CHAPTER 10
A BARREL OF OLIVE OIL
After Harry was taken Flossy was left alone to face the angry lion and other shadowy beasts, some of whom had moved behind her to cut off her escape. She turned so that her back was to the wall and kept a wary eye on the enormous lion. She stood with her legs slightly apart, sword centred and down, free arm extended for balance. She would have to strike first if she was to have a chance.
The ring of dark animals tightened and more firebrands were lit. There were rhinoceroses, great apes, a towering giraffe, buffalo, crocodiles and other smaller beasts including a deer and a bull. They looked angry and determined, not at all intimidated by her posturing. Flossy knew that she had little chance against so many. Her best hope was to do maximum damage then run; to cut her way out of the trap.
Just as she was preparing to strike, a coil of rope fell at her feet. She looked up. The other end of the rope passed through a pulley attached to a beam that protruded from the building above. Sitting on the beam next to a barrel was the dark chimpanzee, Larry Monkey. He was beckoning for her to grab the rope.
Flossy sheathed her sword and grabbed the rope with both hands. The rope jerked tight at once causing her to fly into the air with such force that she nearly hit the beam. The counterweight, a barrel of olive oil pushed from the beam by Larry, flew past and hit the ground, smashing open precisely where she had been standing. Olive oil spread quickly under the hooves and paws of the beasts below. Some tried jumping clear but only managed to collide with others who were slipping, sliding and falling in noisy confusion. Larry helped Flossy onto the beam and together they made their escape across the rooftops of the town.
Once on the rooftops Flossy followed Larry from building to building. He showed her how to walk along the ridgeline where a roof was strongest. The roofs were mostly made from clay tiles, which could easily collapse under a person’s weight. They were also layered with moss and other debris made slippery by the moist air so the going was difficult and dangerous in the darkness and fog, especially when crossing between buildings. Larry seemed to know the way so Flossy followed quickly and silently, trying to put as much distance as she could between herself and the wild animals searching for her in the streets and alleyways below.
Harry hadn’t been exaggerating when he said that some ‘Houses’ were wary of humans. These animals weren’t just wary, they were taking no chances. She was merely one human child. What kind of threat could she be?
Flossy was making her way carefully along the ridgeline of a large building, probably a granary or warehouse of some kind, when she heard an angry growl behind her. Larry was ahead scouting out a safe route. She turned towards the noise and saw a huge mountain gorilla heaving its way on all fours towards her. Its knuckles smashed the clay roof tiles so that it left in its wake great rents in the roof.
The gorilla stopped a sword-length away and rose up on its hindquarters. It towered over Flossy, wild eyes telling her everything she needed to know. Standing her ground, she drew her sword and prepared to fight.
The gorilla beat its chest and roared, pale fangs glistening. Flossy held its gaze, refusing to be intimidated. Then she looked down at the crumbling roof beneath the gorilla’s feet and had an idea. Standing erect, in parody of the gorilla, she sheathed her sword and beat her chest and roared as loudly as she could. The Gorilla was at first startled then roared back more loudly. Flossy roared again, so loudly this time that she had to supress a fit of coughing that threatened to follow. This seemed to dumbfound the gorilla. It roared a third time, even louder, beat its chest, more vigorously, and for good measure—just to show how truly fearsome it was, no doubt—stamped its feet. The stamping proved too much for the roof that was already grumbling and groaning under the animal’s massive weight. It collapsed, taking with it into the darkness below: timber beams, rafters, broken roof tiles and one very surprised mountain gorilla.
As the dust cleared Flossy looked over the edge to make sure the gorilla wasn’t too badly hurt. It had fallen onto a pile of grain sacks and looked startled but otherwise unharmed.
‘Sorry,’ she called out, then turned and made after Larry.
Flossy followed Larry along the ridgelines of the slippery and steeply sloped roofs. Sometimes he held her hand to steady her and always caught her when she jumped between balconies. In this way, they moved stealthily and quickly, always rising. Sometimes they hid in the shadows and waited until the streets below emptied. There were beasts below moving about in small groups with lanterns and flaming torches. She could hear them knocking on doors and asking the occupants whether they had seen any pirates. Others talked loudly, complaining of the lateness of the hour or of the cold.
Larry seemed to have a particular destination in mind. They were steadily moving away from the bay and up the side of the hill on which the town was built. The higher they climbed, the older the buildings became. They were also more densely packed, which made it easier to cross between buildings unobserved.
‘Where are you taking me?’ she whispered.
Larry pointed forward without turning or saying a word.
She followed. It was difficult to see in the dark, but the rooftops ahead seemed to boarder a large open space. She guessed it was the town’s main square, the square Harry had mentioned.
She heard a sharp noise behind her made by the clink and slide of breaking roof tiles. She turned, her hand already grasping the hilt of her sword.
‘Who goes there?’ she commanded, partially drawing the sword from its sheath. ‘Come out and show yourself!’
A gorilla stepped out from behind a chimney stack, one arm hanging limply—an obvious point of weakness she could exploit. It was the gorilla who had fallen through the roof. Its arm must have been injured by the fall.
‘I think we’ve met before,’ she said, sizing him up. He was too big to beat in a fair fight and looked too smart to be tricked the same way twice.
The gorilla approached her, carefully testing each step.
‘Once bitten, twice shy? Perhaps you shouldn’t come any further in case the roof can’t hold you up here either. It would be a shame to lose the use of both arms, wouldn’t it?’
The gorilla stopped and growled, its white eyes and fangs flashing in the dark. Behind her, Larry was signalling that she should follow. He swung over the edge of the rooftop and dropped from sight.
She knew the trick she’d played on the gorilla wouldn’t work twice and it would be risky to tackle it in the dark on a slippery roof—he was twice her height and as heavy as a barrel of cannon balls—so she backed away, turned and followed Larry over the edge as quickly as she dared, climbing hand over hand down a slimy downpipe, and dropped awkwardly into the alleyway below.
Empty wooden carts and market stalls were lined up against one wall. The alleyway opened onto the large space she had noticed earlier. Rising above this and directly opposite, was an imposing building fronted by huge doors. Wide stairs led to a landing with a peaked roof held aloft by massive stone pillars. Half was in shadow, half was lit by flickering street lanterns. It looked like a museum or a library, probably very old.
‘That way?’ she asked Larry, nodding towards the building.
There was a noise of groaning metal and popping rivets above her. Larry was looking up and so she turned and looked up too, just in time. With his clever feet and one good arm, the gorilla was clinging to the top of the downpipe she had just used. But there was a problem: the downpipe was no longer attached to the building. Just like the roof, it was unable to support the weight of a fully grown mountain gorilla and so the big animal had no choice but hold on for the ride as the downpipe arced slowly across the alleyway. The gorilla looked to Flossy like a slow-motion pole vaulter. It bumped into the opposite wall, swayed slightly and stopped. As it was too high up to jump and there was no obvious way to climb down without destabilising the downpipe, the gorilla was stuck.
Larry was pulling at her hand.
‘We can’t just leave
him there,’ said Flossy.
Larry went to the base of the downpipe, which rested at a steep angle across the alleyway, and kicked. It wobbled but didn’t move. The gorilla gripped tighter and whimpered. Larry climbed up the downpipe a short way, held on with both hands and jumped. In this way his whole weight bore down on the downpipe causing it to bend slightly.
‘Are you sure that’s a good idea?’ Flossy asked.
Larry climbed a little higher and jumped on the downpipe again. This time the downpipe bucked sharply and began to fall. It fell slowly at first and then something gave and the pipe fell to the ground with a loud crash. The gorilla jumped free and plummeted through the air like a rock, arms and legs flailing wildly before it hit the colourful canvas roof of a market stand. The stand broke the gorilla’s fall, broken pieces scattering noisily in all directions.
Flossy didn’t think the fall was high enough to cause the gorilla a serious injury but before she could find out for sure, Larry was pulling at her arm. The noise would attract attention, they should run.
‘Sorry… again!’ she called over her shoulder.
Holding hands with Larry, she ran from the alleyway and into Town Square.