As if in response, a tremendous screeching suddenly filled the air around them.
“ON YOUR GUARD!” one of the soldiers shouted. “MONKEY TROOP! PROTECT THE SUPPLY CARTS!”
One hundred brown macaques descended upon the caravan from the treetops. Fu had never seen anything like it. The medium-size monkeys tore into everything in sight, each one scrambling to find something edible to steal as the soldiers attempted to beat them off with spears. The monkeys' quick, erratic movements were too unpredictable. The soldiers were spectacularly unsuccessful.
A man shrieked, and Fu looked over to see Captain Yue slapping at a small monkey. The monkey ran off, and Captain Yue tied his silk curtains closed. Fu scanned the area and found Commander Woo hobbling over to one of the weapons carts, using the skinny scroll-bearer as a crutch. The skinny man helped Commander Woo clear out a space and climb into the cart. Then he closed a wooden hatch, securing Commander Woo inside. The skinny man grabbed a spear, and Fu watched as the man tried with great frustration to run the spear through a monkey or two. The man wielded the weapon poorly. He would make an easy target if Fu ever got out.
As Fu continued to watch the skinny soldier, something landed on top of his cage. From the sound, Fu assumed it was one of the larger monkeys.
“Stupid monkey!” Fu shouted. “You won't find any food in here!”
The monkey stopped moving. It suddenly leaped, screeching loudly, and came down heavily on the cage directly above Fu. Its foot landed between two of the bamboo bars and crashed down on top of Fu's head, covered by the blanket. Fu grabbed the foot through the blanket and yanked hard. The creature squealed. As Fu hung on, deciding what to do next, his nose recoiled. He knew that smell!
“Malao, it's me! Fu! Get me out of here!”
Malao jerked his foot up and the blanket went with it. He stuck his small, smiling face down between two bamboo bars running across the top of the cage. Beads of sweat dripped off his bald, dark-skinned head.
“Pussycat!” Malao said, giggling. “How did you get in there?”
“How did I get in here?” Fu said. “What are you doing up there?”
“I was—”
Malao disappeared. A soldier had grabbed his ankle and yanked him off the cage.
“Malao!” Fu cried as he found a seam between more blankets on the far side of the cage. He looked out and saw Malao twist and wiggle and kick and claw and bite, all at the same time. The soldier trying to hold on to him threw his hands up in the air and stepped back. Malao hit the ground and let out a shriek, leaping back up on top of Fu's cage. He tore the remaining blankets off and began to beat his chest like an angry ape, sending a piercing scream in the direction of the soldiers. The soldiers stopped and stared. Fu stared, too. He had never seen Malao like this before.
As Malao carried on, Fu slammed his hand against the top of the cage. “Hey, Monkey Boy! Remember me? Get me out of here!”
“Out! Out! Out!” Malao screeched as he jumped up and down atop the cage like one of the macaques, all the while slyly scanning the soldiers. A key ring glimmered in a soldier's hand, and Malao leaped at the man without hesitation. Soaring feetfirst through the air, Malao arrived with one leg on either side of the soldier's long neck. He locked his ankles behind the man's head and squeezed, scissor-style, while twisting his body to one side. The soldier folded in half sideways and choked, releasing the keys so that he could grab Malao's legs. The keys hit the ground the same time Malao did. Malao scrambled off the shaken man and grabbed the key ring. Five men sprang on him at once.
Malao managed to throw the key ring between the men an instant before he was pounded into the earth. The keys sailed through the bars of the cage, right into Fu's lap. Fu began fumbling through keys as Malao got pummeled. In no time, Fu found a key that looked about right and reached his arm through the bars to try it in the lock. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a soldier running toward him with a spear.
Fu pretended not to see the soldier and didn't flinch until the moment the soldier thrust his spear. Fu dropped the keys and twisted gracefully to his left side, lifting his right arm high as the spear tip breezed underneath his armpit. As the soldier withdrew the spear, Fu bent his right elbow and clamped it down as hard as he could on top of the spear shaft. Then he gripped the shaft with his right hand and jerked his body powerfully backward. The soldier was not rooted and lurched forward with the spear, smashing his head against the bamboo bars. Fu lunged forward himself, grabbing the man's long black hair with one hand between the bars. Fu shoved straight down as hard as he could. There was a sharp crack as the soldier's nose shattered against a large stone. Still conscious, the man ripped his head away from Fu and screamed as a fistful of his hair remained in Fu's hand. A chunk of scalp dangled from the clump of hair. Fu dropped it in the dirt and stared hard at the man. The man grabbed the hairy clump and ran away. Fu got back to work.