Finches

Chapter 16 - The Monkey Chief

"What the..."

Colt stared on in bewilderment at the sight ahead. There was no one word to aptly describe exactly what it is he was feeling, but it was something between fascination and utter confusion. He'd never seen anything even remotely similar to this and, by stealing a glance over at Shelly, he guessed that she hadn't either.

It was as if they had stumbled upon a monkey colony. There were monkeys everywhere, moving across the trees, laying on the makeshift hammocks, and playing around with each other all throughout the clearing. There was a constant, loud screeching sound that came as a result of several dozen monkeys all making noise at once. It was madness, just plain madness. And Colt was there, spectating and taking all of it in.

He felt Shelly grab hold of his arm and tug on it.

"We need to go," she said, in a serious tone that showed just how freaked out she was. "I mean it this time."

"Yeah," Colt muttered absent-mindedly.

He turned with her to leave and they took a step back toward where they'd come. But then they came to a sudden stop, as they noticed a figure standing before them. This time the figure was human, but barely so. It was a man with shaggy brown hair and a short yet ragingly unkept beard. He wore a tattered yellow shirt covered with a green coat that looked to be made out of leaves. He had brown pants that would've looked similar to Colt's if the bottom three inches of his had been tragically ripped off. The man also wore a leaf necklace (in case the jacket wasn't enough for you) and a hat that looked like it was made poorly from a combination of hay and grass. There was a spear strapped to the man's back that, from what Colt could see, seemed to have been made from bark and decorated with, you guessed it, more leaves. Leaves seemed to be in abundance in this particular area. The man held a banana in one hand and had a monkey sitting on his other arm. A second, much larger monkey, stood at his left side and stared Colt and Shelly down, daring them to make a move.

Colt and Shelly both stumbled backward at the sight of the man. The large monkey to the man's left sneered, looking satisfied.

"Who..." Colt lost his voice for a moment, then continued, "who are you?"

"I am the Monkey Chief!" the man puffed out his chest. When neither Colt nor Shelly responded, he tilted his head at them. "But the better question is 'who are you?'"

The alleged Monkey Chief gestured in front of him, to the clearing of monkeys. "It's been a long time since we've had... visitors. Where do you hail from!?"

"Well—" Colt started.

"Doesn't matter," Shelly interrupted him. "We didn't mean to come here and disturb you, Monkey... Chief. We'll just be on our way."

She made to leave but the Monkey Chief started to cackle. He threw his head back and made a loud, boisterous noise.

"Disturb me?" he grunted. "You could never! I've been getting so bored lately, you see. My monkeys do all my work for me, and no one ever travels through the forest of Goldtown anymore. Except for the Authority, periodically," his eyes shaded over at the mention of them. "And I try my best to stay away from that lot."

Colt fought the urge to verbally agree with him on that one. Instead, he decided he'd ask a question. "What exactly is it that all these monkeys do?"

Shelly didn't look happy at Colt carrying on the conversation, but the Monkey Chief was happy to answer.

"They run my entire business, of course!"

This time it was Shelly who was curious. "Your business? What's your business?"

The Monkey Chief snorted. "Same as everyone else's business, nowadays. Gold." He looked out into the distance upon saying the word. "Of course, most of the gold was long gone by the time I showed up. At least, in the town it was. But this forest was an untapped gold mine, until I got here of course. With the help of some of my friends," he stroked the monkey on his arm with one finger, "I was able to find lots of gold and claim this entire forest for myself. But now my monkeys do all the searching, and I just sit back and reap the rewards."