Chapter 7 Jaguar Attack
Polari stared into the jaguar's ginormous, menacing amber eyes. It felt like his heart had been replaced by a big, booming drum, and his breath was as silent as a mouse. The jaguar growled, a low, guttural sound.
Then, Polari screamed and started to run away. The jaguar roared and ran after him.
Polari absolutely hated jaguars. He had a bad experience with them on his first adventure. They had chased him to the edge of a cliff and had him cornered. If it hadn't been for Polari's friend, who had saved him just in the nick of time, Polari would have either fallen off the cliff or been eaten.
Polari ran faster than he had ever run before. He didn't want to stop. The jaguar ran after him. Polari inwardly prayed that the jaguar would trip or lose its breath or just wasn't that fast. If any of those possibilities were reality, than Polari would be able to escape with his life.
Polari was starting to grow tired. His breathing became labored, his chest started to hurt. He felt like he would explode if he tried to move any farther. He stopped for just one millisecond to catch his breath, and that's when the jaguar pounced on him. He tried to fight back, but he couldn't; he wasn't strong enough. The jaguar mauled him and seemed to tear away at his flesh. By the time it was done, Polari was a completely wreck. His leg was bleeding, his face was scarred, and the pain was so intense that he couldn't even stand up. He collapsed to the ground, and the jaguar ran off.
Polari tried to breath, but even that was painful. Every inch of his body was burning. He could feel fatigue starting to take over. He dedicated every last bit of life that he had to making sure that he stayed alive.
I can't die like this, Polari thought. After all the near death experiences that I had, this is how I go out? No, this can't be the end. Please don't let this be the end.
Polari could feel the fatigue becoming overpowering. It was becoming impossible to keep his eyes open.
If this is the end, Polari thought, please let me see Rose one more time.
As if she had read his thoughts, Rosalina appeared right above him. She looked horrified.
"Polari!" she cried.
Polari looked up at his friend and smiled, a task that took a lot out of him.
"Rose," he said. "It sure is nice to see you."
Polari then groaned and closed his eyes. Rosalina knelt down beside him.
"Oh, Polari," she said quietly. Tears started to form in her eyes.
What could she do? She didn't want to lose Polari. He had been a dear if slightly overbearing friend to her. If he died after all they had gone through, she didn't know if she could forgive herself.
That was when Rosalina remembered her wand in her hands, and that got her thinking. She could recall a spell that might save him. It was an ancient spell that she had never had reason to use before, but it might just do the trick. Rosalina took a deep breath and started to wave her wand.
"Transformus luminous."
The unconscious Polari was surrounded by a bright light. The aura that he now glowed with was so overpowering that Rosalina couldn't even look at him. Then, the light died. Polari was still unconscious, but at least now Rosalina knew he would be okay. She smiled, picked up his body, which thanks to the spell was considerably smaller, and brought him back to the Comet Observatory.
