Tiger's Quest (39 page)

I shook my head. “I love another.”

“You would have treasured us over time. We have the ability to take away all thoughts and replace them with only feelings of passion and pleasure.”

I replied sarcastically, “I’ll bet.”

“We are lonely. Our last companion died several centuries ago. We loved her.”

The other one interjected, “Yes, we loved her so. She never knew sorrow for even a day in her life with us.”

“But we are immortal and her life was over too quickly.”

“Yes. We must find a replacement.”

“Well, sorry, boys, but I don’t want that. I have no interest in being your,” I swallowed, “love slave. And besides, I don’t want to forget everything or everyone.”

They studied me for a long moment. “So be it. You are free to go.”

“What about Kishan?”

“He must make his own choice.”

With that, they spun into a thin wisp of smoke, entered a knot on the wall of the tree, and disappeared. I went back into the bathroom to retrieve my fairy clothes and was delighted to see that they had been cleaned and repaired.

Picking up the bag, I stepped back into the room. Instead of a seductive boudoir, it was now a simple, empty room with a door. I opened it, left the house, and ended up back on the circular stairway that wound around inside the trunk of the world tree. The doorway closed behind me. I was alone on the stairs.

I changed back into the pants and shirt the fairies had woven for us and wondered when or if Kishan would exit.
That soft bed would have made a much better place to sleep than the hard wooden steps. Then again, if I had stayed in that bed, I don’t think I would’ve been getting a lot of sleep.

I mentally thanked Ren for saving me from the tree nymphs or man sirens or whatever they were. Completely exhausted, I curled up in the sleeping bag and fell asleep. Sometime in the middle of the night, Kishan nudged my shoulder.

“Hey.”

I leaned up on an elbow and yawned, “Kishan? Took you long enough.”

“Yeah. It wasn’t exactly easy to shake off those women.”

“I know what you mean. I had to threaten to shoot those guys to make them leave me alone. In fact, I’m surprised you got out as quickly as you did. How did you purge their influence from your mind?”

“Talk to you about it later. I’m tired, Kells.”

“Okay. Here, take my quilt. I would offer to share the sleeping bag, but I’ve had enough of men for the moment.”

“I understand completely. Thanks. Goodnight, Kells.”

After we woke, ate, and packed, we continued up the steps of the world tree. Bright light shone ahead. A hole in the trunk opened, and we stepped through to the outside. I appreciated the sunshine, but the steps were no longer enclosed. I hugged the trunk, refusing to look down.

Kishan, on the other hand, was fascinated by how high we were. He couldn’t see the bottom despite his super tiger vision. Giant branches extended out from the tree. They were so large we could have walked across one together side by side without any danger of falling off. Kishan ran along a couple of them from time to time to explore. I stayed as close to the trunk as possible.

After several hours at our slow pace, I stopped in front of a dark hole that led back inside the trunk. I waited for Kishan to return from his latest exploration, so we could enter the hole together. This part of the trunk was darker and moist. Water trickled down the inside, dripping and plopping from somewhere above. The walls changed from smooth to splintered and peeling. Our voices echoed. There seemed to be a large gap in the tree, like it had been hollowed out.

I said, “This part of the tree feels dead, as if it’s been damaged.”

“Yes. The wood under our feet is rotting. Stay as close to the trunk wall as you can.”

Another few minutes passed, and the stairs stopped below a black hole just big enough to crawl through.

“There’s nowhere else to go. Should we climb in?”

“It’s going to be a tight fit.”

“Then let me go first and look around,” I volunteered. “If it’s blocked ahead, there’s no need for you to climb through. I’ll just back out, and we’ll figure out another way to the top.”

He agreed and traded the flashlight for the backpack. Kishan boosted me up, and I wiggled into the hole and crawled through on my hands and knees until the passage started to narrow and become taller. At that point, the only way to proceed was to stand, turn to the side, and shimmy forward. Then the passageway lowered, and again I sunk to my knees.

The passageway felt like petrified rock. A big chunk hung down, blocking the top half of the passage. I squirmed on my stomach, wiggled under it, and found that the passage opened into a large cavern. It felt like I’d traveled a hundred feet, but it was probably more like twenty-five. I thought Kishan would fit but just barely.

I hollered back, “Give it a try.”

As I waited for him, I noticed that the floor felt spongy.
Probably rotting wood.
The walls were coated with something that resembled crusty, brown deli mustard. I heard a bird flapping overhead and a soft
scree
ing.
Huh, must be a nest up there.
The sounds bounced around the inside of the tree, getting progressively louder and more violent.

“Uh, Kishan? Hurry up!”

I raised my flashlight fearfully. I couldn’t see anything, but the air was definitely moving. It seemed as if flocks of birds were slapping against each other in the darkness. Something brushed past my arm and flapped away suddenly. If it was a bird, it was a big one.

“Kishan!”

“Almost there.”

I could hear him sliding along on his stomach. He was almost through.

Something or a few somethings flapped toward me again.
Maybe they’re giant moths.
I shut off my light to deter the flapping creatures and listened as Kishan approached.

First the backpack and then his head emerged. Over my head, something large startled me with frenzied flapping. Pinching, hooked claws curled around my shoulders and took hold. I screamed. They tightened, and with a violent beating of wings and a loud
SCREEEEEE
, I was lifted into the air.

Kishan quickly wormed his way out of the hole and grabbed for my leg, but the creature was strong and yanked me away. I heard him shout, “Kelsey!”

I shouted back, my voice echoing off the walls. I was high up, much higher than Kishan, but I could still faintly make him out below. The creature was soon surrounded by others of its kind, and I was enfolded in a screeching, fluttering, quivering mass of warm bodies. Sometimes, I felt fur brush against my skin, sometimes a leathery membrane, and, once in a while, scratching talons.

The creature slowed, hovered, and then let go. Before I could scream, I landed with a thud on my backside. I turned on the flashlight that I had somehow managed to hang onto during the sudden ride. Scared to see where I was but determined to find out, I flipped the switch and looked up.

At first, I couldn’t figure out what I was looking at. All I could see were masses of brown and black bodies. Then, I realized they were
bats
.
Giant
bats. I was standing on a ledge with a drop-off of hundreds of feet. Quickly, I scooted back against the wall.

Kishan yelled my name and tried to move in my direction.

“I’m okay!” I shouted. “They haven’t hurt me! I’m up here on a ledge!”

“Hang on, Kells! I’m coming!”

The bats were hanging upside down and watching Kishan’s progress with blinking black eyes. The mass of bodies was constantly in motion. Some were spider-walking over their peers to a better hanging position. Some flapped their wings before tightly folding them around their bodies. Others rocked back and forth. Some slept.

They were noisy. They chattered with
clicks, pops
, and
smacks
as they hung and watched us.

Kishan progressed for a while but got stuck and had to backtrack. He tried several times to climb up to where I was, but he was always thwarted. After the sixth try, he stood near the hole and shouted up to me, “It’s impossible, Kells. I can’t get up there!”

I’d just opened my mouth to answer him when a giant bat spoke.

“Iiiiiiimpossiiiible heeeee thiiiinks,” it clicked and flapped. “Iiiitt’s possiiiible, Tiiigerrr.”

I spoke to the bat, “You know that he’s a tiger?”

“Weeeeee seeeee hiiiiim. Heeaar hiiiiim. Heeeees speeerit eees spliittt.”

“His spirit is split? What do you mean?”

“Meeean heee eeeendure grieeeeef. Heeee heeeeal hiiiis stiiiing . . . heeee reeescue youu.”

“If he heals his sting, he rescues me? How can he do that?”

“Heee iiiis like weee. Heee is halfff maaan and halfff tiiigerr. Weee aree halfff bird and halfff mammalll. Halfffs neeeeeed beeeee togeeether. Heee musstt eeembracee tiiiigerrr.”

“How can his two halves be together?”

“Heeee musstt leearnn.”

I was about to ask another question when several of the bats dropped into the air and flew to different places in the womb-like cavern. Rhythmic smacks, which I realized was their echo sonar, beat through the air and against the walls. I could actually feel the vibrations on my skin. Soon, small stones embedded in the walls began to glow. The longer the bats kept up their noise, the brighter the lights became. When the bats stopped, the cavern was well lit.

“Theeeee lightsss wiiill failee wheeeen hiiis time isssss outtt. Heeee musstt heelpp youu beeforeeee. Heee musstt use hiiis maaan and hiiis tiiiigerrr. Teeeell hiiiim.”

“Okay.” I hollered down to Kishan, “The bats say that you have to use both halves of yourself to reach me before the light turns dim again. They say you have to embrace the tiger part of you.”

Now that the lights were on, the dangers of the path became obvious. A series of formations similar to stalagmites, but with flat tops, rose in the cavern. They were too far apart for a human to jump, but a tiger might be able to.

Kishan looked up and threw the chakram into the air. As it soared high, he changed into the black tiger, and leapt. He went fast. I held my breath as he quickly leapt from one thin formation to another without even stopping to balance himself. I gasped in horror knowing each leap could mean his death. When he reached the last one, he overshot slightly and gripped the spongy wood with his claws, twisting his tail around for balance.

He switched to a man, caught the chakram and threw it high. The perch was tiny, barely big enough for his feet. There was no ledge to jump to from there. Nothing was close enough, even for a tiger. He looked around for a moment, figuring out his next move. The bats blinked and stared at him wide-eyed from their upside down perches. The light started to dim. The darker it was, the more dangerous his climb would be.

I knew that Kishan could see in the dark better than I could, but the way was still very treacherous. He made a decision, crouched down, switched to the black tiger, and leapt into the air. There was nothing for him to land on.

I screamed, “Kishan! No!”

He switched to a man in midair and fell. I leaned down on my belly to peer over the edge of my small shelf and began breathing again when I saw him dangling from a long vine. He was slowly climbing up hand over hand, but he was still too far away. He caught the chakram, held the dangerous weapon in his teeth, and swung back and forth until he could grab onto a protruding piece of wood on the side of the tree. He climbed higher and rested for a minute on a tiny outcropping. After assessing his situation, he grabbed a new vine, jumped, and swung out again.

Kishan did a series of complicated acrobatic stunts. I saw the man change into tiger and back at least three times. At one point, he threw the chakram, which spun in the cavern, sliced a vine, and flew back to a tiger paw that suddenly became a hand and caught it. Chakram in his mouth again, he swung below me, across the cavern, and pushed off the other side to aim for me. He grabbed the vine he’d cut to complete the swing. As he zoomed toward me, I saw that this vine wasn’t long enough and realized he would land at least ten feet away.

I wanted to close my eyes but felt I had to watch as Kishan risked his life to reach me. Kishan swung back and pushed off again. This time, when his feet touched the wall, he tossed the chakram still another time. He grabbed the vine in his teeth, quickly changed to the black tiger again, and pushed off hard with his powerful hind legs. He switched to a man again, flew out as high as the vine would take him, and then let go. Twisting in the air, he changed to a tiger. His striped, black body stretched out to my ledge. As his claws sank into the wood near my feet and he hung suspended in midair, the chakram sank into the wood a few inches from my hand. Tiger claws become hands.

“Kishan!”

I grabbed the back of his shirt and yanked as hard as I could. He rolled over onto the ledge and lay there, panting, for several minutes. The light had dimmed still more.

“Yyouu seeeee? Heee diiiid iiiitt.”

His arms shook, and I brushed my tears away. “Yes. He did,” I said quietly.

When Kishan sat up, I grabbed him in a fierce hug and kissed his cheek. He held me close for a minute before reluctantly letting me go. He brushed the hair away from my eyes.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t bring the backpack,” he said.

“It’s okay. There was no way you could bring it with all you had to do.”

“Weeee wiiiill geeet iiiit.”

I murmured sarcastically, “Too bad they couldn’t bring you up here too.”

“Weeee mussstt tesssttt hiiiim. Heeee hasss succeeeeeedeedd.”

One of the bats flew down to retrieve the backpack. It dropped the bag into my waiting hands.

“Thank you.” I touched Kishan’s arm. “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine.” He grinned rakishly despite his exhaustion. “In fact, I could be convinced to do it again for a real kiss.”

I punched his arm lightly. “I think one on the cheek was enough, don’t you?”

He grunted noncommittally. “Where do we go from here?”

One of the bats spoke, “Weee wiiiiill takeee youu.”

Two of the bats released their grip on the ceiling and fell several feet before snapping open their wings. They beat them hard, gaining altitude, and hovered above us. Then they descended slowly. Taloned feet gripped my shoulders and tightened.