by Tim Willocks
Brid had done it. She’d escaped. She was free.
In the distance Furgul could see golden hills and forests of green. A wild wind swept out of nowhere and roared down the valley and through the trees, as if to help Brid on her way. For a moment Furgul heard the howl of voices on that wind, ancient voices of hounds long gone, urging him to defiance. Furgul’s heart felt like it would burst. His tail was high and wagging. His legs wanted him to jump from the truck and run and run and run forever and ever. But he couldn’t leave Eena and Nessa. With alarm he noticed that the mouth of the cave was getting closer and closer. The cave where Dedbone would kill them. The truck had slowed down as they climbed the hill. Once the truck stopped, their chance to escape would be gone.
“Eena, you’re next. Hurry.”
Eena kissed Nessa and went to the hole. She stood up on her hind legs and pushed her head into the hole. Just as Furgul prepared to give her a push, the truck lurched to a halt in a cloud of dust. Furgul and the two girls fell over and rolled in a heap at one end of the box. Furgul jumped up. He heard doors creak open. Big boots crunched in the dust. The doors slammed shut.
“Hurry, Eena, hurry!” Furgul barked.
Eena put her head through the hole. But then she stopped.
“Go on!” he yelled. “Get moving!”
Furgul pushed her hard. But Eena did not move. He heard her yelp with fright. A second later she was forced back inside, and Furgul saw that a hand was wrapped around her throat.
A wild rage rose inside him and he lunged forward. His teeth clamped around the hand’s thumb. He heard another scream—a human scream—much louder than Eena’s. It was the Gambler, in terrible pain. The Gambler dropped Eena and tried to jerk his hand back out of the box, but Furgul dug his paws into the floor and wouldn’t let go. His mouth filled with blood. The Gambler shook him around inside the box, but still Furgul wouldn’t let go. Furgul snarled and crunched with all his might.
The Gambler jerked his arm back so fast that Furgul’s head was wrenched out through the hole. The Gambler had laughed and jeered at him, just because he was a lurcher. He wasn’t laughing now. He was screaming in agony. For a moment Furgul considered letting go. But then he remembered that the Gambler had revealed his secret to Dedbone. Furgul twisted his head and bit down hard. The Gambler’s thumb came off between Furgul’s teeth. Furgul dropped back into the box. He rushed back to the hole, but the box was hoisted up into the air. He heard the Gambler gibbering in pain.
“Gibber, gibber, gibber!” bawled the Gambler.
Dedbone’s face appeared at the hole. His bloodshot eyes were red with rage. His foul breath spilled into the box as he cursed and swore. Furgul snapped at Dedbone’s nose and nipped him between the nostrils. The box crashed into the dust as Dedbone dropped it. The pups fell into a heap, and everything went dark.
Furgul could hear Dedbone coughing and choking and bellowing. But where was the hole in the box? Furgul looked around, but it was gone. He realized that the box had fallen with the hole flat against the ground. They couldn’t get out.
The coughing stopped and Dedbone heaved the box up into his arms. The pups fell about higgledy-piggledy. The box started moving. The hole appeared again, but this time at the upper end of the side of the box. It was too high to climb out because the box had turned upside down. Furgul stood on his hind legs and peeped out over the edge. He watched the cave get closer and closer and wrinkled his nostrils as a vile smell drifted out.
Furgul loved most smells, even, perhaps especially, the smell of poop and pee. After all, he was a dog. But this smell filled him with disgust. It was hideous and putrid. It made him feel sick. He wondered what could make a smell so horrible. As Dedbone carried the box inside the cave, the smell got stronger.
Furgul jumped up to the hole in the box and stuck his head out, hanging on to the rim with his claws. For a moment all he could see was blackness. He blinked, and his vision sharpened. The walls of the cave were rugged and dripped with slime. The air was cool and damp. A few yards later, Dedbone stopped, the box clutched to his chest. Furgul peered down from his perch in the hole. He saw that Dedbone’s toes had stopped right at a sharp edge of rock.
Beyond the edge of rock was a deep, dark chasm.
Down and down and down it went, until it vanished into nothingness.
The gruesome smell was coming from the black pit below.
This is it, thought Furgul. Dedbone’s going to throw us down into that chasm.
All Furgul’s hopes died in his chest. It was over.
He thought, At least Brid is free.
Across the dark abyss he saw a narrow ledge sticking out from the far rock wall. With a long run up to the edge of the chasm, maybe—just maybe—he could have jumped across to the ledge. But from here, inside the box, it was impossible.
Furgul dropped back inside to join Eena and Nessa. He snuggled between them and wagged his tail to cheer them up. They crooned together and waited for the end. But Dedbone didn’t drop them into the chasm. Instead he turned around, and they felt him set the box down on the rocky ground. Furgul heard his footsteps walking away. Eena and Nessa were excited.
“Maybe he’s going to leave us here,” said Eena.
“Then we can climb out and find Brid,” Nessa said.
Furgul jumped up again and looked out. The hole, in the vertical face of the box, was now facing the entrance to the cave, where Dedbone and the Gambler were standing. Furgul could see them clearly. The Gambler was swigging from the bottle. Dedbone opened his shotgun and reached in his pocket. He pulled out two red shotgun shells and slotted them into the barrels, just like he did before he blasted a bird from the air. He snapped the shotgun shut and gave it to the Gambler and took the bottle. The Gambler flinched as he almost dropped the gun with his bleeding, thumbless hand.
Dedbone took a swig of the drink. Then he pointed at the box.
The Gambler raised the shotgun and took aim, right at Furgul.
Furgul dropped from the hole.
He yelled at Eena and Nessa, “Get down!”
They squashed flat on their bellies.
BOOM! BOOM!
Their ears popped with pain. Lots of little holes exploded through the cardboard over their heads, with a sound like the buzzing of angry bees. The box tilted backward and teetered for a second in the air. Then it fell back flat.
Furgul spied out through one of the small new holes. Dedbone was reloading the shotgun and squinting at the box. It was his turn to shoot. Dedbone was evil but clever. He would shoot lower than the Gambler. And he had two thumbs.
Then Furgul had an idea. The teetering of the box meant they were sitting on the very edge of the chasm. The chasm and its horrid smell filled Furgul with dread. But maybe there was a chance—even if it was a tiny chance—that the pups could survive the fall. If the blast from Dedbone’s shotgun hit them, they would have no chance at all. Furgul saw Dedbone take aim—at the bottom of the box.
“Come on!” barked Furgul. “Help me tip the box over! Like this!”
He crouched down on his hind legs and sprang up at the back of the box as high as he could. The box tilted a little and fell back. Eeena and Nessa crouched beside him.
“Together,” said Furgul. “Now!”
The three pups leaped forward as one. The box jumped backward an inch and tilted over the edge. It hovered for a second. Then it started to fall into the chasm of doom.
BOOM! BOOM!
The shotgun blast ripped into the box and Furgul yelped as sharp, hot pellets stung his haunches. His stomach seemed to jump into his throat. A rushing sound roared through the holes. Nessa screamed. Eena didn’t make a sound.
They were falling.
Falling.
Falling.
Into oblivion.
The box landed with a great crashing, crunching sound, and all the breath shot out of Furgul’s lungs. His vision went black. The box rolled over and over. Furgul and Eena and Nessa tumbled around inside. Then everything wa
s still.
Furgul got his breath and blinked his eyes. It was dark—very dark, even for him—but a dim gray light came from the hole. His shoulder hurt and his legs hurt. Everything hurt. But he plunged toward the hole and struggled outside.
He gasped at the monstrous smell. Something sharp and spiky stabbed between his toes. He looked up toward the light, which spilled from the cave at the top of the chasm. The chasm was like a giant chimney. The air down here was dank and still. He couldn’t feel the slightest breath of wind. The stench of evil was overpowering.
As his eyes got used to the gloom, he looked around.
“Oh no,” said Furgul. His brain was swamped by horror. “Oh no.”
Furgul suddenly realized what he was standing on.
He was standing on bones.
The box had landed on a hill of dead dogs.
Most were skeletons. Racks of ribs and backbones and skulls. Here and there a moldy blanket with a number printed on it was wrapped around a decomposed greyhound. The hill was high and deep. Some of the smells were new; some were very, very old. Dedbone had dumped more dead dogs here than even the worst of the rumors at the camp had suggested. Furgul had never imagined there could be so many.
His head began to swim, and he thought he was going to fall over. He closed his eyes and panted to make himself calm. He wanted to run away. But where were Eena and Nessa? He opened his eyes as Nessa limped toward him over the bones. She used only three legs to walk and held one of her forepaws in the air.
“Where’s Eena?” said Furgul.
Nessa shook her head. She couldn’t speak. She could hardly even breathe. Furgul clambered back toward the box. No sound came from inside. With dread he poked his head inside.
Eena was dead. Dedbone’s shotgun had killed her as they fell.
Furgul was so sad he felt like he would die too. Then he heard the crunch of boots from the cave high above. He looked up. He heard the masters’ voices.
“Joke. Joke. Joke.”
“Chuckle. Chuckle. Chuckle.”
“Tee. Hee. Hee.”
The silhouettes of two men appeared on the edge. He saw Dedbone reloading his shotgun. The Gambler switched on a flashlight and pointed the beam down. A big white circle of light appeared near the box and moved toward Furgul. Furgul realized that Dedbone wanted to make sure they were all dead. Furgul dodged away from the light. He stumbled down the hill of bones. He shouted.
“Nessa, run!”
It was a mistake. The beam of light swung toward him. The masters had heard him. The shotgun boomed. Furgul jumped to one side and felt the zing of the buckshots as they missed him. He reached Nessa as the beam shone right on them. He grabbed her by the scruff of her neck with his teeth and bolted, dragging her along, skittering away down that terrible hill.
BOOM!
Again the buckshot rushed by his ear but didn’t hit him. Now Dedbone would have to reload again. Furgul felt his pads leave the bones and land on bare rock. The grotesque hill was behind them. He ran faster. His jaws ached, but he didn’t let go of Nessa. The chasm got darker and darker, but his sharp eyes made out the entrance to a tunnel ahead. Furgul aimed for the tunnel. Just as the beam of the flashlight caught up with them, he dashed inside.
BOOM! BOOM!
The buckshots pinged and zinged, but Furgul was inside the tube of rock.
When he was sure that they were safe, he stopped and laid Nessa down. He looked back. The flashlight beam poked around at the tunnel entrance. After a moment it went away. And darkness fell.
CHAPTER THREE
THE CAVERN
In the far distance Furgul heard the faint sound of the truck as it disappeared. Dedbone was gone. He and Nessa were free. But they were stuck in a tunnel, deep underground, with a mountain sitting on top of them.
Furgul was hungry and thirsty. He was hurting from head to toe from the beating and the biting and the shooting and the fall. He twisted his head back and licked the wounds in his thighs. He tasted his own blood, but the buckshot wounds didn’t seem deep. He’d been lucky. Now he had to try to be clever.
“Furgul?” said Nessa. “My leg hurts. I can’t walk properly.”
“Can’t you walk on three legs, Nessa?” asked Furgul.
“I want Mama. And Eena and Brid.”
Furgul knew exactly how Nessa felt. But his instinct told him that if they felt sorry for themselves, they would never see daylight again. He had to be tough.
He said, “For the moment all you’ve got is me.”
“You won’t leave me, Furgul, will you?”
“No,” said Furgul. “But you’ve got to walk. And you can’t cry.”
The tunnel was completely dark. Even with his superb eyes he could see nothing. But he wasn’t too worried about that. His sense of smell was even better than his sight, and that would guide him. He sniffed about the tunnel.
“Come on, Nessa,” he said. “We’ll go and find some water. Then we’ll find the sunlight. Then we’ll find some food and go to sleep.”
“Oh I’d love a drink of water,” she said.
“Good girl. Just follow me.”
They sniffed their way down the tunnel. Even though Nessa had to walk on three legs, she didn’t once cry or complain. After a while they reached a fork in the tunnel.
“Rest here for a minute,” said Furgul.
He investigated first one tunnel and then the other. In the second he detected a faint smell of water.
“We’ll go this way,” he said.
On and on they went. Furgul soon realized that this tunnel was going downhill. They were going deeper and deeper underground. That worried him. He wanted to be going uphill, toward the sun. He thought about the great big mountain that must be right above them. The sunlight must be very far away. Should they turn back? He could still smell the water. They needed water more than sunlight. More than anything. Even if they had to go deeper, the water would be worth it.
Deeper and deeper they went.
And deeper still.
His throat became parched and sore. His thirst was terrible. His legs had started to tremble with every step. His nostrils dried up. The water now seemed farther away than ever.
“Furgul?” said Nessa. Her voice was hoarse and feeble. “I’m sorry, I can’t go on anymore. Let me go to sleep here. You go on by yourself. I’ll be all right.”
He found her lying down in the dark. Even though his tongue was dry, he licked her face. Poor Nessa. She was the runt of the litter, and she was even more badly injured than he was. She had been so brave to come this far. Furgul felt like crying, but he had no water left in his eyes for the tears.
“Yes, you have a nap and get your strength,” said Furgul. “I’ll go and find the water, then I’ll come back for you.”
He turned away from Nessa and started off down the tunnel. The pain of the buckshot burned in his legs. He felt dizzy. He felt weak. He started to run. In the camp he had only scampered around, too afraid of the masters and the Bulls to stretch his legs and go full-out. But now he did.
For the first time in his life, Furgul really ran.
His heart beat faster, and his lungs sucked in the damp underground air. His muscles flowed into a double gallop. His pads pounded over the rock. His greyhound blood gave him speed and power. His wolfhound blood gave him stamina and grit. Instead of feeling weaker, he felt stronger. And then he realized something amazing. Even though the tunnel was as dark as a starless night, and even though he was running at great speed, he did not collide with the tunnel walls, which were only inches away. Even when the tunnel twisted and turned, he did not crash. Furgul didn’t know why. He was just running. It was as if something were guiding his strides. Then a strange wind came from the tunnel behind him. It almost seemed to blow him along. It made Furgul feel as if he could run forever. And from somewhere on that wind—as if a ghost had whispered to his soul—Furgul heard the call of the Doglands.
“You’re the dog who runs in darkness,” said the wind.
And at that very moment Furgul saw a faint yellow light up ahead.
The light got stronger as the tunnel opened out into a cavern.
Furgul stopped and blinked. The sight that he saw took his breath away.
The cavern was enormous, as high as a bird could fly and bigger than the whole of Dedbone’s dog farm. Great pillars of rock, as thick as a giant’s thumbs, seemed to grow from the cavern floor. Long spines of rock, as thin as a witch’s fingers, reached down toward them from the ceiling. The fingers and thumbs of rock glittered and glowed with pinks and purples and greens. They formed a magical circle. In the center of the circle was a deep lagoon that sparkled turquoise blue.
It was the most awesome place that Furgul had ever seen.
Perhaps it was the most awesome place in the world.
He ran across the crystal cavern to the turquoise lagoon. He padded out into the cool blue water and dipped his snout and drank. The water was delicious and pure. As he lapped it up he felt his strength return. Then he wondered where the light came from and looked up. High in one wall of the cavern there was a hole, and through the hole he could see the sky. But it was impossible to climb up there. On the other side of the lagoon he spotted three new tunnels leading out of the cavern. They would have to take one of those. His head snapped back down as he felt something nibble at his paws.
There were fish in the lagoon, investigating his feet. Before he knew what he was doing, his snout plunged down and he caught a fish in his mouth. He pulled it from the water and chewed it all up—the head, the bones, the tail—and swallowed. The fish tasted almost as good as the water. He grabbed another fish and was just about to eat that one too when he remembered Nessa.
With the fish in his mouth he turned and ran back up the tunnel as fast as he could. Nessa’s scent guided him. He found her fast asleep. He dropped the fish by her head and nudged her with his snout.
“Wake up, Nessa,” he said. “I’ve found water and food. We’re going to be fine. I brought you a fish to eat.”
But no matter how hard he poked her or how loud he barked, Nessa wouldn’t wake up. Furgul was afraid. She was too weak to get to the lagoon. He ate the fish himself for strength then picked Nessa up by the scruff of her neck. She was completely limp. He started to drag her down the tunnel.