Storm of Dogs (14 page)

“Neither do I,” whined Dart, shuffling nervously.

“And you don't have to,” said Sweet. “As long as you are loyal, you have a home here.”

Whine growled, showing his teeth. “How cozy,” he sneered. “I'm sure you will all be very happy together. Until the Fierce Dogs get you, that is! Good-bye, foolish dogs. I guess I'm the only one clever enough to choose survival.” He held his head high as he turned and walked away. The pouring rain grew heavier, turning into sheets of white sleet and Lucky watched until the small, stocky figure could no longer be seen in the haze.

He's the fool,
Lucky thought with a pang of sadness.
He never was much of a hunter, and for all his venom he couldn't beat an injured sharpclaw kit in a fight.
After everything that Whine had done, Lucky knew he should be pleased that the little dog had left.
He's always been divisive. He tried to undermine me and stir up trouble from the moment I joined the Wild Pack.
But Lucky's ears fell low and his tail was listless beneath the hammering sleet. There was no anger in his heart. He doubted the little dog could survive on his own, or that he'd ever see him again.

The Pack huddled beneath the trees
that were still standing, a short distance from the pond. The leafless branches offered little cover from the sleet. Sunshine shivered, crouching against Lucky's side.

“Where is the Sun-Dog? It's already dark, and it can't be no-sun yet.” She shook her dirty white coat. “Do you think the Growl scared him away? The Sky-Dogs seem so angry these days,” she whined.

Lucky didn't know what to say. Sunshine was right—the thick pelt of cloud was darkening, and the sleet was growing more persistent.

Bruno sighed. “He wasn't much of a fighter, but I'm still sorry to see Whine go. Losing any dog makes our Pack weaker.” His sad brown eyes turned to Bella and Sweet. “Do you really think we can overcome the Fierce Dogs, even if we catch them unawares? They've been raised to fight—it's in their blood. We've lost strong dogs, like Fiery, and our former Alpha is with them now. How can we hope to beat them?”

Bella was quiet for a moment, then perked up. “Perhaps we aren't a match for Blade's Pack
right now
. But we would be, if we had a few more dogs.”

Snap cocked her head curiously. “Dogs don't grow on trees, you know. I can't think of the last time I saw any who weren't in our Pack and weren't Fierce Dogs.”

“I can,” said Bella with a proud lash of her tail. “Twitch's Pack! Remember how we told you that we saw them in the woods? They're a good group of dogs now that their crazy leader is dead, and they're strong fighters. If we can persuade them to help us, we'll have enough dogs between us to overwhelm the Fierce Dogs, particularly as we'll have the element of surprise.”

Standing beneath a grizzled old tree, Sweet narrowed her eyes. “It isn't exactly an
honorable
plan. As I recall, you and your Leashed friends used the same sort of trickery when you attacked this Pack in our old territory, only that time you used foxes to bolster
your numbers.”

Bella's tail drooped, but she held her head high and returned Sweet's gaze. “That was a stupid mistake, and I would never repeat it. This time we'd have better, more trustworthy allies than foxes.”

“What makes you so sure that those dogs are trustworthy?” asked Daisy. “We don't really know them, and they were aggressive when Terror was in charge.”

“But he's not in charge anymore,” Bella pointed out.

Dart trod nervously next to Bruno. “We can trust them. Twitch is their Alpha now, and he used to be one of us. He's Spring's litter-brother, after all,” she said with a sad whine. “He's always been strong and brave. If he agrees to fight alongside us, he won't let us down.”

Lucky winced, remembering Spring, the floppy-eared dog who had fought the Fierce Dogs so courageously down by the tall, striped building by the Endless Lake—what had the Fierce Dogs called it? The “lighthouse.” He shivered, remembering the terrifying battle in the fog. Spring hadn't made it. The memory of her death returned to him, cutting sharply beneath his fur. He pictured the hunt-dog drifting on the current, farther and farther from land. One of her long ears had bobbed on the surface. The other had curved over her eye, as though in sleep. Lucky shook his head, pushing the image away.

Sweet rose to her paws, her eyes fixed on Bella. “A dishonorable plan, but it might just work.”

Bella's tail was wagging. “I can go and find Twitch and his Pack to talk to them. Maybe one of the others could come with me. Mickey or Daisy?”

“No.” Sweet stepped out into the sleet, her ears low. “We should all go. A divided Pack is too vulnerable, and we don't know what Blade will do next or when she will strike. We need to stick together.”

Sunshine's eyes widened. “But the Sky-Dogs won't let us! It's so wet, and the Growl must have churned up the earth. Won't it be dangerous?”

“We'll be careful,” Sweet told her. “And at least this weather may keep the Fierce Dogs away for a little longer. We should take advantage of it.”

She started to walk tentatively down the slope, and Lucky hurried to her side. Water rolled down his sodden fur and lashed the soft earth. His paws skidded uncomfortably on mud, and he wondered if Sunshine was right to worry.
We don't really know how firm the land is beneath our paws. What if more of the cliffs fall away?
He shuddered, glancing back at the little Omega. Her face had set in a look of determination as she shuffled under the lashing downpour. Already her paws were caked in mud, and she moved unsteadily.

Lucky thought of the long route down to the river and beyond that, to Twitch's forest. This wasn't going to be easy.

Sweet led the Pack down the valley, careful not to come too close to the cliffs. Lucky guided her to the passage that cut along the lake, which he, Snap, and the others had used to escape the great wave and the wrecked town.
What if the Lake-Dog is still angry? What if she sends another wave to catch us?
Lucky didn't have the heart to share these concerns, but his eyes watched through the sleet, scanning the white-tipped tide, as the lake came dimly into view. It was hard to see much in the fading light, with wet snow seeping from the sky to meld with the salt waters below.

Descending the rocks was harder than climbing them, especially in these conditions. Lucky's paws slipped on the hardstone, and he struggled to get a proper hold. The sleet was freezing into patches of ice, invisible and deadly.

“Be extra careful here, it's really slippery!” Lucky barked back.

His warning came too late as Sunshine skidded on the ice, tumbled past Lucky, and thumped down hard on the slab in front of her. She gave a sharp yelp, and Lucky crouched down by her side.

“Are you okay? Are you hurt?”

With a wince, she rolled onto her paws. “I don't think so. More shock than pain. I'll be okay in a moment.”

Bruno nosed her gently with his whiskery muzzle. “Let me carry you.”

“Thank you,” Sunshine murmured. She sat still, clearly gathering as much dignity as she could muster, as Bruno gripped her scruff and scooped her up.

While it was hard to see the movement of the Endless Lake in the dying light, Lucky could hear that it had settled since the Growl. He looked out for giant waves as the Pack made the difficult descent onto the bank, but if anything, the water had pulled away from the land. With a shudder, Lucky remembered that it had a habit of retreating and surging back again. It had happened the night that he and Fiery's rescue party had hidden in a cave on the sand. They had awoken hours deep into no-sun to find the lake had surged forward over the sand, trapping them in the cave. The dogs had almost drowned.

Lucky swallowed his fears.
We have time before the lake comes back . . . for now, we should be safe.

Sweet was the first to reach the bank. She led the Pack beneath the sleet and the howling wind, along the edges of the town. Looking out over the torn streets and damaged buildings, Lucky was relieved to see that the longpaws hadn't returned. He hoped they never would.
This place isn't safe for dogs
or
longpaws.

They hurried as best they could along the edges of the town. Wet sand stuck to their coats and wedged itself between their claws. Lucky was careful to pause and sniff the air at regular intervals. There was no sign of the Fierce Dogs.

Sweet barked for Bella, who hurried to walk alongside them. Lucky, Sweet, and Bella fell into step, out of earshot of the other dogs.

The swift-dog shook her wet fur. “Where is the place you spoke about?”

“It's farther up the bank,” Bella told her.

“But everything looks different now,” Sweet pointed out. “I can see how far the lake reached over the land in the Growl. It pulled up rocks, threw down trees. . . . If the Lake-Dog broke her banks, the same is probably true of the River-Dog. How can you be so sure you'll recognize the place upstream when you reach it?”

Bella glanced at Lucky. “Remember where we saw that huge prey-creature, the one with the hard, round paws and long, flicky tail?”

Lucky remembered. For an instant, the animal's rich, peppery scent returned to him, and he licked his chops.

“It was beyond that point. I'll know when we get there.” Bella's eyes traced over the sand. “The land was rugged but greener, beyond the Endless Lake, and there wasn't any sand.” She gave her fur a shake and continued along the wet bank.

Looking back, Lucky could see the Pack was flagging. Sleet still fell in icy sheets, and the dogs skidded and clawed along the difficult terrain. Moon was working hard to nudge her half-grown pups forward, but it was difficult for them. Martha and Bruno were taking turns carrying Sunshine over the sodden path.

Lucky hoped it wouldn't take much longer to find Bella's spot.
What if Sweet's right about the Growl changing the landscape along the river? There might not be anywhere we could ambush the Fierce Dogs. And what if Twitch's Pack has left the forest?
He wasn't sure how long the dogs could keep going after such a stressful day. He turned back to Bella and Sweet, who were charging ahead, then looked at the swirling waters of the lake. As he climbed over a hump in the bank, the water seemed to change color, growing greener. The dogs turned a sharp bend and skirted around some rocks, and it grew less lively.

Mickey trotted up alongside Lucky. “Look! The far bank has appeared.”

Lucky barked his agreement. It felt reassuring to see the bank beneath the lashing sleet. Had it been there all along? Where did it retreat to when the Lake-Dog took over from the River-Dog?

“We're almost there,” said Bella, her tail wagging despite the sleet. She paused, running her snout along the wet ground.

Sweet flashed her a wary look.
She doesn't really trust Bella's judgment,
thought Lucky.

But sure enough, at the next bend in the river path, the earth became softer and more like a normal bank. Narrow blades of grass shot up from wet soil.
That's where we saw the giant prey-creature,
thought Lucky. It looked reassuringly familiar, and he felt his pent-up tension drain from his body.
Bella
does
know where she's going!
he thought proudly.

Some low trees had fallen and the earth had split, revealing its churned-up brown insides. Lucky cringed, remembering his dream where the Earth-Dog had died. He pushed it away.

“Not much farther!” barked Bella.

The river path bent again, and an outcrop of rocks towered over the path. “Here!” she barked triumphantly.

Lucky frowned. It looked different from how he'd remembered it. Rocks must have been turned on their sides and rolled by the Growl. In the darkening light, beneath heavy sleet, they were tall and menacing like jagged teeth.

Sweet's eyes roved over the rocks appreciatively as the rest of the Pack gathered around. “This is a good ambush spot,” she conceded. “The rocks seem to go on for a while, and the path is narrow, so there'll be no escape but into the river. I'd love to see Blade try to make a swim for it, though we'll need to find a way to climb onto the top of the rocks.”

Caught up in her Alpha's enthusiasm, Daisy climbed some low rocks and tried to scramble onto the higher slabs. There was a creaking sound from the outcrop and she tumbled backward, sending a spray of pebbles down behind her.

The other dogs cringed away from the pebbles, and Bruno almost lost his footing and slipped down the bank.

“Careful!” barked Snap.

The old dog heaved himself back onto the path with a grunt.

Daisy nibbled the ruffled fur of her flank. “I'm sorry,” she murmured.

Sweet glared at her. “You need to think before you act! That's obviously not the way to do it—the rocks are sharp and high. We will have to approach them from the back.” Her eyes trailed over the river path. “This way.”