A Greater Lesson

Chapter 8: The Golden Jaguar

Xik and I began to see each other more often.  Sometimes I would go find him, but more often he would come to the Great tree so I could stay hidden.  We always had a good time together but never really had a reason for seeing each other.  We told each other stories about our families and our adventures since we had been on our own.  One of the times he came over, we decided we were going to follow Roux.

We stayed behind a few hundred paces so he wouldn’t feel like he was being followed.  The first couple of hours were pretty boring.  He hunted for himself and marked a few trees of his own.  Xik and I had to come up with ways to entertain ourselves when times got dull, but finally, it happened. 

Roux dragged a carcass into a long tunnel in a cliff wall.  After a few minutes, we followed him.  We walked in silence through the darkness until out of nowhere a bright room opened up.  Sunlight flooded in through holes high in the roof.  The floor was splotched with gold patches.  Roux sat in the corner and gnawed on the hip of his victim.  We stood frozen in the entryway of the cave paradise.  Finally, Xik knelt down and brushed away the dirt from the ground.  The patches were huge chunks of gold covered with earth.  I placed my hand on my forehead to settle my spinning mind.  Roux had found a jackpot of gold.

Once he had finished his lunch, Roux began to dig in his corner of the cave to reveal a collection of corpses.  He added his most recent to the top and replaced the dirt.  That was why  he always had gold crammed in his claws.

Needless to say, Xik took some gold for himself.   I didn’t mind, it’s not like I needed it.  He was the one who had to buy from the market.  He promised he would bring me something back.  I insisted that he didn’t have to, but he pressed on.   After all, he said, the gold belonged to my jaguar in the first place. 

I know I thought that all people were untrustworthy, but I had been happier since I had been seeing Xik.  Each time I thought about him, I smiled to myself and found myself wondering when I might see him next.

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As soon as people saw me with my bandages and stitches after the incident with Roux, they bugged me for details on what had happened.  I figured I could inflict fear inside of these people and they would think twice before entering the jungle.  Maybe I could ensure Riv would stay hidden after all.  Plus, I’m not going to lie, if stretching the truth would make me look tough, I was all for it.

“I was wandering through the jungle, looking for something ferocious to kill for dinner.  I wasn’t in the mood for dried tiger meat, I wanted something fresh and I wanted a fight.  And a fight’s exactly what I got.

“I passed by small creatures I could have easily taken down for dinner, but I wanted a challenge, so I let them be.  I heard a roar in the distance and decided to investigate.  After running forward for about 50 cubits, the biggest jaguar I had ever seen jumped out in front of me.  Challenge accepted.”  I smirked and acted out my tale as I spoke.  The frequent “Ooh’s” and “Ahh’s” and gasps told me my story was good.

“I began jabbing at it with my sword and managed to stab it in the chest, but it didn’t even flinch.  It grabbed the sword with its enormous claws and threw it deep into the jungle.  All I had left was my dagger and my fists.

“I jumped onto its neck and held on for dear life.  He thrashed back and forth and threw me around the jungle.  He threw himself on top of me and knocked my dagger clean out of my hand.  He had me pinned.  I used all of my strength to pry him off of me and punched him square in the jaw.”  I imitated the devastating blow with an imaginary opponent and paused for dramatic effect.  I looked up at the crowd that had gathered around in a circle to hear the tale.

“Well, I reached for my dagger to kill it once and for all, but as I reached for it, he came out of nowhere and pounced on my back.  As we went down, he rammed my head into my fallen dagger.  He held me there and before I slipped out of consciousness, he stared into my eyes as if trying to send me a message.  He said ‘This is my jungle.  You and your people better stay away,’ and he disappeared.”

Everyone around me whooped and yelled and patted my back.

“Yea, well, when I woke up, I found my dagger and my sword and headed home.  That’s when I found all of my injuries.  I’d say I’m lucky to be alive.”

I didn’t tell them about Rivka of course.  I felt bad for not giving her credit for fixing me up, but it was for the best.  I didn’t want to attract any attention to her.  I didn’t want anyone to find her.  I felt like it was my job to protect her, but that little charade may have ruined that.

A few weeks later, the nightmare began.  A wild and crazy man ran up to the marketplace while I was looking for the perfect gift for Riv.  I had been looking at a beautiful beaded necklace made from river stones cut and polished into little balls like the ones hanging in her doorway.  Only these ones were brightly colored in pinks and greens and blues.  I handed the man a tiny golden nugget before I took the jewelry and turned towards the commotion.  As I approached the fast forming group, I shoved the necklace and spare gold deep into my satchel.

“He was huge and had a lot of white on him you know?”  The man was spurting out words so fast before thinking that I had to think about everything he said to make sense of a lot of it.

“He got away, but I speared him before he ran off!”  He held up the end of his hunting spear to reveal blood and a small tuft of fur.  I began to get anxious.  This man could be talking about Roux, or even Rivka.  Then again, it could just be an ordinary jungle beast. 

“What did it look like?” I shouted for two reasons.  The description could tell me what kind of animal it was and what it looked like in case it happened to not be an animal.  Besides, I didn’t want to ask the type of animal since most of these people probably heard what it was in the beginning.

“Yea, what did it look like?” Folks chimed in.

“It was big and it had war paint on its face.”  He put his fingers to his cheeks to represent applying stripes under his eyes with paint.  “And a black diamond in the center of its forehead!”

I stepped back.  If there was anything that a person could recognize that quickly about Roux, it was those two features.  If this man was talking about a jaguar, we were in trouble.

“And that’s not all either.  After I fell, I looked at his footprint and it had gold dust in it!”

My stomach dropped.  I had to find Roux.  I was just about to attempt to escape the crowd when a man called to me from the center of the circle.

“Hey, did you have gold dust all over you too when you came stumbling out of that jungle?”

“Yea, I think he did!” another man shouted.

I turned to again face the group.  Before I could say anything to counteract the observation, the mass of people were joining in agreement and blurting wild accusations.

“His claws must be made of gold!”

“He is golden!  That’s why he’s immortal!”

“But look at his blood on the spear!”

“We must bring him back!”

The man responsible for this riot rubbed his chin.  “Yea, yea he did look kinda shimmery in the light.”

“We must prepare for the hunt!  Offer a great reward for ‘the golden jaguar!’”

I turned and bolted for the jungle.  I figured I would just look like an eager hunter going for the reward.  I had to tell Riv what was happening.