Authors Note: Sorry it's taken so long to send out this new chapter. Between taking care of some of my responsibilities and having some serious writers block it was difficult to make progress. Hope it was worth the wait.
Simba's small lake side hideout
Simba, Timon and Pumbaa continued resting under the lake-side overhang, sheltered from the gentle rainfall. Vitani, however, feels that her little nap is more than sufficient and that doing nothing, especially here in unfamiliar territory, is unwise. The cool rain was a welcome relief from the hot and humid air from this morning, but the slippery mud on the other hand, well, she's just glade no one saw her faceplant into the ground trying to climbing up the bank. She patrols the area, not going much farther then a few dozen yards from their spot on the bank. After a few rounds she circles back, but before she goes back down, Timon come out of the bushes.
Vitani asks, feigning interest, "What are you doing up?"
"I needed to take a leak. Wetting the bed ain't really an option when your predatory mattress can swallow you whole." She rolls her eyes before he continues "So what's with the jog in the rain? Pumbaa's snoring drive ya off?"
She answers flatly "I'm doing a patrol. With Simba injured and now that we're in unfamiliar territory, he's vulnerable, and it's my job to protect my king."
"Oooh, is that why?" Timon said in a clearly sarcastic tone and a suspicious look.
"What's that supposed to mean?" She said with slight snarl.
"Easy, I'm just saying most of the time your harder than tortoise shell, but around Simba you get a whole lot softer. Still edgy but..."
Taken a bit by surprise and now irritated, she quickly interrupts "T-that doesn't mean anything! And what are you really trying to say? Just say it!" She had an idea of what he was implying, and despite the cool rain, she felt a flash of heat along her neck and face.
With a long sigh, and wondering what his big mouth had gotten him into, he comes straight out and said "Do you got a thing for Simba? I guess I get why you would, but he's already got Nala and..." Vitani jumps over and slaps Timon down, squishing him down into the mud, with his head poking out from under her large paw "I could be wrong." he struggled to say.
Vitani growled and stared him down, hiding her embarrassment at his question. Then she takes a deep breath and steps back letting Timon up. She then begins to clear things up "You're wrong." Then she thinks to herself 'Why am I tell him this?' she continues though "I never knew my father, and mother was... not much of one. But he and Nala took me... all of us in. Both of them were the first ones to give those of us who had been raised in the Outlands our first lessons on life in the Pridelands, they were, and still are, so kind to us. Even after everything we put them through, they treat us like family. They're the parents I never had."
Timon had no idea what to do or say. Deep emotional situations aren't really his thing. "Soo, this is more of a father-daughter, 'I owe him' thing? Well I guess it's better than a lovesick teenager situation."
Feeling a slight sense of relief at finally saying it out loud, she soaks in the peaceful sound of the cool rain, that is until she realizes she just told something so extremely personal to Timon of all people! "If you say anything to anyone I'll eat you alive!" Timon jumps at the sudden threat.
"Hehe, yeah understood, I got it, crystal clear." he laughs nervously and runs back to the cave-like overhang.
Vitani takes a moment before continuing with her patrol. As she walks, she thinks about how much she owed Simba, Nala, and Kiara. Although everything she told Timon was true, it wasn't the whole truth. She does see Simba and Nala as parental figures, and the fact they also saw her as family meant everything to her, but she also feels heavy guilt. That's because she feels that it was her fault that Kopa, Simba's eldest son, abandoned the Pridelands and left his family.
Tarzan's treehouse
By the time Tarzan returns home, Quinton and the crew had already been there for sometime and are now passing the time talking with Jane and her father, getting more lessons in gorilla speech while having taken shelter from the steady rain under a sizable tent. There was a look of surprise on everyone's faces when he walks in with the unconscious Blond (the poacher he caught) and lays him against a tree.
Quinton, with a small smirk, asks "Well?...How'd your little mission go?" he said raising an eyebrow to the unconscious man.
In answer he said "I was watching the men from a tree, but their dogs smelled me when the wind shifted. Before I could run they started to shoot and I ended up fighting." He kept the fact that he had help from Simba's friends to himself for now. "I brought him to try and get some answers."
"Ah, some investigative interrogation, just like Scotland Yard. How thrilling!" the Professor chuckled, feeling a bit like Sherlock Holms from his book collection. "Perhaps though it would be safer to restrain the fellow before he comes to, yes?." So he goes to find some rope.
Jane however wasn't as thrilled about the situation. "I'm not so sure about this Tarzan. I mean, this is basically kidnapping. And what if they followed you?"
"I know." Tarzan said. He understood how she felt, but the thought that he could've been followed hadn't occurred to him until later "But these men are dangerous, not just to the animal's, if they tried to kill me without warning they might do the same with you. We need to find a way to stop them."
Jane paused for a moment "I understand,*sigh* but be careful, I don't want you doing anything on your own."
Aadesh, hoping to put Jane at ease "From what I remember of what Tarzan said of his meeting with Mr. Hatton, I don't believe they would be the aggressor in this confrontation, they seem more interested in their profits than in fighting." he raises from his seat and places a gentle, reassuring hand on her shoulder "He did say he would allow such skirmishes out side of his base of operation didn't he? So him launching a counter attack would, I think, be out of the question."
Tarzan thinks back, "That's true" remembering that puts both him and Jane at ease, at least to some extent.
"Well," the Professor says having finished tying up their prisoner "what's done is done, no going back now I suppose. If we're going to make any progress we'll need whatever information we can get." He turns to Jane and takes her hand, "But I would feel more comfortable, my dear, if you leave this to us for the time being."
She begins to argue, but stops herself before she says anything, seeing her fathers concern. "Very well daddy, but I'll be listening to make sure you don't get in trouble." She said with half a smile, getting a laugh out of her father.
"Well then, I think we should be scootin' outa y'alls way as well, gotta be heading back to the lodging house. It's best for us to stay unseen by these boys." Quinton said, "Thank ya kindly for today Sir. I know ya got your hands full now but when ever your able to give us another tour we'd much appreciate it." He shakes Tarzans hand with big smile and a strong grip.
"Maybe tomorrow after we figure out what we'll do with him." Tarzan says with hint of disappointment, he hoped they'd stay to help question the man. But he understood why they didn't, they're only a scientific research team and didn't ask to get involved with something as dangerous as this. If the poachers, if William Hatton, knew that they had helped them, even if it was a small thing, they could be in danger.
They place the man in the center of their large tent, tied to the middle support pole and they wait for him to wake.
When Blond starts to wake Tarzan and the Professor step forward while Jane walks out, hiding at the entrance to listen in. His head is throbbing and his vision spins, but he knows well enough where he is. When he gathers himself together enough he starts to speak "I got to say, I didn't think you had the guts to take a prisoner, I'm almost impressed."
Tarzan tells him "We just want to talk and ask you a few questions."
He quickly refuses "Bite me! I've got nothing to say to you!" He winces because of a brief pain, the yelling made his injured head hurt more. He continued "And I really hope you don't try appealing to my 'good natured side', I think I'd laugh so hard I'd pull something, wouldn't be good for my concussion either."
After thinking for a second the Professor begins to say "Perhaps our time is best served elsewhere Tarzan, this fellow seems a bit unyielding. Even if this man were to talk I'm skeptical he'd have anything of use."
Blond didn't appreciate that statement "What's that suppose to mean?!"
The Professor continues "A General doesn't always tell his soldiers every detail of his plan. In any case we have plenty of time to get the need information to accomplish our rescue mission."
"Plenty of time?" He says with cold grin "You have a week at most until the ship gets here. After that your friends are gone."
The Professor and Tarzan try to hide their surprise at how little time they have, though Tarzan lets slip a small primal growl. The Professor however says "Oh dear, that's a bit of a conundrum isn't it? Well it would be impossible for you to move so much without us noticing. Once you fellows begin to move down river, we'll catch you red-handed."
"Hahaha, is that what you think? You morons won't see a thing, we're smart enough to avoid the rivers. Even if you did, by the time you see us we'll already be on the ship. You've lost, except it!" Blond says as if spitting venom.
"Lets go." Tarzan grumbles.
They walk outside of the tent, Jane following them, and move away a bit so he won't hear them talking. Jane speaks first "So what do now, we have so little time and still don't know where the creatures are?"
The Professor, with a sly smile says "Perhaps not an exact location, but he did tell us a few details for us to go on."
"He did?" Tarzan says, a bit puzzled.
He elaborates "He said a ship is arriving soon, and something that large and cumbersome won't be able to travel into the rivers. He also told us that the animals won't be moved by river, and since we know that they are hidden in the mountains, they must be moving them by hand since automobiles won't be able to make it up there. It would be quite a task to move so much by hand, even with so many men, which means they must be by the coast."
Both are impressed that he was able to figure all this out from what little Blond said. Jane then says "Well done daddy!" After giving him a hug she turns to Tarzan "So what do we do now?"
"We can't keep him here. I'll talk with Dumont, maybe he can help us." He replies. "After we figure that out I'll talk with Simba and we can start looking around."
"Ah, good idea. While you ask for his assistance, we shall recover the traps those scoundrel's set out so no poor creature stumbles upon them." the Professor added.
Dumont's Trading Post
Tarzan enters Mr. Renard Dumont's main building, and when he does Dumont excuses himself from some customers and walks over "Ah, my jungle friend, always a pleasure. I assume you are here to talk about your captive 'guest' are you not?"
"How did you...?"
"Monsieur Knox told me of your predicament, he wanted to know if there was a secure place for trouble makers to be kept." Dumont said, proud of his ability to get information so fast.
"Well do you? I don't like the idea of a dangerous person like him being so close to my family." Tarzan says.
"I do." He says as he begins to walk away, "Follow me." As they walk outside, Dumont sees Blond leaning against the wall, even more tied up than before and having a mouth gag, which is much needed as he hasn't stopped yelling since they left camp.
Dumont ignores the strange sight, and with his signature sly smile says "In exchange for allowing you to use my facilities, I ask for only one thing."
Tarzan knew it was coming, he never gives without getting something in return. "What do want?"
"It's a simple request: honey. There are many who will pay a handsome price for genuine wild honey, and the locals say the hives on the edge of the Rangi Valley are the sweetest in the jungle because of the flowers that grow there. Unfortunately my men don't dare venture there because of the many predators that are drawn by the prey that gather there." As they walk into a small building, Tarzan looks to one side and sees two iron bar cells with windows on the back wall, and the other side has a desk and keys on the wall. Dumont approaches the desk, and off to the side is a tall ceramic jar, which reaches up to his knee. "About one of these should suffice as payment."
"That's quite a lot."
"This is quite the favor. Holding a dangerous man whos friends may retaliate." Although he spoke with a smile, his eyes were serious about this condition. "Since Africa is being colonized by a number of countries, the British Navy patrols this area for pirates and other troublemakers, and they stop by this port regularly. Their next resupply is in two days. They should be able to pick him up then." After saying this, he extends his hand and asks "Do we have an agreement?"
"Agreed." Tarzan says shaking Dumont's hand. After that they place the man in the cell and untie him, Dumont places one of his men to stand guard, and the two men part ways with Tarzan taking with him the jar for Dumont's payment. Tomorrow, Tarzan will take the research group to the Rangi Valley and collect the honey used to pay Renard Dumont, Tarzan just hopes that taking them to such a predator rich area won't back fire.
Authors Note: Hope that was worth the wait, the next chapter should be up much faster since I already have some plans for it. Coming up next, Williams reaction to Blonds (not his real name BTW) capture, we get an update on Kovu and his group, and if I can fit it in Simba's group meets Tarzan's. As for the story behind Vitani's guilt, that's for a future chapter, sorry :)