Chap­ter 1 – The Beasts of Tarzan opens not in the wild, but in the calm of Lieu­tenant Paul D’Arnot’s apart­ment in Paris, where a trou­bling piece of news reignites a deep-seat­ed fear. Tarzan learns that Niko­las Rokoff, long believed impris­oned, has escaped, and with him, all the dan­gers of the past resur­face. Con­cern floods Tarzan’s mind, not for him­self, but for Jane and their son, Jack, whom he had left in Lon­don to avoid the rains of Uziri. What began as a peace­ful retreat becomes a loom­ing night­mare. Tarzan imme­di­ate­ly resolves to return to his fam­i­ly, his instincts warn­ing of the threat that Rokoff now pos­es. Despite the civil­i­ty of his cur­rent life, his wild intu­ition remains sharp, sens­ing dan­ger before it shows its face.

While Tarzan races home, Rokoff plots his revenge in a qui­et cot­tage beyond London’s reach. With his accom­plice Alex­is Paul­vitch, he weaves a cru­el scheme involv­ing not just vengeance, but manip­u­la­tion and prof­it. Their plan cen­ters on kid­nap­ping Jack, strik­ing where Tarzan is most vul­ner­a­ble. Dis­guised as a new ser­vant named Carl, one of their men infil­trates Tarzan’s house­hold. Through a com­bi­na­tion of lies and cal­cu­lat­ed tim­ing, the baby is stolen, tak­en away in a wait­ing cab as Jane and the nurse remain unaware until it’s too late. The betray­al stings not just because it’s per­son­al, but because it unfolds under the illu­sion of safe­ty. When Tarzan receives the mes­sage of the kid­nap­ping, there is no hesitation—he must act swift­ly, even if it means walk­ing blind­ly into the unknown.

Jane’s account of the abduc­tion reveals the dis­turb­ing pre­ci­sion with which Rokoff exe­cut­ed the plan. Her recount­ing is calm but heavy with guilt, espe­cial­ly know­ing that trust was used against them. Mean­while, Tarzan is con­tact­ed by some­one offer­ing details about Jack’s loca­tion, in return for pro­tec­tion from the law. Sus­pi­cion ris­es, yet the des­per­a­tion to find his son out­weighs the fear of deceit. He agrees to the meet­ing in Dover, where every step for­ward feels like sink­ing deep­er into a trap. Unbe­knownst to him, Jane has fol­lowed, dri­ven by the same des­per­a­tion and unwill­ing­ness to remain behind. In this moment, the civ­i­lized world they’ve built begins to crack.

The trip to Dover takes on the ten­sion of a hunt, though Tarzan is not the hunter. The con­tact lures him toward a docked steam­er, claim­ing the boy is aboard. As Tarzan fol­lows the direc­tions, some­thing feels wrong—his instincts scream in warn­ing, but the promise of Jack’s safe­ty press­es him for­ward. Too late, he real­izes the decep­tion. Over­pow­ered and bound, Tarzan becomes a cap­tive aboard the very ves­sel that was meant to reunite him with his son. The cage is steel, not vines, but the feel­ing is famil­iar. His mus­cles remem­ber the jun­gle. His mind, honed by sur­vival, begins plan­ning imme­di­ate­ly.

Mean­while, Jane watch­es from afar, unseen but unable to inter­vene. Her deci­sion to fol­low is brave, though it leaves her strand­ed with­out allies. In her heart, she believes that Tarzan will find a way out, as he always has. She returns to Lon­don with a renewed resolve, know­ing that wait­ing pas­sive­ly will no longer suf­fice. Behind the fear is some­thing deeper—an echo of the wild, of the world Tarzan once called home, ris­ing once again to the sur­face. This sit­u­a­tion is not mere­ly about sur­vival; it’s about reclaim­ing what was stolen. The jun­gle may be far away, but its rules have returned to their lives.

This open­ing chap­ter builds its ten­sion with pre­ci­sion, merg­ing emo­tion­al weight with loom­ing con­flict. Tarzan’s instincts, once dor­mant in the pol­ished set­tings of Paris and Lon­don, awak­en under pres­sure. Rokoff, the embod­i­ment of betray­al, has struck a blow that feels almost myth­i­cal in cru­el­ty. For the read­er, the con­trast between civ­i­liza­tion and sav­agery sets the stage. Tarzan must now step back into the pri­mal force that shaped him. With his fam­i­ly threat­ened, the jun­gle inside him stirs again—silent, lethal, and wait­ing. As the ship pulls away from the coast, a new jour­ney begins, one forged in blood, love, and an unbreak­able will to reclaim what mat­ters most.