Colt was extremely relieved when they finally made it away from all the monkeys. He knew he was technically their chief now, but they still made him uncomfortable. Once you've been attacked by a dozen Battle Monkeys or more, it's hard to get out of that mindset.
But he felt better once they'd left the area. He also felt more optimistic about the journey ahead. If he could take on Battle Monkeys and the Monkey Chief, who could stop him? Not a mere monkey, at least, so that was something. As long as the threat had a long tail and was about half his size, he was golden.
As he and Shelly walked back to the alcove, Colt was extremely aware of how much time had been wasted. It felt like forever ago that they were setting down to sleep in this very place, and here they were with virtually no progress made toward their destination.
It didn't help that a lot of the food they had in Shelly's satchel had been ransacked. There were pieces of bread with bite marks in it and quite a bit of fruit missing from the bag. Despite this, Shelly deemed that a lot of it was still salvageable and they were able to indulge in a semi-proper meal. For a cabin boy used to constant leftovers, this was quite the privilege, even if the animals around the forest had gotten first dibs.
"We should probably get moving," Shelly said, sounding reluctant.
Colt just nodded. They were both just sitting around the alcove, having just eaten. Colt had his back against a tree and really just wanted to close his eyes for a while. But he knew they needed to move while there was still light, and they'd already wasted more than enough time already.
He got to his feet and stared at the fish barrel with a frown on his face. The last thing he wanted to do was have to haul that thing around again. He had to make an effort to stop himself from falling with every step he took while holding the giant thing. He wanted nothing more but to start passing out the fish to any monkey or bandit that crossed their path, before throwing the barrel into the depths of the woods. He'd made a promise to the fisherman, though, and he didn't intend on breaking it.
So instead of throwing it Colt hoisted the barrel up and he and Shelly returned to their path.
"It's uphill from here, right?" she asked.
Colt shifted the barrel a little and held out the map for Shelly to grab.
"Thanks," she said, taking it.
They resumed their endless walking. It went a little smoother this time, as Shelly no longer acted like she hated Colt and Colt no longer acted like he didn't want her to be there. They still didn't talk too much, however. They were okay with working together but tensions were still running rather high. Colt wasn't sure where exactly they stood. He was, after all, still a pirate. Shelly didn't know why Colt needed to get to the Authority base and Colt didn't know why she needed to get there either. Neither was willing to share, so what was there to discuss?
There was no apparent answer to that question, so they both remained silent as they wandered through the trees, following the path. The path had curved and they were now walking entirely uphill. They'd walked far enough east, so now they just had to go north to get to the base. Unfortunately, they were headed toward the part of the island that had the greatest altitude. They were essentially climbing a wide mountain, going upwards a little bit at a time.
It felt like they'd been going forever when Shelly finally stopped. Colt looked over at her, confused. By his calculations they still had a good hour or more before they ran out of light. So what was she doing? Had she changed her mind?
"What's up?" he asked.
She put a finger to her lips, then said softly, "Did you hear that?"
Colt shook his head whilst straining his ears. But he didn't hear anything. He raised his eyebrows at Shelly.
She shook her head. "It stopped just now. It was a rustling noise."
Colt hadn't heard a thing, but he wasn't going to take any chances. Plus, he was beginning to trust Shelly. If she said she'd heard something, he believed her.
"Keep walking," he muttered, "we'll see what happens."
They kept going normally, as if nothing had happened. There was no signs of anything for a while, then Shelly looked up at him. It was a subtle but sharp glance. She'd heard it again.
Interesting, Colt thought. Something was obviously following them, but it was more than that. The noise had stopped when they'd stopped, and resumed when they started to move again. That meant it was tracking them. So either a human or a very smart animal. There was one way to find out.
Colt came to a stop and set the fish barrel down. "I'll be right back," he told Shelly. "Going to go relieve myself."
At first she looked at him like he was stupid. Then she either caught on or trusted him enough to go along with it.
"Okay," she said, nodding.
Colt stepped into the trees and walked away from Shelly. Once he was far enough, he stopped and circled back. He crouched behind a tree close to the path and watched as Shelly stood by herself, waiting for him to return.
This time Colt heard the noise too. There was a rustling in the branches above, and then sure enough, a man dropped down, holding a knife to Shelly's throat.
The man was young, with long hair and beaten down clothes. He had tired eyes and drooping cheekbones; it was obvious he was in a poor condition. He also had a wild look about him, as if he was willing to do anything to get what he wanted.
He brandished the knife with shaky hands, and pointed it toward the fish barrel before quickly repositioning it back to Shelly's throat.
"What's in the barrel?" he questioned, his voice as shaky as his hands.
"All my riches," Shelly replied.
The man hobbled over to the barrel, keeping one eye on Shelly all the time. He opened it and peered inside. He turned his nose up immediately at the sight of the fish. He looked as if he could use as much food as he got, but apparently the fish were repulsive compared to the riches he'd expected to find.
He turned back to Shelly and nodded to the satchel around her shoulder. "The satchel, now. And anything else you have of value."
Shelly made a big deal of checking her pockets for anything else she might have on her.
"Quickly, before your friend gets back!"
"Her friend is already back," Colt said evenly.
The man spun around in surprise to see Colt standing before him, sword at the ready. His eyes filled with fear, but then he noticed the cutlass. He relaxed and smiled a little.
"That thing's not real," he stated. "A child's toy is all."
Colt narrowed his eyes. "Want to test that theory?"
"No," the man replied, and then ducked away from Colt's sword. He slashed his knife at Colt, who was a little too slow on the defense. The knife snagged his arm as he tried to pull back, drawing blood.
Colt examined the cut and saw that it wasn't too deep. He'd managed to get back enough so that the attack didn't do much damage, but he needed to be better on his defense. That amateur knife attack shouldn't have come close to touching him.
"If that's all you've got maybe I'll never know if that sword's a toy!"
Colt didn't let the man's taunts phase him. He just focused on winning the fight.
"Nice hit," he told the bandit. "Think you can do it again?"
The man chuckled. "Oh, I know I can!"
He charged at Colt with another slash at the ready. He had good speed and momentum, but that's what Colt had been hoping for. Just as he got close, Colt grabbed the wrist of the bandit and used his same momentum to throw him to the ground.
The bandit got up instantly, now in a rage. Colt could tell he was a hot head. Good, he thought to himself. He liked them better this way. Captain Rave was the same way. They used their rage to strengthen them, but in reality all it did was open up weaknesses.
"Oh, you've got it coming now!" the man bellowed.
Colt faced the bandit and let his cutlass fall to the ground. "You know what?" he said. "You're never going to know whether that sword's a toy or not. I can beat you without it."
The man wasted no more time with words and charged at Colt. Colt moved out of the way and stuck out his food. The bandit tripped on the foot and caught Colt's fist to the face as he fell toward the ground again.
This time he didn't get up or start yelling. The air got knocked out of the bandit and with it seemed to go his anger. He simply panted a few times, lying face-up on the ground.
Colt considered striking again but resisted. The bandit was already down, and for some reason he felt sorry for the guy, despite the fact that he'd tried to rob them. He stepped back a little and picked up his cutlass.
Shelly approached and glanced at him. "What're we going to do with him?"
"It depends," Colt replied. He kicked the bandit gently to get his attention. "Are you with the trout gang?" he asked.
The man blinked and just stared blankly at them. "Huh?"
"Trout-man and his thief gang," Colt repeated. "Are you with them?"
The man shook his head. "I don't know what you're walking about. My name's Barns. Mason Barns."
As he looked down at the bandit, Colt noticed that he really wasn't much more than a boy. Not much older than himself, if any. His dark black hair and ransacked figure made him look older, but looking past that Colt just saw a sad guy trying to make it by in the Gold Forest.
Colt cleared his throat as he backed away from the guy. "Tell you what," he said. "I'll let you go, on one condition. Get out of this forest. Stop robbing people. Go into the city and get yourself cleaned up and get a life."
The bandit sighed. "That's one large condition," he coughed.
"Well it's either that, or I could make sure you can't rob anyone ever again, if you know what I mean."
The bandit sat up. Shelly braced herself, but Colt was relatively sure that the man wasn't going to try anything funny. He'd obviously been defeated.
"You think I want to do this? In place of a nice life in the city? I don't have a choice! I have no where to go in the city! There's no one to help me!"
"Do it yourself then," Colt replied. "No one's going to hand you everything. Don't rely on someone to help you. Help yourself."
Colt started to walk off, with Shelly by his side. But then he turned back.
"Go find the fisherman," he said. "He's in a small shack at the western shore. He'll get you some food and start you off. But the rest is up to you. Good luck."
Colt picked up his barrel again and he and Shelly walked off, this time not looking back. It wasn't Colt's problem whether Mason Barns went to the fisherman or kept on robbing unsuspecting people in the forest. He'd planted a seed. Who knew whether it would grow?
When it finally started to get dark, Colt and Shelly started looking once more for a place to lie down and sleep. This time they avoided large open areas and eventually found a nice, closed off space to set down in.
"We should take turns sleeping," Shelly suggested as they tried to get comfortable. "So we don't get snuck up on again. Someone can always be watching."
"Yeah," Colt agreed. They had to be better than last time. "I'll take the first watch."
"You're sure?"
Colt nodded. "You get some sleep. I've got some things to think about anyway."
And so Shelly dozed off as Colt kept his eyes on his surroundings and his head in his thoughts. Another day of his journey had ended. He wondered what the next one held.