Warning: Violence, blood, guts

Chapter 3: The Killer

While her husband and sons were hunting, Jane and her daughter stayed in the nests with the tribe. The mangani can eat meat but they prefer to eat bugs, which are easier to find and consume. As humans, however, Tarzan and his family need more meat, and so the men hunted. Perhaps someday Kala too would become a mighty hunter.

But that day would be a long time in coming, Jane mused. Using a tattered cloth, she wiped the drool from her infant's face with a smile. She hummed a soft tune under her breath and went back to her task of making clothes for her family. Though Tarzan had been fine in the jungle without having clothes, Jane didn't see any reason why he had to go on in such a manner. She knew that Tarzan saw clothes as the mark of a civilized man, and while Tarzan had little care for civilized man's rules, tricks, and lies, since he'd left the jungle that first time so many years ago, he no longer wished to be a simple beast.

Their clothes weren't much, still allowing for comfort and flexibility. She'd made a few pairs of short pants for the males, coming to just under their knees, as well as an updated version of Tarzan's classic loincloth. She'd had quite a shock the first time she'd seen that. Tarzan's loincloth had been nothing more than a small piece of hide that didn't really cover much. Jane had gotten more than an eyeful that first day. Now she'd made a sort of cloth cup that would, erm, hold things together, so to speak, while the old loincloth still hung in the front. Though, Jane recalled with a blush, sometimes her wild man still preferred to run about in his traditional wear. For her, she'd made a top that came to just above her belly button, and a short skirt with shorts attached underneath. She'd made a few similar outfits for her daughter, though Kala wouldn't be wearing them for a long time yet. She thanked God and the Jungle for Bara. If it weren't for them, they might all truly be running around the jungle naked!

"Jane! Queen of the Jungle!" Neeta, Jane's old friend, flew from the leaves to hop along the floor of their nest.

"Neeta," Jane greeted him with a peaceful smile, her silky hair falling over her shoulders gracefully. When she saw her friend's ruffled feathers, she rose a slim brow. "Is something wrong, friend?" She asked him.

"Neeta sees Numa!" He squawked. Jane gasped. A lion! She immediately reached for Kala. "Neeta tells Numa to go away! Tarzan will kill Numa!" He puffed up his chest with pride at this for a moment. "Numa says Tarzan will not die! Says Tarzan will weep! Bring Tarzan to Numa! Bring Tarzan to Numa!" Jane's face grew pinched. Tarzan will weep? That is strange. She shook her head. There are more pressing things to worry about, she told herself. She scanned the area and was shocked to find the feline prowling quite close to the tribe. She shouted at Neeta, demanding that he raise an alarm and then go inform her husband. He flew off without another word, squawking loudly.

The apes stilled, before leaping into action. The young, elderly, and vulnerable were swiftly herded into the middle of the nests. As Tarzan commanded of them, the stronger apes formed a circle around the weak, facing out to the jungle just as Numa charged into view. He attacked a nearly full-grown ape, claws digging into his arms and fangs catching him below his neck. Bleeding but not fatally injured, the male grabbed Numa by the shoulders and flung him away. Numa landed on his feet and charged again, aiming for a smaller but fully grown female. She bared her fangs and beat the floor in a show of strength, daring the beast to come closer. Numa roared at her, but attacked the female next to her. Not expecting this, the ape could not bring her arms up in time to stop the cat from sinking his fangs into her neck. She thrashed for a few moments, then fell over, dead. Numa grunted a laugh and stood back, eying the tribe.

Just as quickly as their sister had gone down, the tribe had closed the opening in the circle, and continued to shriek and roar at the lion. The Queen watched all this from high up in trees, as Tarzan had asked her to. This all looked very strange. Numa had already killed their cousin. Why had he not made off with his meal? Why linger, knowing he could not defeat the tribe in their newly learned formation? Numa retreated to the trees. Just as the tribe thought he would leave, he burst back into view, attacking but hardly injuring another male.

That was just odd. Again, the lion retreated into the jungle. Something was wrong here. The next time the cat came into view, Jane gaped at a scar on the cat's back. T- that was Nuka! Son of the terrible Zira, the lioness whom Tarzan had killed those many years ago when she'd first come to the jungle! Then... where was his sister? They were never apart. Realization dawned on her face and her heart thundered in her chest. It couldn't be.

Could it?

She looked to the river, where her boys often go to hunt. A harsh look graced her pretty face. She grabbed a sling from the nest and wrapped it around herself. She gently secured Kala into it and pushed it around so that the child would be on her back. Then she grabbed a vine and took off into the jungle. Nuka watched her leave. He disappeared into the jungle, leaving the tribe alone with their fear and confusion.

But a minute or two later, Tarzan arrived. In no time at all he was able to read the situation. He took off after his wife.

At the river, Korak demanded that Archimedes stay behind him and growled fiercely when his young brother attempted to argue. In front of him crouched Vitani, daughter of Zira, sister of Nuka. She and her brother had lived for many years, and their strength and cunning were infamous on Jungle Island. They circled each other, Korak holding a simple but deadly spear in one hand and a large, intricate switchblade in the other, a gift from his father. Vitani hissed and growled, before throwing her head back and grunting a lion's laugh.

"How lucky I am to find the white monkeys without their king," she purred. Archie noticeably bristled at the insult.

"I don't think luck is what brought you here," Korak responded. He remained ever impassive and prepared to fight. The feline rumbled low and sat gracefully, her long tail swishing about in a relaxed manner.

"Perhaps you are right," Vitani agreed, quite pleasantly. "Tell me, Prince: You are of age, are you not?" Korak frowned. He was 17 now, yes, fully grown in the eyes of men.

"I don't see why that's any business of yours," Korak hissed at the lioness and motioned for Archie to flee into the trees. To his relief, his young brother obeyed. The great cat hardly spared the child a glance, licking her paw and running the wet appendage over her head. She shook herself and stood.

"I am only concerned for you, young one," she explained, prowling closer. Korak circled around to keep the distance between them. "It doesn't look like the King will be dying any time soon, and there are no ugly naked monkeys here for you to mate." Korak scowled. "You will never be King."

"Thank you for your concern," he acknowledged politely. "But you've no need to involve yourself with things you cannot understand, simple beast." At the insult, the cat quickly poised for attack and hissed wildly at the young man. Korak only smirked. Vitani looked to the trees and visibly shook herself in an attempt to regain composure. Relaxing her stance, she purred:

"A simple beast, am I? Simple enough to best the mighty King of the Jungle, and his Prince!" Suddenly, there was a loud roar behind Korak.

He turned to find Nuka lunging at him at him from the dense jungle. Acting quickly, he hit the dirt and rolled away. He was back of his feet in seconds and turned to smack Nuka in the back of his skull with his spear, using enough force to stun a man. The cat was not unaffected, but this only made the beast angrier. Shaking off the dizziness, he turned to Korak with his claws fully extended and roared. Korak raised his spear. The two charged at each other. Nuka swiped for Korak, but the man jumped and landed on the beast's head, using it to launch himself upward. He flipped over Nuka and landed behind him, the force of the jump pushing the lion's face into the ground. From behind him, Korak stabbed at him with the spear. He knew there was nowhere he could fatally wound the cat from that position, and so did his best to injure him. Using his spear, he was able to pierce the upper portion of both the cat's hind legs.

Nuka yowled in pain and quickly turned to face the man, ignoring the burning pain and blood streaming from his legs. With a growl, Vitani hurled herself into the fight. Korak just managed to escape her claws. Both felines faced him now, and Korak raised his weapons with a deep, fearsome roar that rang throughout the jungle like thunder. All the noise of the jungle stopped. After a moment of silence, the cats hesitated, then charged. They were strong and quick, with long teeth and claws, but Korak was not afraid. The lions would fall. But he worried for Archimedes, hardly more than a child. He must believe that his troublesome little brother is clever enough to escape.

High in the trees, Archimedes' thoughts were quite the opposite. Korak will die, he reasoned. Korak was able to escape Nuka's claws, but he was steadily being pushed toward Vitani, who's heavy paws bore down on his spear with great force. Looking around him, Archie's eyes narrowed with intrigue when he saw a particular plant. It was a round, mushroom like plant that grew in clusters and was eaten by no animal in the Jungle. Lycoperdon perlatum, the puffball. Smirking, he scooped them up.

"Korak!" He called. "Go low!" Korak ducked as his brother began firing the plants at Vitani. They smacked her body with a wet sound and each burst into a thick black smog with about a little under a meter diameter. As each puffball hit her, the cloud around her grew and soon she was wheezing and stumbling blindly. "Ha!" Archie mocked her, grinning cockily. Vitani's body turned toward him and she shook herself. Eyes closed, she ran towards him from the cloud of poison. Archie's grin melted into wide-eyed shock. "Uh oh!" he commented aptly. He turned and ran into the jungle, death hot on his heels.

Still running with the speed born of a Jungle Prince, Archimedes led the blinded lioness away from his brother. He had no weapons, having left his spear at the river. He cursed his carelessness in not bringing his bow to the hunt. While his brother Korak preferred his spear, and knives, and fists, Archimedes wielded the bow in a way that stunned his father, and mother, and grandfather. Having constructed his own bow and arrows, he could shoot with 88% accuracy at a distance of 10 meters, as far as he'd measured. He'd only recently begun to record such things. But there was no use regretting what could not be changed, when his mental capacities could be much further used in the situation at hand: That is, running for his life. He heard the small, frightened cries of unseen creatures as Vitani trampled blindly through the trees after him. She wheezed and coughed and growled, blinking harshly in a vain attempt to clear her vision and trying her best not to fall. She relied only on her keen hearing, following Archie's light, airy footsteps.

At the river, Korak battled with the injured but infuriated Nuka. Lunging for him, Nuka swiped Korak's spear from his hand. Korak growled softly, stepping away from the cat's deadly claws. He didn't have time for this! His dear brother, so young and small, was in danger! Nuka was fighting a losing battle. He was weak and losing blood rapidly, though the weaker he became the angrier he grew, giving him the strength to continue fighting. He might have saved his breath. Korak was without his spear, but he was strong. Looking to his left, he smirked when he laid his sword sharp eyes on a boulder. With a great leap, the rock was at his feet and Nuka was a few feet away. While The Prince's back was turned, Nuka's eyes narrowed. He saw his victory. He lunged for him agian. Korak picked up the heavy rock with both hands and slung it around just in time for it to smack into the side of Nuka's skull. The boulder slammed to the earth with a heavy thud, the dust mixing with the blood splattered across it's surface. Nuka body lay sprawled across the earth beside him.

Korak stared down at the beast, his chest heaving with a feeling he could not name. With a pitiful mewl, Nuka swiped once more at the Prince's feet. Piercing eyes narrowed. The rock was raised again. A sickening crunch filled the air along with blood as the boulder smacked into the cat's skull once- twice- thrice. Nuka was dead. With a great heave, Korak raised the thick creature above his head. He roared his victory to the skies, a sound fearsome, deadly, and all his own. A sound that carried across the jungle like the winds of a hurricane and cracked through the air like a gunshot in the night. He roared and roared again. He was Korak of the Apes, Prince of the Jungle. He was mighty, and none would stand against him. He heard the answering challenge of the jungle- the bellow of a lone mangani, the roar of Numa. He grinned.

Growing ever closer, Tarzan and Jane heard his call of victory.

"Korak!" The Prince heard Archie call behind him and turned to see his little brother burst from the trees, barely escaping the claws of Vitani. Berating himself for forgetting the danger for even an instant, he dropped the corpse with a heavy thud. His silver eyes narrowed and he roared with challenge. Vitani's eyes dart to him and she hissed. When she saw her dead brother, she howled with grief- a pitiful wail that grate against Korak's ears.

"Brother!" She cried desperately. She ran to him and shook him with her paw. "Nuka!" Mewling, she knelt to lick his snout. He lay still. She bowed her head and leaned against him, whimpering against his corpse.

Korak switched open his blade silently and began inching closer to his spear. Before he could reach it however, Vitani turned her gaze to him. Her eyes were dark with hate. She would kill him. She sprung for Korak suddenly. Korak jumped to the side. One of his hands came up between him and the lioness and shoved her lethal claws away. He turned in time to dig his blade into her already tormented throat. She choked and Korak smirked when he saw her spit blood. Blood burst from the wound, but the blade had miraculously missed all vital points, though blood loss alone would be a great problem for the feline.

"You," she wailed and moved toward him sluggishly. "You have taken my brother from me!"

Korak could no longer entertain this rubbish. "Are you daft," he scoffed, his breath in short controlled pants. He stayed in a defensive form. "You attacked my family!"

"My dearest Nuka," she raved, swaying. The pain and poison clouded her mind, and the world was dark and unclear. "You have taken him! Just as your father took my mother, The Great Zira!" Korak looked upon her as she swayed and gagged and felt pity. Did she not know what her mother had done? Korak frowned.

"Your mother was a savage beast," he stated. "With no cause she vowed to kill my father and eat him, and any who belonged to him. Was he not to protect his tribe? His family?" He wondered if he was wasting his breath on this animal. He had long since understood that Man was different, superior. Vitani hissed, though she wheezed as her lungs burned. She would not kill him, it burned her to know. She was too weak to be a threat to him. He, who had defeated a perfectly healthy Nuka like it was nothing. The poison had made her weak and her senses were useless.

But she would not be without her revenge.

"She should have killed you all!" She snarled. "You... You have stolen all that I know from me," she choked on her growl and bowed her head. "My mother, my brother..." She settled deadly calm eyes upon him. "You will feel my pain." She lunged toward him and he poised to dodge, but she suddenly changed direction, heading instead for Archie who stood foolishly watching hardly more than a meter away, a few feet that disappeared quickly under Vitani's great paws. Korak leaped for them, but knew she would have his brother in her claws. His heart beat frantically in horror. Just as she made to grab the boy, they heard the call of the King of the Jungle and Archie was snatched away by the beautiful Queen. She screamed when Vitani's gruesome claws sank into her arm. As they continued to swing, the claws pulled inside her skin and she wailed. Her skin tore and she swung freely away, tears in her eyes. She did not let go of her son.

Tarzan heard her scream and, impossibly, began to race through the jungle even faster.

Korak snarled and slammed into Vitani's back, forcing her onto her stomach. He sat on her back, his feet holding her large paws to the earth. He grabbed around her neck and swung his fist into it again, and again, and again, as he growled. He watched her whine, spit blood, and drool uncontrollably until finally he lifted her head in both of his hands and twisted it. Her neck snapped with a clean pop. He dropped her skull and stood above her corpse, raven locks shrouding his face in darkness.

He was Korak of the Apes, son of King Tarzan, might hunter, mighty fighter. He was Korak, slayer of beasts. He looked to the skies, the sun gleaming on his skin and turning his silver eyes into a reflection of light. He was mighty. With a great roar, he beat his heavy fists on his chest, declaring his victory for all of the jungle to hear.

"Korak," a soft voice whispered to him. He turned to face his mother and brother's smiles as they approached him, awed by his triumph. "You saved us," Jane told him and opened her arms. He grinned and fell into them, wrapping strong arms around her shoulders, careful not to jostle his amazingly still alseep baby sister, or disturb the fresh injury. "I'm so proud of you," Jane mumbled, her words muffled by his thick arm. He responded simply:

"What else was I to do?"

"A lesser man would have fled," he heard his father speak behind him. Jane pulled away from Korak. Her face brightened with a brilliant smile when she saw her husband, and she ran to him. He wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her into his arms. She held onto his shoulders and they kissed, relieved to see each other alive and well. He set her down and immediately began to fuss over her arm, which she tried to assure him would be fine once cleaned and bandaged.

"Brother!" Archimedes tackled him, though it had much the same effect as running into a wall. His grinning little brother then punched him in the gut, and Korak laughed. "That was exemplary!" The blond continued, arms moving animatedly in his excitement. "You have slain both Nuka and Vitani, the most ferocious felines on Jungle Island!" He grinned slyly at Korak, and struck him with his elbow. "For a moment I was completely convinced that you would meet with death!" Korak chuckled and mussed Archie's golden hair.

"I may very well have, were it not for my troublesome baby brother," he quipped, punching Archie's shoulder, and was rewarded when the Young Prince's face glowed with pride.

"Well," Archimedes sighed dramatically after a moment. "I suppose I couldn't allow my foolish brute of a brother to perish underneath the claws of those beasts. I may have need of your assistance as a test subject for my latest creation!" He smirked at Korak.

"Is that so, little nestling?" Korak laughed at his brother's insincere scowl.

"Who are you calling a nestling?"

"Would you prefer suckling? No? Moppet, then."

"Shall I call you an imbecile? Ignoramus? No? Simpleton, then."

"Ha! You will not refer to me as such with your skull underneath my foot!"

Their parents watched them bicker and laughed softly with each other at their troublesome but incredible children. Tarzan laid a heavily scarred and calloused hand on his eldest son's shoulder. Korak turned to face him, a small smile tugging at his lips. Tarzan smiled at his Prince.

"Korak, I am so proud of you," he began, and Korak's smile lit up his face. "I fear for what could have befallen your mother and brother had you not intervened. Your strength and courage would awe even the greatest of warriors, and I am proud to call you my son."

"Thank you, father," Korak placed a hand upon his father's for a moment, before both hands fell. Tarzan looked behind Korak, where the bodies of the beasts who had attacked them lay still. His eyes drank in their injuries. He saw the trail of broken branches that had been trampled under harried feet and paws. He saw the weapons laying too far to be of assistance in the battle. He saw the rock caked with blood and the unmentionable bloody things splattered across the earth. He turned back to his son, who looked at him with sharp, focused eyes. Tarzan's next words would give name to what would one day cause many men to tremble in fear:

"For your display of strength, courage, and prowess in battle, you will no longer be Prince Korak of the Apes, Son of King Tarzan. You are the slayer of great beasts. You are Korak the Killer."

Kala's sparkling blue eyes, brighter in the setting sun, hardly blink as Tarzan brings the tale to an end.

"This scar," he says, one hand still caressing the dark, raised skin on Jane's otherwise smooth, pale arm, "marks the day that your brother became a man by defending his family."

"Wow," Kala breathes and falls back onto her bed. She stares up at the leaves that shelter the tribe from the blistering sun. "That's... Wow." Jane laughs.

"If you find it that interesting, perhaps your father should regale you with a few adventures from his own past, hm?" She suggests, smiling coyly at her husband who rolls his eyes playfully and sighs. His wife only giggles. Kala squeals and leaps for him, wrapping her tiny arms around one much larger.

"Really, Daddy?" She asks eagerly. "Please tell me more stories!" Tarzan smiles and slips his arm out of her grip to scoop her up. He kisses her cheek and is warmed to his core at her soft laughter.

"Yes, Kala. I will tell you of my adventures, many years spent searching for one very troublesome woman," he promises, making eyes at his wife. He ignores Jane's small noise of indignation with a grin. "But not tonight."

"Aww," Kala whines and crosses her arms with a pout. Jane tuts and picks her up, standing from Tarzan's lap. She deposits her sulky child onto her bed.

"Pouting won't work this time, love," she says and sits down next to her daughter's bed. "The sun is setting. Your brothers will be here soon, and the other nestlings are already drifting off. It's time for beautiful princesses to return to dreamland." She pulls the fur blanket over Kala's shoulders. Kala yawns and shifts into a more comfortable position. Jane sits next to Tarzan, who watches over the tribe from their nest, high up in the trees.

"Do you think," Kala mumbles and is interrupted by another yawn, "that I'll ever be as strong as my brothers?" Tarzan and Jane share a look.

"You are my daughter," Tarzan says after a while, "and all that you desire will be yours."

Kala sleeps on.

END OF CHAPTER 3: THE KILLER

Next chapter we greet a few old friends and meet some new ones.

Then things get really interesting.

Disclaimer: I don't own Tarzan. I don't own the Lion King. All rights to Disney and Edgar Burroughs. The only thing I own is my OC, who isn't here yet.

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