Chapter 121: War of the apes. 1900 CE (4)

[Uganda-Congo border]

A small British army had just crossed the border to Congo. They were crossing a river, and took time to transport some of the supply. They brought some horses and carriages, as the terrain of Africa is hard to go through.

A commander was overseeing the small army, commanding every man to quickly move the supplies. He walked towards the other side of the river, where a jungle stood. He looked around, it was quiet, but he could feel something was wrong.

"Commander." said a man suddenly, turning the commander's attention to him.

"Report." the commander ordered.

"Our scouts found nothing." the soldier answered. "There are no wild animals, and we are clear to go."

"None at all?" the commander frowned.

"Is there something wrong with that, commander?"

"We are facing an unknown and mythical enemy here, soldier." said the commander calmly. "Tell me, do you believe the newspapers? That these apes inside these jungles could talk?"

"I… truly don't know sir, only one way to find out…"

"Exactly." the commander hummed. "The scouts didn't see anything?"

"No, sir."

"At all?"

"Yes, sir."

The commander sighed. "Very well, dismissed."

The soldier then left the commander alone. He kept watching the jungle, as if he was alert at all times.

But then, the jungles suddenly shook. The trees were moving uncontrollably, birds flying to the sky, a sign of huge movement. The commander frowned and turned around. "Enemy attack! On position!"

He shouted at the top of his lungs, and quickly, the soldiers got in position. They dropped their carriage, and used it as cover, aiming at the jungles in front of them.

They quickly loaded their rifles, they weren't muskets, rather breech loading rifles, a new technology, a sign that the Empire was serious on dealing with these… apes…

"Hold!" shouted the commander, raising his hand. The trees kept moving, the bushes started to shake uncontrollably, as if a herd of buffalo were running through the thick jungle.

But, it just suddenly stopped, which made the commander even more alert. The jungle was dead quiet, not even a sound was produced anymore.

Then, a bush started to shake, and the soldiers were aiming at it. The bush kept shaking, as if a 'thing' was travelling through it. As it reached the end of the jungle, it revealed a gigantic gorilla, who was standing straight like a normal human. The gorilla was 8 to 9 ft tall, dwarfing the humans, he was wearing a metal-like attire, but the attire was loose and flexible, unlike most metals, he was wearing a yellow necklace made out of wood and leaves, and a crown fit for the king of the jungle.

As he took a step, the ground shook, signifying how heavy he is. The commander noticed that there was a ring on his finger, glowing faintly as the gorilla moved. Gorilla was unarmed, which was calming and alarming at the same time.

The gorilla stood around 10 ft away from the carriages, and spoke in fluent english. "Turn back to your land, soldiers."

"Dear god…" the commander heard someone murmuring. "It's all true…"

"Silence." the commander whispered sternly. The commander grabbed a handgun, and put it on his holster, before walking through the barricade, towards the gorilla.

"This is the territory of her majesty the queen." said the commander calmly, still walking to the gorilla. "I would suggest you evacuate your… society… from the area. We do not want any conflict with your kind, simian."

"Planting flags on the ground does not make you the owner of the land." the gorilla gruffed. "Turn around humans, before you regret it."

The commander looked at the gorilla, and sighed. "Why don't we discuss this like civilised men?"

"There's nothing civilised about you," said the gorilla calmly. "Enslaving your own species, is that how low humans have become?"

"We didn't enslave anybody, it has been banned, we simply made them work for the benefit of the empire."

"Tell that to Leopold." the gorilla gruffed.

The commander was a bit surprised. "You know about our kings and queens?"

"We Zimeran apes do not condone war. We are a nation of peace." said the gorilla.

"Yet you attacked the Belgians out of nowhere."

"For a good reason." refuted gorilla. "Do not act like you are the messenger of god, human. Eshu brought us intelligence, and we will return to him, to serve him once more when we die. He helped us prosper, and told us to pursue peace above all others, but he also told us to bring his wrath to those who hurt our kind."

The gorilla then walked closer to the commander, making the other soldiers alert. They all aimed at the gorilla, but the commander kept calm. The gorilla knelt, making his face and the commander stood close.

"What will it be, human?" questioned the gorilla menacingly. "Do you want to receive our kindness, or our wrath? We already kicked the Belgians out of our land, do you think we couldn't do it with you?"

Suddenly, hundreds of Gorillas and apes appeared on the trees, as if they were there from the start. They were armoured to the brim, with a colour scheme of silver and gold. They were holding warhammers, strange guns that glew, and floating darts that moved on command.

The soldiers gulped as they saw that. The sight of an armoured simian army was a terrifying thing to see, it was like straight from a fantasy.

The commander was also surprised, he saw the strange technology that these apes created, and he was sure that all of the soldiers behind him would be killed, to erase the intelligence if they attack.

"Very well." sighed the commander, surprising the soldiers. "We will retreat. But I will ask her majesty to send a diplomat to your nation, simian, maybe we could learn to live together as a society."

"We will see." the gorilla hummed. "Send them to this place, and my subjects will send them to me."

"Your… subjects?"

"I am Grodd. Ruler of Zimera. King of the apes." spoke the gorilla. "Tell that to your queen. Do not step into our lands unprovoked again, or you will suffer the consequences."

The commander frowned, and nodded. He quickly commanded the army to retreat. Slowly but surely, the soldiers started to retreat once again, all the while the apes were watching them.

As soon as they crossed the river, there was some noise from the jungle.

"HOO! HOO! HOO! HOO!" The gorillas were huffing loudly, as well as thumping their chests in a rhythmic way.

The commander could see the king doing the same, thumping his chest as he huffs, staring at the commander menacingly.

—

An old woman was drinking tea slowly as she was watching her garden peacefully. Then, a group of well dressed men suddenly destroyed her peace, as they were arguing nonstop on the way to her.

"Your majesty, news from Africa." said a butler.

"Do not hear the news, your majesty! It is a joke!" another man refuted.

"Silence." said the queen calmly. "Speak."

"The Simian society that were recently at war with Belgians were requesting a visit," said the butler. "They were planning to stop at London as their last stop before going home again."

"What's their destination before us?" questioned the queen.

"Only Belgium, your majesty." answered the butler. "They wanted to demand justice there, however, we do not know why they want to go to us, they asked us at the last minute, because as of now, the king of the apes is travelling to Belgium, along with a small entourage of simians."

The queen hummed as she sipped her tea. "Very well, I accept their request."

"Your majesty?!" another man barged in. "You must be joking! You don't think you will accept these filthy… apes to our nation, do you?!"

"Watch your tongue," said the queen sharply. "I'm old, and in need of entertainment. I heard these simians defeated the Belgians quickly, and liberated the whole Congo basin."

"That is true, your majesty…"

"Then the chance of them storming Uganda, and possibly towards the north to Egypt is high." said the queen. "Hear what they said, perhaps we could deal with this without a war breaking, gather intelligence, and perhaps we could strike when they were at their weakest."

"Very well, your majesty.'