A/N: Chapter 13 of Ginga Densetsu Alayus. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters except my own. GDW belongs to the rightful owner.
Special thanks to the reviewers, I truly appreciate it.
Chapter 13: Blue's demise
Weed led his army down the snow covered path, kicking up small clouds of snow with his paws. They were making good process; over the next few days they would be at the town and from there take a train to the Alps.
"Weed, we have a straggler." Jerome ran up to inform him. Looking behind, he saw the outline of a large dog running up behind the pack. What surprised him was the speed; a dog with that size shouldn't be able to run at such speed would put a Settler to shame.
"Here, take the lead. I'll go check out this new guy. Hopefully he'll be our ally." Slowing down, Weed allowed the other dogs to pass him and he fell into step beside the new dog. "Hello there. What's your name?"
He's being unnaturally friendly. That's his biggest mistake. "My name? It's Rocket." Rocket replied, keeping his face in a neutral state. He cannot blow his cover and reveal the plot of killing the young leader. The Borzoi Brothers planned on kidnapping Weed from the start before Rocket thought up of a bigger plan. He ordered Missile and Jet to follow behind the group, keeping a respectable distance to not cause suspicion.
"Our biggest threat are those two German Shepherds that flank him." Rocket spoke to his brothers. "If we can eliminate one of them, stealing the leader would be a piece of cake."
"What is your strategy brother?" Missile asked. "How do you plan on getting rid of one?"
"I'll go join the group and make some friends. They are short on members so they'll accept me into the group. You two will follow close behind and when I give the signal, steal the kid. They won't know what hit them."
"Amazing planning brother, you're a genius!" Jet praised him. With that, Rocket took off after the army while Missile and Jet took another route, following them from the shadows.
"What made you come all this way to join our group?" Weed asked. He noticed that Rocket started spacing out but he didn't think it was anything bad. He wanted to know more about this stranger.
"Well I heard of you guys on my travels. You see…" Rocket proceeded to tell Weed a made-up story, well aware of weary looks from Jerome and Alayus. Both dogs thought that Rocket's presence wasn't just for coincidence. There was something fishy about him.
"I have a bad feeling about that new guy." Jerome whispered, glancing now and then to Rocket. The moment he laid eyes on that dog, he didn't like him.
"I know." Alayus replied as she also took a look back, seeing Weed converse with the new ally with a smile. "Let's give him a benefit of the doubt and watch his every move. Besides, he hasn't done anything bad yet."
"That's the problem. I really don't know what he is capable of. Weed might be in huge trouble if he continues to hang out with him."
"We'll see. For now, focus on leading everyone through the snow. It's getting quite deep and the snow is like a white blind." Apparently no one predicted a harsh snow fall which covered up their path. Everyone ended up in a single file line so that the dogs at the end could follow the paw prints of the ones up front.
"Jerome!" Weed called out as he struggled to get to the front. "This blizzard is too blinding! We need to find shelter and fast! Some of these guys are having frostbite on their paws!"
"Okay Weed! Everyone stay together and keep warm! I'll go find a place for us to stay in!" Jerome called back. The dogs in the back bravely followed their commander's order and huddled together for warmth. With a flick of his tail, Jerome proceeded forward until he could no longer be seen through the snow.
"Do you think Jerome will be okay in this weather?" GB asked.
"I'm sure he will be. Give him a few minutes." Weed looked at the spot where the German shepherd disappeared from. "I'm sure he will succeed."
"Weed!" Jerome's voice suddenly rang out. Although his form couldn't be seen, his voice was sharp and clear. "I found a big cave just a few minutes from here. It's big enough for all of us."
"Everyone! Follow Jerome's voice." Weed ordered and the dogs carefully followed Jerome's voice. Jerome definitely found a large cave which was surrounded by trees that helped blocked the wind. As the small army padded in, they were rewarded with moss covered ground.
"Please go as far as you can to the back." Jerome called as he watched his comrades huddle inside. Alayus busied herself by pawing at her moss bed, making it nice and fluffy.
"Excuse me. May I sleep next to you?" She looked up to see the new guy standing there, looking at her. "I mean it's okay if you don't want me to, I'll go find another spot."
"No it's fine. You can sleep here beside me." Alayus smiled and she scooted over to make room for him.
"Thank you….uh." He looked at her for a minute because he hadn't heard her name yet.
"It's Alayus."
"Alayus huh? Thank you very much."
"And you are?"
"My name is Rocket. Pleased to make your acquaintance." She is also like Weed, young and naïve. This should be easy, I'll remove her from play first. Rocket smiled to himself as he made himself comfortable. "Well, I'm going to get some shut eye. All that running has worn me out. Good night."
"Good night." Alayus replied and she watched the dog fall asleep. She watch a dog pad to the front to relieve Jerome from guard duty. Jerome trotted in, shaking the snow from his body and carefully laid down next to her.
"Sorry that I'm cold." He whispered, licking the droplets from his paw.
"Don't mention it. Besides, it'll warm up quickly." She said, resting her head on her paws. "Good night Jerome."
The next morning…...
"AIEEEEEEEEEE!" Alayus yelped as she felt claws digging and ripping into her back and side. The rest of the dogs bolted up, all senses alert. Startled by the noise, Jerome's eyes snapped opened and he saw that Rocket was pinning the Shepherd down however, the dog was half-asleep.
"Rocket let go!" He roared, pouncing on the half-asleep dog. Jolting awake, Rocket scampered off and lowered his head in shame.
"I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean for that to happen. You have to forgive me, I tend to have nightmares every now and then."
"What's all the ruckus about? Why is Alayus covered in wounds?" Weed rushed over, seeing Alayus licking her scratches.
"Rocket here had a bad dream and clawed her by 'accident'." Jerome spoke, not taking his eyes off of Rocket. "Luckily they're just light scratches."
"Look, I'm really sorry about what happened. Truly!" Rocket pleaded, lowering himself to the ground as Weed loomed over him, his blue eyes flashing in disappointment.
"Weed, it's okay." Alayus spoke quietly. "He didn't really mean it, please let it slide." Weed trotted over to make sure she wasn't hurt before nodding his head.
"Okay. I'll over look this just for once but if this happens again, I won't be responsible for what happens next. Everyone, it's time to hunt!" He barked and the dogs poured out of the cave, grouping up in twos or threes. Rocket padded out after most of the dogs disappeared, looking over right and left. He saw Alayus and Jerome running off in one direction, their pelts lightly touching one another.
"Weed! Please let me hunt as well. I'll make up for it." He ran over to Weed who was conversing with another dog.
"You want to hunt? Take Blue with you." Weed turned and smiled at his companion who was a Beauceron Mix. "He's been a faithful companion ever since I saved him from being run over by a truck. Of course GB thought Blue didn't have a chance of being healed but luckily there was a local doctor who loved animals regardless of where they have been. He patched Blue up and he looked as good as new."
"Ha!" Blue scoffed as he licked his paw. "I showed that guy GB. I healed after a few months of recovery. Even if I was a wild mutt all my life, Weed showed me compassion and love that I've never experienced before. Well enough of my sob story, let us go off and hunt." With a flick of his tail, he trotted lightly through the snow with Rocket on his heels. They weren't lucky; most of the prey were hidden beneath the snow.
"Blue, why don't we go that way?" Rocket suggested, inclining his head to where Jerome and Alayus disappeared to. "Maybe we'll be a little luckier in our hunt."
"Okay. There isn't much around here anyways." Blue followed Rocket, oblivious to Rocket's dark grin. They continued walking before Rocket suddenly dropped to the ground, his lips curled back above his teeth.
"Blue! There's a snow rabbit! Quickly! It disappeared over there!" He slyly shouted. Abruptly, Blue shot like an arrow underneath the shrubs, his rear end sticking straight up into the air.
"Hey! Rocket you –Guh!" Blue rose up to look for the trickster only to have fangs close around his throat. Growling and snarling, he tried to get out of Rocket's grip. In retaliation, Rocket applied more pressure until he had Blue pinned against the ground. "Y-y-you?! What are you doing?"
"Forgive me Blue but this is necessary for my plan." Rocket growled.
"How dare you! You're betraying Ohu!"
"I was never a part of Ohu to begin with." Blue's eyes widened as he heard this, his lungs burned for more oxygen and his vision became blurred.
"You'll….regret this action!" Blue looked straight into Rocket's eyes and was surprised at the lack of emotion within those orbs.
"Good bye." With that Rocket ripped Blue's throat out. Blood gushed out like a fountain and splattered randomly on the snow. With one last gurgle, Blue closed his eyes and went still. Rocket stared at the body for a while before padding forward. Lifting his paws, he removed clumps of fur from his claws and stuffed them between Blue's paws.
Now everything's in place. He thought as he quickly covered his tracks with a broken tree limb that still had its leaves. After he was done, he went to a nearby brook and washed the remaining blood from his snout and fangs.
I better go hunt for some prey so that I don't go empty-handed. That way, I won't look suspicious. Rocket ran off and never looked back.