Julie and the Monkey Witch, chapter 6

Julie had never been so scared since her fateful meeting with Karza. All she could think about was whether or not the man she loved was alright, and that made her run through the jungle brush feel like it was both agonizingly slow and rushed.

“Please don’t be dead, please don’t be dead, please don’t be dead!” she breathed with each foot fall and jump over the fallen branches. Each footfall left a footprint, and although she knew the researchers would be following, she’d left them behind in her dust by now.

As soon as Gina told her that Karza had been cut off, she screamed Karza’s name, bolted from the village before they could stop her. And she ran as fast as she could. This sudden departure was both surprising and unsurprising. The researchers knew how much Karza meant to Julie, and how much she loved him, but you just don’t expect someone to take off without a second word to escape back into the wild.

The researchers themselves were right behind her, following the footprints she’d left in the soft soil. Judging by how straight, but erratic they were, they knew she was making a beeline for the treehouse. “You just HAD to make it sound like he was dead!” John complained.

“I don’t know if he’s dead!” Gina replied.

Then you should’ve told her that!”

“Does it look like she cares!?” Gina replied again. “Just keep your eyes peeled for the treehouse!”

“Roger that!”

Unfortunately for them, Julie had already started to climb in some of the trees. It’s not like she was going to care, there was after all, one thing on her mind and that was Karza. Jumping from branch to branch, she was more determined than ever to make sure Karza was okay. Even if the researchers lost her, she knew, although that was not on her mind right now, that they would find the treehouse. They’ve been there before.

The brown façade of the treehouse came into view. Standing on one of the branches and panting, she looked for any signs of life. A few stunned monkeys laid around. At least Karza didn’t go down without a fight, at least as far as she knew.

But inside, there wasn’t much. And while much of the interior was obscured by the façade, it didn’t exactly inspire much confidence. For all she knew, Karza could have been dragged off and taken to some place to be tied up in a way that some sick fuck on the Intarwebz can jack off to his misery and suffering.

And that only made her more afraid.

She jumped onto the porch, ran inside and looked around. The place was kind of a mess with stuff laying around—a few books thrown about, the island map had footprints covering it and the globe was knocked over. But she ignored them and instead went straight to the HAM radio. It was busted up pretty bad.

If Karza was alive, then at least he had a reason for not contacting anyone. Especially with the microphone cut.

But a million thoughts ran wild in her head, which she gripped with both hands like she was Psyduck. Karza couldn’t be dead!

She prided herself on her independence and while she didn’t “need” Karza, that didn’t mean she didn’t love him.

And he meant so much to her that yes, it was nearly impossible—

“I was wondering when you were going to get here.”

Could it be? She turned and saw him standing in the doorway, wiping his hands with a towel and looking very confused. But it didn’t matter to her, and she raced over to him, threw her arms around his neck and buried her face in his shoulder. “You’re alive,” she said tearfully. “Oh, thank the gods.”

“Yeah,” he replied, holding her tightly. They didn’t let go and didn’t want to let go for several minutes. Karza understood Julie’s relief and fear, so he didn’t say anything. Instead, he let her calm down, touching his clean, soft and smooth skin (while he felt hers) and sniff his jungle smell. Believe it or not, he actually smelled nice.

He thought she was done, but she kissed him passionately, so he returned it with gusto. He ended it and laid his forehead against hers, so they could both savor the moment, with her hands on his shoulders.

“M-HM!”

Well, that moment’s over.

The jungle couple let each other go and turned to John and Gina, who were both watching with intrigued looks on their faces. “I hope we weren’t interrupting anything,” said Gina.

“No, you weren’t,” Julie replied. “Just a relieved reunion between two people who love each other.”

“I GET IT,” said Gina. “Still, I’m glad you’re safe, Karza. What happened?”

“It’s… kind of a long story,” he said.

“We’ve got time,” said Gina.

So he told them about the fight he had with the Australopithecus/sasquatch/oozaru/orangutan/man-beast, and how it fought like a human. Plus, the monkeys were pretty coordinated in their circling of him and how they chased him down. Then, he got to the part where he had to deal with a bunch of rude simian home intruders.

“So they jumped up and tried to attack me,” he said, “I threw one out of the treehouse, but a bunch of ‘em came in and started smashing the radio like they knew what it was, although I kinda doubt it, eh? Anyways, they cut the wiring on the microphone and I had to grab some of them and throw them out of the treehouse. I know I’m not really supposed to hurt them, but I didn’t have a choice! So FINALLY, Ginger pops up and starts chasing them around, they knocked some of the books off the shelf and tore the map, but we finally managed to get ‘em out. And… sorry I couldn’t come and tell anyone, but I was getting cleaned up.”

“I’m just glad you’re alright,” Julie said, laying her head on his shoulder. “By the way, why didn’t you come to the village?”

“I was getting cleaned up,” he replied, pointing at a package of DryBath. “Besides, I need you to look at something.” He pulled something out of the pouch attached to his loincloth while Julie moved her head.

“It’s a tooth,” she said. “Did you lose it?”

“No,” Karza replied. “It came from the beast I fought.”

Gina took the tooth and looked at it. “It’s definitely human,” she said.

“But who did it come from?” John asked.

“Well, I saw that P’li was missing a tooth, and—oh, dear.”

“Where was he missing it?” Karza asked. Julie pointed to one of her top teeth, pointing out the canine on the left side. Karza looked at it again. It was a canine alright, top left, if possible.

“You don’t think—who’s P’li?”

“His sister was murdered,” said Karza. “I’m starting to think that a certain Paea girl is involved.”

“Are you sure?” Julie asked.

“Well, monkeys are involved!” Karza replied. “They could be working together!”

“If you’re right, then Unagi was responsible for Hani’s death,” said Julie. “Why would P’li want to work with the—oh my gods.”

“What?” Gina asked.

“You know how horrible Orangta was?” Julie asked. “Of course she would’ve learned from her!”

“Then what’s her plan?” John asked.

“I don’t know, but we should put an end to it immediately,” said Karza.

“Let’s go in there and beat their asses!” Julie said, punching her fist.

“NO,” said Karza. “We can’t just go in there with guns blazing, accusing them of this! We gotta play it safe!”

“Oh, alright,” she said.

“Perhaps there’s an option,” said Gina. “And it involves some trickery.”

“Bring the sword, Julie,” said Karza.

:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:

Things at the village had calm down, but there was still tension in the air. And Kame did not like how everyone looked at each other with such suspicion. Moving through the village, he could see them not only glaring at each other, but him. He sort of figured out that they were still unhappy about the “trial” for those three men who disobeyed Manti. As Manti’s religious second-in-command, he obviously shouldered some of the blame for this.

If only something would come out of the blue to save his skin.

That happened when a murmur got louder and several villagers turned to the entrance. He took looked to see what the commotion was all about and sighed when he saw Karza, Julie and some palemen entering the village. FINALLY something to take their minds off him… and also came the recognition that he was acting like some coward, and not a man willing to take responsibility for his actions, whether misguided or not.

The Wild Man was indeed alive, and the Primal Girl carried a new weapon with her, much like her machete. But it was not a machete, and the gleaming metal was almost unworldly. But she closed it on the holder, so no one could see it. “Hello, Kame,” Julie said. “What’s it like being a little toad? Is it as fun as I thought it would be?”

An ‘Oooooh’ spread through the tribespeople, and Kame grimaced. “I apologize,” he said. “I suppose in our determination to end the hysteria, we acted in haste. The men are still imprisoned, though.”

“Can you let them out?” Julie asked.

“They will only be there until tomorrow,” said Kame. “They were given reduced sentences for—“

“Okay, okay, I get it,” said Julie. “Where’s P’li?”

“Why do you need him?” Karza leaned into Kame’s ear and whispered something. The shaman’s eyes widened in shock, and he was still bewildered when Karza pulled away. “Are you certain?”

“No,” said Karza. “But, we might be able to find a way to get them to confess. No Spirit Water, though.”

“Spirit Water has never been good for that,” said Kame. “Perhaps there is a non-medicinal way of doing it.”

“I don’t think we need to do much,” said Julie. “Just lure them into confessing.”

“I have a tooth,” said Karza. He held it up for Kame to see.

“P’li did look as if he had lost a tooth,” said Kame. “Do you think—”

“I don’t know any tooth puns in Teo,” said Julie. “Only in English.”

“We don’t need puns,” said Karza. He looked and saw P’li talking to someone. It was time to give the guy a surprise. He nodded to Kame, Kame nodded to him and Karza walked up to P’li and tapped him on the shoulder.

“KARZA!” P’li shouted. “I mean, Karza, you’re alive!”

“Of course I am,” he said. “Why, what’d you hear?”

“I just heard Julie screaming your name,” P’li said.

Karza was a little perplexed, but guessed the villagers must’ve jumped to conclusions. “Some monkeys tried to attack me,” said Karza. “I took care of ‘em.”

“That’s my mate,” Julie said, hugging Karza’s shoulder from behind.

“I have always been impressed at how the paleman has been able to adapt to the wild,” said Kame. “I thought he would be killed. My, how wrong I am!” His black humor wasn’t very funny to the Jungle Dude.

“How did you take care of them?” P’li asked.

“I just tossed them out of the treehouse,” said Karza. “I didn’t wanna hurt ‘em, though.”

“And what else happened?” Julie asked.

“Well, before that, I fought this strange, human-ape beast near Orangta’s temple,” he said. “It was strange, because he fought like a man.”

“A man!?” Julie asked with faux surprise. “Why, what do you mean, Karza?”

“Why, he suplexed me!” Karza replied, also in faux surprise and wonderment. “I swear, it almost is like it was a man transformed into a beast!”

“What horror!” Julie said in faux fear. “Why, however are we going to find this creature?”

“I don’t know,” said Karza. “Kame, what do you think?”

“It is a mystery,” Kame said in the same faux wonderment Julie and Karza were using.

P’li, who was just as muscular as Karza was (probably should’ve mentioned that earlier), looked terrified, and grit his teeth, exposing the gap in his teeth. “Hey P’li, what happened to your tooth?” Karza asked.

“I tripped,” P’li replied. “I tripped and hit my face on a tree branch.” It was an obvious lie that told the Jungle Couple and the Teo shaman that they didn’t quite need to use excessive trickery to get a confession out of him. In fact, a blind or deaf person could tell he was lying just by the way his voice and posture carried him.

“That’s strange,” said Karza. “It almost looks like something punched it out. Speaking of which—” He reached into his pouch and pulled out the tooth he knocked off the ape beast. “I punched this off the beast.”

“Wow, it almost looks human!” said Julie.

“That’s my tooth!” P’li shouted before clamping his mouth shut. The shock on his face said a thousand words. Kame crossed his arms as Karza reached for P’li’s arm and ripped it away. He held the canine up and indeed, it matched P’li’s missing tooth.

“Why’d you lie, P’li?” Karza asked.

“Why are you lying?” P’li replied. “You found my tooth, and you’re making this up to frame me!”

“What’s going on?” Manti asked.

“They’re trying to frame me for murdering Hani and the paleman!” P’li accused.

“We are not!” Julie replied. Karza grabbed P’li’s jaw and turned his head towards Manti, where he showed the broken-off tooth.

“I fought a beast that looked like an ape,” said Karza. “And I knocked his tooth out.”

“LIES!” P’li said.

“Is this true?” Manti asked.

“I don’t know,” Kame replied in the same faux-wonderment tone of voice that alerted Manti to their hunches. So he crossed his arms and stayed silent.

“Sorry P’li, we didn’t mean to accuse you of anything,” Karza lied. They still had to keep up the façade, and that meant drawing P’li into a false sense of security so that he’d blurt out another confession.

“How do I know that?” P’li asked.

“Because we’re having a rough time,” said Julie. “And we just want this shit over with.”

“I understand,” said P’li. “Especially after what Manti did to everyone.” The Chief was none too pleased about this, and his facial expression showed it.

“What a jerk,” Julie said, finishing in English. “Almost like the asshole who’s been murdering everyone.”

“What is that thing you are holding?” P’li asked.

“It’s a sword,” Julie replied. “So I can decapitate the asshole who tried to kill Karza.” It shouldn’t have affected him, but P’li got nervous again. Julie saw this and decided on something. “It’s a shame, really. I mean, everyone knows how much I love him and how devastated I’d be if someone murdered him.”

“Yeah, some people are assholes,” said Karza.

“I mean, killing someone is horrible,” said Julie. “You don’t know who might—”

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?” P’li shouted.

“I dunno,” said Julie. “What are you doing?” She pointed the tip of her sheathed sword at his chin, knowing they’d cornered him again.

“Nothing!” P’li replied.

“Nothing, huh?” she asked. “Are you sure?”

“Yes!” P’li replied. He turned to leave, but Manti stood in his way. And the inquisitive look in his eyes made P’li gulp.

“Hey P’li, let’s wrestle!” Karza said as he rushed the Teo man. P’li only had a second before he grabbed Karza, and almost out of reflex, his face began to transform into something simian and he suplexed Karza behind him.

But the cat was out of the bag.

Stunned tribesmen and researchers stood around him. His face, which had turned simian, returned to normal. He panicked and tried to run, but several warriors tackled him and pinned him to the ground.

“What’d you do that for?” Julie asked.

“I dunno,” said Karza.

“So you jumped the gun,” Julie said, rolling her eyes. “Good work, Kyle.”

“Now then,” Manti said. “You too will go on trial for the murders of your sister and the paleman.”

“I don’t think P’li was behind them,” said Karza.

“Well then, he will be tried as an accomplice of the person who did do it,” said Manti. “However, I could give you a plea deal, P’li. If you tell us who was behind it, we will set you free.”

“How do you know someone was behind it?” P’li asked.

“Because you’re not a magic user,” said Karza. “There’s only one person in this whole village that I can think of, who did it. And it’s pretty surprising that you’d work with them.”

“Why?”

“Because they probably killed your sister.”

P’li’s eyes widened and his shock was evident. But behind them, Unagi stood, giving him a nod. His fear and shock went away and he said, “I don’t know. Because there are more shape-shifters among the villagers!”

A gasp echoed and once again, the hysteria that Manti tried to stop reared its ugly head. And Manti was furious. “So you would rather start hysteria than give us a true confession? TAKE HIM AWAY!” The tribespeople roared their disapproval as P’li was lifted up and taken to the wooden cages that housed the other prisoners.

Julie was just as skeptical as Karza, Manti and Kame. It was an obvious ploy to get out of confessing, and it was a relief that Manti didn’t fall for either. Her eyes glanced up to see Unagi walking away towards her hut. Although she still didn’t want to believe it, she recognized that Karza may have appoint about her. And if his hunch was right, then she really didn’t know Unagi as well as she originally thought. And she already knew that.