Feathered Dragon - Douglas Niles [85]
“I am the Lord of the Jaguars, and you are mine.”
,
“It talks!» Hal hissed. He tried to shield Erixitl, staring into that monstrous, leering face.
“I talk. I talk before I kill.”
“Who-what are you?” Erixitl demanded. “Why do the Little People keep you here?”
“I stay because I choose to stay,” rumbled the black beast. “They do not keep me. No one keeps me!”
“Why do you choose to threaten us, then?” Halloran asked. “We offer you no harm.”
“No one offers me harm,” sneered the cat. “I desire your blood and your flesh. It pleases me that you shall die to feed me.”
Halloran’s mind raced. Stunned by the bizarre communication with an animal that belonged among the beasts of the forest, he sought a way to argue or reason with the creature.
“Are you old and feeble, so that you cannot hunt for your self’” he asked.
“Silence!” The jaguar lord’s voice shook the air around them, a roar of command.
“I will not be silent!” Hal barked back. “Why do you depend on them for food? Why do you live in a cage? That’s no life for a lord!”
The force of the creature’s roar slammed into his face like a physical blow, hurling him back against Erixitl. Quickly he stepped forward, his jaw jutting belligerently. He stared in challenge at the monster, aggressively raising his clenched hands.
Then his attention faded and his eyes grew heavy. Halloran felt an almost overpowering urge to sleep.
“What-what’s happening?” asked Erix softly from behind him, “I… feel so… tired.” Her voice faded to a soft whisper. He felt her slump against the wall of the pit and sink slowly toward the ground.
Before them, the Lord of the Jaguars grinned his evil grin. Hal stared at those yellow eyes and thought for a moment that they no longer seemed so threatening. Indeed, they were gentle now, their look caressing him like the kiss of sunlight on a warm summer day.
“Sleep, insolent human,” hissed the great cat. “Stare into my eyes and rest.”
Halloran shook his head angrily, realizing that something was very wrong. But what? Now he had a hard time forcing his mind to work, as if a thick and cloying fog permeated his skull. He didn’t dare sleep, with this savage beast ready to attack! Or was it savage, after all? Now it seemed benign to him, like an old friend.
The Lord of the Jaguars took a step closer.
In the darkness of the pit, all Hal could see now were those two gleaming eyes. Erixitl groaned softly as she sprawled on the ground behind him. He couldn’t break his eyes away to look at her.
“See how the woman sleeps? She knows peace now.” The creature’s voice remained silky smooth, gentle and friendly. “You must rest, too.”
“No!” Halloran marshaled all of his will, suddenly twisting his gaze away from that deadly stare. He had to do something! Think, man!
All around him pressed that grim darkness. The bright eyes remained the only source of illumination, tugging at his will, compelling him to look back into their light. Suddenly the night seemed as much an enemy as the great cat. He had to drive that enemy away. The yellow eyes of the jaguar called to his memory, wide and staring, penetrating the darkness with their large, dilated pupils.
The memory of a spell came to him, and he acted without thought.
“Kirisha!” he shouted, turning back to the leering, monstrous face. He pointed as he cast, and a magical ball of light appeared in the air. Instantly it expanded to a white brightness, and it hung directly before the creature’s eyes. Above,
the illumination blossomed out of the pit, and he heard the gasps of the Little People around them.
With a shrill cry of rage and terror, the jaguar sprang back. Its howls rent the night, silencing the jungle around the village. The pit stood outlined in the clear illumination of the light spell, brighter than a dozen torches.
“Demon!” spat