Monty's Master – Part 11
The closer they got to the seashore, the smaller and scarcer the houses became, and the heat harder to bear. A small cow was drinking water from a trough in front of a hay-roofed cottage, and two children, who reminded him a little of Phineas and Ferb, were lying under the shade of a palm tree.
"My family lives not far from here," Aashritha said.
"Looks inviting," said Perry.
Aashritha bit her lip, "Actually..."
"Ash! Ash, is that you?"
A girl who looked around Aashritha's age was kicking up the dust as she came running towards them.
"Oh hi, Kaj, what's the rush?" asked Aashritha.
"Is the net ready?"
"Yeah, just finished it last night. Michael, Steven, this is my friend, Kaja. She owns a fishing boat down in the bay."
"Cool!" said Monty.
Kaja glanced quickly from Monty's pale forehead to Perry's bright turquoise hair, then back to Aashritha. "I see you brought work with you."
"Oh, I was just showing Steven and Michael around. Look what we won at the fair!"
"Hm, not bad," Kaja said, checking the stuffed snake around Aashritha's shoulders. "Almost as big as the swordfish I caught last week."
"And that wouldn't happen to have anything to do with the broken net, would it?" asked Perry, quirking an eyebrow.
Kaja looked up in surprise.
"Hm, I like this one," she said. "He's got attitude!"
"I still think you should stick to salmon and sardines."
"Relax, Ash. That's what harpoons were made for!"
Ash shook her head.
"Guys, do you mind if I run home to give Kaj the net, and leave this too while I'm at it?" she asked, giving the stuffed snake a little shake.
"Sure," Perry said. "Seems like an emergency."
Kaja nodded approvingly.
"Oh, if you keep going forward you'll reach a bar. We can meet there if you want, and that way you won't have to be in the sun either."
Perry hesitated. "Alright then."
Kaja winked at him before she and Aashritha turned to leave. Perry glanced at the crumbling earth for a moment.
Monty gaped at him. "Please teach me your ways!"
"That's kind of what I've been trying to do. Thanks for noticing," Perry said, starting to walk in the direction Aashritha indicated.
"No, I mean your hooking ways!"
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
Perry normally avoided bars at all costs. Still, he had to admit that the coolness inside was quite welcome, at least if it weren't for the smell.
He was aware that he and Monty stood out like a sore thumb. From what it seemed, the place was far from a tourist attraction. At least they managed to avoid eye contact with the regular customers who were engaged in a card game.
Monty climbed onto what appeared to be an upside-down wooden barrel and studied the chalkboard displayed behind the counter.
"Remember, you're still a minor," Perry whispered, sitting down carefully.
"But I thought Michael Smith was already nineteen," said Monty.
"Don't push it. We'll just have some alcohol-free apple cider."
"But that's just apple juice!"
"No, it's not. And careful how you choose your words," Perry said, glancing behind him. "Honestly, I don't even know why Ash wanted us to meet in a place like this."
Monty perked up. "Cue in lousy bartender," he said under his breath.
All things considered, the man approaching them seemed to be quite reasonable. He was short and lean, and except for two rum stains on his apron, he looked almost immaculate. He rolled his eyes at their order, however, and retreated to a back room, muttering something about Americans and their fancy tastes.
"I still think we should ask him some questions," suggested Monty.
"Let's just wait for Ash to return and finish the tour."
"But Ash is young. Maybe we need someone more experienced."
"I don't know... I still have a bad feeling about this," Perry said.
"Just leave it to me!"
Perry opened his mouth to add something, but the bartender returned just then with two small, dusty bottles.
"So, sir, you seem well-informed. I bet you have some interesting stories to share. Say, have you ever heard of King Nagaraj?"
The bartender dropped the bottles and looked at him in horror, and Perry immediately understood his reaction as he heard several chairs scratching the floor behind him.
"What did you say?!" asked a growly voice.
"Oh, or maybe you guys know something."
Monty didn't even flinch at the sight of the massive man advancing towards them, furiously pushing chairs out of his way, and closely followed by four other similar individuals.
"Clearly you're not from around here, otherwise, you'd know we don't speak that name!"
"What name? Nagaraj?"
Perry clapped a hand to his forehead.
"What?" Monty said, turning to look at him.
One of the men crushed a half-finished can of beer in his hand. Probably not the smartest move considering it ended up splashing the first man who gave him a scathing look.
"Come on, Hanul, look at them. They're just tourists," said a woman who was about the same size as the man.
"Yes, well, someone still has to teach them a lesson," said Hanul, wiping the beer from his face. "They're just like the other bumbling idiots who come here every year thinking the Snake King was some amazing hero worthy of glory!"
"You mean he wasn't?" Monty asked, completely oblivious to the way a man with a nose ring was clenching his jaw.
"Tell me, what part of someone who can control the deadliest creatures in the entire valley sounds like a hero to you?" asked the woman.
"Well...I thought maybe he used it for good things, like picking fruit or building sheds or..."
"Oppressing our ancestors and forcing them into submission!" said Hanul.
"Oh... I didn't think of that," Monty admitted.
"You'll soon find out what we do to Snake Whisperers!"
"Yeah, never trust a snake!" said the man who started stomping on the beer can.
"Oh, that would explain your snakeskin belt," said Monty, looking up at Hanul, "and the snake teeth necklace, and the snake skeleton tattoo..."
He turned to Perry who was now covering his face with both hands.
"They're not good guys, are they?"
Perry moved his hands aside just so he could scowl at him.
"Oh."
Monty wouldn't have even seen the massive fist coming at him if Perry hadn't stepped between him and Hanul.
"Look, sir, we apologize for the misunderstanding," Perry said in a neutral, if only a little tired voice, "but instead of resorting to violence, how about we talk over a cup of… whatever it is you're drinking?"
Hanul looked at him in confusion and tried to yank his hand out of Perry's grip but to no avail. He then flung his other fist at Perry, who simply blocked it with his free hand.
"Or, come to think of it, maybe you've already had enough. I think you should sit down, I insist," Perry said, pushing the man straight into an empty chair.
The others gathered around their leader with uncertain looks on their faces. Hanul stood up on shaky legs and pointed a stumpy finger at Perry, "You're going to pay for this, pretty boy!" And that's all it took for the rest of his gang to lunge at them.
"Cool! A bar fight!" Monty cheered, rolling over onto the dusty floor to avoid the man with the nose ring who dived toward him and hit his head on the counter.
"No, not cool," said Perry who was dodging Hanul's punches left and right, this time keeping his hands behind his back, and only ducking when he heard the swish of a snakeskin purse. Hanul was hit across the face and held onto the corner of a table to keep from falling.
"What do you got in there? Rocks?!" he asked the muscular woman, rubbing his bruised cheek.
Monty grabbed one of the men by the arm and flipped him over his shoulder, knocking him onto a wooden table that snapped in two.
"Careful now," said Perry who broke a chair leg and used it to hit a kitchen knife like a baseball. "We're not supposed to harm civilians."
"What?!" Monty said, jumping over the fire spread by a woman with a flamethrower and a black t-shirt that read Burn the Snakes! "Do they still count as civilians when they're actively trying to kill us?"
"As long as they don't endanger the lives of other civilians, then yes," Perry said, kicking the knife that slid under the counter, much to the frustration of the man with the nose ring.
"You're kidding, right?" Monty glided for a mop bucket and threw the water over the woman with the flamethrower.
"I know it's a weird loophole, but technically those are the rules," Perry said, ducking his head as a chair passed over him and smashed into the back wall. The bartender, who was crouching behind a barrel, gave a scream of terror and tried to shield his head from the falling wooden fragments.
"Okay, now can we beat them?" Monty asked, watching the bartender get up and take the opportunity to slip behind the back room door.
"Alright," Perry sighed. "Just try to go easy on them."
Monty grinned and pulled his grappling hook from his pocket, grabbed onto one of the beams, and began swinging around, kicking the nose ring man over the head as he prepared to throw another chair. "You're up, Beer Can Guy!" he warned the man who tried to hide under a table.
Hanul was staring at Monty and he got dizzy pretty quickly, which gave Perry an idea.
Monty turned upside-down and managed to wrestle the flamethrower out of the woman's hands.
"You are now entering a deep sleep..." Perry said in a slow, soothing voice as he shook the silver necklace with the Oroboros sign under Hanul's blank gaze. "Imagine... screams, destruction, smoke... When you hear the trigger words, um, bumbling idiot, you'll lose your violent impulses and realize that violence is never the answer."
"I..." Hanul murmured, his eyes fixed on the necklace even as it stopped moving.
"Bumbling idiot," Perry said calmly.
"You're going to let him talk to you that way, Hanul?!"
Perry caught a rock about the size of a grapefruit coming straight at his head.
"Huh, so you really had rocks in there," he said.
The bulky woman twirled her purse over her head. "Yes, baby, they don't call me Snake-Crusher for nothing!"
"Come on, Mahani, let's be nice to the blue-haired boy."
Snake-Crusher lowered her purse. "Hanul?"
"Actually, it's a shade of turquoise," Perry said, watching Hanul slowly rise from the ground. "But I appreciate the sentiment."
"Mahani, is that a new purse? I like it!"
"Now, if you'll excuse me," Perry slipped past them, looking for Monty through the mess of overturned tables and broken chairs.
He found him next to a half-burned mop and the remains of a wooden bucket, examining a medium-sized flamethrower.
"Put that down," Perry said.
Monty dropped the flamethrower, grunting under his breath, and followed Perry up the stairs leading to the exit.
"When did you learn hypnosis?"
Perry drew in a breath of fresh air. "I have many hobbies."
"Do you think they were telling the truth?" asked Monty after a while of walking through the desert.
"I don't know," Perry said. "Dad used to say that some legends fade with time, others lose their meaning completely."
"So that's what the taxi driver was trying to warn us about."
"Probably... Do you hear that?"
From somewhere behind them came the rumbling of heavy feet, an angry mob in a huge cloud of dust, led by none other than a very disheveled-looking Hanul.
"Ugh, I knew I should have picked a stronger trigger word," Perry said, motioning for Monty to start running. "I figured his friends would never think of insulting him."
"Well, looks like you gave them a little too much credit!" said Monty.
They almost bumped into Aashritha who squinted when she caught sight of them, trying to block the sun with her hand.
"Guys?"
"Change of plans!" Perry said urgently, grabbing her hand and pulling her in the opposite direction.
Aashritha glanced over her shoulder.
"Are those guys after you? What's going on?"
"It's a long story," said Monty.
Aashritha looked for a moment at her feet rushing through the sand, as if taking in the situation.
"Come on, I know a shortcut!" she said, grabbing Monty's hand and taking the lead.
They turned right past a cactus, then passed a cluster of tall rocks before Aashritha stopped in front of a large boulder which she immediately began to push aside. Perry rushed to her side without even questioning her course of action.
"I think we've lost them," said Monty, peering through the space between two rocks.
The boulder rolled to reveal a hole in the ground large enough to be a safety hazard, and deep enough that they couldn't see what lay below.
"Trust me!" said Aashritha, holding out her hand.
Monty looked at Perry for confirmation. Perry glanced at the pit, then locked eyes with Aashritha who simply smiled at him.
He took a deep breath and nodded decisively. Not a moment to spare, Aashritha grabbed his hand again, and down they went.
They fell for a few seconds before landing on a large, soft, musty-smelling surface.
"Sorry, I haven't washed it in a while," Aashritha said, getting off the mattress.
Monty almost collapsed on top of them.
"But they can follow us in here!" he said, coughing and looking up at the dust particles dancing in the light streaming in through the ceiling.
"Trust me, most people aren't usually that keen on jumping into a pit in the middle of the desert," Perry said, dusting off his pants.
"Okay, but just in case, maybe we should take the mattress with us."
Perry gave Monty a dark look.
"It was just a suggestion," said Monty, holding up his hands.
"Don't worry," said Aashritha who took out a flashlight from her backpack. "I'll come later to block the entrance. Now we just have to get to grandpa's. There's no way they can reach us there."
"Does your grandfather live in a snake hole?" asked Monty
"Something like that."
Perry looked back once more before sinking into the darkness.