Nyterious' Bad Week

A light breeze riffled through my fur and brought a scent to my nose; my father's scent. I took one step to the left and watched as my father went flying beside me, only to land in a heap against a tree. Giggling, I padded over to him.
"Are you okay, dad?" I snickered as he lay there upsidedown, his tail drapped over his head, paws waving in the air.
He tried to play it off as thought he ment to do that, "Yeah, I planned it this way." He smirked and half-hartedly swated at me with his paw. He missed by a mile of course. My ears picked up a faint scratching behind me, I turned to see mother coming out of the den.
"Morning mother," I called, sounding overly cheery as usual. She didn't answer. I padded closer to her and noticed that she seemed intent on listening to a distant sound. "What's wrong, mom?" Looking over, I noticed that father had heard the sound too. I was not prepared for what mom said next.

"Nyterious, RUN!" my mother shouthed and took off like a sled dog. I don't know why, but something told me to follow her, and I did. As fast as my little legs could cary me over the snow, under tree roots, around bushes, where ever my mother ran, that's where I followed. I glanced back once to see my father right behind me, but I didn't want to see what was behind him...Three huge dogs! I could feel the rush of adrinalin course through my veins as I ran faster. Trees, bushes, rocks, snow, all became streaks out the corners of my pale blue eyes as I practically flew over the ground. I let my natural instincts guide me through the forest, hot on the heels of my mother.

As we dashed between two large bushes, we suddenly came to a large casam. Without thinking, I dashed ahead of my mother and lept over the gap, clearing it with no problem. The landing, however, was not so graceful. I tumbled and nearly knocked myself out on a tree. I got up quickly and shook myself to strighten up. I looked up in time to see my mother make the most beautiful leap I've ever seen. She sailed gracefully through the air, her form sleek and airodinamic, with a small pouder cloud trailing behind her. Her landing was almost cat-like, soft, and perfectly balanced, her legs sinking into the freshly fallen snow. She slowed and stopped next to me, turning back to see how father was doing. He was just getting ready to make the jump when the largest of the three dogs caught up to him and clipped his hind leg with his claws. I watched in shocked horror as my father tumbled to a stop a few feet from the casam, a powder cloud all around him.

What I saw next will forever haunt me until the day I die. The largest of the three dogs blocked my father's path to the casam. The other two stood on either side of him and waited for him to make a move. I could feel the air drop another ten degrees as the four figures stared at each other for a few seconds. Then my father made his move. He knew he was done for from the begining, with the gash in his leg still pouring blood at a rapid rate, he wasn't going to last much longer. Quick as a flash of lightning, my father lundged at the smallest of the three dogs, who was still twice his size, and managed to sink his teeth into the Malamute's foreleg. The dog reared back his head and howled in pain as blood gushed from his leg around my father's teeth, staining his muzzle and the snow they were standing on. In the instant that the dog howled, the second dog, the medium one, lunged at my father. My dad was way to quick for this dog though. A split second before the dog sunk his teeth into my father's neck, my dad released his hold on the smaller dog's leg and lept out of harms way. The medium dog subsequently sunk his teeth in to a new spot on the smaller dog's leg. The smaller dog had tears streaming down his muzzle and blood running down his foreleg in four seperate streams. The medium dog released his hold, but the smaller dog still retaliated, swiping his claws across the medium dog's muzzle, ripping it open, sending blood splattering on to the tree and rocks behind them.

At this point my mother tried to hide the action from me, but she was to enthralled to do much good. I padded around to where I could see the action again and watched as my dad barely dodged attacks from the large dog. In total helplessness, I watched as my father slipped on a patch of ice and slid on his side, allowing the large dog to catch him. While that was going on, the other two dogs had started fighting each other, ripping each other's sides and legs apart with their sharp teeth and claws. The pure white snow that once was was now a sea of blood and torn fur and flesh. And from behind the two fighting dogs, came something I had never seen before in my life. It stood tall on it's hind legs, and used it's front legs to cary a long, shiney stick. Its fur was very strangly colored. I looked back at my father and my jaw dropped in a silent scream.

I saw my father, his neck in the jaws of the large dog, the life being forced out of his body. I could see little trickles of blood running from the points where the dog's teeth had peireced my father's neck. I didn't see what happened next. My mother suddenly grabbed me by the scruff of my neck and carried me away into the woods, tears streaming from my eyes like a water fall.

It was dark when my mother finally returned, tears filling her eyes. I padded over to her and nuzzled her, she put her paw around me. "What happened to father?" I cried. I refused to belive that he was gone for good. But in the back of my mind I knew there was no way that he would have survived that attack from those dogs, and that other thing, whatever it was.
Mother held me tightly against her chest, "I don't know, Nyte, I don't know." I knew she was lying, but I couldn't blame her. She must have been going through an entire roller coaster of emotions. My parents usually thought I was too young to understand what was happening, but I knew. I knew that father was never coming back. I knew that my mother would never be the same. I knew.

It had been almost a week since my father's death. I was almost a year old now. Mother had been teaching me how to hunt small rodents to help keep her mind off past events. I woke up early one morning, decided I'd surprise my mother with breakfast. As I peeked my head out of the den and smelt the crisp, cold morning air, something just didn't seem right. There's was no breeze, but I could still catch a familiar scent. It was the scent of those dogs. I ducked my head back in the den just as a huge paw, with a full set of claws exstended cut the air right where my neck had been.
"MAMA!" I shouted as I back paddled rapidly. I crashed into my mother's side and she, now fully awake, quickly wraped her body around mine to protect me. We didn't stay like that for long.

Dirt, snow, rocks and twigs started flying as the three brutes started to dig away at the entrance to our den. In a flash, mother and I were out the back way and dashing through the woods. I was far ahead of her and could hear her shout, "Don't look back, Nyterious. Just keep running!!" And that's just what I did. I ran as fast as my young legs could carry me. Over rocks, under bushes, jumped the casum, around trees; scenery was a blur out the corner of my eyes. I was like a white streakt of lightning, flying over the ground. I wouldn't have stopped either, had it not been for a certain sound that echoed off the distance mountains.

There was not a cloud in the sky, no reason for thunder to be sounding at this time of day. I hadn't even seen a flash of lighting in the sky. I slid to a stop near the base of a tree. Panting hard, I looked up and spotted an old friend of mine, Nin, the owl. He usually tried to hunt me at night, but by day we were good friends. Apparently, the rummbling thunder had woken him up from his nap.
"Hey, Nin!" I called up to him. "What the heck was that??" He sleepily spread his wings and floated down to the ground, landing next to me. I could tell by the look in his eye that something was not right.
A look of sadness filled his eyes, "That, my friend, is the sound of some poor animal meeting the end of its life at the hand of a vicious human."

To this day I don't know how fast I was going when I made the sprint back to my mother. And to this day, I wish I hadn't. What I saw almost compleatly took away the memory of my father's death, only to replace it with the death of my mother; almost. Blood stains on the snow, patches of ripped fur being twirled by the wind. The blood dripping from the muzzles and fangs of the three large dogs. The only traces of my mother were a leg bone that had been licked clean, and her severed head, being held in the hands of the human that had killed her. So many feelings ran through my young mind that I lost all sense of reality. Blindly, I charged at the towering human, knowing that any of the three dogs could kill me easily. But for some reason, they sat there looking dumbfounded as I sprinted by and lundged at the leg of their master, sinking my teeth in deep. The words coming from his mouth were ones that I'd never heard before, as his blood spurted up around my fangs and ran down his leg, staining my muzzle and the snow a pinkish color. The human thrashed so wildly that I couldn't hold my grip on his leg. I was thrown a good forty feet, smacking the back of my head against a tree some ten feet off the ground. I slumped to the snow, a small pool of my own blood forming around my head. Through blured vision I could make out the three dogs looming over me, and behind them, the human.

I awoke in an unfamiliar den, the new scents and sights making me uneasy. Glancing around, my pale blue eyes found a slight sturing off in a corner. I remembered this scent well...human. I narrowed my gaze and locked on my target. I judged the distance from me to the killer of my mother, coiled back on my haunches, body low to the ground. My ears flattened and my lips curled, showing my still blood stained fangs. All my muscles tightened and then, just as I was about to spring, a huge shadow enveloped me. I quickly turned and was greeted by a large furry leg.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," a gental voice floated down to my ears. My eyes slowly trailed up the leg and found the sorce of the voice, one of the three large dogs that had killed my parents. His fur was dirty grey and his golden eyes peered down at me. I could tell he was the largest of the three dogs. I was too frightened to move or speak.
"Don't worry, we won't hurt you. My name is Dusty," the huge malamute said to me. "And attacking the master again should be the farthest thing from your mind."
I managed to studder, "W-w-w-why's that?"
"Because he kept us from killing you. Said he liked your spunk and the fire in your eyes. So he brought you to his cabin and tended to your wounds." I started to calm down a little, but that wasn't an easy thing to do sitting just inches away from the murderers of my parents.

One of the other dogs padded up on my left, "My name's Quarx." Her fur was soft and well kept. Her soft eyes helped easy my nerves. "Over there is Style," she nodded to the third dog in the corner. His fur was totally black, even his eyes. He was the one that had the leg bone of my mother hanging out of his mouth. So much built up anger shot through me that I almost lost all control. "So what's your name?" Quarx continued.
"I'm Nyterious," I breathed. "Nyte for short." I sat back on my haunches and curled my tail around in front of me, covering my paws. I kept my gaze to the ground so I wouldn't make eye contact with the murderous dogs. Softly, I asked, "How could you do that?"
"Do what?" Dusty asked dumbly. He lowered himself down to the floor.
I looked him directly in the eye with a cold stare, "Murder my parents."

An icy silence filled the room, the only sound the flickering of the fire. I did not break my gaze into Dusty's eyes. I could tell he and the others were searching for answers that they didn't have. Then the human started to wake. Glancing around quickly I found a spot to hide. A bad spot that is.

Curled up under the human's bed, behind his boots, my whole body trembling. I made myself as small as possible. I did not want to face that thing, that human. Suddenly, I was dragged out of my hiding spot and hoisted high into the air. A sudden rush of adrinalin and I was acting on instincts. My claws slid from their sheaths and swung wildy at the air. And that was all that I hit. I was far to small to actually reach the human that was holding me.
"Well, boys," he was talking to his dogs. "This little fox ought to provide us with enough enjoyment for the next two days or so." His laugh echoed in my ears. He walked over and set me down on the table. I stayed curled up as much as possible. Before I knew what was happening, the human had tied some type of coth around my neck. A bandana, I think he called it. Catching a glance at myself in a mirror, I noticed that it actually made me look kind of cool.
"Now then," continued the human. "Let's go have some fun." He picked me up again by the scruff of my neck and outside we went.
Quarx barked up at me, "Ya better run, and run good, Nyte. The longer you out last us, the better your chance of staying alive." That gave me the perk that I needed. As soon as the human set me down, I was off and running like the wind. I never did look back as I sprinted past trees and over rock,s under bushes and around snow drifts. Everything became a blur as I dashed away from that hunter and his three dogs. Suddenly one of them appeared in front of me. Without thinking, I turned sharply to the right, lept up and rebounded off a tree, heading left again. The dog wasn't able to duplicate that move and smacked its head hard on the tree. A faint scent of blood came to my nose and I knew that whichever it was, that dog was out cold.

I was now a good distance away from the hunter, but I was tiring quickly. I needed to find away to ditch the two remaining dogs fast. I glanced behind me, mistake number one. The sight of Quarx, just a few yards behind me was enough to give me another rush of adrinaline. I looked back in front of me and ran smack into a solid wall of fur...Style.
The large dog panted hard, "Nice...*huff*...run there...*huff*huff*...Fox." I had staggered back a bit from the impact and turned to run again, only to be greeted by Quarx.
"Yeah...*huff*...but can you make it out of this one?" she flashed all of her teeth in a wide toothy grin. I gulped and backed away a few paces. My legs were still a bit weak and my lungs a bit winded from that sprint, but I knew I had to make it out of this situation, or I was Malamute chow.

Quarx lunged at me first. A quick step to the side and she missed, sliding on her muzzle to a stop. Style managed to rake his claws through my tail fur, ripping it to shreds, but somehow he missed drawing any blood. I ran foward, and then made a sharp left. The sound of the large dog sliding through the soft snow was a welcome one. I took off again, heading for the casam. My only hope was to jump it and then find a place to hide.

Out of the dense, snow covered shrubs I flew, a soft powder following me. The Malamutes were right on my heels. I caught sight of the casam, and then of something that I dreaded; an ice patch. Not just a little ice patch I could jump. This was an enormus patch of slick, frozen water. I was going too fast. I hit the ice and slid, the two dogs right behind me. I dugs my claws into the thin, icy sheet, gouging out several deep grooves and finding snow under it as I slid backwards toward the casam. I was still going to fast. Suddenly I was looking up at the sky through the opening of the casam, and the the two Malamutes were above me, then falling beneath me. I looked down, confused. By sheer luck I had landed on a small ledge just a few feet from the top of the casam. Quarx managed to grab on to the edge of the small crevese as Style plumeted out of view. I crept to edge and peered over, looking dead into the she dog's eyes. I could smell the fear, it was as thick as freshly fallen snow. She scrambled to keep her grip on the ledge, not wanting to die. Looking into her eyes, I could also see a story, one of love, hate, friendship, and betrail. She only did what that hunter told her to do so that she would have a warm place to stay and food to eat; it was a matter of survival. I could not hold her responsible for the actions that she did. Using what little strength I had left, I helped her crawl onto the ledge.

A few hours had passed. We both lay there, curled up on the ledge, her body around mine. The sun was starting to set when she finally rose and climbed over the edge of the casam. I looked up and saw her lower her tail back down to me. Grabbing hold with my muzzle gently, Quarx pulled me up to safty. We never said a word to each other as we went out seperate ways, she back to her master, and I set out for Nome. I knew by the look in her eyes that I had a new friend, and hoped that someday I would see her again. I don't remember much after that. I know that I nearly died from lack of food about a day away from Nome. I somehow managed to make my way in to town and have been there ever since. So if you're ever in Nome and in need of a friend, don't hesitate to look me up. You'll be glad you did.