This wasn't the same forest, and this wasn't the same night, and this time they knew that hairy bastards were after them, and still... Burke couldn't shake the feeling that Iro was walking silently beside him, just a few feet off the trail. He wondered if Virdon was having the same kind of flashbacks... if he was also in the shadowy company of a ghost.
Well... he couldn't ask him right now - Alan was leading their little campaign, while he was guarding the rear, making sure that the city kids didn't get lost in the shrubbery - and Al would probably deny seeing ghosts, anyway. Burke tried to shake off that image, focusing once more on their group.
The apes were holding up surprisingly well; neither of them complained, not even after Zana had started to limp. If getting caught meant certain death, blisters suddenly moved way down on one's priority list. Burke had inspected them while they were resting undercover during the day, and then tightly bandaged the foot. "Don't try to open them," he had warned her, "they'll only get infected."
They had risked using the road during the first night, to cover their tracks and quickly get some distance between themselves and Urko's hunting parties, but from their hiding place in the underbrush they had heard the rapid clatter of hoofbeats on the road: messengers to the prefectures, or patrols already searching for them. The general must have concluded that they had somehow managed to slip past the gates. Some people's asses were currently being roasted; Burke didn't feel in the least sorry for them.
He had fallen asleep not long after that satisfying thought; Virdon had taken first watch. The last thing Burke remembered was Al reassuring the apes that as long as everyone kept their cool and didn't move, chances were slim that the patrols would notice them. Sure, the clothes that Galen had repurposed for them from his father's house slaves were a bit too colorful for camouflage, but their blankets made up for that, after rolling them in earth and leaves a bit. And right now, they were just shadows, anyway; at night, it wasn't sight that could betray them to the enemy, but sound. Luckily, the frequent rains had drenched the woods so thoroughly that there were no leaves or twigs to crunch and he was almost as silent as Virdon.
He suddenly bumped into Galen - they had come to a halt again, so that Al could check his compass. Burke shook his head as he recalled how Virdon had fashioned that thing in Yalu's house from one of Ann's sewing needles. It was a story you'd tell your kids, assuming you lived long enough to have them...
They had been sifting through the contents of the cabinets in the living room when Al had suddenly stilled, his eyes intent on one of Ann's robes.
"Do you think your mother will miss this, Galen?" he asked and plucked something from its folds.
Galen bent down to look at it and shrugged. "I don't think so - but what do you need it for? To sew a button back on?"
Virdon smiled. "Ah, you'd be surprised how quickly your clothes will wear in the wilderness; you won't scoff once I mend that rip in your trousers, Galen, but actually I had thought of using it as a compass needle."
His good mood fell when he tried the needle on a fork - it didn't catch on the metal. "Most needles are already magnetized," he murmured, and asked for the rest of Ann's sewing kit. But none of the needles was magnetic, and while the apes recognized magnetite from his description, the household didn't have any; apekind had no practical use for them.
"Seems you're out of luck, Al," Burke had said, impatient to leave the house before the guard's relief arrived and discovered his comrade out cold in the bushes. But he should have known better by now - once his commander had set his mind on something, his stubbornness put a mule to shame.
"I know it's a bit much to ask, but... do you think she'd miss one string of that lyre, too?" Virdon pointed at the instrument hanging on the wall.
Galen frowned. Hell, they all frowned.
"She wouldn't - it's mine." He ignored Burke's and Zana's amused and surprised glances, unhooked the instrument and handed it to Virdon. "But now you have to tell me what this is all about!"
Instead, Virdon turned to Burke. "Did they still have that project at school where you magnetize a needle with a battery?"
Burke shrugged. "Not at my school. And I don't think they have batteries here."
Virdon grinned and began to wind the metal string of the lyre around his little finger. "You're sure? - Zana, do you have a wooden comb?"
"Maybe I have," Zana said, torn between annoyance and curiosity. "It depends on what you need it for..."
"I want you to comb your hair until it stands on end," Virdon said, and Burke started laughing.
"That won't work, Al - you need moving electrons!"
"And as soon as she touches the coil," Virdon held up the string that now would never produce another tone on that lyre, "those electrons will move. You never buzzed someone after rubbing your socks on the carpet? We only need a tiny spark, Pete," he added when he saw Burke's skeptical face. "Trust me. I've done this before."
Burke was still surprised that the thing worked as it did, but without it, they'd never been able to put that much distance between themselves and the apes on their tail: without something to keep you on a straight track, traveling through these woods by night would be hopeless. If their pursuers weren't smart enough to set up camp for the night, they'd be going around in circles right now - even without the clouds obscuring the stars, you couldn't see much of the sky through the canopy to begin with. As it was now, they could get a whole night's worth of a head start, and if the apes were up to it, they could keep that distance and probably even add to it, if they continued to walk through the next morning, at least. Maybe, just maybe, they could outrun Urko after all.
Good thing the committee hadn't been interested in Al's bargain. It had been a bad idea to even offer them their knowledge and tech. Of course, if Zaius had agreed to it, they wouldn't be running for their lives now...
No, fuck that, it had been a bad idea. They'd be sitting in yet another cage, spilling all their secrets. Perhaps not a cage with visible bars, but he'd bet that they'd never have been allowed to leave the city. It was just a shitty planet full of shitty options.
Yeah. Their own shitty planet, in some shitty future. And he couldn't even tell Al about it.
Something crashed through the bushes behind him, jolting him out of his depressed musings. It was some distance away, but judging by the intensity of the snaps and cracks, it had to be something big. Worse - several big somethings. And they were moving in their direction.
Fast.
The others had heard it, too. For a moment, everyone froze on the trail, heads turning like frightened deer. Then Virdon's hoarse whisper chased them off the path:
"Downhill, look for cover - try to stay together!"
How had the patrol found them? Virdon's lamp? But the thing was shuttered... Burke slipped, caught his balance at the last moment and stumbled further downhill, holding up his arms before his face to protect his eyes from jutting branches, until he managed to catch on a trunk to stop his momentum. They had to find a spot to lie down and be silent before the riders caught up with them. This tree here didn't seem too bad...
He slowly crouched down in the underbrush. Thank god that the apes didn't use dogs. He hadn't yet found out why, but he remembered now that he hadn't seen any of them in the city, either.
Not everyone remembered Al's wilderness lessons - he could still hear someone thrashing through the thicket, then falling down with a choked cry. That had sounded like Galen. Well, at least now he was silent. Burke hadn't yet decided how he felt about the latest addition to their group, but he still hoped the silence didn't mean that Galen had found the pointy end of a dead branch in his panicked flight.
Shit. Better make sure he hasn't.
The stampede uphill seemed to move away from their position, and after another moment of tense listening, Burke crawled over to where he had last heard the young ape.
Galen lay on his side, clutching his leg. To Burke's grudging approval, he didn't make a sound, but his labored breath indicated that he was in pain. Burke quickly moved to his side.
"What's the problem, Galen?" he whispered, feeling for the ape's hands. What exactly was he clutching - the knee? The ankle.
"I slipped and... twisted my ankle somehow," Galen gasped. "It hurts... badly. Really badly."
Shit, shit, shit.
A quick examination revealed that the ankle was already swelling. Burke sat back and rubbed his face, grateful that the darkness hid his features. He was willing to bet that his fear and frustration were clearly written on his face.
Zana's footsteps came closer, and then Virdon's voice startled him. Damn. That man could move silently.
"I think it was a false alarm - probably a herd of deer that got frightened by something. I'm sure the patrols aren't even trying to follow us by night, but... better safe than sorry."
"I am sorry right now," Galen moaned. "I think I broke my leg."
"What?" Virdon quickly crouched down and repeated Burke's examination, this time accompanied by lots of moans and cries from Galen. Finally, he let go and sighed. "No, I don't think you broke something, Galen - but you at least sprained your ankle. Let's hope the ligaments are just stretched, and not torn."
"Great," Burke muttered. "Can you stand up?"
He helped Galen to get up, but as soon as the ape tried to make a step, he broke down again with a cry. It was clear that he couldn't put any weight at all on that foot. This time, Burke didn't try to keep his curses silent. Zana held Galen and whispered something in his ear. Probably told him not to listen to the bad man. Burke exhaled sharply and turned to his commander.
"What now?"
It was too dark to see Virdon's face, but his voice was heavy. "We have no choice - we must keep moving. We're too close to the city, and Urko has too many men at his disposal here: they'll turn up every stone in these woods to find us."
"You're not going to leave him here?" Zana asked, alarmed.
"What? No, of course not!" Virdon sounded surprised and annoyed. "Wait here."
"Not that you could do anything else," Burke quipped weakly as he sat down beside them. Something snapped with a loud crack in the bushes and he winced instinctively. Being silent had become his default mode lately.
"I'm sorry," Galen murmured. "You should leave me here. I'll just put you all in danger."
He was right, Burke mused. Throwing him to the wolves would be the pragmatic thing to do.
Just not the honorable thing.
"We're in this together," he said aloud. "We're not leaving anyone behind."
Neither Galen nor Zana answered. Perhaps it wasn't the ape thing to do - or perhaps it was, and they were shocked that a mere human could have such an etheric thing like honor, too.
Virdon returned a short while later, handing two makeshift crutches to Galen. He and Burke still had to carry Galen uphill to their path, but once there, he was able to hobble along with them.
They crept on, much slower than before. At this speed, Burke thought darkly, their escape might end before it had actually begun.
When the contours of the trunks and branches began to separate incrementally from the darkness between them, and the specks of sky above the canopy turned from charcoal to slate, Galen threw away his crutches and simply sat down in the middle of the path.
"That's it," he said. "I can't go on anymore. Just, just leave me here." His voice sounded loud in the silence before dawn, and Burke instinctively looked over his shoulder.
The trees stood silent and unmoving as before; when he turned back, Zana was hugging Galen and urging him to get up again. "I'll take your backpack," she offered. "We'll rest soon, just a little bit further..." She looked up to Virdon, silently pleading for him to agree.
Virdon met his gaze above the apes' heads. They hadn't made much headway since Galen had his accident; what little edge they had would melt down to nothing during the day, and the next night... Burke shook his head and turned away. He was glad that he didn't have to make the tough decision.
"Zana's right," he heard Virdon's voice. "We'll see that we find a hiding place where you can recover. Stay here for a moment and catch your breath, Pete and I will look at that map of yours." Burke heard Virdon's steps coming up behind him, but didn't turn around; best if neither Zana nor Galen saw the look on his face now.
"What's gotten into you?" he whispered when they were a safe distance away - whispered it in English, just to be sure. "Hide? Here, where we're basically sitting in Urko's hairy lap? You said it yourself, they'll be turning over every damn stone, log, sewer, and outhouse! There is no place to hide and wait until his ankle isn't melon-sized anymore!"
Virdon's eyes were piercing. "So what do you suggest? That we leave him behind?"
Burke exhaled and shifted his backpack. "I don't want to leave him behind any more than you do. But I don't see how we can stay together and not get caught. I'm sure it'll make for a nice communal feeling if we're swinging gently in the breeze together, but I doubt that's what he has in mind for Zana."
Virdon snorted and shook his head. "Do you really think for a second that Zana would leave him behind? It's either all of us or just you and me." He watched Burke with an unreadable expression.
"And you'd come with me?" Burke played for time. "Leave them to their fate?"
"I'm still your superior officer, Pete. You're my responsibility," Virdon said calmly. "I'd come with you, yes."
Burke really didn't want to leave the ape behind, if only on principle; and he had come to genuinely like Zana. But more than anything, he didn't want to die.
And... he wasn't used to taking other people into account; not the way Virdon was, apparently. Burke felt that Virdon was putting him to a test he wasn't equipped to pass. He shook his head. "Whatever you decide, sir," he said pointedly.
Virdon held his gaze for a moment longer, then nodded. He pulled out the map they had lifted from Yalu's desk. "We should be here," he pointed, "at the western edge of these woods. There's farmland across that little creek - we'll try our luck with one of the farmers there."
That hadn't been the plan - they had wanted to stay away from villages or farms, but what had that guy Clausewitz said about plans? They get fucked up at the earliest opportunity, or something.
"So we'll hide in a barn and hope they don't poke into the hay?"
"No." Virdon folded the map. "We'll ask for help."
Burke stared at him, his deference to rank forgotten. "Urko has probably set out a hefty reward for us - they'll sell our hides for a new tractor in a heartbeat!"
Virdon shot him an ironic glance, probably remembering the "sir" a minute earlier, too. "A sprained ankle doesn't heal overnight, Pete, and with each day, the probability rises that we're discovered. Believe me, we'd get into worse trouble if the farmer discovers us in his hay."
Burke thought that knocking out a single farmer gave them a greater chance of survival than fighting one of Urko's patrols, but as Virdon had just pointed out not too subtly, he had the last word in the matter, and Burke had been all too happy to let him decide. He just hoped that Al's faith in the apes' "humanity" wouldn't cost them their heads.
"All right, saddle up, Galen," he said with false cheer when they rejoined the rest of their group, "let's get crackin'." He pulled the ape to his feet and took up his position at the rear. Zana stared at him over her shoulder for a long moment, but her face was blurry in the shadows and he couldn't make out her expression; then she turned away and shouldered Galen's backpack. They resumed their crawl, birdsong springing up all around them as the forest awakened to the new day.
This'll end badly. I jus' know it will.
When they reached the edge of the woods, the eastern sky was already paling behind them, the sunrise hidden beyond the treetops. Below, the silent bulks of farm buildings were brooding in the shadow of the hill they were standing on. Virdon thought he could make out a swing hanging from the lowest branch of a huge tree guarding the main house.
The deep moan of a cow broke the silence, followed by a rhythmic thumping. It was a strangely familiar sound... one he remembered from his childhood days. Virdon felt a smile tugging at his lips. "Someone wants breakfast down there. We better knock before the bustle starts." He started down the slope.
"Catch them by surprise, huh? Startle them into hospitality," Burke murmured, his first words since their little war council in the woods. His silence had been unusual, but when Virdon looked at him in the pale light, Burke's face showed nothing but weariness. Maybe a little optimism was too much to ask from him. Pete didn't trust the apes any farther than he could throw them.
Unsurprisingly, he hung back when Virdon knocked at the door, catching Galen under the arm before the ape could break down again in the yard. Virdon eyed him with concern: the chimp looked sick and exhausted, his muzzle scrunched up in pain. It had been the right decision to seek shelter; surely the apes wouldn't send away one of their own who was so clearly in trouble...
The door was thrown open all of a sudden, and Virdon jumped back in surprise. The next moment, a gorilla stepped out into the yard, shaking a flail at him. "Get off my yard, you filthy piece of thieving, disease-spreading crop demon!"
Virdon held up his hands and stumbled back in a hasty retreat. Behind the gorilla, more faces gaped at him from the dark doorway - the farmer's family. Virdon thought he could see a knife glinting in the morning light. "Please sir, we need help. This ape here," he gestured at Galen, who still hung onto Burke, "is injured and can't walk anymore. You wouldn't deny your hospitality to another ape, would you?"
The gorilla hesitated; after a last wary glance at Virdon, he turned his head to survey their group as if he'd only noticed them now. His eyes narrowed when he saw Burke, but at the sight of Galen, he finally lowered the flail. Virdon allowed himself a tiny sigh of relief.
Which turned to alarm when the gorilla made a step in Burke's direction and half-raised the tool again. "Did these creatures hurt you? Are you their prisoner?"
"No... no!" Galen groaned. "I slipped and broke my ankle! Please, I need to sit down!"
Zana stepped in and took over the reins. "Good man, these humans are ours, and they have tried to carry their master as long as possible, but as you can see, we are all at the end of our rope. Please, if it's at all possible, we need some rest. We'd also be content with sleeping in your barn..."
"That's out of the question!" One of the faces in the door stepped out into the yard and became a plump woman in a plain dress, arms akimbo. "Polar, put that thing away before you hurt someone! Anto, help your father carry that poor man into the kitchen. Remo, get some fresh water! I'll look after your wound," she said soothingly to Galen as he hobbled past her. Then she patted Zana on the back and led her inside. "You sure look worn out, you poor thing. Have you hurt your feet? You're limping..."
Suddenly, they were alone in the yard. Burke scratched his jaw. "So...," he said slowly. "That went better than expected." He gestured towards the door. "Do you think they expect us to follow? Faithful dog-like?"
Before Virdon could answer, the door flew up again, and a younger gorilla - the one who had helped to bring Galen into the house - stomped down the two steps and stormed past them. Both men stepped back to let him pass: the young ape was almost as tall and already as bulky as his father, and his expression was as dark as the clouds that gathered every afternoon.
"Come on," the ape snapped. "Father said you sleep in the barn."
The men exchanged a look, then turned to follow him.
"So, not faithful dog," Virdon heard Burke mutter behind him, "mangy dog. I have a bad feeling about this idea of yours, Al - this one here will sell us out first chance he gets. "
Virdon didn't answer, but he wasn't so sure of his plan anymore, either.
Anto shooed them into a corner of the stable and pointed at the naked floor. "Stay there. If you touch something, or steal something, I'll set the patrol on you!" He turned to go.
Virdon frowned when he inspected the spot; daylight fell through the wooden planks, which were so far apart that he could easily look through the gaps. Outside, the sky was overcast again; they would be out of the rain, at least, but both men shivered in the cool air blowing through those gaps.
"Do you mind if we cushion this up with a bit of straw?" Burke dared to ask. "It's a bit windy here..."
"No!" In a second, Anto was only inches from his face. Virdon made a step towards them, ready to lend a hand if things escalated.
Burke backed into the wall. "Whoa there..."
"The straw and the hay are for the cow! You don't soil it and make her sick! Stay away from the straw! And stay away from the cow!"
"Okay, I got it, I got it! No straw!" Burke held up his hands - this was quickly becoming their standard gesture whenever they met apes - and tried a smile. The gorilla just stared him down for another moment before he turned away again and left. The barn door banged shut behind him.
Burke let his hand sink slowly to his sides again. "Wow... that escalated quickly."
He'd need to keep an eye on the farmer's son, Virdon thought; for whatever reason, the young man regarded him and Burke as intruders he wanted to get rid of. The cow was probably just an excuse.
Right now, there was nothing they could do about it, except to stay away from the cow. Virdon crouched down and unclasped his blanket from his backpack. Burke followed suit and a moment later they were huddled down with their blankets around the shoulders.
"Wonder what's going on over there," Burke murmured.
Virdon shrugged. "It depends on what kind of story they come up with. It's in their hands now."
"You haven't talked about that with them?" Burke sounded incredulous, and Virdon winced.
"I didn't even think of it - I guess I just assumed that I would be having that conversation," he said, embarrassed.
"Yeah, better get used to that - we're on the bottom of the food chain here. Our lodgings should clue you in." Burke's voice held no annoyance over his mistake; Virdon heard him shuffle around under his blanket, trying to find a comfortable position.
"Do you think he'll rat us out?" Burke didn't need to spell out who he meant.
Virdon was trying to find a sleeping position, too. "Let's hope he respects his father too much for that." He stilled. So that's how I'm leading my people to safety? By counting on the decency of the apes and hoping for the best?
For a moment, he just felt exhausted; bone-weary. He had no idea how to get through the next day, let alone the endless string of days stretching before him, with no clear path to follow, no safe haven to guide their journey.
Burke snorted. "Well, I guess we'll find out soon enough." He rolled on his other side, then sat up again all of a sudden. "Oh, fuck that!" He grabbed his gear and wandered over to the box where the gorilla's joy and pride lay, chewing her hay. "Hello, sweetheart," Virdon heard him say, "mind if I crash here?"
You just have to yank that gorilla's chain, do you?
But the corner was cold, and drafty, and the floor was hard as stone, and before he could talk himself out of it again, Virdon had grabbed his gear and wandered after him. Burke was leaning against the cow, catching her floppy ear.
"I don't think that's a good idea," Virdon hesitated at the door. "That gorilla is already hostile, and provoking him like that won't help our cause."
If he had hoped that Burke would take the hint and talk him out of camping with him in the box, he was mistaken. "I'm not touching... ok, now I'm not touching his precious cow anymore, see?" Burke held up his guilty hand, now a safe distance away from the animal's head. "And I can't soil that straw any more than Bessie here already has. At least it's warm here, Al - and I'm so damn tired that I don't give a fuck about whatshisname's hang ups." He dropped his backpack on the floor and flopped down into the straw.
Virdon stared down at him for a long moment, all the reasons not to push their luck on his tongue.
Then he joined him.
The cow's body was like a heat blanket; even without touching her, Virdon felt himself relax as he bathed in the warmth she radiated. Even the smell was warm and soothing somehow.
"We can set up a watch," Burke's voice was heavy with sleep, "'n get out before he sees us. You're first..."
He didn't even hear the rest of it anymore.
"What were you doing out in the woods at this time of the night? Got lost?"
Galen sighed with relief as Yantes wrapped a cold, wet bandage around his swollen ankle, and used his reaction to her ministrations to ignore Polar's blunt inquiry for another moment. The pain had made it impossible to focus on anything but the next step, the ache under his arms from the pressure of the crutches, and his exhaustion. He was still too exhausted to think straight, and cast around helplessly for a credible story to satisfy the man and his wary son.
"Oh, it was so terrible in the woods at night," Zana cut in, realizing his confusion, "I couldn't see a thing, and there were noises in the bushes... you said it was a shortcut, darling, and see where it got us! - But it's only fitting that our journey ended that way," she continued sadly, ostensibly speaking to Yantes, "after all the ill luck we were having lately."
Yantes put another soaked bandage around his ankle and clucked her tongue compassionately, encouraging Zana to go on.
"We lost everything," Zana said with a trembling voice, and Galen wondered how much of her distress was really just an act, "our home, our future - and it wasn't even our fault. Yuma here," she patted his arm, "had been offered a fantastic deal by some orangutan gentlemen. It sounded like a great investment, and we put all our money in it... we even took a loan on our house, it seemed to be such a sure thing!" She shook her head and covered her eyes for a moment.
"Ha," Polar grumbled. "I think I know how that turned out!"
Zana put her hand down and sighed heavily. "I don't know the first thing about money and all those business dealings," she claimed, "but if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. We lost all our money, and the house, and we still have debts! They were carrying our belongings out of the house under our very noses!"
Galen decided that it was time to contribute something to the story. It wasn't as if he'd never spun a tale before... and Zana's setup was pretty good. "There was nothing I could do, Mila, the law was on their side." He tried to sound at once chagrined and defensive. Then he met Polar's gaze. "We had to leave, to try to make a new start somewhere else. Mila has family up north, and we hope they'll take us in until I've found my feet."
"But why stumble through the hills in the middle of the night?" Yantes wondered. "You could have twisted your neck instead of your ankle."
"Yes... well..." Galen stuttered, "It's because of our humans."
"Your humans?" Polar's eyebrows knitted in disapproval. "You shouldn't put yourselves through that kind of trouble for those creatures."
"They wanted to confiscate them, too, and these humans are our capital," Galen protested, warming to his story. "Without them, I wouldn't know how to open a new business up there. They're hard workers, they're well trained, and they obey without making a fuss - do you know how difficult it is to obtain a human with all those qualities?"
"No," Polar said gruffly, "I can't afford humans. That's just for noble apes."
"Well, I'd be more than happy to leave them to you for use as long as I can't walk," Galen offered hastily, cursing himself for his blunder. "That way, I could at least compensate you somewhat for your inconvenience."
He could see that he had struck a nerve with his offer; the farmer leaned back and regarded him thoughtfully, turning the deal over in his head. Galen hoped he didn't remember Zana's pithy remark about deals that sounded too good to be true.
"The gentry is all the same everywhere," Yantes tutted while she fastened the last - now dry - bandage around his ankle. "They take everything and make you pay for it, too! We know how it is, don't we, Polar? Every year they come and want more taxes, and every year they threaten to take the farm if we can't pay up! Who's gonna pay the taxes when no gorilla is left to work on his farm? Who will then plough the soil? The chimpanzees? I don't think so!" She flicked an embarrassed glance to Zana, remembering what her guests were, but Zana just nodded in commiseration.
"So I can put your humans to work like I see fit?" Polar asked. "Work them like I need it?"
"Yes, they're all yours," Galen nodded - and hoped the humans wouldn't rip his head off for that generous offer. "Just... they're not used to being beaten, and I doubt they'd react well to it," he added quickly. "But it won't be necessary at all, just, just tell them what to do. They are very intelligent!"
"Ha! Intelligent humans!" Polar muttered. "What's next? Vegetarian chimpanzees?"
"As a matter of fact, some friends of mine..." Galen began, but fell silent when Zana put her hands on his arm.
"Thank you so much for putting up with us," she stressed. "We will try to be out of your hair as quickly as possible."
"Now, no talk of that, you're just arrived and your husband here won't be using that foot for a while, that's for sure," Yantes said resolutely. "You go to bed and sleep for a bit - you look as if you're asleep already." Both she and Polar insisted that he and Zana take their bed - they would cram with their sons in the other room in the meantime.
"You are quite the storyteller," Galen muttered under his breath when they were alone. "I'm impressed... and a bit disturbed."
"You weren't so bad yourself," Zana scoffed and sat down on the couple's bed to unwind Peet's bandages around her feet. She sighed with relief when the last one came off, and wiggled her toes; Galen winced in sympathy when he saw the weeping blisters covering her feet.
"Well," he conceded, "I might have told a story or two to get around my father's more unreasonable orders... it's not a talent I'm proud of, but it does seem to come in handy lately. I just hope our story was convincing enough that he won't give us away to the patrols."
"Do you think they'll come here?" Zana asked, her dejected voice telling him that it wasn't really a question. He leaned over from where he sat on the bed and put an arm around her shoulders.
"Sooner or later, they will. I just hope my ankle will be healed and we'll be gone before they put Polar to the test."
Burke was jolted awake by a sharp pain in his side. He sat up with a start, finding himself on eye level with a rusty pitchfork. Much too close to his eyes! He jerked back and bumped into Bessie's gloriously warm flank.
"Hey!"
"Up! Get up!" Anto was still jerking the fork towards his face, and Burke found he couldn't evade any further with the cow in his back. He held up his arm protectively. "Take that thing outta my face! You could hurt someone... me, for example!"
"Get away from the cow! I told you not to go near the cow!" Anto poked him again with the fork, this time in the shoulder.
"Dammit!" Burke rolled away from Anto and his cow, and scrambled out of the box.
Behind him, Virdon tried it with pleasantries. "Good morning..." He didn't have any luck with Anto, who kicked his back for good measure.
"I told you we should get out before he returns," Burke whispered to him as they grabbed their backpacks and retreated into their designated corner. "You had first watch..."
"I woke you when it was your turn," Virdon whispered back, watching the gorilla who had dropped the pitchfork and was now fussing over his cow.
"Huh. I don't remember that..." Burke peeked through the gaps between the planks. The sun was high in the sky; they couldn't have slept for more than a few hours.
"Then you were talking in your sleep. It's not important now, anyway." Virdon straightened up when Anto came over to them.
Burke rose, too, a bit slower. "What's it now?"
"Your master wants to see you," the young man informed them gruffly. "But you gotta wash up first. It's bad enough to have humans in the house, you don't need to bring your filth in, too. You reek!" He returned to his cow and began to rub her down.
Virdon sniffed his armpit and shrugged. "He's right."
"Eh, nobody's perfect," Burke snapped. He was getting tired of being chased, beaten, poked, and now, insulted. "Come on, I saw a well behind the house."
The water was icy enough to make him shiver, but by now the sun had warmed the air enough that he could stand it. He doubted it would help - they had no soap; but then no amount of soap would make Anto look favourably on them.
"What is it with this guy and his cow?" he wondered aloud. "He's really devoted to her... I mean, really, really devoted..."
Virdon threw him a rag to dry himself. "She's heavily pregnant; the calf should be due soon. I think that's why he's so nervous. A cow is expensive, and if something goes wrong, they could lose both her and the calf."
"Yeah, but what does he think we could do to his cow?"
Virdon shrugged. "We're humans - perhaps he thinks we're ill luck."
"Great - superstitious gorillas," Burke muttered. "What these apes need is another age of enlightenment."
"I doubt they even had a first one," Virdon remarked. He pulled his shirt over his head and missed Burke's wince. "Well - let's see if we stand inspection." He slapped Burke on the shoulder.
"I bet we won't," Burke murmured, following him to the house. "Not that it matters..."
They found Galen in the kitchen, foot propped up on a chair. The farmer's wife was heaping a late breakfast on his plate while Zana wedged another pillow behind his back, her own meal cooling forgotten on her plate. Virdon kept his eyes straight ahead, but judging by the noises coming from Burke's mid-section, Pete was one grab away from getting them into trouble.
He hadn't really expected to be offered something to eat, but a tiny unacknowledged hope died inside as they were forced to stand before the apes like the slaves they pretended to be, all but ignored until Galen finally waved them to pay attention.
"Polar here has agreed to let us stay under his roof until my ankle is healed," he intoned.
"Thank you..." Virdon began, but Galen waved him to be silent.
"In exchange, he may use you for work on the farm, as he sees fit." Galen's eyes bored into his in a silent plea for... understanding? Agreement?
Well, of course they'd agree - it would be insane no to. "Anything you say," Virdon assured Polar.
"You will work every day," the farmer pointed at them. "As if I could afford you!"
"Sure. We come cheap," Burke quipped.
"As if I owned you!" Polar drove home his point.
Virdon nodded glumly. What a lovely world. Beside him, Burke shifted on his feet.
"I get one of them!" Polar's younger son piped up. He pointed at Burke. "One of them is mine!"
"Well, we'll see," Polar said indulgently. "One of the fences needs mending..."
"What? No!"
Virdon turned to see Anto standing in the door, apparently overhearing the last part of Galen's deal. Now he strode into the small room, shoving him aside. "They crept into the cow's box! They slept on her hay! They will make her sick and kill the calf! They are filthy!"
"We washed up..." Burke protested.
"Enough!" Polar banged his hand on the table. "I've made my decision. I don't go back on my word."
Anto clenched his fists, but backed down. "Alright... but the cow is my say!" He pointed at Galen. "Tell your humans to stay away from my cow!"
Galen watched with a puzzled expression as he stormed out of the room. He turned to Polar, who held up a hand in apology. "He's right about that. The cow is his say until the calf is born. And everyone knows that humans are bad for cows - they eat them, or steal their milk."
Galen glanced over to where they were standing. "You'll stay away from the young master's cow, understood?" he said imperiously. Virdon exchanged a look with Burke; they both faced Galen and nodded.
Their master turned back to Polar. "I'm not sure I understand this," Galen flapped his hand, "cow arrangement of yours, Polar."
Polar sniffed and shifted in his seat, ready to lay out the intricacies of the law for the clueless city ape. "See, Anto is old enough to start his own farm, and he's also set his eyes on Goru's little daughter - they're across the valley; but he needs his own bull calf to get his patch of land. Because how would he plough without an ox?" Polar leaned back and contemplatively sucked at his tooth.
"Five years our Anto has been waiting for a bull calf now," his wife cut in and shook her head. "Five years, and nothing but heifers! He thinks he's cursed... and that little Jilia won't wait for him much longer." She sighed and began to collect the empty plates.
Zana jumped out of her seat. "I'll help you, Yantes."
Polar snorted. "There's enough girls making moony eyes at our Anto, no need to pine after that one if she's so impatient."
"Oh, so if I had insisted on finishing my training, you'd have found someone else?" Yantes asked snidely. "If only I had known..."
"No! No..." Polar laughed and pulled her into his arms. "I'd never have found someone like you again!"
Yantes smiled down on him and tapped a finger on his nose. "And don't you forget it."
"I have no idea why I put up with a man who has his head not in, but above the clouds all the time." Sally grinned at him over her shoulder, and he smiled and reached around her to push the pan with the charring eggs from the burner.
"Because you are the most patient, forgiving, wonderful, beautiful woman in the world."
Sally slung her arms around his neck and they kissed; warm oil was slowly dripping from the spatula in her hand and soaking his shoulder.
"And don't you forget it," Sally murmured...
"So," Burke said briskly and clapped his hands, and reality crashed back into him. "What're we gonna do today? Sow some seeds, drive the herd to the northern pasture?"
The apes looked at him strangely. Virdon coughed to hide a laugh. Thanks, Pete.
Polar got up from his seat. "We don't have a herd. All the heifers go to the district governor, to pay off the debt." He eyed them. "You come with me," he put a hand on Virdon's shoulder and steered him towards the door.
"And you come with me," Remo grabbed Burke's wrist.
Burke looked down into his gleeful little face with a strained smile. "Sure, boss."
A sudden clatter in the yard made them freeze; Virdon's stomach cramped up as if he'd been kicked. Burke looked up to meet his gaze, his features tense, a hunted look in his eyes that mirrored his own dread.
Just one horse in the yard. A single officer. They could...
"Oh no, they're coming to confiscate our humans," Zana's panicked whisper cut through the icy silence. "Now we're really ruined!" She held Yantes' hand in an iron grip. Virdon doubted that her panic was faked, even if the story behind it was.
"Polar, go out and send him away," Yantes ordered. "We're not helping them nasty chimp patrols out here. They're nothing but trouble anyway!"
Polar hesitated; for a moment, Virdon felt as if the whole room was swinging, balancing on the needlepoint of the farmer's indecision.
Then Polar's eyes fell on him, assessing his frame, and another fire began to glow in his eyes: greed.
"You stay here, and don't make a sound. I'll tell them off."