Path of the Tiger, стр. 1

PATH OF THE TIGER

VOLUME I of the TOOTH, CLAW AND STEEL EPIC

J.M. Hemmings

THIS BOOK IS WRITTEN IN BRITISH ENGLISH

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by reviewers, who may quote brief passages in a review.

This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents and dialogues are products of the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. While certain historical characters and incidents are mentioned, these are not intended to be accurate historical representations of said characters and incidents.

ISBN (MOBI): 978-1-990930-27-0

Cover design by $k1NnYBw0Y

Cover image: detail of The Tiger Hunt (1616) by Peter Paul Rubens (Public Domain)

Published by Tree Agama Press

Visit the author’s website at www.jmhemmings.com

For all the victims, human and nonhuman, of the Sixth Mass Extinction

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PROLOGUE

1 – WILLIAM

2 – ABOUBAKAR

3 – WILLIAM

4 – CHLOE

5 – ADRIANA

6 – SIGURD

7 – SIGURD

8 – NATHAN

9 – WILLIAM

10 – WILLIAM

11 – WILLIAM

12 – OCTAVIAN

13 – LUCIUS

14 – LUCIUS

15 – MARGARET

16 – MARGARET

17 – ADRIANA

18 – ADRIANA

19 – CHLOE

20 – ZAKARIA

21 – CHLOE

22 – WILLIAM

23 – WILLIAM

24 – WILLIAM

25 – MARGARET

26 – MARGARET

27 – MR MA

28 – NATHAN

29 – MR MA

30 – WILLIAM

31 – WILLIAM

32 – WILLIAM

33 – ESCAPE PART ONE

34 – ESCAPE PART TWO

35 – WILLIAM

36 – WILLIAM

37 – VIRIDOVIX

38 – BATIATUS

39 – SPARTACUS

40 – MARGARET

41 – MARGARET

42 – MARGARET

43 – WILLIAM

44 – WILLIAM

45 – ADRIANA

46 – WILLIAM

47 – WILLIAM

48 – WILLIAM

49 – WILLIAM

50 – RANOMI

51 – NJINGA

52 – WILLIAM

53 – SIGURD

54 – LIGHTNING BIRD

55 – SIGURD

56 – COLONEL RUDD

57 – MARGARET

58 – MARGARET

59 – THE GENERAL

60 – LUCIUS

61 – SPARTACUS

62 – LUCIUS

63 – VIRIDOVIX

64 – VIRIDOVIX

65 – WILLIAM

66 – WILLIAM

67 – HROTHGAR

68 – BATTLE PART I

69 – BATTLE PART II

70 – WILLIAM

71 – WILLIAM

‘In San creation mythology, it is believed that before mankind entered the time of order, rules and society, men and animals lived as equals, as brothers and sisters, and were able to shift forms at will; human could become animal, and animal could become human. They believed that this gift was lost when humankind harnessed the gift of fire – a treacherous gift that separated them from their animal kin, who feared its destructive power. With the passage of many generations, men forgot about their animal forms, severed the bonds of kinship with their animal brethren, and started instead to walk a new path, living under constructed shelters, covering their bodies with clothes, and using tools to cultivate crops and manipulate the earth. However, it was known that a small fraction of men and women nonetheless retained the ancient, pre-civilisation blessing and were able to preserve the connection they had with their animal bodies and souls, into which they were able to change at will. Truly holy were these rare individuals, who walked the earth on lonely paths that spanned uncountable summers and winters, whose years far surpassed the short lifespans of ordinary people. They were the holiest of shamans, the demi-gods, the living links to that earliest and most sacred time of creation and now-lost unity of all life on Earth.’

An Anthropological History of the Kalahari Bushmen, 1982, Dr J.C. De Wet.

'Jacques Michel Lefevre was tried in court before the Magistrate of Carcassonne on the third day of September, the year of our Lord 1594, on the charges of werewolfery and murder while in the form of a werewolf. At the trial, Lefevre confessed to the vile crime of werewolfery, but vehemently denied any association with the Devil or any of his dark servants, including human witches and warlocks. The wretch claimed that he and his werewolf brethren were working for the good of mankind against dark forces bent on domination, subjugation and destruction. He refused absolution from the parish priest and thereby the chance of a merciful death, offered in exchange for a confession of his Devil-worship and the renunciation of his evil werewolf powers, and was then broken on the wheel and finally burned at the stake for his crimes on the 5th day of September, along with two local women convicted of the crime of witchcraft.’

Court records of Carcassonne, France, of the year 1597.

‘Equally at ease

Taking form of fox or girl

She is kitsune.’

Japanese haiku, 1672, author unknown.

The origins of the secret society known as the Huntsmen are not particularly clear, save that they were active before the birth of Christ, and that their secret society was established in Rome, either by a cabal of wealthy citizens or senators of the Republic. Little to nothing is known of the founding members, but what has been clear from the outset is that their primary mission and purpose, throughout recorded history, has always been twofold: their first aim is to utterly exterminate our kind, we who can assume the form of both man and beast, and they will not rest until every last one of us has been purged from existence. The second goal is simple: they aim to rule as gods over all of humanity and conquer the entirety of the living world. Should they succeed in either of these endeavours, an age of darkness hitherto unknown will descend upon the earth.

The Chronicles of N’Jalabenadou, Volume I, 1831, author unknown.

HIGHLY CLASSIFIED; TOP SECRET CLEARANCE REQUIRED

Date: April 20^th, 1954

To: Director, FBI

From: Agent BC Pawelczyk, stationed in Takotna, Alaska

Subject: ‘Werebear’/Unidentified Hominoid

Late last night at around 2:15am, Agents Gillespie, Brown and myself, in cooperation with a local tracker, managed to corner and wound a hominoid-type creature deep in the woods, around twelve miles from Takotna. The creature, which in outward appearance is indistinguishable from regular human beings, is able to somehow transmute its physical form from that of a human male into that of a Kamchatka brown bear at will. Whether or not this is some sort of elaborate optical illusion, or an actual biological process which is beyond