"Your tribe? You mean, your pack?" Laika was in disbelief.
"Yes," he said, "If we could gather my pack, then they could rule Veal Tribe properly. Our leaders could. And then, maybe we would be accepted in the new world."
Laika scoffed, "No offense, Afore, but are you sure that's a good idea? Wolves taking over a tribe of dogs? How would that look to the other tribes? Would they even know how to run it?"
"They ran our pack just fine," Afore said with a low growl, defensively.
"Your pack got destroyed," Laika said, "Are you really sure that's the best option?"
Afore stood, then, towering over her, "My pack did not get destroyed. We were separated by your kind." He annunciated his words crisp and tartly, and every single syllable hung in the air like stiff water.
"Okay, whatever, same difference," Laika scoffed dismissively, looking away from him.
Afore's exhaustion pushed him, and he snarled at her, fangs bared, "This again, Laika? This again?"
She growled back at him, "I never took you as one for a temper."
"I never took you to be so judgemental." Afore calmed himself with ease, ears flattened and teeth becoming invisible again. He was angry, but his temper would not overtake him. More than anything, he was hurt. He had begun to consider Laika as a friend or ally; and now, that perception of her had been distorted.
Laika stood alongside him, shaking out her coat and releasing the leaves that clung to it, "Whatever! Let's just get going and get this damn rope off."
"Finally, you talk some sense."
"Oh, I've always talked sense."
Afore scoffed, "Have you now?"
"In my tribe, I'm renowned for my intelligence," Laika said with pride, head raised.
Afore chuckled, "Definitely not for your looks." Laika only scowled at him, and he laughed again. It was impossible to stay mad at her, and in these moments, Afore forgot how different they were. He liked to think that Laika forgot, too. The two began to walk. They would follow their noses, which would lead them to the next nearby tribe. It was diluted, but along the wind wafted the muddled scents of many dogs: a sign of a tribe nearby, and not just Jall Tribe. Afore's mission was to find his family, while Laika's was to get off of their leash and return to Veal Tribe.
The day had been long, and as they slowly walked, exhaustion and ache overwhelming their limbs, the sun began to set. Long shadows casted across the forest, and a golden light illuminated both Afore's tan agouti and Laika's caramel points. The night could not have possibly come too soon; both canines ached desperately and needed to rest longer than they had.
"Where will we sleep?" Laika asked as they walked. The sounds of the forest chirping and creeping drifted on the wind, soothing them, and airing a sense of evening tranquility.
"Not on your bear hide. That's for sure," Afore said, smirking.
Laika scoffed, "Well, where then?"
"Maybe I could sniff out an old burrow," Afore suggested. His steps were slow and heavy, burdened with the weight of the day's events.
Laika moaned, "That would take too long." She hung her head and then collapsed into the fluff of the leaves below, which crinkled and scattered with her weight. "This is good. This here is good." The gleaming red sun illuminated the silhouette of her spine in white as she laid there. She seemed to glow, surrounded with beautiful dying light.
Afore shook his head, amused, and then laid down more gently beside her, "Alright. Right here, the middle of the floor of the forest. Like primitive beasts."
"Well," Laika said, "Maybe you're not all too bad."
"Not too bad, huh?"
"No, not too bad." Her voice was already beginning to slur, just a mumble then.
He smiled, "I thought you'd think so."
Laika rolled onto her side, allowing herself to lounge then, plopping her face to the floor, completely flat and relaxed. Afore still sat up, ears and nose alert, but with his eyes focused on the saluki that sighed beside him. Her side lifted and fell gently with her soft, slow breathing. It was as if she had fallen asleep immediately after hitting the ground. Afore himself was exhausted, his entire body throbbing and sore, but he hadn't considered how tired Laika might have been. Well, now he knew, as she slept calmly beside him, utterly exhausted.
He felt his own self begin to drift, and gently rested his large head on his front paws. Deeply inhaling the scents arising from the forest floor, Afore closed his eyes and calmed, relaxing. He was safe. Laika was safe. All was well, and so, they could both finally rest. Sleep came quickly, even to Afore. For a while, all was calm.
But then, he was woken much too soon and much too early. The sun had not shone its light yet, and the sky was still dark blue and cloudy, dotted with tiny white stars which gleamed and reflected in Afore's auburn eyes. The navy sky casted long, black shadows across the forest's floor and trees. Every corner seemed shaded with darkness, and the cool highlights of leaves, twigs, and brambles were delicate and pale, illuminated softly by the moon's reflective light.
At first, Afore wasn't quite sure what had woken him; just a heavy, sinking feeling his gut making him nauseous. He sat up, eyes sharp and wandering, ears tall and alert, swivelling this way and that, surveying the area for sound and movement. The gentle wisp of cool breeze, the wafting rustle of leaves and grass, and the soft clacking of wavering branches overhead. Still, his ears picked up on something else, pricked and listening. A slight, unusual crinkle of browned leaf, the creaking edge of a broken wooden bush. Along the wind was the familiar stench of coyote.
Immediately, Afore recognised why he had woken. The presence of Oona, who slank through the blackened woods nearby, lurking.
Afore stood up, glancing one way then another, and spoke quietly, "Oona, I know you're here." From the shadows, sly movement. Then appeared Oona, who slank from behind several large oak trunks and to where Afore could see. The first thing he noticed was her sharp, gleaming eyes, and then the thick bush of her tail. She walked like a cougar, low to the ground and hunched, slowly stalking her prey from the underbrush.
"Hello, wolf," she said quietly, careful so as not to wake Laika. She took several slow pawsteps towards him, delicate and high on her toes.
"What do you want?" Afore growled.
She smiled a little, "I am only here to cut that leash of yours." Afore watched with strong caution, narrowed eyes, completely on edge as she carefully pulled back into the dark woods and lowered her nose to the ground. A short whiff, small movement, and she picked up a pale, gleaming stone in her maw, stepping back forward and showing it to Afore. There, in her jaws, was a brilliantly white cutting stone, a triangle shape with sharpened edges, illuminated as the moon, fading the backdrop to black. It reflected white in Oona's eyes. Then, she tossed it on the ground ahead of him, white flickering across it as it bounced. and it landed with a dull thud.
"What's the catch?" Afore asked. He took a strong step over Laika as she slept on her side, standing over her protectively then, head low and ears back. The rope sat in large, loose coils beside her, hanging heavy from Afore's neck and running from Laika's along the ground. His black lips curled up in a snarl.
"You're good," Oona said, daring another step towards him. "The catch is that Laika gets to live her life, and you don't. I cut this rope for you, and Laika gets to go about the rest of her days however she pleases. She gets to actually live her life, no longer contained by you. But you? You have to come with me to Jall Tribe, and there, I will trade you for a large sum. And then, you will never see me again."
Afore's growl softened and he glanced at Laika, sleeping peacefully beneath his feet. Then, he looked around at the forest, considering the idea that she had offered. Finally, he looked back at Oona, glaring at her intensely. She watched with increased curiosity as he thought for a while, a strong crease along the agouti fur on his forehead. The answer to his predicament seemed to strike him all at once and with sudden force. His face softened, ears flicked, and widened eyes looked up at Oona, filled with reflective amber glass. His mouth was gently agape in a dumbfounded expression.
"You promise to leave her alone?"
"Yes," she said, nodding respectfully.
Now, Afore looked widely worried, "But you lied to us once before. How can I trust you?"
"You'll just have to trust me," Oona said. Her voice was soft and gentle. Quiet.
"Wrong answer. I can't." In a flash of light in the dark, the huge grey wolf was upon her small form, pushing off from the dirt with his strong rear legs and leaping on top of Oona. His aim was straight for her throat, and she fell back onto her rump as he held her. With its delicateness and fluff between his large jaws, he silenced any squeals she attempted to make. Through a mouth full of thick coat and tender flesh, Afore muffled, "Laika needs me to protect her."
In a shy, choked voice, Oona managed dryly, "Does she really?"
Jaws squeezing a little tighter to shut her up, Afore growled, "She does! I'm here to protect her. If this rope is gone, then she will leave, and I won't be able to protect her anymore." Oona choked more, desperately trying to form words that only came out as unintelligible, strained sounds. The familiar, metallic taste of blood began to slip through Oona's soft fur and across Afore's tongue, pooling in his mouth. "What is it?" He growled, "What is it, you rat!?"
She managed, strained and painful, "You really are a predator, wolf."
Eyes suddenly narrowed and cold, gleaming like embers in the dark, Afore used his molars to crush her throat and oesophagus with ease. It made a quiet popping sound, then a grinding noise as bones crunched beneath his teeth. Oona whimpered quietly and strained, suffocated with blood, and then went stiff; then limp. She fell from his jaws with a muffled thud to the ground, her throat flattened, her fur matted and caked with glinting scarlet.
Suddenly, Afore stood a little straighter, staring at her as she laid in wide-eyed, shocked horror. He was a little confused, a little dazed, a little tired. Had this truly been him? Did he just... kill this coyote? And what for? Because she offered a solution to his problem? He turned and glanced at the rope that winded from him, across the ground, and to a resting Laika.
No, he thought. She needs me, doesn't she? And I need her, too. If that rope was cut, then Laika would leave forever, and Afore would be plunged back into his darkness, and she would be in danger. It was his duty to protect her, wasn't it?
Then he scoffed dryly and shook his head, thinking then, Laika doesn't need any protection. She's faster and smarter than any canine on this damned planet!
Then why had he killed Oona? His eyes dared not look at her again, and he nearly seemed to gag at the stench of her corpse and blood, still smeared across his face and teeth, rolling from his chin. He had just been so overwhelmed; and now he was overwhelmed. Oona was a bad canine; she was out to get them, to get him. It was self-defence, wasn't it? It was forgivable, wasn't it? It's not as if she would have just stopped or given up if he had asked her... would she have? He felt the tears begin to well, blurring his vision, making the moon and stars bokeh. And the thudding, pounding panic set in.
Ba-Dum.
Ba-Dum.
Air would not come. In fact, the air escaped him. Oxygen escaped him, and he seemed to choke just as Oona had beneath his very jaws. His bloodied, strong jaws. His stupid wolf jaws. Mind raced, lungs burned like fire for air. He felt compressed, trapped in an ever closing space. Frantically, his eyes glanced from Laika, then to Oona, then to Laika, then to Oona. It was crazy how similiar the two looked, laying their on their sides, still and calm.
Fuck, fuck, fuck!!