The low scrub of the forest opened out a little as I sniffed the air in the afternoon swelter. The soft hoots of sleepy Macaque settled my mind as the crickets song waned to an occasional chirrup. The musk from the rutting Neelgai inflamed my nostrils as my mind raced with the thought of blood, the quiet stalk and then the wrestle of muscle and sinew. I sniffed the scratch and smear of fur, mingling with the sensual bark of the sandalwood tree. She was close, the woods hummed with her scent as I dropped my belly to the earth and the trees gave way to the sedge meadow. Flies buzzed around my eyes and jowls as I yawned the afternoon heat.
Sudden loud, braying sounds of human voices invaded my focus. Right in the path of the prey scent. The meadow shimmered in heat waves, as the two humans grazed the grass like monkeys foraging. One was bent over, back offered up in supplication. I stalked, belly tickled by the blades of sedge, raising a sweet scent all around while the pump of blood focused my mind like an arrow.
Orange-black streaking muscle hit me hard in the throat as Aasa shrieked a high pitch wail and the soft hoots of the Macaque broke into hullabaloo, marking the tiger's attack. I wrestled to grab hold of the tiger's forelegs but the maw clamped down on me. Agony shot burning pulses as my head bent unnaturally and, half upside down, I saw Aasa tearing away through the grass to reach the path at the edge of the clearing. Oblivion beckoned now, as the tiger crunched through bone, embracing me tightly, closing me down at the throat. The world flashed on and off.
I saw my face, flop limply to the ground as the prey was dropped. Smelled the copper blood as I licked my jowls and bent my head to pick up the meat by the broken neck. Fierce thumping heartbeat struck a rhythm in my head as the predator's victory song wound its way through every fiber of my being and I watched a crimson stream trickle between bulging eyes. Life infused me, I would eat tonight.
To be continued...
