Soon after leaving the Mountain of Five Elements behind them, they returned to the scene of the initial ambush by the bounty hunters. Splintered tree bark and broken bolts and arrows littered the way. Further down, two large patches of burnt vegetation marred the forest. Burnt articles of clothing, mostly cloaks, lay discarded on the forest floor.

By then, the forest had resumed its usual background hum of life. Crickets that had previously been shocked into silence by the booming of musket shot, now resumed their chirping.

Through coincidence or design, the trail that Mr. Drop-and-Roll was following, was the same one Trip had used on her approach to the mountain. After some time, Trip walked off into the bushes and started climbing a large tree with particularly sturdy branches. Soon, from her perch atop a tall, broad branch, she lowered a pair of saddlebags and a saddle to the ground, all tied to a rope. Nimbly climbing back down, Trip sported a large black metal crossbow slung on a strap across her back.

She approached White Dragon. Holding up the saddle and saddlebags, she motioned towards White Dragon’s back, as she said, “Is it okay? They killed my horse.”

“Of course, Miss Tang. I am, after all, at your service. While I may not be proficient at battle, I do have other functions that you may find useful. I will reveal them at another time, when we have some privacy.”

Trip nodded, and strapped the saddle and saddlebags on to White Dragon. She glanced at Wukong, who was standing behind a drooping Mr. Drop-and-Roll. In stark contrast with his behaviour of cavorting around during the battle earlier, Wukong was now silent and still. His expression was dour. Most of his attention was focused on Mr. Drop-and-Roll, but he still seemed to be alert to his surroundings. Perhaps even overly alert, as he would sometimes twitch at some normal sound of the forest, such as a loud hoot from a nearby owl.

As she was observing Wukong, Trip opened her mouth, as though she was about to say something to him. In the end, she turned to Mr. Drop-and-Roll while saying “Let’s continue.”, and they went on their way.

.

***

After another hour or so, Mr. Drop-and-Roll stepped off the trail into the forest. Within minutes, they reached a clearing. Moonlight shone through the gap in the canopy, illuminating a semi-circle of tents that surrounded a large fire-pit. Spitted across it, were the remains of large deer.

With a sudden spurt of energy, Mr. Drop-and-Roll ran towards the largest tent and dived into it. It looked like it was large enough to comfortably fit a dozen people. Within it, could be heard the clanking and rattling of chains, as Mr. Drop-and-Roll hurriedly shouted “Your dinner’s here! A juicy woman and a monkey, go get them!”

A black-striped orange paw the size of Trip’s head parted the opening of the tent, and a loud THUMP was heard as another large black-striped orange paw landed on the ground, halfway out of the tent. With sinuous grace, a large furred creature uncoiled itself out of the tent and into a standing position, to reveal a massive bipedal tiger, eight feet tall and impressively muscled. Upon closer examination, it was a curious mixture of man and beast. It had the head, legs and tail of a tiger, but the torso, arms and general build, though thickly furred, resembled that of a man. It looked at Trip and Wukong with its lambent yellow eyes, and, with a voice that sounded somewhere between a purr and a roar, said “MEEEAAAAAAAT!”. It dropped to all fours, as it gathered itself to pounce.

Wukong, who was already standing nearer to the tent, dashed to interpose himself between the Tiger-man and Trip. Fortunately, he did not block Trip’s line of sight, as she already had her revolver trained on the Tiger-man the moment it stepped out of the tent. The moment it pounced, she shot it in the head.

A resounding BOOM echoed through the trees, as the Tiger-man landed on all fours in front of Wukong, shaking its head from side to side. A few drops of blood splattered the ground. The Tiger-man raised its head and glared at Trip, with the bullet lightly embedded in its forehead. Evidently, its forehead was a lot thicker than Trip had expected.

The Tiger-man roared at Trip, as it gathered itself to pounce again. Midway through its roar, its whiskers were painfully grabbed by Wukong, who pulled its head down until its eyes were level with Wukong.

As though emulating a certain giant monarch of apes, Wukong revealed all four of his long, sharp canines as he ROARED back. His roar sounded as though it emanated from the depths of a cave filled with enraged mother lions, tigers and bears who were protecting their threatened cubs. His roar was so threatening and intimidating, even Trip, who was standing behind him, could feel it vibrating deep in her chest. It caused the Tiger-man’s ears to lay flat against its head, as its entire posture reflexively went into a defensive half-crouch. To its credit, it quickly recovered and, embarrassed at having shown that it had been intimidated, even for a second, by this much smaller monkey, it viciously used all its strength to swipe at Wukong with a clawed paw.

With a direct and brutally efficient movement, not only did Wukong block the attack, he caused the Tiger-man’s entire arm to rebound. Before the Tiger-man could attempt another attack, Wukong drew back his fist, then punched the Tiger-man’s forehead, on the exact spot that Trip’s bullet had previously failed to penetrate. A cracking and crunching sound rang out, as Wukong’s fist sank halfway into the Tiger-man’s skull.

For a moment, all was still. Then, the Tiger-man crumpled into a heap, with its head still held up by the whiskers, grasped in Wukong’s other hand. Grimly, Wukong withdrew his fist from the Tiger-man’s skull, then started striding towards the large tent, as grey matter dripped from his fist.

Moments after entering the tent, Wukong emerged, dragging Mr. Drop-and-Roll out by the throat. When he reached the corpse of the Tiger-man, he stopped, making sure that the gasping Mr. Drop-and-Roll had a good look at it. Then, he raised Mr. Drop-and-Roll up until his eyes were level with Wukong’s.

“Suffer not an enemy in thy camp!”, growled Wukong, as he drew back his fist, preparing to strike.

“Wukong, stop! He’s not a threat anymore!”, said Trip from beside Wukong, her expression was stern as she laid a hand over Wukong’s fist.

Wukong glared at Trip as he shook off her hand. Although he had turned his face towards her, and his eyes were wide open, it seemed as though he was looking at something far away.

“SUFFER NOT AN ENEMY IN THY CAMP!” shouted Wukong, as he tightened his grip around Mr. Drop-and-Roll’s throat. Slowly he drew back his fist once more.

-- Chapter 8, End --