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The Gift Richard's SF Intro, Part 2 copyright comidacomida 2018

For the first time since falling into the jungle, I no longer felt as though I was being observed from secret; my watcher had made himself known. My parents, who were in the room with me showed absolutely no indication that they knew the Jaguar man was there and, even as I continued to stare (with him staring right back), their talking went in one ear and out the other. Eventually they decided that I needed some rest, and they promised they'd be right outside. They stepped out, intent on leaving me alone with the otherworldly predator.

At that point, injured, and alone in the room, there was only one possible thing for me to do, so I questioned the Jaguar about what had happened. He had been staring at me since I first awoke so I knew it wouldn't be any great difficulty getting his attention. The question was whether or not he'd understand me and, if so, would I understand him? "I... uh... I'm not really sure what happened..."

Once I'd addressed him, the Jaguar stood up and approached me; the various trinkets he wore around his neck rustled together, sounding oddly like a collection of sticks and loose pebbles being strewn across the ground by a strong wind. Once he had crossed half the room he stood within comfortable talking distance and drew no closer. Only then did he speak and when he did it was slow and purposeful, clearly enunciating each word. "Teen ma'wohel t'aan."

I was honestly surprised that his muzzle and teeth didn't make it difficult to pronounce the words but, then again, as I had no idea what he was saying or the language he was speaking, perhaps they did cause him trouble. I tried again. "Do you speak any English?"

His response was still cryptic, and got me no closer to any clear answers. Regardless, we exchanged several attempts at communication, each time he seemed just as patient with me and lacked any signs of frustration. Ultimately it paid off, as I finally recognized most of a phrase when he asked "Habla usted español?"

I'd done well enough in my 'introductory to Spanish' class in high school that I knew he was asking me if I spoke it. I responded as clearly in Spanish as I could "I speak a little Spanish."

A calm, almost serene smile spread his black lips to either side of his muzzle; it was a little disconcerting seeing a predator's teeth and yet I didn't feel threatened. He stood there silently a moment before flicking an ear and continuing. "I speak a little Spanish too. It is not my first language."

The matter-of-fact tone with which the Jaguar spoke almost made me laugh; I started to, but the pain in my ribs became that much worse and I winced. "Ow..."

He blinked, his yellow eyes gleaming in the muted light of the ICU. "You have pain."

I didn't remember how to say car accident, so I kept it simple. "I have pain from car."

The Jaguar stepped closer, the feathers hanging from his headdress flowing with wind that wasn't in the room. "You have pain from me."

Despite my reservations about having a giant cat up close, I was still exhausted and still in pain; I was on a hospital bed in a hospital gown so I didn't really have much of a way to avoid him so I held still while one of his fingers traced the lacerations that were snugly secured beneath the bandage on my right arm. My skin itched horribly for several seconds, and then, suddenly, I realized that the little, ever-present nagging pain had stopped. To say I was surprised would be an understatement. "What did you do?"

He withdrew his paw, and slowly walked around to the other side of the hospital bed, repeating the gesture against the bandages on my left arm. "I make pain, and now I..." he paused in speaking, but not in his gesture as he seemed to seek out the right word. "I... close the pain."

I offered an alternate word, although I wasn't sure how to properly conjugate it. "You 'to stop' the pain?"

Apparently he did, and inclined his head in thanks. "I stopped the pain."

There was so much more to be said, but I realized that there was a time and a place for storytelling, so there was a more pressing issue; I didn't even know the name of this strange Jaguar man who'd saved me. I tried to begin a series of introductions. In Spanish, when you are introducing yourself you say 'me llamo', which literally means 'I call myself'. "I call myself Richard."

He inclined his head in an almost sagely way. "I know. It is good to meet you, Richard."

Apparently he had no real intention of returning the favor so I outright asked "¿Como se llama usted?" or, in English: "What do you call yourself?" I know the 'usted' isn't always required, but he'd used it earlier so I thought it would be smart to try and keep things 'proper'.

He shook his head, creating another wave of sound with his adornments. "We do not call ourselves anything, Richard."

I didn't know whether he was being difficult, or it was a translation thing, so I tried a different approach. "Do you have a name?"

He nodded succinctly, adding "Si."

Pressing forward, I inquired "What is your name?"

"Balam."

I didn't know what to expect, but that certainly wasn't it. Thankfully I didn't say something embarrassing like "That doesn't sound Mexican.", rather I just nodded. "It is good to meet you, Balam."

The Jaguar stepped back with yet another nod. He made a request that took me a moment to remember; I'd always had trouble with reflexive verbs but after a moment I realized he'd asked if I thought I could stand. Shaking my head, I explained it as easily as I could, repeating an earlier statement. "I have pain from car."

He flicked one ear, then the other, then blinked before lashing his tail, all the while it seemed as though he was in thought. When his question finally came it was straight forward. "Do you have pain in arms?"

I flexed my arms, realizing that the places I'd been scratched no longer hurt... but my shoulder protested powerfully when I tried to shrug it. "Ow. I have no pain in arms, but my..."

I didn't know the word for shoulder so I motioned to it with my good arm. Balam stared at me, completely neutral in his expression and his tone. "You do not walk with arms. Do you have pain in legs? Pain in feet?"

It was difficult to try and get an understanding why he was so eager to be out of the hospital; I'd just been in a car accident and I needed to rest. It was too difficult to try and explain all of that so I just kept it simple. "I will stay here. This is a hospital. I will be good here."

Balam shook his head. "No. Danger is here."

Just as I was about to respond to his statement with another question when the Gryphon man stepped back into the room, once again emerging from a solid wall. He looked at me then at the Jaguar, then back to me. When he spoke he had a very strong British accent, but at least he spoke English. "Thou speakest freely with the savage? Understand thee his language?"

Well, if Balam had been able to speak it only made sense that the Gryphon could. I turned my head to address him as well. "We both speak Spanish... sort of."

Rubbing his wicked-looking beak with a talon, the Gryphon nodded with displeasure and he lowered his head. "Then ask the savage how he saved thee, for I could do nothing to protect my ward."

"Your... ward?"

He cleared his throat, stepping from one leonine paw to the other uncomfortably. "Dina Cadwell... thy friend as surely as thou hast been hers for years."

Apparently I had connected the dots. "You tried to grab her during the crash."

The Gryphon nodded tersely. "I am Jack... I was her guardian, but I could not protect her from the... event."

Balam stepped closer to me but maintained a distance from the Gryphon. "What did he say?"

I provided a brief summary using what limited grasp of Spanish I could; the conjugation was causing trouble for me again so I wasn't able to use the words I wanted. "His name is Jack. He doesn't know how you helped me. He didn't help Dina."

The Jaguar looked to the newcomer and said plainly. "I saw it. I helped Richard to go in the back and not the front."

The Gryphon looked to me for translation and I provided it, then looked back to Balam in disbelief. Once again my limited grasp of Spanish didn't help me convey what I wanted to say. "You... told me?"

Balam scowled, and let out a huff of impatience. He spoke in barely recognizable English. "No. We go. Talk--" his muzzle scrunched up and he switched to Spanish. "Hablamos en el futuro. Ahora, no."

Scowling, Jack opened his muzzle to speak but I interjected. "He said we should talk later and we need to go. I'm trying to explain to him that this is a hospital and I need to stay and heal. This is the best place to--"

Feathers fluffing, the Gryphon interrupted me. "No... thou SHOULD go... and soon."

I hadn't expected him to take Balam's side. "Uh... but WHY?"

Before I was able to receive an answer I ended up jumping in surprise as the IV in my arm broke free of its adhesive bandage and came out. Turning to figure out what was happening I saw Balam, arm outstretched, his eyes glowing a golden yellow; although he wasn't holding the needle I could tell that he was somehow responsible for removing it and, as his paw returned to his side the tube fell limp by the bed. "We go. Now."

I was ready to tell off the Jaguar but a sudden squawk from the Gryphon caught my attention and I looked to him; he drew a sword from large scabbard at his hip and turned to face the wall from which he'd emerged. A blackness permeated the cream-colored paint, almost as if it were being rapidly saturated by oil. A moment later the darkness pooled and, before my eyes, it became three dimensional, continuing to grow until something that looked like a large octopus with a single gleaming red eye dropped out onto the floor. The Gryphon blocked my view by stepping between me and the strange... thing. "Richard... I make this Pact in the name of the Cadwell clan. I shall protect thee. Say thou shalt accept me as thy guardian!"

Balam hadn't been idle as the black tentacle beast slid through the wall. Standing shoulder-to-wing with Jack, the Jaguar let out a low toned growl. Let me tell you, it's one thing to hear one in a nature documentary on television, and something else entirely to be only a few feet from it. He spoke over his shoulder as light blue flames emerged from his paws and licked their way up his forearms; his scar-like tattoos blazed the same color. "Richard... I help you. Go... now."

The black, octopus-like creature lurched forward, seeming almost to blink through existence like a movie skipping frames or a video game lagging badly and it was suddenly on the other side of the both of them, floating up in the air with its tentacles outstretched toward me. I quickly rolled out of bed, but I hadn't realized I was still connected to a series of wires that were attached to an EKG, and the tangled mess sent me spilling over the edge and onto the cold faux hardwood floor. My call was reflexive. "HELP!"

Both Jaguar and Gryphon were on me in an instant, grabbing at the black-as-midnight tentacled monstrosity that attempted to entangle me with its numerous appendages. At first it looked like a fairly even fight with the two of them taking it up but, as I watched, one of the tentacles wrapped around Jack's neck and began to squeeze. The Gryphon dropped his sword and both his talons went to the fleshy muscle choking him. He somehow still managed to wheeze "Accept me, Richard... make the Pact!"

I--