Chapter 21: Stupid Primates (Patreon)

‘Wait!’ snapped Dominic urgently in the pride chat. The lionesses froze, two with their jaws around a beast’s neck, milliseconds away from biting down and crushing them. 

‘Did you speak?’ he asked next, concentrating on sending a message to the beast in front of him. He’d quickly glanced around and seen nothing else nearby so who else could it be? It certainly wasn’t one of his lionesses. 

‘I did…you heard?’ the creature responded, sounding surprised, though with a hint of hope. 

‘I did. Don’t move,’ Dominic instructed with a snarl as the feline started shifting. At his words, it immediately froze, as did the creatures around it a fraction of a second later. The two with their necks still held within the jaws of Neith and Anuke hadn’t even tried to shift. 

‘Will you…let us go? Now we have spoken?’ the creature asked hopefully. ‘We didn’t realise you were this intelligent when we attacked,’ it said bluntly, probably meaning that if it had realised its group would be out-classed, it would have taken the better decision of trying to hide from them. 

Dominic hesitated for a moment. It was true that he didn’t feel too good about the idea of killing something else that talked – but he’d killed the chimera regardless, and if he had a chance to kill the hyena, he’d take it, so why should this creature talking make any difference.

‘Don’t forget that they attacked us,’ Leo pointed out. 

‘Though we’d have probably attacked them anyway, for Prey Points if nothing else,’ Dominic returned. 

‘Then kill them,’ yawned the lion. ‘What difference is it? Die because they attacked us, or die because they are probably worth some good Prey Points? Either way, you should kill them.’ It was true, and a good summary of their general approach to things. Dominic had a different idea, however. 

Turning his attention back to the creatures, he spoke once more.

‘I want information about this area. Give me enough, and I will let you go.’ The creature looked up at him with a hint of confusion. 

‘Information?’

‘About the creatures in the area, the risks, the dangers, that sort of thing. Do we have a deal? Or do we just kill most of your group now?’ he asked threateningly, showing his teeth.

‘Agreed! Agreed!’ the creature squeaked, shivering even as it pressed itself closer to the ground. 

‘Then you may stand up. But if you try to run, my lionesses will crunch the necks of your pack-mates in an instant,’ he told it, sending a message in the Pride chat to notify the lionesses of what was happening. 

Dominic saw how the beast shot a quick glance at where Anuke and Hathor were patiently waiting, their jaws held just wide enough to avoid piercing their prey’s necks – unless the creatures tried to move, of course. Jenkins’ tail was twitching in impatience, but she just kept her own prey pinned rather than pushing further. 

‘We will not run,’ the creature promised, though Dominic didn’t need Leo’s grumbling in the back of his mind to know not to trust that: when it came down to survival, every animal’s instinct was to put themselves first. 

‘You’d better not,’ he warned. ‘Because as this battle showed, I’m faster than you are.’ He left out the bit about his reactions being slower – in a straight charge, he would definitely win anyway. ‘Now, tell me what creatures live in that forest.’

*****

Dominic padded through the forest cautiously. The trees had grown tall around them and he was expecting to encounter the kesh at any moment. He was definitely keeping a wary eye up at the canopy above. 

The darkly coloured cheetah-like beasts had certainly spilled plenty of information in an attempt to keep their hides intact. Dominic had been as good as his word: once he was confident he’d got as much out of them as he could, he’d told Anuke and Neith to let their prey go. The lionesses hadn’t been happy about it, but had obeyed him: he’d proved himself enough since taking over the pride that they trusted he had a good reason for it. 

Dominic meanwhile was hoping that it wouldn’t come back to bite him. Probably literally. Still, a deal was a deal, and the cheetah-like creatures had scrambled away quickly enough: they’d clearly understood that it was an opportunity they wouldn’t be given twice. 

From the sounds of it, not a huge amount had changed. More creatures had moved into the outskirts of the forest: from what the creature had said, Dominic inferred that the herbivores found some sort of benefit from the environment, then the predators had followed the herbivores. Then the bigger predators followed the smaller ones: apparently his prediction that more creatures would come to realise the benefits of hunting other carnivores was coming true.

The kesh appeared to still be there as the beast had talked about creatures that mostly stuck to the canopy and threw things: as a result, they’d managed to keep out most of the threats. Not all of them, though – anything that didn’t eat the same food as the kesh and didn’t pose any threat to them was allowed through, showing a level of intelligence which Dominic was sure they hadn’t had before. They’d clearly levelled up a bit, or their leaders had at least.

As for the place of power itself, the cheetah-like creature had no real idea. Dominic suspected that the sonic wolves were still in place, both because surely an upheaval like what would be required to overtake the Place of Power would be noticeable and because the beast had seen something from afar which sounded vaguely like a sonic wolf. 

If they were still in power despite everything, it would be both reassuring and worrying. Reassuring because, well, better the devil you know. Worrying because clearly if the devil was strong enough to withstand all the creatures which had visited so far, it was a big deal. 

Perhaps the kesh had kept everything at bay and the sonic wolves had barely had to deal with anything? I doubt it, Dominic thought to himself. From what the feline had indicated, it sounded like elephants or some other massive herbivores had moved in. The kesh hadn’t tried to chase them out – either because they couldn’t or because the newcomers didn’t eat their food – which meant that they could have attempted to take the Place of Power. Unless it was only carnivores who could do that, but Dominic didn’t see why that would be the case.

Either way, he needed to find out more. That was why the four of them were even now stalking carefully through the trees. Sekhmet knew to stop the pride on the outskirts of the forest, unless one of them came to tell her differently, so he wasn’t worried about them kicking the hornet’s nest. Unless Jenkins or one of the other youngsters decided to go and investigate for themselves. If they do, I’ll kill them if whatever they irritate doesn’t.

The forest was much the same as he remembered from last time, the trees even taller than before. It was more alive too – last time it had been surprisingly bare of wildlife except for the kesh and wolves. Now, although the area directly around them was quiet, he could hear all sorts of rustling and calls coming from further away. 

Then came the sound Dominic knew was going to happen: a low hoot that emerged from far above him. 

Looking up, he spotted a kesh sitting on the branch above, two of its arms and its legs holding onto where it was perched. It eyed them curiously, its gaze glinting with intelligence. 

Well, might as well try it, Dominic decided.

‘Can you hear me?’ he sent to the creature.

‘Why are you bothering? Stupid primates,’ Leo said arrogantly. Dominic sent him the mental equivalent of a long look. ‘Oh. Right,’ the lion realised a moment of awkward silence later. 

‘That’s why,’ Dominic told him pointedly. ‘If they’re intelligent enough to choose who to let in, they’re possibly intelligent enough to talk.’ He looked back up at the kesh above who now looked surprised. 

A moment later, it made an odd barking sound, then swung off. 

‘I told you they were stupid,’ Leo needled him. 

Dominic sighed. Apparently Leo was right, as little as the former-primate wanted to admit it. Instead, he sent a warning in the pride chat – that kesh was probably off to get more of his kind. 

‘At least they’ll be a good levelling opportunity – and learning experience – for the lionesses,’ he sent to Leo as an olive branch. 

‘Are you sure we should not wait to get all the females from our group into Tier 2 first?’ Leo asked a little anxiously, apparently willing to go along with the subject change. 

‘Before we try to hit the sonic wolves, yes,’ Dominic agreed. ‘I think we’re most likely going to go with plan two and get the lionesses some levels before hitting the wolves, if my conclusions from what that beast told us are accurate. But for now it should be fine – I dealt OK with them when I wasn’t much above level ten myself, and I was alone. Together, we’ll have a better chance even if Neith and Hathor aren’t level ten yet.’

‘I hope you’re right,’ huffed Leo a little uneasily. 

They continued padding through the forest, their senses on high alert. It wasn’t long after when Hathor nudged Dominic, an urgent message to look up coming through the pride chat. 

They all froze and did exactly that. With only a whisper of movement, a number of kesh swung into the canopy above them. They were too high for a casual leap to reach them, though by using Quick Strike Dominic might be able to close the distance. Or if he did a double leap by landing on a lower branch and leaping off it to get to the higher canopy. 

For now, none of them appeared to have stones in their second pair of hands, but Dominic knew how quickly they could go and grab them so he didn’t count that as much of a win. One thing he did notice was that seven of the kesh looked like they were particularly high level. 

It would definitely be helpful if he could see their levels floating above their health bars like in a game, but so far he still hadn’t found a way to make that happen. However, by this point, he’d started to get an idea of what signs to look for. 

Size was one of the obvious, but also muscle density, and how focussed and aware their eyes were. Sekhmet, for example, hadn’t grown much on Evolution, but her eyes had an unmistakable piercing quality. Anuke also hadn’t grown a huge amount, though more than Sekhmet, but her muscles were even more defined at first and her speed of movement and reaction was another clear sign. 

These kesh showed several of those signs, though most of them had clearly picked size over the other options. One, though, was relatively small, but had eyes like Sekhmet. 

This one let out an almost yodelling cry, and somehow, Dominic understood it.

*****

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Chapter 22: Snake-oil Salesman