Darkness Falls (12 page)

Lucky shuffled his paws apprehensively. If he wasn't welcome in the Pack by himself, how would Alpha react if he came back and brought three Fierce Dog pups with him? “They won't like it,” he said slowly.

“No . . . but what else can we do?”

It's true
, thought Lucky.
These pups need to be around dogs who understand how to take care of them. Dogs like Moon
.

Lucky touched Mickey's muzzle with his nose. “We'll bring them with us,” he agreed.

He turned back to the pups. “The Earth-Dog is one of the Spirit Dogs,” he told them. “We can tell you about the Earth-Dog along the way.”

“We have to stay here,” the larger male growled.

“I don't want to leave Mother,” added the female. “I don't want to give her to any dog!”

Lucky's chest tightened. He settled down in front of the pups. “I'm sorry. I know how hard this must be for you. I was so sad when I had to say good-bye to my Mother-Dog. But only Earth-Dog can look after her now.”

The pups gazed at him, wide-eyed.

“Will we be able to see our Mother-Dog again if she's with the Earth-Dog?” asked the smallest male, who had hardly said a word until then. His short tail gave a hopeful wag and Lucky swallowed, grief crashing over him. How could he describe death to a pup? How could he explain things he barely understood himself?

“In a way,” Mickey piped up. “You just need to close your eyes and remember. You won't
see
her . . . but you'll be able to
feel
her. She'll be all around you. In the earth beneath your paws, in the air you breathe. With the clouds in the sky and the sun and the rain.”

Lucky's tail wagged at the memory of his own Mother-Dog, and the safety and warmth of the Pup-Pack.

“Can you show us how?” asked the female.

“Of course,” said Mickey.

A lone crow cackled in the forest and the black-and-white dog flinched. “It's getting late,” he murmured.

Lucky looked up to see a deeper blue beyond the wall of trees outside the Dog-Garden. The fur along his back prickled as he wondered, would the grown Fierce Dogs be back before no-sun? Would they be back at all? He turned to the pups. “We have a journey to go on, but for now, we need to get to work. Later Mickey will help you to remember your Mother-Dog. I promise.”

The pups seemed to accept this. Lucky and Mickey led them to the wooden steps that took them from the porch to the ground. Mickey leaned forward to scoop up the largest male by the scruff but the pup squirmed free, shaking his tail and flanks proudly. He half jumped, half flopped down each step. His brother and sister followed, all three gathering in an excited cluster at the bottom.

The pups watched as Lucky found an earthy, shaded spot by the side of the big house where the grass was patchy. He started to dig as quickly as he could, pitching up dry soil. Mickey joined him.

After a few minutes of watching the digging in silence, the female pup drew closer. “What are you doing?” she asked.

Lucky stopped digging. “It's a ritual. We're going to offer your Mother-Dog to the Earth-Dog. It will help her to refind the earth and the air, to be part of the world again—but in another way, like Mickey said.”

The female pup was silent. The smaller of her littermates stood shyly behind her, licking his chops and gazing at the shallow hole that Lucky and Mickey had dug in the ground. Only the larger male pup looked on with narrowed eyes.

Lucky was about to start digging again when he saw the female pup padding through the long grass and sniffing. He approached, his ears pricked up. He could now see that the pup was licking something that looked like a dark bundle next to a knot of ivy. It had been hidden in the grass.

Mickey followed his gaze and whined. He was standing nearer to the bundle and the female pup, and he watched her, fear crossing his eyes. “I think it's another pup. . . .” He addressed the female. “Come back, little one! Stay here.”

The female pup looked up. “He's hurt. . . .” she whimpered.

“There's nothing you can do for him now,” said Mickey.

Lucky winced. After a moment, the female pup abandoned the bundle and joined her brothers near the base of the big house.

Lucky trod through the grass to the small, limp body. Like the Mother-Dog, he had probably died a day or two before. The metallic scent of blood still clung to his fur. Lucky could make out the imprint of teeth—teeth shaped like his own—at the puppy's neck below an unusual blast of white fur that resembled the shape of a fang. Lucky gasped. The pup had been attacked and killed; that much was obvious.

If a coyote or a fox had killed him, they would have eaten him. But what sort of dog would do this to a pup?

Mickey's haunches were low as he pawed at the ground near the lifeless bundle.

“I don't like this, Lucky. What happened in this place?”

Lucky turned to his friend in acknowledgment. He couldn't imagine what had led to this pup and the Mother-Dog's death, and why the other Fierce Dogs had abandoned their camp, leaving the three other pups alone. But they could worry about that later.

“We have a duty to the dead dogs,” Lucky whispered. “Even if they came from such a ferocious Pack, they deserve to be offered to the Earth-Dog.”

The female pup called out to them. “Can you help him?”

The other two pups hung back. The small one kept his head low, his tail drooping; the larger one's eyes were narrowed, lips twitching as they curled over his vicious teeth, as though he was swallowing his own rage.

Lucky wished he could have shielded the pups from more sad news. But he could do nothing. “I'm afraid I can't,” he whimpered. “Was he your brother?”

“No!” yipped the larger male, his voice sharp. Lucky waited for him to say more but he just stood there on his sturdy little legs, glaring.

“Lucky, we should get out of here. . . .” Mickey whined.

The Farm Dog was right. Something strange—and awful—had happened in this Dog-Garden.

Crows swooped down to the high trees surrounding the camp. The Sun-Dog had started his slow descent along the horizon. Lucky returned to the shallow grave, digging until it was large enough for the Mother-Dog.

Mickey dug a much smaller hole alongside it for the dead pup. He took the limp body by the scruff and gently dragged him to the hole, laying him down carefully. Then he helped Lucky carry the Mother-Dog out from beneath the wooden boards. They gripped the heavy black collar at her neck and tugged with their teeth. She was incredibly heavy—Lucky could hardly believe that a dog could weigh that much. The hole they had dug was only just deep enough.

The three pups whined and yelped as Lucky and Mickey covered the dead pup's grave with soil, then attempted to do the same for the Mother-Dog. Lucky could hardly bear the sound of the pups' grief, and tried to swallow his sadness.

He and Mickey weren't able to move enough dirt to cover the Mother-Dog completely. Lucky stood for a moment, wondering what to do. Then he ran to the side of the camp to gather a mouthful of grass and leaves. He returned to the Mother-Dog, tossing his head to throw it over her body on top of the pile. He did this a couple of times until the dead Mother-Dog was reasonably well covered.

Lucky turned to the three pups. “The Earth-Dog will look after your mother now,” he said solemnly.

“I don't
want
Earth-Dog to have her,” whimpered the smallest male pup in a tiny voice.

The female leaned over and licked him on the ears. Lucky turned to peer into the long grass, wishing there was something he could do to ease their grief.

Mickey whined. Lucky turned back to him and spoke in a low voice so the pups couldn't hear. “What's wrong?” he asked.

“Everything's wrong,” Mickey replied. His dark eyes scanned the sky. “The Sun-Dog is going to his lair. Are we really going to enter the forest with these three when it is
dark
?”

Lucky wished that he had another idea. But Mickey was right.

The forest at night is dangerous enough for a couple of adult dogs—how will we manage with three young pups to look after?

Lucky took a deep breath, and tried to keep the fear out of his bark. “The Forest-Dog will protect us. It isn't dark yet, and if we move quickly, we can cover a lot of ground before no-sun.”

Forest-Dog! Please don't let these little pups come to any harm!
he added silently.
They've already suffered so much
.

His eye caught the shape of the big house, eerie in the long shadows; then he turned to peer through the surrounding thickets and trees. They had a long journey ahead of them, and not much light.

The sooner they left this place of death, the better.

Twigs and leaves crunched under Lucky's
paws as he led the others through the darkening forest. They had covered only the length of four rabbit-chases since leaving the Dog-Garden, and Lucky's flanks trembled as he thought about how much farther he and Mickey would have managed to walk if they were traveling alone. The pups were painfully slow, scrambling and struggling over each arching root or fallen branch. Their smaller legs tired out more quickly and they regularly stopped to fill their tiny chests with air. But they kept going bravely, encouraging one another with little yips.

“That's it,” said the female, addressing her litter-brothers. “Great progress!”

“Think how far we've already gone,” the larger male agreed.

Lucky was impressed by the pups' resilience.
I felt so bad about being forced out of the Pack. But if these pups can find the strength to keep going, after all they've been through, I can do the same. I can stop feeling sorry for myself
.

Their little tails shot up proudly but Lucky wasn't sure they would be able to walk much more. He spoke quietly to Mickey. “I think we should take turns carrying them, while the third pup walks between us.”

Mickey looked warily at the stout, glossy-furred pups. “I think so too, but . . . they're Fierce Dogs. They seem proud. Do you think they'll let us?”

Lucky wasn't sure either. He turned to the pups. “You're doing really well,” he told them. “But it's a bit uphill now. Would you let us take turns carrying you for a while?”

He watched the pups blink at one another. They stood stiff-legged and the female gave a hostile whine.

“Me and Lucky like to tease each other about who's the best at climbing uphill,” Mickey said. “If we can each carry one of you it'll be good training for us.”

“That's right!” Lucky blinked gratefully at Mickey, then looked at the pups.
Has he convinced them?

Tentatively Lucky approached the larger, more suspicious male. The pup tensed but did not complain as Lucky sniffed his glossy coat, which hung in rolls around his neck, as if it belonged to a much larger dog. The pup stood still, trusting Lucky's delicate grip, as Mickey lifted up the other male and the plucky female walked between them. They struggled on through the forest, Lucky taking the lead with the heavier pup.

The pups don't seem to be as angry as the grown Fierce Dogs
, thought Lucky.
Maybe that anger is something the longpaws have to teach them. That means these pups are no different from any other young dogs; they just need to be properly looked after
.

A little while later, Lucky heard the grumble of the smaller male's stomach.
I don't even know what these pups eat!
he realized. He remembered the crumbs of dried meat he had seen in the bowl on the porch. They could probably manage a mouse or a nice, juicy rat. His eyes scanned the forest, ears pricked for the sound of scurrying rodents as well as signs of danger.

Progress was difficult. Lucky and Mickey had to stop often and rest. Each time they resumed walking, they would swap pups, to make sure none of the little Fierce Dogs got too tired. Even so, their pace was slowing.

The large male was now walking between Lucky and Mickey. He paused at a broken branch on the forest floor, taking a deep breath before jumping over it. On the other side, he landed chaotically, losing his paws and rolling over to right himself. Lucky felt a twinge of pity—that must have taken more energy than the little dog was accustomed to using. He looked up between the branches to where the Sun-Dog was bounding a hasty retreat to his camp. Soon it would be no-sun.

“Let's stop for now,” said Lucky, putting the female pup he had been carrying on the ground. Mickey gladly set down the smaller male and they all began to stretch and wash themselves.

Lucky approached the trunk of a gnarled old tree, sniffing and finding that the earth around it was dry and clean. They could curl up here in relative comfort.

“We aren't going to stay here, are we?” asked the larger male pup, gazing up at the sky. “What if it rains?”

Lucky turned his nose to the air. “I don't smell rain. We'll be fine. I don't want to keep walking in darkness unless we absolutely have to.”