Page 21 of Blacktail

That night, when Blacktail asked her to go with him, she agreed. “But it has to be tomorrow,” she added.

“What? Why not tonight?”

She met his gaze. “The child of this house has been kind to me on occasion—he plays chewtoy with me, and once there was a pork chop. I would give him a last kiss before I go.”

“But…it will not understand….”

“You do not know them as I do,” she said. “They are strange and sometimes cruel, true enough. But in their essence, their nature, they are not so different from us. They breathe. They mate. I think they may even love. I owe them this much.”

“Very well, then,” Blacktail said. “Tomorrow.” As the sun broke over the horizon he leapt once again over the garden wall.

All that day he waited in the small patch of forest behind the den. He tried to sleep, but the joy in his heart was such that he could do nothing but stare at the walls and dream of the days to come. They would live on his hill. She would give birth to a litter of strong pups, and he would teach them all to hunt. In time they might even spread to other hills, and…

Blacktail broke off from his ruminations. A female two-legs, one of those that walked in a stinking cloud of flowers and rosewood, was dragging Renren toward the black and gaping mouth of Car. Blacktail started toward them with a growl, thinking that she was being sacrificed.

Renren had been watching for this, and she stopped him with a single bark. “I don’t know what she’s about, but don’t worry,” she yelled. “We do this from time to time. Car is harmless, and the smells are fun. Be patient a little while longer.”

Blacktail paused for a moment in an agony of indecision, then crouched back down. In a few moments Car had carried her away.

All that morning and afternoon he waited. He didn’t move from his ditch. He hardly dared to breathe. He wasn’t one to embrace despair at the slightest setback, but he could feel it stalking him, huge and nightmarish, as he hunkered alone and helpless among the stinks of men.

In the midafternoon Car returned. It puked out the two-legs, and a moment later Renren as well. Blacktail breathed a huge sigh of relief, then rolled over and showed his belly to the warm sun, scratching himself against the twigs and grass in celebration. He did not see how slowly Renren moved, nor hear her soft whines as her mistress led her from the darkness of house and attached her to her chains. He bolted off to find food and water, confident that the worst was over.

Just after darkness fell, he leapt over the wall and into the back garden. “Hello, beautiful!” he shouted. “Are you ready—” He broke off. Inside the wall, the scent of her pain was clear. Renren did not stir as he approached.

Blacktail trotted over silently. “Renren?” he asked, and then again, “Renren?” Still she did not wake.

He sniffed her belly. There was a long wound there. Enough to die of, he thought. The terror of it set a cold stream flowing through his veins. There was no blood, and he could not see her guts, but still…

And there was something else. He could no longer smell the litter within her belly. My puppies, he thought, burrowing his nose in gently, so gently, trying to catch the scent of them, but it was no use. Whatever else might have happened to her, his children were gone.

“Blacktail?” Renren asked, stirring finally at the touch of his cold nose.

“I’m here.”

“I’m sorry, Blacktail.”

“Was it the two-legs? Did they do this to you?”

“Yes…no…I don’t know. The female took me to another den, the den of pokes-with-metal-sticks. I’ve been there before. It stings a bit, but I never thought it was dangerous…but this time, I got so sleepy, as if I’d run all day. Then when I woke up they—they were, my puppies were…”

“There’s nothing you could have done. Men are powerful and—and I think they may be quite mad. Can you move?”

“I’ll try.” And indeed, she was able to stand, but she grunted with the effort. Her legs shook like a newborn deer’s.

“Lay back down.”

“But—”

“Lay back down. You’re in no condition to walk, much less jump the wall. You need food. Rest.”

“No. I will go with you, to your—”

“Yes, and I will take you. But there’s plenty of time for that when you’re well. Sleep now. I’ll watch over you until the sun comes.”

“Very well.” Blacktail licked her wound until she slept, then lay with her for a time in the garden.

“It’s all right,” he murmured to himself. “We’re both young. If we like, we can have another litter. Everything will be fine.” Renren made no answer. The smell of blood was thick on her belly.