ally2-23: Oops! I should have made this clearer: this is set around the year 2995 of the Third Age, before the War of the Ring. Sorry!
Chapter 2
Strangers
There was the sound of harsh laughter, though it was not the soldiers: their voices were more musical than this. And there was a strange smell, so I knew it was them: Orcs. It was the kind of reek that made the air stick in your throat and my sensitive nose curled at the stench. The hair on Wulfsef's back stood up and he looked more wild then I had ever seen him.
Môder lost all trace of weariness in the face of danger, and she also looked fearsome.
Aldo went for his sword and we all fled through the back door. He was not a foolish man. He knew we were no match for so many. Yet we were too late. They caught up with us and we fought.
A howl escaped my throat as I saw an arrow pierce Aldo's side. I could smell his biter blood. I went to his side while Môder and Wulfsef fought on.
'Go, Môdig. Be swift.' Aldo whispered as he patted my head one last time.
'Go!' Môder barked 'Do as he said.'
But I needed to see what happened. I hid in a pile of rocks nearby. I saw Môder's broken body fall beside her beloved Aldo. I saw them being ripped to shreds. Wulfsef was lost somewhere in the throng of enemies. And then I did run, terror coursing through me.
I ran for days, and for days I dreamed I was being chased. I could still smell the blood. It was stuck in my nostrils. Poor Môder. I would miss her terribly.
Finally, I collapsed into a heaving pile of fur. My paws were torn and bleeding. Burs were matted into my fur. I felt that I would die. Yet I did not, and whether or no this was a kindness on the part of fate, I still cannot decide.
When the sun rose, I opened my eyes. I was surprised to find a city ahead- only a days walk away. And a walk was all I could hope to manage- if that. My feet burned and my limbs ached painfully. Somehow, I made it there. It was night again when I reached the city's walls, and I despaired that the gate was closed.
I could smell meat and all manner of foods which seemed delicious to me at this moment being cooked inside. Yet I was forced to wait, not knowing whether the guards were the type to kick a dog or be merciful and throw it a bone.
At dawn, the guards changed, and I risked being seen as I followed them inside. I followed a winding path through many houses, and I saw other hounds. I put my tail between my legs and slunk into the shadows 'neath a decrepit bush, not wanting to draw attention to myself in my injured state. From this hiding place, I took in my surroundings.
There were many soldiers riding well-groomed mounts this way and that. A ginger cat sat sunning itself upon a rose-framed windowsill across the way, and I quashed the instinct to sunder its aristocratic head from its body.
The most interesting thing of all was the young boy with his goat. Here was my chance. I hopped towards him pitifully and lay before his feet, offering him to scratch my side. He smiled and did so, saying,
'Hello, pretty girl,' and I sat up on my hind legs, begging. He squirted some goats milk into a depression in the ground, and watched as I lapped it up greedily. He did the same again, and left me to my own devices.
I found over the next few years that Edoras (for I had learnt that this was its name) would pause little, if at all, to help a stray animal, for they were struggling to feed their own mouths. And never had I seen so many stray dogs. I pitied those who had been born into this life, and who had never known a place by the fire with your master there to care for you. But I pitied myself more, for I had known these comforts and now would live in remembrance of those good times. I had little hope for myself.
In winter I missed Aldo most. I near froze and starved to death.
I lived in a corner of a crooked alleyway, where the leaves of a nearby tree had gathered to form a kind of bed. Yet in winter, the stone and leaf-littered alley turned cold and bit into me unforgivingly.
It was at this time that I gave birth to my first litter of pups. There was not much I could do for my babies. They didn't have a chance. It was too cold.
When all three of them died, I left that alley, pretending they weren't really stiff and cold, but sleeping. They hadn't even opened their eyes yet. They never saw me, Môdig, their mother. I swore never to return to that place.
All the dogs hated each other. They were all competitors for a common goal: food. I was not like them, but I learnt to be. I had to, to survive. I had to be twice as ruthless and twice as cunning.
The minute that child threw her bread-crust in the air, it was fair game. Several of us darted forward, yet I was the quicker and they dared not challenge me when I displayed my wolf traits. Today, I was the victor, yet tomorrow was always another story.
Life changed little after that. I got used to the hungry feeling that was never quite quenched, no matter how many an unwary man's meal I stole. I also learnt to hunt small game, as Ellen was once wont to do. It was more difficult than I had thought, for the vermin could weave through the debris in the street easier than I, and I began to respect my sister's sport better.
Perhaps I could have left the city for a solitary hunter's life outside its walls, yet the thought was too lonesome for me to consider at the time, and I missed my friends more than ever.
It was a night with no moon, the summer air settling heavily on my back as I tried to rest comfortably. I was by the city wall, curled up against its hard surface, where the sun never touched and the earth was still cool. And I knew. I just knew it was them.
That rumble in the distance. It was not summer lightening. It was the sound of iron-shod feet. And the smell…oh! It was worse than the rotting rat carcasses the cats left behind. The wind carried it to me like a gift of dreadful knowledge.
I howled and the man atop the gate hissed at me to be quiet. But I persisted, until he was about to silence me with arrows instead of words.
'Orcs!' the soldiers outside called, and the man forgot about me.
'Orcs! Orcs! Tell every man! Girt your swords!' he bellowed, ringing the large brass bell.
The sleepy city woke in a flurry of panic. I sat in the shadows and watched as archers perched atop the walls, arrows at the ready. A growl began in my throat. These creatures had slaughtered those I held dear. I wasn't sure if I was angry or petrified. I sat as still as stone. I could imagine that black wave approaching the city, the way it had the night Aldo and Môder were killed and Wulfsef disappeared. And then that wave broke upon the city.
Flaming arrows fell like shooting stars around me. The roofs of nearby houses caught alight, illuminating the scene about me eerily. Children were crying. Dogs were barking. But all this was muffled by the tremendous sound the Orcs were making. I wished I could be out there tearing those vile beings apart. If it weren't for them, I'd still be with Aldo and maybe my babies wouldn't have died.
By dawn, the battle was almost ended. The Rohirrim were finishing the last Orcs off. I delighted in the dying screams of my foes.
The dogs began to gather around the gate. I knew what they were thinking.
I watched them sprint onto the bloody field as the gate opened, and I followed.
They were a disgrace. I saw them consuming Orc-meat hungrily, but I had more pride than them. Leave the dirty business to the carrion-fowl, I thought as I screwed up my nose in disgust.
But worse than those eating Orc-meat, were those that dared to further defile the bodies of the soldiers.
A large, black dog, who was blind in one eye, perched himself atop the body of a fallen soldier and began to feast.
'Beast! Have you no pride?' I growled at him, sinking my teeth into his neck. He snapped at me and tried to shake me off. I went for his throat then. I could taste his blood. He howled in pain and cursed at me as I chased him from the body. Then, I left the chasing to the soldiers, and they left the orc bodies to us.
I went back into the city and starved, while my kin feasted on the unhallowed carcases.
