It was his ally, the tiger, struggling to lift
a large buck into the crotch of a trembling beech.
'Avatar!'
The great cat gave a sudden snarl, and dropping its prey, loosed its
hold on the tree and leapt down to face him. All done in an instant,
and with such angry determination that the man-child's eyes went
wide, and he took a step back in spite of himself.
The tiger, too, felt a moment of confusion. For here was something not
stamped into the racial memory of instinct. Kalus it knew, as the
creature who fed and protected him at need. He felt an association to
him, even a kind of closeness. But he was also the first creature to
disturb him at his part-eaten kill, and those feelings were strong and
immediate.
Kalus seemed to understand this, because he stood silent and made no
further move, staying the cub, who would have stepped freely to the meat
her friend had provided.
The tiger looked at the tree, then at the man. He vaguely recalled his
mother, coming upon the scene of another tiger's kill, and the way it
had first snarled, then yielded, allowing her to eat..... At last he
solved the puzzle. Searching the forest behind him for any sign of
danger, he moved away from the buck and remained standing, patient but
alert, leaving the other to eat his fill.
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