A Tale That Dawned [Book 4 of Selvina's Tale series]

Chapter 27: Nature's Fury

Deep in the jungle of Skull Island, Tarzan bowed his head at another of the tragedies that had occurred since the arrival of the Black Death. He knelt and gingerly placed a hand on the dying animal's body, wincing at the gurgling sound of its breathing and slow rise and fall of its massive side. Behind him, someone held back tears.

"Why is this...demon here?" asked Snow White, her face as pale as her hair and her eyes red and moist. She sniffed and knelt beside Tarzan, placing her much smaller hand beside his, feeling the creature's last breaths. It was a huge mastodon, the matriarch of the island's herd, and it had suffered gruesomely when defending her family. The black-armoured menace had hardly slowed when confronting her, slicing off her reaching trunk with a single swing of its blade and then repeatedly impaling her with dark tentacles of energy. As the large beast fell over, it continued on, ignoring it completely. The herd, witnessing such tragedy, had given the demonic being a wide berth.

"Very old," Tarzan said haltingly, eyeing the dying animal. "Grandmother many times."

Snow White was pleased with his progress of the Faeryin language but had he known it all there were few words to be said anyhow. She watched him rise with difficulty and grip his spear tighter. She looked away, knowing what he meant to do and agreeing that it needed to be done, but not wishing to see it anyway.

Mercifully, there was a loud, hollow breath that escaped the mastodon's mouth and Tarzan sighed, partly in relief and partly in sadness. She was dead. The young, white-haired woman and the wild-haired jungle man stayed with her as nearby, the herd approached, calling out softly to their fallen leader.

A shadow passed over them all and Snow White looked back to see the Lord of the Island himself approach the scene, the gigantic ape's head lowered in grief. Despite being about thirty feet high, the giant moved softly through the thick jungle, capable of sneaking up on the most alert of creatures. He reached out and gently brushed the mastodon's body, whimpering softly.

"Knew her," Tarzan explained to Snow. "When she...very small."

Snow watched the great guardian of the island brush the dead mastodon with his fingers and bowed his head, as if in prayer. Snow didn't know if the Lord of the Island was capable of prayer but all around her the other mastodons did the same, lowering their gaze and in some cases even kneeling down on their forelegs. They were all grieving for the old queen and it brought fresh tears to her eyes. When it was finished, the giant ape gingerly grasped the mastodon in his hands and carried her into the jungle, lifting the huge animal as if it weight nothing. The herd followed close behind.

"Where is he going with her?" she asked Tarzan.

"He go where all tusked ones go to rest," he said. "Be with her parents, she will be."

"A graveyard just for the mastodons?"

Tarzan nodded. After a moment, his expression hardened and turned, facing north, toward the massive skull-shaped rock that gazed over the jungle. "Black Death went that way."

"Tarzan, no," Snow White said, rushing up to him and grasping his arm. "Even the Lord of the Island doesn't fight him. He knows better. So should you!"

"Many deaths already!"

"I know, Tarzan! I know! You can't fight it, though."

The tanned and toned man clenched his spear tighter, the muscles on his arm bulging. He grit his teeth and growled. "What must we do?"

Snow wanted to have an answer for him but, struggle as she did, none came. "I...don't know..." She had accustomed herself to the jungle life rather well, surprising Tarzan and even herself. She had tossed aside her old clothes for a simple leather loincloth and a strip over her chest. The wilderness suited her and just as Tarzan was learning Faeryin speech, she herself was quickly learning the language of the animals. It had been a skill she had always cherished but now it was proving to be invaluable. The Lord of the Island had quickly grown a liking to her only days after she had decided to remain in the island. It had allowed her to convince him to help Selvina and her friends in rebuilding their ship when Hook had arrived to retrieve them. She had nearly gone with them then but the call of the wild had been stronger.