Tiger's Voyage (44 page)

“I thought you were immortal,” Ren said.

Oh, I am, but if you can land what would normally be a killing blow for
a dragon without being burned to a crisp, you win.

“And if
you
win?”

Why, of course, if I win, then I will get the girl.
The dragon smiled evilly and squeezed me slightly.

I sucked in a breath of pain and heard menacing growls from both Ren and Kishan.

Ren spoke slowly, promise ringing in his voice. “We will play your game, dragon, but remember this, for every hurt you cause her, however minor, I will return that hurt to you a hundredfold.”

The dragon bobbed in the air, watching Ren, appraising him.
It’s
been a long time since I’ve had such brave opponents. I wish you luck. Let the
game begin!

A rush of wind blew over us, and all the weapons shimmered and disappeared. Both men grunted in pain as they were forced to switch into their tiger forms. The black tiger looked at me, roared, and darted toward the jungle. The white tiger remained in the tree watching me until we could no longer see each other.

The dragon rose higher and entered the forest. It wove between the tall trees at a frightening speed. Occasionally, it’d reach out a claw and push off from a tree that was too close, leaving deep, jagged claw marks in the trunk. I shivered.
It’s going to rip Ren and Kishan apart. It’ll tear
through them like butter.

“Where are you taking me?”

To the castle, of course.

The green dragon shot higher into the air, and I could barely stop myself from throwing up from the fast rise, let alone ask him more questions. The island was much bigger than I thought it was. Its diameter was maybe five miles. Soon we left the trees, skimmed past the beach, and were over the ocean. Another smaller island came into view. It was also surrounded by trees, and rising up in the middle of it was a tall castle built of grayish seaweed-colored stone.

A huge maze of dark hedges at least twenty feet tall surrounded the outside. The castle rose high above the maze but was surrounded by mist. With dismay, I saw that there were no steps, no doors, no way to access the castle except from the top. The tigers would have to scale the outside, while I would be trapped like Rapunzel,
without the hair
.

A lone tower stood at the top, and this was where the dragon headed. It landed with a scrape of claws on the flat roof before finally setting me down. The air seemed to shift around it. It shimmered and popped, and suddenly, standing before me was the human version of Lǜsèlóng. White skinned and brown haired, he was handsome but in a dangerous way. His eyes seemed more hazel now than yellow. He was dressed in old-fashioned khaki hunting clothes, tall black boots that shone with polish, and there was even a pith helmet tucked under his arm.

“But it’s not fair,” I accused. “The hedge and the castle aren’t even on the same island. How are they supposed to know?”

“They will figure it out.
Eventually.
” He took my elbow. With a silky accent, he said, “Come, my dear. Allow me to show you to your accommodations.”

“Why do you sound Russian?”

He laughed. “Didn’t you know the world’s best big-game hunters are Slavic? We dragons can take whatever form we wish, and I choose to hunt in the most sporting manner. I will emulate the style of the great hunters of the past who went on safari, for that was when hunting was a sport. Those very few, very brave men who dared put themselves at as much risk as their prey, who relied more on skill and cleverness than on weapons are now a thing of the past. Today I will pay homage to them.”

Obviously arrogance was a weakness in this dragon. Maybe I could use it
against him.
Demurely, I said, “That’s such a big risk for you. It’s a
brave
thing to do,
really
.”

Confused, he stopped. “What do you mean?”

“Well, if you’re truly going to emulate the great hunters, you will be hunting as a human. I mean, you weren’t planning on using your dragon senses were you? Your incredible speed, sight, and hearing would give you such an advantage.”

“Oh … yes. I suppose I could limit my abilities to hunt as a simple man.” He continued to guide me into the castle and down a circular staircase.

“It
would
make the game so much more interesting, wouldn’t it?” I asked innocently.

“Yes. Yes! It would. I will do it. I
will
hunt as a normal man.”

I put my hand on his arm and tried to sound concerned. “But then you might be in
danger
. The tigers are
very
resourceful.”

“Ha! There is no danger for me. I will win in the first hour.”

“Still, it would be too tempting to use your special abilities. I wouldn’t blame you, after all. All it would take is a tiger leaping at your throat, and you’d be tempted to zap him. I’d understand, of course. It’s very difficult not to use power when you have it.”

“I do not need my powers. My mind and my skills are enough to win the game.”

“Well, you could always fall back on it, so you are guaranteed safety.”

“I am not concerned with safety! Fine. To prove it to you, we will add another rule!”

“What rule would that be?”

“The rule is that if I use any abilities in the hunt that a normal man wouldn’t possess, then the tigers will win.”

“Oh! How very brave of you! It’s really too bad I will be trapped here and unable to watch you in action.”

“Yes, it is,” he said thoughtfully. “Ah, then as a special courtesy to you, you will be allowed to watch the hunt.”

“You mean, you’re taking me with you?”

“And risk them stealing you back before we finish the game? No,
deti dama
, you will remain here in the tower. I will allow my special mirror to show you the hunt. When you want to watch, just approach the mirror, and tell it what you wish to see. Make yourself at home, my dear. Food and drink will be left on your windowsill every day, but you will remain trapped in here until the game is finished.”

He started for the stairs with a flourish, just as the heavy wooden door closed behind him and locked itself. I waited until I couldn’t hear him anymore and held my hand up toward the door. Nothing happened. I went to the window to send a flare. Again, my lightning power was useless. I sank down on the small bed with the rough woven cover. There was nothing else for me to do.

“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 deal
and 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.

Lǜsèlóng 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.”

Lǜsèlóng 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.