Umadevi Diamond

Episode I : The dangerous forest. Chapter 1

Several large dodge jeeps pass through enormous iron gates. With all the gates wide open, they slowly line up in a procession. The engines rumbling in low gear as they slowed through the doorway, there are shouting greetings and all sorts of tumultuous sounds, which is common every time the motorcade arrives. Dozens of workers in the place rush to welcome them, prepare to transport various wild animals in cages or unpack the crates from the cars.

This is the largest and most modern quarantine station, to prepare to export the wild animals. Located in at least 6 acres of land, within a strong concrete wall separating the area. The company's office is a modern building located in the heart of an area surrounded by captivity of all kinds of animals, from small aviaries upwards to the elephant, almost a small zoo. It is set between the halfway lines of the capital's civilization and the barbaric isolation of the rainforest.

Man in khaki who half-seat hung in front of the first truck that came through the door jump of the car, duck into a big Monkey pod tree’s umbrella near the arch, remove the large-brimmed hat that band with leopard skin, pat it against his leg make dust spreads then he takes out a cigarette to smoke. He squints his brown eyes and watches the trucks roll through the doors one by one. Once in a while, he shouts at the driver for a few words.

In the luxurious living room of the office building, Amphol Plakorn, the director of ‘Thai Wild Life' breaks away from the conversation, and goes to pull the aluminum blinds open. looking down through the glass window

"There he is."

All three guests. Two young men and a young lady get up from the sofa, quickly walk to that window, plunging their eyes towards the target below, about 150 meters away.

“The one standing by that door?”

The first person asking is a tall man with white skin, square chin and slender mustache lines above the lips, elegant and bleak.

"Yes! That's the person Your Excellency wants to meet.”

Director of 'Thai Wild Life' answered politely.

Another man who stood beside him whistled. His appearance is bright and cheerful, reveling in everlasting, a strong men's style.

"Fold it up, I feel like I'm already attracted to him, even though I've seen only one shot from a distance like this."

Young woman who resembles the first man but has an oval face shape. Both of her big eyes are sharp and glistening with everlasting light. At this moment, she wasn't looking at the sight with the normal naked eye like everyone else but using a compact binocular, focused on that man. She smiles with a shrug when the camera lens produces a clearer image as if the target is within reach.

“His reputation seems to be very contradictory to his appearance that we are seeing right now.” She speaks with a clear voice and laughs softly.

“When I closed my eyes and painted his picture for the first time, He should be in his 40s, at least 6 feet tall but it's completely opposite. He's a little small, he's no more than 5 feet 7 inches.
Very, very skinny. I don't like his ruthless face that lacks of any smile, This is it? Rapin Praiwan, the famous hunter that we are going to rely on.”

“My Lady, Although He's a little small, But either for his skill or his heart, This man is even more great. He is also a full-fledged gentleman. He's a real man that is hard to find. I'll have someone to invite him to come up now."

Rapin Praiwan throw the cigarette butt down and crush it with the tip of his dusty shoe when the last car pass through the door, take out a towel and wipe the sweat from his neck while blowing the air through his mouth as if to drive away the sweltering heat of the mid-March afternoon sun. Mr. Prasert, the manager of the quarantine station, walks through a busy group of native workers in haste, Greeting with a smile. Rapin smiles and greets him back.

“You are right here, Mr. Rapin, The director asked me to invite you upstairs.”

“Yeah, I'm going up soon. I just arrived. It's too hot. I'm going to oversee the workers transporting those guys. Nothing is as important as that rhino. We're in a hurry. The cage structure looks a bit fragile. If they don’t do it right, the cage might break and it's going to be a big mess.” Rapin speaks in his usual low tone, Keep his eye on the ongoing transport.

“It seems that this is your prosperous trip, seven cars, did you get all that we ordered?”

They talk to each other amongst the hustle and bustle of the indigenous workers, surrounded by the roar of the beasts around.

“The only missing one is monkeys. This trip, we only got one thousand and two hundred, still half missing. The herd migrated away for no reason this summer. We got more big beasts than I or Mr. Ampol had even expected that in the first place. Aside from the rhino that weighs more than two tons that came by fluke like a dream, I also have a Gaur’s cub for Mr. Ampol as a gift. There are two tigers, five leopards and three more panthers. Especially for the panther, it would be quite shocking If you or Mr. Ampol saw it. I can say that I have never seen a panther that big like this one before. It's as big as the tiger, in addition, it’s also a full grown-up one and there's not a single disfigurement blemish on its body. For the other animals, It corresponds to the list I sent to you in advance.”

“This trip will make you rich for a long time.” Mr. Prasert said with a laugh.

Rapin Praiwan shrug.

“I invested a lot in this trip. Apart from capital expenditures and the hardship that almost took my life, I've also lost two of my best native hunters who have worked with me for a long time, one was crushed to be meat paste by that rhino, the other one disabled for the rest of his life. Mr. Prasert, Do you think it's worth the money that I'm going to get this time? By the way, do you know what Mr. Amphol is doing?”

“He is in the private living room in the office building. There were three guests that came from Bangkok with their private car and arrived here a little before noon. I think that they’re all big names and have a close relationship with the director. They're having a conversation till now, two men and a young woman, I've never seen them before. When you arrived, the director sent me to get you up there. That's it.”

Rapin nodded, not paying much attention to Mr. Prasert's words and saying, “All right, you go and tell Mr. Amphol that I'll be there in a moment. Let me get these things done first.”

The manager left. Rapin walks separately to oversee the workers who uproariously transport the beast cages. The dangerous big beasts were carefully transported off the truck, respectively. Some species will be unloaded into the steel cage that the quarantine station prepared. Some species will be kept in the transport wooden cages temporarily. This is a cumbersome job.

At this moment, four or five workers are pushing the large wooden cage, covered with many planks like a crate, that contains the biggest panther to the rear end of the truck which had two large boards stretched into a bridge for sliding the cage down. There is a sound of the jungle lord furiously roaring in the dark cage mingling with the cheerful sounds of the workers who push the sleigh.

Rapin frowns in frustration, walking straight in quickly from another truck along with shouting to warn the riotous joy native workers. Playing and making fuss like that is provoking the jungle lord, make it ferocious and struggle to break free from the cage instead of calming down.

He doesn't even reach there when the workers push the panther’s cage onto the two wooden boards that stretched into a bridge to let it slide down to the ground below.

It might be because they just fool around carelessly or because of the lack of caution of the other three workers who wait to receive the cage on the ground. One of the wooden boards that was placed as a beam between the rear of the car and the ground slipped next to the edge of the truck, on the verge of falling down. Rapin glimpsed it right at that time.

"Hey! watch out for that wooden bridge." He shouts out loud.

It's too late. His warning cry wasn't fast enough. The large cage containing panther which is already lifted up and placed on the two wooden boards, prepares to sprinkle the rope along so that it gradually slides to the ground, suddenly falling down entirely because the wooden board that was laid negligently breaks free from the edge of the car.

The cage was made of rough wood for temporary use, knocking on the ground hard. Some parts of it shatter immediately. The jungle lord makes an angry roar in the midst of the shock of workers.

A gigantic panther struggles ferociously when it sees an opportunity to go free. It breaks out of the cage in the blink of an eye, slamming into the closest worker who stood stunned in front of it without intention to hurt anyone but flee as instinct. That man screams out loudly, falling down and squirming on the floor. His face was ruined completely by the claws, one of ้his eyeballs went missing, blood spattered everywhere.

The black panther charges to the next person as long as they’re in its escape route. Blood splash amid the painful scream of the victims. The chaos spread throughout the quarantine station.

Everyone fled into hiding with all their might, yelling to warn the other hastily. “Hoy! The panther broke free! Damn it! That black bastard broke free!, watch out!”

Rapin Praiwan regains his sanity in no time as the jungle lord dash through the panicked workers, swiftly coming to his way. The great hunter hops to take cover at the front of the car while the panther narrowly passes him, roaring and running towards the intricate cages area, making the other beast burst out in panic.

He turns around and shouts to the guard, ordering them to close the iron gate to prevent the escaped panther from running away. Then, yelling to the workers instruct them to hide in the building.

Everyone runs around chaotically, many are injured by the insidious panther’s claws, no one died for now because the beast has no intention to kill, it’s just frightened. It will attack only when someone blocks its path.

Many people grabbed their guns and fired but they couldn't make a fatal shot. Instead of stopping the panther, it turns out to be a provocation, making the beast even more fierce. They can’t make a clean shot because there are many people running around and they have to prevent the other beasts in the cages from the stray bullet. In addition, all of their guns were shotguns and they fired in panic.

Rapin shakes his head, swearing and muttering in his throat. It’s very hard to handle this situation. They seem to be ineffective at calling off the gun wielders. Unexpectedly, Mr. Prasert, the manager, comes out from the office building, yelling to the workers

“Hoy! cease fire! Everybody stop shooting! Stop shooting before you kill each other! All of you move away!” This makes all of them stop and run away to hide in the office building.

The manager rushed over to Rapin, who seemed to be the only one standing in the open in the middle of the quarantine station near the parked car, asking for his assistance.

“Mr. Rapin, please deal with that black bastard, it's a total mess now”
“How do you suppose I should handle this?” Rapin sternly asks.

“The director asks you to shoot it down. Please make it quick before someone is mauled to death, Many men have already drowned in blood.” Mr. Prasert says with tongues tangled, pale face and wide open eyes.

The great hunter laughs in his throat.

“Your workers are really useless, Mr. Prasert. Even though I closely oversaw their work, they still can not take it seriously. I’ve warned them, not yet without a word, then things got messed up. This panther is the most beautiful one that I’ve ever seen. Honestly, I want to catch it alive.”

“Oh, you shouldn't do that. It might be a disaster if you still think about keeping it alive. Please shoot it down, the director’s also asked for that.”

“I'll not take responsibility for the loss of this black guy because it escaped in your quarantine station’s hand. Shoot it is O.K. Let’s make it clear first, you can not deduct the cost on me.”

“Of course, don't worry about it. The fault lies with my own company.” The manager said quickly.

Rapin Paiwan shakes his head again, grabs his 30-60 rifle, then pulls the manager's arm, pushing him onto the car seat.

"Stay in there. Don't come out until it's done."

After that he reaches into the satchel of his hunting shirt he is wearing, grabbing a silver tip bullet, pulling open the bolt, putting the bullet into the chamber, and banging the bolt to close it. Then he starts to trail that black one which he saw disappear through the cages of old caged animals in the left side of the area.

All eyes fix on the great hunter with trembling heart, including the company director and three other guests who excitedly saw everything from the beginning though the glass window.

His fast and sharp eyesight carefully scans the surrounding while he slowly walks between the hornbill cages under the shadow of the huge coral tree, near the dense streblus asper bush. Rapin stands still, readying his senses when he hears the loud roar from the dense bush. Flocks of the hornbill in the big net cage scream and fly up in panic. He looks through the net cage to the opposite bush and sees the green eyes, bloody red mouth and the white fangs. The black bastard crouches there, licking the wound from the shotgun’s lead pellets embedded in its rump caused by the random firing of the workers.

Rapin calmly flicks his rifle up. His eyes fix on the target about ten meters away behind the hornbill cages. The black bastard rapidly jumps up, leaping and clambering the Rain tree. When it reaches the tree’s crotch, it crouches down and makes its ears bent, grimacing its fangs towards him with fierce eyes. At that moment, it jumps down crossing over the birdcages, darts to him, furiously spreading its claws.

Rapin moves the gun barrel following its movement from the moment it climbs the tree. When it jumps down, the sound of the 30-60 rifle firing erupts loundly. It’s a close quarters shooting. The body of the large panther collides hard with the great hunter, knocking him back, rifle bouncing off his hand. As for the vicious panther, it trembled laying there, only its long tail swaying back and forth a few times before it stopped moving.

The manager and the workers rush in at the same time as Rapin stands up slowly. He walks over the carcass of the vicious black bastard, shaking his head, what a waste!. The 30-06 bullet pierced through its face, penetrating slightly below the nape of its neck!

At the glass window in the director's room, Everyone let out a breath, relieving the excitement that had been holding for a long time.

“Mr. Amphol is right” One of the gentlemen mutters.
“Even though he is a little small, his skill and his heart isn’t small at all. I've shot tigers twice. I can tell you that my hand trembled while I shot. I told myself that I am one of the brave. I can only shoot from the scaffold on the tree. If you let me carry a gun, openly shoot face to face like him, I’m not that brave, even if you hire me for one hundred thousand.”

“I really like his close quarters shot.” Another gentleman said while keeping his sparkling bright eyes fixed on the target. “At first I thought he was going to shoot through the hornbill cage, but he waited to shoot at the moment it charged him. I believe what Mr. Amphol said that he is a gentleman and a sportsman because he gives his opponent a chance even if it’s only an animal. If he’s not good enough, he might have died. It is a very fair trade.”

“He should get some injuries. Noi1 saw him crash with the panther and was knocked down even though it was dead. Why did he get up like everything was fine? Look, the worker starts to gather around him.”

The young lady who uses the binocular to observe the events at every stage speaks up. The way she talks seems to be intentionally speaking to her elder brother, but the director of ‘Thai Wild Life' politely responds to her.

“His bullet surely destroys the most important part of the panther brain, Your Excellency. It died the moment it leapt before it could hurt him. He was only knocked down by the momentum. Rapin always loves to shoot the animal while it charges direct to him. Last year, He had to stay in the hospital in Bangkok for two months because he shot an injured gaur that his native hunter previously shot, in close quarters. His bullet precisely cut though that gaur’s brain. It’s his misfortune that he shot that gaur while it charged at him from within fifteen meters distant. It hitted him hard. His ribs were broken. He was thrown off to the air, falling down unconscious while the gaur fell upside down next to him. Honestly, he almost died because of his career many times.”

“Look, He is coming over here. We will probably meet him in a few moments.”