"We can't stay here anymore."

[Therdde]

Characters:
Goliath - Male Adolescent Dog
Jage - Female Dog
Unidentified Male Dog
Benny - Male Dog

- Harvest Fields -

It was night. Goliath had gone off to visit with Jette and gather news and the such. It wasn't a far trip, and he had made sure to inform Jage of the fact he was heading out. The sun was still setting when it happened. Suddenly through the darkening skies, a loud deep howl rang out. Jage would probably notice it as Goliath's deep voice and then the worse part would happen. The howl one sounding out of desperation for help... was cut short, falling silent.. dead silent in mid howl. He sounded about a half mile away.

Jage is half asleep when she hears it, and the chills that rush over her are quickly dismissed as she springs to her paws. She pauses only for a brief moment as her ears twitch, homing in on the howl. She knows that voice, and to her horror she knows that tone. The elkhound doesn't waste breath on barking yet. She breaks into a dead run from her standstill, her ears back and her tail down by reflex - there's nothing that could snag on them, but that isn't what she's thinking about right now. She doesn't like how that howl just ended, and after the news Jette brought her...focus, Jage. Move your paws. Run!

As she ran the worst sound that she could hear rang out. Absolute silence, yet as she continued to run she would hear a crashing sound to the west heading off into the distance. As she got closer she could probably hear ruffling from up ahead, unfortunately the wind was blowing away which would mean the smell of the scene wouldn't wash over her.

The silence makes Jage's heart hammer even faster, and she urges her limbs to move. She's older now, and she was never a very fast runner to begin with, and this is one of only a few times she's cursed her build. She hears crashing, but she knows she has to check the location of that howl. If he isn't there, she can always follow him. If he is...the elkhound tries to catch a scent on the wind, but it isn't working in her favour. Never mind that, just get there!

What she would see as she headed forward was, a dog.. up on its paws, though as she looked at it in her run, it was a German Shepard... Kole? Yes, it was probably Kole, but before she could hail him he had taken off like a shot back towards the barn. He had been standing next to something, if she headed towards it, she would at first simply spy a fuzzy lump on the ground.

Jage's first thought upon seeing the outline of a shepherd is that Sketch has come back and found trouble. But it's all wrong - she doesn't know this shepherd, and before she can yell out to him he's gone. What is that, over there? Jage has always had strong instincts - it makes her a good hunter, and it made her an impulsive mother, for better or for worse. And now, they are screaming at her, telling her she needs to get to that lump, whatever it is. She homes in on it, dread washing over her.

Unfortunately, she was right to dread. The sun may be down but the full moon above washes down enough light to show the scene. Then when she comes across the lump, she sees it from the back side, and from the first moment she could tell it was Goliath, the large saint bernard. Though this wouldn't really be from seeing him since she would notice his body was nearly shredded up, a long raking wound on his backside seems to be the oldest of the wound, perhaps the cougars sneaking blow which made it impossible to run? Who knows, but as she shifts about she could see the back of his neck was bit as then the fur and skin were ripped off causing a nasty but not yet lethal wound, the lethal part would come as she hit the position the shepherd was standing in. The large saint bernard's throat was literally torn out. But the worst part.. the absolute worst part of this little scene was the fact as she stepped into this position she could see his face. Goliath's eyes were wide open as if he was focusing on that exact spot where the shepherd had been standing, yet the final thing that might have been the worst was his facial expression, it was the same gentle smile he always wore on his face around Jage, frozen permanently. Blood still flowed from his wound so maybe... he was simply glad to see a dog for his last vision... for it is obvious from the stench that a female cougar had just fled the scene.

The elkhound's breath catches in her throat. She doesn't want to look but she has to, she doesn't want to walk up to what she knows she'll recognize but she must, and she does, and for a moment Jage sways on her paws. So much blood, but he's a big dog, so that shouldn't surprise her, right? He was a big dog. Unable to help herself, Jage pads about the lifeless young dog, her paws heavy as lead. His neck, his neck...he can't breathe now, should she help him? It's too late, of course, she knows that, but when she sees his eyes, his face smiling up at her, for a moment Jage thinks she can. He's smiling at her, after all. The elkhound can only stare back, waiting for Goliath to blink, to groan, to breathe, to do anything except lie there. It brings back so many memories - her vision swims, Goliath's face merging with her sons, and for a moment her legs quiver as if she's going to fall.

Yet Goliath wouldn't move. She would sooner or later have to realize that Goliath was indeed quite dead. No blinking, no groaning, no breathing. If she could tear herself away from the horrific vision of Goliath's body she would notice he in fact had been dragged. That's right.. this wasn't all the blood it trailed off to what she could see to be even more blood, perhaps where the scuffle happened not 20 feet away.

Jage doesn't notice the trail of blood, not yet. She just watches the body with intensity, alert for anything that might prove her wrong, that might afford her relief from the twisting in her gut. Even the wind ruffling his fur gets her to perk up her ears. She sniffs forward, but it's not his movement. Peculiarly dry-eyed, the elkhound at last drags her gaze away from his. She tries to push all thoughts of her sons from her mind, and in looking away from him she catches sight of the blood trail. She sniffs along it, and catches that scent - cougar. Jette was right.

The strange thing was, the scent she would pick up, was only a single cougar... She knew Goliath was a big dog... In fact, he had a size advantage on cougars since the bigger cougars reached his size. What the heck happened? Did he get tricked? Did he try to act kind and soft hearted as he always did? Or perhaps was it simply the fact that Goliath was never much of a fighter. Well whatever it was... a cougaress had killed him and then ran off. But as she started to look around it might have been the wind but for a moment she would feel something like a gentle and familiar phantom pelt huge in size brush comfortingly along her side then vanish, the wind? Must have been... Unless of course you believe in spirits.

Snuffling along the path, trying to filter out the overwhelming smell of Goliath's blood and follow the cougar, Jage does indeed wonder these things. But she's a hunter, and she knows the viciousness of cougars. Even she fears them, and for one to have killed such a dog as Goliath. He was only a pup, a kind one, one that both she and Jette had been meant to keep an eye on...and right under their noses, he was killed. And it's at this moment that something seems to brush her. Was that him, did he get up, would she see him if she turned? Turn she does, to look at the empty space next to her. Her throat bobs.

In fact nothing is now about, but as Jage sniffles through the blood to follow the cougar that mystery dogs scent arises, and she could pick up the scent of many dogs on it, what she could assume was the dog packs soon to be all together mingled scent. Silence had now overtaken the area as she stood there, the only noise the gentle sway of the wind.

The benefit to Benny's sudden reclusiveness, in addition to the fact that he is generally oblivious, is that he has not been bothered by the recent cougar threat. He has seen cougars in the past, but not for a long time, and his ignorance of their presence, even to the point of being unable to recognize that scent, has kept his mood as light as it has been, in recent months. He does recognize the scent of blood, though. Old blood. Something is not quite right about it. It doesn't smell like prey. All the same, he feels obligated to check it out. He is not as thin as he was when spring first came to these lands, but he could certainly use a few extra pounds on his lithe frame.

Too many smells, and Jage is finding it understandably difficult to focus. Has Jette's pack been here already? They can't have been here while Goliath was...they would have stopped it. There would be a dead cougar alongside the young dog's body. A dead cougar. What a delightful thought. Turning away from the mixed, muted smells, the elkhound pads hesitantly back to what used to be her charge, and sits next to his corpse. Stretching her nose forward, she sniffs at him, and her nose touches his body at last. It sets something off inside her and the elkhound puts her head back and howls. She isn't a howler, and it's not a sound she's used to making. But she has to do it now.

Before he can get close enough to see the body, or even identify Jage's scent, he is frozen in place by the sound of her howling. It's rather unlike anything he has ever heard, definitely not the sound of a dog calling its master to prey or even of a dog injured. It's more chilling then that, and before Benny continues forward again, he crouches down, flattening his ears against his head and doing little more than creeping towards the owner of that howl, suddenly uncertain about whether he should be here at all. Like this, it takes him longer to reach visual range of Jage then it would have otherwise, but within a couple minutes, he spots the familiar canine through the long grass... And the furry shape at her feet.

Drawing her breath, Jage tilts her head back again and lets loose another mournful howl before trailing off forlornly and looking down at Goliath. She is still dry-eyed, but this state won't last long. The elkhound doesn't spot Benny creeping up on her. Lowering herself to the ground, she lays her head on Goliath's broad side but stands up again after only a moment. She can't stand his lack of warmth, it's too real to her right now.

Benny does not know the large dog, but it's obvious that Jage cared for him, and that is all Benny needs to know to mourn his passing, and to wish that he could help her. He has never been confronted with a situation like this before, though, and he really doesn't know how to handle it. After a period of hesitation, he takes a couple timid steps forward, and asks, in a quiet voice, "Jage?" His tone reflects all of his uncertainty, and a healthy bit of fear. He can see more of the body, now, and though he still has little idea what happened, he can easily tell that the large dog did not die of natural causes.

Jage lifts her head sharply. She hadn't even heard Benny come up. She makes no attempt to drive him away, or to keep him from seeing Goliath's body. After all, he's a hunter too. "Benny..." Seeing him provides her with some small measure of relief - the cougars haven't found him. She is torn, wanting to stay with Goliath but at the same time wanting to go to Benny and reassure herself that she isn't just seeing things. The latter urge wins and reluctantly she pads around the corpse towards him. She looks so sad.

Benny can't quite keep himself from whining. It's a quiet sound, but it's there. She's not supposed to be sad, and he doesn't know how to make it better. "Are you okay?" Well, obviously not. That's not truly what he's asking, though. He wants to know if she's hurt... And if he should leave. She might not want him here. She has never been the most social of the dogs he has known, and if she just wants to be alone, to handle whatever grief she is obviously feeling... Then he'll leave, readily. His posture betrays his uncertainty at the situation every bit as well as his voice does. His back is arched, his ears remain pressed against his head, and his tail is limp behind him.

Jage doesn't nod or shake her head, just touches her nose very gently to his ear. That's all she needs right now, that one tiny connection, before she draws back. She ignores his question, staring at him. She needs to get Benny out of here, somewhere he can be safer. Where is that, something in her brain asks, and she casts a look back at Goliath again. She swallows hard. "You have to get out of here, Benny. The fields aren't...we can't stay here anymore. Not now."

Benny doesn't understand why Jage feels that she needs to protect him. If he did, he might have been able to fight back the second whine that he issues, shortly after she begins speaking. He isn't going to argue, though, and he even takes a step backwards before he manages to hear the second part of what she says. Wait a minute. /We/ can't stay here? As in, both of them? So, she isn't just telling him to leave her be? "But..." No. Now is not the time to argue, or beg, for anything, even an explanation, so after that single word, he stops himself from what he had intended to say, and instead says, "All right."

Jage is so relieved that Benny doesn't ask why, or put up a fight, or do anything that would cause her any trouble. Even then, though, she cannot muster a reassuring smile or even a little twitch of the tail for him. "Come," is all she can manage now. Auto-pilot is taking over again now that she is face-to-face with another of her charges, and the hunter in her is reminding her that any minute now, this place could be overrun with some very unwelcome feline visitors. Turning away, she can't bear to look at Goliath again. Instead, the elkhound leads the way, cutting through the fields at a fair clip, heading towards the barn. She can't put it off any longer, not now. She's lost one of her friends, and she refuses to lose another.

Benny does not speak, or even vocalize, again. He simply follows after Jage. His demeanor changes little. He is worried about this, and will be at least until he sleeps, probably. It's doubtful anything else will happen to allow it to slip from his mind, because he's really not fond of change, and this is the very definition of change. Something has happened to take the one place that has been /almost/ like home to him since he lost his master away from him, and he doesn't like it. All the same, he follows obediently, and will until Jage reaches her destination. To do anything else would make the circumstances even worse, since he would be losing not only that almost-home, but also the only dog he truly knows, right now.

[Therdde]

Characters:
Benny - Male Dog
Jage - Female Dog

- Barnyard -

Jage hasn't paused for anything after leaving Goliath's corpse behind in the fields. She travels with purpose, never speeding up but never slowing, at a fast and easy trot that comes naturally to all her breed. She also travels in silence. Occasionally, she has glanced back to make sure Benny is still with her, but usually the elkhound's eyes are straight ahead. Any efforts Benny may have made to start conversation or ask any questions have fallen on deaf ears. Jage doesn't want to talk about what she has just seen - she just wants to get her friend to relative safety. Hopefully, that's what the barn and its pack of dogs can offer.

Benny has not even tried to speak since leaving the body of Goliath behind. He follows with enough distance between himself and Jage that, should she stop suddenly, he will be at no risk of running into her, but her matches her steady pace fairly well. He still has no idea what is going on, and it bothers him for the duration of their trip. His ears are constantly flattened against his head, and his tail remains limp behind him. Before long, though, he spots the barn, and he lifts his head to smell. She told him he should think about staying here during the winter. He never did. Why would she be leading him here now, though, unless... No, there is no scent of Men, but the scent of dogs is plenty thick.

Jage,too, can smell the dogs, and it makes her stop short for a brief moment just to sniff at the air. She can recognise a couple of traces (most noticeably Jette's, which does not surprise her), but even those that she doesn't know serve to reassure her. There is no scent of cougars here, and that is good enough for her. Turning to glance back at Benny, she offers him a nod and begins to lope along the fence, certain that she remembers somewhere along it that - ah, here. Squeezing past the collapsed fencepost, she waits patiently on the other side for Benny to follow.

His head is still spinning with all the questions that he told himself he can't ask, with how he found Jage, the body of the dog she was standing over, and her mood, both what is apparent and what he can assume about how the death of that dog must have affected her. When she squeezes through the fencepost, he waits for a moment, fighting back a whine, before finally entering behind her, his thinly-furred, skinny body capable of fitting through more easily than that of the stocky elkhound.

Her head tilted, Jage watches Benny until he is safely through. That's it. They now have a fence between them and the danger outside, and to Jage the symbolic safety of the fence manages to take a small load off her mind. A fence has always meant safety and security for her and her pack, and though this one has no humans behind it, the feeling remains. She can do nothing for Goliath, and Jolon is still out there, but at least Benny is Behind The Fence. Even though they are not yet in sight of the other dogs, the fence makes Jage feel safe enough to take a step towards Benny and nudge his ear gently. It's not really clear as to whether she is offering him comfort, or if the contact is for her own benefit, but at least she isn't ignoring him anymore.

She might not mean it to be comforting, but Benny takes the gesture gratefully. He has always been more of a pysical dog than Jage has, and though he knows better, that doesn't make it any easier to respect her personal space when he's uncertain about something. Nuzzling against her, he finally asks a question. "Why are we here?" It was one thing for him to accept that they couldn't stay in their home, but... Here?

Jage lets Benny nuzzle her, and even returns the action - though she is far more reserved about it. "We are here for safety," the elkhound says simply, looking up at the fence. "It isn't safe for us to be alone, not out there." A shudder passes over her as she remembers seeing the body of her young friend. "Here, at least, we shall have the comfort and company of numbers, at least for some time." She doesn't even think to ask if this is okay with Benny, if he minds, if he wants to stay. She will do what she thinks is best for him...though, she thinks uncertainly, that has not really worked out well for her lately.

Benny also knows better than to argue. He doesn't like the idea. It seems both foolish and needlessly painful to stay in a place that Men have abandoned. It is even more painful to accept, even for a moment, that he could find safety and security within a group of dogs no better off than he is. Every bit as lost as he is... Or else dogs with no desire to ally themselves with Men. He doesn't object or express any verbal doubts, though. Instead, he simply says, "Okay." His tone is not exactly enthusiastic, but if Jage says he needs to be here... Well, here he is.

Drawing back, Jage offers the younger dog a very grateful half-smile. She knows she owes him an explanation. After all, for all she knows, he knows nothing of the cougars. But if she can help it, she doesn't want to talk about Goliath, she doesn't want to hear the words yet, she doesn't want to think about her past and her sons. Instead, the elkhound looks up towards the barn. She doesn't want to go in yet. She can't hear any noises from inside, and she doesn't want to stumble in on a group of strange sleeping dogs without Jette there to remind them she - and by extension Benny - can stay. She does move away from the fence a little way, though, towards the farmhouse.

Benny follows after Jage again. She did not give him a great deal, but it is enough, apparently, for him to no longer feel entirely uncertain about everything. And at least she is going to stay. She wasn't just intending to drop him off here and leave. That makes all the difference in the world.

Sniffing about the ground in the lee of the cottage, Jage does a tight little circle on the ground but sits instead of laying down. She is still too charged to sleep, and every time she thinks she may be able to, the vision of Goliath's body swims in front of her eyes and the stinging of unshed tears wakes her right up again. She hopes Benny won't go off exploring the grounds without her - though not an openly affectionate dog, she needs his company now, she needs to be able to watch over him. If she has him to worry about, she won't have to think about the pup she let down.

Benny is far from being a pup. He spent almost the entire winter alone. There was always the knowledge that he /could/ have met up with Jage, though. During periods of change, like now, or like when he was first lost in these lands, he can be every bit as clingy as a pup who has never left his mother's side. The chances that he will voluntarily leave her sight are slim. Indeed, even once he lies down, easily far enough away from her that, even should he toss and turn excessively in his sleep, he will not touch her, his eyes remain open and he looks at her, as though to reassure himself that she /is/ staying.