“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.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
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.”
Lucky fell into step alongside the swift-dog as she padded along the bank. The sleet was letting up, the clouds rising and parting overhead. The air grew colder as the Sun-Dog ran for cover in his warm bed beyond the edges of the sky.
“It will be hard to see soon,” Lucky whispered. “And the dogs need rest.”
“I know,” Sweet murmured. “Just a little farther.”
They were nearly at the part of the river where the rescue party had left Twitch and his new Pack. The smell was familiar—less salty, more earthy—but it looked quite different after the Growl. A couple of the thickets of low bushes had toppled on their sides, and one bush was floating in the river, tapping the bank as though it wanted to crawl out. Between the bushes that were still standing, there seemed to be a path that wound around the back of the rocks.
Sweet turned to the Pack. “There’s more vegetation on this bit of the bank. Stay here and make a camp in the undergrowth. Lucky and I will try to find a way onto the rocks.”
Several of the dogs sighed with relief. Dart sank onto her hindquarters, and Martha set Sunshine down. Lucky noticed that the big black dog looked weary, and he felt a pang of sadness. She was usually so full of determination, regardless of the hardships. The Growl has really taken its toll on all the dogs.
Moon and Bella started sniffing out places to rest for the night. Lucky would have liked to rest too, but Sweet was already squeezing through the bushes and leaping over a fallen tree. He hurried after her. The ground was rugged and uneven, and he almost tripped on a knotted root. When he straightened up, he could see that Sweet had stopped not far ahead.
“This way,” she urged.
The shrubs and earth disappeared, giving way to shafts of rock that rose steadily upward. Lucky climbed blindly, hardly able to see more than a dog-length ahead. Then the rocks parted, and he realized he and Sweet were high on the outcrop. The Moon-Dog had risen overhead. Her faint reflection skated over the river.
Lucky looked down. The path was far below them. With a shiver, he imagined the Fierce Dogs streaming along it. While the Wild Pack would have the element of surprise, and the advantage of height, it would be hard to leap down the rocks without injury. A wrong move could send them all into the river.
He turned anxiously to Sweet. “What if the plan goes wrong? It seems so risky.”
Sweet gazed down at the river. “I know, Beta. I wish I had a better plan. But we have to do something, or we’ll be running from Blade for the rest of our lives.”
Lucky thought of his dream where the Fierce Dogs had vanquished the Earth-Dog and were ruling the world with brutality. He edged closer to Sweet and rested his head on her shoulder.
She licked his ear. “Even if we fail, we will have given it our best . . . and at least I’ll have you by my side.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
The Sun-Dog was crouching behind a thick gray cloud, but his faint light glowed on the river. There was a hoot of a sleepy night bird, and something rustled in the frosty grass. Lucky watched, bleary-eyed, as Sweet rolled onto her paws. He was reluctant to leave the warmth of the hedgerow and the Pack, but already Sweet was stretching and other dogs were yawning noisily, rising and shaking their fur.
Soon Beetle and Thorn were gamboling about,
full of energy, pouncing on each other with high-pitched growls and bounding toward the river.
“Careful, you two!” Moon called after them. “Not too near the edge, it could be slippery.”
Lucky snorted white mist from his snout. Frost clung to the part of his back that had been exposed to the sky. He twisted around to lick it, feeling the chill on his tongue.
Sweet barked sharply for the Pack’s attention. “Snap, lead a hunting party. Take . . .” She paused, clearly considering which dogs were best to use. With all the danger closing in on the Pack, Lucky knew that rules and roles weren’t exactly Sweet’s main concerns.
“Mickey and Bella,” she barked finally. “I know it’s tough in the Ice Wind, but there are prey-creatures around. I can smell them. Try to find something quickly. Once we have eaten, we can move on. Watch out for broken trees or other hazards since the Growl.”
“Yes, Alpha,” Snap replied, her small body erect. She trotted down to the riverbank with her tail high. Mickey and Bella followed, and they soon disappeared from view.
There was a light drumming of paws and Beetle returned, breathless, his litter-sister right behind him. “We’ve found something!” Beetle barked.
“It’s really strange,” added Thorn.
Sweet and Lucky followed the half-grown pups down to the riverbank.
“Look!” yipped Thorn. A thin layer of ice had formed along the surface.
Beetle turned to Lucky. “Why has the water stopped moving? Is the River-Dog okay?”
“Sometimes, when it gets really cold and the Sun-Dog is far away, water turns sharp and hard. It’s frozen,” Lucky told them.
“And it never moves again?” asked Thorn.
Lucky nudged her gently with his snout. “Of course it will. Perhaps later today, but perhaps not until Tree Flower, when the air becomes warmer.”
Beetle shuffled closer to Thorn, shoving his litter-sister out of the way. “Will the Endless Lake freeze too?”