Chapter 13
Chapter Thirteen
Nadirah had never been so scared and excited in her life.
It had been one thing to meet Phoenix and realize he could change into a tiger.
He could have been written off as an anomaly, but now she’d encountered two more harimau.
How astonishing to realize the legends she’d heard had been fact, not fiction.
Tempering her curiosity and eagerness was the sobering reality that her knowledge of their existence could end up getting her killed.
While Johan had agreed to at least talk with them further, he’d not promised they would walk away alive.
His granddaughter, introduced as Zafira, had made it clear what she thought.
She saw them as a threat to their existence. She might not be wrong.
The ATV ride out of the jungle—which they embarked upon after the pair dressed in the clothing they’d left in knapsacks in the woods—took only a few hours compared to their trek of a few days.
During that time, not much was said due to the loud rumble of the engine.
Once they arrived at an area with several parked cars, before even leading them to one, Zafira was tearing apart a shirt to create blindfolds before seating them in the backseat.
Losing her sense of sight caused Nadirah to clasp Phoenix’s hand tight, a tether to sanity and a sense of protection. He’d made it clear a few times when he leaned close to murmur, “I will protect you.”
She didn’t doubt he’d try, but he was one tiger against two, and possibly many more once they reached their destination, a trip that took hours.
They stopped periodically with Zafira standing guard over Nadirah while she relieved herself on the side of the road—utterly embarrassing.
They were also given food and drink, but few answers.
Phoenix periodically tried to talk, but Johan kept repeating, “You tell story when arrive. All hear.” An indication they only wanted Phoenix orating his experience once for an audience.
How would they react? Johan had seemed skeptical of Phoenix’s claim.
Would he be considered an aberration? She knew how savagely wild creatures could react to imperfect versions of themselves.
In the jungle, only the strong survived.
After an eternity in the car, they arrived, or so she assumed since they parked the car and Johan had her and Phoenix exit the backseat.
They weren’t allowed to remove the blindfolds, not until they’d walked a certain distance with Zafira guiding Nadirah—not very nicely.
She practically dragged the stumbling Nadirah.
When the fabric finally peeled away from her eyes, Nadirah blinked, not because of the brightness but the surprise at finding herself in a lush jungle, much like the one they’d left.
Green and moist, the trees tall, the many branches forming a canopy that filtered sunlight.
“Where are we?” Phoenix asked, his nostrils flaring as he took in scents.
Zafira snorted. “Somewhere.”
A non-answer and kind of expected. They walked, which, after the long ride, Nadirah’s stiff legs didn’t mind, although she did stay close to Phoenix. Blame the rustling of branches and the fleeting glimpse of movement as if they were shadowed.
When a tiny furry face popped out from a bush, she recoiled and almost fell. Phoenix steadied her, murmuring, “It’s just a curious cub.”
A tiger baby with human eyes. For some reason, she found it startling. It had been one thing to encounter adults with that quirk, but a child who could shift? It hadn’t occurred to her and led to her blurting out, “Do the harimau have the ability to change from birth?”
“Some,” Johan answered in English before flipping into Malaysian. “The ability varies among our kind, with some able to control the change from the moment they utter their first mewling cry. Others require a catalyst.”
“Like injury?” Nadirah interjected.
“Yes. Fasting and meditation can also work.”
“Is the process of shifting magic?” Might as well see how much she could learn before Johan clammed up again.
He shrugged. “Some call it magic. Others claim our gift comes from the gods.”
“And what do you say?”
“I am a man of science and believe we evolved differently than others. We found a way to access our primal self.”
“You think everyone has an animal they can change into?”
Johan glanced at her. “I didn’t use to, before encountering your friend.”
“I guess you’ve never heard of that happening before? Someone being transformed into a harimau?”
“The stories only mention the gods being able to pass on that gift, so expect there to be an outcry when your friend relates his story.”
“Who is he going to tell?”
“Everyone.”
Johan strode ahead and began making a noise that reminded her of the koel bird exhibit in the zoo.
Phoenix murmured, “What was that about?”
She quickly summarized what Johan revealed, and Phoenix went silent for a moment before saying, “So my being injured is one of the methods of shifting.”
Nadirah nodded. “And it must be somewhat common since we saw it with Zafira by the ruin.”
“Johan got shot but didn’t seem affected,” he mused aloud. “He knows how to control it.”
“He also mentioned fasting and meditation. Might be something to try.”
“Let’s hope I get a chance. I think we’ve arrived at our final destination, and we’re not alone.”
At first, she didn’t understand his statement, because, while they’d entered a clearing—wide and grass-covered, with the gnarliest trees circling it—she saw no one but their two guides.
That quickly changed as the boughs of the trees circling the open area filled with striped bodies, more tigers than she’d ever seen in one place.
It led to her shuffling so close he practically could count her as clothing.
“It’s okay,” he murmured. “I don’t sense any menace, just curiosity.”
Johan stood in the middle of the clearing, waiting as the ambush of tigers gathered. Only then did he launch into a speech, which Nadirah translated for Phoenix.
“I put out a call for you to gather here today for a few reasons. The first being we’ve recovered the sacred stone from the lost temple.” He held up the carved tablet, and the gathered tigers uttered a chuffing sound that must have been their version of applause.
“We shall secure this most sacred of writings that it not fall into the hands of those who would hunt and abuse us.”
More of the approving noise erupted.
“Now on to some strange business.” Johan paused. “You have obviously noticed the two strangers I brought with me.”
A few low growls showed some weren’t too happy about that decision.
“I took every precaution before bringing them but felt it necessary because of this man’s story.” Johan turned to eye Phoenix. “He claims to be harimau.”
A few sharp yips seemed to argue that fact.
“I’m aware his scent is not like ours, yet there’s no denying he carries the blood. But it’s how he became harimau that is concerning.” He glanced at Nadirah. “The ambush will now hear the tale of his creation. If you could please translate.”
She nodded before murmuring, “They want to know how you became harimau.”
Phoenix launched into his story in great detail, starting with how he’d been taken captive by his own military and injected with an unknown solution, but when he got to the part where the general shot him to induce the shift, several of the tigers chattered.
Johan frowned. “None of the experimental harimau can shift without injury?”
It took Phoenix a second to answer since she had to translate Johan’s question first and then reply with his answer.
“A few can, but in most cases, only severe injury causes them to morph into an animal. The majority of them seemed to turn into wolves. Phoenix says there was one other tiger in the group and a bear, plus some other creatures that didn’t seem to thrive.”
“Wait, they don’t all turn into tigers?” Johan’s brows raised, and at his exclamation, the felines perched in the trees shuffled restlessly.
Nadirah translated for Phoenix, and when he replied, relayed the answer. “It would seem everyone has the potential for a different animal within, and this serum the Canadian military developed is able to bring it out.”
“Tell more,” Johan ordered.
Phoenix launched into how he and his friends spent months being tested like lab rats, their eventual escape, and finally, his quest for answers that led him to Malaysia.
Then, without prompting, he also orated everything that had happened since his arrival.
The only thing he left out? His aversion to blood when a tiger.
By the end of Phoenix’s story, a few of the tigers in the trees had chosen to hit the ground and transform with an ease that had Phoenix exhaling, “Damn, they make it look so simple.”
The many voices talking all at once made it almost impossible for Nadirah to follow. She did catch bits and pieces, though.
“He is unnatural and should be eliminated.”
“Do you think this potion would work on Yasmin? She hates it when we leave her at the sitters for our biweekly sojourns.”
“What a pretty man. Do you think he can make strong harimau babies?”
“How do we know this military that hunts him won’t follow him here?”
The latter repeated often enough that Nadirah wasn’t surprised when Johan held up his hands and shouted, “Quiet. I hear your concerns. You fear our sanctuary will be found, but rest assured, we were not followed.”
“What if they implanted a tracking device in him?” someone yelled.
“He says he removed it,” Johan reminded.
“Could be he removed a decoy,” argued the same person.
The comment pinched Johan’s features. “I guess that could be a possibility, but even if someone is tracking his movements, don’t forget, we are mighty and have powerful friends protecting us.”
“I am more worried about exposure,” growled Zafira. “Look at how careless he’s been. There are videos of him on that freighter everywhere. He’s being actively hunted. We should have killed him back at the ruins.”
“And then we would have been ignorant about this threat to our existence. You all heard. This general of his sent people to collect artifacts relating to the harimau. He already knows we’re here,” Johan emphasized. “Forewarned means we can take steps to protect.”
“Protect how? By scattering and going into hiding again?” Zafira huffed. “I have to wonder if that would even work. This general has deep pockets, and with today’s technology, it’s getting harder and harder to keep our existence secret.”
“Perhaps it’s time we stopped concealing our presence.
” An older woman stepped forward, uncaring of her nudity, all of them comfortable in their skin.
“With all the cameras and surveillance, not to mention how quickly things can go viral on the internet, perhaps it would be wiser for us to get ahead and reveal ourselves. Control the narrative.”
Sounded reasonable to Nadirah, but to the gathered group, it caused an uproar of arguing. As they shouted at each other, she filled Phoenix in on what had been said.
To her surprise, he nodded when he heard what the older woman said.
“She has a point. It would be a lot easier for us to stay safe and out of the clutches of people like this general if people knew about us. While some might advocate for us being locked up, there are more, I think, that would protest ill treatment. We live in a time where there is public support to allow people to be their unique selves.”
Nadirah bit her lower lip. “Assuming they aren’t convinced the harimau are dangerous. The media does like drama.”
“A fair point.” He raked fingers through his hair. “Looks like the meeting is breaking up. Did they come to a decision?”
Nadirah had overheard enough to shake her head. “Seems the ambush will mull over what they’ve learned before rendering any kind of verdict.”
“Meaning I might still die,” Phoenix said bluntly.
While she wanted to reassure, Nadirah couldn’t lie. Their fate rested in the paws of the harimau.
As Johan joined them, he looked grim. “You stay while we discuss.”
And by stay, he meant in the jungle, but at least not sleeping on the ground. To Nadirah’s surprise, a mini village existed in the boughs of some of the biggest trees. Houses built by the twisting of branches with fronds woven to create walls, making them practically invisible at quick glance.
Before being taken to a room for the night, they were invited to a feast. Fruits and vegetables, along with some rice, for those in human skin. The tigers, the younger ones mostly, were served fresh and still bloody haunches, which they gripped in their jaws and trotted off with for gnawing.
While those gathered kept casting them curious looks, no one addressed Nadirah or Phoenix. Hence, when the meal ended and Zafira said, “I show you room,” Nadirah eagerly followed.
A climb up some carefully placed nodules on a tree brought them to one of the tree habitats. Inside the cozy nest, what might have been a rough and bumpy floor had been layered with a woven carpet. A duvet cover, stuffed with fronds, acted as a bed.
A bed large enough for two.
A nervous Nadirah tried to avoid looking at it, but it consumed most of the space.
“What’s wrong?” Phoenix asked. “I don’t think we need to worry about being murdered overnight.”
He misconstrued her source of agitation.
“Just wondering if Nenek is okay,” she lied.
“I’ll talk to Johan tomorrow about seeing how she’s doing.”
“Oh, I hadn’t thought about asking. You think he will check on her?”
He shrugged. “Only one way to find out.”
She couldn’t hold his gaze, suddenly shy. “Should we take turns sleeping?”
“I don’t think we need to worry about being ambushed in the night. I say we both get as much rest as possible.”
He misunderstood her reason, and she couldn’t explain her nervousness of sleeping close to him. He flopped onto the mattress and sighed. “This is nice. You coming?” He patted the spot beside him.
No way to refuse—nor did she really want to. She could only hope he didn’t notice her hot cheeks as she crept cautiously onto the bed.
“Sleep tight, Nadirah. And this time, I’ll make sure no bed bugs bite.”
To her surprise, despite the situation, she fell asleep hard, fatigue dragging her down.
She awoke refreshed, and warm, cradled by Phoenix.
His body spooning hers.
And very noticeably happy about it.