Wild Dog City (Darkeye Volume 1) (4 page)

"I have an idea," said Mhumhi, drawing back
from his inspection. He smiled a little, teeth showing. "Why don't
I carry you? It'll keep you off that foot."

"
Carry me
," repeated Bii, turning his
large ears back. "I think I'd rather walk."

"No, no, you'll feel much better off your
feet, and anyway the walk isn't long," said Mhumhi, still smiling,
and leaned down and caught the fox's scruff in his teeth. Bii gave
a single, undignified yap, then curled in his paws resignedly as
Mhumhi turned and trotted back down the street, tail still
wagging.

He got more than a few alarmed looks, coming
back down his home street with the bat-eared fox swinging morosely
from his jaws. Mhumhi kept his white-flagged tail high, feeling in
a much better mood than before. If Bii's meat went to Kerbero, it
would mean less regurgitation duty for him.

He hopped up onto the curb in front of the
house. Bii tucked his tail in tighter as it brushed the
concrete.

"Mhumhi!"

Sacha rushed out of the house with a whine.
"You better not have been sniffing around Big Park- what is
that
?"

Mhumhi put Bii down. The fox seemed shaky on
his feet, and wobbled as Mhumhi licked the top of his head. "Let's
let him stay with us, Sacha! He says he'll help us with Keb-"

"Don't talk about it out here!" said Sacha,
looking around in an alarmed way, then raised a lip at Bii. "Come
in, but don't take it as a permanent invitation."

They went inside, and Sacha hopped up to
depress the door handle with her paws and pull it shut.

"You better have a good explanation, M-" She
stopped, jerking her head back, for Mhumhi was whining and trying
to lick her chin again, very relieved that she didn't seem to be
furious with him anymore.

Eventually Mhumhi managed to get out the
trade Bii had proposed, or some of it, though he was less eloquent
about it than the fox had been. In the middle they were interrupted
by Kutta running down the stairs to greet them and exclaim over
Bii, and Mhumhi had to start over again. By the time he got through
it, Sacha looked mightily skeptical.

"You just went and told him about Kebero,
Mhumhi?"

Mhumhi licked his lips and wagged his tail
between his legs. "I didn't tell him exactly-"

"And you opened his wound out there on the
street!" said Sacha, trotting over to Bii. The fox gave her a
startled growl, which she returned in full before bowling him over
with her heavy head and examining his foot herself.

"You'll be the one to give him an infection,
Mhumhi," she said, licking at it. It didn't seem as though she was
being particularly gentle about it, for Bii was flinching again,
but she was more skilled than Mhumhi and soon had the fresh debris
out of the wound. Kutta nudged Mhumhi, flashing him a grin.

"She likes having someone smaller than her
around," she said softly, and Mhumhi snorted and whuffed.

"Mhumhi!" snapped Sacha, giving him a sharp
look. "Take him upstairs and put him on the bed. Don't let him give
you any lip."

Bii growled up at her from his prone
position, but she ignored him, stub tail waving slightly as she got
off him. Kutta gave Mhumhi a meaningful look and trotted up the
stairs ahead of them.

"Come on, Bii, you still have to meet
Kebero," said Mhumhi. Bii gave him a tired look and curled his tail
securely between his back legs.

Mhumhi picked him up again and bounded up the
stairs. In the upstairs bedroom Kutta was play-boxing with Kebero,
but the puppy quickly broke off at the sight of Bii, tail wagging
stiffly.

Mhumhi had been planning to deposit Bii
directly onto the bed, but the fox suddenly squirmed in his
jaws.

"Put me down," he said, a bit breathlessly.
"I have to greet him."

Mhumhi obliged, and the fox tottered a bit
before getting his bearings again. Kebero whined and looked at
Kutta for some direction.

Bii struck a peculiar pose, arching his back
and tail, and hopped sideways towards Kebero. The motion was
unfamiliar, but the intent seemed clear, and Kebero tensed for an
instant before bowing on his front legs with his rump wagging in
the air.

At once Bii hopped at him with his front paws
raised, surprisingly spry even with his injured foot, and Kebero
gave a puppyish growl and raised up to box with him, tumbling him
at once- even Kebero was bigger than him. Bii took it well and
rolled on his back and pushed at his muzzle with all four paws,
tail wagging against the floor.

"They're getting along," said Kutta, glancing
at Mhumhi, but he'd gone into a play bow instinctively at the sight
of Kebero's and now bounded up to shove at her shoulder, wagging
his tail.

"Oh, come on," said Kutta, but he batted at
her shoulder with his front paw and she twisted and boxed back at
him, waving tail betraying her.

The four of them play-fought for a little
while, panting and laughing, until Kutta noticed Bii, who was
pinned under Mhumhi's forearm, wincing and bleeding.

"Come on, stop, stop," she cried, nipping
Mhumhi sharply on the flank so that he jumped away, and picked up
Bii herself to lay him on the bed. "I'm sorry, Bii, I forgot you
were injured."

Bii didn't respond, looking weary, and turned
to gingerly lick at his foot. Kebero jumped up beside him, ears
back, and licked under his chin.

"He likes, him, right?" Kutta said softly to
Mhumhi. "That's good- no, stop it, Mhumhi, we're done playing
now."

Mhumhi had been poking at her again, but he
slowly put his paw down.

Kebero cuddled next to Bii, and the fox
turned to lick the top of his head with his tiny tongue.

“Can you speak yet, little one?”

Kebero raised his head and gave a long
whimper that turned into a word. “Auuuuuuuwoh- woh- yes.”

“Wonderful,” said Bii, drawing his lips back
into a smile, as Kutta shuddered. “You’re doing very well. Can you
tell me-“

“Wohhh,” moaned Kebero, and then he began to
twitch strangely. “Wh- wh- wh-“ He bobbed his head, licking his
lips convulsively. “Wh-“

“Kebero, stop it,” said Kutta. “Come on-”

“Let him work it out,” said Bii, suddenly
somewhat sharp. “Kebero, it’s all right.”

Kebero’s mouth worked, and he twitched and
shuddered. Mhumhi was fairly sure Bii’s words weren’t reaching him
anyway; his little eyes were focused on something beyond their
vision. Eventually he stilled, his jaws slack and his tongue
hanging out.

“If he talks too much, that always happens,”
said Kutta, her eyes rather thin as she looked at Bii. “It’s not
good for him.”

“It’s not good to stop him from speaking,”
retorted Bii. “You’re hindering his growth, that’s why he’s having
these difficulties. Didn’t your mother teach you how to care for
puppies?”

Kutta stiffened, her tail bristling, and
Mhumhi licked his lips; but then she seemed to relax and ducked her
head.

“Mother hasn’t been around for a while. And
Keb came to us when he was- well, when he was a little too
old.”

“I see,” said Bii, rather softly. “It’s all
right. He’ll be just fine.” He turned to lick Kebero again, and
Kebero blinked, coming out of his odd stupor. Mhumhi averted his
gaze, feeling a bit ashamed. When Kebero’s speech-convulsions had
started he himself had been repulsed, and rather afraid of them,
though his mother had assured him they were normal for a young dog
learning to speak. Sacha had been indifferent, even cold; but that
was no real surprise. She had taken some time to warm up to Mhumhi
himself. Kutta had spent most of the time out of all of them with
Kebero, but even she often went off with their mother.

Kebero had spent quite a bit of time upstairs
alone.

"Come with me, Mhumhi," said Kutta,
shouldering him out of the bedroom and away from his thoughts. She
pawed open the door to the room at the end of the short hallway. It
was a bathroom, with a knocked-over toilet revealing a gaping hole
in the floor. Mhumhi hopped up to the sink, batting at the
encrusted gray knob until a thin stream of water reluctantly came
forth. It tasted like alkali as he lapped at it.

When he had finished he fell back on all
fours, licking his lips, and Kutta hopped up to push the knob back
down.

"Honestly, Mhumhi, you need to remember to
turn it off, else it'll crust shut like the one in the
kitchen!"

Mhumhi smiled and blinked at her.

"Listen to me now," said Kutta, mouthing his
ear. "If we have Bii, this means none of us'll have stay behind and
watch Keb anymore."

"But Bii's so little," Mhumhi pointed out,
wagging his tail.

"So what? Keb likes him already, and you can
tell he knows what he's doing. I wonder what happened to his
puppies?" Kutta's brow wrinkled.

"I wonder why Sacha agreed to let him stay?"
Mhumhi offered, as long as they were posing questions they couldn't
answer.

Kutta gave a dismissive huff. "She did,
anyway. I hope she doesn't change her mind. With his extra meat, we
should be able to…" She licked her lips. "Mhumhi, tomorrow, I want
to show you something. But you must keep it a secret, all
right?"

"Show me what secret?" Mhumhi asked, tilting
his head.

"I mean it, you've got to keep it a secret-
and- and I think it's better if I show you, rather than tell
you."

Mhumhi put his ears forward, intrigued. "Does
it have to do with Mother, Kutta?"

There was a strange look in her yellow eyes
for a moment, then she said, "Well- yes- it does have something to
do with her."

"Oh!" said Mhumhi, bouncing on his forepaws.
"Are we going to go to Big Park to look for her?"

Kutta looked away, bushy tail curling
slightly around her haunch. "No… not that. But I suppose we ought
to go there, eventually."

"Of course we ought to! She might be hurt,
and waiting for us!"

"Mhumhi…" Kutta seemed to decide against
saying what she'd been about to say. "Yes, we'll go look there
soon. But this is important too."

"Well, if it has to do with Mother," Mhumhi
said happily, though he noticed that Kutta gave a kind of anxious
twitch when he said it.

"Yes," she said, licking his forehead.
"Tomorrow, we'll go together. But don't say a word to Sacha about
it."

"I won't!" said Mhumhi, excited in spite of
himself. Tomorrow he'd be one step closer to his mother. No-
perhaps they would find her tomorrow, perhaps she'd be all right,
and she'd come home and meet Bii! She'd like him, he knew it. And
Kebero would be so happy to see her again… he'd been so melancholy
lately… yes, if she came back, everything would be so much better,
and he was sure even Sacha would be pleased.

With these thoughts cheering him, he followed
Kutta back into the bedroom with a spring in his step. Bii and
Kebero were asleep on the bed, Bii curled up with his nose tucked
snugly in his tail, Kebero sprawled at his side, snoring softly.
Sacha was there as well, using her forepaws to dig into one of the
flat, ruined pillows. She glanced up when they approached and
yawned hugely.

"Looking at them has made me tired," she
said, rolling her eyes towards Bii and Kebero. "It's been a strange
day."

Mhumhi could agree with that sentiment. He
overtook Kutta and hopped up onto the bed himself, licking Sacha's
cross bear's face before curling up on the edge of her pillow.
Kebero opened his eyes and then jumped when Kutta joined them,
squeezing beside Mhumhi so that her other side was solidly in
contact with both of them.

There was a great deal of creaking as the
four of them re-situated themselves, tucking in their limbs where
they could. Mhumhi yawned and laid his head next to Kutta's, Sacha
a warm knot against his shoulder blades.

Tomorrow, he thought again, tomorrow his
mother might be here… He happened to glance left and saw that Bii
was still awake, his button eyes shining slightly in the dim light,
his ears trained forward. His injured leg made the scent of blood
linger in the air of the room as the remaining daylight faded
away.

To
Market

"Why does Mhumhi have to go with Bii?"

That had been Kutta, prowling around in their
little kitchen the next morning, claws clicking on the tiles.
Displeasure was evident in the way her tail swished low around her
hocks.

"Because," said Sacha, who had taken up her
preferred vantage point up on the counter. "Mhumhi's got the
biggest belly, and he can eat the most meat. He'll be eating both
his and Bii's portions."

"But why can't Bii just-?"

"He's told me he can't regurgitate it, like a
domestic," said Sacha, tone wry. Bii himself was lying on the floor
near the door, forepaws lined up neatly parallel to each other. He
was clearly eager to go.

Mhumhi gave his own sad little whine, as he
had hoped to be exempt from the whole regurgitation business. He
returned to ripping at the tattered fabric that remained on their
couch to vent his frustration. Kutta looked at him, and he knew
what she was thinking: they'd have to postpone their secret mission
until they could figure out a way to sneak out alone together.

"I'll go with you later, Kutta," said Sacha.
"We shouldn't be all together in a group… no need to attract too
much attention."

Mhumhi wondered if Sacha hadn't somehow got
wind of their plan- she was being so nefarious- but of course
everything she was saying made perfect sense. The addition of Bii
to their motley group would be very noticeable, especially once
they left their neighborhood and the dogs that were familiar with
them, and it had been drilled into them since they were puppies not
to have a reason to make the police take interest in them.

Kutta huffed through her nose and trotted out
of the kitchen and up the stairs. They heard her scratching around
in the bathroom a moment later.