The Empty City (13 page)

“Wait a minute.” From the milling group of dogs, Alfie pushed forward, tilting his head to the side. “Bella?” he squeaked in disbelief. “Were you going to leave me there?”

The happy growls and yelps faded to a guilty silence. Bella hung her head.

“Alfie, you mustn't be angry with Bella,” said Mickey. “She was right to be careful.” He padded up beside her and nuzzled her neck. “We didn't know how dangerous the longpaw house was, and anything might have happened. Bruno and Lucky could have been killed, too. It was a tough decision, and she was thinking of everybody. Let's just be glad it worked out, and you're safe.”

Bella licked the dog's brown-and-white face gratefully and Alfie gave a reluctant nod. Lucky, though, kept silent, thinking.

What Mickey said was true. Bella's attitude had made sense. And yet …

Hearing Alfie crying for help like that, Lucky couldn't have left him—the other dog's distress caused an urgency in his bones and blood, something he could not resist. There was an instinct, a dog-spirit deep inside him, and he was growing more aware of how much he relied on its strength in times of danger.

So where did that leave Bella …?

Lying down, head on his paws, Lucky watched his litter-sister sadly. The dog-spirit inside her was quiet, repressed, buried so deep she had forgotten it long ago. There were times when a dog had to rely on his inner spirit to tell him what to do—but Bella thought like a longpaw.

Anxious, he got to his feet and padded closer to her. She seemed uneasy, but then all of them did. Mickey pawed at his glove—Lucky finally recognized it now; it was like the ones he'd seen when longpaw pups played ball in the streets. Martha sat beneath the wilting tree, ears drooping. Sunshine nibbled at a few blades of grass, disconsolate, while Daisy padded back and forth, gazing at her creaking longpaw house and sniffing anxiously. Alfie simply lay with his head on his paws. He looked as though he was thinking hard.

They failed their first test as a Pack
, thought Lucky.
And they know it
.

Lucky gave a soft growl and drew Bella aside.

She glanced at him, her tail wagging low to the ground.

“Don't even say it, Lucky.” She sounded bitter. “It's not that I didn't care. I didn't want any harm to come to Alfie. But I was afraid for the others. I was afraid for
you
.”

“You don't have to make excuses to me, Bella.” He'd meant it to sound kind, but she bristled.

“I'm not making excuses! I made a perfectly sensible decision, and you went against it. If you had been killed inside that longpaw house, it would have been your own fault.”

“You don't need to worry about me! I can
always
look after myself—I'm used to it.”

“But Bruno isn't. None of us are!” she snapped. “You have to understand, Lucky. We're not like you. I need to make my
own
decisions. You made the right one in the end with Alfie. But it might have been the wrong one! It could have been disastrous. So you don't need to tell me I was
wrong
.”

Lucky stared at her, exasperated. “I know. The thing is, I think it's important that you—”

A wailing whine cut through the air, and all the dogs' heads snapped around to stare at Sunshine.

“Daisy!” she cried, turning one way, then the other, on the verge of yet another panic. “Where's Daisy? She's gone!”

What trouble has Daisy got herself into?
wondered Lucky.

Sunshine was dashing in frantic circles; Martha paced back and forth as Mickey tried to herd the group around Lucky. But the other dogs were too frantic to obey.

“We've got to look for her,” Bruno said. “We've
got
to. But
where
?”

“We can't just stand by!” yelped Sunshine, and her ears drooped with sudden shame as she muttered, “Not like last time.”

“Bruno's right!” exclaimed Bella. “We need to think!”

Yes
, thought Lucky, exasperated,
but none of you are!
He leaped up onto a tumble of bricks and gave a commanding bark.

“Calm down, all of you!” As they turned to gaze at him, Lucky shook his head. “Be quiet—all that noise doesn't help Daisy! I'll try to sniff her out. She can't be far away.”

There was a line of longpaw houses to his left, low and neat behind trimmed lawns; they seemed to be less badly damaged than the others, though their windows were cracked and bits and pieces of walls had crumbled away. He took a few paces toward them, sniffing and cocking his ears, straining to find Daisy's trail. He was sure he'd seen her yearning toward one of those longpaw houses while he and Bella fought: that one with the broken swing in the front garden and a lifeless stone rabbit on the doorstep, one ear snapped off.

Bella and Mickey were right behind him.
They don't want to be seen hesitating again
.

The others held back and watched, eyes beseeching. That didn't make it easier to concentrate—but there was something else, too, interfering with Daisy's scent. It was a sharp and strange odor that drifted in the air, sickening and dizzying.

A suggestion of Daisy pricked his nose, but he couldn't pin her down—not with that acrid smell making his head sway and his stomach churn. Lucky lifted his muzzle into the faint breeze, going absolutely still. That smell. It was coming from …

Daisy's house!

“Stay back!” he barked sharply. His hackles bristled; there seemed to be something treacherous about that sharp, sickly scent. It wasn't the death-smell, but his instincts screamed at him to avoid it as if it was.

Padding cautiously toward Daisy's house, the smell grew overwhelming. His eyes watered, his stomach turned, and for an instant he was so light-headed he nearly stumbled.

But Daisy's scent was definitely there—almost buried beneath the dreadfulness....

And there she was! Swaying, but standing determinedly square, Daisy blinked at him from the skewed shadows of the cracked porch. Her eyes were unfocused, and she looked as if she might collapse at any moment.

Darting forward, Lucky snatched at her collar, his eyes streaming now, his sense of smell dead to everything but the sick-stench. She gave a little whimper as he lifted her by the scruff of her neck and turned, bounding back to the others. Even as he ran, Lucky felt his body wobble and sway, but the smell was already growing fainter as he bounded unsteadily back to the tight group of anxious dogs. When he could smell it no longer he let Daisy fall to the grass and stood over her, panting and staggering with dizziness.

She was asleep now, motionless on the ground, her flanks barely moving. Lucky began to lick her fiercely, and Bella moved to join him as the others looked on with fear.

“Why is she sleeping?” yelped Sunshine. “What were you running away from?”

“Come on, Daisy,” Bella whined. “Wake up.”

Her body lay as if lifeless, her sides moving almost imperceptibly with her breaths. They seemed to rise and fall less and less. How long would it take for her to stop breathing altogether? Her eyes had rolled back in her head and white flecks foamed at the corners of her mouth. Martha reached out with one of her giant paws. With more gentleness than Lucky could have imagined from such a huge dog, she wiped the foam from the corners of Daisy's mouth.

“Don't die!” Bella said, more urgently. She gently poked Daisy's body with her paw. Nothing.

“Come away,” Lucky told his litter-sister. “It's best to leave her now.” Whatever fighting spirit had been in Daisy had gone now. He started to turn away, his head bowed, when …

“Wait!” Bella cried, drawing closer to Daisy. “Look!”

She was right. The little dog was trembling back into life. Her eyelids opened, and a shiver ran through her fur. A paw twitched, her tail thumped feebly, and her dark eyes opened. They were still blurry and distant, but Lucky felt a huge wave of relief as he sat back and watched Bella wash Daisy's face.

“Oh, Daisy. You're all right!” Bella nuzzled her. “What on earth happened? Where did you go?”

Unsteadily Daisy sat up, tilting her head from side to side as she tried to get her balance back. “I'm sorry. You were all fighting and I didn't want to listen.”

Mickey paced forward to lick her nose. “What a time to go wandering!”

“I just thought, well, I'll look and see if my longpaw's house is all right, and … I smelled something odd....” Daisy shook herself, a little shamefaced, but her eyes were brightening once more, her ears were pricked, and she looked steadier. “It was worse than anything I'd ever smelled before—even worse than the time I got sprayed by a skunk and had to sleep in the garage. I didn't know what it was but I thought if I found out, I could tell you all about it.” Daisy looked sheepish. “It was coming from the kitchen. I went closer to get a better sniff at it, and … I felt so sick and dizzy. I thought you'd know what to do—but I couldn't seem to walk straight. I felt so awful.”

The Sun-Dog was starting to come up over the broken roofs of the longpaw houses, and as Lucky looked around at the cracked and tottering walls and broken road, his fur bristled and he stood straighter.

“Listen, all of you.” He looked around at them, meeting their eyes with determination. “You have to leave this place. Now. And for good.”

“What are you talking about?” Bella barked, showing her teeth. “We can't leave!”

Lucky took a pace back. “Bella—”

“This is our
home
!” she snarled. “We have to wait for our longpaws. I don't expect you to understand, but we can't go. Not yet.”

Lucky couldn't speak for a moment. No, he
didn't
understand. But her bark was so fierce it made his stomach clench.

The others' tails drooped, and they lowered their ears, looking from Bella to Lucky and back again. Bella looked ferocious, her hackles raised.

“But, Bella …” whispered Daisy.

“No. Don't listen to him, Daisy! Lucky's a smart dog, but he's a Lone Dog. He doesn't understand about longpaws; he doesn't understand why we can't leave!” Bella bared her teeth at her brother. “I know you don't approve, Lucky, but we're loyal to our longpaws, and we can't abandon their homes.”

“Bella!” he barked angrily. “In the name of the Sky-Dogs! Don't you understand? It's dangerous here—that smell nearly killed Daisy. Alfie's house collapsed. And it
isn't
Alfie's house,” he added savagely. “It belongs to Alfie's longpaws, and Alfie's longpaws left him—like they left you all!”

Bella yelped in frustration, but she stood up to him defiantly. “They didn't mean to!”

Lucky stalked forward, curling his muzzle. “Oh, yes they did. These longpaw houses are falling down, Bella.” He turned his head to give the buildings a look of distaste and fear. Against the dimming sky they seemed even more ominous, skewed and looming as if they'd crumble at any moment. “They won't be here for long, and that smell is a death-smell. It's like the breath of the Earth-Dog herself!”

Martha shivered with fear, and Sunshine gave a pitiful whine, but Bella scraped her claws along the earth for silence. “You are so superstitious, Lucky! The smell is—I don't know, but it's not the Earth-Dog.”

Lucky shook his head, hackles bristling. “How do you know? How do we know what goes on down there in the darkness? If we're lucky, the Earth-Dog will protect us from the Big Growl. But what if she thinks we aren't worth protecting—that we're stupid mutts who aren't clever enough to sense danger? She might abandon us altogether!”

“You're talking nonsense!” Bella snapped.

Lucky growled. “This place could kill you. You can't stay here. Don't you all trust me, after everything we've been through? Haven't I gotten you out of trouble? Did
your longpaws
stay to do that?”

Someone whimpered in the silence that fell. The dogs' heads drooped and seven tails tucked between their legs. Even Bella looked downcast and, for the first time, uncertain.