GIR - chapter 10

GIR

Chapter 10 - Realization

    "This is not good."
Rajkumar stood frozen and glared surprised at the open lands in front of him. It would have looked like a desert if it were not for the medium sized patches of grass here and there.
    "The easiest way to Deep's pride is to walk at the edge of the forest towards east," Kala said, ignoring his remark and pointed her head to the right where they saw the forest twist through the landscape.
    "But what if we meet any humans?" he asked Kala seriously. "We'll be completely exposed to them."
    "You'll just have to eat them then," Halka said teasingly, but Rajkumar was really not in the mood for teasing.
    "How 'bout I eat you?!" he yelled and snapped at her so she had to jump back rapidly. She gave him a blaming look and lightly jumped up on Kala's shoulders to seek protection. Kala just rolled her eyes at them and began to saunter along the tree line. She did not feel like arguing with him right now.
    As they wandered they did not notice much animal life on the plains. There were a few elephants in the distance and the usual monkeys and birds in the treetops. A desert fox ran away as they approached and back to its sandy cave.
    "There's a reason why most animals are gone from this place, you know," he said to Kala and tried to make her change her mind. She just sighed at him and kept walking, but Rajkumar continued to make the strangest assumptions about humans being around, that she finally stopped and turned around.
    "So what if we meet a human Raj?" she asked him like she could not care less. "Even if it's a cub, would you consider attacking it?"
    "Oh, he'd probably do a lot more than just attacking it," Halka chuckled from her back. Kala's eyes widened immediately.
    "What?" she said with a mute surprised voice.
    "You know, slash its throat or maybe even eat it, like the rest of the poor souls who used to bother him…"
Rajkumar read the frightened expression on Kala's face as Halka talked and realized how bad the situation was.
    "Halka, shut up," he said silently to her. But she ignored him and continued to sum up some of the terrible things Rajkumar used to expose animals to when they trespassed into his territory. He then yelled out loud:
    "Halka, just shut it!"
Halka immediately jumped off Kala's back in surprise before she became aware of what she had just said. She held both her paws to her mouth, but it was too late. Kala's expression saddened as she uttered to Rajkumar:
    "You did all those things?"
Rajkumar's ears lowered as he looked away from her with irritation.
    "I don't know how she knows all that, but yes, I really did those things."
Kala made a stunned noise as she took an inhalation. Her breathing was rapid and she struggled against the tears that was starting to show in her eyes. She squeezed her eyes shut and suddenly started to run towards the trees and into the forest.
    "Kala, no!" Rajkumar shouted at her, but it did not stop her from running farther until she was no longer in their sight. Rajkumar clenched his teeth as he frowned and tossed his head towards Halka.
    "Well done Halka!" he yelled at her sarcastically. "Now she ran away, and she's in there… alone!"
Halka's eyes widened as she heard his choice of words and she had a sudden feeling that everything was going to be alright. She glanced at Rajkumar.
    "Well, " she said calmly, to Rajkumar's surprise. "Why don't you go after her then?"
Rajkumar grimaced as he drew his head back a little. Run after her? That would surely make him like a begging fool, he thought to himself, yet somehow he could not bear the thought of something attacking Kala while she was in there all alone. A struggle between emotions started to occur inside his mind. He wanted to prove to Kala, that what he had done in the past was past, yet he could not understand why Kala would be a different case from the rest. She was annoying, way too talkative, and yet…
    "If you say so," he finally sighed to Halka while giving a little shrug like he felt forced to do it. He then closed his eyes and reverted back to his usual serious look before he ran quickly into the forest. Halka could not help but smirking a little as he instantly disappeared behind the bushes.
    Rajkumar stopped for a while to look around and try to pick up Kala's scent. She was quite fast for her size, he thought. If it had been any other animal as petite as her, he would have caught up with it by now.
He sighed to himself. What was she thinking? It was not like she did not know about his violent nature. He had been very insisting on attacking Murugan and his pride back when they met, and he had even left her to drown at the bottom of a river before changing his mind in the last minute.
He shook his head to clear his thoughts and continued to walk slowly in the opposite direction he had come from, but suddenly picked up Kala's faint scent a little more to the right, and started to run that way instead. It was not long before the scent got stronger and he saw the outline of a lioness beyond the bushes. He reached Kala with rapid speed, who was sitting under the shadow of a great Banyan tree. Her back was facing him, but her head was lowered and her whole body was trembling, so Rajkumar guessed she was still crying.
Even though his steps were silent, Kala heard him slowly approaching her. She shifted a little as he sat settled down next to her and tried to hide her face.
    "Why so sad?" he asked her calmly, almost companionably. "You already knew that I've killed a lot in the past."
A silent rose for a couple of minutes before Kala stopped sobbing. She lifted her head a bit and Rajkumar stared into a pair of wet eyes, which was still looking at the ground.
    "True, I already guessed that from your behavior when we first met," she said mutely. "But I just realized something terrible."
So that is why she ran away? Because she realized something? Rajkumar started to feel that this incident was not as serious as he had thought. He sighed heavily.
    "Go on."
    "Tell me something Raj," she began and looked up to glance into eyes as seriously as he had ever seen her. "How does killing innocent animals make you any better than the one who killed your family?"
Rajkumar's heart skipped a beat and he found himself instantly pulling away from her, his eyes widened in shock and a sudden awakening. He had never thought of it that way, and she was right, he was no better than the bastard lion who brutally slaughtered his dear mom and his brother. Kala continued to look at him very expressionless.
    "Killing other beings isn't going to bring your family back." She shook her head slightly as she said that.
    "I know," Rajkumar replied silently, looking away from her and trying to hide his wet eyes. He held his paw to his chest and drew out his claws. He scratched them over his skin until he drew blood. Kala's eyes widened.
    "Raj, stop that! You're hurting yourself!" She reached over to him and pushed his paw away from his body.
    "Sorry," he said sincerely. "It's just a way to relieve pain."
He started to lick his bloodstained foot, only to stop a few seconds later when he felt a wet sensation where his tongue had not reached yet. He looked to see Kala's eyes smiling back at him. Her tongue drawn out to lick the blood of his paw as well. He felt his cheeks burn and swiftly let his foot drop down.
    "Ehm, we should get going already," Rajkumar said in an almost nervous tone. "Halka is waiting for us."
He turned around quickly, but almost fell over in surprise, when he saw Halka already standing behind him.
    "Halka damnit! Don't do that!" he yelled at her, trying to seem angry, but he was still blushing from the incident before. A small discreet smile formed on Halka's lips as she noticed. She then opened her mouth to speak.
    "If you are quite finished here, I think we should get back to the edge of the forest," she uttered with a motherly tone and clapped her front paw together. They all got on their feet and were about to walk back, when Kala all of a sudden stopped them.
    "Wait!" she said while giving Rajkumar a glance. "I changed my mind. It will be safer to walk within the forest's borders."
Rajkumar stared at her with his wide golden eyes. There was a slight indication of a smile hidden in them and Kala gave a small nod at him and walked up front to take the lead. She was slowly followed by Rajkumar and Halka. Rajkumar looked down to catch Halka's attention.
    "I think you got some explaining to do, so-called cat."