Path of the Tiger, стр. 452
Adriana was too shocked to scream, too stunned at what she had seen to try to flee, if that had even been an option. No, she was too terrified and awe-struck to do anything but remain paralysed in place, with the beast’s striped tail swishing like an agitated cobra in her face.
‘I told you lass, you must trust me.’ It was William’s voice, but it was not coming from the tiger above her. Instead, it was in her head. ‘I know you can hear me, so do as I say and climb up onto my tiger body. Hold my neck tight and clamp your thighs onto my flanks. Grip my fur, my skin, anything you need to; it won’t hurt me. You’ll be perfectly safe, I assure you. But hurry love, hurry! They’re coming, and God help us both if they catch us.’
Adriana had no choice but to do as he said. With icy fear shooting through her body, like some virulent infection, with every move she took, she scrambled up William’s tiger body, positioning herself on his back just as he had told her to.
‘I’m on,’ she said. She couldn’t believe that she was talking to a tiger, let alone riding one. Everything had become so surreal in the last few hours, though, that she merely accepted this as a further step descended down the spiral staircase of insanity.
‘Hang on tight,’ she heard William’s voice say, and she locked her arms around his neck. It was strangely comforting, being on the back of this enormous wild creature; in a bizarre dualism of madness, she had never before felt safer nor in greater danger.
William turned around to face the side, and then launched himself off the ladder and onto the ledge Adriana had just jumped from. This – leaping in near blindness to land on tiny ledges, off of which the slightest slip would lead to certain death below – was truly terrifying, and it was all Adriana could do to hold on. Beneath her, she felt the tiger’s muscles contracting as he bent into a crouch and prepared to jump. He sprang again, and she couldn’t help shrieking with fright as they sailed upwards – a good fifteen feet across and up – but to her immediate relief, he landed on the ledge above with a smooth and sure-footed stability. The respite from fear for Adriana, however, was short-lived, for as soon as they landed William turned around and jumped up another level.
He continued to spring from level to level until they had almost reached the top of the elevator shaft. Now instead of jumping again, William turned to face the elevator doors next to them, reared up onto his hind legs and bared the claws of his forepaws, using them to pry open the doors. Adriana found that although the corridor they had stepped into was dimly lit, illuminated only by the pulsing red glow of the emergency lights, to her dark-accustomed eyes it looked as bright as a cloudless summer day.
William walked cautiously out, scanning for the presence of any other living things, friend or foe alike, and found that they were alone. However, his enhanced hearing was able to pick out the muffled sounds of combat boots racing up the stairs below; time was extremely short, and the window of opportunity for escape was almost closed. Once again, Adriana heard his voice inside her head.
‘I want you to shoulder the AK-47, love. If you see anyone hostile, shoot ‘em, and by God I mean that. Don’t hesitate, not for a second; it’s a life or death situation, this is.’
‘I don’t think I can,’ she murmured.
‘You can. Forget about all this self-doubt; you can do it. You must. Remember, stabilise yourself with your thighs and your core, and squeeze my flanks tight. It doesn’t hurt me. And be prepared for that rifle to kick when you shoot it. It’s on full automatic mode, so if you hold the trigger in it’ll keep spitting out bullets.’
William began padding along the corridor when he detected the presence of another beastwalker. He stopped in his tracks, sniffing gingerly at the still air. The beastwalker was approaching from behind and was moving with deliberate stealth. But now he knew that they were there, and they too were surely aware of his presence. He spun around to face the corner from around which the newcomer would emerge. After a few tense seconds someone familiar stepped out into the open – someone familiar to both William and Adriana.
‘William, Adriana. Quickly, come with me.’
‘It’s you!’ Adriana exclaimed. ‘You were with me in the truck!’
Despite the fact that Kimiko was clad in her samurai armour, Adriana still recognised her.
‘Come with me, both of you,’ Kimiko said, her voice low with urgency. ‘Hurry, we don’t have much time.’
William sensed right away that something was off; with his tiger vision he could see with perfect clarity through the red-tinted gloom into Kimiko’s eyes, and something ominous festered behind them; its presence, although partially masked, was an unmistakable as the odour of a rotting rat corpse in a duct.
Betrayal.
He didn’t how he knew, but he did. He felt it in the very marrow of his bones, and this instinct gave him a split-second in which to prepare for what was to come next. In a blitz of an attack Kimiko jerked her bow up and loosed an arrow, which was aimed directly at Adriana’s heart. William, however, had already moved, rearing up onto his hind limbs in a burst of feline power and agility. The flying arrow caught him in the mouth, piercing his left cheek and sticking there. With a furious roar he catapulted himself into a charge, steaming towards Kimiko. Undaunted, she threw down the bow – there was no need for deception