Luana by Alan Dean Foster Page B

morning’s run. We can catch up to them easily on the other side. Let’s go.”
    She started in that direction and paused abruptly, aware that only Jukakhan was following. She turned.
    “So?”
    For once Chaugh and Ohoh found themselves in agreement.
    “So much trouble and time, so much effort and care, for a few strange man-things,” the panther mumbled. “Why?” He moved restlessly to the edge of the jungle and waited. Ohoh followed, hopped into a tree.
    “What do you mean, ‘why?’ ” Luana eyed the cat sharply. “They need our help, for one thing. You saw what nearly happened to the she.”
    “Such fools deserve to die.”
    “Why, Chaugh!” The panther was often moody, but rarely so bitter. It would have been small consolation if she’d known that he was unaware of the reasons behind his own discontent. He growled.
    “You must choose, sister. Jungle law or man law.”
    “I must not,” she countered. “I can go by either or both when they don’t conflict.”
    “That is true,” put in Jukakhan.
    Chaugh snarled. “You keep out of this, slayer of mice.”
    “What was that?” The huge lion took an incredulous step forward.
    “You heard me, brother. Killer of rats. Destroyer of snails. Slayer of . . .”
    It was already too much for Jukakhan. The lion took another step forward and leaped. Chaugh rose to meet him, and the two cats went head over heels into the brush.
    “Chaugh! Jukakhan! Stop this insanity! Do you understand me, stop it!”
    She followed quickly, trying to get between them as they tumbled over and over through the undergrowth. It was impossible, like trying to separate a hurricane from its eye.
    Something wet and slimy hit her on the back of the neck. She reached back and her hand came away with a mass of sticky pulp. Just above and behind, Ohoh danced and chattered on a high branch.
    “Hah, sister, how do you like my arguments, hmmm?” He threw another of the overripe fruits and she just managed to dodge it. There were plenty of the fruit trees around. But there was also a goodly supply of the sweetish, rotting fruit lying on the ground.
    As the two cats spun through the brush, a tornado of black and brown, she and Ohoh exchanged pot shots. Luana could throw harder and with more accuracy than the chimp. However, Ohoh made a small target and was incredibly agile besides. Before long both were liberally dosed with sticky green syrup and tiny seeds.
    Luana feinted and the chimp darted behind the trunk of one of the trees. She dashed quickly underneath. Ohoh leaned out, looking for her. When he saw nothing, he leaned further, trying cautiously to see around the bole of the next tree. As he did so, a not so rotten fruit hit him square behind one ear and knocked him clean off the branch. He got up slowly from the fall, holding his head with both hands.
    “Oooo,” he moaned. “Ohoh is killed. Ohoh is dead!”
    “Ohoh is covered with rotten fruit!” laughed Luana, rushing past him.
    Now to do something about those two obstreperous brothers of hers! A vine, another, and she was on a limb just above them. She measured the drop and distance carefully, then stepped off the branch. The biggest fruit she could find she held high over her head, a fat green specimen nearly as large as a pumpkin.
    As she landed on Chaugh’s back she brought the fruit down with both hands and hit Jukakhan right between the eyes. Sap and pulp and seeds flew in all directions. The lion roared in surprise and backed free, shaking its head and blinking. Then he lay down and began to rub at the sticky mess with his paws.
    Chaugh pranced and darted and threw himself every which way in the bushes. Luana clamped her thighs tight to the panther’s muscular sides and buried her hands in his neck, refusing to let go. River monster hadn’t been able to break that grip. Neither could Chaugh. He finally ran out of steam and sank exhausted to the ground, crunching leaves and twigs with his belly.
    She leaned over and