//------------------------------// // Chapter 07: Nature // Story: Walking on Frozen Paws // by Saysy //------------------------------// Five minutes later Philomena and I found ourselves in front of a dog house. Ok, to call it a dog house is a little bit of an understatement, it’s more like a five-star hotel in comparison to a dog house a human would find acceptable on his or her lawn. And it isn’t even a dog house. It’s a dog barracks, meaning, that it really shouldn’t be that good in comparison, but it is. The dog barracks is right next to the training field where Luna showed me the parkour course yesterday evening. From the outside it doesn’t look that special: stone walls, a straw roof, a few windows and an entrance with a sliding door. As I said, nothing special. The only interesting thing being the two dogs in front of the entrance, seemingly guarding it. The dog on the left had white fur with a little bit gray on its snout. I think the race was called ‘Weimaraner’, but I wasn’t sure. It was sitting down so I couldn’t see its height, but I would bet that it stands sixty-five to seventy centimeters tall. It was also wearing a vest with a stylized sun and moon on it.  I was certain that the dog on the right was a ‘German Shepherd’ with its black mask like snout and its brown beige body fur with black markings. It, too, was sitting down and wearing a vest. They didn’t even make any acknowledgment when we walked in and I could see that their eyes were closed. So much for guarding. And now I can tell you all why I call the dog barrack a five-star hotel in human standards. Every dog had a booth for themselves where they could come and go as they please. Each booth was roughly four square meters with a few pillows and an orange stone in the wall, some of which emitted a soft orange light, mostly the booths with a dog in them. Philomena and I got some questioning looks from some of the dogs as we went by, but they mostly turned around a few seconds later, after a short bow. At some point, we came by a booth so filled with pillows that… well, let’s just say that it looked like it would burst soon. I later found out that the booth belonged to a dog named Tank. As we neared the end of the main corridor, I could see an old English sheepdog. He’s... educating? Four little dogs in front of him with his… ‘War stories?’ From the sounds of it, using a really gruff sounding voice. His fur is colored in different shades of gray making him look like an old grandpa. We stopped a little bit behind the group with the storyteller. I shoot a questioning look towards Philomena, who in turn just pointed at the old-timer with her left wing. Philomena didn’t make any moves to make us known to the group, so I had nothing to do except for listening to his story. <<… Following their scent with my amazing nose, I and my companions followed them through the undergrowth of the forest with them making fake leads to confuse us even further. But in the end, nothing can win against a dog’s trusty nose when it’s handled by an expert tracker like me.>> The old-timer said, enthralling the little puppies with his story. <> Though I’m not sure if the information is correct, it still gave me a better understanding of the world. <> <> I whispered towards Philomena. Unfortunately, the old dog had radar ears for people who doubt his stories. I was immediately fixed with a disapproving glare from the old war dog, rooting me in place. It was a really good glare. <> He questioned me. I slightly tilted my head to the right. <> My statement received four gasps from the puppies and a big what from the old dog. <> shrieked one of the puppies with a high-pitched voice that hurt my eardrums. His neighbor thought this too, obviously, as she – gender highly speculative– hit him with one of her bluish-gray paws behind his head while the other two covered their ears with their paws. <> Exclaimed the old dog for the second time. <> The ‘Colonel’ exclaimed. Meanwhile, Philomena laid on the floor laughing her tail off because of their faces. Though I laughed inwardly, I still had a slight grin on my face. The Colonel and the puppies noticing Philomena for the first time since we were in listening range, were slightly bowing their heads. ‘Eh?’ I couldn’t help but wonder at the sight. <> said the Colonel. ‘Eh? Am I missing something,’ I thought. <> said Philomena, displeased with the five dogs. <> came the reply. <> questioned the Colonel. His head slightly pointed in my direction, obviously already guessing that it had something to do with me. <> Anger was all over the Colonel's face. <> Jumping out of his comfortable resting place, he swiftly jumped over the four pups, making the pups let out a squeak. He landed right in front of me, awaiting my reply. <> Obviously, I do, but I seriously doubted that my human mother had ever even considered the need to teach me how to hunt on all fours. I was soon squeezed in another guillotine. This time it was a grey dog. Lucky for me, he let me go almost instantly. <> The four pups stood up in a flash as the Colonel turned around. <> He looked at me a slight frown on his snout. <> ‘Me too?’ <> A light cackle came from Philomena as I slowly walked over to get in line. <> He walked in front of us, not forgetting to bow in front of Philomena. One by one we left, the Colonel leading the way with the four pups following and me at the end. I’m sure we looked like ducklings following their mother. It felt like half an hour until we reached the city gate. Not once did a pony stop to look at us as though we were an uncommon sight. It was more like it was a normal, everyday thing and based on this I believe that I can throw common sense out of the window by the end of the week. Surprisingly, the forest was just ten meters away from the gate. ‘Isn’t this a safety hazard?’ I questioned myself. Not for the forest, but for the town. There was a reason why towns and castles were built on open fields or on hills, it was so you had a good view of what’s coming towards one, be it an army or just a traveler. As I said, at the end of the week I’ll be throwing out common sense. We stopped at the beginning of the forest. <> A Golden Retriever quickly raised its paw. With a nod from Colonel he began. <> He answered with a smile. <> Colonel explained. <> Again Tip held up his paw. <> I slowly raised my paw, an idea in my head, but not sure if it was right. <> he said happily. <> I said, my voice a little bit shaking. <> He patronized me. <> He waited to let it think in for a few seconds until he spoke up again. <> A slight groan came from the bluish-gray dog. <> whined a female voice, probably Mist. <> The Colonel announced, the finality in his voice stomping Mist’s complaints. <> We three went into the forest, the sun was swiftly overtaken by the canopy of the leaves. Tip, the eager Golden Retriever from before, stopped and turned around with a smile. <> Now Line turned around as well. <> Line was a completely brown dachshund. His parents weren’t really creative when it comes to names. <> I replied, confusion on my face. Line was ready to answer and explain, <> A nod from me. <> said Tip, a grin forming. <> <> I replied in a flat voice, not impressed at the attempt at a joke. From then on we walked through the forest, sometimes stopping when Tip said that he got something, only to end up with nothing. I think it took us an hour until we found something in a clearing. And let me tell you, for a rabbit it was huge. It was easily as big as a grown adult dog, probably larger, which means that it was more than double my height. It had gray-white fur and large ears. I didn’t want to know how big its teeth were. <> I whispered. <> Both pups asked at the same time, looking at me confused. <> I said. <> Tip looked at us, <> I nodded and went through the shrubs to get behind it. As soon as I was in the right position I sprinted out of the undergrowth. It took off right towards Tip and Line, who sprinted out to jump on it. Mid-jump, the rabbit jumped as well, sailing over both of them and into the undergrowth of the forest. Tip and Line let out yelps of surprise as they rammed into me. Seconds later a bundle of fluff was on me. I let out a groan as the two were using me as a mattress. <> I pressed out through my gritted teeth. <> both of them said. <> Tip said with a smile. <> came the reply from Line. Tip looked up into the sky. <> He sends both of us questioning glances. <> <> With a little bit of damage to our pride, we went back into the undergrowth. It took us only twenty minutes or so to find another potential victim. This time it was just a normal rabbit. It had gold-brown fur and was only a little bit bigger than me. <> Both Line and I nodded. Once more I snuck through the bushes until I was behind it. As before, I sprinted towards it and once again it took flight towards Line and Tip. Line intercepted it from the front, this time waiting for the rabbit to jump. The rabbit jumped and not a moment later Line jumped too. Line crashed into the rabbit with his paws first and they both fell to the ground. Tip was on it a second later and I was standing on the sideline watching as the pups put their teeth to work. It took them little to no time until the rabbit was laying still on the ground. <> said Tip with a bloodied snout. The next moment he looked to me, still smiling, though it was slowly fading. <> Still not responding, he took a few steps towards me. <> No answer. I had my sight on the dead rabbit, not even realizing that someone called out to me. I had never seen death before, be it a human or an animal. And knowing I had helped in killing a rabbit with my own hands… err… paws. A slight pain near my ears brought me out of my stupor. <> Tip asked right in front of me. I took a step back slightly surprised. <> I assured him, still looking a bit out of it. <> This time the words came from Line, though they were said with little belief. <> said Tip. We both nodded and Tip picked up the rabbit with his mouth. Together we made our way toward the end of the forest. The Colonel was laying in the grass waiting for us. <> said the Colonel, eying us with a smile. <> It didn’t take long for Mist and Rex to come back. Though, we first saw a very familiar gray-white giant rabbit. <> said Rex, proudly presenting team two’s prey. <> exclaimed the Colonel. <> With the last sentence, all four cadets took one bite after another from the rabbits. I reluctantly ate something too, it tasted good, but I couldn’t really stomach it. I only took five bites. <> The Colonel was gesturing me to follow him a bit away from the eating cadets. <> The Colonel questioned me with a smooth, clear voice, looking me right in the eyes. I considered lying, but I didn’t. <> I said, tears building up in my eyes. A furry arm wrapped around my back, trying to calm me down. <> He waited for me to look up at him. <> The Colonel paused, letting me take a bit of time to grasp the sentence with my heart. <> With his last sentence, he went back to his cadets. I sat there, thoughts running through my mind. ‘Can I do it? Probably. It’ll just take time.’ Making up my mind, I went back to the group. They had just finished and what came next surprised me. They took the corpses of both rabbits and laid them down under a bush of the forest. We stood there for a few seconds before the Colonel spoke up, <> Once again I was in front of my archenemy: water. To clean ourselves of the blood of our lunch we went to a nearby water source. ‘Please don’t freeze, please don’t freeze’ I recited, like a mantra in my head. Lucky for me it only froze a few centimeters around me. After returning to the Colonel we made our way back towards the barracks. It took us about half an hour to get back. Philomena awaited us in front of the barracks. <> They bowed. Everyone except for me. <> The Colonel asked. <> I said, still not getting why they bow. <> The Colonel was getting really worked up about it. He just wanted to throw us all into the barracks, but Philomena stopped him. <> <> With another bow the Colonel and his four cadets went into the barracks. Before walking in, Tip and Line said goodbye to me. <> asked Philomena, and I told her about it. <> said Philomena as I went over the advice I got from the Colonel. A yawn escaped my snout and I realized how tired I was. I had been awake for the whole night and half a day. <> <> I asked before she went away. <> <> I asked sheepishly. <> I followed Philomena and we shortly came to the stairs, which I recognized as the stairs towards Luna's chambers. <> Philomena looked a little bit puzzled by the absence of guards. <> Philomena told me before flying up to the handle to push it down. <> I told her before heading in. <> Were Philomena’s words before I closed the door with one of my back legs. Walking up to the only bed in the room, I jumped on it and laid down next to Luna.   <> “G’day,” said a sleepy voice next to me. Seconds later I fell into a peaceful slumber, or so I hoped.