He awoke in darkness, feeling something like straw beneath his hands; the burning odor of urine assaulted his sense of smell, along with his eyes as they began to tear. It was definitely from an animal and not human.
"What sort of cage was he in, and how did he get here?" The Russian asked himself. The last thing he remembered was being set upon by a band of thugs while on the outskirts of New Delhi.
A low rumble... that of a large cat came out of the darkness in front of him, perhaps a few feet away and Illya froze in place; not that it would do him much good if the beast decided to strike. Either way he would eventually be a dead man if it was indeed a big cat. Since he presumed he was still in India, his guess was that it was a tiger.
His thoughts immediately flashed to another time had been left for tiger bait, but was saved by that dim-witted Suzanne de Serre...how she was qualified to be a botanist was beyond him. *
A light was turned on, and as he looked up, he saw the face of Venganza de Sangre staring down at him. Illya's eyes were then drawn across the small room to a tiger lying in front of the only door. **
"Glad to see you have joined us," de Sangre smiled.
"Joined, I think hardly. By the way, when was the last time you cleaned and sanitized this poor animals prison?"
The Spaniard laughed, "You're about to be his dinner and that's what's on your mind? Truly Señor, you display such boldness in the face of death. I will miss that about you."
"Then do not kill me, and we can renew our relationship."
De Sangre laughed. "Surely you forget my name means 'Vendetta,' and I hold such a grudge against you for the trouble you caused me in Spain.
Illya shook his head, "Well I suppose it would be too much to grant a dying man his last wish and take care of this wretched animal."
"Such a selfless last request," the man laughed again. "You have my word, I will see the cat's living conditions improve. Farewell Señor Kuryakin." The trap door abruptly closed.
Illya's full attention was turned to the big cat. He was correct in his assumption, at first thinking because of its size that it was a Sumatran tiger, then he realized it was it was a young Bengal, now that he could see it better.
"Hello kitty, nice big kitty. You do not look starved, so I am hoping you are not hungry right now?"
The animal seemed to be ignoring him, and was concentrating on licking one of its front paws.
The Russian, feeling rather bold, stood slowly, craning his neck to see the big cat better; and it was then he spotted a rather large splinter stuck in its paw.
Illya's eyebrows raised, suddenly thinking of the old fable 'Androcles and the Lion,' in which Androcles, a runaway slave of a former Roman consul, removed a thorn from the paw of a lion and later met the same beast in the Colosseum in Rome, the slave... destined to be sacrificed for the amusement of the populace, and their emperor. The lion recognized Androcles, remembered his kindness and refused to kill the man, and the emperor pardons Androcles.
Now Kuryakin wondered if that myth might save his life. He could be attacked and killed any moment and better to at least try to save himself? Though he was a fatalist at heart, Illya Kuryakin still did not want to die. In spite of that "I am going to die" attitude, he was always pleasantly surprised when he didn't.
He eased his way over to the tiger, watching it carefully so as to not startle it. Finally when he was standing beside it, the creature looked up at him with an almost mournful expression.
"Nice cat," Illya crooned, as he slowly reached down, quickly pinching the splinter with his fingers and yanking it out. The cat snarled, and Kuryakin closed his eyes, expecting the worst. He waited, but nothing happened, and one at a time, he opened his eyes.
The tiger remained laying on the floor, continuing to lick its paw.
"Is that better my friend?"
As soon as he spoke, the tiger stood, shaking its head and taking one stride then another towards him. Illya automatically stepped back, retreating from the animal until he could go no farther as his back was against the wall.
"Nice kitty...please do not eat me? I am too skinny and would not make a good meal. I would probably give you indigestion."
It stopped immediately in front of him, suddenly raised itself up on its hind legs, and resting it's massive paws on the Russian's shoulders.
Illya prepared himself for the end, but the tiger only licked his face with its sandpaper-like tongue.
Finally the beast lowered itself, laying down in front of him, rolling to its back and exposing its underbelly. Illya knew that posture in cats was one of trust. He shrugged his shoulders and knelt, reaching out with his hand... touching the animal. Little by little he began to rub and scratch it, perhaps showing the cat the most kindness it had seen in it's captivity.
The tiger made a chuffing sound...a rumbling in its throat and blew air through their nostrils. Chuffing, Illya knew in cat language, was used for greetings and apologies.
He continued to scratch the cat's belly for some time, until it finally rolled over, making the Russian take another cautionary step backwards. The tiger looked at him, looked at the door and looked back at him again with it's large golden amber eyes.
"Yes, I would like to get out of here too," Illya spoke to it as if the tiger could truly understand him.
.
There was a single guard outside the dull steel door housing the tiger and the soon to be dead man. He heard a garbled cry from within and smirked his satisfaction.
"One less UNCLE agent to deal with," he said as he unlocked the door, holding a tranquilizer gun in his other hand. The boss had ordered him to knock out the big cat and have the cage cleaned thoroughly as soon as the Russian was dead. He thought that strange as the animal was never given a second thought by De Sangre since it had been captured weeks ago.
He pushed the door open, seeing the tiger on the far side of the room, and took aim with his dart gun. Suddenly it was ripped from his hands by the Russian, and he was pulled inside in one single motion, sending him flying down to the floor. The guard screamed as the tiger pounced on him, killing him instantly with one single bite to his head.
Illya opened the door, gesturing to the tiger. "After you my friend." Still he stepped back, giving the animal plenty of room.
He followed it out the door and down a long hall to second doorway, as if the cat seemed to know where it was going. Illya turned the handle, and the door opened to the outside world full of dense jungle foliage.
The tiger took off, and so did the Russian, each going their separate ways to safety. Unlike Androcles, Illya did not expect to meet this particular big cat ever again...and hoped it would stay that way.
Napoleon was never going to believe this one...
.
* ref "The Tigers are Coming Affair"
** ref "Keeping Count" and "Escape from Almeria"