Part 2: The Desolation of Queen La

Chapter 21

"Capturing Jane Porter"

She wanted to admit that she was the one who convinced Naoh that she shouldn't consider the Wazari traditions for her wedding, but all that Jane could do was watch helplessly as members of the Wazari village continued to give her dirty looks. It was thanks to her that a day of celebration was ruined. Now, Jane had to set things right and allow the wedding to continue, but it perhaps was not to be.

"I thought I was doing the right thing," she said to Archimedes sadly. "Weddings are not meant to be defined by traditions but by love, daddy."

"Oh, Jane," he sighed. "The Wazaris are much different than us. You think that just because you and Tarzan were married here, doesn't mean that Wazari customs are optional. What exactly did you do to upset her anyway?"

Jane sat down on a rock and Archimedes soon joined her. She could not help but look at her father and see a hint of disgust deep in his eyes. For the first time in a long time, Archimedes was very disappointed in his daughter.

"I told her about how we were going back to England and that I decided that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with Tarzan," explained Jane, adjusting her hair to keep it in its elegant bun. "But my intention was to give her an example of what I did, not to ruin the wedding."

The two of them then saw Keewazi still with a look of disgust on his face as he walked by them. Jane could see that from the looks of it that he wanted to perform the wedding as much as anyone. He wanted to see his son marry, but he couldn't now because marrying without Wazari customs was something that couldn't be done. Nevertheless, Jane had to at least apologize for influencing Naoh.

"Perhaps maybe you can at least say you are sorry for what you did," suggested Archimedes. "He'll at least forgive you for your actions."

Heeding her father's advice, Jane got up and began to walk over to Keewazi. Her father was right, Jane could not save the wedding, but at least she could apologize for what she did. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to anyone in the village, Shenzi, Banzai and Ed had already killed several Wazari warriors patrolling the outskirts of the village.

"Will you clean yourselves up?" asked Shenzi as she watched her cohorts feast on some dead soldiers. "That Jane creature is in there."

Banzai picked himself off of the dead body and joined Shenzi in moving closer and closer into the village. But, they were not alone as the ex-French Foreign Legion officers were close behind only told to provide cover for the hyenas when they made off with Jane. Of course, that didn't mean that they wanted to at least have some fun with Jane before she was turned over to La.

"I have a question," one said to Shenzi. But, Shenzi was already trying to concentrate on the job at hand and was not pleased with being interrupted.

"What is it, Frenchie?" she asked annoyingly. "Make it quick."

"Well," said the soldier. "Can we at least have some fun with the captive before we turn her over to the Queen?"

"What kind of fun?" hissed Banzai.

"Can we at least make her strip for entertainment?" asked the soldier. "Our leader, Colonel Staquait, made her do it when she was imprisoned on Cape Doom."

Shenzi and Banzai rolled their eyes and nodded their heads up and down, meaning that they would allow them to have some fun with Jane before being used by the queen.

"Fine, whatever just give us cover," groaned Shenzi as she and Banzai returned to concentrating on their target. Speaking of their target, Jane had managed to come up to Keewazi and tried to convince him to forgive her. By now, a majority of the decorations were taken down and that Jane was already branded as the most hated individual in the village, let alone the jungle.

"Please, Keewazi, sir," pleaded Jane, walking alongside him. "I want to apologize. You see, I'm afraid I did encourage Naoh a bit. Unintentionally, mind you, to defy your customs and it was all just a silly mix up, really."

She chuckled wryly, but Keewazi was still not convinced by her pleas. Realizing this, Jane had to go another step to get the Wazari chief on her side.

"But the fault is mine and mine entirely," she continued. "And for that I offer you my most sincere, heartfelt and humble apology."

Jane picked up the sides of her powder blue dress and bent over to Keewazi as a sign of respect. She had already given as much apologies as she could, and much to her dismay, Keewazi was not convinced still.

"That is no apology," he said, ignoring Jane's curtsy and walking away.

"But, I really mean it," replied Jane, looking at Keewazi walking by her. Jane then realized that there was a way to apologize in a Wazari manner.

"Is there by any chance a traditional Wazari manner to make a formal apology?" she asked and Keewazi looked at her with content.

"In traditional manners," he said. "I would normally have you whipped 40 times. But since you are a guest and a fully dressed woman, I have a much simpler solution in mind."

But, just as Keewazi was about to hand Jane's punishment down, a loud scream was heard and Jane turned around to see Terk and Tantor running towards them. Their faces filled with fear as Jane and Keewazi both stood there dumbstruck at what was chasing them and it was nothing other than the hyenas.

"Run for your lives!" screamed Tantor. "They're back!"

"Who's back?!" cried Jane.

"The hyenas!" shouted Terk and heeding the concerns, Jane was about to run when Shenzi jumped on top of Jane and tackled her to the ground.

"Get off of me!" she screamed and tried to struggle against the enormous weight of the hyena, but it was no use.

"You're coming with us!" shouted Shenzi, but Keewazi tried to defend Jane and whacked Shenzi on the head with his stick. Jane rose to her feet and ran as fast as she could, while Keewazi tried to fend off the hyenas. Shenzi growled and snarled as Keewazi threw his stick at her. Several Wazari warriors tried to fight off Banzai and Ed, but were no match for them as they were quickly overthrown. Just then, the sounds of gunshots were heard as the French Foreign Legion soldiers charged into the village shooting at anyone who got in their way. Taking advantage of the opportunity, Shenzi swiped her claw at Keewazi and knocked him down to the ground. As the Wazari leader laid down unconcisous on the ground, the hyenas then turned to find Jane trying to find a place to hide.

"Don't let her get away!" ordered Shenzi and two soldiers went through the huts, going through every single one. After a moment, they found Jane, shielding two Wazari children. Showing no mercy, they dragged Jane to her feet and smiled evilly at her.

"Hello again," one of them said to Jane. "We're gonna have some fun now, aren't we?"

Upon dragging Jane from the hut, the hyenas knew they got what they had come for and decided to fall back. The other soldiers emerged with Archimedes in tow as well, as the other Wazari's ran in an attempt to stop them from leaving. But, one soldier placed his bayonet at Jane's throat, stopping them in their tracks.

"Tell Tarzan that if he ever wants to see his wife and father-in-law again," shouted Shenzi. "We'll be in Opar."

Laughing evilly they dragged Jane and Archimedes away leaving the entire village in disbelief and shock. Keewazi then rose to his feet and even though he was wounded, he knew at that moment that punishing Jane was no longer important. Rescuing her and her father was important right now…