A Tale That Could Not Be [Book 2 of Selvina's Tale series]

Chapter 5: Tarzan

Pan and two of his men led the girls into the jungle, its tangles of vines, ferns, thick foliage, and moss-covered branches shrouding the light. There wasn't enough of it for any grass to grow thus the ground was mostly muddy. The sound of waves crashing into the rocky shore was quickly drowned out by the voices of the jungle's denizens. Animals of all sorts could be heard amid the nearly suffocating humidity but due to the amount of greenery all around, few creatures were ever seen.

Goldilocks fanned her face with her hand and was already panting. "I'm not used to this heat... Where I come from the sky is grey and it rains most of the time and there's no bloody time for hot days. I'd strip down to knickers if it weren't for some of our company..."

"At least you don't have to carry all your hair," Rapunzel complained. "It's hot against my body but I'm not letting it drag behind me in this muck..."

"Then cut the damned thing!"

"No! I can't... I was told not to..."

Pan glanced back at the girls and raised an eyebrow. "Are you having thoughts of leaving me? You could take your chances, I suppose, but you won't go far in this jungle. I can guarantee you that, hahahaha!"

Selvina's reply was a frown, not because she had nothing to say but because she was too hot to even speak. Her skirt, which she immediately regretted putting on that day, was stuck to her body and made disgusting slurping sounds when she pulled it off to allow her skin to breathe. She too wanted to strip down to her underwear but was mindful of the fact that two of Pan's cronies were among them and worst of all Pan himself. She was comfortable enough around the girls but there was no way she was going to give those despicable men something to look at. She wiped the sweat off her brow, took a deep breath, and just kept walking, no matter how uncomfortable she felt.

Overheard, a trio of monkeys ran along a branch that spanned over the narrow trail they followed. The last one paused and looked down at them for a moment before hollering loudly, battering its hands against the branch and making a ruckus. One of Pan's men pulled out a flintlock pistol from the holster at his side and fired a shot in the monkey's direction. His shot missed but caused the monkey to flee. The deafening bang of the shot, however, echoed for many long seconds and the jungle became eerily quiet.

Pan turned around, looked at the shooter, and then jammed his knife into one of his eyes before he could react. The man howled in agony and brought his hands up against his bleeding eye socket as Pan continued walking. "Next time I'll sink the knife deeper. Thanks to you everything in this jungle now knows we're here."

Selvina, her heart pounding, hurried to keep up with Pan, the other girls mimicking her. She hadn't even seen his arm move before blood had gushed out of the man's eye socket. She had no intention of testing the limits of his speed as she already knew they vastly surpassed hers.

Why didn't I take gym class more seriously? she thought to herself as she watched Pan slice through thick foliage with his wicked blade. The only person she thought could hold his own against Pan was Sinbad. Hook was tough as nails but was nowhere near as fast and agile as his quartermaster. On the other hand, both of them had fought Pan at the same time and been defeated. Was anyone capable of stopping him?

The sounds of the jungle soon resumed minus the howling monkey. A snake slithered across the path and Selvina's spine crawled as she nearly stepped on it. Snow White actually bent down and picked it up, holding it close like a treasured friend. She gave Selvina, who looked at her in disgust, a smile before putting it down and letting it slither away.

"It was just a young boa," the white-haired young woman said. "It meant no harm."

"I hate snakes," was Selvina's reply. "They're revolting."