of conflicting wills centered around the tiger. And the wills were
evenly matched.
I think, in the end, it was Green Terror's own will -- his hate of Mr.
Indrasil -- that tipped the scales.
The cat began to advance, his eyes hellish, flaring beacons. And.
something strange began to happen to Mr. Indrasil. He seemed to
be folding in on himself, shriveling, accordioning. The silk-shirt
lost shape, the dark, whipping hair became a hideous toadstool
around his collar.
Mr. Legere called something across to him, and, simultaneously,
Green Terror leaped.
I never saw the outcome. The next moment I was slammed flat on
my back, and the breath seemed to be sucked from my body. I
caught one crazily tilted glimpse of a huge, towering cyclone
funnel, and then the darkness descended.
When I awoke, I was in my cot just aft of the grainery bins in the
all-purpose storage trailer we carried. My body felt as if it had
been beaten with padded Indian clubs.
Chips Baily appeared, his face lined and pale. He saw my eyes
were open and grinned relievedly. 'Didn't know as you were ever
gonna wake up. How you feel?'
'Dislocated,' I said. 'What happened? How'd I get here?'
'We found you piled up against Mr. Indrasil's trailer. The tornado
almost carried you away for a souvenir, m'boy.'
At the mention of Mr. Indrasil, all the ghastly memories came
flooding back. 'Where is Mr. Indrasil? And Mr. Legere?'
His eyes went murky, and he started to make some kind of an
evasive answer.
'Straight talk,' I said, struggling up on one elbow. 'I have to know,
Chips. I have to.'
Something in my face must have decided him. 'Okay. But this isn't
exactly what we told the cops -- in fact we hardly told the cops any
of it. No sense havin' people think we're crazy. Anyhow, Indrasil's
gone. I didn't even know that Legere guy was around.'
'And Green Tiger?'
Chips' eyes were unreadable again. 'He and the other tiger fought
to death.'
'Other tiger? There's no other ---'
'Yeah, but they found two of 'em, lying in each other's blood. Hell
of a mess. Ripped each other's throats out.'
'What -- where --'
'Who knows? We just told the cops we had two tigers. Simpler
that way.' And before I could say another word, he was gone.
And that's the end of my story -- except for two little items. The
words Mr. Legere shouted just before the tornado hit: 'When a
man and an animal live in the same shell, Indrasil, the instincts
determine the mold!'
The other thing is what keeps me awake nights. Chips told me
later, offering it only for what it might be worth. What he told me
was that the strange tiger had a long scar on the back of its neck.
