I know you can hear me. Now change back.” Ryan’s shoulders sagged as the tiger continued to stare at him and then the huge beast slowly sank down in the grass. “You have to help me, Mikos, I need you.” He stretched out a hand to him. “Please Mikos. If you love me, if you ever really loved me, then please come back to me.”
****
Rasc lay back on the grass, looking up at the sky above him that he could just catch a glimpse of through the trees. The boy was messing around with some rocks beside him, arranging them in a square. It had to be a good sign that he was playing a little, right? This whole situation still seemed unreal to Rasc, and he wished for the hundredth time that day that he’d never gotten mixed up in all this.
But if he hadn’t, then he wouldn’t have gotten close to Kylon. And no matter what happened, he wouldn’t have missed Kylon for this world or any other.
Feeling like he was proving himself a little worthless, he decided he could at least make a few vine snares while he was waiting for Ryan to return. He left the boy playing with his rocks and twigs and went just to the tree line to cut some vines. He was headed back to him with another armful of vines when he heard a slight noise behind him. Freezing in place, he raised his head and saw a huge, beautiful tiger not twenty feet away from him, stalking toward him, slowly and relentlessly, its eyes burning a hole in him with their intensity.
Even though it went against everything his body was screaming at him to do, he somehow remembered to follow Ryan’s advice and dropped down to the ground on his knees, wrapping his arms over his head. The big cat was on him in an instant. He heard the loud snarl in his ears and felt its hot, moist breath on his neck. It stood over his back, covering him completely with its great weight resting slightly on him—not with its full weight but enough to hold him down. He felt the soft fur covering him, and his whole body shook from the force of the rumble coming from the massive body. He cried out in terror, but immediately got hold of himself and remembered to make whimpering, mewling sounds of submission. He had to be as nonthreatening as possible if he was going to survive this.
He could feel the cold wet nose of the beast sniffing him everywhere. A great paw came down on his back, claws sheathed, and pushed him flat to the ground. The beast chuffed out its breath again and fell down beside him, keeping its paw still on his back, pressing him facedown. He lay there waiting for a killing blow or a bite that never came. Finally, reaction set in and the adrenaline slowly drained out of him, leaving him exhausted. He closed his eyes, still not moving, making his body limp and playing dead. What felt like an hour passed, and still the huge tiger hadn’t attacked or made any move to hurt him. Rasc had to chance taking a look. He couldn’t lie here any longer expecting death at every moment. And what if the child cried out or tried to run? He couldn’t risk it. Slowly, he raised his head to glance over at the tiger, preparing himself as much as he could for a sudden swipe of the massive paws.
The huge tiger was sleeping, or seemed to be, its head lying across one massive leg, the other leg outstretched to hold Rasc in place.
The first thing that struck him was the beauty of the beast. The black stripes made an intricate pattern above his eyes and around the sides of his face. In the middle of his face was his large golden snout, leading to his mouth and incredibly long whiskers. As Rasc gazed at him in awe, the beautiful beast opened his eyes.
They were a dark golden color. They were intelligent and wary, gazing at him without any trace of anger or vicious intent. Were these Kylon’s eyes? It would be sweet to think so, but he couldn’t trust the “feelings” he was having. This was a wild animal, unpredictable and savage. It would kill him if it got the chance.
Moving by inches, he began to crawl away. Once he got out from under the massive paw, braced at