Dracula of the Apes 3, стр. 30
So isolation might have brought him back near to the tribe to draw from the remembered connections at a distance.
For even evil apes were social creatures of family and tribe.
Thought of Sip-sip caused a flame of anger to gleam in Gazda’s eyes and flare within his breast and he wished to go in search of the traitor...
...until he thought of Lilly.
The jungle was a great and dangerous place. The strange bull ape had not been seen for many days, and so Gazda felt no need to investigate immediately. If it was Omag, he could have been miles from where the night ape sat with Baho, or may have realized his danger and retreated to his cave in the bone-face lands.
And if it were another rogue ape, then Baho and the blackback guards could deal with him.
Unless...and Gazda thought again of Lilly, his lair and the night apes that were within it. Would they be able to resist Sip-sip if the crippled ape came to take the tree-nest armed as he was with his axe-head cane?
Worse it would be, if Omag had gone in search of females to start his own tribe...or if the traitor craved their living flesh!
Lilly!
In his youth, Gazda would have set after the stranger without delay, driven by a desire for vengeance and blood, but as king he had learned to bide his time and he had only just returned to his tribe. To leave them now would wound their hearts, and trouble his own.
And the sun was high which meant the night ape’s powers were at their weakest, and if it was Omag—the cripple had already revealed the dangers of his cunning.
Now that Gazda knew his old enemy might be near, he would begin to search for scent of him near nightfall. Baho agreed with this plan, though the pair of them could not resist a display of their displeasure at the trespass. Each yawned and snapped repetitively to show off their fighting fangs.
But as the day progressed, Gazda’s thoughts ever returned to Lilly.
While tiny Yulu sat upon his shoulders and whistled at birds in the trees, while blackback friends gathered around him to groom, or when the females showed the king their strong young infants, always as the day progressed Gazda’s thoughts had drifted across the jungle to where Lilly’s tribe now lived within his tree-nest.
His time among the apes had reminded him of his tribal duties, and within them was the task of protecting the young and weak, and in that notion grew a greater fear that he had hurt Lilly in his excess! As they mated, he had drunk her blood.
So what had become of her?
He had to know if his passions had harmed the female he yearned for, and whether she was well, and if she hoped to mate with him too—though he would never be so weak again.
He would not feed upon her blood.
The jungle teemed with animals for that use. Their blood was Gazda’s by right, even Sip-sip’s.
But Lilly’s?
If the crippled ape was still near and if he coveted the females in the tree-nest...
Gazda was wasting time! He glared up through the canopy at the blazing sun that seemed to be set unmoving in the sky.
How he longed to return to Lilly.
Old Baho came to him later in the day and remarked upon the hunt he knew would follow the setting sun. He asked Gazda about his time away and whether he had slain many bone-faces, for the scent of them was heavy on the king.
Gazda took no insult from the former silverback’s observation for he had accepted his relation to the Bakwaniri, and to the other night apes.
However, being better versed in these things, Gazda had detected the many subtle differences between them. The night apes in the tree-nest, even the males, were free of decay, rot and illness.
Yet Baho was a powerful ape, and wise, and Gazda respected his opinions, knowing they were proof of his lieutenant’s ability to lead the tribe in his absence. However, it was becoming apparent that his old friend was aging.
Baho’s scarred face was wrinkled and bearded with white, and the top of his head bore only a few trailing hairs. The bull ape was still large and well-muscled, but he groaned when he rose from sitting, or while climbing a tree, and his aching joints made him walk stiff-legged in the morning.
Baho might soon be replaced by one of the ambitious blackbacks that jostled for power in the tribe, and yet among them, their king saw none more ready for the task of leadership than Baho.
Those thoughts soon came to vie with Gazda’s desire for Lilly. His return to the tribe of apes had awakened his sense of duty. He could not allow danger to befall those with whom he had lived his early life, those who depended upon his strength and ferocity now.
They were his mother’s tribe, and he would protect them to the death.
But a king needed a mate.
As the day grew old and the sun sank lower in the sky, the night ape felt the first surge of his night-time strength, and with this and his desire for Lilly to fuel him, he was soon flying through the high green canopy on his way back to his female.
Many miles south of the night ape, Harkon the huntress was breaking her own rules and following a large group of Bakwaniri that was headed toward the coast along an old elephant track. The sun had fallen behind the jungle wall, the shadows had deepened to black, and she had yet to find shelter for the night.
But she was caught up in the chase. Harkon had already taken advantage of the darkness and picked off two stragglers with the bow and arrows that she had claimed from other victims.
A feral grin was etched on her dark cheeks. The