Page 137 of Tiger's Voyage
“Mirror? Show me the hunt.”
The mirror turned black before creating a bird’s-eye view of the island. A green flash outlined the dragon as it flew back over the water, landed on the beach, and switched to a man. Entering the jungle, he carried an old-fashioned, long-barreled hunting rifle and a sack of provisions—he even had a canteen.I sure hope he keeps his end of the dealand hunts as a mortal.
Even if he did, there was a good chance he would catch one of the two tigers, if not both. Kishan was used to life in the jungle, but it had been a long time since Ren had had to take care of himself. I thought back to the antelope hunt when Ren couldn’t catch one by himself. I bit my lip as I considered that his white fur would make him easy pickings. If they could hide well enough during the day, the tigers might have a good chance of hunting the dragon at night when his human vision would be more limited.
Lsèlóng began carefully picking his way through the jungle, looking for signs of the tigers. I asked the mirror to show me Ren and Kishan. The mirror backed out of the view of the dragon and zoomed in on a piece of the jungle on the other side of the island. I couldn’t see anything at first, and then I saw a flash of white behind a bush. It disappeared, but soon, a flick of a tiger’s tail appeared from behind a rock. I asked the mirror to zoom out a bit. It showed Ren standing next to a spiked board, trying to spring the trap by batting it lightly with a paw.
Kishan entered the view with something in his mouth—a dead monkey. In fact, on closer inspection, the area was littered with monkey bodies. Kishan tossed the body into the trap, and the sharp end zoomed up at tiger level and fell away. I watched their slow progress as the tigers cautiously moved on deeper into the jungle.
An hour later, Kishan stepped into a side-closing trap, and two spiked wooden slats slammed together on his leg. He violently jerked his leg free, though the spikes tore his flesh. He limped for about twenty minutes until he healed.
Other traps awaited them. They narrowly avoided being impaled with a spear that shot out from the foliage when one of them tripped a wire. Ren stepped on a rock that set off another trap. A bent bamboo pole whipped across Kishan, who managed to leap out of the way, but it hit Ren full in the side. The whipping pole was studded with five-inch nails that were now buried deeply in Ren’s fur. Kishan took the pole in his mouth and held it steady while Ren painfully jerked his body away. Blood dripped to the ground. They went on, slowly.
They traveled in the treetops for a while by leaping from branch to branch, but they soon discovered that many of the branches had been sawed through and didn’t hold their weight. They moved back to the ground, and that’s when they hit the worst of the snares: a Venus flytrap. I knew what it was from studying different types of warfare with Mr. Kadam.
A huge stone rolled across their path, causing both tigers to move quickly backward. Ren’s back legs fell into a rectangular pit that had been hidden beneath leafy camouflage. Long metal spikes overlapped each other on the sides of the pit. They pointed downward, which scraped his legs as he slid toward the bottom of the pit. They were so devilishly set that if he tried to pull himself up, they would rip into his body like “wrong way” tire spikes. Once caught in the Venus flytrap snare it was almost impossible to get the victim out without killing him.
Kishan paced around the pit looking for a way to free Ren. He tried pushing the spikes down with a paw, but he slid on their smooth finish and almost joined Ren in the trap. After ten minutes of Kishan’s fruitless efforts, Ren roared softly and started dragging his body out. The spikes sank deeply into his haunches and legs. He dug his claws into the dirt, and pulled himself forward inch by painful inch. Kishan sat and watched his progress.
Finally, Ren lay on the dirt panting. The entire back end of his body was a bloody mess. Long jagged furrows ran across his lower back and all the way down his legs. The tigers rested for an hour, which allowed Ren to heal at least partially, and then started moving again. At sunset, they found a place to rest, lying down side by side. One of them always remained awake. I could see their sleepy eyes blinking.
There was no candle or lamp in my room, but food had somehow appeared on the windowsill. I broke off a piece of the bread and sipped from the flagon of water. Saving the apple for later, I bit into the cheese and sank back onto the bed to watch my tigers. After checking the whereabouts of the dragon and finding him still tracking on the other side of the island, I relaxed and eventually nodded off in exhaustion.
I woke to the sound of a gunshot and panting and movement in the trees. I sat up startled and was confused for a moment, before remembering where I was.
“Mirror, zoom out. Find the dragon.”
Lsèlóng had found the blood trail in the night and was standing in the very spot where Ren and Kishan had been sleeping. Turning in a circle, he fingered a broken leaf. He took a few steps and crouched down to touch the depression of a tiger track. Then he picked up some dirt and smelled it, dusted off his fingers, smiled, and started through the trees. He stopped to touch a fern. There was fresh blood on it.
Panicked, I shouted, “Mirror, show me my tigers.”
The image retreated and sped ahead a half mile and zoomed in on a running Ren and Kishan. There was a bleeding gash along Kishan’s side where a bullet had grazed. They ran for a half an hour, putting a great distance between themselves and the hunter. Slowing to a walk, they panted and rested on the ground.
As the morning passed into the afternoon, I wrung my hands and said, “Please be alright. Please be careful. I’m over here across the water. I’m on another island.”
Ren lifted his head as if he could hear me and flicked his ears back and forth. I leaned closer and spoke again, but he suddenly darted up and attacked something I couldn’t see. I heard the sound of an alarmed squeal suddenly cut off, and he soon emerged from the brush carrying an animal in his jaws. He dropped a small adolescent boar on the ground, and he and Kishan began to eat.
I estimated their meal to be about fifty pounds—a mere snack considering the amount of energy they were using up. I was sure they were still starving. A few hours later, I was proved right. They’d found another trap, this one with a large haunch of deer hanging over it.
Both tigers circled the obvious pit and stared up at the meat, licking their chops. Kishan leapt completely over the pit, swatting the meat with his paw on the way, which caused it to swing wildly back and forth. Ren, meanwhile, began gnawing on the rope where it was tied to the tree. He used his claws to try to break it. Kishan joined him and added his teeth and claws until the rope frayed, and the heavy haunch of meat fell into the pit with a thunk.
The tigers peered over the edge, and Kishan crouched down to dip a paw experimentally down the side, feeling for a hold. He stretched a little farther and dropped down into the pit with the meat. Getting a good grip on it with his jaws, he stood on his hind legs and stretched his neck out so Ren could grab it. Ren batted with his paw until his claw snagged the rope. He yanked until he could catch it in his jaws with a snap. Dropping the prize onto the ground, he leaned over the edge of the pit to peer down at Kishan.
Kishan backed up as far as he could, then ran, and leapt up the side of the pit. His claws grabbed the edge, but he slipped back down. After three more unsuccessful tries, Ren nudged a nearby log into the pit with his head, and Kishan carefully made his way up. At the top his leg slipped, and he almost fell again, but Ren stretched out and bit into the ruff of Kishan’s neck to hold him steady until he was safely out.
After they ate, they kept moving until it was dark again. They soon reached the beach on the western side of the island and ran along the wet sand for a time. Frantically, they searched for the hedge, but I knew they wouldn’t find it.
When they bedded down for the night, Ren stood guard first. I had the mirror zoom in close to his face. His blue eyes stared straight ahead as if he was watching me. He sighed heavily, and his pink nose twitched. I watched him until I couldn’t keep my eyes open anymore.
Early morning of the third day brought me another hot loaf of black bread and a small cauldron full of stew. The sun hadn’t even risen yet, and as I ate, I settled by the mirror to watch the hunt’s progress. The tigers were running along the beach, taking advantage of the darkness to move freely in the open. I searched for the hunter and found him just waking up near a burned-out fire. He held a cup of liquid in his hands and looked to one side, then the other, and secretly blew some fire into his cup to warm its contents.
“That’s cheating,” I shouted at the mirror. “You broke a rule!”
The dragon looked up and grinned. I heard laughter and his voice in my head.It’s just a warm drink, my dear. And the rule clearly states thatI won’t use my powers in the hunt. I’m nothuntingyet this morning, so thisdoesn’t count.
I snorted and watched him finish his drink and shoulder his gun. He tracked the tigers all day, and he was good. He never missed a broken blade of grass or a depression, however obscure, in the ground. Unfortunately, the ocean didn’t wash away the tigers’ tracks along the beach, so they were easy to pick up and follow. When the dragon dipped into the jungle, he stopped suddenly, and we both heard the multiple roars of big cats fighting. He quickened his pace. I asked the mirror to hurry and show me the tigers.
At first I didn’t know what I was looking at. It was a close-up of furry creatures rolling, and claws slashing. When I finally got the mirror to zoom out, I sucked in a breath as a shiver ran down my spine. Ren and Kishan were in a bloody battle with a large group of jaguars. Ren had told me that big cats don’t usually hunt together, except for lions, so I was surprised at the large group of cats working together. One of the jaguars was lying on its side on the ground, dead. Ren and Kishan stood back-to-back and growled at the circling pack.
