CHAPTER 3
“How can this be possible?” was my first thought. There he was. Corba was standing near a cave like structure. Also, I saw that the kid was lying unconscious nearby.
My first thought was to save the kid anyhow. Then I saw something unusual, there were fruits lying near the kid and he was lying comfortably on a padded bed. Which meant the creature wasn’t going to cause any harm to the child. If spotting the Corba wasn’t weird enough, I witnessed him taking care of the child. I thought if he didn’t want to cause any harm then why did he kidnap the kid in the first place?
I climbed down the tree, but before coming down I ensured that none of the other rangers were around because I knew if any of them spots him with the kid, they will shoot him, and may even end up provoking him. A provoked animal, as he seemed to me, could do anything, might even cause harm to the kid.
So as soon as I climbed down the tree, I consciously avoided making too much noise. I walked towards the Corba and the kid. It was getting darker due to the weather. As soon as I reached near the cave I left my gun under a tree; I had hidden it so that Corba didn’t see it. Had he seen it, he might have even attacked me. I felt if he could exhibit human emotions, then maybe he might also perceive me as a danger with a gun in my hand.
As I proceeded towards the cave, I noticed that the kid was awake and as soon as he saw me, the boy ran towards me. After that something happened which I couldn’t have imagined.
Corba also followed the boy and charged towards me, he stopped when he saw the kid hugging me. He also asked Corba to stop. There it stood, 7+ feet tall, a half man and a half monster in front of me. For a second, I thought like taking out my pistol that I always kept with me for close encounters, but I felt something in its eyes. You can always sense a person’s intentions from his/her eyes and this happens in case of animals too He didn’t appear aggressive to me. It felt like Corba knew, I meant no harm to it, which was true. I just wanted to take the kid back and the kid was happy to finally see a human.
“Uncle did you come to take me home?” the boy asked in a feeble voice.
“Yes beta.” I answered.
“Where is mumma and dad?” he asked
“They are waiting for you.” And we started walking towards the jeeps. I had already informed the other rangers that I found the kid. I asked them to be near the jeep, so that they can take the kid back to his parents. I didn’t want to go back, I wanted to leave the kid with rangers and come back again to meet Corba.
“Uncle who was that man who saved me?” the kid asked.
“Saved you? Didn’t he pick you up from the car?” I questioned.
“No uncle, I fell down from the car. I shouted but nobody listened to me, then I felt a severe pain in my head. After that I slept and when I opened the eyes I saw him sitting next to me. On seeing him I screamed, loudly because I was scared, but you know he also got scared and then he offered me fruits to eat. Then I realized that he was a good guy, and when you came to take me home I guessed that he is your friend and it was him who asked you to pick me up.”, the kid innocently replied.
One thing was crystal clear to me, that the myth about Corba wasn’t a myth anymore. During my journey back to the jeep along with the kid, I explained him that he was our secret ranger and his location shouldn’t be disclosed. I requested him to keep it a secret and not to disclose it to anyone. I later explained the other rangers that he fell down from the car and got lost in the forest while searching for a way out. I left the kid at the spot where all the rangers were standing and asked them to proceed without me; I told them to leave a jeep for me to return back as I had an unfinished business to be taken care of.
I started walking back towards the same spot where I had met the Corba, and then I suddenly realized that I forgot to pick up my rifle which I hid behind the tree. I thought I would do that later, as I didn’t want to scare Corba with a rifle in my hand. As soon as I reached the spot, I heard some noises. At first I felt maybe they were some animals, but I was wrong.
“Sir, look at it.”, a man said.
“Hey is this the one everyone used to talk about, is he that monster? If yes, then we certainly would become very famous.” another man replied.
“But sir, we have to take care. We are not allowed in this area and if anyone catches us with him and the tiger’s body then we are screwed. We have to be very careful here.” Someone else said.
I hid behind some bushes to get a view of what was happening. Corba was lying unconscious and three men were sitting around him, maybe examining his body. I immediately targeted the man sitting in the middle with my rifle; this time I made sure I had the real bullets in the rifle.
And I pushed the trigger…
The Legend Of Corba Page 3