of justice was brilliant!"

The chimpanzee paused, resuming his enjoyment of the wine, allowing his discourse to ferment. Urko's black eyes could have been daggers, the flexing of the huge muscles in his arms warning that the gorilla expected an attack. Osmur laid out an equitable surrender.

"Of course, you identified the entrenched beliefs in the old gods that cling to apes and humans alike in these rural areas. It is one of the trials we must endure to govern. Your forthcoming pronouncement that the very gods sent their minion to wipe out the beginnings, the whispers, of rebellion among the humans which could not stay hidden from divine ears. The bear smote them down with a ferocity provided by the gods. Their bloody end was a foregone conclusion. And a more fitting justice that resonated more effectively in this town than a Central City style execution. Those more cultured apes in the City may question it, but I will explain how we must deal with an uneducated population on a daily basis."

Urko scowled at Osmur with a predatory eye as the prefect topped off their goblets again. "You think you have it wrapped up with a nice little bow," the gorilla sneered.

"Isn't that what you wanted, Chief Urko?" The prefect sat back in mock surprise. "Your leadership removed the human threat, and your wisdom called upon the old gods feared by the backwater population to warn against any thoughts of resurgence. My report will acknowledge the mastery with which you aided our humble little town. I must follow you back to Central City to submit requests for resources to rebuild. I look forward to the opportunity to speak before the Council and share my experience with the preeminent Chief Urko." The chimpanzee lifted his cup but did not wait for acknowledgement before emptying the contents.

"I must take my leave, Urko," Osmur announced congenially as he rose to his feet. "Like you, I am weary to the bone and ready to end the adversity that has beset my town. Finish the wine. Gressa has a meal on its way to you. Rest. The morning should be more clear. For both of us."

Urko thrummed his bare fingers against the wood of the table. His hard eyes followed the chimpanzee as he opened the door. It had not escaped the prefect's notice that the chief had yet to accept the overture.

"Ahh," Osmur raised a finger, "before I go, I do have one favor I need to ask of you…"