Baho had ordered his blackbacks to take up guard positions near the trees that held the females and little ones, for the stink of blood filled all with fear.
Still, most of them watched as Omag bowed to Ulok, his head nodding vigorously, his yellow fangs snapping close to the ground, while behind him, the aging queens did the same...as did other blackbacks loyal to the usurpers.
Rising to his full height, Ulok grunted his thanks to Omag and then turned angrily to glare at Baho where the former silverback and the others protested.
“But Omag was not finished,” Kagoon groaned mournfully, and Gazda felt the sad sound echo in his own throat. “Ulok turned away...”
And Omag brought the axe-blade down upon the back of Ulok’s head. Blood, brains and bone flew into the air as the bull ape’s skull exploded, and the tribe again went mad with terror.
Baho moved with his blackbacks higher into the trees as Ulok’s great body tottered and then fell forward.
With a barking call from Omag, still more of his loyal young blackbacks rushed out of the trees to form a solid wall of muscle behind the crippled ape.
It was clear to all that in Omag’s hands, the flat and shining stone was a weapon of unstoppable power. All the blackbacks—the entire tribe—had watched him slay two silverbacks in succession and in many minds the crippled ape had become invincible.
Even old Baho whimpered his fears as Omag shook the bloody weapon over the bodies of his victims.
The aging queens Akaki and Oluza crept closer to kneel before Omag as he pointed the dripping axe-head at the apes in the trees. Gore fell from the weapon in gobbets and crimson rivulets crept along the twisted arm that held it.
“Omag is king!” he roared, excitement briefly mastering his speech impediment. “Submit or die!”
He waited then as the tribe of apes slipped out of the trees and approached their new king where he stood by the corpses of Goro and Ulok.
There they dropped in front of him and pressed their bony foreheads against the bloody ground, submitting to the new silverback’s will and to this ascendancy.
Baho hesitated with his loyal blackbacks by the trees, but Omag saw this, warning: “Baho! Follow me or be the third silverback to die—and neither will your sons be spared...”
Old Baho looked at his comrades and at the terrified apes that trembled obediently at Omag’s feet. Then he bravely moved forward and showed fealty to his bloody new king. Baho had no plan. He simply knew that he could not abandon his tribe to one such as Omag.
CHAPTER 32 – King of the Apes
“We all submitted,” Kagoon said before another coughing fit shook him and left his dark face gray. Gazda had already smelled the rot in his old friend’s injuries, and could see the larva wriggling in seams of open flesh on his chest and shoulders.
The night ape wiped the blood from his friend’s lips.
“Like a fool I did, but now our friend Ooso...our lovely Ooso. She that I longed to be my mate, and mine alone. Omag commanded that she and the other females submit to him as queens. It was his right to start his bloodline, but Ooso would not mate with him. When he beat her, I could stand by no longer, and so I challenged Omag!”
Those red images then flickered in Gazda’s mind, and his eyes grew moist.
Kagoon fell silent to draw in a rattling breath before continuing: “He would not fight me. Instead, his loyal blackbacks were told to kill Kagoon. I fought, but they were too many.” Another coughing fit took him and he whimpered as his broken ribs scraped and cracked. “I escaped before they killed me, and since then I have traveled to this ‘secret’ place of yours.”
“Bravely done, but you must rest,” Gazda cried, tears rolling down his cheeks. His old friend knew he had taken Fur-nose’s lair as his own, but had never said. At some time he must have followed...
“To warn you...” Kagoon’s voice weakened and his breathing slowed.
“Kagoon...” Gazda whispered, voice breaking like his heart. But his friend was dead in his arms.
Gazda pressed his face against the bull ape’s chest and wept.
There he stayed until the sun fell behind the trees and the great blue water beyond, and when the darkness in the jungle turned to black, and shadow crept across the landscape like a fog, he felt the first surge of night strength burn in his arms and chest.
Gazda closed up the tree-nest and sped toward the Two Trees faster than anything in the jungle had traveled before.
The tribe was still at Two Trees, though the night ape could see that it would soon have to move. The surrounding banana grove and bushes had been picked bare, and in places the very grasses had been chewed down to the dirt.
Gazda dropped out of the trees and frowned at the smell of blood still permeating the earth. When blackbacks slipped out of the shadows to surround him, he was prepared for a fight, but among them he recognized old Baho.
The night ape sniffed the air, and found little evidence of Omag’s recent spoor. The crippled ape’s unique stench of rotting injuries and suppurating sores was a shadow on the night, but he was nowhere close.
Then Gazda studied Baho with his night-time eyes and saw the bull ape’s injuries. The former silverback’s old face was torn and battered, and his bruised shoulders were raw from many bites. The night ape snuffled at his old friend as they brushed knuckles and he smelled blood on the many wounded apes around him. There had been a brutal battle...
“Where is Omag?” Gazda snarled, but the old ape shook his head.
“Gone,” Baho answered, and then he clutched the
