absence might kill him.
Eyes
closed, his breathing slowed. He dived deep within, straight for his
ātman, his inner self. The air thickened and grew silent. His muffled
heart became a distant thump. He dove deeper, deeper. To a place where
stillness shrouded his essence. A gate closed on the young woman, the rangers,
Cambridge, and Miranda. Their presence faded within his soul’s impregnable
fortress. Of a moment his senses fled their bonds. Beneath him he heard a
tunneling worm, scented the mucus it trailed. Air swirls from a passing
butterfly caressed his back. Power surged from an indestructible core. His eyes
opened to a clarity and resolution that mocked distance. Duncan and Ronan sat
quietly, protective of their master’s vulnerable state. He became one with the
forest’s moods and rhythms. Where a man had knelt, a huntsman rose. An
unspoken command sent the dogs dashing through the undergrowth.
Janesh
followed the dogs along a clear trail the tiger had left. Ahead a two-inch-deep
pug marred the damp earth. He closed a fist and placed it palm down within. It
did not touch any sides. Though the print matched ones he’d seen around the
kill, he crouched to sniff. It too matched. Farther along, a bamboo thicket
revealed several bent shoots. He leaned in to smell the near invisible fur
strands protruding from a crack. The stem still drained sap. At most four hours
had elapsed. He tracked a monster that stood four and a half feet at the
shoulder and weighed close to seven hundred pounds.
Janesh
rose to scan the area. Chattering monkeys and warbling birds confirmed no
immediate danger but the slightest mistake could be his last. He gathered
leaves from a nearby Behria plant to rub across his body. Its insect repellant
provided relief from the myriad pests mistaking him for food.
India’s
tigers had undergone a tremendous revival. Fifty years after jettisoning its
socialist underpinnings, the country’s booming economy had drained the rural
regions of peasants mired in abysmal poverty. Cities and urban centers offered
the Shudra caste a chance to escape the fate destined at birth and their
children a path to prosperity. National parks and tiger preserves had expanded
into the abandoned countryside. Tadoba Andhari, once 242 square miles, now
covered almost 700. The bill arrived as an emboldened tiger population who’d
lost their fear of rarely encountered humans. On average they’d grown bigger
too and the added strength provided an effortless twenty foot vertical leap.
The combination made for a formidable predator.
Along
the faint trail, Janesh became a silent whisper whose passage left no mark.
Still, a woodpecker ceased its rat-a-tat-tat at the sun-darkened wraith’s
approach. A startled peacock took furious flight, wings flapping like a
dealer’s deck shuffle. The forest’s denizens continued their babble. Janesh
quickened his pace. Several more pugs left no doubt the tiger headed for Tadoba
Lake.
Steps
became miles before he crept behind a tree where the forest had begun to thin.
Beyond, a large meadow expanded leftward to the horizon. Straight across and
rightward, a three-hundred yard expanse awaited before the forest resumed. Four
miles beyond, the lake’s languid waters lapped its southern shoreline. Groups
of Gaur bison, Nilgai and Chousingha antelopes, Sambar, Spotted, and Barking
deer grazed while their young pranced and chased one another. Birds flitted and
dove for insects amid others who squabbled for the right to do so.
A
breeze floated from the open expanse. Needless habit flared his nostrils,
sampled the incoming scents. Grass feeders did not remain calm with hungry
predators about. Still, tiger patience and camouflage made them notorious
ambushers. Janesh stepped into the open. Cautious heads rose to view the
newcomer. Sensing no danger, the adults resumed feeding. Cued off their mothers,
the young continued play. Spear at the ready, Janesh strode across the meadow,
a wary eye glued to
Eyes
closed, his breathing slowed. He dived deep within, straight for his
ātman, his inner self. The air thickened and grew silent. His muffled
heart became a distant thump. He dove deeper, deeper. To a place where
stillness shrouded his essence. A gate closed on the young woman, the rangers,
Cambridge, and Miranda. Their presence faded within his soul’s impregnable
fortress. Of a moment his senses fled their bonds. Beneath him he heard a
tunneling worm, scented the mucus it trailed. Air swirls from a passing
butterfly caressed his back. Power surged from an indestructible core. His eyes
opened to a clarity and resolution that mocked distance. Duncan and Ronan sat
quietly, protective of their master’s vulnerable state. He became one with the
forest’s moods and rhythms. Where a man had knelt, a huntsman rose. An
unspoken command sent the dogs dashing through the undergrowth.
Janesh
followed the dogs along a clear trail the tiger had left. Ahead a two-inch-deep
pug marred the damp earth. He closed a fist and placed it palm down within. It
did not touch any sides. Though the print matched ones he’d seen around the
kill, he crouched to sniff. It too matched. Farther along, a bamboo thicket
revealed several bent shoots. He leaned in to smell the near invisible fur
strands protruding from a crack. The stem still drained sap. At most four hours
had elapsed. He tracked a monster that stood four and a half feet at the
shoulder and weighed close to seven hundred pounds.
Janesh
rose to scan the area. Chattering monkeys and warbling birds confirmed no
immediate danger but the slightest mistake could be his last. He gathered
leaves from a nearby Behria plant to rub across his body. Its insect repellant
provided relief from the myriad pests mistaking him for food.
India’s
tigers had undergone a tremendous revival. Fifty years after jettisoning its
socialist underpinnings, the country’s booming economy had drained the rural
regions of peasants mired in abysmal poverty. Cities and urban centers offered
the Shudra caste a chance to escape the fate destined at birth and their
children a path to prosperity. National parks and tiger preserves had expanded
into the abandoned countryside. Tadoba Andhari, once 242 square miles, now
covered almost 700. The bill arrived as an emboldened tiger population who’d
lost their fear of rarely encountered humans. On average they’d grown bigger
too and the added strength provided an effortless twenty foot vertical leap.
The combination made for a formidable predator.
Along
the faint trail, Janesh became a silent whisper whose passage left no mark.
Still, a woodpecker ceased its rat-a-tat-tat at the sun-darkened wraith’s
approach. A startled peacock took furious flight, wings flapping like a
dealer’s deck shuffle. The forest’s denizens continued their babble. Janesh
quickened his pace. Several more pugs left no doubt the tiger headed for Tadoba
Lake.
Steps
became miles before he crept behind a tree where the forest had begun to thin.
Beyond, a large meadow expanded leftward to the horizon. Straight across and
rightward, a three-hundred yard expanse awaited before the forest resumed. Four
miles beyond, the lake’s languid waters lapped its southern shoreline. Groups
of Gaur bison, Nilgai and Chousingha antelopes, Sambar, Spotted, and Barking
deer grazed while their young pranced and chased one another. Birds flitted and
dove for insects amid others who squabbled for the right to do so.
A
breeze floated from the open expanse. Needless habit flared his nostrils,
sampled the incoming scents. Grass feeders did not remain calm with hungry
predators about. Still, tiger patience and camouflage made them notorious
ambushers. Janesh stepped into the open. Cautious heads rose to view the
newcomer. Sensing no danger, the adults resumed feeding. Cued off their mothers,
the young continued play. Spear at the ready, Janesh strode across the meadow,
a wary eye glued to
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