Wild Dog City (Darkeye Volume 1) (10 page)

Silence fell over the crowd of dogs as they
looked up at her.

"Listen!" she barked, and then a painted dog
bounded up beside her.

"Yes, listen," she said, voice clear in the
new silence. It was Liduma, one of their local police. "Do not
start fighting. These dogs have come from Zoo Park. Their
dispensary is malfunctioning."

That set off a great deal of alarmed yapping
and barking through the crowd, and the wolf howled again for
silence.

"Don't worry!" said Liduma. Her eyes looked
tired, and her belly hung low and heavy- she was far along in her
latest pregnancy. "The dispensary will be fixed soon. We must be
patient. In the meantime, you must allow these dogs- your brothers
and sisters-"

There was an angry murmur in the crowd at
this, and the gray wolf gave a warning snarl.

"These dogs will feed from the Oldtown
dispensary until the Zoo Park dispensary is fixed," continued
Liduma. "That is our final decision. Fighting will not be
tolerated." She fixed a sharp eye on the crowd, and Mhumhi heard
the other painted dogs give chirps and twitters of agreement from
their vantage points on the cars.

"There is enough food for everyone," Liduma
concluded. "Arrive early. Wait patiently. That is all." She turned
and loped down from the van. The wolf remained, fixing her yellow
eyes on the crowd.

"What a pile of scat!"

That had been Sacha, and she shot a glare at
the wolf before turning around to face Mhumhi and Kutta. "You see
what they've done? Zoo Park is a long walk from here, there's got
to be dispensaries closer- but they've taken them all here, because
these dogs are so little. They're counting on their fear stopping
them from standing up for themselves!"

"You're probably right, but so what?" said
Kutta. "What's the point of fighting? Liduma said it herself, there
is enough meat for everyone. All we have to do is wait a little
longer…"

"You don't understand," growled Sacha. "You
know why the littlest dogs cluster here, in the worst part of the
city? It's to get away from those big brutes, who bully them and
steal their meat. And now they've brought them here. There'll be
fighting, and the little fellows will be driven away… probably down
to the sewers, to scrape up what they can, poor things…"

Kutta caught Mhumhi's eye in a worried way at
this.

"What did she mean when she said the
dispensary was malfunctioning, though?" asked Mhumhi.
"Malfunctioning how? And how did she know it would be fixed
soon?"

"I suppose she means it's not giving any
meat," said Kutta. "Or something like that. I heard from the fennec
fox that the East Big Park dispensary wasn't working either. I
wonder where they've gone?"

"It shouldn't matter to them, they're off in
Big Park eating hot meat and fruit from the Great Glass Garden
until they can only roll around on their bellies," Sacha sneered.
"What effect would one little dispensary not working have on
them?"

"Well, if it's a police dispensary, maybe
they do know how to fix it," said Kutta, furrowing her brow. "In
the center of the city… they've got lots of things there, after
all, that we haven't got…"

"You think they've been inside a dispensary?"
Mhumhi found himself fantasizing again, about what that would be
like. Rooms and rooms and rooms of meat…

Sacha snorted. "Not likely! I think they're
lying, so as not to cause panic. No dog's been able to get inside
one of those things, and it's no wonder they're starting to run out
of meat. Every bitch in the city has been whelping where she
squats, after all, and all those milksop puppies need more
meat…"

She jerked her head meaningfully in the
direction that Liduma had gone in.

"No, no," said Kutta, actually backing up a
few steps in her anxiety. "The dispensaries can't just
run
out
, that's impossible. Liduma was right, they're just not
working properly."

"Hm," grunted Sacha, but she looked worried
as well. Mhumhi looked between the two of them, his tail tucked.
"There's no point in working ourselves up over it, you're right,
Kutta. There's nothing we can do. Let's get in line before this
rabble takes up all the good spots…"

She started moving away through the crowd
again. Mhumhi noticed a swift fox and two Bengal foxes watching
her, and when Kutta and Mhumhi started following behind her they
hastened to run back and take up the rear. In fact, there were a
few foxes around that seemed to have been paying attention to their
little conversation, and they were all clustering behind them.

Kutta shot Mhumhi a nervous look, and Sacha
let out a soft growl, but she kept moving, stumping forward on her
short legs, leading their little train to a spot in line behind one
of the booths.

They had ended up close to the front, near
some of the strange dogs, because all of the little Oldtown foxes
seemed more keen to stand in place behind them. Ahead of them was a
Tibetan fox, small but heavy-headed, turning to give them a dour
look with her narrow yellow eyes. Ahead of her was a little group
of dholes.

Mhumhi looked at Kutta, to see what she
thought of this, but she had her eyes steadfastly trained down on
the asphalt beneath their paws. The stranger dholes were not
looking back at them, anyway; they were wagging their tails and
play-fighting, wrapped up in their own sense of warm
packishness.

Mhumhi allowed himself a furtive glance
around, but though he could see more dholes, and other large dogs
like golden jackals and Simien wolves, he couldn't spot any groups
of painted dogs lining up. He found himself rather relieved.

They got through the line without much
trouble, thankfully. Mhumhi noted that most of the stranger dogs,
despite Sacha's words, seemed more interested in getting their meat
than anything else. When it was the dholes' turn they congratulated
each member of the pack with whistles and screams as they took
their turn. Their enthusiasm was infectious, and Mhumhi found
himself smiling and waving his tail. Kutta still kept her head
down.

When the Tibetan fox went to take her turn,
Sacha looked back and gave a soft, warning whine. Mhumhi looked and
realized that there were two painted dogs watching them from atop a
nearby car, speaking softly to one another.

"Don't look at them," Sacha said, voice low.
"We're attracting too much attention… keep together but don't touch
each other. Don't talk to anyone."

Mhumhi and Kutta put their ears back and
obeyed her, studiously looking at different parts of the asphalt,
keeping their profiles low. Not for the first time, Mhumhi wished
he didn't have such a distinct spattered coat.

Sacha and Kutta took their meat without
incident, and the three of them managed to retreat to the concrete
ramp that Mhumhi and Bii usually ate under. Sacha led them to the
lowest and darkest part of it, growling to dislodge a trio of hoary
foxes.

"We'll have to be more careful now," she
said, voice low, after she had dropped her small packet of meat.
"More police… they'll get more suspicious, and they're antsy
anyway, looking for trouble. I might pass for a little fox, but you
two they'll be suspicious about, especially if you look like you're
together… We'd better stick to moving separately from now on." She
let loose a heavy sigh through her nose.

Kutta gave Mhumhi an anxious look, and then
said, "Well, the worst they can do is stop us, isn't it? Mixed
packs aren't unheard of, after all. There's no reason for them to
suspect us of- you know."

"No," said Sacha, "but lots of the little
dogs around here know of our-" She stopped short.

Mhumhi looked behind himself. Three painted
dogs were striding purposefully towards them. Liduma was one of
them.

Sacha gave him a swift, meaningful look, but
he could not decipher it, only stood there fearfully with his tail
tucked and his head low. Kutta nudged him and turned to speak with
them.

"Is something wrong? May we help you?"

The three painted dogs stopped a few feet
away under the shadows of the overpass, white-flagged tails waving
slowly.

"We have some questions we'd like you to
answer," said one. Mhumhi noticed that Liduma was somewhat behind
her, her head lowered; this strange dog must have been
higher-ranking. The sight of pregnant Liduma acting so cowed gave
him an uncomfortable feeling.

"Why?" asked Kutta. "Have we done something
wrong?"

The lead dog smiled, but it wasn't in a very
friendly way.

"We'd just like to learn a little more about
all of you here. We're police from Zoo Park, and we've heard some
interesting stories from the ones who patrol this area." Her gaze
flicked to Liduma, who looked down at the ground.

"You know how little foxes like to gossip,"
said Kutta, smiling genially. "And I'm sure this place must be
boring to patrol. I'm sure the stories will be much more
interesting than the truth."

The dog beside Liduma whuffed, his lip
rising, but the leader merely kept smiling.

"Tell me, how did the two of you- no, I
should say the three of you-" She looked at Sacha, and her tail
wagged slowly. "How did you come to be so close?"

"Dogs come together after bad times," said
Sacha, her little head suddenly jerking up, meeting the painted
dog's gaze. "We've all simply had bad times. Places we can't go
back to."

The painted dog looked down at her, bemused.
"I see. That's terribly unfortunate."

"Yes, well-" Kutta began, but the dog
interrupted her, still looking down at Sacha.

"I have another question for you," she said.
"Have you seen a domestic dog that is white, with a curled tail and
folded ears? I believe she goes by the name of Pariah."

"Of course we have," said Sacha, much to
Mhumhi's surprise. Her gaze was still steady. "She's well-known
around these parts. She even stayed with us for a little while. But
she's long gone now."

"Long gone?"

"Yes," said Sacha. "She left several weeks
ago. I don't know where to, and frankly I was glad to be rid of
her."

"I see," said the dog, again. Very suddenly
she looked directly at Mhumhi. "And you, do you know where she's
gone?"

"What?" said Mhumhi, shrinking away, pressing
his ears back. "No, I- I don't know where she is."

"And did you know if she had any puppies?"
The painted dog was stepping closer to him, her eyes intent on
his.

"He wouldn't know anything," said Liduma. Her
head was still low, and the lead dog ignored her.

"Did she have puppies or didn't she?"

"Puppies…? No, no, she didn't…" Mhumhi
cringed, shutting his eyes against her gaze.

Kutta suddenly bounced up on her
forepaws.

"Oh! This is about that absolutely vicious
rumor, isn't it?"

"What rumor?" asked the lead dog, turning
away from Mhumhi. He felt as if a searchlight had been snapped off
of him.

"The one that Pariah stole puppies," said
Kutta, very derisively. "Honestly, if I find the filthy fox that
started that, I'll- I'll shake him! Dogs just have to go out of
their way to be cruel to domestics, and I'll never understand why."
She gave a sorrowful whine. "Pariah never harmed a soul in her
life, and people had to say such terrible things about her… I don't
doubt that that's why she left."

The painted dogs exchanged more looks. Liduma
blinked a few times. The lead one said, "You three never saw her
doing anything of the sort?"

"What, stealing puppies?" said Kutta,
sounding appalled, but Sacha broke in with a growl.

"We don't know what she did before she lived
with us."

"Oh, don't say that, it's really no wonder
she left, with you in the house-"

The third dog finally spoke up, looking at
Mhumhi. "And you, silent brother? What did you think of her?"

Mhumhi licked his lips, aware that everyone
was now looking at him, Sacha and Kutta with a certain desperation
in their eyes.

"I didn't… I didn't know her very well.
Didn't speak to her much."

"Didn't speak to her much, hmm?" The dog
flicked an ear towards Mhumhi, disbelieving. "Is that so? You're an
awfully quiet one."

"Leave him alone," said Kutta, suddenly
sharp-toned, and when they all turned to look back at her, added
more quietly, "He's had a hard time."

The lead dog twitched her tail, and then
suddenly the two of them seemed to converge on Kutta, coming from
both sides, so that she backed up nervously against the
concrete.

"Quick to bite, little whistle dog," said the
lead dog.

"Quick to defend that pup-thief, too," said
the other, tail wagging stiff and slow. He pressed closer to Kutta,
who had gone into a kind of cringing crouch, jaws tightly shut and
eyes fearful.

"Maybe the domestic isn't the one we're
looking for," said the lead dog, pacing slightly in front of her.
"Maybe it's a little whistle dog like you. You look like you could
use some puppies." She laughed, letting her teeth show.

"Don't be ridiculous," said Sacha. Mhumhi saw
that she was so stiff she was nearly trembling, and her eyes looked
savage, but her tone somehow managed to be calm and dismissive.
"She's no more a pup thief than I am. I'm certain you realize
that."

"We're not certain of anything," said the
lead dog. "But if you know where the domestic is…" She leaned close
to Kutta, who shook. "We'd like to speak to her too."

Mhumhi saw Sacha's hackles rising, her small
eyes narrowing, and felt petrified himself. The air was so charged
there was certain to be a fight, and the police dogs would call
more of their pack over, and that would be it for all of them,
finished, then and there under the bridge…

There came a sharp whistle.

"Hey, spotty!"

The painted dogs all whirled around, their
leader with a growl. The pack of dholes Mhumhi had seen earlier had
come trotting under the ramp, seven or eight of them, waving their
long black tails in the air. In their lead was a male, laughing
with his tongue hanging out.