Alastair bursts out of his tent, clumsily swiping aside the flap and stumbling towards Emily, rubbing the sleep from his eyes furiously and shaking off the tiredness from the night. He brandishes his sword, sweeping from left to right in an attempt to spot whatever threat is menacing them. Nora lets out a hiss of pain as she shifts in the tent, pulling the flap open and crawling to look frantically around the forest.

  Alastair reaches Emily and leans in close to her, whispering slightly too loudly. “What? What is it?”

  Emily points upwards, her hands glowing brightly. “Um… I don’t know.” She glances at Blue, watching as he digs his claws excitedly into the dirt. “But Blue really wants to bite them.”

  “Them?” Alastair asks, as he and Nora look towards where she’s pointing, spotting the glowing orbs staring down at them.

  Alastair lets out a curse, looking to Nora. “Hey, you know what we’re up against here?”

  Nora squints, trying to figure out just that. “I don’t know…” She says, as she carefully sits up, using a tree branch to stay on her feet without putting pressure on her broken leg. “But they’re just… Staying there. I don’t like it.”

  “Yeah, me neither.” Alastair replies, as he hands Nora her bow and quiver. Nora gives him a nod of thanks as she takes both of them from him, slinging her quiver over her shoulder and running her fingers swiftly over their fletchlings, taking a mental count of how many she has left. She pulls one out and nocks it, scanning the treeline.

  Moving away from Nora, Alastair picks up a large log and chucks it into the fire in order to keep it lit as long as possible. He keeps his eyes peeled on the canopy, waiting to see any sign of movement or any shape that he could recognize.

  Blue lets out a shriek towards the figures, flapping his wings in warning, and the eyes scatter in a deafening explosion of rustling leaves, snapping branches and bent trunks. Emily looks to Nora, the light from her prepared spell shining off of her worried face.

  “What should we do?” She asks, as she spots an eye falling lower on a tree nearby.

  Nora opens her mouth to reply, and almost shrieks as one lands next to her. She stumbles and falls, dropping her bow with a cry as she hits the ground.

  “Nora!” Alastair shouts in concern, as he starts to rush towards her. Nora holds up a hand to halt him and he skids to a stop.

  “Wait, don’t startle it!” She whispers, holding out her hand to her group and shuffling on the ground in order to get more comfortable. She stares at the creature in awe, as it stares back at her, slowly moving closer and closer.

  “Why? What is it?” Alastair whispers back, his body tense with anticipation as he waits for something bad to happen.

  Nora chuckles in relief, as the creature steps further into the firelight, straight towards her. It's small and fluffy, with two long arms and two short, stubby legs. It cautiously walks towards Nora on its knuckles, its long, fluffy tail flicking out behind it. She holds out her hand, and it reaches towards it in return, placing a similar-looking hand in hers.

  Nora turns towards her team, revealing the small monkey holding her hand and staring at her with brightly glowing, curious eyes. “It’s just a red moon lemur.”

  She smiles as it sniffs at her hand before letting go and turning away, looking around in interest at the tent Nora and Emily share. It walks up to it on its prehensile feet, scratching at the material curiously and trying to open it up. Another one drops onto the forest floor, waddling towards Emily, its eyes wide and curious as it stares at the glow of her hands.

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  “Are they monsters?” Alastair asks, as two walk up towards him and starts to rummage through his pockets. “Hey,” he reprimands, as he pulls their hands out of his pockets gently, “No! Those are mine, hands off!”

  Nora smiles as another one crawls up onto her shoulder, its hands running through her hair and carefully picking out leaves and other detritus that must have gotten stuck in her ponytail after her fall.

  “They are, but they’re mostly harmless. They occasionally wander to the edges of the forest, so I’ve seen them before a few times.”

  “So… What should we do?” Emily asks, as three of them cluster around her glowing hands, holding tight to them and turning them this way and that, their eyes wide in awe.

  “Just let them look around for a bit and they’ll go on their merry way when they’re done.” Nora replies, as she slowly takes her bow back from a pair of them. “They’ll most likely take a bit of food, rummage through a few bags, and then leave when they get bored.”

  “And they won’t attack us?” Alastair asks, as he lifts his sword up high into the air, preventing a pair of monkeys from slicing their grabby little hands on it.

  “Not at all,” Nora says, as she smiles as a younger one cautiously crawls up towards her. She picks it up and it stares wide-eyed at her, grasping at her nose and mouth in curiosity. Nora giggles as it smiles at her, grasping at her hair. She turns to look at her friends, her eyes crinkling in amusement as she watches them getting swarmed by curious monkeys.

  “As long as you don’t attack them, they’re completely harmless.” She says confidently, as in the corner of her eye, she spots Blue as he pounces on top of one of them, giving the little guy barely enough time to squeak out in surprise and pain before he tears out its throat in one swift motion.

  “Blue! No!” Nora screams, as she turns her head to stare at the ostrich in horror. The forest falls silent around her, as hundreds of red, glowing eyes cast their judgement on him. A cry of anger and pain screeches out from the canopy, picked up by the others around it, the noise growing louder and louder around them.

  Nora hears the thump of a monkey landing on the ground nearby, followed closely by another and yet another. Her blood runs cold as monkey after monkey leaps off of the trees above, landing on the ground and starting to sprint towards Blue, a murderous rage in their eyes. Blue, seeing the monkeys swarming towards him, lets out a nervous screech of warning as he slowly starts to back up from the horde rapidly approaching him.

  The first monkey reaches him and he strikes out with his beak, taking it down in one hit. Jumping up into the air, he kicks out at another, the monkey letting out a pained screech as his claws rake across its chest deeply. Alastair raises his sword up, about to bring it down as the monkeys that once clinged to him leaps off and takes off towards Blue.

  “Don’t attack them!” Nora cries, halting Alastair mid-swing. “They’ll attack us if we do!”

  “But Blue needs help!” Emily shouts back, as she watches a monkey almost grab him before getting pecked.

  Alastair is frozen in place, unsure of what to do. Seeing Blue in so much panic makes him want to do nothing more than rush over and keep the little guy safe, but if he did that, he might bring down the horde on the whole party.

  A group of monkeys knock into Nora, knocking her to the ground with a pained cry. She lands heavily on the ground, and she lets out a hiss of pain, clutching her still-healing leg.

  Seeing her in pain, Alastair makes his decision. With a resigned look on his face, he sprints towards Nora, checking to make sure she’s okay.

  The first monkey manages to grasp onto Blue’s leg, holding on tightly and biting down deep into the limb. Blue lets out a desperate cry of pain, as he stumbles away from the grasp of yet another. More and more monkeys are starting to catch up to him, a murderous glint in their eyes. Blue still continues to back up as fast as he can, reaching around with his long neck to peck out the throat of the monkey.

  A wind blade sweeps through a group of monkeys before they can fall on Blue, bisecting them before passing by Blue, missing him entirely.

  “Emily, no!” Nora cries, as she watches Emily rush towards Blue’s aid, the monkeys turning their eyes towards her as she goes. A monkey falls on Emily’s shoulder, mouth wide open and ready to bite, before a concentrated blast of wind knocks it sailing into the air from Emily’s hand.

  Nora and Alastair watch helplessly as Blue and Emily disappear into the forest, the canopy above them alive with the sounds and sights of the monkeys following them carefully from the treetops.