Blade became very still, her eyes wide with outrage. “You run with the Mongrel Rats!” she spat. “How dare you accuse me of dishonor?”
Lucky licked Storm’s ear, trying to coax her to keep calm. “Blade wants you to fight,” he reminded her. Then he remembered what the Fierce Dog Alpha had told him.
A young Fierce Dog will bring about the final battle, the one that will tear the sky in two and fill the world with snow and blood.
Fear crept along Lucky’s spine. Blade didn’t want Storm to fight—she wanted her to die.
The leader of the Fierce Dogs lifted her muzzle. “Fang, get over here,” she snapped. “By my side, you’ll have the best view of your litter-sister’s death.”
The young Fierce Dog gave a quick nod. He started limping toward Blade, pressing between Sweet and Bella. He passed his litter-sister, keeping his gaze straight ahead.
Lucky couldn’t help feeling sorry for Fang, despite everything. He remembered the spirited, bright-eyed pup that he and Mickey had rescued from the Dog-Garden. Fang was nothing like that anymore—his skin hung loosely in rolls of fur, and the deep bite marks were raw. Every movement seemed to cause the young dog pain. They’ve destroyed him, thought Lucky, sorrow running through him to the tip of his tail. If only he’d stayed with us.
Fang limped up to Blade and sat awkwardly by her side. The Alpha’s eyes glinted in the half-light as she ran a tongue over her jagged teeth.
Lucky sighed. He wanted to be with his own kind. Even after he saw Blade kill Wiggle. Lucky’s muscles tensed. Why had Blade kept Fang alive? He was born after the Big Growl, just like his littermates.
Lucky frowned, his skin crawling as he remembered what Blade had said before—about how she would make Fang’s death quick. She had not yet “put down” Storm, but Blade had never been one to ignore an opportunity to cause destruction whenever it suited her.
“Fang!” Lucky barked urgently. “Run! Get out of here!”
Before the young Fierce Dog could react, Blade swung around without warning and sank her teeth into Fang’s throat, ripping the fur away savagely. Fang’s blood spurted from his throat in wide arcs, splashing against the walls of the tunnel. A horrible gurgling sound came from the pulsing red tear. The young dog jerked and thrashed, collapsing onto his side. His back legs pumped and his forepaws scraped the tunnel wall, red with his own blood.
Storm gave a horrified yelp, but for a moment, no other dog made a sound.
Lucky was frozen to the spot, watching with horror as Fang started trembling violently, the way Terror used to when he claimed he had visions from the Spirit Dogs. But the young Fierce Dog wasn’t having visions.
Fang was dying.
Blade loomed over him triumphantly.
Every dog was stunned by what they were seeing. The Fierce Dogs stood silently as the dogs from the Wild Pack cringed with fear. But Blade was victorious. She shoved Fang toward the wall with her strong paw and started licking the blood off her coat. Fang shook violently, his eyes rolling back so they looked smooth and white as the Moon-Dog. With a last gurgle, his head lolled and his body fell still.
“You killed him,” Lucky gasped. “He was loyal to you—and you killed him.”
Blade slammed down her paw. “This has nothing to do with loyalty. I am saving every dog—you should be grateful!” She cast a sharp look at her own Pack. “The Spirit Dogs have spoken. The pups born after the Growl came must be put down. Now, all but one of them has.” Blade’s eyes were wild. She licked the last of Fang’s blood off her dark whiskers. The Fierce Dog Alpha stared at Storm. “It is time to put an end to this. It is time for the last of the pups to die.”
Lucky moved to block Blade’s path. He glanced back warily at Storm.
The shock was dissolving from the young Fierce Dog’s face, and instead her muzzle twisted with anger as she lifted her gaze from the bloodied body of her litter-brother. Butting Lucky out of the way with her powerful muscles, she charged at Blade.
Blade dropped her head, preparing to run at Storm. Then she looked up quite unexpectedly. “Something’s happening!” she breathed.
Storm had stopped in her tracks, her head whipping left and right.
Lucky could feel it too. The air was shivering, and the urge to run was almost unbearable. His fur tingled and he looked to Sweet. The swift-dog’s jaw fell open and her eyes grew round. “It’s like in the Trap House, just before the walls started shaking.”
Mace shrank against the wall, and Dagger whined like a pup. “It’s like before! When the longpaws left!”
“What is it?” barked Storm. She stared down at her paws. “It feels like Earth-Dog is shaking her fur! Is she angry? Is she sick?” She sprang back, turning to Lucky. “Why does every dog seem to know what’s going on except me?”
“Because it’s happened before,” murmured Lucky. Of course Storm couldn’t know—she’d been born after the Big Growl. She had heard about it, but she couldn’t have guessed how it felt. There was no time to explain. He whispered urgently to Sweet and Bella, “We need to get out while the Fierce Dogs are distracted.” Sweet burst forward first, her light paws pounding a path over the trembling ground. Bella ran after her, zigzagging past the Fierce Dogs, who were too stunned to stop her. Lucky gave Storm a shove. “Run!” He didn’t wait for her reply as he charged along the tunnel and was relieved to hear her pounding pawsteps behind him.
The ground still quivered beneath their paws. “Earth-Dog has spoken!” barked Blade. “This is a warning—she will send the Big Growl to destroy us all if the pup escapes!”
Lucky threw a look over his shoulder. Mace was sniffing the ground, his thin tail clinging to his leg. Dagger started along the tunnel after the Wild Dogs but paused, one paw suspended in front of him. “The air is trembling!” he whined.
“I don’t care what the air is doing! Get the pup!” howled Blade, but her Pack recoiled in fear.
They’re not coming after us! thought Lucky with a surge of relief. It gave him the energy to push on. Turning back to Storm and gritting his teeth against the pain in his paw, he hurried to bound alongside her. Together, they slipped around a dark corner to see Sweet and Bella escaping through a gap in the rocks, out into the open.
Lucky and Storm burst outside, gulping the clean, cold air. Their paws skidded on the hard earth, but the ground seemed more stable now. Maybe the Earth-Dog won’t growl again after all, thought Lucky with a quiver of hope. He ran for his life, fighting to keep up with Sweet, Bella, and Storm.
He followed the other dogs over low hedges and around sharp boulders, cutting a path along the cliff and back over the valley toward the camp. Twigs lashed at his legs, and burs clung to his tail.
Sweet had come to a halt up ahead and was waiting for Storm and Lucky to catch up. Her eyes narrowed. “I don’t think we’ve been followed.”
“They will march straight to our camp to hunt down Storm,” Bella muttered. “Blade seemed determined. And after what she did to Fang . . .”
Lucky dipped his head, still queasy at the thought of what they’d seen.
“I’m not scared of her,” snarled Storm.
“You should be,” Bella snapped.
Sweet started for the camp. “Come on. We need to have the Pack around us—we’re still isolated up here.” Her eyes fell on Lucky. “You look terrible. Hang in there, we’re almost safe.”
The Sun-Dog was bounding beyond the horizon as Lucky limped into camp, propped up by Bella and Storm. Sweet had run ahead and now greeted them with Sunshine, Mickey, and Daisy, who gathered around Lucky, offering their help.
“He needs to rest!” barked Mickey, his black-and-white head cocked with concern.
“What he needs is food!” yapped Sunshine.
Daisy licked Lucky’s nose. “He’s so cold!”
Sweet barked impatiently. “Bruno! Snap! Go and get him something to eat.”
The hunt-dogs dipped their heads and bounded toward the trees as Lucky limped to his den. His body was tremb
ling again, as it had in the cave. Deep, violent chills ran through him, and he struggled to stay upright. As he crept into the den, Bella, Sweet, and Storm squeezed themselves around him. He felt the warmth that rose from their fur, but his teeth still chattered and his body shuddered.
“You’ll be okay soon,” Sweet soothed, reaching over to lick his nose.
Lucky wasn’t so sure. I was cold for so long, my blood feels like it has turned to ice. Will I ever get warm again?
CHAPTER EIGHT
Lucky’s eyelids were heavy as he shook away the pelt of sleep and blinked into the darkness. His foreleg throbbed where the dog-wolf had bitten him, but at least he was warm now. Sweet, Bella, and Storm were still curled around him, sleeping deeply. It’s thanks to them that I escaped, thought Lucky. We’re safe at the camp now. I should feel relieved.
Instead a familiar sense of foreboding crept along his whiskers. There was a hint of something metallic in the air. The Earth-Dog was silent, but Lucky’s neck fur still bristled; something was shifting beneath his paws.
A delicious smell tickled his nose, distracting him. All at once he realized how hungry he was. His belly growled, and he smacked his lips as Sunshine padded to the den’s entrance. She held a breast piece torn from one of the plump geese. She trotted toward him and laid the meat at Lucky’s paws.
Sweet opened one eye. “That’s all yours, Beta,” she murmured. “You need it. The rest of us will eat later.” She closed her eye and let her head loll.
Lucky stared hungrily at the piece of bird.
“Bruno caught it specially for you,” Sunshine explained. “We were all so worried—we knew you wouldn’t have just left us, and when you didn’t come back, we thought something terrible had happened.”
Lucky cocked his head gratefully. He ran his tongue over his lips and tried to speak, but his voice cracked. He felt too weak and thirsty to eat.
Sunshine watched for a moment, her nose twitching with concern. She spun around and ducked out of the den. He could hear her scampering about outside, then a rustling and dragging sound. The dirty white dog reappeared, backing into the den with a piece of bark in her jaws. Lucky saw that it was curved like a bowl, water glistening inside it. As Sunshine set the bark in front of him, he fell upon the water and lapped it up thirstily.
“Thank you, Omega,” he whispered. “I needed that.”
She wagged her knotted white tail. “And now you need to eat something! You’ll feel so much better for it.” She tore off a mouthful of the prey-creature and fed it to Lucky. He chewed the tender morsel, feeling the juice run down his throat. Sunshine was right—he felt better already. The little dog continued to offer Lucky small chunks of meat, licking his nose as he gobbled them down. Then Lucky tensed, remembering Fang’s brutal death. “Has there been any sign of the Fierce Dogs?”
“You’re safe now,” Sunshine murmured. “You’re surrounded by the Pack, and we have Patrol Dogs everywhere. No one can get through. So you should just relax and get better.”
Lucky let his eyes close. He hadn’t felt cared for like this since he was a pup.
Yap sighed as his Mother-Dog licked his nose. He nuzzled against her coat, his belly round with milk and the soft meat that the longpaws put out for the Pup-Pack. The longpaw den was cozy. Light glanced through the clear-stone, warm against Yap’s fur. He yawned contentedly and opened his eyes.
“Mother, will you tell me a story?”
Yap snuggled closer as his Mother-Dog rested a comforting paw across his back. “Very well. I will tell you about Lightning, the swiftest of the dog warriors.”
Yap’s tail gave a cheerful wag. This was one of his favorite stories!
His Mother-Dog cleared her throat. “The Sky-Dogs watched over Lightning and protected him. But Earth-Dog was jealous. She thought Lightning had lived too long and that it was time for him to die so that she could take his life force.”
A chill crept over Yap. The beam of sunlight had disappeared. Clouds drifted outside the clear-stone, darkening the sky. His Mother-Dog’s voice grew deeper, and her body stiffened.
“One night, Lightning began to tease the Earth-Dog. He was always a little wicked and crafty, clawing the ground quickly before racing back to the sky, where he was safe.”
Yap craned his neck to look at his Mother-Dog in surprise. He knew that Lightning and the Sky-Dogs could be mischievous, but it was always in the spirit of fun. He’d never imagined that Lightning was actually mean to Earth-Dog.
The Mother-Dog’s paw across Yap’s shoulder felt heavier. “Earth-Dog had anticipated Lightning’s tricks this time. She lay quietly, waiting, until the touch of Lightning’s claws became so regular that she could predict where he was about to land next.” Her voice became louder. “Earth-Dog waited and waited, licking her chops. When Lightning sprang down toward her, what do you think happened?”
Yap watched his Mother-Dog, wide-eyed.
She continued, her voice growing shrill. “With a terrible growl, Earth-Dog opened her mouth wide and swallowed Lightning whole!”
Yap gasped in shock. He’d heard this story before—and this wasn’t how it was supposed to end! He buried his head in his Mother-Dog’s coat. Her muscles flexed beneath the fur, and Yap pulled back, looking up at her for reassurance. He whined in horror—it wasn’t his Mother-Dog staring down at him.
It was Blade!
The Fierce Dog flashed her teeth and lowered her head to his so that their whiskers were almost touching. Her breath smelled metallic, like blood.
Yap cowered from her, but Blade pinned him to the ground, her paw bearing down on his back.
“What have you done with Mother?” Yap whined. “Where is my Pup-Pack?”
Blade’s eyes sparkled gleefully. “Wicked dogs must be punished,” she snarled. “The Earth-Dog swallowed Lightning whole! And the ground was soaked with blood.”
Her paw against his back was so heavy he could hardly breathe.
Lucky’s eyes snapped open to see the Sun-Dog beaming down on the den. He sprang to his paws, his heart racing. There was no sign of Blade beneath the bright-blue sky.
With a sigh of relief, he shook off the memories of his bad dream and looked around. Sweet, Storm, and Bella were no longer in the den. Lucky yawned and stretched out his legs. He wouldn’t think about the nightmare, he told himself. His belly still felt pleasantly full, and his body was stronger after a good sleep. Even his paw hardly hurt anymore.
Lucky padded down to the pond between the trees. There he drank deeply. Outside the comfort of the den, the wind pierced Lucky’s coat and he shivered. The trees were bare, and even the long grass by the pond bowed under frost. Lucky sniffed the ground.
The frost disguised scents, but there was a hint of something unusual down there. He sniffed again. A whiff of sourness came from the soil. The air hummed with a faint vibration. The fur rose along Lucky’s back as he experienced a familiar sense of dread.
This is how it felt before the world fell apart. Earth-Dog was still unsettled—still dangerous. What would it take to appease her? Lucky thought with a shudder of Blade’s dark prophecy. She’s wrong, he told himself firmly. This has nothing to do with Storm. But his anxiety lingered.
I have to warn the others! We need to find somewhere safe.
He could hear barking toward the edge of the cliff, and he hurried to join the others. Sweet was gathered with the rest of the Pack. There was no need to warn them—they had guessed what was happening.
“We can all feel it,” yapped Snap. “Shouldn’t we get out of here?”
Dart, the little brown chase-dog, spun a quick, anxious circle. “Last time the Growl tore down trees, and the ground . . . the ground just fell apart!”
Daisy’s ears pricked up. “My longpaws’ house shook and shook. And when I barked for them, they weren’t there!”
“The clear-stone shattered!” barked Bruno, his brown ears flicking back. “It just shattered!”
Whine huddled low to the ground, his small bod
y shaking.
The Pack started panicking, and Sweet barked loudly to silence them. “Dogs, stay calm. We all remember the Big Growl. There’s nothing to be gained in dragging out bad memories.”
Lucky came to her side. “We have to leave, to get as far away as possible.”
“But where would we go?” Sweet gazed beyond the valley to the cliffs. “We could never outrun the Growl. At least it’s fairly open here, and the trees are mostly by the pond. Don’t you remember the longpaw city, or the town down by the Endless Lake? When the Earth-Dog shakes, tall and heavy things become dangerous. Isn’t it better to be out in the open when the Growl arrives?”
Moon rose to her paws. “Alpha is right. Don’t you all remember how the ground shook and the trees started falling in the forest? Most of us survived because our camp was in a clearing. We’re better off staying in a more open space like this rather than trying to find a better place that we don’t even know exists.”
Dart whined and hid her head between her paws while Daisy hopped in circles.
Lucky thought about this. Sweet and Moon had a point. Where would they go? How could they escape the ground they walked on?
Sweet turned to him. “What do you think, Beta?”
He dipped his head. “I agree. We’re better off staying where we are. We should probably keep away from the edge of the cliffs, though. In the Big Growl, some of the longpaw houses collapsed—it would be dangerous if the same thing happened to the cliffs and we were standing nearby.” He thought of the longpaw town down by the Endless Lake. The streets had been covered in sand and river grass. Had the lake broken its bank during the Growl, spraying its water over everything? Lucky shuddered. “And we should keep our distance from the lake.”
A calm fell over the Pack. They are reassured by the agreement between their Alpha and Beta, he realized.
Daisy stepped forward nervously, her tail pointed down to the ground. “What about the longpaws you saw in town?” she asked. “They’re too close to the Endless Lake—the Growl will get them!”