Finches

Chapter 19 - Onwards And Upwards

Colt was extremely relieved when they finally made it away from all the monkeys. He knew he was technically their chief now, but they still made him uncomfortable. Once you've been attacked by a dozen Battle Monkeys or more, it's hard to get out of that mindset.

But he felt better once they'd left the area. He also felt more optimistic about the journey ahead. If he could take on Battle Monkeys and the Monkey Chief, who could stop him? Not a mere monkey, at least, so that was something. As long as the threat had a long tail and was about half his size, he was golden.

As he and Shelly walked back to the alcove, Colt was extremely aware of how much time had been wasted. It felt like forever ago that they were setting down to sleep in this very place, and here they were with virtually no progress made toward their destination.

It didn't help that a lot of the food they had in Shelly's satchel had been ransacked. There were pieces of bread with bite marks in it and quite a bit of fruit missing from the bag. Despite this, Shelly deemed that a lot of it was still salvageable and they were able to indulge in a semi-proper meal. For a cabin boy used to constant leftovers, this was quite the privilege, even if the animals around the forest had gotten first dibs.

"We should probably get moving," Shelly said, sounding reluctant.

Colt just nodded. They were both just sitting around the alcove, having just eaten. Colt had his back against a tree and really just wanted to close his eyes for a while. But he knew they needed to move while there was still light, and they'd already wasted more than enough time already.

He got to his feet and stared at the fish barrel with a frown on his face. The last thing he wanted to do was have to haul that thing around again. He had to make an effort to stop himself from falling with every step he took while holding the giant thing. He wanted nothing more but to start passing out the fish to any monkey or bandit that crossed their path, before throwing the barrel into the depths of the woods. He'd made a promise to the fisherman, though, and he didn't intend on breaking it.

So instead of throwing it Colt hoisted the barrel up and he and Shelly returned to their path.

"It's uphill from here, right?" she asked.

Colt shifted the barrel a little and held out the map for Shelly to grab.

"Thanks," she said, taking it.

They resumed their endless walking. It went a little smoother this time, as Shelly no longer acted like she hated Colt and Colt no longer acted like he didn't want her to be there. They still didn't talk too much, however. They were okay with working together but tensions were still running rather high. Colt wasn't sure where exactly they stood. He was, after all, still a pirate. Shelly didn't know why Colt needed to get to the Authority base and Colt didn't know why she needed to get there either. Neither was willing to share, so what was there to discuss?

There was no apparent answer to that question, so they both remained silent as they wandered through the trees, following the path. The path had curved and they were now walking entirely uphill. They'd walked far enough east, so now they just had to go north to get to the base. Unfortunately, they were headed toward the part of the island that had the greatest altitude. They were essentially climbing a wide mountain, going upwards a little bit at a time.

It felt like they'd been going forever when Shelly finally stopped. Colt looked over at her, confused. By his calculations they still had a good hour or more before they ran out of light. So what was she doing? Had she changed her mind?

"What's up?" he asked.

She put a finger to her lips, then said softly, "Did you hear that?"

Colt shook his head whilst straining his ears. But he didn't hear anything. He raised his eyebrows at Shelly.