Chapter 2: Chapter 2: Change in plans
Monkey hunched over next to a tree; he was throwing up the dinner he just had. He was barely outside the town that surrounded the cathedral. He clutched his chest breathing heavily.
“What the hell is wrong with me?” he said, he took a couple deeper breath. He tried to calm himself but couldn’t. Was he scared? Yeah, He was. Tears fought their way through, he found himself unable to stop crying as they fell onto the ground. Eight years down the drain all because he was scared of what may happen next. He trained. Yeah, he knew what he had to do next. But the reality of it all, was frightening. It is actually happening. He looked towards the forest. Who knows what lies in there? Who knows what could happen? He looked backed towards the cathedral. Even though he could hear the people. Laughing, enjoying themselves. The cathedral wasn’t just a place for orphans. It had the largest market ever known.
But When Monkey looked around. He saw that he was alone. Tiger wasn’t by his side; Eddie C. wasn’t there to protect him. “Protect me?” he laughed at the thought.” What happened to all that confidence a second ago?”
“Dammit Monkey, why?... why can’t you do this?” he banged his fist against the tree frustrated with himself.
What would Wolf do?”. He slapped himself. That’s right. He wiped the tears from his eyes. He didn’t have to go home to his kingdom to get his badge. As long as he had the gold and some form of proof that killed a beast, he could get the badge from any kingdom. The monkey kingdom was southwest. The dog kingdom wasn’t far from the monkey kingdom. Just northwest pass the rooster kingdom.
He got back up on his feet. Yeah, he was alone but the thought of visiting his brother gave him the drive he needed. He smiled. Finally getting himself to calm down as he made his way towards the rooster kingdom. He couldn’t wait to see Wolf again. It's been two years since his brother left the cathedral and went back to his hometown.
From what Wolf told him before he was once one of the king's personal bodyguards. That was until a civil war broke out between Wolf people, the bhediya clan and the kutta. Apparently, the incident caused mistrust in all Bhediya which resulted in Wolf having to leave until the situation calmed down.
“I guess Wolf is trying his best to regain their trust if things haven’t improved over two years.” he said to himself as he took a peach out of his bag. Takin a bite out of it he continued his travel down the road. He was slowly gaining his confidence back with each step he took. He brought out the map mother given him it’ll be almost a month traveling by foot to reach the wolf kingdom and before that he would reach the rooster kingdom first, which would take two weeks. As long as he stuck to the main road.
“From what I learned from momma. The rooster kingdom isn't as aggressive as the others. But it still wouldn’t be wise to travel without a badge. I suppose once I get there, I should immediately get one as soon as possible” he thought to himself.
Monkey couldn’t help but giggle to himself. He had a plan. Sure, a while ago he was scared but now, he was filled with nothing but excitement. He was going to see his brother!
He took off running down the road. The next village he comes across he’ll look into getting himself a horse. Most children when they leave are only given ten gold for their travels. Momma was kind enough to give him fifty gold. He could buy a horse which would make reaching the dog kingdom even easier.
Monkey leapt up into the trees, swinging from branch to branch. This was a new feeling to monkey. Freedom. He never felt like a prisoner in the cathedral. It was his home and Momma always made him feel welcome even on his first night there. But now, being alone. He was scared. IS scared but the sky was the limit. No rules. He could sleep as much as he wanted. Eat as much as he wanted. The possibilities seem endless.
He landed on a branch as the light begins to fade. Creatures are more fearsome at night than in the morning. Though he wanted to keep going he wasn’t going to start making mistakes now. He climbed a bit higher then tied his bag to a branch above him. He planned on sleeping up here than on the ground where anything could sneak up on him. Plus, he found it more comfortable. Making sure the bag was secured he laid his back up against the tree and closed his eyes. He wanted to get an early start tomorrow. The faster he could get a horse the faster he could get to the next kingdom and get his badge.
~
Monkey landed on the last branch within his people territory. He didn’t like what he was looking at. the Haan people within the rooster kingdom were all short by nature. In fact, it was rare to find someone born in this kingdom that wasn’t under six foot. But that wasn’t what annoyed him. What annoyed him was the fact that there were hardly any trees at all. Correction. Any large trees. The trees here were all under four feet. Though it made ambushes from bandits almost impossible (unless those bandits were Haan). It also meant monkey had to travel by foot from here on. He sighed. Not wanting to waste any more time he leapt down and took his first steps into another kingdom.
Monkey reacted quickly, catching an arrow that was inches away from his eye. Shock and fear showed on his face at the sudden assault. He will forever be thankful for the training his mother put him through. For those skills just saved his life. He was on guard now. Immediately rolling out the way as more arrows flew pass him. “So much for them being the less aggressive” he thought. He stayed low, if he stood up, he would be an easy target. But staying low offered little to no protection. He wouldn’t be surprised if they knew where he was right now. That left him with only one option.
“Hey, hey!?.... you must’ve saw me enter from the monkey kingdom! The Haan and Houzi always got along! Same with the Chevre kingdom ever since the great race! Even doing the hundred-year war our kingdoms never fought!” he yelled. He always thought history was boring but thank the twelve he paid some attention. Three hundred years ago a race was held. During that race in order to cross the river the monkey, rooster and goat worked together. Ever since then the three kingdoms held an eternal alliance. Becoming known as the triumvirate. He was putting all his hopes on history.
“Slowly stand up, hands where we can see them,” the voice sounded young. Male. Monkey did as he was told slowly getting back to his feet, hands in the air. He felt a tug at his tail which caused him to jump.
“He speaks the truth. A monkey tail if I ever seen one,” an elderly voice said behind him. Monkey turned his head to see two men, spear in hand right behind.
The elder grinned at him. “You’re one lucky bastard. If you hadn't spoken up. I would've rammed this spear up your ass”
Monkey’s butt clenched at the thought. He did not want his life to end like that.
“Come on out everyone. This here a friend, he means us no harm!” the elderly man said to his people
“To be fair I was the one at risk of being harmed here” monkey replied.
The man laughed “right you are. Short we may be but we know our land and now you know how deadly we can be”
Monkey now had taken a good look at the elder. Could see that he was well built. Short but muscular. The man next to him seemed to be younger, but just as well built. He looked around to see the rest of them slowly rising up from the trees, counting about ten. His eyes grew wide. These people were literally a short distance away from him. How the hell hadn’t he noticed? They wore tribal clothes showing plenty of skin. Some were showing off tattoos as well. Each one stood to be over four feet.
The old man extended his hand. “The name’s Vulcan.”
Monkey shook his hand. “Monkey.”
Vulcan laughed again “Named after your own kingdom? Arrogant, aren’t we? Plan on ruling it one day?”
Monkey shook his head. “No, just the name I was given from my father. I actually plan on becoming a mercenary.”
Vulcan features seemed to darken at his words, looking Monkey up and down seemingly forming an opinion. “We’ll take you back to our village. Going to have to explain to me why you came all this way for a badge instead of going to your own kingdom.”
As they turned to leave a figure leapt out of the trees, attacking one of Vulcan’s people. In a flash the figure disappeared. Back into the small trees. Time seemed to slow down as the person turned around. Neck slashed open, blood spraying out from the wound.
“WE’RE UNDER ATTACK!!” Vulcan yelled, just as he did, he and his clan seemed to disappear as well into the trees. Monkey had a quick decision to make. He could easily run back towards the rooster kingdom and leave these people to fight this battle on their own or he could stay and help. Wasn’t much of a choice to be honest. He was scared. But if he ran away now, he would never be able to face the Black Beast.
“Never show your back to the enemy”. His mother’s words echoed in his head. His heart pounded.
Easier said than done.
It was like an unseen battle was happening around him. He could hear the fighting and see rustling in the trees. But without a clear view he couldn’t tell friend from foe. All he could do was wait for an attack and counter. The attack was so sudden the creature was nothing but a blur. He stopped, taking up a defensive stance and listen to the battle raging around him. A figure leapt at him claws extended but Monkey was ready. Thanks to the bracers on his arms, he easily blocked the attack, countering with two quick blows to the creature chest. As he did another assailant leapt at him from behind, Monkey’s reflexes once again saved him as leaned forwards into a handstand, extending his left foot into the second creature. Without missing a beat, he pushed himself into the air as three more creatures appeared to attack. He spun himself around connecting his foot into each one knocking them away. One of the creatures landed on one of the tribe's spears making a loud screech as it died.
“Not bad” Vulcan said. He was the one holding the spear the creature fell on. “Make sure none of these creatures are alive,” he told the others monkey looked around and saw that, counting the one who had his throat slit. Lost two others in the battle here. The soldier quickly and efficiently stabbed each creature. Some were still alive, pretending to be dead. Monkey took a good look at the creature on Vulcan’s spear to see that it was a cockatrice. Head of a rooster with the body of a lizard. Dangerous and venomous he was lucky the first one didn’t penetrate his skin.
Vulcan looked around at his people, noting the same as Monkey. That he lost some. He shook his head, tossing the creature on his spear aside “I suppose it's a good thing you can fight. If it’s a badge you want, I believe I can offer you a good opportunity to gain some recognition and you’ll be doing my people a great service. What do you say?”
~
Monkey felt trapped. He hated feeling trapped. These people were nice enough. Too nice actually. Since he arrived, he been greeted with plenty of food and booze. They sat around a fire outside. The village was a decent size. He guessed about seventy to hundred lived here. It was funny the kindness they were all of a sudden showing him since it wasn’t that long ago that they tried to kill him. Which begs the question.
“So even seeing that I was crossing the border from the monkey kingdom. You still made an attempt on my life. Why is that?” he asks as one of the ladies refilled his drink. Vulcan smile never wavered though.
“You saw how close we were when we fired that arrow at you? No more than five meters and at that range you easily caught it. You have amazing reflexes and even without being able to see where the enemy was you were still able to react fast enough to defend yourself.”
Monkey couldn’t help but blush. “Well, it was nothing really. I actually do take great pride in my reflexes”
He drink some of the booze he was given. It was strong and Monkey never drank before now. Still, he didn’t want to be rude.
“Look at that, Vulcan. The boy is easily flattered and didn’t notice that you haven't answered his question.” A female voice said from behind him. He turned to see, shockingly. The tallest tribe member here. She had to be somewhere above 5 feet.
The sudden voice cause Monkey to choke as he looked to see who said those words.
Vulcan laughed as he took another deep swig of his drink. “Nothing wrong with taking a compliment, my dear Vivian. Monkey, meet my daughter and heir Vivian.”
Yeah, Monkey didn’t like Vivian.
“I fully intend to answer your question. You see, our village isn't far from the border. You could say that we’re the first line of defense should we ever get invaded from the south. We saw you as you leapt down onto the road. One of the advantages of being short, ” he let out short laugh at his own joke. Vivian rolled her eyes. “You see, while we are fully aware of our alliance with your people, we’ve notice certain...individuals from your kingdom have been raiding our storages.”
This caught Monkey attention. While he could care less about their storages being raided. He can say he didn’t like the idea of his people stealing from an ally nation. Then again, he asked himself. Why did he care?
He took another sip while he listened.
“We don’t know why and we haven't reported the incident to our queen.... yet” he let that last statement hang in the air. Monkey assumed he thought he would help If it meant keeping the relationship between their people unbroken.
Monkey placed his drink down next to him. “I’m sorry to learn that its Houzi that has been raiding your supplies. But I fail to see what that has to do with me”
Vivian rose to her feet in fury “Don’t you care about the relationship between our two nations. From what I heard you even use the history between our people to save your own life”.
The surprised outbursts caught Monkey completely by surprise. Still, he couldn’t suppress a smile. He was grateful that they didn’t kill him but he owed them nothing. This problem was theirs.
“You seem to forget that a mercenary holds no allegiance to one's own nation. Their loyalty is to coin only.”
That seemed to shock Vivian, apparently, she didn't know that Monkey planned to become a mercenary. She even turned to her father for confirmation. He nodded his head to confirm that what Monkey just said is true.
“Please excuse my daughter. She tends to act out on emotion more than she should.” He gave her a sharp look and she took it as a sign to say no more on the matter.
“That being said. I can't help but notice that it did bother you knowing it was your own people stealing from us. But that is the second reason I’ve brought you here. I’m sure you also wondering what I’ve mention before. About doing us a great service”
Monkey nodded. He been wondering about that. The issue they had obviously wouldn’t help at all at getting him a mercenary badge. He needed something from a beast not a demi-human.
“As you seen from the battle earlier, we’ve been having an infestation problem with cockatrices. We've imagined an adult cockatrice has taken up nesting somewhere near, but with the raid from the monkeys...” he paused a moment looking for another reaction “well we don’t have many warriors to go after this monster and defend our food storage”
Monkey nodded understanding, ignoring the sudden change in Vulcan tone “So I’m going alone to fight this beast, am I?”
Vulcan smiled as he brought out a bag of coin. “A mercenary’s loyalty is to coin only.”
No wonder they were treating him like a king earlier Monkey thought. They were buttering him up so it would be hard to refuse.
“So, Monkey, what do you say?” Vulcan asked.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone