Romanowski and Rosemary

18. Sins of Remun Ra

He stopped when he detected a heartbeat in the vicinity. Momentarily halting his breathing, he glanced around and, atop a high tree, saw someone hanging from the branch.

A baboon.

"Oh, damn, okay," he breathed out a sigh of relief and shaking his head, trod on the muddy path. "yes very simple actually. I'll just say Priestess Chryseis is also missing and bam! That'll work as a catalyst for Julian," he sighed. "When he knows baby Cors is missing, he'll deffo jump into action-"

Dunkin abruptly whirled around and to his horror, saw that same baboon approaching at Godspeed velocity toward him.

Immediately, he stopped in his tracks, not moving an inch, when in reality, he wanted to sprint madly.

You don't run when a crazy baboon spots you. He remembered his trainer's words. Goddamn it every little thing they taught is coming handy. He thought back to his training days when he found stuff like animal attack defence absurd. He made sure to keep his mouth shut because again, baboons get this sick idea you're challenging them if you show them your teeth.

The brown-haired creature screeched, putting his ridiculously sharp teeth at display.

"Baboons are friendly, yeah, they don't harm humans unnecessarily- dude!" He yelped when the animal made a bark-like sound, inching forward.

Sweating, Dunkin discreetly searched the linen bag for some bread he'd carried and tossed it to the animal, but it didn't even look at it.

That blew Dunkin's mind. Because he knew baboons were damn aggressive when it came to snatch food.

"You maniac, I'm getting late," The next procedure was to throw away whatever things one carried, to the animal, like it was some God at whose feet, everything was to be sacrificed.

Something clicked in Remun Ra's head. God.

Carefully, he eyed the baboon again and thought back to some Egyptian God who resembled a baboon.

The Thoth God.

To his bafflement, the moment he thought about it, the baboon appeared to smirk and, in a flash, snatched his linen bundle.

"Shit, shit, NO!" Dunkin cried out as he ran after the animal, but it was too late, for the baboon quickly hopped over a tree, dangling the linen bag containing Coretta's AI book.

"Oh, God, what is this punishment you're giving me?" Tears welled in his eyes when he thought about his bestie's book. Not only would her writings be lost forever if not burnt, if it got into the wrong hands, it would bring hell. "Please, please Mr. Baboon, bite me all you want, but return her book!" he cried out.

The Sun had gone down, covering the sky in orange haze. The breeze had stopped too, leaving behind the chirp of birds going home, echoing in the surrounding.

More than an animal, the baboon looked human, lively, as if it was contemplating something. Then, casually, it tore open the linen bag and started throwing everything down. Bread, fruits, cloth, papyrus sheets, until it held Coretta's AI book.

Dunkin's heart, beating wildly, stretched his arms wide, ready to catch the book which the primate was about to throw as well. But his heart dropped when the baboon stared at Coretta's book and began barking as if it had no bounds to its happiness.

It was hard to believe, but Dunkin saw. The baboon was damn happy with the book.

He wanted to think that it was some spy animal tasked with stealing books, but a heavy pain suddenly engulfed Dunkin's head as he knelt on the forest floor, holding his hair. "The fuc-" he heaved, "The hecks wrong with me-"