Twilight Tigers

I was staring down at the book that I had purchased with my allowance. A smile crossed my face at the sight of the literature.

It was an encyclopedia of sorts, dedicated to cats. Big and small, they were all included and described in detail. I was elated.

No older than ten at this point in my life, I loved all animals, but most of all cats. But my dad wouldn’t allow me to have any. I was too young to be able to care for them. This wouldn’t stop my fascination, though. After all, I wanted nothing more than a feline to cuddle and pet.

“That’s what you got?” My mother asked me as I showed it to her. “Boys your age should want a dog.”

“But…” I felt crushed at my mother’s disapproval as I looked down at the book. “I really want a cat. I love their ears and-and tails and—meow!”

My mother sighed as she gripped her face.

“Your brother recently got a dog, be more like—”

“Meow?” I replied, looking down at the book.

“Stop.” She snapped. “Don’t do that around other kids your age. They’ll think it’s weird and you’re weird. You'll end up alone with no friends.”

She grabbed the book from my hands and looked at it.

“There is some good educational information in this. So, you can keep it. But don’t talk about cats with other boys and girls. Now, go outside and play with—"

I was suddenly shaken awake.

“Gyah!” I gasped, jolting up and grabbing my quarterstaff. “Meow?”

“What?” A voice whispered back.

“N-Nothing.” I rested my head back on the wadded clothing I used as a travel pillow. “What is it?”

“Something is stalking us. Get up.” Aesandoral whispered. “Wake Ri, I’ll get Zin.”

In an instant, I was awake as my heart felt like it was going to burst from my chest. Crawling from the tent, I inspected my surroundings. It was almost morning, and the sky had barely begun its transition to a dim red glow.

The tigers must be hungry. I thought as I hastily raced the couple of feet to Rionriv’s tent.

No. That can’t be right. The previous dream had suddenly triggered a thought. They’re solitary hunters.

“Ri,” I whispered, ducking down and giving her foot a shake. “Ri, wake up. Bad guys.”

“Mmmm—” She grumbled, kicking me in her groggy state.

“Ow,” I replied, pinching her calf. “Hey, wake up. We’re going to die.”

“Ow!” She yelped. “What?”

“Bad guys, get up.”

Just as quickly as I had moved, she was crawling to her feet and looking around.

“What’s happening?” She asked.

“I don’t know, I was asleep, but Aes said we're being stalked and to wake—”

Aesandoral and Sharzin screamed from beyond the bushes.

With glances at each other, Rionriv and I prepared to react. That was when I caught it out of the corner of my eye. Movement. And it was fast.

A glimpse of fur and shadow lunged from the darkness towards me. Instantly, I set myself into an evasive position and, thanks to some practiced redirecting with my hands, dodged the attacker. Send it flying, I wouldn’t have time to celebrate.

“Ahg! Iz—!” Rionriv screamed as a second tiger emerged from the darkness and pinned her to the ground.

I readied my staff to swing down on the creature, only to hesitate.

The beast before me wasn’t a tiger.

It had limbs like a humanoid and swung at Rionriv with vicious, calculated slashes. Unlike a hungry beast, I could see it aiming for her vital spots as it cut for her vulnerable core and limbs.

“Weretigers!” I cried out, swinging the staff and connecting with the creature’s head.

It rolled from Rionriv and looked at me, releasing a guttural hiss. I stepped closer to it with a single stomp before taking another heavy swing. The weretiger jumped back, releasing a growl before hissing once more as it postured itself aggressively.

Standing over Rionriv, I braced myself and slipped into a defensive stance. The weretiger didn’t attack. The beast was stalling. It was drawing my attention away from its companion, which I could hear trying to cut through the audible brush traps Aesandoral had set.

“You, okay?” I asked, looking down at Rionriv. She was bleeding badly and unresponsive. “That’s a no.”

Giving my surroundings another glance, I could sense the weretigers stalking me at the edge of my vision.

I knew that I would be attacked the minute my guard was down. That meant the moment I healed Rionriv, they’d charge.

Taking a deep breath, I felt the minimal magic control I had fill my chest. Channelling it towards my staff, I slammed the rod to the ground, sending out a clap of thunderous energy.

Hoping it startled the creatures enough to buy me a precious few seconds, I bent down and placed a hand to the heavy gash on Rionriv’s stomach.

“Come on, pull through.” My taut voice cracked as brilliant light flowed from my hand into Rionriv’s wounds.

They began to heal, but there was no time to complete the job as the weretigers took their opportunity.

Lunging toward me in a synchronized effort, I did my best to defend the weakened sorceress. I threw my fists up, preparing to strike the first creature to enter my reach.

Just then, a hail of arrows came from the shadows, killing one of the weretigers and wounding the other. Blood splashed over the two of us, the warm spray steaming in the cool morning air.

The archers made my decision for me. Pivoting to strike the remaining weretiger, it bit down onto my shoulder.

Crying out in pain, I grabbed the creature by the neck and, with a twist of my body, threw it to the ground. As it bounced, I channelled my magic towards my fist. Delivering a single, strong punch, I attempted to match the power I had against the dragon.

A small crater formed as I connected with the weretiger’s chest, and a horrendous cracking sound filled my ears.

Its body instantly went limp against the soft ground.

“Oh shit, Ri, did you see that?” I said, turning back to Rionriv.

But my heart quickly dropped into my stomach.

She was convulsing on the earth, as foam poured from her mouth and her body began to transform. Orange, black, and neon blue fur started to cover her body. Eyes, staring at me in terror, became more feline and a large pair of tiger ears formed atop her head.

I looked over my shoulder at the quickly warming horizon. It was almost sunrise. We just needed to keep her from fleeing before then.

“Hold her down!” I cried out to my companions who had emerged from the shadows.

“What’s happening?” Aesandoral asked as she looked down at her sister with a terrified expression. “Is she—”

“Yep,” I cut her off as I forced my bodyweight down on Rionriv’s legs. “Each of you grab an arm. We have to hold her until sunrise. We can’t lose her. We can cure this.”

And so, we held her in place, which became exponentially tougher once she had fully awoken.

Rionriv wasn’t the strongest of our group, but her new weretiger form still fought like a wild animal. She thrashed and kicked energetically, trying to escape our clutches, and, at one point, eventually broke free.

Crap! Fug! Ri!

It was only for a moment, but long enough for me to be forced to give chase. Luckily, the weretiger form wasn’t as fast as our lightning queen. This meant I was able to catch up, tackling her to the ground.

The sorceress flipped to face me, her claws reaching up and gripping my face. With a roar, she began to drive her murder-mittens into me, blood dripping down over my clothes as the sun broke the horizon.

With the first light falling upon Rionriv, she began to tremble once more. As quickly as it had taken her, the sorceress’ body began to revert to her normal self…mostly.

And she was also naked.