Under the stars

The two felines' roars tear the silence reigning over the dreaded grove. On the ground, tackled by the tigress, Rakshasa strikes her with a double kick with its hind legs to her chin. Khamot growls and counterattacks with three powerful claw swipes to the body, causing the dark feline to snarl in pain. Just as the queen of the Thai jungle is about to deliver a fourth blow, Rakshasa violently slashes her cheek before standing up and leaping for her throat. But the white, arched striped tigress violently hurls the leopard to the ground before it can bite her.

Rakshasa abruptly rolls on its flank and stares at Khamot with savagery beyond measure. Narrowing its fiery eyes, the black panther ruffles its short fur while snarling and revealing its bloodstained fangs.

Khamot stands between the man-eater and Golden Star, who hides behind a rock. Staring at Rakshasa with her azure eyes, the Indochinese tigress roars with fury. This roar is indecipherable to the ears of the leopard, who knows no other language than his own. But Golden Star understands.

"Stay away from my son, demon !!!!!!! " The wildling thus ears.

Suddenly, Rakshasa roars and leaps toward Khamot. The black beast tries to slash the tigress' face twice. Golden Star's mother backs away, avoiding the assaults. She retaliates with a swift paw swipe to the skull, making the leopard bend slightly. Rakshasa strikes her snout before backing away. The two beasts, standing on their hind legs, pounce on each other.

Golden Star, well hidden behind his rock, observes this intense duel opposing the white tigress to the black demon, a battle in which, for the first time, Rakshasa seems in a position of physical inferiority. Rakshasa, aiming at the throat, only manages to hit a few times the chest of the tigress, much more imposing than him. While the panther's blows rain down, Khamot brutally lacerates its shoulders, attenuating the assaults she is suffering. The leopard roars with pain. With a powerful swipe to the cheek, the tigress sends the feline murderer crashing against a nearby tree.

CRASH.

The black panther collapses with a snarl, blood beading down its cheek and shoulders. After a few moments, Rakshasa lifts its head, gasping for breath. Khamot, with all four paws on the ground, approaches him, furiously snarling. Seeing the striped tigress walking towards it, seeing those long immaculate fangs she hasn't even used against it yet, the Thai monster widens his eyes and puts its ears against his head.

For the first time, the man-eater feels what it's like to be the helpless prey.

The terrorized black panther gets up and leaps, whimpering, toward the distant shadows, beyond its pantry. Khamot pursues it for a few meters but stops at the border separating the moonlight from the utmost darkness. Disappearing in the dark, Rakshasa only lets the fading of leaves to be heard. The black panther flees without further ado, escaping from the kingdom it corrupted by its mere presence.

Khamot roars at the top of her lungs. Her clamor is a clear warning: Rakshasa better not return to the jungle. If it dares to set paws nearby again, the tigress won't let it run away alive.

When the silence falls again on the abandoned lair, Golden Star comes out of his hiding place and walks happily towards his mother.

"Mother!" Golden Star exclaims with his feline vocalizations.

Khamot suddenly turns her head towards him, and her expression paralyzes the wildling on the spot. With her lips rolled up and her eyes narrowed, the tigress growls. Although she is relieved and extremely happy to see her son alive again, she saves the cuddles and the snuggles for later. Something more important awaits her disobedient son.

The latter, quickly understanding the situation, half-opens his mouth and lowers his ears, then his eyes, ashamed by all he has done. He then raises the glance towards his mother.

"Mother, I-" the child begins with a weak voice.

"That's enough. Let's go home." Khamot sternly retorts.

Khamot then turns back with a firm step. Lowering his head again, Golden Star follows her. Thus, mother and son abandon Rakshasa's desecrated victims, leaving them to die in silence in the deserted domain.

********************************************************************************

Near Khamot's temple.

Having returned to the tropical meadow, Khamot sits down not far from the pond. Facing the water, she lets her shadow extend toward the dark areas of her territory.

When Golden Star puts his hand in his mother's shadow, still looking at the ground, he widens his eyes.

Grrr...

The young Seua Saming suddenly raises his head and ears before looking towards the pond. Head turned, Khamot glares at him with her stern eye; she won't let him go back to sleep so easily, and he understands it well.

Golden Star swallows and walks towards his mother with a hesitant step, while she looks again towards the water. After several steps, Golden Star stops and sits next to the imposing tigress. Ears lowered, the feral child sadly raises his head towards her.

Khamot directs her azure yet firm stare at her adopted son.

"You deliberately disobeyed me. I forbade you to go back there." Golden Star's mother scolds harshly.

"I'm... I'm sorry..." Golden Star stammers, filled with regret. "I... I wanted to know what was there... I... I didn't mean to make you angry..." He continues, not without difficulty.

"It's not about my anger! It's about you, Golden Star!!!!! The white tigress replies, her ferocity mixed with concern. "You almost got yourself killed !!!!"

Golden Star looks away again, her eyes moist and his heart tight.

"I thought... That with everything you taught me I... I was safe..." He tries to justify.

"Knowing how to hunt doesn't mean ignoring the risks!" The tigress lets out before continuing. "Even the best hunters are not free from danger. In the jungle, it lurks everywhere... And everyone is afraid of it... Everyone."

"E-even you?" Golden Star asks, looking up at his mother.

Thetiger-child's eyes widened when he sees Khamot's. He had often seen her relaxed and affectionate; today, he had seen her angry. But on this night of the full moon, he discovers a new sparkle in the tigress's eyes:

That of sadness.

"Especially me." She whispers in a broken voice.

The Thai jungle queen lies down in front of her son and gently pushes him against her chest with a little paw. Snuggling up against Khamot's fur, Golden Star watches, heartbroken, as his mother gives in to pain far more hurtful than he imagined.

"I was so scared for you... I thought I wouldn't get to you in time... That this leopard would take you away from me... I... I thought I was going to lose you..." The tigress sobbed, somehow hugging Golden Star to her.

With a particularly heavy heart, Khamot remembers, because of these sensations, the time when her words had unfortunately come true: the day she lost her biological children, two tiger cubs at the dawn of their lives... A life snatched by a pack of dholes. On that bloody day, Khamot let her fury and sorrow decimate half of the said pack, without it bringing her children back. On that day, the queen had lost her two little princes, the flesh of her flesh.

But remembering this fateful event, the tigress also remembered the sunset that followed it, a sunset under which she found Golden Star, who was then just an orphaned infant.

Khamot's heart, chilled by the death of her cubs, had since been warmed by the mere existence of this feral kid, this toddler of a species different from her own. He had rekindled the warmth of his motherly love, a warmth that is slowly overriding the anger and sadness of the present moment.

"I'm so happy... So relieved... That I was able to save your life... "She whispers with unconcealed emotion, the happiness that she didn't lose a third child.

Golden Star sniffs and rests his forehead against her mother's chest. With tears running down the tigress's fur, the tiger-eared youngling feels guilt for disobeying his mother and causing her so much pain.

"I... I beg your pardon, Mother... I... I will never disobey again!!!" The Seua Saming sobs.

"I will always do everything to protect you, my son... But promise me that you will not do anything so reckless again... Promise me." The tigress begs.

"I-I promise, Mother... I'll be careful..." Golden Star replies between two sniffs.

The tigress slowly stands up, and Golden Star raises his still-wet eyes to her. Although still very sad to have hurt his mother, the child sees his heart lightened by the look she gives him. The time for admonishment and terror is over for this time, as Khamot's peaceful look shows.

"Come. Let's go home." Khamot says gently.

The tigress then starts walking back to the temple, her right flank lit by the soothing rays of the moon. Golden Star followed her, his arms and legs trembling slightly. From the chase to this discussion, the wild child has been physically and emotionally overwhelmed.

After only a few steps, he starts to drag his feet and yawn. Opening his mouth wide and revealing his tiny fangs, he lets out a little meow, similar to a real tiger cub.

Khamot raises her ears, turns her head towards Golden Star, and turns back. When she gets close to her son, she crouches down as if on an ambush hunt. With a soft growl, she receives the golden-eyed kid's attention.

"Come on, Golden Star. Hop on." The white queen whispers.

With half-closed eyes, the wildling limply walks towards his mother and weakly climbs onto her back before lying down and letting his heavy eyelids meet. Khamot slowly sits up, to the rhythm of her sleeping son's calm breathing.

With a muffled step, she returns to her stone palace to enjoy a well-deserved rest after this restless night. A night which will never know any more equal, as the lesson endured by Golden Star was engraved in the deepest reaches of his young spirit.

Once back inside the temple, the tigress lies down on her belly, puts her head on crossed legs, and closes her eyes, letting the temple ease her sleep.

For no creature, and especially not a devilish black panther, shall ever trepass its mighty walls as long as Khamot will reign here.

THE END