The Rightful Heir

by Jefferson Knapp

  He opened his mouth and drank the heavy drops. He gyrated as if in a trance as he lay on his back and let the rain roll across his belly. This was his first bath…ever! The old lady never bathed him, and Jonah hid under the porch from her when it rained. He figured it was better to be under that rotten porch than to be with her.

  The ground was getting soaked, but Jonah didn’t care. He lay there in contentment, falling asleep in the pasture as the rain drenched and transformed him from the ugly, malnourished dog he’d been into the tan-colored pug he really was—complete with a black smashed-in face, little black ears…and one little black foot!

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Siloam’s Fork-Tongued Tip-Off

  IT WAS HOURS PAST MIDNIGHT when the tired coyote awoke from his short rest in the pasture. His long, skinny, hunger-racked body rose from the ground as lightning lit up the sky and a light rain fell. He looked over the tall, damp, bluestem grass at the multitude of other coyotes in the pack. Some managed to pick off the last specks of meat from a few carcasses of wild goats they’d killed in a large herd a few nights ago. They were starving again and the leader knew it was time to hunt.

  The coyotes had grown very hungry over the last few months. Something was scaring all the animals into hiding. In their desperation they even thought of eating one another. Their ribs showed through their grey and brown nap as they smelled each other hungrily. It was only a matter of time until they acted on their carnivorous thoughts.

  Belshak left the pack and entered the dark woods next to the pasture. His mouth watered at the thought of eating another wild goat, or anything else for that matter. He walked for a long time, hoping he’d hear something move on land or smell something in the ground. If it was alive, it would soon be dead. The fierce coyote wasn’t going to share anything with the others. The darkness in Persly’s Woods felt cool and wet as the damp weeds rubbed against his matted fur.

  Belshak’s eyes shot from tree stump to tree stump in the lightning, waiting for that split second he’d have to react when he saw a tail or foot. His gray hair stood up at a rattling noise close by. His breathing became heavier as he salivated, knowing he would be eating something soon.

  Rattles sounded around him, off behind the trees, and he heard bodies slithering through fallen leaves. He stood his ground on the wet, cold dirt and listened as the snakes closed in. The hungry coyote tried to figure out how to attack one of them without being bitten by the others. Lightning flashed and he lunged. He quickly retreated when the snake raised its body high and struck, but intentionally missed.

  “You don’t want to try anything ssstupid…friend,” Siloam said from the darkness in a gentle but eerie way. The other four snakes closed in around the coyote.

  “Friend?” Belshak called out in a raspy, gritty voice. “What makes you think you can call me friend?” He growled, staring where he thought the rattlesnake was. Lightning flashed and Belshak saw that the snake was eye level with him, staring fiercely back.

  “Becaussse,” Siloam said in delight, “I have been watching you, friend, and I know that you and your family are very hungry.” He could hear the coyote’s hungry panting. “I jussst ssso happen to know where you can eat your fill for the ressst of the year!”

  Belshak licked his lips at the words, even if he didn’t believe them. “And where might that be?”

  “Ohhhhh…deep in the heart of Persssly’sss Woodsss.”

  “You’re insane, snake!” Belshak growled. “All of the animals have gone into hiding because of that…thing out there. Even my own pack won’t go far into the forest!”

  “Then perhapsss you can wait for the creaturesss to come to you?” Siloam hissed in soft laughter as the other snakes rattled in the darkness.

  “What do you mean?!” Belshak grew impatient.

  “Over the next couple of daysss a group from the kingdom—” Belshak interjected a mocking burst of air through his nose. “—will come to lead a large number of creaturesss out of Persssly’sss Woodsss. Over a thousssand of them.”

  “A thousand?! How can I trust you?” Belshak barked as his stomach growled.

  “Because, friend, I have a ssspy who told me thisss. I will sssoon dessstroy the kingdom, jussst asss my former massster wasss about to do.”

  “Yes, I heard about that. Wasn’t it this same kingdom that killed your master?” Belshak smiled at the rattlesnake’s angry hiss.

  “We cannot allow the kingdom to grow thisss large! By ssstopping their caravan on itsss way, your friendssss can eat more than they ever dreamed of!” The hungry coyote again licked his lips. “You will be helping me, and I will be helping you.”

  Belshak shook his head. “You think you can take over this land?” Siloam’s rattle shook loudly and the other snakes joined him. “Many wild creatures wouldn’t bow down to your master!”

  “I am more powerful than my massster!” Siloam’s voice grew higher and louder.

  Belshak thought for a moment. “We will wait for our food to come through the pastures.”

  “If you sssee travelersss from the kingdom going toward Persssly’sss Woodsss, let them through. They mussst find the othersss to bring them back. Then you can eat them all!”

  Belshak gritted his sharp, yellow teeth. “If I find out this is a trick, we will come and eat all of you!”

  Siloam laughed evilly at the rabid coyote. “You will be bowing down to me sssoon…friend!” He shook his rattle and the other snakes followed him into the weeds.

  Belshak smelled the beginning of the morning air, but no living thing. “A thousand of them…” He said in anticipation. His mouth watered more than ever. Soon he would be eating.

  “Owwwwwww, owww, owwwwwww!”

  All of the coyotes back in the pasture heard Belshak’s call from inside Persly’s Woods. They joined in the howling, anxious to hear what news their leader had.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  The Hero in the Black Mask

  JONAH’S NEWLY CLEANSED BODY stirred early, before the first sunlight peeked through the dark purple sky. Despite having been rained on all night, the little pug had gotten one of the best night’s sleep he had ever had. Usually he slept under the old lady’s porch. Unbeknownst to him, his body was allergic to the mold coated underneath. Now he felt alive, the grease and grime washed away, the sleepy gunk stuck to his eyes for as long as he could remember gone. He felt he could breathe better through his squashed-in nose.

  He stood in the dark, tall grass, turning a slight yellow from the new sunrise. It was almost twice as high as his head and he was ready for some new scenery. He took a leap high over the grass. For the split second he was above the bluestem, he saw he was close to a forest. The orange and red leaves looked beautiful in the early morning light. The kingdom must be in there! He took off running into the woods, unaware of the news that, for well over the past month, some thing had been terrifying the forest.

  JONAH WANDERED A WHILE in Persly’s Woods, all unfamiliar territory. With every step through towering trees and tall weeds he noticed something strange about the new world he was in—it was dead quiet. “Golly, there should be someone living in this place,” he whispered, looking all around.

  He came upon a large, fallen cottonwood tree that had been chewed away by beavers. It was old and rotted-out, and his curiosity made him look inside. Sniff, sniff. He smelled something sour, then spotted blackberries that some other animal had stored inside for later eating. He was starving, and although he had never eaten a blackberry, he chewed and swallowed some quickly, salivating at the sweet taste. Hmmm, I could get used to these… maybe. Jonah was too busy eating to hear the sound of slithering. His head and shoulders were inside the hollow log, his back end sticking out, when a loud rattling startled him. He spun around, then froze. Three large rattlesnakes hissed at him from only a few feet away.

  “Well, what have we here?” the middle one said.

  “You don’t sssuppossse thisss isss the heir?” another asked, rattling loudly.


  Jonah wanted to scoot deeper into the log but couldn’t. He was trapped.

  “The massster sssaid to kill any creature we sssee!”

  Jonah gasped as they poised to strike. As they pulled back their diamond heads, a blur passed through Jonah’s peripheral vision and something scratched the top of log above him. Two of the rattlesnakes fell immediately, their guts hanging out from long slits down their sides. Dying in agony, their rattles shook uncontrollably. The remaining snake’s brown diamond-head darted around, then looked right at Jonah. It angrily slithered away from its two dead partners and went right toward the pug, causing Jonah to curl up with fear. The snake slithered over the fallen log and hissed loudly. Jonah trembled, listening to the snake and something growling angrily back. Then he heard the rustling of dead leaves, and all went quiet.

  The pug didn’t know what to do. He couldn’t wait in that fallen tree for whatever was out there to come and kill him. He decided to run and jumped out of the log. He heard another hiss behind the log and his curiosity got the best of him. He cautiously moved farther down the rotted log, stood on his hind legs, and looked over the faded, dark-green bark. He wasn’t prepared to see the rattlesnake squirming as it hissed at its captor. A small gray hand squeezed the snake tightly around its neck. The fierce little raccoon stared into the snake’s evil eyes for a long moment, growling. Then, in an instant, the raccoon freed one of his hands and slashed his claws down the belly of his squirming victim. The rattle shook loudly as guts fell out of its yellow-scaled belly.

  Jonah’s eyes bulged in amazement. The raccoon threw the still-squirming snake onto the leafy ground, looked at Jonah through his black mask, and growled softly. The pug took off running, stumbling over a few dead tree branches that lay across his path.

  The raccoon needed a few seconds to cool down from the killing he’d just made, then realized the dog he’d saved was running away. “Wait a minute! Get back here!” he called.

  Jonah heard him yelling as he raced through the trees. “Stop! I’m on your side!” Jonah kept running. “Ah, great!” The raccoon dashed after him, racing through the leaves. He yelped in horror as his aggressor came up behind him. “Stop!” He tried to pull away, but the raccoon leaped in the air and landed on top of him.

  “Helllllp!” Jonah shouted at the empty forest. “Help! Someone, please help!” The raccoon pinned him firmly as he squirmed.

  “Someone just did help! What’s the matter with you?” the raccoon panted.

  “Get off me!” Jonah yelled, wriggling underneath.

  “Okay, but if I let you go, you have to tell me why you’re out here.”

  “Why do you want to know?”

  The raccoon released him. “Do you realize where you’re headed, guy?!”

  “I’m not sure…” Jonah stared at the black mask.

  “So you don’t know you were headed right for the old barn where…” He sighed in frustration. “What’s a dog like you doing out here, anyway?”

  “I’m searching for my kingdom.” Jonah cleared his throat. “I’m a king!”

  “Y-you’re a what?!” The raccoon flapped his arms.

  “I’m a king. King Jonah. Only…I don’t know exactly where my kingdom is.” He looked down, embarrassed. “So, who are you?”

  The raccoon noticed the pug’s black foot and his mouth hung open. “Malcolm. My name’s Mal.… Are you by any chance King Pugsly’s—”

  “Pugsly! Yes, yes! He was my dad!” His tail sprung up and wagged happily.

  Malcolm sighed in relief. “Oh, wow! King Jonah, you…you wouldn’t believe how honored I am to meet you.” The raccoon bowed.

  “Thank you, Malcolm. And thank you for saving my life back there. You handled those snakes quite impressively.”

  Malcolm’s face changed from joy to anger as he thought about the rattlesnakes. “I…hate…snakes!” The raccoon breathed furiously through his little nose.

  “Um…okay. Well, I hate ‘em, too. They even killed my owner and her—”

  “They killed my brother.” Malcolm turned around to collect himself.

  “Oh, I’m sorry to hear that, Malcolm.” Jonah bowed his head in respect.

  “Sorry to hear about your owner, King Jonah.” Malcolm’s back was still turned.

  “Well, she was kind of a—Thank you, Malcolm.” Jonah faintly smiled.

  “So, you’re looking for your kingdom,” Malcolm put his hands together, “yet you don’t know where it is?”

  “It’s a little more complicated than it sounds.” Jonah tried to sound sincere. “See, yesterday a human boy came— Actually, let me go back further than that. Several days ago my owner gave me a collar, which I guess was a very special collar—”

  “Did it have a silvery-blue tag hanging from it?” Malcolm’s eyes were wide.

  “Yes! That’s the one! How did you know?!”

  “Because my brother and I got it back from the crows that stole it from…King Benjamin!”

  “King Benjamin? Who’s that?”

  “You’re the king of this kingdom and you don’t know who King Benjamin is? Geez, I must’ve been gone longer than I thought!” Malcolm shook his head.

  “Well, okay let me continue. So I was confronted by a buzzard who asked me if I was the king and I said I was. He then flew—”

  “Psh, buzzards…” Malcolm coolly interrupted.

  “—off. Yesterday I was outside cooling in the shade by my owner’s house and I heard her cat—”

  “I hate cats…”

  “Yeah, me too.” Jonah tried to remember where he was in his story. “Oh, and I heard her cat scream! I ran up on the porch and looked in, but I could only see my owner sitting in her chair. The screen on her door was hanging off. Then I heard rattling and knew that a snake had gotten inside the house. A buzzard flew overhead and I jumped into my hiding hole under the porch and stayed there. I heard the buzzard ask the snake, ‘Did you find the heir?’ But the other said, ‘He’s already gone.’ What’s crazier is once I knew they were leaving I peeked out from the hole and saw the buzzard flying off with the snake in its claws!”

  “Whoa! The snakes must be using the buzzards to move around!” Malcolm was amazed, then whispered to himself, “Hmmm, I bet they stole that idea from me!”

  “So I got back up on the porch and barked at my owner. She never turned around. I knew she was already dead, so I went back under the porch and stayed, just in case the snake came back for me.”

  “Jonah… King Jonah, I’m so sorry you had to see that.… Now, tell me about this human.”

  “Oh, and this is the most incredible thing of all! Later that afternoon this boy comes onto the porch and goes inside the house to talk to my owner. He then runs out and turns around to find me under the porch. Then he grabs me and takes the collar off of my neck. I’m yelling at him and he talks back to me…the human could understand me!”

  “That, my friend, was King Benjamin.” Malcolm smiled at the dumbfounded pug.

  “As he left he told me the collar belongs to King Pugsly’s heir. I hadn’t heard his name in so long, I was confused… and a little shaken. I was talking to a human boy!”

  “Yeah, I was pretty surprised when I first heard him myself.”

  “Well, I tried to follow him, but he was going too fast. He told me he was going back to the kingdom. So I’ve been looking for it for the past day, but as you now know, I don’t know where it is.”

  Malcolm took a deep breath and exhaled with satisfaction. “King Jonah, I will help you find this kingdom. It’s been too long since I saw King Benjamin, Paco, and the others, and I have some explaining to do.”

  Malcolm and Jonah walked together through the woods. At the raccoon’s request, they went in the opposite direction of the old ivy-covered barn.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  A Sight for Slit Eyes

  BENJAMIN FINISHED DRESSED for school and grabbed his backpack. His mom was alone at the kitchen table.

  “You’re up early!” Carol
took a long sip of mocha from her mug.

  “Did Dad already leave?” Benjamin asked.

  “Yes, and I’m about to. I have to help down at the church office. Then I need to check and make sure we have the park reserved for Sunday.”

  “The Harvest Home Festival is Sunday. What do you need the park for?”

  “You already forgot!” Carol rolled her eyes. “It’s time for our fall family reunion.”

  “What? I want to go to the Harvest Home Festival!” Benjamin knew Jessica would be there and hated the thought of not seeing her in her Watermelon Queen dress.

  “The reunion is in the afternoon, Ben.”

  “Do I have to go?”

  “Yes! Everybody wants to see you!”

  “They all say ‘hi’ and then never talk to me again.” Benjamin looked at his mom’s offended face. “Will cousin Jon be there?”

  “Yes. Their family is coming, too.”

  “Alright then, I can’t wait.” Benjamin stoically gave his mom a fake smile.

  She put down her empty coffee mug and left the kitchen. “Okay, I’m leaving. Have a good day at school. I’ll see you when you get home.”

  “Bye.”

  He heard her close the front door and went to the window to watch her leave the driveway. He was surprised to see the fog that had rolled in. He looked at the hallway clock. He still had half an hour before the school bus showed up. That’s more than enough time for me to go to the kingdom. He opened the front door and felt a cool breeze caress him. I hope it’s warmer inside the cave! The pond looked eerie as wisps of cold fog slowly danced off it.

  THE EARLY MORNING DAMPNESS from the ground chilled the rattlesnakes’ bellies as they slithered through the forest. Siloam trailed off from the others as they made their way to the barn. “I will meet back up with you after a while. Keep looking for the heir. He could be anywhere!”