Page 103 of Tiger's Curse
Small black and brown figures leapt across buildings following us. The screeches became cacophonous, and the noise level was incredible.
I yelled over at Ren as I ran, “Perfect! Now we’re being chased by hoards of monkeys! Perhaps you would care to name their species as we’re attacked, just so I can appreciate the special traits of said monkey as it kills me!”
He ran along beside me. “At least when the monkeys are harassing you, you don’t have any time to harassme!”
The monkeys were getting close. I almost tripped over one as it darted in front of my legs. Ren leapt over a fountain with his tiger power.Show-off.
“Ren, you’re holding back. Just get out of here! Take the backpack and go.”
He laughed acerbically as he ran ahead of me; then, he turned to look at me while jogging backward, “Ha! You wish you could get rid of me that easily!”
He ran a bit farther ahead of me and switched to the tiger. Then he barreled back toward me and actually leapt over my running body into the throng of monkeys to slow them down.
I shouted back at him while still running, “Hey! Careful where you jump, Mister! You almost took my head off!”
I kept on course, pumping my legs as fast as they would go. I heard terrible noises behind me. Most of the monkeys had switched to full-on attack mode. Ren was biting, slashing with his claws, and roaring thunderously. I looked back over my shoulder. Brown, gray, and black monkeys covered his body and clung to his fur. A dozen or so monkeys were still chasing me, including the huge, baboon from the reflecting pool.
I turned a corner and finally saw the drawbridge. A monkey leapt and latched itself onto my leg, slowing me down. I tried to shake it off as I ran.
Batting at him ineffectually, I hollered, “Stu-pid mon-key . . . get . . . off!” In response, he bit my knee.
“Owww!” I shook my leg harder as I ran and stomped my foot down hard to make the ride as jarring as possible for the little hitchhiker. Just then, Fanindra animated the top half of her body. She hissed and spat at the monkey, who screeched and immediately let go of my leg.
“Thanks, Fanindra.” I patted her head as she settled back down on my arm again.
I reached the gate, crossed the bridge, and stopped on the other side. Ren was bouncing toward me trying to shake monkeys off his back. Several monkeys were storming toward me. I kicked at them viciously, quickly threw off my backpack, and took out thegada.
I started swinging thegadalike a baseball bat at the monkeys. I hit one with a sickening smack, and it whimpered and hightailed it back to the city. The problem was that I was able to hit a monkey only every third try or so. One jumped on my back and started pulling my hair. Another attached itself to my leg. I continued swinging thegadaback and forth in front of me, and eventually ended up being able to get rid of most of them.
Ren ran down the drawbridge with about fifteen monkeys clinging to his fur. He bounced over, leapt into the trees, and banged his body up against the trunks, first on one side and then the other. He leapt up high to rub his back on a branch and scrape the remaining monkeys off.
The needle trees came alive, shot leafy tendrils down to ensnare the malicious simians by their legs and tails, and then pulled their shrieking bodies up into the branches. They were too lightweight to fight back and soon disappeared into the treetops.
Meanwhile, I swung thegadaat the gray baboon but he darted around to avoid being hit. He was too fast for me and chattered at me violently. He swung his long arms and hammered my body at every opportunity. He was strong enough to make his blows hurt. Each pound from his monkey arms battered against my already tired muscles. I felt like I was being tenderized. A tiny monkey sat on my shoulder and tugged on my braids so hard that it brought tears to my eyes.
Free of monkeys, Ren jogged over, detached the monkey’s fingers from my braids, plucked the tiny monkey off my shoulder, and threw him hard back through the city gate. The tiny monkey bounced, rolled on the ground, and then got up, hissed at us, and disappeared. Ren took thegadafrom my hand and raised it to threaten the baboon. The baboon must have realized that Ren’s aim was better than mine because he shrieked loudly and headed back to the city too.
I sat down hard on the ground panting. The city became eerily quiet. Not a monkey hiss or screech could be heard.
Ren turned around to look at me. “Are you okay?”
I waved my hand at him dismissively. He crouched down, touched my cheek, looked me up and down, and then smirked.
“That was a pygmy marmoset, by the way. Just in case you were wondering.”
I wheezed. “Thank you, oh Walking Monkey Dictionary.”
He laughed and got out bottled water for both of us, then handed me an energy bar.
“Aren’t you going to eat one?”
He put a hand on his chest and scoffed. “What, me? Eat an energy bar when the jungle is full of delicious monkeys? No thanks. I’m not hungry.”
I nibbled my energy bar in silence and checked the Golden Fruit to make sure it wasn’t bruised. It was still safely wrapped up in my quilt.
Between bites, I said, “You know, all in all, we made it out of the city fairly unscathed.”
His mouth fell open. “Unscathed? Kelsey, I have monkey bites all over my back and in other places that I don’t even want to think about!”
