Through the Tiger's Eye (24 page)
‘It is the same for myself.’ said Rahel. ‘It’s been happening since we escaped, but it is much stronger now. It is confusing. Here and now, in this place, I cannot see the walls, but I
know
exactly their place. And in the jungle, I can see in the dark much better than before.’
‘Me too!’ said Lucy, excited.
‘Perhaps we see with the eyes of the tiger!’ suggested Rahel. ‘Tigers do not need a head torch like the Bull Commander. I have studied them. They are night hunters. They can see far better than we.’
Lucy pictured a tiger prowling into Dr Baker’s clean office in the main street of Kurrawong to have its eyes tested. It would sit up in a chair to read the little letters on the chart on the wall. T for tiger. D for doctor. DOUBLE D FOR DOCTOR FOR DINNER – aaagggghhh. Dr Baker with blood all over his white coat. Gross.
Rahel’s calm voice took over.
‘Before the Bulls took me, I read all the time about animals. I did many school projects. I especially studied tigers. And Papa took me to the tigerlands when I was little.’
‘Where?’
‘The tigerlands on the other side of the island. It is against the law to kill a tiger in the tigerlands. There is a legend that Telares belongs to tigers and not people. My grandmama told me when I was little.’
‘A legend? Can you remember it?’
‘Of course I can. She told me almost every night.’
And Rahel began reciting, as though she remembered the story word for word, her voice keeping rhythm with their feet as they walked in the dark.
‘A long, long time ago, Telares had a name that everyone has forgotten but it was a great and powerful island, much bigger than today, with many tigers and elephants and snakes and monkeys and birds and fish, and strange creatures that don’t exist any more. The king and queen worshipped the tigers and forbade their people to hunt them. When the king and queen died, their only son, whose nickname was “Young Tiger”, was supposed to be king. But his cousin hated him, and one day when they were fishing he pushed Young Tiger overboard and paddled back to shore saying Young Tiger had been swimming and the sharks had taken him.
‘The cousin became king, but he hated tigers because they reminded him of what he had done. One day, walking in the garden, the spirit of his aunt, the dead queen, took the body of a tiger and attacked him. The false king almost died and when he was better, he set out to kill all the tigers. He began hunting them secretly. He had to hide the bodies, so he ground their bones into powder and sent secret messages to the rulers of all the other islands, who did not have tigers. He told old kings and queens that his magic powder would make them young again. He said a murderer could not pass through a door with a tiger’s head mounted on it. To those kings and queens without an heir, he said sleeping in a bed with a tiger-skin blanket would bring many children.
‘The kings and queens of the other islands believed him, and began to ask him for tiger heads and skins. He became very wealthy, but he could not kill tigers quickly enough to keep the other kings and queens happy. And of course he could not ask anyone to help him.
‘Then one day a powerful king sent his warriors to demand more tiger bone. They killed the false king. Then they killed many tigers. The people were in despair, and gathered in the sacred jungle on the far side of the island to ask the ancestors for help.
‘For three days, the Telarians prayed to the spirits of all tigers, and the spirits of the dead king and queen and the spirit of Young Tiger. And on the fourth day, rain began to fall unceasingly and flood the invaders in their camps. On the fifth day a tremendous storm destroyed the warriors’ boats and they were stranded. On the sixth day, the ground shook and Telares broke into two pieces. The warriors saw that they stood on the largest piece and jeered at the Telarians on the smaller island, threatening to build more boats, and return to kill all the tigers. They forgot that the smaller island held the sacred jungle. On the seventh day, a giant wave came from the ocean and drowned the larger island and all the warriors on it. The sacred jungle floated safely away, and its people and tigers were saved.
‘And when the sacred jungle floated all the way to the place where the sun is born, Young Tiger appeared in a boat and ruled wisely. And the tigers no longer feared the warriors’ spears.’
‘Wow! Someone should tell the Bulls,’ said Lucy, and suddenly realised they had both stopped walking during the story.
‘I know.’ Rahel’s voice was suddenly hard. ‘They are killing tigers too. Before the Bulls came, many people would come on aeroplanes from other countries to see the tigers. Then the Bulls came, and now they shoot them, even in the tigerlands.’
‘Shoot them? Because they’re scared?’
‘Yes, but also Papa told me tiger bone is still worth much money, just as the story says, and they sell the fur too.’
Lucy thought of the Tiger-cat’s soft pelt and remembered something.
‘The Bull Commander lied to Sarong Lady. He thought he heard a tiger when Carlos trod on a branch and he told her he had shot it and would give her the skin for her bed.’
They contemplated that one silently. Then Lucy remembered what they had been talking about.
‘The other night, when we went to the workshop, I could feel the Commander walking on the ground – and I could feel you and Pablo. Is that happening to you?’
‘Yes, the same. I could feel you and Carlos. The ground shakes and I can tell what kind of creature is walking. Even I know if Angel is walking towards the pool. But it is best when I lie on the ground.’
Lucy was torn between disappointment that someone had the same talent, and relief that she could share it. ‘So if we’ve got tiger’s eyes, what’s the shaking thing about?’
‘I believe it is the snake!’
‘Yuck! I’m not turning into a snake!’
‘It’s true. Snakes can feel things moving. They sense when you walk towards them.’
‘And you read this stuff for fun? I only know science stuff because dad leaves his magazines in the toilet. You should work in a zoo or be a vet or something when you grow up.’
‘That is my plan, but first I must go back to school. I have not been to school since the Bulls took me. I have had no books to look at.’
Lucy was about to say, ‘Who cares about missing school?’, but something in Rahel’s voice warned her not to make a joke. She changed the subject.
‘All right, I get the snake thing, a bit, but what about how we feel right now, in the tunnel?’
She reached into dense air to touch the wall.
‘I really can’t see anything. And I don’t reckon even a tiger could see down here. There’s no light at all. It wouldn’t matter how good your eyes were, they need some light, don’t they?’
She drew on something else she had read in one of Dad’s magazines.
‘That’s how eyes work, isn’t it? The black bit, the pupil, gets bigger as it gets dark so you can suck up more light. But there’s no light down here to suck up. But when I try to work out where the wall is,’ she kicked it with her toe, ‘I know exactly where it is. I try to
feel
where it is and I know! It’s as if my thoughts bounce off the wall and I know where it is.’
‘Yes. It is the same for me,’ said Rahel.
They walked on, deep in thought, feet crunching on the gritty tunnel floor. Then Lucy had it!
‘Radar!’
‘Radar?’
‘Yes, radar! They use it in aeroplanes. They send out invisible waves and the waves bounce off other aeroplanes and a light starts flashing and goes beep beep beep on a computer and it shows where the wave bounced off. So they know exactly where other planes are and they don’t fly into them. We’ve got brain radar!’
Rahel giggled. ‘Beep beep! I will try not to fly into any aeroplanes then.’
Lucy realised it was the first joke she had ever heard Rahel make. It was pretty lame, but they both laughed hysterically and beep-beeped their way down the tunnel with arms outstretched, to avoid other planes, until they heard the familiar purr of the Tiger-cat and bumped into the green curtain. This time it was Rahel who walked straight through, grinning back at Lucy, as the curtain parted before her.
Then a roaring sound erupted behind Lucy and she swung around to see a black geyser burst through the opening, an endless beating of leathery wings, reaching for the darkening sky. The bats were going hunting too. Lucy counted to a hundred and still they kept coming, wings pumping up and away. How many lived in those underground passageways and caves? Finally the eruption calmed to a stream, then a trickle. When the last bat had left the tunnel, the Tiger-cat stepped daintily through and the curtain grew into place again.
‘I think we have answered our question,’ said Rahel.
‘What question?’
‘The bats. That is why we can find our way in the dark. Do you recall the very first time we came through the tunnel, after you met us on the path?’
‘Yeah, Dracula bashed me in the head.’
‘This is correct. And since then we have been finding our way without the torch, yes?’
‘Oh yeah.’
‘And everyone has been able to travel without the torches in the tunnel, yes?’
‘Ye-e-es,’ said Lucy.
‘Bats fly in the dark without bumping into things,’ said Rahel.
‘Well, they bumped into us! Everyone got a bat in the face.’
‘Yes, but you know what I mean.’
Rahel paused. ‘I believe you and I are the only ones who can feel like the snake,’ she said. ‘I have checked with the others, but they do not know what I am talking about when I mention the ground shaking. So I have been thinking. I believe this is because the python touched us that night.’
Suddenly it all made sense to Lucy.
‘Of course! And the bats touched all of us. That’s why no one needs a torch in the tunnel any more. And the Tiger-cat has given all of us cat’s eyes. It still feels like seeing when we walk around at night, as if we’ve got super eyes. But when we’re in the tunnel, it doesn’t feel like seeing, it feels like, I dunno, listening, and that’s because of the bats. And the Tiger-cat is always touching us. I’ve started to walk like a cat. And I get this hunterish feeling. Even Ricardo can walk quietly now. He probably still steps in things, though.’
An insistent growl from the Tiger-cat itself warned both girls they were making way too much noise.
They padded on cats’ feet down the path, cats’ eyes peeled.
The Tiger-cat led the way, and Lucy again noticed those distinctive white spots on the back of its ears. Near the jungle jail, the Tiger-cat suddenly darted off the path and turned to face the girls, meowing insistently. They froze. The sound was shockingly loud in the gathering night. The Tiger-cat meowed again and trotted a few more paces off the path, before turning, as if to make sure they were following. Lucy and Rahel looked at each other, and obeyed. The Tiger-cat slipped through the thick undergrowth, moving well away from the jungle jail. The girls concentrated on keeping up with those white ear spots. Then the foliage cleared and they were heading downhill, on a narrow track probably made by animals. After a minute Lucy smelt the sea, and then smoke. The Tiger-cat sprang into a tree with a low growl. The girls shrank to the jungle floor. Through the palms of her hands, Lucy felt the vibration of many pairs of feet.
Rahel breathed in her ear, ‘I think we have approached the village from another direction. I believe what we are feeling is the villagers and their children walking back from the workshop’.
It made sense. Lucy remembered that army of children who had melted into the shadows the other night. She closed her eyes and concentrated. She felt the vibration with her whole body and a picture began to form in her mind. Yes! Rahel was right. A large group of people was approaching somewhere over to their left.
As if in agreement, the Tiger-cat began trotting along the path which took them around the back of the village and off to the right. Lucy felt her senses stretch out to take in their surroundings. A thought struggled for birth but she couldn’t name it. Then she heard it. Running water. Then they were stepping onto a curved bridge over a stream, leading to a round hut. Bucket Lady’s house! Quickly they climbed into a tree, near the bridge.
After what seemed like forever, they heard a clinking and rattling. A familiar shape stood silhouetted on the bridge: Bucket Lady. The Tiger-cat leapt out, surprising the girls, who were trying to stay as quiet as possible. The Bucket Lady greeted the Tiger-cat with obvious affection, and then looked up into the tree where the girls hid, saying something urgently in Telarian. Rahel gasped. Bucket Lady said it again and this time Rahel scrambled down from the tree. There was a hurried conversation, and then she turned to Lucy and hissed, ‘It’s OK, you can come down’.
Inside the hut there was a candle burning on a rough table. Lucy saw the Tiger-cat in the corner, gnawing on the half-eaten carcass of a fish. So she did eat!
Then Bucket Lady began talking softly, as though afraid of being overheard. Lucy understood ‘Commander’ and perhaps ‘tiger’. At one point Bucket Lady got very excited and went outside and brought in yet another, much bigger bucket. From it, she took the most enormous fish Lucy had ever seen. It glowed pink in the lamplight and Lucy was suddenly reminded of Pablo’s Tiger-cat video. Rahel began to laugh too. Then Bucket Lady went to the door and looked out. She whispered something that must have meant ‘all clear’ because Rahel grabbed Lucy’s hand and they left, the Tiger-cat streaking ahead.