The next chapter is here! Enjoy :)
Noelle tried her best to think of a good plan.
Only one kept coming up though. But there is the issue that they are kind of out in the open and other gorillas were about. She is also unsure just how many are here.
"I still say, you shouldn't go through with whatever plan you're thinking of. It will only get you killed." Came the quiet voice of Noomi.
Noelle's light blue gaze shifted to the Blond's serious hazel ones.
"There has to be a way. Surely, you don't want to just wait around here until you are all sold off like some piece of property." Noelle told her.
"I don't. None of us do. But we are nothing, but a bunch of unarmed women stuck in a cage surrounded by several armed gorillas. What chance do we have against that?" Noomi said, trying to get her to see reason.
Noelle was silent for a moment.
"I can only hope that Galen can find me. But...this district is huge, and I worry he may not know where to start looking." She said.
"Who's he?" Noomi asks.
"He's my fri...ehh master. The one they took me from." Noelle said, nearly slipping.
By the look Noomi was giving her, she most likely caught the slip up too.
"Even so, why would any ape care to go looking for a missing servant? Especially, when servants can be replaced." Marielle stated, chiming into the conversation.
"No, he will be looking for me. He won't just leave me out here." Noelle says, confidently.
She knows Galen wouldn't leave her like that.
That he will do whatever it takes to find her. They have already saved each other at least once and look out for each other. Within the short time she has gotten to know him, she knew he was a very selfless and kind person.
Someone who has risked his own life on countless occasions just to save his friends. Because of this, Noelle knew he wouldn't give up on her.
"Even if he does go looking, you said it yourself. He wouldn't know where to look." Marielle told her.
Yes, unfortunately, this much Noelle did know. But she didn't want to lose hope just yet. She had to hang onto that last shred of it and believe he will find her.
Meanwhile with Galen...
Galen and the authorities continued down the path.
They have been traveling now for a couple hours, and still have yet to find anyone. It made him concerned for just how long he was knocked out for, for them to get this far.
Either way though, he will not stop. Until he finds Noelle.
Even better, he does have reinforcements with him. So, that when they find these traffickers, the police will capture and arrest them. If they can do this, they would be making the district safer again for everyone.
"I think I see some lights in the far-off distance to the left!" One of the troopers called out.
Galen snapped his gaze to the left and went searching for these lights.
It took him several moments, but eventually, he was able to spot several, small light sources. Most likely torches. It was quite faint though, signifying that whoever it was, they were still quite a way off.
"I believe there is another road coming up here on the left! It'll probably lead us out in that direction. It's quite open out there! Not many trees and a little further beyond that is an open grassy plain!" The Lieutenant stated.
"How far until you think we get there?" Galen asked the Lieutenant who was riding next to him.
"Could be at least another hour or so, judging by the distance of those lights." The Lieutenant informed him.
"You think it could be them? The traffickers?" Galen inquired.
"Hard to say, some people come out here often to camp. Many of them are travelers trying to get from one destination to another." The Lieutenant replied.
"We should be coming up onto the left trail that leads off of this one and goes out that way, Sir." A gorilla guard informed his Lieutenant.
"Good, stay vigilant and use the torches to help you find the path. Otherwise, we could miss it in the dark." The Lieutenant cautioned.
"Yes, Sir." One of them said.
An hour, that's all it takes. Galen can only hope that the source of light they do see is the traffickers. From what they could see down below on the road, they can still see the multiple tracks left by horses not that long ago.
Perhaps, those tracks will lead off of this road and onto this path the Lieutenant told his troopers to look out for.
Back with Noelle...
She waited until most of the gorillas that were standing guard dispersed and went to another area of the outpost. Until there was just the one guard left who was still standing by, standing guard not far from the cage.
Thankfully, he hasn't seemed to look in on them all that much. For the most part, he surprisingly had his back to the cage and the young women within.
Noelle's gaze shifted to Noomi, Marielle, and the two other girls Lenna and Cecily, who were also now awake.
She went over the plan with the women and told them that if they wanted this to work, that they needed to play a part in this plan as well.
Though the youngest of the group, Cecily, seemed more reluctant to do so. She was just too afraid of getting caught and then getting killed by these gorillas.
Noelle approached the young, frightened girl. She then reached up and gently grasped her shoulders and started to softly talk to her and getting her to calm down.
She kept assure the teen that this will work. They just need to time it right and set everything in motion. Noelle reminded her that this could be their only chance at escaping and seeing their families again.
Noelle knew Cecily like the others wanted to see her family again and missed them very much. Because she overheard the frightened girl say earlier how she missed her parents and two younger brothers very much and wanted to go home.
Noelle smoothed some of Cecily's long untamed, reddish-brown hair back and gave her a comforting smile. She then assured her that she will help get them all out of here and promised her that she won't let anyone here hurt any of them.
It took a few minutes of coaxing, but eventually the teen reluctantly agreed.
Then Noelle had them all gather in close and started explaining her plan. While they still thought it risky, they still knew it may be their only chance at freedom.
At the present time, the only guard in this location was their guard, who currently had his back to them.
Noelle shifted her gaze to Noomi and nodded. The blond nodded back and waited to start. She then watched as Noelle dropped to the ground and started shaking like she was having fits.
"Oh no! Guard! Guard, she's sick! She fell!" Noomi said, in a feigned panic voice.
While the other girls were frantically trying to tend to Noelle as she spasmed on the ground. Or they were pretending to at least. They all knew she was faking it.
The guard turned around and tilted his head, looking down at the flailing woman on the ground.
He furrowed his eye ridges and wrinkled his nose. Then he shouldered his rifle and made his way over to the cage. He glanced at the woman on the ground again, then lifted the keys from his belt and went to unlock the wooden barred door to the cage.
The guard opened it and entered.
"All of you, step back, now." He ordered.
The four women quickly stepped back as he approached and headed right for Noelle. She kept gasping and spasming on the ground, even as he knelt down to inspect her.
When he knelt down close enough over her, Noelle quickly pulled her right hand out, and slammed a softball size rock into the side of his face as hard as she could from her position on the ground.
The guard let out a pained grunt and fell to the ground.
Noelle got up and was quick to pull his rifle off of his shoulder while he slightly rolled around on the ground, stunned and in pain. Once she removed the threat of the rifle, she quickly handed it to Noomi.
Then Noelle turned back around and slammed the rock once more into the back of his head, effectively knocking him out.
Lenna quickly came in afterwards and ripped the keys off of his belt. Then all five women raced to the open cage door and got out. Lenna quickly and quietly closed the cage door and locked the unconscious guard inside.
Afterwards, Noelle gestured for the rifle back and Noomi handed it off to her. Then all of them ducked down and quietly and quickly made their way to the horse drawn cart a few yards away from them.
Once there, they quickly had Lenna, Cecily, and Noomi get into the back of the cart and underneath the cloth cover that went over the back.
Marielle quickly climbed into the driver's seat and grabbed the reins.
As she was about to give the reins a good flick to get them going, they heard someone shouting at them.
"Halt!" A voice yelled.
Then to everyone's horror, the women saw a handful of guards come dashing out from another area of the outpost and were headed for them.
Noelle unshouldered the rifle and pulled it out in front of her, then she quickly looked over her shoulder at Marielle.
"Go! Now! Get them out of here! I'll hold them off!" She yelled back quickly.
"What?! Noelle! That's crazy they will sho..."
"I said get going, Marielle!" Noelle yelled, then she started firing at the handful of gorillas in front of her making them duck and run for cover.
Quickly taking the hint, Marielle gave the reins a harsh flick.
"Yah!" She said aloud.
Then the horse took off.
She quickly turned the cart around and had the horse dashing for the road.
"No! They're getting away!" One of the gorillas yelled angrily.
They went to go to their horses to pursue the escaping women. But Noelle wouldn't let them get very far.
She fired off more rounds from the rifle keeping them pinned down.
Noelle knew she couldn't keep this up for long though, as in she will run out of bullets very soon. She reached for one of the torches and threw one of them over at one of the tents.
Then she fired off another two rounds to keep them at bay as she ran for another torch in the ground. She lifted that one and started running to some of the other areas with small tents and started setting fire to all of them as well.
"Dammit! Stop her!" One of them yelled angrily.
Adrenaline was coursing through her as she ran around like a maniac, rifle in one hand, and torch in the other, causing as much mayhem as she could before she can make her escape.
Noelle stopped at another tent and was about to shove a torch into it. When she felt something hit her in the back of the head, hard.
The young woman saw stars, from the blow to the back of the head. Then she dropped the rifle and torch and fell to the ground on her back.
She looked up through slightly hazy vision and saw a bunch of very pissed off snarling gorilla faces standing above and around her prone form.
"You'll pay for this, you little bitch!" The one with the scar down over his milky eye growled.
Meanwhile with Galen...
As Galen and the gorilla troopers went racing down the side road towards the lights, they noticed something strange. The lighting suddenly grew a lot bigger, and they also heard shots being fired on the way.
Galen felt his stomach drop when he heard the shots and saw the growing light of flames starting to stretch upwards towards the sky.
He flicked the reins harder trying to push Lola to go even faster. The horse dashed ahead with the Lieutenant and his troopers following close behind trying to get to their destination as quickly as possible.
After a few minutes as they all drew closer, they all saw something headed their way at a rapid pace.
It took them a while to see what it was. But when they got closer, they saw a young human woman racing down the small hill in a horse drawn cart. She was headed right for them.
Marielle saw a fairly large group of apes headed her way. As she drew closer, she saw at least one of them had a leather vest on with a bright metallic V-Shape going down the front.
She smiled brightly when she realized it was the authorities.
"Hey! Over here!" Marielle shouted as she continued on towards them.
After about three minutes, they closed in. Everyone came to a stop at that point.
"What are you doing out here!? It's not safe!" The Lieutenant said.
"We just escaped from the traffickers camp." Marielle hastily explained.
After hearing the words exchange, the other three women hopped out of the back and came around the cart.
They were all greatly relieved when they saw the authorities. Just as much as the authorities were just as shocked to see them. Here they were, going to rescue these girls and arrest their captors, only to have a run in with them as they somehow managed to escape themselves.
"How did you manage to escape?" The Lieutenant asked.
"Noelle helped us. She came up with a plan and helped us escape." Noomi spoke up.
Upon hearing her name, Galen approached her on his horse.
"Wait, you saw Noelle? Where is she now!?" He hastily asks.
A sad look appeared on the Womens' faces.
"Unfortunately, we were caught while getting ready to leave. Noelle had the rifle of the guard she knocked out. She started firing at the traffickers and told us to go." Marielle replied.
Galen paled, and hit stomach twisted in knots upon hearing what they said.
He didn't say anything more. Instead, he flicked the reins, and raced out of there, heading for the burning outpost. Again, he tried to get Lola to run as fast as she could to the post that was now up in flames and could probably be seen for miles around now out in the open.
The Lieutenant snapped his attention to one of his troopers.
"Moro, Zeke, escort these females to the ape garrison. The rest of you, come with me to the traffickers' camp, now!" The Lieutenant ordered.
"Yes, Sir!" A couple of them said.
"Back into the cart everyone." Noomi told the others.
Marielle waited for a moment as the two troopers approached her.
"This way, we're taking you back to the garrison. From there, we will escort you all back to your villages. Let's go." One of them said.
The young woman nodded, then flicked the reins and started to follow behind the two gorilla guards.
By the time they were on their way, the Lieutenant had already gone ahead with the rest of his men towards the traffickers' camp. They were hoping to still be able to catch them before they had a chance to get away.
Back with Noelle...
One of the gorillas roughly pulled her to her feet.
Afterwards, she gasped in pain as one of them punched her in the gut. She hunched over as the wind was knocked from her from the strong hit to her abdomen.
Then the one holding her, harshly grabbed a fistful of her hair and yanked her head back.
Noelle let out a pained yelp when he did this. Then felt a sharp pain in the side of her cheek as another slapped her hard across the face. This female really fucked up everything for them, and now, she was going to pay.
The leader of the group with the scar over his eye, pulled a wicked looking knife from a leather holster on the side of his waistband and held it up in front of her face.
Noelle's eyes widened in fear and a couple tears left her eyes as she saw the large, sharp blade.
The leader gave her a twisted grin, reveling in her fear.
"Don't worry. I'm not going to use this just yet." He said.
Then his one good eye looked around at his men.
"Who's up for some fun first before we discard of this troublesome little bitch?" He asked around.
Upon hearing those words, Noelle felt fear shoot through her entire being.
"No!" She weakly called out.
Only to receive another slap to the face, quickly shutting her up.
Then a hand roughly grabbed her jaw and pulled her forward a little and she again was looking at the ugly scarred face of the gorilla in front of her with a knife still in hand.
"You accosted us everything. And now, you are going to pay." He spat.
Galen had just made it to the burning outpost.
He frantically looked around and was about to call out for Noelle when he saw a group of about eight to ten gorillas. They were all standing around in a circle several meters away from one of the burning tents.
It wasn't until one of them shifted their position, did he see someone else among the group.
Galen's heart stopped when he saw it was Noelle. Her face was red and stained with tears and she had a look of absolute fear on her face. He then saw one of the gorilla's had a knife in his hand and he reached up and grabbed a fistful of her shirt and was about to use said knife to slice her shirt down the middle.
Rage overcame him and he quickly reached into his pack and pulled out a pistol he had saved for emergencies. He then jumped off the horse and went running over.
"Stop! Get away from her!" He screamed at them and held up the pistol in front of him.
The gorillas all quickly turned their attention to the new and unexpected voice. They were a bit surprised to see one lone chimpanzee and he was pointing a gun at them.
"Let her go now! Or I'll shoot you all where you stand!" He yelled at them.
Noelle was quite surprised herself to see Galen. But any relief and surprise she had was quickly replaced with fear again when the one with the knife circled around her and held the knife to her throat.
Fear and rage filtered into Galen's gaze as he saw this.
"Go ahead and shoot. Either way, she'll be dead before you can shoot us all." The leader spat, with an ugly sneer.
Galen was breathing quite harshly as the adrenaline surged through him. Though fear and panic started to set in too.
As much as he wanted them to get away from her, he can't risk her life in the process. It put him in a huge predicament right now and he was running short on ideas on how he can save her.
"Just let the girl go. And we'll be on our way. And I won't shoot you." Galen said, trying to bargain with these lowlifes.
"Forget it. This girl cost us some valuable cargo as well as our camp. She's not going anywhere." The leader snapped.
Galen glared at the gorilla, a hiss leaving his mouth. Then his gaze shifted to Noelle. Fear and desperation were still ever present on her face.
At seeing this, his glare turned into a look of distress.
Before anyone could say anything else though, they all heard the sound of many horses come galloping over. The gorillas looked around and became alarmed when they saw they were all now surrounded by the authorities.
The Lieutenant and a few of his troopers drew their rifles and took aim at the traffickers.
"Let the female go. You are all under arrest for kidnapping and trafficking." The Lieutenant declared.
Being surrounded and clearly outnumbered, the traffickers all slowly threw up their hands in surrender.
Except for the leader, that still kept a firm grip on Noelle. He was unwilling to surrender and give up. He started moving away from his comrades and backing up.
"I said, let the female go! It's over! There is no way out of this!" The Lieutenant yelled at him.
"No! I want a horse provided to me right now! Or I kill her!" He snapped.
A sob left Noelle, as he said this and pressed the blade closer to her throat.
Fear and panic quickly returned to Galen. All he could think about was getting to her. But he fears if he tried, the gorilla would make good on his word and kill her.
It seemed like everyone was at a standstill right now on what to do.
Then Galen got an idea.
While the leader's gaze was still fixed on the Lieutenant and his troopers, he quietly went around. He found a sturdy, thick stick as he circled around to behind the leader.
The Lieutenant saw Galen quietly appear behind the leader but didn't say anything or give away his position.
"Alright, we will lend you a horse and you may go. Now, release her." The Lieutenant said, keeping him distracted.
Not long after the words left his mouth, Galen brought up the heavy piece of wood and slammed it down as hard as he could on the back of the leader's head. A barely audible grunt left the leader as he went limp and fell to his side, dropping the knife in the process. He laid there and didn't get back up.
Noelle heard a loud whack from behind her then felt the leader's grip on her quickly relax and fall away. Then she slowly turned her gaze to see her captor fall to the ground.
She then saw someone quickly circle around and come to stand in front of her.
Familiar warm, brown eyes entered her line of sight and she saw the very concerned and worried face of none other than Galen.
"Noelle, are you ok?" He quickly asked.
Still to shocked to say anything, she closed her eyes and started to cry. She nearly collapsed to the ground as her knees buckled.
But Galen quickly wrapped his arms around her and slowly but carefully lowered her to the ground. He then sat there on the ground with the traumatized young woman, holding her close.
Noelle wrapped her arms tightly around his torso and rested the side of her face on his upper arm and started to let out the sobs she was holding in.
Galen tightened his hold around her and pressed his muzzle into the side of her head.
"It's alright. You're safe now." He assured her in a soft tone.
The troopers started to put metal cuffs connected to chains on the traffickers as they rounded all of them up.
Galen started to lightly run his hand through her hair, trying to comfort her and calm her down.
"You're here. You found me." Noelle got out between a couple sobs.
"Of course, I did. I'll always find you." Galen continued, in a soft but firm tone.
They sat there like that for the next couple minutes, as the authorities chained all the traffickers together and made certain none of them would escape.
A couple of them approached and pulled up the leader, who was still knocked unconscious and started dragging him over by his arms to one of the horses. There they proceeded to tie his hands and legs together, before hoisting him up onto the horse like a sack of potatoes.
Noelle was eventually able to calm down and take a few steady breaths, but still was tightly clutching Galen in her arms as she stayed pressed against his front.
As they continued sitting there holding onto each other, the Lieutenant came walking over to them.
"That was a very dangerous and bold move you took. But good work." He told Galen.
Galen shifted his gaze and glanced up at the Lieutenant. Then he gave him a brief nod.
"Which settlement are you from? We can escort you there." The Lieutenant offered.
Galen was silent for a moment, before speaking.
"We...are travelers. From another district." He hesitantly said.
The Lieutenant nodded, "I see. At least let us escort you to the nearest village to our garrison. I'm sure they have a vacant hut there you can use while you recuperate. It's the least we can do for you helping us find the outpost and leading us to the arrest of the traffickers whom we have been looking for, for quite some time now."
His gaze then shifted to the young woman, still in the chimp's arms.
"Would like to thank you as well, Miss. We ran into the missing women on the road. They told us how you managed to help them escape. They were found because of you and now, we can escort them back to their villages and families." The Lieutenant told her, extending his thanks to her.
Noelle was silent for a moment, before giving a faint nod.
"Are...they, ok? The women?" She asks quietly.
The Lieutenant nodded, "Yes, none of them appeared to be harmed or injured in anyway when we stumbled upon the stolen horse cart on the road with one of them driving it. I sent two of my men to escort them all back to the garrison. From there, they will all be escorted back to the settlements they are from."
"Good. They deserve to be back with their families." Noelle quietly replied.
"Yes. And when you two are ready, we will be leaving. We can escort you to Larchwood Village. It's the closest village to our garrison. I think you should both see a healer too when you get there. You both are clearly a little banged up." The Lieutenant suggested.
The pair was silent for a moment, before either of them spoken.
"Thank you." Galen said.
Then his gaze shifted to Noelle, who was still in his arms.
"Are you well enough to go?" He asks.
"Yeah, just...get me out of here. I want to be as far from here as possible." Noelle said.
Galen started to stand. Noelle stood with him.
He withdrew his arms from around her but kept one arm around her shoulders as he led them back to their horse.
Once there, Galen helped Noelle up, then he hopped on up behind her. Then they joined the rest of the group as they all filed out of the charcoal remains of the outpost.
The further they got away from it; the better Noelle felt.
It's just a shame they will all have to walk back most of the way. Because they didn't have enough horses to put the captive traffickers on. So, they would have to walk the outlaws back.
Though the Lieutenant, who finally introduced himself as Kaleb to Galen and Noelle assured them that it was three hours through walking to get there.
Then from there, Larchwood was a mere couple miles down the road from their garrison. Once they had the prisoners situated in the holding cells at the garrison, they could be at the village in no time from there.
At this point, it didn't matter how long it would take to get to the garrison or this village.
Galen and Noelle were just relieved and happy to be reunited and that the nightmare was over.
Until Next Time ;)