He stood there looking at the motionless body of Bubli. Blood was oozing from her neck. He tried to shout. But he felt as if someone had snatched his voice. His limbs started to tremble. The fact that Solo was looking at him was not in his thoughts. Bubli's voice was still echoing in his head. She was just there few minutes ago and now she is dead. It looked as if he would stand there all his life looking at her corpse. Solo slowly walked towards her hunt. She yawned wide, displaying her bloody teeth, turned her neck side ways and started to enjoy fresh flesh. Every now and then she looked at still stood Tejpratap. It looked as if she deliberately taunted him. After feasting, she walked past him and slid down the slope to quench her thirst.
Tejpratap turned towards Solo. He could hear the wind, the water, the trees, the leaves but not Solo. She made no sound. No sound at all! In any other situation he would have appreciated her skill. But not now that same skill took his love's life. Solo raised her head up. Looking at the sky, she roared majestically. The queen was showing her dominance. All the birds resting on the near by trees, shot up madly towards the sky. The roar awakened his hunting instincts. He drew his revolver and fired two quick shots at Solo. But both missed. He could see his right hand trembling. He supported it with his left hand. He fired again. This time, though his aim was right, she quickly moved to her side and the bullet hit her ears. She snarled in pain.
Solo had no intentions of hunting Tejpratap till then. Because tigers only hunt when they are either hungry or when there is a need to feed their pride. As for Solo, neither she was hungry nor there was any pried to feed. She had just eaten a human. But now, there was a territory to defend. She felt as if he had challenged her. Not that she had forgotten what he had done to her cubs, revenge was not her way of dealing with things. She took few steps back and leapt above the slope. Tejpratap moved swiftly towards his right and fired at Solo's hind limb. Immediately Tejpratap slid down the slope. But Solo was quicker. Just as she saw his movement, she leapt again. She had aimed for his neck. But her injured leg reduced the range. All she could do was make a deep cut into his back, with her claws. He stumbled. Regaining balance, he swam across the stream. Blood was dripping from his torn shirt. Reaching other side of the stream, he looked for Solo. She was not there. Not in the stream. Not on the bank. She was nowhere.
He took off his shirt and threw it into the stream. He had heard that, on the other side of the stream there was some abandoned shrine. He had never seen it though. He was exhausted. He had lost lot of blood. Suddenly he fell down. Everything around him went dark. He thought his time had come. All his life came in front of him in flashes. Before he could fall, some one held his hand. It was a strong grip. He was dragged into the forest, gently. With a sigh of relief, he closed his eyes.
It was already night when he gained back consciousness. Some had placed him under a tree supporting his back to it. Due to fatigue, he couldn't move. It took him few minutes to realize where he was. The stranger had dragged him to the shrine. He could see some dim light coming out of it. He was in no mood to inspect it. A gleaming steel box pulled his attention. With great difficulty he reached for it. He could see his reflection. The entire day's event rushed like a flood. He had lost Bubli. Tears rolled down his cheek. He opened the box to find few bananas. He forced himself to eat it. Filled with anger, grief and desperation, he decided to go home. But he had already lost lot of blood. His wounds were slowly killing him.
Suddenly he heard some sound coming form the eternal darkness. He gathered whatever strength left inside him and walked towards the shrine. He climbed the steps of the shrine, and sat facing his back to it's door. There was no moon that day. He lifted his head to see thousands of stars. Just few meters away, behind few bushes, Solo was seeing his actions all this time. She slowly stepped out and made her way towards him. Both of them were clearly visible to each other. What happened next maybe would never happen again. Tejpratap filled his lungs to its brim and roared in the top of his voice. At the same time Solo roared. There was a perfect synchronization between their voices. Before they could end, BANG. Solo fell to the ground. Tejpratap tried to turn around to see but lost his balance and rolled down the stairs. He felt a sharp pain. He had badly hit his head. His vision started to blur. He raised his hands to fill his fist with the stars and closed his eyes for one last time. The stranger was the only one who witnessed 'the last roar' of two magnificent beasts. He did not care for Tejpratap anymore. Because he was just a bait to catch Solo. He placed his gun next to Tejpratap, kicked Solo with his left foot and walked into the eternal darkness.
It took two days for people to find their bodies. But the stories they were told were far from what had actually happened. They were told that Ganga saw Solo killing Tejpratap. Ganga shot Solo but failed to save him. Everyone believed it. They burned both the bodies side by side. Relatives mourned for few days. Ganga went back to his house and the stranger was never to be found again.
The End
Image Source:- Mike Marrah on Unsplash
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