The Endless Lake

by Erin Hunter

  Storm yapped in shock, turning to Lucky. “That doesn’t make any sense. They have no quarrel. They don’t even disagree about who should be Alpha!”

  Lucky didn’t know what to say. Twitch and Splash were fronting up to each other, treading a slow circle as the other dogs stepped back to give them space.

  Storm grew more agitated. She pawed Lucky’s leg. “Are you letting them do this? They’re going to fight just for the sake of fighting! I thought it was supposed to be a last resort!”

  Lucky frowned. “Storm’s right. Twitch, this is madness.”

  The long-eared dog did not respond, his eyes locked on Splash, who had drawn to a halt opposite him. Silence fell among the group of dogs as Twitch lowered onto his haunches, preparing to pounce.

  Without warning, Splash dropped to the ground and rolled onto his back with his legs in the air.

  Twitch nodded in understanding before hopping up so that his one front paw rested on Splash’s belly. “I accept your submission.” He dropped back and licked his forepaw.

  Splash climbed to his feet. “Thank you, Alpha.”

  Martha had been watching at a distance. Now she stepped forward, tail wagging. “Well done, Twitch.” At this, all the dogs surged toward him, bowing and yapping their congratulations.

  Lucky held back a moment. He was happy that there’d been no fight, and his tail swished, but the challenge left him puzzled. He had always imagined that a battle for Alpha would be a violent one. He couldn’t picture the Wild Pack’s Alpha giving up power without a fight.

  Watching Splash and the other dogs in Twitch’s new Pack, Lucky decided that the odd bunch was no longer dangerous. The ritual may have been pointless, but it clearly pleased Twitch’s Pack, who were nuzzling him and barking.

  Lucky went to join them. “Good luck, Twitch.”

  The long-eared dog nodded. “You too. Please tell Spring that I’m sorry. I hope I will see her again one day.”

  Lucky tapped Twitch’s nose with his own. “Of course,” he murmured.

  Moon was the last to say good-bye. “You are a loyal and resilient dog, Twitch, and you’ll make a great leader. May the Spirit Dogs be with you always.” She turned, her tail low, and made her way back to the riverbank. The Wild Dogs joined her, sniffing for traces of their Pack. Trailing at the rear, Lucky could still hear the yips of excitement from Twitch’s Pack as they fell out of sight beyond the bramblebush.

  Lucky trod along the riverbank, shaking the mud from his paws. He had drifted to the lead and was tracking the path of the Wild Pack on the salty air. His nose crinkled. Why does the wind smell so strange? And it’s growing stronger. . . .

  Looking over his shoulder, he saw Bella and Moon lagging behind him, just ahead of Martha and Storm. The dogs walked in silence as the Sun-Dog climbed over the river. Fiery led the hunting party. Now it’s like we have no leader. And even Twitch has left us. . . . His head dipped as he walked, and his tail hung behind him. He knew that Twitch was right to stay with Terror’s old Pack, but he couldn’t help feeling abandoned. His eyes trailed over the rugged grass and the valley beyond it. The world seemed very large and dangerous.

  Unlike the dogs, the river charged along restlessly, swelling and growing more turbulent. With a shudder, Lucky saw a leaf fall on the surface of the water, spinning before it sank from view in a curl of white froth.

  Distracted by the leaf, Lucky stumbled on a pebble. He yelped and examined his forepaw. It wasn’t hurt, but he cocked his head to one side as he saw that tiny yellow-and-white grains had become buried beneath his claws and clung to his paw pad. He looked up. The ground was changing, growing harder, and there were piles of the grains between the rocks and the plants.

  Bella drew alongside him. “It’s sand.”

  Lucky gnawed at the small grains. It was hard to get rid of them. “Yes . . . you don’t usually find it at a riverbank, do you?”

  Bella scratched at the ground, etching shallow grooves. “I don’t know; I’ve only seen it in the Leashed pup place when my longpaws took me to the dog park. There’s so much of it here. . . .”

  Lucky wrinkled his nose. “And the smell. It’s really salty.” It seemed to be coming in waves, rising on the freezing wind.

  As the dogs advanced along the riverbank, the peaks and valleys that ran alongside them became steadily duller. The earth was no longer coated in a rich green pelt. Long, scraggy grass burst through bald patches of yellow earth. Lucky could only see a couple of low trees in the distance.

  Gazing up, he saw that the sky was a twisting mass of pale gray clouds.

  “Where are the birds?” asked Martha.

  Lucky frowned. The water-dog was right; it was silent overhead. He didn’t like it. . . . It felt eerie without their constant twitter.

  “Moon, you grew up as a Wild Dog,” said Bella. “Have you ever been somewhere like this before?”

  The Farm Dog shook her silky head. “Nowhere like it,” she murmured.

  A high-pitched whickering made them jump. Lucky spun around, ears pricked up.

  Storm’s hackles were raised, her eyes bulging and her teeth bared. “What was that?” she snarled.

  No dog replied. They stood low to the bank, preparing to run.

  Martha’s dark eyes glittered. “It doesn’t sound angry. . . .”

  Lucky lowered himself to the ground. He could feel the faint tremors of hard paws drumming against the earth. “Whatever it is, it’s coming closer.”

  A huge brown creature galloped over the scraggy grasses. It was even taller than Martha, with bony legs, a muscular body, and a narrow face. Its fur was short and glossy, except for the billowing hair that ran down its long neck and its tail, which swished in the salty wind. Its ears twisted forward and backward as it stopped at the edge of the river, blowing steam from its flaring nostrils. Despite the sharp cold, streams of sweat ran over its flanks. It sank its great head to drink.

  The scent of its peppery fur carried on the air. Lucky’s belly rumbled.

  “It smells delicious,” whispered Bella, as though reading his thoughts.

  Storm nodded, her tongue hanging out. “Maybe we could catch it.”

  Unlikely! thought Lucky. It could easily outrun us.

  Moon looked doubtful. “It looks a bit like an enormous deer, and deer are hard to catch even in the forest. Look at the size of it—we’d never be able to bring it down.”

  Martha licked her chops. “But such a feast. I don’t think it’s a meat eater. It smells . . . grassy. Like rabbit, but richer somehow. Even its ears look a little rabbitlike. I bet it would be tasty!”

  Lucky’s eyes trailed down the animal’s bony legs. “It does smell delicious. But it looks powerful. . . . I bet it could give a mighty kick.” The dogs took in the creature’s muscular thighs, its firm legs, and its stumpy, round paws, which seemed to be cut from rock.

  “We’d be okay,” Storm yipped. “We’re fast, and we work as a team.”

  Martha gave the young dog a calming lick. “I think Lucky’s right: Those paws look deadly. And did you see the speed it came over the valley? It’s much quicker than we are.”

  Storm snorted but didn’t reply. The strange animal had finished drinking and was pulling up mouthfuls of scraggy grass with square teeth. Its rabbit ears swiveled around. A large brown eye rested on the dogs, and it reared with a whicker, turning to gallop downstream along the riverbank. It kicked up the grainy earth with its paws, masking its legs in a cloud of sand. Soon it had loped behind a small hill and vanished from view.

  “Let’s get it!” howled Storm, springing forward and racing along the bank.

  “Wait!” snapped Bella. “Martha’s right: We could never catch it.”

  Storm ignored her, disappearing around the hill.

  “Storm!” barked Lucky, sprinting after her. His fur rose along his back and his lip twitched with anger. Can’t that pup ever listen? Does she have to go charging off every time? A sharp nip is what she needs! When I catch her—

>   Lucky rounded the hill and scrambled to a stop. Storm was standing just ahead, body stiff and head cocked. The giant animal was already a distant dot on the horizon. Lucky looked beyond it with a shocked gasp. What is this place?

  All traces of soil had disappeared from the grainy earth, which fanned out in all directions in soft yellow waves. The tang of salt stung his nostrils and he sneezed.

  Storm’s tail hung down between her legs. “The sand . . . it just goes on and on.”

  Lucky nodded, his frustration at the young Fierce Dog forgotten. He had never seen anything like it. There were no trees here, no fields or flowers. Maybe we’ve reached the end of the world . . . a place beyond the reach of the Forest-Dog. Maybe even the Earth-Dog has no power here. Has every Spirit Dog abandoned us? His tail wound around his flank guiltily. Was it fair to lose faith in the Spirit Dogs after all they had done for him?

  Martha appeared over the hill with Bella and Moon just behind her. “Look!” she barked. She was peering past Lucky. “In the distance.”

  Lucky blinked. At first he couldn’t see anything but sand. Then he noticed movement. It was a shifting mass of blue.

  Martha’s black tail swished uncertainly. “The river ran into . . . a lake.”

  Moon took a step forward, her black-and-white paws sinking on the soft ground. “Not just a lake . . . It isn’t like any others I’ve ever seen. It looks endless. . . .”

  With a quiver of fear, Lucky realized Moon was right. No land could be seen beyond the shimmering blue. At the bottom of the hill, great waves crashed angrily over the sand. Then they sprang from the bank in a burst of froth and rolled away forever.

  CHAPTER THREE

  The dogs made their way to the waterfront. Lucky struggled to take in the strange, salty world of the Endless Lake. His paws sank against sand that clung to his fur and between his paw pads. Large white birds looped over the water, screeching as they rode the icy wind. Below them surged white-capped waves, dissolving into the sky.

  “What is this place?” whined Moon. Her black-and-white ears twitched nervously, her brown eyes wide.

  Lucky sniffed the sand. All he could smell was salt. The end of the world . . . a place beyond the reach of the Spirit Dogs. He thought better of sharing his fears. It would only scare them, and Moon had been through enough already. “I’m not sure,” he said instead. It was true.

  The Endless Lake sprawled in all directions. The giant ripples that ran over its surface reminded Lucky of those on the lake where the Wild and Leashed Dogs had set up camp the first night the Packs had come together. But these were much more powerful, rising and falling by some invisible force. His ears flicked back at the crash and roar of the waves.

  The ground along the bank was dark and sodden, even harder to walk on than the dry yellow hills. Storm pranced along it, leaving imprints of her small, round paws.

  “Careful, Storm, not too close,” warned Lucky.

  A moment later, the water burst over the sand and Storm leaped back. It ran over her paws with a hiss of white foam and slid away, sucking a layer of sodden sand as it went. Storm scampered onto the dry earth. She licked her paws and spat out the yellow grains with a grimace. No trace of her paw prints remained on the wet sand.

  Martha approached the bank and stood gazing out over the Endless Lake, letting the icy water flow over her paws. Lucky wondered if she was trying to connect with the River-Dog. Lucky doubted even she could control this much water.

  If she is even here . . .

  Bella shook out her fur. “Well, the Pack must be close!” she declared with a cheerful wag of her tail.

  Moon’s ears pricked up. “Really, you think so?”

  “I do! Why wouldn’t they settle by an endless source of water?” She dipped her muzzle to drink and pulled away with a whine. “It’s horrible! Salty, undrinkable!”

  Lucky stepped alongside her and sniffed the water gingerly. His whiskers bristled. He didn’t think it was poisoned like the river near the longpaw city, but it was far too salty to drink. Watching the frothy, white water draw back from the sand, he noticed that the ground was beginning to freeze. The wet sand glistened with frost, growing brittle, reminding Lucky that they had to find somewhere warmer and drier to avoid getting sick from the cold.

  He turned to the others. “We should keep moving.”

  “I can’t smell the Pack anymore,” whined Moon. “I can’t smell anything except salt!”

  Lucky took a deep sniff. Moon was right: The air that rose off the Endless Lake masked everything. He tried again. Got it! He’d caught a faint whiff of Alpha’s musky scent. “This way!” Lucky barked.

  As the dogs clambered over the sandy earth, Lucky picked up a sweet scent that made his whiskers tingle and his chest fill with warmth. His tail gave a quick, involuntary wag. It would be great to see the Pack again, Lucky told himself. He tried to picture his old friend Mickey and his Leashed companions. He reminded himself of the original Wild Dogs like Snap and Spring. He thought of Moon’s pups, Thorn and Beetle, with their bright, eager eyes.

  But it was Sweet he pictured as he climbed a sand dune, his fur bristling with anticipation.

  “The air off the water is freezing,” murmured Bella.

  Lucky snapped out of his thoughts. It was true. The icy wind rushed over the Endless Lake and seemed to slip beneath his coat to chill his blood. They trailed along the bank of the Endless Lake, where the sand was flatter. Water surged and fell to one side of them; on the other the sand rose in sweeping hills.

  Moon’s tail shot straight behind her. “What’s that?”

  Lucky gazed into the distance. A metal pole jutted out of the sand with a jumble of snaking wires. He couldn’t imagine what purpose it had once served. He spotted one of the hard objects that longpaws liked to sit on. It was covered in sand and one of its four thin legs had collapsed in on itself. “It’s like the city,” he whined as the dogs approached. There was even a loudcage, overturned on its back in the middle of a sand dune. Water, perhaps from the Endless Lake, had gathered behind its clear-stone eyes, and its body was caked in the fine yellow grains.

  Lucky was puzzled. “There’s probably a longpaw camp nearby. A city or something like it.” He couldn’t understand how these longpaw objects had found their way onto the sand. They must have been thrown a long way by the force of the Big Growl.

  As they padded along the sand, the contours of a town appeared on the horizon, just as Lucky had predicted. Running along its outskirts was a longpaw camp, but it wasn’t like any that Lucky had seen before. It was built on a huge wooden platform that overhung the Endless Lake. Broken buildings ran along it, strange angles against the bright, cold sky.

  The dogs stopped to stare.

  “What are those twisty things?” asked Storm.

  Giant metal loops spun behind the buildings at the far end of the wooden platform, ridged like tracks.

  “Are those loudcages?” asked Martha.

  Lucky squinted. Martha was right: Small loudcages clung to the metal tracks. “They remind me of those giant loudcages that traveled back and forth over part of the city,” he told her. He tried to remember. “They moved about on tracks and longpaws climbed in and out of them when they stopped.”

  “I’ve never heard of anything like that,” said Bella, throwing him a questioning look.

  Martha cocked her head. “These tracks don’t go anywhere. . . . I don’t see why a longpaw would want to move around and around in circles.”

  “Circles in the sky!” yelped Bella. “Maybe they were hunting birds up there. Have you seen those huge white birds above us?”

  Lucky looked up. It was true: There were several enormous white birds flying over the water of the Endless Lake. He felt a pang of hunger, but the birds were higher than any dog could jump. They’d never catch one unless it landed right in front of them. Storm’s eyes rose to the birds too, and she smacked her lips.

  Moon looked at Bella quizzically. “It doesn’t make much sense.
But then, nothing the longpaws were up to ever did.”

  Bella sniffed haughtily. “I’m not sure about that. Just because you don’t understand why somebody does something doesn’t mean there’s no reason for their actions. The longpaws were good hunters. I never had to find any food for myself back when I was a Leashed Dog. If longpaws were riding their loudcages in the sky, there must have been a good reason.”

  Moon didn’t respond, but her tail stiffened and her ears flattened. Lucky could guess what she was thinking: Once a Leashed Dog, always a Leashed Dog. He watched nervously, hoping that the tired dogs wouldn’t start squabbling.

  Large, gentle Martha ignored the tension. She blinked at the long wooden platform with its broken buildings. “I can smell the Pack,” she murmured quietly.

  Lucky sniffed the air. She was right—the scent of Alpha and the others was growing stronger. “Come on,” he barked, his tail wagging. They started again toward the wooden platform. The looping tracks curved into the air, creaking in the icy breeze.

  “Are you sure it’s safe?” Moon eyed the worn platform with its damaged buildings.

  She’s been a Wild Dog all her life. She won’t want to be anywhere near longpaws and their towns and cities, thought Lucky. Surely the same was true of Alpha, yet the half wolf’s scent led him closer to the wooden platform. As they drew closer, Lucky could see that the platform balanced above the water on long wooden legs. The waves of the Endless Lake lashed against these, swirling and breaking in angry explosions of mist.

  Moon was watching too. She stopped in her tracks, one forepaw raised. “We’re not going onto it, are we, Lucky? I can’t even smell the Pack anymore. Alpha won’t have gone there. He wouldn’t want anything to do with longpaws and their strange camps. Don’t you remember how keen he was to leave that longpaw settlement?”

  Lucky lowered his muzzle and sniffed the sand at his paws, trying to ignore the smell of salt that clung to everything. Moon was right. Alpha’s scent had vanished on the air. It didn’t make sense. Unless . . .