Planet of the Apes Omnibus 2 Page 36

  “They say if you piss along the fence line it will keep the humans away from the fields.”

  General Thade aimed a disdainful growl back over the flank of his steed that stopped the chimp in his tracks.

  “Close enough. You stink of humans.”

  Limbo skidded to a stop. Thade gave him one last haughty glare, then spurred his mount hard and galloped on out of the gate. Limbo watched him go, a mournful expression on his features. After a moment he lifted his right arm and sniffed. Davidson might have thought Limbo’s discomfort was funny, if he hadn’t wanted, with every last ounce of strength in his lacerated soul, to throttle the sleazy little ape slaver to death.

  Ari and Leeta were hiding just inside Limbo’s gates as Attar went thundering after General Thade out of the compound. Leeta peered gingerly around the edge of the gate, then recoiled at the sight beyond. She turned to Ari, unable to hide her growing nervousness. “No way I’m going in there. It’s disgusting.”

  Ari barely noticed that Leeta was speaking to her. Her attention was riveted on the horrific scenes inside the compound.

  “What’s disgusting is the way we treat humans,” she said. “It demeans us as well as them.”

  She moved closer to the entrance, obviously intending to go inside. Leeta plucked at Ari’s hand, tugged her to stop.

  “Ari, we should go home.”

  Ari gave her an annoyed glance, then pulled her hand away.

  “Then go home,” she snapped.

  Out in the quadrangle, the bored gorilla handlers were continuing with the processing of their new human captives. Limbo watched the ugly procedure with a jaundiced but discerning eye.

  Inside his pen, Davidson kept moving around the fence, uncertain and trying to figure out what might come next. Limbo seemed to be the obvious one to watch, since he was the ape in charge. Once the dusting procedure was finished, the chimp glanced over at a large fire that had been set in a stone pit near the pens.

  “Get them marked! I’ve got orders to fill.”

  As soon as he gave the command, two of the gorillas reached into the flames and pulled out red-hot branding irons. Davidson watched, horrified, as other apes approached the pens, carrying long wooden poles with wire loops affixed to their ends. The apes used these implements to reach into the pens and snare their helpless captives.

  The initial target was the women’s pen. Evidently Daena’s fearlessness had attracted attention, because she was the first one they snagged. They dropped the wire loop over her head, then yanked it cruelly tight around her neck, and dragged her out of the pen to a wooden post set up near the fire pit.

  The old man, Karubi, spitting with rage, flung himself at the bars of the pen and shook them violently.

  “No!”

  His despairing shriek caught Limbo’s notice, and the chimp reacted immediately, twisting his mobile, rubbery features into a laughing mask of scorn. He raised his hands in mock terror, and this time got a big round of laughter from his employees. But he tired of this dumb show soon enough, and headed for the stake where Daena struggled with her captors.

  As he approached, the gorilla holding her stripped the top of her dress down, exposing her shoulder blades. One of the apes with a branding iron stepped up and pressed the scorching metal deep into her flesh, leaving behind a smoking wound in a shape that reminded Davidson of something, though right then he couldn’t think of what it was.

  If the apes were expecting their victim to provide them with a new source of humor, they were sadly mistaken. Daena flinched, but not one sound passed her lips as she glared at them defiantly, with eyes that smoldered just as hotly as the brand that had burned into her skin. Disappointed, the apes dragged her roughly away and tossed her back into the pen.

  The apes continued with their grisly duties until finally Davidson’s turn came around. It took two of them, but in the end they had no problems dragging him to the post. They pinioned his arms as the gorilla with the branding iron approached. The monkey was quick, but Davidson was quicker. He twisted in the grip of the two apes who held him and kicked the white-hot torture instrument out of the third ape’s hands.

  Limbo exploded with fury. He stalked over, snarling at his hapless underlings.

  “Do I have to do everything myself?” he asked as he reached for the branding iron. As he did so, a ruckus erupted at his gates as Ari came storming in, then raced right up to him, her eyes flashing. She grabbed the branding iron from him before he could react and threw it aside.

  “Oh no,” he groaned. “By Semos, not you again.”

  “I cannot stand idly by while humans are being mistreated, tortured…” she flared at him.

  Dumbstruck, Davidson stared at Ari. Karubi and the others also rushed to the bars of their pens, amazed at the sight of ape threatening ape. In the distance, Leeta peeked around the edge of the gates, saw what was going on, and quickly darted back.

  Ari rushed to the women’s pen. Fending off the angry gorilla handlers one-handed, she fumbled with the lock on the women’s pen and finally thrust the gate open. But before the women could escape, one of the handlers dodged around Ari and snarled ferociously at the frightened humans. The women retreated back inside the pen as Limbo charged at Ari.

  “The only reason I put up with your nonsense is because of your father,” he growled.

  Ari raised her head, nostrils flaring. “If you want me to stop, give up your bloody business!”

  Limbo shook his head. “Hey, I do the job nobody else wants. I don’t see any of you bleeding hearts spending all day with these dangerous, dirty, dumb beasts.”

  “They’re not dumb! They can be taught to live with us… and I’m going to prove it!”

  Limbo sneered at her. “You forget who you’re talking to. I work with the dirty creatures.”

  Ari glanced at the women huddled at the back of the pen. “They’re smart. And I’m going to prove it,” she said stoutly.

  Davidson had been watching all this with one eye, but with the other he’d also been noticing how lax the handlers had become, their attention entirely caught up in the strange confrontation between the female chimp and their own master. Nor did he miss how the iron grip of the two who held him had slackened almost into nonexistence.

  Now or never, he thought suddenly, and lunged forward, grabbed a chain lying in the dirt, whipped it around the leg of the nearest handler, flipped him, then grabbed his spear before he could react.

  Before Limbo had any notion of what was happening, Davidson was holding Ari, the point of his spear aimed directly at her neck.

  Limbo stared at them, but didn’t seem much ruffled. He nodded to Ari and said, “There’s your proof.”

  Davidson, trying to look in all directions at once, saw that some of the gorilla handlers had already slipped in at his rear and cut off his retreat through the gates. More were easing in from the sides as he edged Ari along.

  He had nothing against this ape woman—she seemed well-meaning enough—but right at the moment, Davidson decided that his own hide was more important. He kept on going. As he progressed, Ari’s head turned, and their gazes accidentally met. They locked for an instant, as Ari felt the shock run through her nerves. No human she’d ever seen or heard of would dare to look directly at her like that. She didn’t know how it made her feel.

  “Please… help me,” Davidson whispered.

  Limbo watched this all sadly. He ignored Davidson entirely, seeming almost unaware that he was present, or that it was his own handler’s spear that was threatening the ape woman. He spoke to Ari. “Now I’ll have to put him down.”

  He didn’t seem especially saddened by the prospect.

  4

  In the female pen, Daena was watching everything through squinted eyes, a hard and thoughtful expression on her features. The door to the pen was still open. Suddenly Daena took a deep breath, put her head down, and ran for all she was worth out of the pen and toward the gate of the compound.

  She startled the slow-mo
ving gorillas, who were far too large to get up to speed as quickly as she had. Arms pumping, legs flying, a triumphant grimace on her face, she almost made it.

  Then Limbo, bounding across the compound like a berserk jumping jack, streaked in from the side and delivered a tremendous clout to the side of Daena’s head, knocking her sprawling. She landed, limp as a flounder, and didn’t move.

  Limbo returned to Ari and Davidson, so furious he was practically spitting.

  “Look what you started. I’m getting a headache.”

  Davidson looked first to his right, then to his left. Then he tightened his grip on Ari and pressed the spear more firmly against her neck. He looked at Limbo, trying to appear as determined and deadly as he possibly could. He didn’t know if he could murder this strange ape woman in cold blood, but his life might depend on convincing Limbo that was exactly what he would do if he had to.

  “Get back,” he told the chimp.

  Limbo raised both his hands, palms out, and ducked his head as if Davidson’s threats terrified him.

  “Oh, please don’t hurt her.”

  Limbo’s sudden transformation from ferocious slaver warrior capable of knocking out Daena with a single blow to whining, fearful supplicant didn’t fool Davidson for a moment. He knew there must be some nasty bit of trickery at work here, but he thought that as long as he kept the spear at the throat of his hostage, remained aware of the other gorillas, and kept a sharp eye on Limbo’s shifty, dangerous hands, he might be able to back out of here in one piece. He was right about Limbo’s hands, at least. They never moved.

  But he’d forgotten something he’d seen on his way into the city. The pack of gorilla kids playing their version of ape soccer, using their prehensile toes as easily as a man might use the fingers of his hand… as easily as Limbo’s right foot whipped up and plucked the spear from Davidson’s grasp.

  In the same fluid motion, Limbo walloped Davidson in the side of his head. To Davidson it felt as if the chimp had hit him with a pillowcase full of horseshoes. He staggered, then sank to his knees, his eyes full of stars, and missed the sight of Limbo doing a full backward somersault, still holding the spear. The chimp landed next to Ari. He glanced at her, looked back at Davidson, then shrugged and nodded at his gorillas.

  “Who needs this aggravation?” He hefted the spear meaningfully, glanced at Davidson, then ordered his handlers, “Hold him.”

  Ari flung herself between the chimp and Davidson.

  “Sell him to me!”

  Limbo raised one hand, halting the gorillas who were moving toward Davidson. He stared at Ari as if she had suddenly turned into a butterfly before his eyes.

  “Are you crazy? He’s wild.”

  Beyond Davidson, Daena was beginning to stir. Limbo pointed at her. “They’re both wild.”

  Ari straightened her shoulders. “Then I’ll buy them both.”

  Limbo opened his mouth, and snapped it shut. A strange little war fought itself across his face. He obviously thought Ari had lost her mind. On the other hand, there was definitely a huge profit to be made here. Common sense and wariness fought with greed. With Limbo, such a battle would not take long to decide.

  Slowly, he said, “That would be expensive, very expensive.” He scratched his chin, as if reluctantly considering.

  “I’m sure we could reach a deal,” Ari said contemptuously.

  Limbo thought about it, and finally nodded.

  Ari glanced at Daena, now her property, who had staggered to her feet, her senses slowly returning. Daena glared back at Ari, nothing but hatred visible in her fiery gaze. Ari sighed.

  “Deliver them to my house,” she said.

  Limbo didn’t quite clap his hands in glee. However, he did grin nastily at Davidson.

  “I’ll have to mark him first.”

  With that, he snatched the still red-hot branding iron and thrust its curiously shaped tip against Davidson’s shoulder.

  And that was what Davidson would most remember about his first meeting with Limbo, the chimpanzee slave trader: the stench of his own seared flesh burning in his nostrils.

  * * *

  Dusk drifted like velvet over the city of the apes as the monkey metropolis drowsed beneath the rising moons. As the feverish activity of the day died away, shadows continued to flit through the streets. Here and there metal chinked softly, as apes in full armor moved out on patrol.

  In the better neighborhoods, lights gleamed from behind high walls that protected the residents from the hurly-burly of the street. At one such house the gardens were strung with red lanterns that cast warm, glowing shadows against huge tapestries that flapped softly in the night breeze.

  The peaceful scene was abruptly shattered by the sound of loud voices.

  “Father, please. I’ll pay with my own money.” Ari’s voice came floating from the kitchen’s open window.

  Ari followed her father, Sandar, around the kitchen. He had a harried expression on his face. Sandar stopped in the middle of the room and looked around.

  “Your own money is going to make a pauper of me. Where are they?” he said sternly.

  The several occupants of the room stared back at him. Krull, a huge, aging silverbacked gorilla going rapidly gray, pointed at the other side of the room, where Davidson and Daena knelt on the floor.

  The two humans, with their matted, disheveled hair and torn clothing, made a sharp contrast to the second pair of humans who knelt beside them. Tival was a middle-aged black man, Bon a tiny Chinese woman. Both were painfully neat, and wore clean, floor-length robes. They kept their heads down and refused to meet their master’s gaze.

  Krull turned, growled at them. “Rise when your master enters.”

  Slowly, Davidson came to his feet and turned to face the old chimp. But Daena continued to scowl at the floor and refused to move. With a startling speed that belied his advanced age, Krull yanked her to her feet.

  For his part, Sandar ignored his two servants as he stared at the new arrivals. After a moment he groaned softly.

  “Semos help me, wild humans in my house.”

  Ari winced at Daena’s attitude, but directed her father’s attention toward Davidson, who was at least standing properly in a respectful posture.

  “This one seems different.”

  Sandar stared at Davidson. After a moment his eyebrows rose dismissively.

  “How different could he be? You can’t tell one from the other.”

  Davidson caught Ari’s gaze, but she refused to look at him.

  Before she could say anything else, a sudden babble of voices drifted through the door from the stairway up to the main rooms.

  Sandar looked even more agitated. He turned nervously toward the stairs. “My guests are here. Keep the savage ones out of sight. Especially from General Thade.”

  He pushed past his daughter and headed for the door. Just before he vanished, he looked back at her. “And you’d better be nice to him!” he added fiercely.

  Ari whirled to follow. “Father!” she cried.

  But he was gone.

  * * *

  Sandar and Ari’s dining patio glowed pleasantly beneath the red lanterns, as candlelight sent shadows dancing in the abundant trees and flowers. A long, wooden table garlanded with flowers and groaning beneath mounds of beautiful fruit occupied the center of the patio. Several apes stood around the table, engaging in a lazy stream of small talk.

  At the patio entry, Sandar bustled up and exchanged greeting touches with an older orangutan compatriot and fellow senator, Nado, and Nado’s latest wife, Nova, a beautiful chimp far too young for the aging politician.

  “Good evening, Senator Nado.” Sandar squeezed Nova’s fingers lightly. “You look lovely tonight.”

  Nova simpered. “I’m having a bad hair day.” She sighed and coquettishly stroked the abundant fur on her face.

  Nado gazed on her fondly, then glanced at Sandar and rolled his eyes. “Yet she spends a fortune grooming herself.”

  Sandar offe
red his friend a knowing grin of male complicity.

  Beyond the table Ari stood with Leeta, chatting softly, wearing a beautifully embroidered robe. But it wasn’t just the robe that gave her such an air of elegance. She possessed a natural grace that was only accentuated by her garb. This was in contrast to Leeta, who was dressed similarly, but loaded down with garishly oversized jewelry. In her case, the expensive baubles gave her something of the look of a Christmas Tree.

  Leeta watched Sandar escorting Senator Nado and his wife into the room. She shook her head.

  “Thade is powerful and aggressive. What else could you want in a male?”

  Ari sighed. They’d been over this before. “Someone I can respect… and who respects me.”

  Leeta leaned closer. “Don’t play so hard to get. Say yes to him, and you’ll be invited to every exclusive party in the city.” The prospect obviously seemed agreeable to her.

  “How many parties can you go to?” Ari asked, wondering what Leeta would say.

  “How many are there?” Leeta replied.

  Krull suddenly appeared, ringing a small dinner bell. Sandar opened his arms wide and swept everybody toward the table.

  “Please, everyone, sit.”

  Tival and Bon were standing just inside the kitchen, at the foot of the stairs leading up to the dining patio, each carrying a tray, when the sound of Krull’s bell came tinkling down to them. Immediately they lifted their trays and began to climb up to the dinner party.

  No sooner had they gone than Davidson jumped to his feet and hurried to one of the shuttered windows. He grabbed the heavy shutters and shook them hard, but they wouldn’t budge at all.

  Daena was watching him stoically when he turned and saw her.

  “How the hell did these monkeys get this way?” he asked.

  He’d lost her. She stared at him, dumbfounded.