Tiger's Dream (Tiger's Curse Book 5)

by Colleen Houck

  “We must send down supplies,” she said fretfully as she counted the campfires that dotted the land.

  “I’ll see to it,” I said wearily. “Shall we head around back?” I asked, thinking of the hidden passage.

  “No.” Turning to me, she wrapped her arms around my neck and pressed her body close to mine.

  I reacted instinctively though I was confused and slid my hands around her small waist. My eyes were drawn to the soft petals of her lips and the thick, dark lashes that swept over her cheeks as she closed her eyes. Around us the air changed. A bright, golden light encompassed our bodies, bubbling softly like sunset-tinged sea foam. Her hair brushed my arm as it whipped in the wind that lifted us up into the night sky.

  As we floated above the camp, her power wrapped around us, I pressed my cheek against hers and we held on to one another. I wasn’t sure if our fight had completely fixed the divide that lay between us, but the distance to bridge it was certainly smaller than it had been. We touched down and I took her hand, leading her to her room. When I left her there, the door closing on the small smile I gave her, I sought out our young apprentice, Xing-Xing, and handed him the Golden Fruit.

  His eyes bugged when I told him of its power. After a few demonstrations of how to use it, I left him in the supply room with the task of creating enough food to feed two thousand warriors. He set about the work with great enthusiasm, and I couldn’t help but laugh when the scent of sugar and honey infused the air.

  Before I found my bed, I bathed quickly, not even bothering to dry off. I shook my wet hair wildly, like a tiger would, and then climbed between the sheets. It was a good twelve hours before I moved, and when I did, I immediately knew something was wrong. My head hurt and slick, black rainbows swam before my eyes. Someone had been in my room and had dealt me what would amount to a killing blow over the head if I had been a typical mortal man.

  Brown, crusted blood flaked from my sheets as I sat up and gingerly felt the raised knot on the back of my head. Standing and nearly falling, I grasped desperately for the bedpost as I tried to steady my quavering legs. Stumbling forward, I hurried toward Ana’s room and wrenched open the door only to find her room ransacked and the bed empty. The scent of several men stung my nostrils. How had they gotten in?

  I called out for Xing-Xing and for Ana’s man, Bhavin. Neither of them answered. Panicked, I searched Ana’s room. Had she taken off the amulet? The only way she could have been captured was if she’d been hit over the head like me, that is, unless she’d taken off the amulet. She did that sometimes when she bathed, though I’d warned her time and again to always leave it on.

  Rummaging through what remained of her jewelry box, I found nothing of value. Gone were her weapons as were several priceless gifts she’d been given over the years. To my great relief, I spotted a golden tail tucked behind the curtain.

  “Fanindra,” I said. “Can you help me find her?”

  The golden cobra blinked her eyes and stretched her coils, growing larger until she was full-sized. She slid across Anamika’s bed, her tongue flicking out to taste the air, and then circled the post, moving quickly down until she reached the floor. I followed her to Ana’s bath, and Fanindra stuck her head beneath a towel on the lip of the stone edge.

  When I picked it up, sure enough, the amulet fell to the ground with a thump. Thanking Fanindra, I placed the amulet around my neck and lowered my arm. Fanindra wound around it and hardened into gold as I raced out of the rooms, following the scent of the men. Their scents headed toward my hidden stairs, and I cursed myself for having left so abruptly the day before and leaving the secret door open. Instead of taking the time to run down the stairs, I leapt into the dark space in the middle and fell, using the power of wind to slow my drop so I landed in a soft crouch at the bottom.

  When I closed the hidden door behind me this time, I used the amulet to seal it shut permanently and took off at a run, following the men who’d taken Ana. Fanindra’s emerald eyes lit the landscape for me though I could see well enough at night as a tiger. Even so, I noticed how living creatures were outlined vividly when she turned her gaze on them. “Help me find them,” I whispered to her. “Help me find Ana.”

  Without the amulet, they could overpower Ana, keep her unconscious. They wouldn’t be able to draw the bow or wield the gada though they could certainly take them. If they had enough men, they could divide the weight of the weapons easily enough, and my nose told me they had plenty.

  In fact, the numbers grew. More and more scents joined the party as I ran. My blood ran cold as I thought about what they could do to her. Ana was a warrior but without her powers, she couldn’t handle so many. To keep my mind off the danger she was in, I ticked off a list of possible assailants, trying to figure out who might have done this. Truthfully, we’d made a lot of enemies, even if I only considered the current time.

  The temptation of seizing the powers of the goddess was a strong motivation. As many safeguards as we’d put into place, it was now obvious that there weren’t enough. I’d been too complacent in my duties. Too relaxed. I should have woken up before a man even entered my room, let alone given him time to bash me over the head.

  Granted, both of us were exhausted from our efforts of late but that was no excuse. Ren would yank my tail off for such negligence. I ran until dark fell again and then I entered the forest. With my night vision and my sense of smell and heightened hearing, I sped on while the men slowed.

  Finally, I came upon their campfire. A spit of some kind of meat snapped and popped over the flames and my mouth watered. I hadn’t eaten in some time. Setting Fanindra on the ground, I asked, “Can you find Ana?” The snake lifted her head, her hood extending, and she turned toward the right, bobbing in the air, then she turned to the left. Slowly, her hood closed and she lowered the top half of her body and slid off into the grass.

  I followed her as best I could as she made her way around the outskirts of the camp, but she came too close to a guard, who shouted and scampered back. I ducked so I wouldn’t be seen as he raised his scimitar and struck the ground. My mouth opened but I said nothing as the wary man leapt away and another joined him.

  “What is it?” the man asked.

  “Snake. Never seen one like it. Albino I think. Not sure I got it. Can’t find it now.”

  I was preparing to move again and hoping Fanindra was unharmed when something brushed against my foot. It was Fanindra with her tail missing. I ran a finger down her body. As I did, she wriggled and squirmed, her mouth open, and before my eyes, a new tail grew to replace the old one.

  She turned her head as if to inspect her new lower half before moving on through the trees again, giving the guards a wide berth. We circled all the way around the camp until Fanindra stopped and peered straight ahead. Touching my hand to a fern, I moved it aside and saw Ana was tied to a tree.

  Scooping up Fanindra, I waited until the guard near her nodded off and crept closer. A large bruise colored her jaw and her head was slumped down to her chest. Her arms were tied to the tree behind her and her legs were bound as well. She wore only her nightdress, which was drawn up to mid-thigh, and the neckline was torn, exposing the upper curve of her breast. I couldn’t tell if it had happened when she struggled or if she’d already been subjected to abuse.

  Purple bruises, several of them the exact size of fingerprints, marked her long legs and arms, and I ground my jaw in fury. I would kill them for touching her. The men at the fire droned on in their nasal dialect as they expounded upon their cleverness and rehashed their triumphant raid. One insinuated about what he planned to do with Ana, while another bragged openly. They argued over who had the right to her first and congratulated the man with the magic to keep tigers at bay.

  I froze and listened carefully. Now it all made sense. They’d gone and found themselves an ancestor of the Baiga. They had a gunia in their midst. It was a relief to know I wasn’t just faltering in my post. There was magic involved. One that had incapacitated Ren as we
ll. As they continued to threaten the goddess, it was all I could do not to kill them immediately.

  Not that I didn’t plan to kill them. I would. I just wanted her to be safe first. Leaning over her, I adjusted her dress and patted her cheek. “Ana?” I whispered. “Ana, love, you need to wake up.”

  She groaned and whimpered. Her head lolled drunkenly.

  “Ana,” I said again, shaking her shoulder. “I need to get you out of here.”

  She licked her lips, which were cracked and bloodied, and jerked her head away from me. “No,” she said quietly. “No!” I covered her mouth so she wouldn’t wake the guard, but she thought I was one of her attackers. She sucked in a ragged breath and I could tell she was going to scream.

  I shifted my hand to her jaw and spoke to her in my mind, shushing and soothing her. Even semiconscious, she immediately relaxed, sensing I meant her no harm. Taking the amulet from around my neck, I placed it over her head. I stroked her bruised cheek gently and leaned closer, whispering, “Go home, Ana. You have to go home.”

  “Home,” she said, her voice raw.

  Before I could lift my hand away, both of us were swept away in time and space, and when we landed, her upper body, no longer supported by a tree, fell with a thump onto the ground. I hissed and lifted her bruised body, cushioning her head on my knee. We’d left all our weapons behind. Anamika was unconscious. And in front of me was a sprawling estate that was unmistakably Indian.

  A young boy burst from the trees, followed by a long-legged girl with green eyes.

  “Ana,” I mumbled in shock.

  We’d come to Ana’s past. The teenage boy was Sunil and the girl next to him, a young Anamika. Wide-eyed, the two of them approached. The teenage Anamika crouched down next to us. “Run and get Father, Sunil,” she said, her eyes full of compassion as she looked at us. “The woman is hurt.”

  Sunil took off, and before I could stop her, the young beauty reached out to touch the hair of her older self. The injured woman at my side shimmered and then disappeared, turning into a shower of gold that rose in the air. The amulet she’d been wearing fell to the ground.

  “Ana!” I screamed and glanced up. The golden light surrounded the young girl and lifted her into the air. Her eyes rolled back in her head as the light was sucked into her body. When the light was absorbed, she drifted close to me and lowered slowly into the same position Ana had been in before. She slumped in my arms just as her father and brother ran up to us.

  The tall man, wearing a jeweled turban, turned a mottled shade of red.

  “I’ll thank you to unhand my daughter!” the man demanded.

  “Where did the woman go?” Sunil asked.

  I said nothing, but rose and placed Anamika in the arms of her father.

  Chapter 15

  Truth Stone

  As the man glanced down at his unconscious daughter, a heavy weight settled in my stomach. I bent over to pick up the fallen amulet and grasp Fanindra’s metal coils with the intention of following Sunil and his father back to the house, but the moment I stood, I knew something was wrong.

  My foot wouldn’t move. I opened my mouth to call after them but no sound emerged. Even my attempt to change into a tiger produced no result. Sunil turned back to see if I was following and frowned, looking right and left as if he could no longer see me. He tugged on his father’s sleeve, and he, too, glanced behind and then shouted something, but I couldn’t hear what he said.

  Space pressed around my frame. My ears popped and I smelled the electric energy that fills the air right before a powerful storm breaks. The pressure on my body was terrible and the farther away from me that Anamika’s father walked, the worse I felt. It was like she was being violently ripped away, and the tearing was worse than anything I’d ever experienced.

  A resonant hum rose and the landscape faded like a washed-out painting left out in the sun. Then a violent thrust shifted my body through space and time. With no ground beneath my feet, my stomach plummeted and I drew in my arms and legs as I rolled head over heels in dizzying circles, my breaths sawing in mighty heaves.

  For a time, I blacked out. When I came to myself, I was lying in the grass. I rolled over onto my knees and heaved, but there was nothing in my stomach. Groaning, my head pounding, I collapsed. With my back pressed to the grass, I stared up at the leafy canopy overhead, willing it to stop circling. I didn’t know what had happened to Ana but I knew I needed to fix it. I had to get back to her.

  Lifting my head, I drew in a deep breath, and then took in another and another. The scents I normally caught were muted to the point of nonexistent, but regardless, I knew the forest was mine. The same one I spent most of my time in. I recognized the landmarks. Whatever had happened to Ana had thrust me back to my time.

  At least I had the amulet.

  Cupping it in my hands, I instructed the amulet to take me back to her. Nothing happened. I rubbed my thumb over it and stared at the inscription. The words around the outside jumped out at me. The amulet of Damon—The father of India—The son of Rajaram.

  I hadn’t really given the inscription much thought since Ren and Kelsey left. In fact, I preferred not to think about it. Ana called me Damon when I was in my tiger form but I’d never really embraced the title. It didn’t belong to me. Yes, I was a son of Rajaram, but so was Ren. Yes, Damon was the tiger of Durga and it was the role I fulfilled, but still, I’d never really thought of the amulet as mine. Most of the time, it hung around Ana’s neck, and though I appreciated the power and used it when necessary, I would have preferred never to set eyes on the thing.

  “Come on,” I said to the amulet. “We need to get her back.”

  I closed my eyes and concentrated. Again, nothing happened. Growling, I flung the offending amulet into trees, but I didn’t hear the thump it should have made when it hit the ground. Worried, I got up and stumbled forward only to freeze when I heard the snap of brush.

  A familiar baritone voice said, “I thought I taught you to respect your weapons, son.”

  “Kadam,” I said as he emerged from the trees. He approached and handed back the amulet I’d thrown. As he leaned over, the broken portion of the amulet from the past that allowed him to travel in time swung from the chain around his neck.

  “You did,” I said, fingering the whole amulet and wondering how it was the two objects could exist in the same space. Quickly, I shoved the thought from my mind. I didn’t like thinking about such things. “But this is a far cry from a knife or a sword.”

  “It is not made of the finest steel, that I’ll grant you, but the Damon Amulet is the most powerful weapon you have.”

  I blew out a frustrated breath. “Powerful and not working at the moment,” I said.

  “No,” he said. “I imagine it wouldn’t be right now.”

  My back stiffened. “You know what’s happened then?”

  He sighed. “Yes. I know.”

  “If you knew this was going to happen, you should have warned us.”

  “Just because I know something doesn’t mean I can or will prevent it from happening.”

  “Yeah. Which reminds me.” I took a threatening step toward him, not entirely sure what I was going to do. It wasn’t as if I’d never fought him before. We’d sparred plenty in the long years we’d known each other. My fists tightened and the blood pounded in my veins.

  “You can strike me if you like, son,” he said softly. “I wouldn’t blame you.”

  He looked so tired in that moment. The utter exhaustion was like a cloak he wore over his still-strong frame. I recalled the sadness I’d felt when we lost him. I’d choked it down where it now rested deep in my belly, but it still tore up my insides like a burr whenever I thought about it, leaving me raw and bleeding. The fact was, I still mourned him. The taste of it was ashy in my mouth.

  I turned away from him. “So what’s wrong with it?” I asked, raising the amulet between my fingers.

  “What’s wrong is that when Anamika crossed paths with her fo
rmer self, she essentially erased her future self from the fabric of the universe. The goddess Durga no longer exists, and because of that, the bond between you has fragmented and the amulet has no power. Without a goddess, Damon and his amulet have no purpose.”

  He took a seat on a fallen log and continued, “Everything the two of you were supposed to do, were supposed to become, is now existing in limbo.”

  The blood in my veins froze. “Do you mean Ren and Kelsey…”

  “They never met. In this plane, both you and Ren died a long time ago. This version of you cannot shift into a tiger. If fact, you have no power at all other than what you would have had as a young warrior.”

  “The weapons?” I asked.

  “The weapons and gifts of Durga are fading away. Even if you were able to recover them from the fiends who made off with them, and managed somehow to wield them, they would not serve you. Do you remember how I struggled to use the bow?”

  “I remember.”

  “You would be as unable to draw it as I was. Regardless, the weapons will soon vanish.”

  “And what about the demon?”

  “Lokesh?”

  I nodded.

  “He never gained immortality because the Damon Amulet doesn’t exist in this plane.”

  “I see.” I sunk down to the grass, folding my legs beneath me and rubbing my thumb mindlessly over the amulet. I’d lost her. I’d lost myself. I’d lost everything. Just as despair threatened to sink me, I thought of something. “Wait. If the amulet never existed, then how are you here?”

  Kadam gave me a reedy smile. “You always were a quick strategist. The answer is, you were able to fix it in my plane of existence. Do you recall when I said that I’d traveled down many possible paths?”

  “Yes,” I answered somberly.

  “This was one of the potential paths. In fact, this is the one that ultimately leads to the best outcome.”