Serena, transfixed.…
The southbound dawn car came into view, rumbling down the hill from Rangua Town. A carload of humans.… Almost without thinking, he’d bent down and picked up a large, jagged rock. The car drew level and he saw the saturnine Captain Herrero — certainly the least popular of the captains — eyeing him from the forecabin. Somehow El Tigre restrained himself and the car was past, lumbering away across the plain.
And his daughter Karina was rolling in the dirt, then standing and making a playful gesture to the receding deck crew.
Dropping the rock he seized her arm, jerking her towards him. Their eyes met, and a thrill of fear went through Karina; she’d never seen her father look so … mad, in an animal way, like a wounded jaguar finally taunted into attacking. And he, El Tigre — he saw in her face all the betrayal of years; all the timid deals made between felinos and True Humans, all the selling-out, lies and mistrust; the broken treaties, the skirmishes, the haggling over prices, the cheating and stealing. So long as people pretended to this sham truce, it would always be like this.…
Karina’s smile was gone, but her fear had faded quickly too, because she understood this huge person before her. He was not loco. Things had gone wrong for him again, that was all — and if he was going to beat her because of it, she couldn’t stop him. Her muscles tensed, she regained her balance and stood foursquare, prepared to do her best. Her hands were open, her fingers hooked.
El Tigre saw her expression change, and felt her weight shift into a fighting stance. He was looking into her eyes as her fear faded, and he’d seen that fear replaced by an understanding which, for an instant, caused rage to throb even more violently in his brain.
The girl is pitying me.…
Others arrived, moving into the perimeter of his rage. Idle spectators. And — not so idle — Teressa, Runa and Saba. They stood near, waiting for him to make his move, waiting to move themselves. They would not allow a member of their grupo to be beaten, not even by their father. So it was going to be a full-scale fight. Now he, too, moved into position. He would feint towards Karina and then take Teressa as she came in. Karina would be last, because she couldn’t be hurt, so she never knew when to stop fighting.
Karina, her eyes.…
And suddenly he found his mind dwelling on something which had happened long ago, up in the mountains. He was lying on the forest floor and didn’t know where he was, or how he’d got there. A girl had come up to him and said, «I am the Dedo. Don’t be frightened. You’ve come a long way, and you’ve been sick. You will never remember anything which happened before this moment. Now, come with me and meet the woman who will be your mate, and remember her. ”
She’d taken his hand and led him among a system of interconnecting lakes and there, lying on the bank of the broadest lake, they’d found a girl with auburn hair. Although her eyes were open she seemed to be asleep. He’d looked a long time into those eyes, seeing something living behind them — not just a human mind, but something else — something … alien. «Go and make your life in the felino camp,” the Dedo had said, «and always remember this sleeping woman, whose name is Serena. Get out of this valley as quickly as you can, because your very presence unbalances the scales of nature here, and may result in your death.»
So he’d run, hearing a great crashing in the bush behind him. He’d lived in the felino camp, sired children there and become leader of his people. And when, some years later, Serena arrived, he’d loved her.…
Karina, her eyes.… They watched him with a life of their own.
They were Serena’s eyes, reborn in the daughter.
El Tigre’s own eyes filled with tears and he turned away, saddened and awed. He began to walk back towards the camp. Teressa, Runa and Saba moved away among the shrugleggers who shied and watched them with rolling eyes.
Karina ran to catch her father, and took his hand.
The morning meat car had stopped nearby and the crewmen had watched the incident with interest. One of them said,
«That’s a good‑looking girl. And just look at the size of that male!»
«El Tigre and his daughter,” said another, knowledgably. «For a moment I thought there’d be a fight. She’s quite a girl, but she hates our guts. Funny, though — felinos hardly ever fight among themselves. They’re as vicious as all Agni, and yet they leave one another alone. They hardly ever challenge their own pecking order.»
«Like animals,” said the first speaker.…
So the two humans of the Third Species walked away holding hands, and there had been no victory, no defeat. They knew the strengths and weaknesses of each other, and they each had an inner knowledge of the value of each other to their people — and, possibly, to some other great Purpose .…
«I met a funny woman last night,” said Karina. «She told me some strange things. She was a True Human, and I needed to talk to the Pegman about her. I’m sorry, father.»
The lion of a man beside her, his temper soothed by her presence, growled, «I love you, Karina — always remember that. There is not much real love in the world. True Humans are murdering bastards, and it shames me in front of our people when you’re friendly with them. I don’t need to remind you what happened to your mother.»
Karina said quietly, «Don’t ever worry about my feelings for True Humans.»
They passed vampiros where women cooked, laying strips of tumpmeat on the blackened rocks of the sun-ovens, then aligning the concave hemitrexes so that they caught the sun’s rays and focussed them on the raw flesh. The felinas were slow and lazy, and they talked sleepily to one another as they worked, recounting stories of the night’s prowling and hunting-games. Soon they would eat, then drowse the rest of the day away.
El Tigre sat on the ground outside Karina’s vampiro while she cooked meat for him. Later the other members of the grupo joined them and, after a while, Torch. The young felino’s eyes burned with excitement.
«Last night, we told them, El Tigre!»
«Dozo told us, I thought.»
«No — all we need now is for Karina here to.…» His voice trailed away as he remembered it was El Tigre’s job to brief Karina on the seduction of Raoul, and maybe El Tigre had not seen fit to broach the question yet. He watched the girls with his hot eyes: Teressa, Runa, Karina and, well, Saba. It would be fun to mate with them. They lay around lazy and replete, and Karina’s tunic barely covered her hips. They were a prime grupo — suitable mates for the future leader of the camp.…
«Manoso doesn’t tell me what to do,” El Tigre growled.
«Eh?» Torch dragged his thoughts away from warm flesh. «Of course not, El Tigre!»
«Neither does Karina consort with True Humans.»
«What’s this?» asked Karina.
«Of course not, El Tigre! I just thought —”
«It’s a degrading thing to suggest of a girl such as Karina. A woman’s job is hunting and fighting, not wheedling secrets out of True Humans!»
Karina was fidgeting with impatience. «Hunting? The Examples forbid real hunting with a kill at the end of it. We only play. And fighting? We play at that, too.» She was now thoroughly awake again. «Father — let me wheedle secrets out of a True Human! It sounds like fun.»
«Ah, by the Sword of Agni,” grumbled El Tigre. «No!»
«But I want —”
«No!» Real anger flashed in El Tigre’s eyes, and Teressa’s and Runa’s eyelids cracked open in curiosity. Saba slept, snoring gently. «I will not have you associating with True Humans, neither with that crazy Pegman, nor with Captain Tonio or his son Raoul, nor with any other of that damned breed. You may think they’re weak, and you may hate and despise them now, Karina — but they’re crafty and you know little of their ways. Any kind of association could be dangerous for you. So long as I’m chief of this camp, you’ll stay away from them until the day comes when I give the word to attack!»