Transition Plan Chapter 77 - In His Majesty's Service Part 27: Calm Before the Storm
…10 August 1914 Tarzan and Jane's Treehouse…
Jack and Jeanne rose early prior to dawn without a sound and quietly left his sister sleeping soundly. Being members of an ape clan that lived naturally all the time had distinct advantages – they never had to waste time or make noise to dress and were always ready to go. But she always wore his promise bracelet and felt like she was wearing the finest floor length gown with it on.
They left the note to their mothers on the kitchen table that they had both carefully written in secret over the past couple of days and had kept hidden under Jack's 'doll' in the play room. They gave each other a very serious look. This was a pivotal decision in their young lives. There was no hesitation and no regrets in those looks. Just resolve.
Outside the treehouse, Jack noiselessly picked up his bow and arrow quiver he had prepositioned there in a hidden spot. It had several of his mother's vicious steel-headed arrows mixed with some general purpose arrows and ordinary hunting arrows. Jeanne gathered her sling shot with her ammunition bag of personally-selected smooth and jagged rocks and inch wide carbide steel ball bearings taken from damaged bearings in the shipwreck. They both knew the ball bearings would be lethal with her skill.
For a moment they looked at each other, evaluating their decision one final time, knowing what they planned to do would devastate their mothers emotionally, but prayed they would understand and accept their decision. Both mothers knew Jack could make the ascent and descent of the radio tower in time to survive, and that Jack's father never could nor any of Jacot's men. The kids knew their punishment would be severe even to the point of being isolated from each other, and there was risk of being killed also. But it was worth the price, knowing in their hearts that Tarzan would most certainly die by the explosions even if he avoided any German gunfire. Jeanne knew her father would give his life to try to save Tarzan's.
The encounter with the Flammenwerfer only a few days before galvanized their decision to go.
Even though they'd been through their decision process many times in private, just to make sure, because after today there was really no turning back, Jack whispered, "Are you sure you want to do this and go with me?"
She took his hands and nodded emphatically and whispered back, "Like I said before. Yes, Jack. I will go anywhere with you. We are les amis tres intimes. You know we have to, Jack, if we ever want to see our fathers alive again."
Jack nodded his agreement, and she continued, "We must this this together. Having our mothers and your grandfather almost killed by those awful soldiers makes me angry. I know we can help our fathers."
"You are amazing, 'Mangani girl'," Jack smiled in admiration at Jeanne, using the new pet name they both liked.
They pecked lightly, she clambered on his back, wrapped her arms around his shoulders and neck without encumbering his arms, and gripped his sides and hips with the inside of her legs and thighs as she always did. He would never get tired of that dual feeling of the strength of her legs and arms around his neck and shoulders and softness of the skin of her entire body pressed against him. He grabbed a vine on one of balconies and launched headlong into darkness, only slightly alleviated by partial moonlight. His night vision was nearly as good as a Verreaux's Eagle-Owl, native to Nigeria and the largest owl in Africa, from whom he learned the skill through a special herbal, rodent, and insect diet just like the owl ate. Jeanne hung on tightly and trusted his ability to fly through the jungle at nearly pitch blackness. Jeanne never had any fear as long as she was with him.
They quickly put distance between them and the treehouse, and felt freer to speak as the day dawned, "We are going to the nesting grounds of the cape parrots. One of my best friends is there. He will help us. Or know who will."
It was still early morning and they came upon the nesting grounds of the cape parrot flock near the top of the highest part of the canopy. They were among the few species of flocking birds that ranged far and wide above the canopy over very long distances, which was one of the reasons Jack had to make contact. Red and green feathers were everywhere in every limb and branch. They both knew Jack had to talk quickly and convincingly to his friend. At any time, Jack's mother could call all the animals in their land to search for them and force them to return, and then no one would help them or be their friend. All the adults of every species would feel the same way - Jack would be just another disobedient juvenile in need of discipline. Jack joked with Jeanne once that parents, no matter what kind of animal, had a code of cooperation when punishing their youth. It was not far from the truth.
Jeanne took in the full view of the huge flock of red and green cape parrots, "Jack… omigosh…they're… they're beautiful. So many! And babies too! Next time I want to stay and play with them."
"We will Jeanne. I promise."
He called for Icheoku, and quickly the bird landed on his shoulder. As he had learned from his mother, the proper greeting was to offer him a couple of the little bird's favorite grubs.
The small male parrot spoke, "Greetings friend Korak. You called? Who is this lovely human?"
"My girlfriend Jeanne," announced proudly.
Most birds understood the concept of a girlfriend or boyfriend. Courting and mating rituals were elaborate and long, especially for highly intelligent and social birds like the cape parrots.
Hearing her name in between the wide range of squawks, Jeanne assumed Jack was telling the cute little boy parrot who she was, so she smiled and nodded at the bird.
The parrot acknowledged, "She's beautiful," and he sniffed the air around them, "And you're mates!"
Both Jack and Jeanne stopped arguing with their friends about that ever since Terk's advice to them. He explained simply, "Yes she is my future mate. We're not adults yet."
The parrot said kindly, "Your mating day will be a happy one for all of us animals. What brings you here?"
Jack took a deep sigh and requested, "I have a huge favor to ask. I need your help for a long journey."
"It's been awhile since I have done that with my family and yours."
Jack cautioned, "Not our families this time. Just you. It's a secret mission. Can do that? You can't tell anyone."
Icheoku answered, "Yes Jack, you know I am an adult in my family. I don't need my mother Noni's permission. I have my own mate now."
"Can you leave her for awhile?"
"To go on an adventure Jack?" the parrot's interested rose.
"Yes, but very dangerous. We're going to fight outlanders."
The parrot said proudly, "I heard you already had to fight them. Ones that had a mighty fire machine. The new outlanders have many guns and kill those they do not like. But I am not afraid of them."
"Yes, Icheoku. We need to destroy a giant metal tree that lets them talk to outlanders far away in their home nest - further than any jungle call. It's in a place far from the land of the Mangani the humans call Togoland in the direction the sun sets every night," explained Jack and he took some wrinkled photos from his quiver, "It looks like this. And it is here on top of these hills."
The little bird examined the pictures of the man-made object with great interest. Jack was still ashamed he stole the photos from the Colonel's operations tent.
Jeanne was once again impressed how Jack was having a detailed conversation with an animal. This time, it was a sweet little parrot. Their conversation was beautiful – the squawking and rasping was raucous at times but overall it sounded melodious. Combined with their head bobbing and twitches, the bird and Jack were like mirror images. Right now, none of it made sense to her, but she vowed to learn their language.
"A 'Mangani girl' needs to know," she promised herself and listened intently for any meaning she could discern.
But to Jack, it was an intense conversation, as Icheoku explained, "I know of it. There are several flocks of our kind between here and there, but we have the right of passage to roost in their trees. It is our way of sharing. My mother has distant family in those flocks when they migrated here. I perched with one of my cousins on the tower a couple of years ago. It was fun. That human thing is much taller than any of the trees. I could see everywhere without even flapping my wings. I got spoiled. The shiny bars on it were so hot in the sun it burned our feet. We had to wait until it got cloudy late in the day to go back again."
"Can you take us there? That's all I ask. I won't ask you to fight with us," Jack requested.
"I can. It is more than ten cycles of the sun flying almost nonstop. Animals who walk must take weeks."
"We'll take the vines. We will follow you as you fly. You know I can swing almost as fast as you can fly. Jeanne will need to rest more. Once we get there you must go home immediately. It will be dangerous with the outlander guns."
"Then it is decided. I will help you, friend Korak. When do we go?"
Jack warned, "We have to leave… now. Tell your mate, but she can say nothing. Say nothing to your mother."
The cape parrot flew off to his nest to quietly let his mate know.
Jeanne could tell that Jack was happy with his conversation with the parrot, "Icheoku said he can take us there. We will just follow him. Then he will go back home to his new mate."
Jeanne jumped for joy at the news, "I loved hearing you talk to each other. It was so musical! Does your friend's mate have babies? I would like to see them."
He grinned at her, "Not yet. They just mated since the last time I was here. I would like to introduce you to him when he gets back. All right?"
Jeanne was very excited, "Talk to a parrot? Sure!"
Snatching a very fat beetle from a branch, Jack instructed Jeanne, "Give him this and say in his language, 'Hi, Icheoku, I'm Jeanne'."
The sentence translation was a series of squawks and some low rasping sounds.
Jeanne winced, "Wow. That will be hard."
He showed her how to stretch her vocal cords to make the sounds. This was a challenge she was not going to let defeat her. Soon she had it.
He was so proud of her efforts and he praised her, "That's really good Jeanne. Ready?"
"As long as you don't make me say to him 'Peck my face off', I will be fine," she grinned.
"Trust me, Jeanne," he snickered.
Jeanne made him happy so often. English noble girls never thought of sassy lines like she just said. Jeanne was like all his gorilla playmates, and Aunt Terk. Only she was more fun and so incredibly pretty. He knew she would only get prettier.
The little bird took the insect treat and nuzzled her. He repeated her phrase, but at the end he said her name.
She was delighted, and giggled, "He said hello back to me!"
Icheoku was impressed with Jeanne's attempt at speaking 'parrotese', "You made a good choice of mate, Jack. She tries to be one of us."
"Well, we kind of chose each other, Icheoku."
The little bird was pleased, "That's as it should be."
Everything was set, so Jack prepared them to depart, "All right, we've all met. Let's go!"
At a very rapid pace they traveled the upper parts of the tree canopy. Icheoku flew fast, but never left Jack's sight, and the parrot looked back to make sure he didn't outdistance the humans. They had to stop periodically. To relieve Jack of his burden Jeanne did a fair amount of vine swinging by herself, even though she was slower. She knew she was not a petite girl. She got better, more confident, and faster each time she tried to swing, but it wasn't as much fun as swinging with him. When they stopped periodically to rest and eat, they always gathered enough for Icheoku. She was getting very good at collecting food and using her slingshot for small game to eat. She learned that cape parrots loved insects and mice best.
…
After awakening and finding two empty beds in Lily's room, Josephine moved frantically all around the treehouse, but became desperate, and needed help.
"They're gone!" Josephine rushed in and announced urgently to Jane in her bedroom.
Jane initially dismissed Josephine's concern, "They probably left to swim early today and jump the low falls. It's already blistering hot. I hate August in Nigeria."
"No. Look at this."
It was a note in French that both wrote:
Dear Mothers,
We are so sorry to say 'a bientot' for now. We left to go to Kamina to make sure our fathers win the battle and come home alive. We know this will make you sad. The Germans almost killed us all. We felt helpless. We can't let that happen again. This time we can help. Jack can destroy the tower. Jack's father has to live. This is the only way. You know Jack and can blow up the tower and save his dad.
Please don't worry. We're just nine but we aren't kids any more. The war changed that. We know what we are doing. Please forgive us and don't punish us too much when we come home with our fathers. We both decided to do this. We love each other. And we love you too.
Love,
Jack and Jeanne
Josephine and Jane became distraught. Despite the fact that Jack and Jeanne used the term 'a bientot' - the French phrase that meant 'we'll see you again soon' instead of the more permanent and final 'au revoir' that meant a permanent goodbye, the mothers were crushed by their children's note.
"Jane, if anything happens, I don't know what I will do. She's my first baby. I… I couldn't bear…"
And then she simply fell apart.
They hugged and cried, and fought back their anger at their children for doing something this reckless.
"What should we do?" asked Josephine.
"We have to do everything we can to get them back before they do this foolish thing," Jane explained.
"We are in no shape to travel anywhere Jane. Too much exertion and we could lose our babies."
"We don't have to, Josephine. The jungle has many eyes. We just have to find the pair that saw them last."
Jane took a very deep breath and gave the loudest longest jungle yell ever. It seemed more earnest than any other call that she had made.
"Jane?" inquired Josephine.
"I just told everyone in the land who understands my calls to look for them and tell us, or if they found them or are with them, stop them or stop cooperating with them, and return them home over any objection," Jane explained intensely.
"Thank you for doing all that, Jane."
"We're talking about our children's lives here, Josephine."
"I totally agree Jane. But their main reason for leaving? What about our husbands' lives, Jane, when we both know Jack can help your husband?"
Jane stiffened with resolve to keep from crying, "Our husbands already made their choice to serve France and England. But besides that, these are our children. They are not supposed to be part of the fight. I don't care if they could both stop the entire war by doing this. They are just children. No parent should ever have to endure the death of their own child."
What Jane said was plain and simple truth.
Jane started to hear reports from the animals. No one had seen them since yesterday when they were climbing rocks down by the eagles' nests, saving an eaglet stranded on a rock outcropping and returning it to its nest to the great relief of the mother. Jeanne had endeared herself to the eagle families there. The huge birds volunteered to go on a long range search.
All the reports were turning up empty, except for one. Jane interrupted her conversation with the French woman for a moment and stated, "Josephine, listen…" and she cocked her ear to one side and closed her eyes to concentrate on the distant hooting, "An owl saw them about 4 a.m. headed north and west, on a direct line with the cape parrot flock.
Josephine lamented, "Oh dear… 4 a.m.? That was six hours ago. They could be anywhere now."
"Even my clever son would leave a trail that some could follow. And now I know where they were headed first. We can find out more," She said with some hope.
Jane stood up again and let out a frightening roar. Naima appeared at the base of the tree.
"You called, my friend?" greeted the great cat.
The caracal's speech sounded only like roaring and growling to Josephine. The sudden appearance of the predator made her glad she was thirty feet above the jungle cat, even though the animal was clearly one of Jane's friends. While she wondered if caracals could climb trees, or if the cat was always there lurking in the bush, Josephine also wondered what kindness Jane had shown to befriend this fearsome jungle beast. The big cat had a beautiful family of playful kits and a mate that joined her. She was also accompanied by a couple of near-adult caracals, which from the patterns and striations on their fur, appeared to be an earlier litter. Josephine did not miss the fact that strong, close knit extended families - no matter what the species - seemed to be a universal axiom of this jungle.
In a sequence of growls of every pitch and intensity, mews, and even a form of purring, Jane explained to Naima the emergency situation, "Korak and Jeanne have disappeared and are headed on a long journey into danger into the land of outlanders who just tried to kill all of us. They meant well but they could be killed. They must return home. I need your help desperately, Naima. You have protected my family many times. I ask one more time to save them from themselves. They are like one of your kits headed into an adder's lair. They cannot fathom the danger they face and think they are prepared to fight."
"Understood, Jane. I will return," promised Naima. Instantly and noiselessly she and her family vanished into the foliage.
But in only an hour, Naima and her family returned, dejected, "There is no scent Jane. I fear they left by trees to keep us from finding them. But we followed the lead the owl said to go to the parrot flock. I found some food debris by the parrots' grounds with their scent on it. I talked to Noni. A number of the parrots saw them talking to Icheoku. Noni said Korak was with a beautiful human girl with long black plumage that rivals any of the parrots. They and he left without a trace as well. No one paid it any attention, since Icheoku and Jack are constant playmates."
"That girl was Jeanne for sure."
"I am afraid they are on their own with Icheoku. Wherever they are going, they are traveling together."
Jane frowned and thought, "Darn that boy and his cunning. He had everything planned out and are relying on expert help and not just each other."
She knew that Icheoku could likely chart a way to the tower. It would be considered the ultimate roosting spot for birds all over the region and they would all want to try it out.
Jane thought quickly and asked, "Can you catch them, Naima?"
The feline shook her head, "Jane my friend, you know I am getting older. Jack is a very fast swinger. No matter how fast I go, I will never catch them or have the stamina. And what power do I have to force them back here? Jack has the will of Tarzan. They are many hours ahead of us. I… I am sorry, Jane. I have sworn to protect him. But I can't protect him this time. He's on his own. He and his mate outwitted us all. She will not slow him down an instant. I have seen them travel together. She is as skilled a Mangani as the rest of you."
Jane put her face in her hands in exasperation, "Thank you Naima, thank you for trying."
She and her family disappeared into the bush. Josephine was beside herself in anxiety wanting to know the gist of the conversation with the caracal. Jane explained what she'd learned from Naima with cracks in her voice. It was hopeless now. They were silent in desperation.
Utterly speechless, Josephine wept, "What can we do now, Jane?"
Jane said with a very dejected look, "The only thing left that we can do. Pray… Pray that they are safe when they catch up with their fathers, the men can stop their foolishness or that the battle goes well and what they do makes a difference to keep them all safe. And we can pray for a safe journey home for both them and their fathers to all come home together and unharmed."
The tenseness in Jane's tone made it sound more of a plea than a call for prayer. But it was all she had to cling to or she would completely lose it too. Jack was her only son.
"I am not sure I have your strength, Jane."
"I'm not sure either, but let's be strong for each other, Josephine."
The French woman's eyes narrowed in anger at the children, "And when they come home?"
Despite her great concern, Jane found some much needed humor in the situation, "That's easy, Josephine. They are grounded for life."
The women hugged and even laughed a little. They needed that. Both knew that separating them as punishment was not an option. That would be too cruel.
A very sleepy Lily stumbled into the kitchen and complained, "G'mornin' Mommy. Where are Jack and Jeanne? Did they go play without me again?"
"No dear. Lily. We need to talk about Jeanne and Jack. And then pray. A lot."
...
Authors Notes: Well I left you all hanging again! :) I want to give you a really good conclusion that I bet you can tell is coming soon, so I give you a two part introspection on everyone's thoughts on what is looming ahead and what they dream of to come.