Journey West 5000

Chapter 10 - Are Tigers Yummy?

As she stared at Wukong, Trip realised that, besides his colouration and demeanor, there were other things different about him. He was now wearing a furry tunic and kilt. It was orange, with black stripes. Slung across his back, was a wooden quarterstaff.

Her eyes widened slightly, as she turned her head to the spot the Tiger-man had fallen the night before. The Tiger-man's corpse was no longer there. All that remained were several drops of blood.

Half-dreading the answer, she asked Wukong, "What did you do to the remains after skinning it?"

"Oh, the Tiger-man? He wasn't doing anybody any good just lying there, so I turned him into yummy-yummy in my tummy!", Wukong grinned proudly.

Resisting the urge to gag, Trip took a deep breath. Calming herself down, she faced Wukong with a stern expression, and said "About last night --"

"Haha! I got a bit carried away fighting that Tiger-man, didn't I? But that's all in the past, and daylight's a wasting! Let's go!", said Wukong as he quickly marched off away from the campsite.

With furrowed brows, Trip stared at the rapidly receding figure of Wukong, which had turned back to walk back to her.

"Mistress, which direction are we headed for?"

"South, for now."

"Got it!"

"Wait for me to pack up first."

"Yes Mistress! Let me help!"

"No."

***

As they travelled through the forest, the trees became more sparse, while the terrain became even more mountainous. At first, the mountains alternated between gentle and steep slopes, though always covered with greenery. However, as the sun rose towards its zenith, it seemed as though the mountains grew closer, showing cliff-faces of bare granite, while covering the group in deep shadow. Onwards, they trekked on through winding paths between and sometimes seemingly through the mountains, until the sun began its' final blazing descent towards dusk.

As they walked through a small valley, they came across an archway framing stairs that consisted of stone steps cut into the mountainside. On the archway were chiselled the words "MONASTERY OF LGS" and "LADY OF THE GEAR AND SPRING". On one pillar of the archway, there was an icon of a stylized gear; on the other, there was a curious icon of two springs intertwined in a double helix pattern. The stairs snaked sideways and upwards into the upper reaches of the mountain.

Trip walked closer to the pillars. Slowly, hesitantly, as thought she could hardly believe it, she gently caressed the icon of the gear. For a few moments, she stood still, seemingly lost in her thoughts. For those few moments, she seemed to stop giving off the impression of being an arrow drawn as far back as the bow would allow, as her eyes grew misty. Then, dashing the back of one hand across her eyes, she resumed her usual demeanor of focused determination.

"We're going in."

The moment she said it, Wukong started bounding up the stairs, the golden tips of his fur sometimes glinting red in the orange light of the evening sun.

Trip mounted White Dragon, and followed.

***

BANG BANG BANG!

A series of loud knocks could be heard, shattering the serene stillness of the silent mountains. Well, silent except for the whooshing and whistling of the strong winds that had buffeted the party with increasing enthusiasm as they travelled up the stone stairs towards the monastery.