Path of the Tiger, стр. 461
‘Come on Will! Stay here wiff me!’
A tiny hand, reaching out to him, crossing space, time, memories and … life.
And death, death too.
What was this place?
William reached out, wanting with such a crushing intensity of longing to touch the hand of the friend he had lost so many years ago.
Wait.
What?
WHAT?!
He stared in horrified disbelief at his arm. Reaching out, from where his hand should have been, there was not a human hand, but instead an enormous paw covered in thick fur, the hues of which were orange, yellow, brown and white, all crossed with bold, jagged stripes of black. And on its toes, savage claws.
A tiger paw.
What trickery, what devilry was this?
William tried to scream.
A tiger roar, tearing the leaves off of the nearby trees with its hurricane power.
Davy smiled, seemingly oblivious.
‘Come on Will! There’s a jungle gym in the forest we can climb. An’ a lovely stream we can skip stones across. It’s got ducks too, an’ I’ve a loaf of bread to feed ‘em wiff.’
William backed up.
I’m on all fours. I’m on ALL FOURS, like an ANIMAL! My legs, my arms, what’s … what’s happening?! WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING?!
‘No, Davy, help me, help me, please, help me!’
‘Roar, roar, roar roar, roar roar, roar, roar roar!’
Davy started laughing, and then he turned his back and began to walk away.
Pain, rushing in with the howl of a typhoon inside his ear drum. Pervasive, stabbing, tearing, skin-flaying, salt rubbing in raw wounds, boiling oil poured over peeled-back skin and exposed muscle, no, no, no NO NO NOOOOOOO—
***
‘Wake up my love. You’re having a bad dream. Wake up, my beautiful cavalryman!’
‘Au-, Aurora?’
Her lips, on mine … oh God, I’ve missed this. God, how terribly I’ve missed this.
‘We’re going to wake up every day like this, my love, from now until forever.’
It’s her. She’s speaking. It’s really her, she’s really here with me.
‘My beautiful William … I’m so happy I could die, I could die right now. Nothing in all of existence, in all of the entire universe, could possibly make me happier than you next to me, your hand in mine, our legs intertwined beneath these sheets … I could drink you in for the rest of my days, my lover, my lancer, my knight, my prince.’
I can smell her, feel her skin, taste her lips, hear her voice like the harp of an angel inside my mind, sense the heat of her body against mine … but I can’t open my eyes, I just can’t…
‘Aurora, I’ve waited fir this fir so long, I’ve been through so much, just fir you … I’ve seen things, I’ve done things, things tha’ I cannae speak of, things tha’ no man should have tae—’
‘Shh my love. We are together now, and nothing can come between us, not ever again. It’s just how we wanted it, how we dreamed of it, just like that night on the hill under the glow of the stars and the Northern Lights. Our dream has finally come to pass, my prince! Feel this, on my finger. Go on, feel it!’
Slim, dainty fingers slipping between his rough digits, directing his fingertips with delectable softness.
What’s this? A ring? A jewelled ring?
‘Can you feel that, William? You put it there.’
‘We’re … we’re—’
‘Husband and wife, my love. Together. For all time, until the end of all things. These two halves of this lost soul, this broken soul that has been searching through time and space, across vast distances, across lifetimes … Finally each half has found the other, and can be one again.’
‘It’s too good tae be true. This cannae be, Aurora … I must—’
‘Shh. Kiss me William. Kiss me, hold me close to you, and never let me go.’
Her lips, on mine. Her fingertips, entwined with mine. Her hair, falling over my face. Bare breasts, resting so softly on my chest, silken belly pressing against me. She’s taking my hand, ever so gently. Taking it, pulling it down, down further … A brush over a nipple, a drag across the curve of a breast, a light touch on the indentation between ribs, and now coming to rest here, here on the little hollow of her belly button.
‘Feel that, my knight. Can you feel it?’
A heartbeat. But not hers. Another heartbeat. New life.
‘You put her there, William. She’s a manifestation of our love, and she will one day be queen of everything. Can you feel her little heart? Can you feel the power and love it pulses through the universe with every tiny thump?’
‘I can, my love … oh by the Father above, I can!’
‘Shh … listen … she’s about to speak.’
‘Speak? But she’s only—’
‘Shh.’
A roar. A tiger’s roar. Coming from down there, from inside her…
No. NO! NO!
Pain. Rushing back, steaming in with the voracious force of a tsunami, destroying, tearing everything apart, even the darkness itself, howling behind my eyes, shearing with razor blades and dissolving with bubbling with acid and oh God the agony, the horror, the terror, it’s too much, it’s too much, help, help HELP HELP HEEELLPPP—
Blackness.
Oblivion…
***
William woke up, and the immediate and overriding sensation was that of pain. Every inch of his body was racked with it, and chilly sweat pooled in every crevice and dewed like heavy condensation on his forehead. The sounds of the forest filled his ears, and dappled sunlight, bright in its leopard-coat patches, drizzled through the treetops and came to rest on the carpet of leaves upon which he lay.
‘The young one is stirring, at last! Welcome, my new friend, to your afterlife! Not the afterlife, in which your people believe, but certainly a brand-new life, for