I was originally sitting down to write chapter three of Unusual Beginnings when I realized that this was my last chance to write a fic for the Beka Cooper series before Mastiff came out with new canon. I hope you enjoy a little bit of Beka and Ersken in celebration of the long awaited book. I just love writing him.
BTW- I know that the book was released on October 25th and that this is posted after the release but my copy won't ship until November 1st when another book I ordered is released as well. I have to wait in order to keep my free shipping. =)
Disclaimer: all characters are property of Tammy. I'm just borrowing them for a bit. No money will be made off of this fic even though I do need it. Alas, no one would want to buy it so why set myself up for disappointment? (Not to mention it would be illegal and immoral.)
Gods curse it. It just had to be one of those nights where nothing went right. And I mean nothing.
It had all began when I was summoned down to the kennel on what should have been an evening off.
Tunstall had been ordered to get another check up with the healers after he complained about his aching legs after one of our first watches together as a two dog team. Only Goodwin would take him seriously enough to send him to the healers, although thinking about it now it was probably just to get him to shut his gob.
She seems to bark louder now that she is off the streets and behind a desk. Kora tells me that she's probably just trying to not play favorites and Kora can be rather wise so I'll believe her on this.
Back to the watch, I was getting ready for what was most likely to be a boring evening at home with nothing to do but clean since Pounce was off with his stars again and Kora and Aniki were doing who knows what at the Court of the Rouge, when a messenger arrived with a summons to the kennel.
Lately it seemed as if we just weren't getting as many puppies wanting to train as we used to and our numbers were dwindling. Goodwin said not to worry because these things come and go in phases but I can't help it. We have fewer dogs to do the same amount of work that always needs to be done and we are being stretched real thin.
I know I'm not the only one who feels this way, others have been whispering about it to.
It's also why I was lucky to have and extra day off thanks to Tunstall. Not that it lasted of course.
When I finally arrived down at the kennel, that's when everything really started to go wrong. It appeared that Birch's father had died and he had to take a leave of absence for a couple of days to straighten out his affairs, leaving Ersken without a partner.
And what do you know! I'm also a dog without a partner!
Not that I don't want to work with Ersken mind you, it's just that Goodwin had already ordered some dogs to take over Tunstall's and my evening route meaning that I would have to go with Ersken on his. As much as I hate to admit it, I don't know the entire city as well as I should and I hate having to walk on new routes where I don't know all of the nooks and crannies. Not to mention I'm not sure if I have any birdies to access in this area.
It was rather awkward for Ersken as well, seeing as he wasn't used to being paired with a scent hound and that does take some getting used to. She has to take care of her delicate business much more often than we mere humans and is very picky about where she goes.
Her highness shouldn't have to squat in a dirty gutter of course. Why can't she be like Pounce and just make it all disappear?
However we took our orders from Goodwin and went on our way. We are good friends, having spent a year together in the Puppy Barracks along with having breakfast together every morning and that at least made it a bit easier. At least we don't have to go through the "getting to know your history" part. Nope, we get to skip ahead to the "what type of dog are you" section.
After all, most of us seem to become different people when we're on duty. I become braver and able to look people in the eyes while Ersken, as I had found out when I was paired with Goodwin and Tunstall still, became tough.
And I mean tough. I know I personally wouldn't have messed with him when I was living in Mutt Piddle Lane. There are just some dogs you don't mess with, no matter what their age is.
I hope to become one of those dogs myself one day. Tunstall would say I already am, what with the Terrier and Bloodhound names following me everywhere I go in uniform, but I still feel like there is more I need to do before I have actually earned it.
Tunstall would then ask "when will it ever be enough?" and I have no answer to that. Maybe it never will be. Until then, I really need to keep Tunstall out of my head. I just recently managed to push the Goodwin inside me over to a corner. Maybe Tunstall can join her there?
As Ersken and I started out of the kennel, Achoo bouncing a bit ahead with the excitement only a dog could have for new smells of human waste, I had already started off on the wrong foot. Almost literally.
My usual route makes me go to the left, Ersken to the right, and wouldn't you know it, that habit snuck up on me and made me turn left. Only Ersken yelling my name, much to my confusion at first corrected that error.
So, once again I find myself leaving the kennel to the sounds of laughter.
"So the Bloodhound doesn't know her left paw from her right?" followed by more laughter and more shouts of who even know what.
Turning beet red I quickly followed Ersken on his route with my eyes glued to the cobblestones below my boots.
I don't feel the need to go into the details of the first half of the route. Me slipping on a fruit peel isn't that important. It isn't like this journal is for anything work related. Just personal things.
I'll probably feel guilty and write about all that tomorrow. It's not as bad as the fish puppy incident. At least Ersken was the only witness.
Once again we continued on our walk.
We stopped a couple of low level pickpockets and filchers. A nice change of pace from the purse switchers Goodwin and I were dealing with in Port Caynn. In a way they're a bit more honest.
Goodwin would box my ears for that comment.
Luckily the watch was going rather smooth for the two of us and I had commented as much when Ersken all of a sudden got a mischievous smirk on his face.
"Don't you worry Beka, the troublesome part is about to come. This is Birch's favorite part of the watch."
I got a bad feeling in my gut. As we rounded a corner the Barrels Bottom came into view and after tonight I agree with Tunstall and Goodwin, the place needs to be burned down.
I'm told it's always bad in there but tonight was absolutely atrocious. I'm still shaking thinking about it.
Tonight it went beyond rowdy, it was almost an outright riot.
Seats and benches were flying, mots were trying to escape the fight out of side doors while screaming, and in the center of it all is a big burly Scanran talking dirty about the Rouge.
Now, in every town there is always a group of folks who don't like their Rouge but they aren't usually so vocal about it. It's the fear that the Rouge will decide to take you down.
But it didn't appear to matter to this Scanran. When you're almost seven feet tall and built like one of those exotic elephants that sometimes travel to through Corus in the small circuses, these things are rather insignificant to you.
It also probably helped that he'd had more than just a couple of drinks, was holding a club and a pile of bodies was piling up around him.
Ersken and I look at each other amidst the rush of people fleeing and despite the fact that we'd been partners for less than an entire watch, immediately both grabbed our batons and blew our whistles for help.
People were getting hurt and possibly killed, we had no choice but to start to intervene.
We began to push our way through the door. Knocking people to side when needed. I was still blowing my whistle as loud as I could and Ersken was trying to yell over the roar of the crowd for people to move to the side and get the dogs.
When we were finally approaching the center of the room after wading through bodies and debris the entire situation finally hit us. We had been in nothing like this before and if help didn't come soon this was going to be our last watch ever before we moved onto the Black Gods realm.
Like heck I'm going to piggy back on a pigeon.
I'm ashamed to admit that what happened is foggy in my head. All I really remember is the brute going to reach and grab one of the mots who worked as a waitress by her neck which was so thin he would snap it in half.
Once again I stepped in without thinking and without my partner and no Lady Sabine to come to the rescue.
Luckily back up arrived at this moment for the brute had decided to forget the girl and come after me instead and like most idiots, the first thing he did grab for my braid and the sharp spikes of strap entwined inside of it.
The yowl he emitted after that would have put Pounce to shame as he not only receive a punctured hand but also, I believe, a good sized bite taken out of his lower leg as Achoo finally found a good opening.
All I know for certain is that for a brief moment I was airborne and I'm not sure who caught me.
The rest is still a blur. For all I've been working in the streets for over a year I am still new at this job. Ersken and I both still to green and this was something we really needed a senior dog to manage this. All we could do was keep as many people alive as possible as well as ourselves.
At some point the fight was broken up and Ersken and I transported back to the kennel to meet with Goodwin and give a jumbled verbal report.
She ordered us to infirmary for some calming tea which I thankfully drank quickly, scalding my tongue.
It was at some point that Goodwin told us she didn't want us wandering home alone and a decision was made that Ersken would sleep in my rooms for tonight and in the morning we would put our heads together to pull together the most accurate written report for her that we could along with a copy for my lord.
At last Ersken and I stumbled into my small room with Achoo on our heels and about to collapse on the floor. I made myself go quickly fill up a bowl of water for her despite my own weariness.
I never have and never will meet a more amazing hound than her.
It was towards the end of summer but the days had yet to cool down and despite the window being thrown open as wide as possible there wasn't much of a breeze coming in to cool us down.
Still shaken Ersken and I decided to go ahead and prepare to sleep. I left for the corner of my room in order to change into a light pair of linens that would help to keep me cool and collect my spare blankets and a pillow for Ersken to use for a bed as he took out his outer uniform leaving him in just his undershirt and… well…
Let me just say since I'm the only person who reads this, that Dog work definitely agrees with Ersken seeing as how he had definitely changed over the last year. I can see why Kora keeps him around.
Rumor has it they're even going to be looking for a house together but I haven't asked or heard anything from my birdies. It takes a special sort of Dog to be able to live with a rat, even one as nice as Kora. It always makes me a bit uneasy not knowing what it is she does for Rosto or what her role in the Court of the Rouge is.
I have a feeling it's not just laundry and spots but perhaps it's better for me to not know. I pray the time never comes when we find ourselves on opposite sides of the law for as much as I hate to admit it, I'm not entirely sure what I would do.
As I was starting to arrange the blankets on the floor for him, Ersken began rummaging through my cupboards as we all use to do when breakfast was served in the middle of my floor, for something to drink when he found a bottle of some alcoholic drink that I had forgotten Nestor had sent me with a small note attached.
It was apparently supposed to taste like my favorite kind of apples and was the all the rage in Port Caynn. I hadn't yet decided if I was going to drink it or not.
The decision however was made for me as Ersken poured two glasses. No need for that to go to waste and it's not like I'm drinking in public. I'll just have to remind myself to sip it slowly and limit my number of glasses.
At first the two of us were completely silent, sipping our drinks on the edge of my bed as we thought about what had happened this evening. Just when I was trying to come up with something to say, Ersken beat me to it.
"I'm exhausted but I'm not sure I could get to sleep right now." He said as he refilled his glass and topped mine.
I just nodded my head in agreement and said "we're just lucky we didn't get hurt too bad."
It was Ersken's turn to nod.
That's one of the things I've always liked about him. He's a cove who knows how to keep quiet.
"I suppose we should spend this time writing the report instead of waiting for the morning?" he quietly asked.
"I really don't want to think about that right now." I stated as a shook my head. Sometimes even I need a chance to recuperate.
By this point we could hear Achoo's snores from across the room. You know she's exhausted when she's not begging for food or a sip of whatever you're drinking.
Ersken gave a tiny smile at the sound and refilled our glasses once again.
I was beginning to forget how many times my glass had been refilled and the bottle was on the other side of Ersken's leg so I couldn't see how far down it was.
I suppose it was because I trust Ersken that allowed myself to drink so much. Well, that and the fact that I could hardly taste the alcohol in the drink. Plus the bottle is pretty and I had been debating just emptying it into another container so that I could use it for the gilly flowers often leaves outside my door.
How did he find out my weakness for those flowers so quickly? It's hard for a mot to say no to a cove who gives continually gives her bunches of her favorite flowers.
Well, that and the fact that my peaches still tingle when he's around. Not that he ever needs to find that out. A rat is still a rat and I've sworn to never go with someone crooked. Plus, when I'm with a cove I'd better be his only one. Sharing may have been fine for Aniki and Kora but it's not for me.
Granny Fern has always warned me that it's the fruity drinks that sneak up on a mot and an make her lose her skirts quickly. This night proved that she was correct for we both awoke the next morning snuggled in my bed with the bottle resting between us completely empty. I guess it was something about not noticing how much alcohol you're drinking since the other flavors are so overpowering.
The only good thing is that I wasn't wearing any skirts so there were none for me to use. I will stick with my usual drinks from now on.
I think that before we both drifted off into our deep slumber we had been talking about where Pounce was but I will never be certain of that. It also isn't a topic I feel the need to talk about with Ersken, although he is a great guy.
Only the fact that we were both still clothed in what we had been wearing last night saved us from wondering what else we had done.
If anything had happened, I don't think I could have looked at Kora in the eyes again and I'm not sure there would be anything left of Ersken but a scorch mark on the floor and I would have missed him.
The headache that came with the waking didn't make anything easier not to mention it was still as hot as an oven in my room. I knew there was no way we could write up our report like this and so I did the only thing I could.
I got up and forced myself over to Kora's room for a cure for both Ersken and me.
Kora was quick to find bottle we needed and I was able to go back across the hall before Ersken even woke up. I swear as I was closing Kora's door I heard laughter. I guess everyone knows that I never drink. As a matter of fact, I hadn't touched alcohol since the last time I had been with Dale.
Now that had been wonderful evening.
Once Ersken awoke and drank his potion, few words were exchanged outside of statements to put into our report.
Hopefully after this is done we will never have to speak of this again or relive a similar moment but I doubt that life will work out like that.
It just never seems to.
It's time to go meet everyone for breakfast.
Please leave a review.
Thank you for reading,
Ranna