Chapter 25

  Waterfall Way - Max

  Max allowed himself to be led along the path. The river beside them was brown, but as they walked, the water became clearer. He was at the end of the line, but even here, he didn't assume that the gorillas weren't watching him. He couldn't help but wonder what he was going to do. Nothing had changed, so going along quietly was still the best choice. He agreed with Link that this was the best plan, but what he was seeing in the gorillas concerned him. The gorillas were planning some action against the Forest of Animals, but now, seeing how they treated even their own, his concern increased. He started to be afraid. Max knew, when he first learned of Conqest and the gorilla rebellion, that whatever they were doing, it wasn't anything good. Seeing what had happened to Storm, that they would leave him behind, showed a level of cruelty that was beyond anything he imagined.

  Part of him still felt guilty about what had happened. Yet as he thought about it, he knew that Storm coming up to him in the dark was not an act of kindness. Max defended himself, but every time he tried to remind himself of that, the picture of the bloody gorilla lying on the ground filled his mind. Max had never seen anything quite like it. It reminded him of when a lion had pulled the skin off his prey, exposing what was beneath. It caused Max to shudder just a bit.

  Bond must have felt something in the rope because he paused and looked back. But to Max's relief, Link came to the rescue.

  "I was just thinking," Link said, pulling a little bit on the rope that they were both tied to, "I don't think my friends would have left me behind like that."

  Bond just stared a moment, then paused and let Max close the small distance between them.

  Bond whispered, "You're probably fortunate that Storm isn't coming with us. He hates elephants, and he hates people like you even more. If Storm had his way, both you and your ride here would be dead."

  Max tried to keep walking as if he hadn't heard anything, but he had heard and stopped even as Bond held out his hand to gently push on his trunk.

  Max wondered if his reaction to Storm might have saved them from something far worse. Max was certain that in Bond's mind, Storm was more than bad, especially when he heard the next thing Bond said.

  Bond continued, "And as far as leaving friends behind, Storm doesn't have any friends.

  Link spoke from on top of Max. "But you're working together. That doesn't mean something?"

  "If Conquest weren't here, none of us would have been traveling with him. He'd probably would have tried to kill one of us in our sleep, and he absolutely would have killed you, so shut your mouth."

  Bond rubbed Max's trunk and said in a sweet, soft voice, "Now, be quiet."

  Max assumed the tone was to keep him from being upset, but the problem was that it wasn't the tone that concerned Max; it was the implied threat.

  "I know, I know, as you said, I'll try," Link replied and lay on Max's head.

  Bond turned and led Max further down the path.

  But for Max, the conversation brought a certain level of relief. No, he still didn't feel good about hurting Storm. But now he was certain that he acted in self-defense. Storm must have been planning to do something to him when no one could see it. Max didn't know what it might be, but he wondered if one of the bags that Storm carried didn't contain something a bit more deadly than the ointment Bond used.

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  It was at this point that Max's thoughts moved from Storm to what he heard. He heard the sound of a large waterfall. A moment later, the path turned, and the chasm canyon ended at a waterfall as wide as the canyon coming from far above. Max started to look up, but then realized that it wasn't an action a non-talking elephant would do. But from what little he could see, the waterfall was very tall. It was Link who provided the answer.

  "Wow," Link said, "that must go all the way up to the Upper Plains."

  No one responded. Max wondered if Link would persist in speaking, but he held his tongue. Max could see that the path went straight into one edge of the waterfall. To his amazement, Conquest and the others walked up to it and then ran right into the water.

  As they got closer, Bond reapplied the ointment to his trunk and said, "Come on, let's go, let's go."

  Bond walked ahead and pulled on the lead rope, looked at Link, and said, "You're going to have a chance to get some more water, Link. Don't waste it." Then Bond looked at Max and encouraged, "Come on, come on."

  Max was really getting tired of being spoken to like a child, but he knew he had to keep quiet. He did as Bond said. He walked faster up and then through the waterfall. On the other side, there was a cavern. The cavern was big enough to hold at least four or five normal-sized elephants. And on one wall, there was a tunnel going up.

  The wall was lined with murals carved into the stone of the walls. This must have been another work of the dwarfs as it was dwarves that were drawn on the wall.

  Max was so surprised by what he saw, he let out a small gasp of surprise.

  Max thought he may have given himself away, but Link came to rescue.

  The otter taunted, “AHH. That was refreshing. I feel better. Unfortunately, now all I smell is wet gorillas. Who knew that gorillas smelled worse when they were wet? Most animals smell better after a little shower.”

  One of the gorilla’s seem to have had enough of Link’s comments. Ash ran at Max, screaming, then climbed up Max’s face and began to punch Link.

  Max wanted to reach back and grab the gorilla and throw him off his back, but knew it would not help. Max did the next best thing; he quickly reared back and trumpeted out his displeasure. With Max rearing up on his back legs, the gorilla lost his balance. The gorilla fell hard to the ground. Before Max could do anything else, Bond was in front of him, liberally wiping the ointment on his trunk and speaking sweetly.

  Bond spoke in a tone of gentleness, not matching at all what he said, “It’s okay, the otter is an idiot and has a death wish. He doesn’t know when to keep quiet, and Ash here is lucky that you didn’t smash him into the ground. Yes, it's going to be okay, because everyone is going to be quiet and move.

  Max heard a grumble, but Ash seemed contrite as he moved by Bond. Max fought a smile when he saw the gorilla had bloodied his nose.

  “Don’t fool around with the otter. We have got to get moving.” Conquest yelled from the front. “We have some time to make up. Do you want me to say you held us up?"

  Ash didn't respond, so Conquest growled out, "Do you want me to say this is your fault, Ash?”

  "No, sir." Ash ignored the blood on his face and moved ahead to walk with his comrades at the front of the line.

  Max shoved aside the pleasure he got from seeing Ash hurt after attacking Link. What Max just heard confused him. Link had said Conquest was the leader of the rebel gorillas. However, the last comment sounded like they answered someone else.

  Max didn't have time to just stand there, as the gorillas didn't waste any time and began marching up the tunnel.

  Bond, just as he expected, led Max. And Max quickly understood that the cavern was more than it appeared. The tunnel went up and turned in a circle, Max was sure, because soon he could see through openings the waterfall and see that they were getting higher.

  Max was amazed. He had heard the wonders of the dwarfs. Clearly, this was another pathway to the upper plains. Though Max knew that wherever this led, it would leave them on the east side of the Three Rivers. The one thing everyone knew was that the Three Rivers were uncrossable, which caused Max to wonder why they would bring elephants here. If they were planning to attack the Forest of Animals on the other side of the Three Rivers.

  Max would learn why soon enough. For now, he guessed that perhaps the Three Rivers were not as uncrossable as everyone believed.