by Sky Winters
Besides the encounter with the tigers, he’d been all business this morning, without a word regarding the events the previous night. Tabitha didn’t bring it up and neither did he, but whether it was on purpose to avoid the subject or just a matter of being overcome by events, she couldn’t be certain. For her part, perhaps it was a mix of both. Was there really even anything to discuss? It was just a tryst, nothing more and no matter what sort of way her body reacted to his touch, that didn’t make it anything more than just physical between them.
“I guess we should get going then,” she said in reply, realizing she had been lost in thought and had said nothing.
“You guess correctly,” he replied. “We’ve a bit of lost time to make up for.”
Tabitha gave up taking snapshots of the surrounding area as she had been doing while he worked on the jeep and climbed into the vehicle beside him. He immediately headed off along the edge of the forest, following the flow of the river toward their next destination. Neither of them spoke for a while. She engrossed herself in snapping photos of passing wildlife and exotic looking flowers while he focused on the path ahead of them.
“We should be at the sanctuary in another hour. I’m taking more of a shortcut toward it now that we don’t need to bed down in the shelter for the night,” he told her, reaching for her hand.
“I’m looking forward to it,” she replied with a smile, squeezing his hand.
“We’ll spend some time there and then journey down to meet the rangers on the boat. They’ll take us a bit further down river,” he told her.
“That doesn’t seem to give us very much time,” she observed, having hoped they would be able to spend most of the day there.
“We’re shortening it a bit so we can make up for the lost time, but the sanctuary is quite massive. It’s only a matter of not spending as much time on this end of it. The rangers will take us through the narrow part of the river that separates the two halves and then we’ll have the rest of the day to explore the lower region. I think you’ll find what you’re after before the day is out,” he told her.
“I’ll just have to trust you on that.”
“Yes, you will have to do just that.”
“Tell me about the tigers earlier this morning,” she said suddenly, unable to keep her questions to herself any longer.
He glanced over at her before returning his gaze to their path. “Tell you what about them?”
“I heard you talking to them as if they could understand you and they seem to have responded. How did you learn to do that?”
“It isn’t something I learned really. It just seems to be natural. It was as much a surprise to me as anyone when I realized I had such a power over regular tigers.”
“Regular tigers? Are there other kinds?”
“Of course. There are many kinds and all of them respond to me the same way.”
“What about other animals? Dogs? Hyenas? Lemurs?”
“No. I have an instinct about animals. I guess I am a bit of one myself, but I don’t possess the bond with them that I do with tigers.”
“It seems very unusual.”
“You’ve no idea,” he laughed. “It’s most of the reason I chose to do this line of work.”
“How long have you been doing this?”
“Working as a guide? Or talking to tigers?”
“Both, I suppose.”
He paused for a moment, as if deciding how much to tell her or if he should be sharing this at all. “I learned about the tiger thing when I was still a teen, but I joined the military at a very young age and spent a bit of time on various overseas assignments. After I left the forces, I decided to spend some time here, exploring. I honed my skills and eventually began taking folks on tours.”
“And the sanctuary? How are you affiliated with that?”
“I’m just an overseer, like many of the other volunteers that do what they can to protect the tigers there. You’d be shocked how many of these beautiful animals are killed each year for their fur or because some whacko wants to drink tiger’s blood as part of some hunting or war ritual. People eat their meat and use parts of them to make folk medicine. Tibetans like to wear their fur as dresses as a status symbol.”
“Can’t those people be arrested?”
He shook his head. “Not unless they’re the ones actually doing the poaching and get caught in the act by the right people. Unfortunately, some of the people entrusted with protecting the tigers are in on it and work with the poachers to acquire them and get them out of the sanctuary undetected. They’re very good at what they do, very covert, and they have a lot of contacts. Ruthless men with ruthless friends.”
“How can they possibly get by with that?” she asked, frowning.
“There are always corrupt people who only speak the language of cash. They don’t really care about the tigers at all, only what they can get out of the situation.”
“But not you. You do what you can to legitimately protect the tigers.”
“Always,” he said with a smile that seemed to be hiding something he wasn’t saying, but she wasn’t about to pry further.
“I admire that about you.”
“I can live with that. I have many less admirable qualities, so perhaps it makes up for a few of them.”
“Like what?”
“Oh no.” He laughed, shaking his head. “If you don’t know what my faults are, I’m not going to lay them out for you. That’s just insanity.”
“I’ve never thought about it that way. It’s like saying that you don’t like your nose and then that is suddenly all another person notices about you.”
“Are you saying I have an unattractive nose?” he asked with a coy smile.
She smiled at him, lightly hitting his arm. “I’m not saying you have an unattractive anything. I’m just making a relevant point, I think.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment, of some sort,” he said with a laugh.
“It was a compliment…of some sort.”
“I don’t think you have an unattractive anything either,” he told her with a wink.
“I’m certainly glad that we got that settled,” she said with a laugh.
“Same here. Just in time too, we’re here, princess.”
Tabitha looked around. They appeared to be in the middle of nowhere still, but she could see the same style shed built into a grove of trees so as not to be invasive. Matt parked inside and they began to gather their gear for the trek down to the water where the rangers would pick them up to carry them through the narrow passages to the lower half of the sanctuary. It was insanely hot out as they traveled the hour it took to get from the shed to the water.
“You look damn sexy when you perspire,” he whispered against her ear as they stood atop an incline watching for the rangers to arrive.
“I doubt that I smell very sexy,” she replied.
“Well, I wasn’t going to mention that part,” he laughed.
“Jackass,” she joked playfully, mock hitting him on the shoulder with her fist.
“Ah, now you are getting to know the real me. If it makes you feel better, there’s a shower you can use when we get to the lower end. We’ll spend some time getting to know the tigers that roam, as well as the other animals once we get there and then I’ll take you over to it before we bed down for the night. If you’re nice to me, I might even share it with you and let you wash my back.”
“How generous of you,” she said sarcastically, all while smiling broadly.
“I do try to do what I can to extend a bit of kindness,” he told her, leaning in to kiss her. They quickly became lost in one another, breaking apart only when they heard the approach of the boat along the water.
“I think our chariot is arriving,” she said.
“Good thing. A few more minutes and they would have had to pull you off of me. I must tell them how you ravaged me last night instead of letting me get any sleep.” He winked at her.
“I’m sure they’ll be all
broken up about it on your behalf.”
“I’ve no doubt. We men have to stick together when it comes to you wild women.”
Tabitha laughed as the boat made an appearance from beyond the branches that overhung the water and the rangers called out to them. Matt walked down to the water to greet them, helping them pull the boat up onto the bank while looking all around. She could only assume there was still very much a danger of crocodiles and other animals that one wouldn’t want to encounter on their own turf. A moment later, he returned, helping her with their packs.
“Watch your step. It’s further down once you step into the boat than you’d think,” he warned her as he stepped inside and took her pack before offering her a helping hand inside.
The ride from where they joined the rangers to the lower end of the sanctuary was a bit rough. Though the water was shallow and fairly quiet, the trees that hung over from either side brushed against the boat and its passengers in some of the narrower sections. Everyone was forced to take on a defensive posture to ensure that they weren’t struck by any of them with any force. Of course, she was more concerned with contracting some deadly virus from the insects that seemed to swarm constantly.
“Here’s some more repellent,” Matt told her, handing her the same small container as yesterday.
“You’re a mind reader,” she laughed, accepting it and beginning to rub it on with one hand while combatting flying branches with the other.
“More like body language reader. You were practically having a spasm trying to keep them off you in between fighting branches. It won’t be much longer and we’ll be out in the open a bit more. We’ll have a bite to eat once we clear these trees and won’t be risking having our food snatched from our hands by tree dwellers.”
“Sounds good. I hadn’t even thought about food, but now that you mention it, I’m starving.”
“I know. The dried provisions are okay to keep you going, but they just don’t do much to really satisfy hunger,” he replied.
“I’ll have to agree with that. There’s only so long you can eat dried fruit, nuts, and jerky before you want something more substantial.”
On cue, one of the rangers began to unpack a cooler sitting to one side of the boat. They had brought more sandwiches but also fresh vegetables and fruit. It still wasn’t the same as having a real meal, but it was an improvement. Once they had cleared the trees, the ranger passed the containers of food back to them, along with bottles of water and bars of dark chocolate.
“Eat up. We only have about twenty minutes before we go through another narrow passage. After that, we’ll be only a short distance from our stop.”
Tabitha nodded, already biting into her sandwich. Though it wasn’t quite the roast chicken she’d prefer having right now, it was delicious after having only snacked on the go since leaving the boat yesterday. Matt seemed to feel the same way, wolfing down two sandwiches in quick succession before working his way into the fruit and vegetables.
By the time they were done, the boat was already making its way back into another tree line. The sides scraped against the banks and had to be pushed through with paddles in a few instances. Tabitha found herself terrified that they would become stuck and have to walk out into the banks around them where crocodiles, snakes, and spiders seemed pretty prevalent. She was relieved when they once again moved out into a wider segment of water.
“We’re here,” Matt told her, pointing toward a small dock and an opening just above it between the trees.
The rangers left them on the banks to make their way to the sanctuary. They would be here for two days, walking into the central portion of the sanctuary where they would shower and bed down for the night and trek then further across to where the river looped back around the other side. Matt had told her it would be late when they arrived at their final destination and the rangers wouldn’t come out at that hour along the river, so they would have to bed down for the night and be picked up first thing the following morning.
“Ready, princess?” he asked playfully as they hauled their packs up from the boat and said goodbye to their escorts.
“I thought I’d proved myself worthy of not being called that anymore,” she replied, feigning hurt feelings.
“Maybe, but I think I just like calling you that now.”
“Of course you do.” She laughed, following him up the embankment and through the row of trees that flanked it.
“Get your camera out. You’re going to want to take lots of photos in this area. It’s very heavily populated with all kinds of animals, not just tigers.”
The hours that followed seemed quite magical. Though they had encountered a great deal of wildlife along the river and on their journey thus far, it was merely the tip of the iceberg. This place was crawling with everything from the most massive tigers she had ever seen to the playful langur monkeys that seem to follow them, flitting through the trees above their heads. An entire herd of chital bounded past them at one point.
“This is incredible. I’ve never seen anything like it in my life,” she whispered.
“It is a thing of rare beauty that most people never get a chance to see or even consider. The closest they come to creatures like this are pictures on the internet or caged animals in zoos.” His expression darkened and his tone grew deeper. “I find nothing more offensive than seeing a wild animal behind glass or bars. It’s an affront to nature.”
“People want to understand them, to study them,” she replied, turning to him.
“Then they should do so on the animals’ terms. They should come here and let the animals guide them, not condemn them to a life of imprisonment when they’ve committed no crimes.”
“I would have to agree, but isn’t it sometimes for the animal’s own good? If they’re hurt or sick, don’t they need to be put into a place like that for their own safety while they heal?”
“There is a grand circle of life with all animals, including humans. If they are injured, if they are sick, they can still be treated in the wild to help them, but if they can’t make it, they should be allowed to become a part of the natural order of things, not hauled off to be studied and displayed. Even a sick animal would rather die in its homeland than in some hole designed to look like home when it’s nothing more than a jail cell.”
“So, if you were an animal and you were hurt, you’d rather take your chances out here with other animals that will prey on your weakness?”
He nodded his head firmly. “Absolutely. Besides, isn’t that what the people who take them off to places like that under the guise of ‘helping’ them are doing? Taking advantage of their weakness?”
“I don’t think all of them are. I don’t think many of them see it that way.”
“That’s because they have no concept of how these animals think and feel. They’ll never be in their heads to know what that feels like to one of them. Even something as mighty as a tiger experiences fear and loneliness.”
She frowned at him, certain know that there was something she wasn’t understanding. “You speak as if you know this firsthand.”
Matt studied her face for a few moments before speaking again. When he did, his voice was full of emotion. Somehow, he was deeply touched by the plight of tigers in this place and any other place. It showed in his carefully chosen words.
“A tiger would rather be put down by another animal than caged. It’s just that simple,” he said with deep conviction.
“I suppose I’ll have to take your word on that,” she replied. She looked hard at his face, about to probe the issue further, when a band of tigers appeared in the trees in front of them. One began walking toward them menacingly and she found herself just as terrified as she had been last night.
“Don’t move,” Matt told her, holding his hand out and pushing her slowly behind him protectively.
The tiger continued to approach, making his way steadily toward them. He was more than halfway across the divide when the others began to run, not in their direc
tion, but away from something they heard in the distance. The tiger that had been on his way to see them suddenly stopped, ears pricked to listen, just as a shot rang out through the woods and men’s voices could be heard yelling.
“Poachers,” Matt said, pushing her further behind him as he moved them behind a tree, out of sight.
“How do you know?” she asked.
“The gunshots. No one is allowed to hunt here. The only people even allowed to have guns are the rangers and they would only be shooting at poachers. If that were the case, the shots would be from much less powerful guns than what we just heard.”
“What do we do?” she whispered, her voice hardly audible.
Matt held his fingers up to his lips and continued watching around the edge of the tree for the men to show themselves. Another shot rang out and the tiger that had been standing in front of them dropped to the ground just as he was attempting to run away. Tabitha gasped loudly before she could stop herself and then bit her lip to quiet herself.
“I got him! He’s a big bastard too!” one of the man yelled through the trees.
“Hurry, go after the others. We’ve got a narrow window to get these things off their feet and out of here or I’m going to have to pay a lot more for people to look the other way,” another yelled.
Though he said nothing, Tabitha felt Matt’s entire body tense with what she was certain was anger. She was quite sure that if his face weren’t currently turned away from her, she would see it twisted with a rage that she could not fully understand. The way he touched somewhere in her with his passion for the tigers was inexplicable.
They were so engrossed in watching the events unfold in front of them that they never heard the footsteps approaching from another direction until it was too late. Shots rang out from the direction the men had gone, masking the final steps that might have given them some warning.
“What do we have here?” a man said from behind them.
They both whirled around to find themselves looking at not one, but three men that had apparently been tracking the tigers from a different direction and come up behind them. One of them poked his gun at them, indicating for them to move forward as he yelled for the others.