Page 77 of Tiger's Dream
“Yes, well, the girl I was with ran off into the trees and she was badly hurt so I had to follow her. I just wanted to make sure your sister was okay first.”
Sunil nodded sagely. “That’s what I told him, but my father didn’t believe me.”
“So,” I said. “Is she here? Your sister, I mean?”
At that, Sunil broke into tears. “She’s been taken. That’s why I’m leaving. I know her better than anyone. I can find her.”
“Taken?” My heart leapt in alarm. “Who has done this?”
“That’s just it. My father doesn’t know. Mika was taken in the night by thieves.”
“How do you know it was thieves?” I asked. “She could just be hiding.” Though I said the words, I didn’t fully believe them. I knew in my gut that this circumstance was precisely what Kadam had warned me about.
“We wasted most of the day looking for her, but then, late this afternoon, my father found boot prints in her room,” he said. “My father summoned trackers to follow their trail.”
“Does your father have an enemy?” I asked. “Someone who’d want to hurt your family?”
Sunil shook his head. “I don’t know. I don’t understand who would do this.”
I clapped Sunil on the shoulder. “I can help. I’m a good tracker.”
His eyes brightened. “You could go with me!” he said excitedly.
Cocking my head, I considered him. “Is your mother aware you are joining the rescue?”
Sunil bit his lip, giving himself away.
“I think I should introduce myself to your mother first. Perhaps then she will allow the two of us to leave. Do you have another horse I can borrow?”
He nodded vigorously. “Come on,” he said, sliding down from his mount. “I’ll take you to her now.”
I followed him to the house, and he led me through an open portico to a lush garden in the back. The arched gate dripped with purple bougainvillea that hung down in long clusters and tickled my shoulders as I ducked beneath them. The garden was full of flowering plants, roses, marigolds, rhododendrons, lilies, orchids, and of course, jasmine. It was easy to see where Anamika had gotten her love of flowers.
Fingering a delicate lily, I thought of the girls I’d loved. Both Yesubai and Kelsey had loved flowers. It felt right somehow that Anamika loved them too. Sunil dashed around me and cried out, “Mother!”
We came upon a lovely woman with eyes like Sunil’s and hair like Ana’s. She was older. Her cheeks were tinged red and she’d been crying, but despite her grief, she saluted me with graciousness and led me into the house. After she summoned a servant and I was refreshed with a cool drink, I told her I was a pilgrim traveling home and had heard the story of the man who’d taken her daughter.
When I offered to help search for her and asked her to share all the information she knew, she waved a hand. “My husband will find her. Nothing under the heavens will stop him.”
I nodded deferentially. “Dear woman. I have particular skills in rousting out villains. I promise you, I can be of great assistance.”
“Me too,Amma!”
“No,ladka. If you were to go, then who would stay to protect me?”
As Sunil argued with his mother, I thought about what I needed to do. Without my tiger nose, I couldn’t track scents. It had been a long time since I’d had to use human skills to track, but I was fairly certain I could still remember most of my tricks.
“Perhaps I could see the room where she was taken?” I asked.
The woman considered me and then shook her head. “I appreciate your offer, sir,” she said. “But you are a stranger. I offer you our hospitality but I cannot send you on this errand until my husband returns.”
The trail would go cold if we waited too long. I bit my lip and considered, then offered her a smile. “Then I will graciously accept your hospitality, for I am road weary and would like to rest.”
Sunil groaned his displeasure, and after she sent him off to tell the cook I’d be joining the family for dinner, I told her about her son’s attempt to follow his father. “It would be best to keep an eye on him,” I warned.
“Thank you,” she said. “I wish to impart my humble thanks.”
“No, dear woman. It is I who should thank you for your kindness during such a trying time.”
