Rather it understood that silence differently, understanding it to mean that whatever had been there was still there, that it had not withdrawn. It was certain, you see, as you or I, and even a more rational particle of its own nature, might not have been, that there had been something there, and that there was still something there.
The explanation for its elation, as it entered the trees, seeking, hunting, was not difficult to determine. It had to do with various primitive excitements, such as the eagerness to rend and the lust for blood.
In a moment or two it detected, before it, dark amongst the trees, hard even for it to discern, a large, dark, sinuous shape. This thing was much larger than a stealthy one, or, at least, those it had hitherto encountered.
The beast, as one might suppose, was much surprised by this.
The beast did not deign to conceal, or to attempt to conceal, its presence.
It approached with caution, but frontally.
It had roared. It had emitted its challenges. It had made its intent clear, and all the dark, terrible menace of that intent.
The intruder, crouching down, its belly close to the ground, backed away, a step or two.
The beast then circled the intruder, which turned about, belly low, so that they might continue to face one another. The beast now, in the stirring of the wind, soft against its face, took in the scent of the intruder, which was surely, as the beast would have anticipated, the scent of a stealthy one, or akin to such a scent.
Suddenly Brenner thought, Rodriguez was mistaken! He thought this form of life was not indigenous to Abydos. But it is! It must be!
The beast growled, and the intruder responded with a snarl, tail lashing.
Is this to be driven away, wondered the beast. I must kill this, thought Brenner.
You see, something in the beast, on a level more primitive than the conjectures of Brenner, which remained rather rational, was profoundly shaken, both by the lineaments of the newcomer and by its scent. It seemed it had seen such things before, and had experienced that scent, or something like it, before, in its dreams, and, perhaps, in its memories, those from long ago, from the old home.
It was only half the size of the beast, but it was, nonetheless, an extremely large animal. Its markings, as Brenner could discern, were similar to his own.
The beast growled, menacingly, at the newcomer, which responded in kind.
Yes, thought the beast, obedient to the imperatives of interspecific aggression, this is to be driven away.
This is extremely dangerous, thought Brenner. I am confident that I can kill it. I must do so.
What had originally motivated Brenner in his rapid descent from the cliff no longer swayed him. The eagerness to rend, the lust for blood, the appetition for destruction, originally felt, for whatever reason, no longer burned in his heart. It seemed that the beast now thought, merely, this perhaps in accord with the customs of its kind, in dealing with its own kind, this thing is to be driven away. If this thing is to be killed, thought Brenner, it will have to be killed with intent, with fixed purpose.
The beast then approached the newcomer, growling. It put its face down, toward the newcomer. The newcomer, the stranger, the intruder, raised its head, snarling. The beast put its snout against the newcomer, growling. The newcomer remained extremely still. The beast continued its investigations. The newcomer turned about, suddenly, angrily, almost like a striking snake, fangs bared, and the beast, with a cry of rage and pain, leaped back, its shoulder bloody.
The newcomer crouched there, snarling.
The beast sat back and licked its own blood, at its shoulder, regarding the newcomer.
The newcomer now crouched very low.
The beast then, without warning, sprang suddenly forward and with a blow of its great paw smote the head of the newcomer forcibly to the side, and, following this, with its fangs, twice lacerated its flanks, taking two bloods for one.
The newcomer whimpered.
The beast, angry, moved to one side, that the newcomer might now flee into the trees.
But the newcomer did not move. It remained where it was, flanks bleeding, belly low.
The beast growled, a threatening, informative, cruel, lordly sound. This was answered by a sound from the throat of the newcomer. Its sound, however, was more in the nature of a whine, or whimper. In it might have been read a note of fear, of penitence.
The beast remained where it was for a time,