Julius was being led by two gorillas up the steps to the largest building in the city. It had been some time since he'd been here, except the occasional grocery trip, he didn't make it a habit to come this far into the city. The doors opened to reveal the grand room usually reserved for gatherings of all apes in the city, like yesterday.
The gorillas pushed him to the right where a hallway served as an offshoot from the main room. He was led down this to a door that was opened and the trio went inside a smaller council room dedicated to civil hearings and trials. The three representatives of the council members were already seated at a long table that served as a judgement seat. An open scroll and gavel waiting in the orangutan's spot.
The orangutan in the middle looked up and Julius found a small spark of surprise in his eyes before his expression darkened.
"Julius," the orangutan said accusingly.
"Good evening, Niro," Julius greeted him in a tone that came out much more brightly than he felt.
The gorilla to his left clenched his powerful fists, but Julius could only look to the chimpanzee sitting on Niro's right—Gareth, Brutus' father. He was unusually still, his expression stoic, but his eyes had an edge of panic.
"Brutus?" Gareth signed subtlety.
"Safe", was the only thing Julius could sign back without being noticed, and he dearly hoped he was right.
"Let us begin," Niro said.
Julius stood in the middle of the room in full view of the three apes. He was aware of the fine robes each representative wore as a symbol of station, not so ornate as the ones worn the day before, but still not something the average ape would have for daily use. Usually, male apes wore necklaces, belts, and sometimes ponchos for weather— Females wore the same except for the addition of simple tunics which they always had on. This was one reason Julius never joined the council—the pomp and circumstance.
"Julius," Niro stood his fine orange robes giving him the look of a powerful entity, "you have been accused of going against the very thing that makes the essence of an ape-"
"No doubt by displaying the smallest shred of decency," Julius muttered to himself, but the representatives could clearly hear.
"And furthermore," Niro continued as if he hadn't said anything, "you have been found to lead young and impressionable minds after your grossly heretical example, how do you plead before these representatives today?"
Julius looked from left to right and back again. Each face was as expressionless as the last.
"I don't suppose I can plead anything other than guilty, not in front of this court," Julius said simply, "I am guilty of a conscience. I know the history that we've had with the animals of humans, but that's what they are now—beasts. Treating them like an intelligent opposing army is barbaric and beastly and frankly, an insult of what ape-kind should be."
The longer Julius spoke, the stonier Niro's expression became.
"Enough," Niro finally snarled in a commanding tone, his shoulders shaking, making his robes wave dangerously.
Julius looked to Gareth again and the chimpanzee's teeth were clenched tightly. Julius sighed, he thought he might have an ally—but perhaps not. He resigned himself to the thought that he couldn't escape punishment, and keep his soul.
"I've said what I could, but I won't cast my shawl before man," Julius smiled to himself.
"I said ENOUGH!" Niro shouted, a growl escaping his teeth.
He let out an angry breath and composed himself, looking at Gareth and the Gorilla—each one giving a nod. Julius guessed the meaning and sighed again To himself. Niro looked Julius over and then chuckled alarmingly. The sound sent a cold chill throughout the atmosphere of the room.
"Julius, the orangutan that had so much potential, my brother in arms…" Niro sat and looked over a scroll before continuing, "For treason against apes and supporting the deadly goal of man, the council convicts you of highest heresy, and in the interest of preserving the next generation, you will be incarcerated for no less than thirty days to await further sentencing."
No matter how Julius prepared himself for this outcome, the sentencing still stung. He wished there was some way for them to know what he knew, but he understood too well how deeply ape tradition was seeped in the council.
He tried to keep a smile as the gorillas led him away.
—
Jayda wasn't sure what direction she was leading them, she was unconscious as they came from the waterfall to the city. However, back in the human group, she was very good at spotting safe places to rest for the night away from apes. She figured that if she could spot a place for them to camp, then she could make a better plan of action. She wiped away a few raindrops from her face that snuck their way through the forest canopy.
She glanced back at the three apes following her. Brutus was looking ahead, stubbornly dragging the supplies and refusing help from either of the other two. Ziro and Franklin held the spears, their heads on swivels looking back and forth in the gathering darkness for signs of other apes.
Jayda looked ahead again, searching for a thicket or overhang of some kind as shelter for the strange caravan. She spotted a rise formed by the exposed roots of a few trees big enough for the four of them. She pointed it out to Brutus and he nodded, picking up the pace to reach it more quickly.
They ducked under the overhang and Ziro helped Brutus drag the cot inside out of the rain.
"There, we should be alright for the night, can't see a thing though" Ziro said, leaning his spear against the tree root with the tip pointing out, darkness was falling fast in the forest.
"Can't we get a torch going?" Franklin asked, his fingers searching the bags.
"No, not tonight," Brutus said quickly, "it's too soon, they'll be looking for us."
Jayda shifted peering out into the twilight, it wasn't terribly dark yet, but her survival instincts were on edge. The whole day spent at Julius' felt like a lifetime ago and she didn't realize how comfortable she'd become inside the hut. Out in the woods again, she felt that familiar pressure of survival surge back into her nerves. She scanned for predators and listened intently for movement over the quiet chatter of the chimpanzee's conversation.
She was grateful for Ziro's poncho. The night was quickly becoming colder and it shielded her from the worst of the chill. She rubbed the thick fabric through her fingers and looked over at the shape of the chimpanzee. She never thought he liked her much, or at least took her seriously, and maybe he still didn't, but the small gesture made her wonder if there was something more to this ape.
Something nudged her arm, she jumped and turned to see Brutus looking intently at her. In the dim light she felt her heart leap in fear as his ape-ishness was something that still put her on edge.
"How far is it to where you came from?" Brutus asked her, the other two peering through the darkness anxiously.
Jayda froze, she hadn't had time to think that far ahead yet. The human group was probably long gone from their spot, and if it were possible to track them, Jayda didn't think it was a good idea to lead the three apes directly to them, especially when they were possibly being followed.
That left the place with the roof that collapsed, where her mother was killed. She didn't like the idea of going back there, but then she could have an excuse of why there wasn't the fictional ape to go to.
The only problem was, she didn't know what direction that was from this place. The location of the city was unknown to the human group, and Jayda was unconscious from the riverbed to Julius' hut. If only she could find the waterfall, then she would have a pretty good sense of direction. If Bright-eyes was named for his lookout abilities, then Jayda would be wandering-compass.
Jayda raised her hands and tried to communicate, she didn't know the hand language that Brutus did, but she tried to guess the right way to deliver the message.
she brought her hand up then used her other one to try to make the shape of water falling.
Brutus squinted in the dim light, "what does that mean?"
She repeated it, trying her best to form a waterfall with her fingers, but after a few tries she gave up, it had grown too dark for him to see. She folded her arms across her chest and leaned into the twisting roots, their hard edges digging into her spine. She felt her eyes grow heavy and she fell into a half sleep— aware of the apes next to her, but listening to the woods beyond.
—
Ziro was hunched in the opening of their hiding spot, his eyes alert and his fingers were twitching against his spear. He noticed Jayda had grown still and was breathing deeply. Franklin was laying behind him, already asleep. He looked at Brutus who was watching the human from the corner of his eye, his hands also holding a spear.
"Having doubts?" He whispered.
Brutus looked at him and answered in the same volume, "It's a little late for that."
Ziro raised his eyebrows and Brutus chuckled darkly, turning away, "No, I don't think so. Not about her."
The comment stung Ziro and he tightened his grip on the spear as a knot formed in his chest, "I see."
Brutus looked back at him, "Why didn't you go back to the city, take Franklin with you? Even if he was seen I don't think they-"
"No!"
Brutus looked taken aback at Ziro's tone. Ziro himself looked back at the human and his brother, but neither had shifted in their sleep. He sighed and turned back to face his friend, the knot even tighter than before.
"Get this across your thick skull," Ziro said in a low voice, "I am your friend, I wouldn't forgive myself if something happened to you, and I'm sure as anything Franklin would follow no matter what I said. I'm not letting my brother go to prison or get hurt from this."
Brutus shook his head, "Ziro you could go back."
"They saw you, they took Julius, who do you think they'd suspect next? Heresy like this isn't taken lightly."
Brutus seemed thoughtful looking out into the darkness, Then he chuckled darkly,
"What a mess we've gotten ourselves into."
The fact that Brutus used the plural to refer to both of them made the knot loosen in Ziro's chest, and he too laughed.
—
Morning dawned with clear sunlight illuminating the emerald leaves above, filtering through to the forest floor. Water trickled and dropped from the rain the night before. The birds had awakened and were raising a twittering ruckus. Brutus and Ziro were still snoring, leaning into their spears for support. Ziro was drooling and his face had slid down the shaft, making his sharp teeth look half bared.
Jayda was awake, her eyes alert and scanning the underbrush. When she didn't see anything concerning, she sat up, turned to Franklin, and started shaking his shoulder. He moaned and turned over, breathing deeply again and falling back asleep.
Jayda let out a huff and looked at Brutus's sleeping form. She debated with herself, her heart pounding like she was about to wake a bear, then she decided. Reaching slowly, she nudged Brutus's shoulder gently, then with increasing ferocity. He shifted, but didn't wake up.
"You need to find something more jarring," a tired voice spoke beside her.
She jumped and whirled around to see Ziro, rubbing his eyes and wiping the drool from his chin. He looked around and saw some slow dripping water in a bush growing next to their hiding place. He reached out his long fingers and let the water pool into his palm. When he collected a handful, he flicked it onto Brutus's face.
His reaction was immediate and electric, sitting up with a yelp and thrusting his spear into empty air. It flew out of his grip and landed somewhere in the green foliage and he looked around, seeming confused. Then he recognized the faces around him and sighed, standing up to retrieve his weapon.
"Again, my friend, low," he said when he returned to the overhang.
By then, Franklin had woken up and was blinking sleepily at them.
Suddenly his eyes went wide and he sat up quickly, "What's going on?"
"Nothing," Franklin said, leaning over to open one of the bags on the cot and pulling out a fruit, handing one to each ape and the human last.
"We should do our best to make these last, unless Jayda can tell us how far it is to the ape's home, if it's still there," Ziro said with a pointed look to the human.
Jayda blushed with furrowed brows but accepted the fruit without confrontation.
"That brings up a good point, though he could've been better about it," Brutus said, noticing the unspoken exchange, then he turned to Jayda, "where is this place we're looking for?"
Jayda paused while peeling the fruit, her fingers picking at the skin that had already come off. She nodded and shrugged at the same time.
Ziro's brows furrowed, "what does that mean?"
"Well that's one way to answer that," Franklin said thoughtfully, his mouth already full.
He swallowed and continued, "Do you know where you are right now?"
She shook her head and Franklin nodded, "well that explains it."
Brutus looked as though he were considering something, "that throws a wrench in things, I suppose she was unconscious when we brought her to the village. If there was a landmark she knew of then maybe-"
His train of thought was interrupted by Jayda nodding, then she raised her hands and tried to imitate the waterfall like she had the night before. She repeated it a few times before the apes ventured to guess.
"Fire?" Franklin tried.
"Where would fire be a landmark?" Ziro said to his brother sarcastically.
"Water then," Brutus offered, and the human nodded, "The waterfall?"
"Of course! that's where we found her," Ziro realized, "it's not too far."
"We'll have to be cautious, there could be patrols in the woods," Brutus said.
Then, as if they'd been waiting for something to mention them, the sound of ape footsteps moving through the brush began to be heard from above them in the trees on the top of the overhang.
The three apes and the human fell completely silent and froze, each of them could hear their heartbeat in their ears. Slowly, they drew back further into the cave made by the tree roots, sitting shoulder to shoulder. They sat in a trembling limbo, waiting– Jayda having the most intense terror deja vu of the four of them.
—
Brutus swallowed and slowly crawled forward, carefully watching the opening for any sign of exposure. He made it to the mouth of the opening and glanced up at the root ceiling and had to bite his lip to keep from gasping.
From below, he could see a pair of gorilla feet standing at the overhang and the sheer bulk made the roots creek as he stood on them. Brutus also noticed something else, the decorative necklace around the gorilla's neck could belong to one ape, Anthony.
Brutus carefully slunk back into the space with the others and noticed the fear in their faces. He was trying to decide how to tell them what he saw when the sound of Anthony's footsteps moved on, and the little group let out a collective breath as the weight of the consequences if they were discovered fell on them.
"If only I had my horse," Brutus whispered.
"It'd break a leg on this terrain," Ziro whispered back, " I think that's why we didn't hear one that belonged to whoever that was."
"Anthony," Brutus said, "he was the one who caught me releasing the humans."
Ziro sighed, "of course."
"Wait, Anthony the gorilla?" Franklin asked, his eyes wide, looking at his brother, "that ape's nearly twice the size of you."
Jayda paled, Brutus noticed and gripped the spear. She'd been hurt by apes before, and Anthony was the definition of those kinds of apes. He was dangerously strong and clever as a gorilla could be and brought back many humans in the hunts that were used in his mother's labs, alive and dead. If he was after them, this was very bad news for Jayda. Ape shall not kill ape, but humans were free range to most apes, especially Anthony.
"Alright, we're going to get to that waterfall but we need to travel light and ditch the cot," he said, his voice shaking.
The group looked at the pile of bags on the cot. It was decided that each would carry a few bags on their backs, as much as they could carry—food making natural priority. Jayda looked to be struggling arranging her packs into a comfortable placement. Brutus noticed Ziro watching her until he sighed and helped her tie a few together before holding out the handles so they could be worn as a backpack.
"Might as well do it properly," Ziro said quickly before he turned to check Franklin's pack.
Jayda's face turned that curious human pink again, and Brutus wondered about what the cause could be this time. Anger? Embarrassment?
With each weighed down, they cautiously emerged from the overhang and slipped quietly off into the emerald green forest. They didn't have a clue of what was waiting before them, or watching from behind.