The Empty City (25 page)

“It matters,” said Bella quietly, “but our survival matters more.”

“You're only saying that because Lucky thinks it!” yelped Alfie. “You're just trying to please your brother!”

“That's nonsense!” snapped Bella. “I'm saying it because it's true.”

“No, Bella!” squealed Sunshine, planting a paw on her yellow leash. “No, I won't throw this away! My longpaw bought it for me and it's
special
!”

“That's right!” grunted Bruno, taking the peaked cap back into his mouth as if Bella was going to snatch it away.

Alfie's eyes were alight with anger. “I'm surprised at you, Bella. We won't abandon our longpaws!”

“Then none of us will survive!” she barked. “We'll always be looking over our shoulders for help from our longpaws. And I know it now, and so do you if you're honest:
They aren't coming back!
”

As each of the dogs began snapping and yelping with indignation, Daisy suddenly sat back and gave a howl of misery.

The others looked at her, shocked, and then at one another.

“Please don't fight!” she whimpered. “I hate it when we fight!”

Bella turned to the small dog and licked her head reassuringly. “I'm sorry. You're right. It doesn't do any good to squabble.” Determinedly she lifted her head to gaze once more at the others.

Lucky hardly dared to breathe as he watched the scene unfold. He couldn't interrupt. Not when so much hung in the balance. They'd already learned from their Fierce Dog escape that it was worth listening to Lucky—and now to Bella. Would that lesson be remembered?

Martha was the first to move. After a few long moments she bent down and picked up her red scarf. His heart in his throat, Lucky thought she was going to defy Bella, turn, and walk away into an uncertain, dangerous future.

Instead, she found a patch of soft earth and began to scrape at it with her forepaws. With her huge webbed paws it didn't take long to dig a small hole. The rest watched, silent, as the soil flew. When the hole was perhaps a foreleg deep, she lifted her scarf and dropped it gently into the ground.

The other dogs shared anxious glances. A little grumpily, Bruno followed suit with his cap, Alfie with his ball, and Sunshine with her glittering leash. Her expression was tragic as she slowly covered the sparkling stones with layers of soil. Daisy took longer to dig a deep enough hiding place for her battered hide pouch, but Martha helped her, and soon they had both pawed earth back over their longpaw things. Lucky watched them in silence, afraid to break the spell of their dog-spirits; surely now they were listening to those inner voices. Finally Bella picked up her own grubby bear toy, and buried it in the earth.

Only when she was done did she glance at Mickey, the last one left. Mickey placed a paw on his glove. “This was my longpaw pup's most precious possession, Bella. I know how much it mattered to him. He wouldn't have left it if he could help it. And I know for certain he wouldn't have left me, either.”

Bella gazed at him, thoughtful. The other dogs looked from one to the other.

Fondly Mickey nuzzled the glove's worn leather, then raised his head. “I can't give up my faith in the longpaws. I don't think you have, either. I understand why we have to leave these things—truly, Bella, I do. I understand we can't rely on the longpaws to help us anymore. But one of us has to remember. One of us has to carry the memories for the rest of the Pack.” He lifted the glove delicately in his jaws. “I'll do it.”

Bella gave a soft, accepting bark. “Perhaps you're right, Mickey. And we can all help you carry it sometimes—that means we'll all have a part in looking after the memory.” She nuzzled Mickey's face fondly.

Giving them a last brief time with their longpaw things, Lucky padded a little way down the hill and looked back. Each of the dogs stood over their mound of disturbed earth, howling at the sky. The sight and the sound gave Lucky a pang of mixed emotion. They were mourning their longpaws, certainly—but they were sending their cries out into the world! Whether they knew it or not, they were also making peace with the Earth-Dog....

As Bella's voice raised above the howls of the others, he felt his heart swell in his rib cage with love and pride.

“Earth-Dog!” cried his litter-sister. “Earth-Dog, keep our things safe!”

“And us, too!” howled Mickey. “Earth-Dog: Bring the longpaws home to us, too.”

Lucky couldn't share their sorrow, but he did feel an aching fondness for them all. His heart was sore with affection and sympathy, but at the same time he was light-headed with gladness that it wasn't like this for him.

He was free and easy Lucky.

A Lone Dog.

It was late the following day
, after a long and tiring plod through forest and stream, when Lucky found the valley. Because of the sweeping angle of its slopes, it wasn't visible till his forepaws were on the edge of the steep ridge above it.

As the others padded up to his side, weary, their fur thick with the dust of travel, Lucky gazed out silently at the scene before him. A clear river flowed through the center of the valley, diverted by rocks and hillocks and clusters of tree and bush, but apart from those places of shade and shelter, the space was broad and open. A Pack of dogs in this valley would be able to see trouble coming from a long way off. And there were no huge trees or high rock faces to tumble and fall and trap them, should the earth Growl again....

It was perfect. His friends would be safe here. He wouldn't have to feel guilty about leaving them, moving on, being a loner again.

He should feel happy about that—so why this twist of sadness in his belly?

At his flank, Daisy gave a whine, but it was a whine of hope, not complaint. The low, late Sun-Dog gilded the grasslands below and turned the river gold.

“Lucky! Do you think—could we—”

“I think you just might, Daisy,” he told her softly.

“
We
might, you mean?” she yapped, confused.

He didn't have to answer, because Bruno was harrumphing happily at the view now. “This is great! Lucky, you genius!”

“It's beautiful,” breathed Alfie. “Wonderful!”

“And there'll be plenty to hunt,” Lucky pointed out as Bella and Mickey joined them. “That's ideal territory for mice and rabbits.”

Bruno was shifting from forepaw to forepaw. “Lucky! Does this mean the Earth-Dog liked our offerings?”

Lucky was perplexed only for an instant. “Your longpaw possessions? Well, maybe …”

“I think Bruno's right!” yapped Alfie. “The Earth-Dog is pleased with us at last, and she's brought us here!”

Lucky agreed that it was piece of good luck. “It's a perfect place. You'll be happy here, and you'll hunt and eat well. But best of all, you'll be as safe as you can possibly be.” He licked Alfie's nose, feeling a little pang of fondness for him. “I'm glad.”

“But—” Alfie was dumbfounded.

Bruno broke in. “You can't mean you're going?”

Lucky averted his eyes, and kept his bark cheerful. “Of course I am. That was always the plan!”

The chorus of dismayed howls that greeted his announcement rocked him back on his hindpaws.

“You can't leave us alone!” cried Sunshine.

Lucky licked the top of her head. “I'm a Lone Dog. I have to be on my own.”

“But you're part of
our
Pack!” whined Daisy.

“No! You don't need me! Look at how well you've been hunting. You can take care of yourselves, and you're listening to your dog-spirits—that's the most important thing. You're a team, a proper Pack, and now you have a perfect place to live!”

“Oh, Lucky.” Bella padded forward, licked his nose, and sat down squarely in front of him, gazing into his eyes as her tail slowly thumped the earth.

Lucky felt his heart sink.
Please
, he thought.
Please, Bella, don't try to stop me. I can't bear to fight with you, not after everything we've been through just to survive....

“Don't worry.” She touched her nose to his. “I won't argue with you again. But I'm going to ask you one thing. Stay one more night with us.”

“Oh,
yes
!” barked Sunshine. “Lucky, do!”

“Oh, please!” Daisy's expression was pleading, and the others were barking enthusiastically in agreement.

“Just one more night.” Bella's gaze held his. “If you feel the same at sunup, we won't try to stop you. Even
I
won't argue.” She cocked one ear and tilted her head. “That's fair, isn't it?”

Lucky sighed and closed his eyes. He wouldn't change his mind and he knew it; he'd always felt this way, and it was how he'd still feel at sunup.

But could it really hurt? One more night sleeping curled up with his friends, feeling the warmth and companionship he hadn't known since the Pup Pack. One more night of comfort, and then, at sunup, his old life back: freedom and the wilderness, a solitary happiness. It was what he wanted, what he always longed for, and if there was a tiny voice inside him crying like a pup to stay with his friends, then it was only an ancient memory, an almost-dead instinct from a blurred time he could barely remember.

“Yes,” he said at last. “All right. But I warn you, I won't change my mind.”

Lucky lay, head on his paws, and watched in startled awe as the dogs of his temporary Pack worked around him, an efficient team under the confident direction of Bella.
They've come so far
, he thought with a twinge of affection.

Alfie and Sunshine had been sent to fetch mouthfuls of long, dry grass from the valley, which they had strewn across a large boulder by the river. They sat panting now, admiring their hard work. On top of the grass the others had carefully placed the results of their last hunting trip—which Lucky had not been allowed to join.

“You're our guest!” Daisy had yapped.

“So that we can say farewell,” added Bella quietly.

It had been entirely different when he was staying out of the hunt to let them learn. Now Lucky felt very awkward not helping, but Bruno had given him an amiable snap of his teeth every time he'd offered.

“Lie down and wait in peace, Lucky!”

So Lucky did. He had to admit, once he'd relaxed, it had been a nice sun-high lying in the dappled shadows by the new river, listening to the flow of the water. Now they had all returned—Mickey trotting back last, a limp and bloody rabbit in his jaws—and one by one they placed their prey on the bed of grass.

Shyly Daisy laid down a rather crumpled mouse. Bella had caught another rabbit, and Martha had somehow managed to catch a squirrel. Bruno and Mickey between them had made the star catch: a small deer that they'd surprised and trapped. It lay in a place of pride in the center of the spread. Alfie and Sunshine had even brought back some beetles as well as their haul of grass.

There was a lump in Lucky's throat as they formed a semicircle around him and the food. Bella stalked forward and lowered herself onto her forelegs, then bowed her head.

“We've caught this prey for you, Lucky. For all you've done for us. Please, will you eat first?”

Lucky swallowed. He'd never seen anything like this, and he was embarrassed, but touched. Out of their own habits and rituals with their longpaws, they'd created this ceremony especially for him. He was grateful for the thought they'd put into their last meal together.

“Go on, Lucky.” Sunshine pricked her white ears hopefully. “Take the first bite of everything!”

Obediently he paced up to the strewn prey, and took a beetle delicately between his teeth, then crunched and gulped it down. Sunshine looked ridiculously pleased that he'd chosen her offering first, and her fluffy tail thudded the earth with delight.

Lucky took great care to tear small pieces from every single offering, chewing even as he whined his appreciation. Only when he'd tasted everything did they all come forward and join in. Soon they were all happily wolfing down chunks of rabbit and deer and squirrel.