Chapter 63

Sasha to the rescue!

Several weeks after Freya's thirteenth birthday and their Labor day weekend trip to Arizona.

Roger was out in front of their house, pruning one of the bushes along the street.

It was a pleasant autumn day with the barest hint of the winter's coming chill in the air and Roger was enjoying the work of snipping off the excess growth.

The woman's scream came from behind him and as he turned, he saw an enormous Great Dane bearing down on him with slavering jaws opened wide.

Instinctively, he raised his right arm as the huge dog's powerful jaws clamped down on it, bearing him backwards by its size, weight and speed.

Falling backwards, Roger struggled to keep the massive jaws away from his throat as the huge dog worried his arm while he punched at it in vain with his free hand.

Kicking at it didn't even faze the dog as its great fangs worked deeper into his mangled arm.

The woman screaming for help only added to the confusion as Roger strove to keep the dog from killing him.

Suddenly, he heard a deeper growl and felt the impact of a heavy body colliding with them.

He half heard, half felt the sickening crunch of splintering bones.

The huge Great Dane yelped once in agony as its bent and broken body was hurled aside by Sasha, a Great Guardian wolf of the Jotuns.

Roger groaned in agony as Sasha stood over him in a protective stance.

He lifted his head and saw the dying Great Dane breathe its last as it lay nearby, its body bent at an odd angle from the power of Sasha's bite that had crushed its spinal column.

Roger sat up holding his injured arm while Sasha turned and pushed her massive head under his good arm to lift him to his feet.

"Thanks girl, I owe you my life!" he said grimly as she licked him on his grizzled cheek.

"Whit happened?!" he heard Freya exclaim as she arrived at the scene after dashing out of the house.

With her was tiny Dena who after looking at his arm, went over to Sasha and looked her gigantic wolf companion over.

Roger grimaced and said , "Sasha's fine, in fact she's wonderful. I'm the one who needs a doctor!"

Freya wrapped her long arms around him and held him closely as she asked quietly, "Dae ye wan' me tae caw a doctor ur an amb'lance?"

Roger smiled at his 7 foot 8 inch tall companion and replied, "I think I can manage..."

"Ur ye sure? Yer arm looks verra badly, bleedin' an' aw."

Roger smiled weakly at his companion and said, "We'll go after this gets settled, I promise!"

The woman, who had stood open mouthed in astonishment finally said," That, that...Thing! Killed my dog...It is dangerous animal!"

She whipped out her phone and pressed a carefully manicured finger against the glassy screen.

Roger muttered to Freya, "Get some pictures...Lots of pictures."

Freya nodded, pulled out her own phone and began taking photos of his injured arm, of the place where he was attacked and the broken body of the Great Dane where it lay.

She also took pictures of tiny Dena as she stood next to Sasha while she sat on her haunches, seemingly at peace with the world.

A few minutes later, several vehicles pulled up almost at once.

A police SUV, an animal control truck and a large Mercedes-Benz sedan all came to a halt while Sasha by this time was lying on her side with Dena perched on top of her, protectively.

The patrol SUV opened its doors and Sergeant Jonas and his partner, a younger patrolman named officer Tovar got out.

Sergeant Jonas took in the scene with a lingering glance and said, "Alright, what happened here?"

The woman cried out in a thick accent, "I was walking my dog, a purebred Great Dane by the way and he got away from me. He ran up to this man wanting to play, as he often does and the man fell over. While my Hercules was playing with him, this, this...Thing came out of nowhere and killed him. It killed my beloved Hercules!"

The animal control officer looked up from his examination of the carcass and said, "He was killed with one bite to the spine and a shake, it was almost instantaneous." He looked over at the dozing Sasha and remarked, "That... Whatever she is, seems pretty relaxed about everything."

He stood up and stepped over to the dozing form of Sasha and said quietly, "She even has a doll with her, hardly the image of a vicious animal I'd say."

Dena at this point, stood up and stoutly declared in her piccolo of a voice, "Who ur ye cawin' a doll?"

The animal control officer burst out laughing in his surprise and said in amazement, "I beg your pardon miss...But I've never seen a girl your size before!"

He hunkered down and extended a finger, "Paul Ramirez, a pleasure to meet you, and your friend's name is?"

Dena beamed as she grasped his finger and replied with a grin, "Me name is Dena an' mah mukker 'ere is named Sasha an' it be a pleasure tae meit yer too."

Paul smiled at Dena and said, "Your friend is beautiful, where is she from and what breed of wolf is she?"

Dena beamed and replied proudly, "We ur frae Canada, an' she is a great guardian wolf frae Jotunheim."

Paul straightened up again and declared, "Well she's a wolf all right, but not like any wolf I've ever heard of. For one thing, she's way bigger, I had no idea canids could get this large!"

Sergeant Jonas took Roger to one side and asked, "So, what happened?"

Roger recounted his harrowing encounter with the late, unlamented Hercules and held up his torn and bleeding arm as evidence.

Sergeant Jonas remarked quietly, "I shouldn't be saying this but, I've had dealings with this woman before. 'Hercules' had quite the reputation around these hills. He's killed several cats and a couple of smaller dogs, he's also cornered a couple of people but this was his first attack on a human that we'd heard about..."

He glanced over at the oddly bent carcass of the late Hercules, "And it was his last, apparently."

Roger grimaced, his mangled arm was really aching now as the adrenaline had worn off.

Sergeant Jonas remarked, "You need an ambulance? I can have one here in minutes." Roger smiled grimly and said, "I've had worse, let's just get this over with. The lady's dog attacked me without any provocation on my part. Hell, I was pruning a damn bush!"

The woman's husband approached and said in a thick accent, "Is anything going to be done about that creature?"

He gestured at the dozing Sasha, "It is dangerous animal, my wife, she is very upset."

Roger held up his torn and bleeding arm and said grimly," The dangerous animal attacked me and could have killed me. Sasha came to my rescue, she did what her kind have done for thousands of years. She protected her family."

The husband stood silently, glaring at Roger until Sergeant Jonas said, "We're gonna need to see some I.D. for your wife, it's a standard procedure in dog bite incidents."

The man nodded and pulled out his phone, moments later he spoke briefly in his own language.

He listened carefully for a few moments before ending the call and saying, "My attorney, he is coming, he will deal with this...Creature."

He glared meaningfully at Sasha before walking away dismissively, he was done talking.

Sergeant Jonas muttered half to himself, "I really don't like dealing with wealthy foreigners and their lawyers."

He looked at Roger and said, "If you have people who will vouch for Sasha, I suggest you contact them ASAP!"

Roger nodded in agreement and nodded to Freya, who began making calls to all of her friends who knew Sasha and Dena.

Sergeant Jonas asked, "How many people know about these two?"

His glance indicated the Wood wife/giant wolf pair. "I'd never seen either of them before, I think I'd remember a wolf that huge and I know I'd remember that little cutie!"

Roger grinned at him and replied, "Most of Freya's friends and their parents know them and you oughtta see Sasha around small children. They can't get over her size and she loves the attention. God help anyone who harms one of 'her' children, she is very protective."

Sergeant Jonas chuckled and said, "They do love really big dogs for some reason. I read about this home for abused children that had a huge Newfoundland who was like a therapy animal, the kids would talk to her where they could not talk to any adults just yet."

A large, black BMW sedan suddenly pulled up and a fierce looking little man got out.

He talked to the foreign couple who owned the late Hercules for a couple of minutes then came up to Roger and Sergeant Jonas, he presented his card and said angrily, "Why isn't that...Animal, in custody?"

Sergeant Jonas smiled at him and replied, "I'm here to handle a dog bite incident not to arrest anybody unless circumstances call for it. You might want to ask officer Ramirez over there, he's the one who will be doing any animal 'arresting'."

As one they all glanced over at Officer Ramirez who was happily giving Sasha, a greatly appreciated belly rub.

The little attorney beckoned to him and he stood up and came over to them where he asked, "May I help you?"

"Yes," The lawyer began, "You can start by explaining why that vicious animal isn't locked up?"

Without batting a lash, Officer Ramirez replied cooly, "The 'vicious animal' is dead, the live animal is a great guardian wolf who protected her family from an unprovoked attack by an animal that has had numerous complaints filed against it over the past several years."

He grinned at the diminutive lawyer and said, "Betcha your clients omitted that little detail when they called you."

One by one, the neighbors began coming out, many of them with their own dogs pulling on their leashes.

One, an eager Pomeranian slipped his leash and dashed across the tree lined narrow street.

He began licking Sasha's massive face and barking happily while spinning around and around.

His owner, a plumpish middle aged woman came trotting up gasping.

Blushing in her embarrassment she cried, "He gets so excited when he sees her, I guess he likes big girls!"

They all enjoyed a moment of watching the tiny poof ball of a dog strutting about as if he were a king.

Officer Ramirez remarked, "Welp, I'd better get that carcass picked up before someone gets traumatized over a dead dog."

He climbed into his truck and pulled it around to where Hercules lay.

He deployed the small crane on the truck and gently lifted the carcass into the bed of the truck where he covered it with a plastic sheet.

Stowing the crane, he washed his hands, climbed back into his truck and began his paperwork.

Freya had briefly disappeared and returned bearing a bucket of hot water, some old towels and a first aid kit.

Another neighbor had brought with her a large trauma kit and she declared, "I'm an E.R. Nurse, let me see his arm!"

The nurse, a tall, slender blonde said to Sergeant Jonas, "Ildico Swensen, you can call me Ildi." as she took a good look at his wounded arm.

She looked it over and said firmly, "This needs a doctor's attention ASAP. You have some pretty serious damage here and may need a specialist or two."

She looked at Roger and said, "I'm going to clean it up and bandage it, but you have got to get it looked at very quickly!"

She took the hot water soaked towels offered by Freya and gently scrubbed off the worst of the clotted blood on his mangled arm before liberally spraying disinfectant into the worst of his bite wounds.

Next, she gently wrapped his arm in a soft bandage and tied it off.

She looked him in the eye and said firmly, "After this is over, I am taking you to the E.R...No Buts! Am I clear on this?"

Roger smiled at her and replied mildly, "Yes ma'am!"

The lawyer approached her and asked, "What is your diagnosis of his injuries?"

She looked down at the smaller man and cooly replied, "Only an M.D. Can say 'diagnosis', my assessment based on my ten years experience as an E.R. Nurse is that he may have badly damaged muscles and tendons and could lose some use of his hand. I will be taking him to the E.R. As soon as this is done.

"On a more personal note, your client's dog was a vicious animal who killed several cats and smaller dogs in this neighborhood, including my own Australian sheep dog. So as far as I'm concerned... Sasha did all of us a favor!"

The small man blinked a couple of times and returned to his clients who were standing near their Mercedes-Benz.

By now many more of the neighbors had come out bringing their own dogs and small children who naturally gravitated to the giant wolf and were soon hugging her and chatting happily while playing around her.

A kid magnet was Sasha, the pony sized wolf from legend.

Sergeant Jonas came back over to Roger and stood looking over the situation, he had talked to several of the long time neighbors who were only too happy to express their opinions about the neighborhood comings and goings.

He smiled at Roger and Freya, "The consensus is that Sasha rid the neighborhood of a nuisance animal and that she is completely trustworthy around other dogs and small children."

Roger chuckled and replied, "It isn't just Sasha who's a kid magnet, Freya here does a pretty fair job of attracting kids, she is a very popular babysitter around here because small children are fascinated by her size and her gentleness."

Sergeant Jonas remarked, "Her being pretty easy on the eyes definitely helps, she's going to be a real knockout when she's an adult."

"Don't I know it." muttered Roger as he glanced over at the towering young woman who was chatting happily with some of her friends who had come to testify on Sasha's behalf.

"She wore a short skirt and leggings to the mall recently and nearly caused a few heart attacks among some of the old guys who like to look at the girls there."

Sergeant Jonas laughed and said, "Don't feel bad, my oldest is nearly sixteen and even I have my 'I can't believe this little hottie is my kid' moments."

Officer Ramirez approached them and said, "I've written up my report and it concludes that Sasha acted in your defense. I would strongly suggest that you get her licensed and vaccinated ASAP, just to cover her legally."

He gave each of them a copy of his report and said, "I'm going to dispose of the carcass. The 'distraught' owner doesn't care what I do with her 'beloved Hercules'.

They all smiled at his sarcasm, the woman was clearly a spoiled trophy wife and acted accordingly.

He shook hands with both of them then said to Roger, "My kids would love to meet your Sasha, my oldest wants to become a veterinarian and she would flip!"

Roger grinned and replied, "Sasha would love that, she really likes getting her rump scratched."

After Officer Ramirez drove away, Sergeant Jonas remarked, "We're pretty much finished here. You might want to secure Sasha and get to the E.R. And have that arm looked at."

As if on cue, the tall blonde stepped up and said,"Thank you sergeant. The consensus is in Roger, you need medical attention and I'm volunteering to take you!"

There was a brief interruption as the couple and their attorney piled into their cars and noisily sped off, narrowly avoiding several small children.

Sergeant Jonas and his partner hopped into their police SUV and tore after them with lights flashing.

Roger shrugged and muttered, "They are their own worst enemies with attitudes like that."

He turned to Dena and asked her to take Sasha back inside the house.

The tiny wood wife grinned at him and she whistled sharply.

Sasha rose to her feet and her many admirers waved goodbye as she followed the two foot tall wood elf into their house.