eyes of the forest - a kingdom of the planet of the apes story

𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚅

The bright orange shining through your eyelids gently rouses you from your deep sleep. Yawning, you bring a hand to your mouth and look up at the leaves above you of the tree you're laying against. You smile softly, the leaves casting dancing shadows across your form.

The sound of a horse braying softly catches your attention. You sit up, only to be met with the ape facing away from you tending to his horse. You scurry backwards behind a tree as he looks in your direction and sighs, mounting his horse with a neutral expression.

He instructs the horse to walk along the path, guiding the other one with him. You sneak through the trees as quietly as you can, but the dry leaves crunching under your feet from the approaching autumn makes it hard, and the ape glances up at you every now and then.

"I know, you are there." He calls out, making you stop in your tracks. "You should stop following me. I cannot help you, i...i don't know what you want." You stay silent, watching him with wide eyes. The ape shakes his head and sighs heavily. "Trying to talk to echo...i must be going crazy..." You hear him mutter.

He continues on his horse silently for a while, some part of you wishes he would talk again, it was nice hearing someone talk to you. Your thoughts are interrupted by a burning smell and you look up, seeing white smoke rising from the ground not too far off.

The ape notices it too, and he dismounts his horse, looping the reigns over a branch so they don't run off. Grabbing hold of his staff he crawls up the hill, inspecting the area of the smoke, his nose sniffing the air every few seconds.

Suddenly, a creaking sound is heard from below him, and before either of you know it he's falling through the floor, the wood planks splintering under his weight as if they were made of straw.

You rush forward, peering down the hole to see him hanging with his foot caught in a vine, dangling over a fire. He sees you too, and holds your gaze for a split second before reaching up and freeing his foot from the vines' hold, his body dropping onto the ground with a heavy thud.

You peer down with worried eyes as he coughs and gasps, choking from the air being knocked out of his lungs. Then you see another ape, a large rust colored one with long fur and even longer arms, holding the apes' staff and pointing it directly at his face.

"How young you are," this new ape begins. "without your mask, without this." He shoves the staff tip at him, the smaller ape whimpering in fear. "Speak up," The orangutan commands, "Speak...up." "Not...mine." The ape rasps out.

"I, am not, them." He looks at the staff in his face. "Explain yourself." The bigger ape instructs. The two primates talk for some time and you look around, trying to figure out what to do.

The orangutan helps the other ape up and shows him to some books. The smaller ape glances up at you still peering down the opening. You tense up and immediately back away, deciding to go sit by the horses. You slide down the hill and lean your chin on your hands as you sit and rest, waiting for the apes to finish talking.

The horse in front of you lets out a huff and you smile and walk up to it, gently stroking its nose. It blows air in your face, causing your hair to swish softly and you giggle. The horse nudges your torso as you stroke its neck soothingly.

A cold wind blows through you, the harsh sting of the cool air sending goosebumps crawling along your skin. You glance back up to where the ape fell and back down at the horses, you know it's wrong to steal but at this rate you'll freeze to death.

Creeping over to the saddlebags you reach your hands in, searching for something of warmth. Your fingertips find a soft cream colored fabric and you take it out, examining it closely. It's not big enough to wrap around yourself like a blanket, but just big enough to wrap around your neck like a scarf.

"Hey!" You spin around on your heel, the large orangutan waving its arms and walking towards you with the smaller one right behind him. "Human!" You sprint off into the woods once more, clutching the newly pilfered fabric in your hands. "Come back! There is, no danger!" He calls out, but you're already out of his sight and hiding behind a tree, just close enough to still listen to their conversation.

"That's the second blanket she's stolen from me..." You hear the smaller ape grumble as he rummages through his belongings to figure out what you stole. "She, follows you?" The orangutan asks, his voice deep and bass-y, almost soothing in a way.

"She follows me to annoy me." He responds. You furrow your brows. That's not true, you follow him because you're hungry. And cold. "Perhaps Caesar bids me travel..." You only partially listen to the rest of what they're saying as you wrap the fabric around your neck, its soft texture already providing you with another layer of warmth.

word count: 878
i know this chapter was kinda short, the next one will be longer <3

- raine