Three Beast Kings
Spirited Away

Junya had one hell of astomach ache. He didn't think it was the food, since it was hard toget stew wrong and there weren't any funny ingredients in it, northeir simple porridge breakfast this morning. Maybe he was justdreading another day on that horse so much that his stomach wastrying to escape through his... well, you know. He felt pretty lousyeither way.

“Maybeit's the curse.” Mijinga suggested, walking alongside the horseholding its reins to give Zuberi's arm a rest.

“That'shardly helpful.” the king grumbled at him, stood on the horsesother side.

“It'strue, though.” the soldier figured “We don't know exactly whatcurse it was, do we? It might be doing something to her guts. Likemaybe there's a giant grub growing in her or something.”

Mpendwa smacked him onthe back of the head with her shield, making him stumble.

“Behave.”she ordered.

“Don'tgo smacking me!” he shrieked, rubbing the back of his headincredulously “How will we raise the children if you keep smackingme all the time?”

“Ourkids will know you're an idiot.” she guaranteed.

“Yeah,but I'm the best idiot.”

“Shutup, Mijinga.”

Junya moaned, feelinghis stomach go sqiffy again. It was too low down to be his stomachreally, and the jerky up-and-down motions of the horse weren'texactly helping. He almost curled over double as something deepinside him shook and pinched, making his legs feel funny too.

“Youokay?” Mpendwa asked “You want some bread?”

“Ugh,no, thank you.” he replied “I just need to take my mind off it.”

“Howabout a story or something?” she suggested.

“I'mnot in the mood for stories.”

“Thenhow about some information?” she went on “Now's as good a time asany to tell you about the clan you've become queen of. What do youwant to know? Ask me anything.”

He didn't want to knowanything about the gorillas. The pain in his stomach was putting himin such a bad mood that he didn't care about being fair to them.However, he was never going to be in too much pain forself-preservation, so kept his mouth closed. His head was starting toget woozy, and for some reason the light felt particularly harsh.

He closed his eyes,hoping it would stop the pain, but it only dulled it a little, hisodd tiredness making it hard to open them again. He wasn't gettingsick, was he? This would be the worst possible time for that. Hissymptoms weren't like anything he had ever experienced before, evenwhen he had had food poisoning as a kid. What if it was part of thecurse? Was it a curse to annoy him to death?

“Tellme about the Insect King.” Junya requested.

Everyone within earshotflinched a little, perhaps surprised by his request. They lookedbetween each other as if sharing some secret, which pissed him off.

“He'snothing but a story back home.” he elaborated, hoping to solicit aresponse “The priest would tell the children that if they weredisobedient, all the little bugs would form one big one and drag theminto the forest to eat them. That was the Insect King to us.”

“You'renot far off.” Mpendwa admitted “For a long time we thought thattoo. Back when the previous king was alive, there were plenty ofwolves around – so many that they were a significant threat to us,territory wise. Over the years, little by little, they started dyingout. First it was outlying clans, then the larger towns – westarted seeing less and less of them, and they couldn't sustainthemselves. We figured out pretty quickly that it was their womengoing missing, considering how quiet they got all of a sudden.”

“Why'sthat?” Junya asked.

“Wolvesare one of those species where the female rules the roost.” sheexplained “They were the warriors, the hunters, the decisionmakers. They had an alpha male at the top of the clan, but he wasmostly for show – it was the alpha female that had all the power.With the females all dying out, the men found themselves essentiallyuseless.”

“Ofcourse they were.” Junya agreed “What's the point of men all bythemselves?”

“Exactlythe problem.” she said “Pretty soon the only females left weretoo young or old to breed – when the young ones did get old enough,they died too. The previous king insisted they must be having somekind of civil war – he didn't believe in the Insect King either.Even when the wolves came and told us the horde would be coming forus next, he didn't believe them. None of us did.”

“Butwhy you?” Junya wondered “We passed through goat territory to gethere, didn't we? Why ignore them and go straight to you?”

“Wedon't know.” Zuberi answered, making Junya jump a little “Wethink it has to do with our breeding cycles – female gorillastypically never have more than three children, and they'll be manyyears between them – that's just how we gorillas are. Goats, on theother hand, have one or two children year after year, sometimes morethan once a year.”

“Whyeat bread when you can have cake?” Junya summarised.

“Exactly.”Zuberi grumbled.

“Thewolves were similar.” Mpendwa told him “Much like foxes, it wassupposed to be hard to tell when she-wolves were expecting, socatching a pregnant one would have been pretty rare.”

“Thewolves never found the hive.” Zuberi added “So the insectsexhausted their food supply. That must have been... 20 years ago?”

“Soundsabout right.” Mpendwa supposed.

“Sothe king moved the hive in order to replace more food.”

“Howwould he move it?” Junya asked “If it's full of bugs like thatmonster I saw, the hive would be enormous!”

“Yousaw that giant one?!” Mpendwa gasped “I've never seen thatmonster up close!”

“It'sthe kings younger brother.” Zuberi informed them “God only knowswhat it ate to get that big.”

“Youthink the rumours are true?” Mijinga interjected “About therebeing a queen?”

“It'spossible.” Zuberi admitted “More than that, it makes sense –the king moves the queen, and the hive follows her.”

“Ugh,”Junya groaned “Queens are usually the big ones, right? I don't evenwant to think about what she'd look like!”

“Youand me both.” Mijinga agreed.

“Ifthere is a queen,” Mpendwa thought “She won't be the same one asduring the wolves time.”

“Oh?”Zuberi asked, examining her seriously “Why do you think that?”

“Insectshave short life spans.” she figured “You remember when theinsects started appearing in our territory? They had a different kingback then, an older one. And think about it – how easy would it beto move the entire hive? A horde that covers the entire city when itattacks wouldn't be easy to relocate. I think that, instead of movingthe queen, the old king found a new one and set up another hive. Thatwould explain why we've never seen one: she's too big or too immobileto actually move.”

Zuberi snarled alittle, clearly displeased.

“Theidea that there's more than one hive is harrowing.” he admitted“Once we've found the one we're looking for, we'll be able toascertain if there really is a queen, let alone more than one hive.I'll be counting on you.”

“Yes,sir!”

“ShouldI tell the others to keep their eyes peeled too?” Mijinga asked.

“No.”Zuberi ordered “I don't want to panic anyone – let them focus onthe task at hand.”

“So,long story short,” Junya summarised “It's a nightmarish creatureof horror that we know little about.”

“Prettymuch.”

“Fantastic.”

Zuberi and his generalsstood at the head of the path, deep in conversation. The goingthrough the woods had been slow, but steady, the well-trodden pathproviding no obstacles for the horse or the company of gorillas.However, as often happens in the forest, the further they travelledalong the dirt path, the less of a path there actually was. The treesgot older, bigger, more gnarled, more overgrown with vines andentangled in the branches of other trees. The ancient looking canopylet almost no light through, so the grasses and flowers started todisappear, replaced by ferns and great thorny bushes.

The path had almostentirely disappeared. Junya could just about make it out through theframe of ancient grey trunks, but it was badly overgrown, and some ofthose thorns looked as long and thick as his fingers: you certainlycouldn't get a horse through it. The company took the opportunity tohave a sit down, resting their freakish hand-feet, while thehigher-ups discussed what to do. While Junya thought it was probablybest to go back and try to replace away around the forest, Zuberirejected the idea, since it 'came from his head, not his gut.' Thatsounded kinda stupid to him, but he wasn't the king...

Since it was alreadypast noon, the higher-ups decided to cut their losses and set up campfor the night: it would be a struggle for the gorillas to get throughall those thorns – the ones who carried swords would have to spenda long time hacking them away before any progress could be made, sothey got an early start for tomorrow, the rest clearing away the lessdense area to set up camp.

Junya felt somewhatimpotent as even the smallest women hauled away great big logs, toretrees from the ground and pounded the tent pegs into the compactedearth. His manly pride was pretty much shattered when everyone saidthey didn't need his help. Within a couple of hours, an entire areahad been cleared of trees and brush, the camp set up and even a fewlean-to's made from the cleared wood to protect the tents from theelements.

“Yougorillas sure are efficient.” Junya noted “And devastating.”

“Thereare drawbacks to being this big.” Mpendwa admitted as she finishedtying up the rope to the tent peg “Why do you think we live in thegrasslands?”

“Isee your point.”

“Mpendwa!”

The two looked aroundas another soldier approached, waving like she was an old friend.

“There'sa river nearby.” she told them “It's pretty wide, too. Fastflowing, shallow...”

“Havethey specified the drinking collection point?” Mpendwa askedexcitedly.

“Theyhave~!” the soldier sung “Which means~!”

“Bathtime! Yes!”

Mpendwa practicallythrew her sandals into the fire, she took them off so quickly,discarding her weapons and armour with Mijinga.

“CanI-” he started.

“No.”she barked at him.

“Womenonly.” the other soldier agreed “You men can bathe later.”

“Aww.”

“Oh,shut up.” his fiancée sighed, too used to his ways to even beenthusiastic about it “Are you coming with us, Junya?”

What?! Oh yes, he's awoman right now.

“I'lltake one later.” he answered “You've all been working hard, youdon't want to babysit me.”

“Youdon't need to worry about that.” she insisted.

“Leaveher be.” Zuberi suggested, plodding over as he was finally donediscussing plans with his generals “She's an only child, and not asolider – she's probably not used to bathing with other women.”

“I'lltake her place.” Mijinga joked.

Zuberi just growled athim.

“Yourloss.” Mpendwa told Junya “Nothing cures what ails ya like a goodbath with the girls.”

He was sure.

“Maybeanother time.”

With a wave, the twoleft, tapping the shoulders of the other women they passed to letthem know it was bath time. Junya admired their sense of camaraderie.

“Inall seriousness.” Zuberi told him as he watched them go “Thewater's going to get cold before the sun sets – don't leave yourbath too late.”

Junya dipped his toesin the water – damn, it was getting cold already. Between theladies bath, the men's bath and dinner, it was sunset before theriver was clear enough that he felt it was okay to take the risk. Hereally wanted to take a bath, despite the fact it may not be the bestidea (he only looked like a woman with his clothes on, afterall).

The thick forest canopydidn't stretch over the low, wide river, so the rich orange light ofthe sunset was able to get to it, warming the water. Junya's sandycoloured fur looked more orange in this light – not nearly as deepred as the fancy man's, but still pretty orange. The river was farenough away from the camp that it afforded him some privacy, butclose enough that he could still hear the soldiers joking, tellingstories and yelling at each other.

Taking a final lookback towards the camp to make sure he wasn't being observed, Junyaslipped off his clothes and waded into the river, gasping andswearing a little as it got colder in the deep water further awayfrom the bank. He waded in until the water hit his waist – itdidn't get too much deeper in the middle, but as he couldn't swim itseemed wise to stay where the current wasn't as strong.

The water felt good,just warm enough and fast enough to massage his sore muscles and washthe dirt from his fur – he could finally wash away the smell ofthat horse! He was sure he smelled like gorilla too, but since he wassurrounded by them it was hard to tell. A little time alone was niceas well – he hadn't realised how much he had appreciated his timealone in the cold room until he literally didn't have a second tohimself.

He wouldn't like to bein the army. It wouldn't suit him at all.

He ducked his headunder the water, giving it a good scratch and getting behind hisears. With his head under the current, he didn't notice someoneleaving the camp, coming to check on him since it starting to getdark. He didn't hear the great silverback stomp through theundergrowth toward the river, grumbling and muttering when he sawJunyas clothes left in a heap.

Zuberi continued tomutter to himself as he picked the clothes up, folding them neatlybefore placing them on a dry log. He went silent, flinching insurprise as Junya popped back up from under the water, taking in agreat breath of air. The fox still had his back to the bank, shakingthe river water from his ears. The gorilla looked puzzled a moment,turning his head to the side and taking a good, long look at Junya.

A look of realisationcrept across the kings face, followed by disappointment and a flashof anger. He bared his teeth and clenches his fists, but seemed tothink better of himself in a second, shaking his head. With a seepsigh he looked back at Junya, as if hoping he would be proven wrong,only to have his conclusions confirmed.

When Junya finallyturned back to the bank, it was vacant. The water was getting prettybloody cold, so this seemed like a good time to get out. He wadedback to the bank where he had left his clothes, only to replace themfolded and placed up on a log above the ground. He didn't recallhaving left them that way, but he hadn't heard anything or seenanyone – it must have been him.

He thought nothing moreof it as he got dressed.

Things were a littletense in the morning, but Junya wasn't sure why: Zuberi had been inan absolutely foul mood all night, and it seemed to be taking itstoll on the troops morale. They tip-toed around him, avoiding lookinghim in the eye as they packed up the camp, subtly taking any sharpobjects out of his reach. Junya's instinct for self-preservation toldhim not to go near the surly king, even though he was curious abouthis sudden change in mood.

“Doyou know what happened?” Mpendwa asked him in hushed tones as shefinished packing away her tent.

“Iwish I did.” he admitted “Was it something someone said?”

“Junya!”Zuberi barked at him from across the site, causing every last one ofthe soldiers to flinch “Come here!”

Junya and Mpendwashared a worried look before he did as ordered, the soldiers clearinga path for him without a word. Zuberi was a giant ball of seethingirritation, grimacing at every single thing that happened into hiseye line. Was the reality of what they were doing finally getting tohim? A little late for that now, and he seemed perfectly fineyesterday.

“Everythingokay?” Junya asked cautiously, staying just out of arms reach.

“Thehorse will never get through the forest.” he barked at him “You'llhave to walk.”

“Oh...great. I'm sure I'll manage.”

“I'msure you will.” he growled, storming off.

Rude. Don't take it outon me because you're having a bad day.

The sword-bearing teamlast night had managed to clear the first few hundred yards of theold forest path, only to replace thicker vines bearing even more thornslying ahead of them. The night guards had been kind enough to sharpentheir swords for them as they slept, allowing them to carry on at theearliest opportunity, hacking and slashing away again as the othersoldiers packed up the camp.

They tied the horse toa tree close to the river, leaving its food within its reach beforestarting on their way again. Even an able-bodied fox would havedifficulty traversing this forest, climbing over the centuries oldtree roots, avoiding the dagger-like thorns and the footfalls wherethe ground, hollow beneath them, just gave way without warning, andJunya was not able-bodied. It wasn't long at all before his legstarted to pinch and pull from the effort.

Hewas glad the tapestry of thorny vines prevented the gorillas frommaking their usual progress – he didn't feel like he was slowingthem down as he trod carefully over the large trees roots and hackedvines thrown aside by the clearing team. A chorus of thwack,thwack, slicefilled the air from the front of the company, occasionally joined bythe barked orders of one of the higher-ups, but thanks to the kingsbad mood there was little in the way of banter today.

Mpendwa stayed byJunya's side, even when others passed them by, to make sure he didn'thurt himself too badly when he fell on his face. By the third time hecaught his foot and went careening to the ground, his poor leg feltlike it was ready to pop, pulling and burning from the effort. Oh,for a nice simple hill, or better yet a paved road. He sighed, pickedhimself up again, and carried on, not getting any sympathy fromanyone.

As they made their slowprogress through the ancient woods, Junya examined the gnarled oldtrees. They looked very steady and solid, and Junya was struck withan idea.

“Say,can gorillas climb trees?” he asked Mpendwa, taking a good look upthe massive twisting trunk closest to them.

“Typically,no.” she admitted “They'd need to be bloody big to hold ourweight.”

She looked up the treeherself, seeming to see what he was getting at.

“Nota chance.” she decided “Branches are too thin and close togetherup there. Can foxes climb trees?”

“Typicallyno.” he echoed “If the branches were lower to the ground thensure, I might've be able to get up. The children always try, ofcourse, but you know how children are... oh, uh, sorry...”

“It'salright.” she replied, not even looking at him “I'll know soonenough. You reckon you could get up that tree if I gave you a boost?”

“Whatare you two doing?”

They looked around atthe intruding voice – Zuberi stood with his arms crossed, examiningthem incredulously. The other soldiers glanced at them as they passedby, but didn't stop, still wary of his mood. Mpendwa stood away fromthe tree, straightening her armour self-consciously, but didn'tanswer.

“I'mthinking of climbing this tree.” Junya told him when Mpendwa didn't“Just to make sure we're not hacking all these vines down for noreason, or that there's not a cliff in 100 yards.”

Zuberi's nostrilsflared as he thought, blowing air out through them roughly. He lookedup at the tree, uncrossing his arms as he came over to really inspectthe branches. The Gorilla King gave the tree a good shake, but itstayed in place, too old and stubborn to be bothered by him. Helooked up it again, huffing before turning back to Junya.

“Youcan't even handle climbing over the roots competently, there's no wayyou'll get through the branches without falling and breaking yourfool head.” he pointed out.

“Don'tbe a jerk.” Junya chastised “I'm aware of the risks, thank youvery much. It's something no-one else here can do, so what's thepoint in grumbling about it?”

Zuberi looked at him,brown eyes examining him closely. Something was going through hishead, but Junya would be damned if he knew what. The fox put hishands on his hips and looked at him disapprovingly, the way hismother used to do to him, hoping he looked as stern as she had.

“Areyou going to give me a boost up, or are we going to stand here andargue about it for an hour first?”

The gorilla blew airout his nose again. He scratched his head and sighed, looking back upthe tree.

“Fine.”he grumbled.

He didn't look at Junyaas he held his hand out to him. What was wrong with him today? Moodygit. Junya gave him his hand, and he was momentarily scooped up, alittle more roughly than he expected from Zuberi, and lifted abovethe gorillas head.

“Theonly positive to come out of this fiasco is that we're finally goingto be rid of those damn insects.” he muttered.

“Keepbeing moody and I'm putting this whole company down for a nap.”Junya warned “A little higher.”

Zuberi had no problemtaking Junyas weight in one hand, using the other to steady himselfagainst the tree and stand up on his tip-toes to lift him higher.Junya reached for the closest branch, just catching it and hoistinghimself up.

Being in a tree wasweird – even as a child he had never tried to climb one (his motherwould have gone ballistic), but if squirrels could do it then howhard could it be? It felt like he was in an attic, only the roof wasfull of holes and there were only a few beams. Like a derelict house,perhaps. He could only imagine what the priest would say to see himup here: 'get down, you moron' probably.

Once on the firstbranch, it wasn't too difficult to get around – the tree was old,its branches wide and sturdy. Glancing below, he saw the gorillaswatching him, Zuberi's arms posed like he was ready to catch him ifhe fell. Idiot. Relying on the strength of his arms and the supportof his good leg, he managed to struggle up the tree, spluttering whenhe found himself with a face full of leaves or spiders web.

After a few minutesclimb through the clouds of leaves he broke through the canopy, afrigid wind startling him and sending a shiver right down his spine.It was suddenly very bright, so he jammed his eyes closed, openingthem slowly. Maybe he'd just been in the forest too long, but itseemed to be far brighter and colder up here than down on the ground,and it took a couple of cautious tries before he could take a goodlook around the area.

Forest, in everydirection, for miles around. Lots and lots of it. Small mountainspoked out of the lumpy carpet of green some way away, a whole rangetoo far away for him to tell what, if anything, was behind them.There was a far closer one on the other side of him, all on its ownand not that far away: they were probably a mile or so from its base,but the forest was so thick that they hadn't seen it.

He looked in thedirection the gorillas were forging their path. Good news: no cliffs.Bad news: not much else either. Unless you like trees. And probablythorns. Hang on, what was that? There was a gulf in the forest,similar to a clearing but not quite, since it was still full oftrees. He could tell from the size and colour that they were youngertrees than the ones that surrounded them, like they had grown into apreviously clear area, but there was something else that he couldonly just make out. He squinted, shielding his eyes from the sun withhis hand. It looked like... a roof? It was too smooth and flat to benatural.

Now that he had noticedit, he saw other places like that, hidden in the gulfs of trees hereand there. Roofs, varying in height, scattered all about in thetrees. There was a spire over there. Was that a lookout? A raisedstorehouse? Abandoned villages, he thought, left to rot and return tothe forest. Whose villages were they? Certainly not the goat's.Squirrels wouldn't live where there were so many thorns. There wasnothing creepier than abandoned towns.

Was this the right way?Junya tried to ask his 'instincts', see which way felt right. It madehim feel kind of dumb, like he was trying to replace the ocean byfeeling which way the wind was blowing. Speaking of dumb, why wasthat mountain all on its own? That's not really how mountains work,just sat on its own like a pimple on the landscape. At least theother mountains had the good courtesy to have trees growing on themand be in a nice neat line.

His stomach started tohurt again – just what he needed while he was up a tree. Which wayshould they go? The sun was pretty high – was it noon already?Perhaps he should direct them to one of the old villages for thenight, see if they couldn't come up with something better. Who goesto war following 'instinct' anyway? Stupid gorillas.

What was that noise? Itwas something like a fly in his ear, only it was quite far away.Hadn't he heard that before?

Yes.Yes he had, and his whole body went cold when he remembered where. Helooked back at that weird mountain – something was coming out ofthe side of it, like a hundred columns of thick black smoke only...not. They pulsed too and fro like starlings in the roosting season,pouring out into the sky with a dark, ominous buzz. A swarm of bugs!Was the mountain the hive?! His instincts had been right?!Something shot out of the mountain, something big, flying up into theair and around like a lightning bolt. It was coming towards him!

Junya wasn't stickingaround to watch it, catching himself just before falling off thebranch as he spun around. That giant thing was quick, there was notime to be careful.

“Incoming!”he yelled as loud as he could.

Dear God, please letsomeone catch him! He'd break his back for sure if they didn't...Spying the most direct route to the ground, he jumped, preying he wasskinny enough to slip through the old branches. The wind rushed past,leaves and twigs catching against his skin as he fell. God had beenlistening to his prayers: Zuberi stumbled as the fox fell into hisready arms, a declaration of 'oof!' leaving his mouth.

“Whatdo you think you're doing?!” he demanded “That was dangerous!”

“Themountain!” Junya yelled at him “It's not a mountain!”

“Mountain?”he echoed.

There was a great crashin the canopy above them, sending leaves and branches cascading down.That horrible hiss! The entire forest quaked at it, the canopytrembling as if caught in hurricane winds.

The company leapt to,drawing their shields and weapons. Zuberi, with Junya still in hisarms, ran back out of the way of the soldiers, depositing him on theground before drawing his own sword, rounding back. Shit, where washis axe? Had he left it on the horse?! No, it was on his belt. God,he wasn't used to having weapons.

The trees that resistedthe weight of the Gorilla King pushing on them snapped like drykindling as that great monster cicada barrelled down the trunk. Evenagainst the soldiers, the thing was massive, hissing and bearing itswings menacingly as it reached the ground, legs clacking like hollowreeds against the old trees, its eyes swivelling around in alldirections. With a roar of orders, the gorillas leapt at it.

It threw them asidelike nuisances, heading straight for Junya. His heart stopped dead inhis chest – he couldn't run. Those horrible wide-set eyes, fixedright on him... He fumbled with the pouch on his belt, blind withpanic to get the damn thing out, fingers a jumbled mess of movement.The monster was quicker than he, upon him in an instant, letting outthat skin crawling hiss.

Junya screamed,covering his face with his arms in a vain attempt to do something, todo anything! He couldn't fight – he didn't know how! He felthimself be grabbed, taken roughly in those many quivering mandibles,the monster breathing putrid wind over him as he did so. He preparedhimself to be snapped in half, to be eaten alive, for any amount ofhorrible painful deaths.

He heard his namescreamed in the chaos, but could hear nothing more over the buzzing,the hissing, the yelling and the stomping of dozens of gorilla feet.His heart leapt horridly in his chest as the monster lifted him clearoff the ground, felt his centre being pulled down sharply. Up –they were going up! Back up through the trees, crashing through thecanopy, back into the clear sky in an instant!

No! No, not that way!He couldn't let this thing take him away! He grabbed for his axe, butthe fabric slipped clear of his belt, falling back to the forestbelow. Shit! What was the point of that?! He pounded the creature onthe head desperately, uncivil cries leaving his throat, but nothingfazed it.

It flew away.