Eyes Ablaze Like the Sun

Whispering wind filtered through the rough-hewn lodgepole slats. The dark sienna boards were all but rotted through, most of the white chinking eroded away. In reply to the mumbling wind, the old barn creaked and muttered, sighing secrets from decades long past.

Inside, sprouting in the rocky earth, was a young lodgepole pine. Accompanied by tufts of blue grama and rabbitbrush, the plants basked in the slivers of warm sunlight drifting through the cracks in the roof. Some aspen leaves littered the dirt floor, blown to the edges by wintery mountain winds. The sandy gravel of the montane floor was almost entirely undisturbed. Almost.

"Shh, we need to be sure no photographers or hikers found their way to the barn," a low voice rumbled from just outside the door. "Sometimes I've seen some adventurous artists find their way to the forgotten places of the West and take pictures for postcards and stuff and post them online. I hope no one has found this one, though. And...hopefully no mountain lions found their way in, either. Did you see those tracks out by the trees?" she softly laughed and a second chuckle joined hers.

Noisily, the old barn door creaked ajar. A black Maglite nosed its way through the crack, followed by a heavily gloved hand and a silent boot. Sweeping this way and that, the light illuminated the barn where the holes in the roof did not. A trifle of old leaves, stones, and a couple of unfortunate bats littered the dirt floor of the barn. Quickly the beam of light shot to the ceiling and peered among the rafters, searching for signs of life. No bats, no lions.

"Untouched," the voice whispered triumphantly, then yelled, "We can start. Back the truck in, Josh!" The woman and the man beside her pushed the large barn door open, creating enough space for a small herd of cattle, a wagon, or even a modern truck.

The engine of the dually hummed and roared against the silence of the vigilant aspens. Hitched to the truck was a horse trailer, a fancy one with a camper, hay rack, and sizable tack room. Slowly the woman and her assistant signaled to the driver, backing in just so the taillights were through the door.

"That's it, Josh. Great job! Cut it off!" the man yelled over the roar of the truck's engine. The driver killed the engine and swung the great white door open, and a pair of scrawny legs swung out of the door and landed with a thud on the hard, cold prairie ground. The teenage boy jogged to the others at the barn and ducked inside, in the small gap between the trailer and the old barn door.

"You think she's awake yet?" the boy asked quizzically.

"Probably. It was a long ride from Denver. That's good, though. She needs to be awake and strong to run all the way down there."

"Can I open the door?"

"Sure! Go ahead."

"Yes!" with all the enthusiasm granted to vigorous teenagers, Josh pummeled the air with his fist and sprinted to the far side of the barn. There, under the dirt and dust and random mountainous debris, Josh dug with his gloved hand and found a large, round knocker. Heaving and grunting until the cold air around him hung like a cloud, the door creaked upwards, dust and old grass spilling off to reveal a dark chasm under the old cellar door.

Josh pushed until the door in the ground swung up and banged against the soft barn wall, shaking dust from the rafters. It was slightly larger than the size of a large hot tub or trampoline, and was very heavy. But Josh was a strong kid.

A low growl floated out of the trailer and soft paws could be heard pacing back and forth on the rubber floor. A cooler lid popped open and the man dumped the raw, red, bloody contents into the hole.

"Alright, Josh. Back behind the trailer. She knows you're not a threat, but just in case. You ready, Jen?" The teenager ran back to the side of the trailer and his father rested his hands on the boy's shoulders.

"You bet!" a glint of sheer joy flashed across the woman's eyes as she drew back the metal latch and the hinges of the trailer door scraped against each other. A gentle smile grew on the man's weatherworn face and the boy's erupted in a large, bucktoothed grin.

Metal scraped metal and a fierce moan rose to fill the once-silent barn. Into the wooden relic of the West leapt a flash of orange and black. She sniffed, chuffed, and turned her head to and fro, taking in the sights and smells of the dull barn. A far cry from the hot rainforests and ruins of Sumatra, to be sure, but uncrowded and full of new smells. One scent beckoned and it was down the large hole in the floor.

The giant tiger turned her golden eyes upon the boy, who quivered with respect, fear and wonder at the cat. The tiger tilted her gaze to the father, then the woman. Snorting a final chuff of contentment, the titian titan leapt into the old cellar.

Seizing the steak in her powerful maw, she devoured it like candy. But what seemed like a mere hole in the floor of a barn was actually a tunnel. Warm breezes batted the young cat's face, discordant with the chilly barn. Smells both familiar and novel wafted up her nostrils, signaling food and adventure. The tiger flicked her ears forward in curiosity at the promise of a new life. Soft lights illuminated the gently sloping tunnel, reflected in her golden eyes. She took one step, two...three...then bounded out of sight, propelled by her mighty hindquarters.

"There. She's gone. She'll find the others and we'll see her again when we make it to the Paris entrance. But, for now, how about some lunch? That was a lot of steak we threw down there," the man laughed as he dropped the lid of the chasm back in its place with a dusty thud.

"Dad? Will we be able to save them all? I mean, not just the tigers, but all of them?"

"I don't know, Josh. But The Order is trying very hard. The boys in Kenya got a couple of white rhinos to the Congo entrance a month ago, which is incredible news. But what we're doing is very risky. We're racing poachers, traffickers, and wealthy men. It's very important that we stay a secret. No one can know what we're doing. The secrecy makes things go a lot slower and there's no way to tell if we can get them all in time, but we can hope."

"But if the Place is so huge and good, why does it have to be a secret?"

Josh's mom pursed her lips and answered her gangly son. "Think about it, Josh. A hidden world with uncounted resources and all of the purportedly extinct creatures alive and well? There are good people in the world, like us and the Order, but there are those who are selfish and like money too much. We have to be careful that the Place doesn't fall into the wrong hands. C'mon, let's go home." She hugged him tightly.

The trio closed the trailer, locked it up tight, and squeezed through the barn door together. The father pulled the truck forward and the mother shut the barn doors. He pulled the truck away and she carefully raked dust and grass over their tracks. Finally, the old barn in the woods was alone and silent again.

High above the barn, concealed by her sandy coat, lounging in the ancient boughs of a Ponderosa, was the queen of the high mountain valleys. Hers were the only eyes to witness the secret operation and never before had she seen what she saw through the cracks in that old barn roof: a cat much larger than herself, a coat like wildfire zagged with burned branches, eyes ablaze like the sun.

Finally, the smells she had waited for were given a face. And it made even her shudder with wonder. Never before had the queen of the high mountain valleys seen a fiercer feline than herself.