Disclaimer: I own nothing except my OC Willow and any alterations to the original storyline plot her presence creates to various readers amusement everywhere across the globe.
Born To Lead Chapter 15
The decision was made, and a select group of apes was chosen, Malcolm led the way to the dam. He was on a horse tethered to one ridden by Grey.
Earlier Willow had tried to give Malcolm a ride on her horse. She'd held out a hand to him to assist him in mounting up behind her. He'd been just about to take it when Luca pushed his horse between them a cold suspicious glare on his face. The apes were allowing him to live, but even they had their limits. There was absolutely no way they were going to permit him to get into a position where he could easily dispatch one of their royals. This is the reason why he was riding alone.
Taking the apes deeper into the canyon Malcolm brought them to a dam built over a waterfall far bigger than the one the village was built around. There was a logjam at the base where debris from houses, fallen trees, and other stuff had built up from storms, floods, and other weather anomalies.
The horses were left on the beach most of the apes remaining there while Caesar and his council climbed over the logs with Malcolm to the entrance of the dam.
When Malcolm managed to open the door he took the apes inside walking down a staircase that led them into the mechanical room of the dam's powerhouse where the main controls were. The apes looked around in wonder astonished they'd never noticed once this structure so close to their village. None were more so than Willow. As the humans would say, she was like a kid in a candy shop.
"This is what we used to call a 'small hydro'," explained Malcolm, stepping up to one of the main control panels. "It was built to service areas to the north of here, but we've been working to reroute the power lines to the city. Because the city used to run on nuclear power, but that ran out years ago. So we've been using diesel generators and gasifiers. But if we can just get this dam working then we have a shot at restoring limited power."
Malcolm then met Caesar's blank stare, the ape leader not saying a single word. The other apes were silent too and it occurred to Malcolm that the apes might not comprehend what he was telling them.
Descending from the panels so he and Caesar were on equal ground, saying "Is any of this making any sense to you?" Even as he spoke this Malcolm was unbelievably nervous fearing he may have insulted them in some way.
Fortunately, Caesar took no offense.
"The…lights," he said, showing the human he understood.
"Yes," breathed Malcolm, nodding, delighted his message was getting across, "The lights. This is your home and I don't want to take it away from you, I promise. But if you can allow us, let us do our work here-."
"You brought others," growled Koba, advancing on Malcolm with Grey and Stone on both sides. Others hooted their displeasure not liking the idea of more than one human on their land. And if one of these humans were actually the one who'd shot one of their own then this would be endangering their families.
Caesar threw his arm out for silence and to stop Koba from hurting the human.
Retreating a step to distance himself from Koba, speaking to Caesar, Malcolm said "Just a few. I'm not a threat. If I am…then I guess you can kill me."
The apes needed to confer. Moving off from Malcolm the apes stood arguing with one another. By the looks occasionally glanced in his direction Malcolm distinguished they were trying to decide whether he was speaking true or not. He didn't fail to notice how the female, Willow if he recalled her name correctly, interjecting multiple times only to be stopped by one of the older males. He took in the passion in her movements, getting the gist that she was trying to convince them of his genuine sincerity.
Finally, the debate ceased and Caesar now had his terms set.
Turning back towards Malcolm, in an uncompromising tone, gruffly, Caesar said "No guns."
Nodding in agreement, relieved, Malcolm said "No guns."
And that settled that. Willow observed with great satisfaction at this outcome happy she convinced her father to agree. This was one foot forward in the right direction. Perhaps a handful more and she'd be running through the forest with the best of them. She met Malcolm's eyes and she could see there in the gratitude he knew she was the one to convince them to let his team temporarily have safe passage so they could do their work.
For Willow that was a pretty good reward.
Authors Note:
I hope you all like this one! I certainly did while writing it for your vast enjoyment! ;D
For those of you just starting out with my stuff there are other works on my profile that may catch your interest. I highly recommend you take a look as soon as the opportunity presents itself to you. Who knows, you may be pleasantly surprised by what you discover.
Stay safe everyone. Especially with all of these crazy natural disasters occurring a lot lately due to global warming and climate change everywhere for sure. I swear it's like they're getting worse and worse all the time and it's like officials are simply just ignoring it or pretending it doesn't exist entirely just to go on with their daily lives. Especially those in multi-million dollar companies that rely on certain elements of our planet that we rely on to naturally keep us safe instead of adapting and finding new safer ways to keep in business. There are so many options out there where they can adapt, but they just refuse to see it because all they care about is money. Climate change is altering so much faster than anyone can really keep track of.
So, in light of all this, it is important to live life to the fullest as much as anyone can.
I know I am. ;) See you guys next time.