God's Gracious Gift, a Snarer of Hearts – Part Five: Power of the Pack
"My father will strip your skin from your bones for this!" The bitch had been ranting like this for a few hours now, though she had given up scrabbling at the ground. As was his manner, Kensell had remained holding the bitch at the back, lying upon her long-ways so he was not stopping her from breathing or kicking. But as was the way of most reasonably content dogs, the great Rottweiler had indeed fallen asleep.
Scanlon had also had some rest, but the bitch seemed keen to annoy him the most. With her one moveable limb she would flick stones at him. Amaya seemed to hold a grudge with the German shepherd even though they had only just met. Scanlon was not strong enough either to move out of her way. But eventually it grew too warm and even Amaya fell into an irritated and uncomfortable doze.
But there was a yelp from the bitch that evening that woke the dog up. He opened his eyes to see Kensell's massive jaws locked tightly around the bitch's skull. Her eyes were wide with panic as the teeth slowly crushed downward, and a thin trickle of blood slithered down her head to brush past her eyes.
Whatever had sparked the Rottweiler to grab her head like that, it urged Scanlon to stand up even though he was in pain. Never before had he seen Kensell grab a dog like this, especially when he would have no trouble cracking her little skull right open. But though it could have been caused maybe by and insult to the great dog's sister, Scanlon did not want to see the bitch killed when she could be of some help to them.
"Don't move Amaya! If you do he might just kill you!" Scanlon winced as he tried to stand straight on aching limbs. He managed to stand a little hunched and then the dog wobbled weakly toward the great black and tan animal, whining low. "Drop her Kensell, please? If you do not, they I will be forced to hurt you!"
"Wha…" Amaya worded nervously but Scanlon snort at her. He stood as straight as he could at Kensell's side and then he growled low once more. Kensell still did not drop her, but he was unsure what Scanlon would attempt to do. To be quite honest, Scanlon had no idea what he was going to do at all. Even if he tried to fight with Kensell, it would only end with him being hurt even more. Either way he was not as much of a threat as he would like to have been, but then Kensell knew every single one of Scanlon's attack moves. But then Scanlon decided to just go ahead and he leapt suddenly, despite his pains, clamping his harsh teeth hard into Kensell's soft nose.
With a yelp of surprise the great Rottweiler released the bitch who slumped to the floor. Kensell turned as Scanlon released, but the shepherd knew what was coming. As the big dog tried to bite him, Scanlon did something odd. It was only odd because Scanlon had never done it before, especially not in so much pain, and it was very cheeky. Scanlon bounced off Kensell's shoulder and landed beside Amaya, grinning. The shock had knocked Kensell onto his side, and now the big beast growled at him in anger.
"What the hell are you doing? Why are you defending that little wench when she refuses to help us out? She has no right to say anything about something she does not understand!" Kensell snarled, and he charged at him. But the German shepherd, despite his pain was not slow, he had no real bulk to smash into the bigger creature, but he had the luck of any son of John, keen teeth. With a forward leap and an arch in his back he leapt over the Rottweiler's head and slammed his paws down behind the big mass, bashing Kensell's face into the ground. Then his keen teeth came down into the hard muscle at the scruff of his neck and swung him aside. Then Scanlon collapsed panting in front of the bitch, though she stared nervously at him.
"No matter what she said, Amaya has a right to speak her mind! To silence someone from their opinion is the highest form of cruelty and tyranny. What are you, Hougen?" Scanlon gasped at Kensell, and the black and tan gave a low whine of pity, and the bitch's eyes seemed to stare at the shepherd's scraggy form differently. There was a slight edge to her look now, one of respect and perhaps she understood why Scanlon was the leader of the 'pack'. But she did not want to stick around; she did not want the big Rottweiler to kill her so easily. But for the moment, though he sat down and threatened her more slowly and warningly, there would be no escape. The trio calmed and rested once more.
"That little female has run out on us!" Kensell barked loudly that evening as the stars above them shone. Scanlon's head snapped up quickly and he looked about with confusion, but the bitch was indeed gone. He stood up quickly, a little limply but otherwise not as stiff and sore as he had been. It was incredibly dark and he could barely see the big black mass of muscle. But he could hear the swearing growls and the deep snorts and snuffs as Kensell searched the ground for a trail. Some of the words escaping the big beast's mouth as he swore made Scanlon snort with humour, and the black dog stared at him with confused eyes.
"If your sister heard that she'd kill you!" Scanlon grinned, standing up and snuffing at the trail with Kensell very carefully. The pair butted heads gently in appreciation of each other, they were missing the others quite a lot, and Scanlon had not known Kensell to be away from his sister so long. But the pair of them soon caught a slight scent on the bushes around them and they trailed with the wind toward the rock formations that Kensell had been eyeing earlier in the day. "The trail's quite fresh; she must have waited till we were fully asleep. Sorry my eyes drooped buddy, but I reckon they must have their pack over by the rocks, a good place to ambush us!"
They paced onward after her scent, keen to find out whether she was heading to her pack or just trying to trick them. But after a good mile of pacing with their noses to the ground and ears straining in the twilight, there was a familiar scent, like their friends, and then there was the scent of blood, dog blood. They could not see the great rocks surrounding them, but they could smell the stone in the air as well as feel the coolness of rock near their hides. But the scent of blood was overwhelming, it was not their friends' blood, but it was a different kind of blood.
They inched toward an area with strange lit-up areas, maybe the remnants of human inventions that had never been completely turned off. In fact, as they walked along a seemingly narrowing trail, they spotted lanterns hanging from lumps of wood; perhaps the dogs around here stole them from man constantly. It was not a worrying thing for the two males, until they spotted the random dog bodies scattered around the pointed pieces of wood, and the streams and curtains of blood down the rocks around them. Blood stank everywhere and almost blindly with ringing heads and stinging noses, the two dogs blundered into an assembly of some very dangerous dogs.
This pack was a mix of Tosa Inu, Akitas, Shibas, Huskies, a few collies here and there, some mastiffs, and a series of mix-breed that all shared a common look with the biggest dog of the lot, a massive Alaskan malamute. Quite by surprise, the two dogs were pinned by two black Tosa, yelping in surprise and wriggling a little till they were at least able to stand, with teeth attached to their backs. Both males were dragged forward through the assembly and toward the big black and white furry animal. It glared at them with odd eyes, a sign some animals saw as madness. They were both a little anxious, until they noted the bitch sitting near the male, it was Amaya. But then they were distracted by some familiar calls!
"Scanlon! Kensell! We thought they'd killed you!" Their sisters cried, though their poodle 'general' did not seem too pleased. The dogs were packed together in cave entrances with other dogs, all of them nervous looking and afraid, the ones that had probably witnessed the killings of their friends. All around the entrances were vicious looking dogs, dangerous looking dogs! The males almost gave cries of delight at seeing their sisters and explaining what had happened, but the malamute beat them to it.
"No, we hadn't caught either of them, but after treating my daughter like they did, I'll tear their throats out now!" The great dog snarled and every dog shrank. This animal had the look of a crazed killer, or maybe a wolf within his horrid eyes. "I am Osamu, the lord of this canyon and this valley. All you've paced in has been kept safe by my pack's blood. No humans come here because they will be killed, and all dogs venturing here that fail to submit to me, are sacrificed to our gods! You two are the next ones for the killing!" He almost howled at them, his eyes seeming to roll in his head rather then stare straight at the two males. Kensell gave a savage growl of anger, but it was the little white coloured bitch with her black patches that protested.
"They did not harm me father, they just caught me off guard and…" Amaya started, cringing at her father a looking nervously toward the two males. Her eyes looked softly at Scanlon in particular; she did not really and truly want to see him die. But in her distracted viewing she leapt in surprise and crouched on the floor as her father's teeth grazed the top of her head.
"SILENCE! You're already in trouble for your foolish haste, I told you to stay home with your siblings! Its shame enough you were caught by and idiot of muscle and a wounded puppy!" Osamu snarled and then he turned toward the two males, pacing closer to them and snarling like a hissing alligator. "They're both going to die tonight, and I'll kick them off the cliff myself!" But as the great malamute turned away to lead the way to the top of the cliffs, Scanlon's cocky nature took over, along with his brain.
"I don't think killing us would be a very wise move, sir." Scanlon grinned and gently licked the side of his lip in a cunning threat. This made the big spitz-type dog pause with a leg raised and then turn his head around. Sitting curiously, he nudged his head to the side so that the dogs holding Scanlon would back off. When they did, the nose was raised in slight curiosity, asking what the pup meant, and Scanlon grinned again.
"Done! But if I loose and you kill me, my pack will surely kill you anyhow!" He licked his lips and flashed his teeth, before lunging and initiating the fight.
But the bullying boss-dog was on him within minutes and he rammed heavily into Scanlon's side, knocking the youngster straight across the ring the other dogs had backed away to make. The young male gave a yelp of surprise but suddenly leapt back up and spun round to fight, rearing up and punching out with his longer and neatly muscled forelegs. Osamu took a few hits to his left eye and he leapt backwards. The German shepherd pushed forward in a strange lunge, his chest crashing into the side of the malamute's, belting the wolf-like monster against a stone on the ground, but it did nothing to the beast's fury. Suddenly Osamu had a great weight leaning onto his shoulders and something grabbed at his scruff shaking him roughly. The hard teeth of Scanlon fixed tightly to the malamute as he began to swing the beast around and yet somehow Osamu managed to clip Scanlon's belly with his teeth.
The tan and black coat was stained with a streak of red blood and he released the older dog. Osamu used this chance to run into him but he kicked at the dog again. Osamu had been expecting this and he dodged quickly, spinning round to the youngster's side then clamping his teeth into Scanlon's back. The two dogs then began to grapple on the dirt, blood spilling everywhere from their neat teeth, but neither letting go. The Scanlon knew Osamu wouldn't let go and he tried to twist his body around to kick Osamu and bite him off. The big dog dodged about and caused the youngster more pain as he raked the teeth along a shoulder, grinding into the flesh.
But this little pup was faster and by the end of the ten-minute match, he was getting tired and so was Osamu. With the swiftest of motions Scanlon spun his head back, Osamu let go to dodge but his throat was grabbed instantly. The Alsatian lifted himself up and shook Osamu about like a rat. The bullying tyrant was totally still as he was swung and everyone around was very quiet and still, no one had roared out since the fight had begun, but they had expected that the younger dogs to be dead already. Now though Osamu lay limp in the shepherd's jaws and he dropped him onto the floor, the malamute's neck badly torn and his eyes rolling into his head in agony, awaiting a death blow. Scanlon then collapsed on the floor and whimpered in pain, the fight was over and he had won, but his job was not over yet and he forced himself to stand, so he could deal with the threatening monster.
The death-blow was not thrown and instead Scanlon snorted at the old dog and ripped half an ear off, snarling with anger and rage. He had managed to won, and surprisingly, he had won the respect of the other dogs, which shrank in size at his stare. So perhaps Scanlon had inherited something from his father, he was a kind of leader, but in some ways, and Scanlon wondered if he was leader material. After ordering the release of his companions and the prisoners, the shepherd pup knew what was expected of him now., Scanlon stood with his nose in the air and let out a long and lingering howl of victory, but that was only one part of their journey achieved, they still had a long way to go, and he had to find Ohu.
Next Time…
God's Gracious Gift – Six: Funny Smells
With a new section of dogs at paw, Scanlon finally feels the true abilities handed to him by John, but there's trouble. A smell that is slightly familiar is following the pack about, and their poodle pal keeps wandering off. But there are more issues as Scanlon explains one of the key tasks within his mission. But though some of the dogs accept it as usual, something about it is bothering Amaya.