Paw Prints

Author’s note: My thanks go out to Bijou Ham-Ham and Chronos the Cat. (Currently the only reviewers for this story...)

Tail 2: A Night in the Wild

My name is Skip. If you’ve read the first chapter of Paw Prints than you might remember me; I was the black haired Skipperkie that travels with the Siamese, Melanie, and our human. I also saved Callie’s life. If you haven’t read chapter 1 and/or don’t remember, than what are you doing reading chapter 2? (I recommend that you read the first chapter before reading any further on this chapter.)

It was about two months after I first met Callie and the pack. Richard (my human), Melanie, and I were traveling, this time through a mountain region. Richard had pulled into a rest stop and was walking me on leash.

I noticed that there was another dog sniffing around the bushes. There was a teenage girl holding his silver leash. He looked something like a white greyhound, only his fur was longer. He had really long silky hair on his ears and tail. Personally I thought he looked almost too pretty to be male, but there’s not really much that he could do about that, even if he wanted to.

"Pardon my bluntness, but do the humans call you a specific breed?"

The dog looked up from the rose bush that he had been sniffing, one of his silky ears falling in front of his eyes. He shook his head, tossing his ear out of his face. "My Lily says that I am a Saluki.

"What is your name?"

Something about the way he said that almost annoyed me. Get a grip on yourself, Skip. So he’s extremely refined, big deal.

I cleared my throat, "My name’s Skip, what’s yours?"

"My name is Faisal, it is an Arabic name. Lily gave it to me since the Saluki is an Arabian breed."

The very way he talked grated on my nerves. I took a deep breath, trying to get myself thinking logically again. My ears perked forward and I took another deep breath, trying to catch a scent.

Callie.

I charged over to the edge of the forest, unintentionally yanking my leash out of Richard’s hands.

"SKIP!" Richard called.

I frantically ran back and forth, trying to catch Callie’s scent again.

"What is it that you are searching for?" called Faisal.

"Callie’s scent!" I shouted. Suddenly my leash went taunt and I was jerked back.

"Easy Skip." Said Richard. He tugged on my leash, then started walking back towards the car.

No, I thought, I’m not leaving now, not when I might finally see her again!

"Come on, Skip!" Richard pulled on the leash, but I fought back. I was going to find her.

I froze, listening hard. There was a bark that sounded familiar. But it wasn’t Callie. I looked around trying to figure out where the barking was coming from.

"Sandy, be quiet!" said a woman, tugging on a beagle’s leash.

I rushed over, half dragging Richard behind me.

"Sandy!" I shouted. She stopped barking and sat down, watching me.

"Do you know where Callie is?"

"She, Dallas, and Hero all took off after some squirrels, and haven’t come back yet. Their humans are going frantic." She looked over at a group of two teenage girls, and one teenage boy. One of the girls was crying, but the other was busy writing something on a big sheet of paper. The boy was pacing back and forth.

"Look, I don’t see why we can’t just go into the woods after them." Said the boy.

"Zack, that’s a huge forest. If we go in there now we might end up lost, and then how would we find them?" said the girl with the paper. She put the paper up on a bulletin board on a nearby building.

Faisal and his girl walked over to the notice.

"You lost your dogs? That’s terrible!"

"It is. We’re trying to do something about it, but Zack and Phaedra aren’t much help at the moment."

"I’d offer to have Faisal search for them, but I don’t think that would do much good. He’s a sight hound, not a scent hound."

"Faisal huh? He’s beautiful. May I pat him?"

"Sure. So what’s your name."

"My name’s Linda, what’s yours?" she said, as she crouched down and stroked Faisal’s silky head.

"Lily."

"Hey!" shouted Zack. "Maybe that would work!"

"Huh? What would work?" asked Linda and Phaedra, but Zack had already run over to Sandy and me.

"Excuse me, mam, sir. Would either of you be willing to help search for our lost dogs? That beagle’s a scent hound, so maybe she can track them down."

The woman holding Sandy’s leash said, "I’m willing to help, but Sandy here hasn’t been trained to do tracking."

"And what about him?" Zack turned to Richard and pointed at me.

"Well, actually he has been trained a little bit in search and rescue, but I’m afraid that I don’t have the time to go looking all over the mountains for lost dogs."

"But you have to help me find Callie!" He demanded.

I barked loudly several times, trying to tell Richard that I wanted to find Callie too.

"Quiet." Said Richard, looking sternly at me. "I’m sorry kid, but I have a job to get back to. Come on Skip." Richard pulled on my leash. I started to follow, but then realized that he was headed back to the car. I grabbed my leash in my mouth and gave a mighty lunge. It worked. Richard lost his grasp on my leash.

"Come on, Sandy, we’ve got dogs to find!" I leapt on Sandy’s woman, pushing her back. Startled, she lost her grip on Sandy’s leash as Sandy pulled on it. Sandy streaked towards the woods and I followed.

"FAISAL!" shrieked Lily. Before I could turn to see what had happened, Faisal was running along side us, his silky ears and tail fluttering. The silver leash that he wore was flapping wildly, and I jumped to the side to avoid being hit by it.

"I do not know how much help I will be, but I wish to help you find your lost friends."

I looked at him for a moment. Now he wants to follow me around? But I suppose I could use the help. What the heck. I grinned, "the more the merrier. Let’s go!"

The three of us streaked into the forest, humans calling for us. But we had a mission to accomplish, and I, for one, was not going back until it was done.

Sandy and I were working hard to keep up with Faisal. He seemed to be flying, his feet barely touching the ground.

"I guess we don’t have to worry about you slowing us down!" I shouted to him. He turned his head slightly and smiled. Then he slowed to an easier pace.

The problem with having to run into the forest in such a hurry was that we had lost the scent, and couldn’t find any trace of Callie, Dallas or Hero.

Yank! My leash suddenly jerked tight and my front feet left the ground. I coughed and put my feet down. When I looked back I could see my leash tangled in the bushes. I braced myself and pulled forward, ripping my leash out of the bushes. A few twigs came with it. Sandy and Faisal came over.

"Are you all right?" Sandy sat and stared at me.

"Yeah, I’m fine. But I haven’t caught any more scent of Callie or the others, have you?"

"No"

"I have not found any dog scents besides our own." Faisal used a front paw to swipe a twig out of his hair.

Sandy gasped and stood stiffly.

"What is it?"

"A rabbit!" Sandy took off into the woods.

"Hey, wait! That’s not what we’re here for!" I sighed and ran after her, Faisal following.

Sandy yelped and tumbled backward into a tree. I rushed over to her.

"What happened! Are you alright?"

Sandy sat up and shook herself. "These stupid leashes keep getting caught in everything!"

"Hey, last time we managed to take them off. Maybe we can do it again." I gently took her training collar in my mouth and worked it off. Sandy shook herself and scratched at her neck.

"Much better! Thanks!" Sandy took my leash’s collar and pulled it off, over my head. I shook myself.

"You’re right, that does feel better." I turned to Faisal. "Maybe we can get yours off too."

Faisal stretched his neck out and I took the leash’s collar in my mouth. I pulled on it and it moved but I couldn’t quite get it off.

"Sandy, you try."

Sandy tried her mouth at it, but she couldn’t get it off either.

"Oh well, it does not matter." Faisal sniffed at the wind. "Shall we continue our search? The day is passing by."

"Yeah, let’s get goin."

And so we searched, but by evening we still had not found any scent of Callie, or the other two.

"I’m tired," said Sandy, sitting down in the middle of a trail. "We need a brake."

"We have to keep moving," I said, despite the fact that my tong was about to fall out from all of the panting that I’d done.

Faisal scratched a twig out of his hair, then said, "I am inclined to agree with the lady. After all, we will be able to search more efficiently once we are well rested, as opposed to staggering on until we collapse."

As much as I wanted to argue the point, he was right. And I was tired.

"All right, let’s take a quick brake," I said, then promptly curled up, sighed and started drifting off to sleep. My sleep was restless, my mind still searching for Callie.

I woke with a start. Something didn’t feel quite right. I looked around and froze. Standing directly in front of me was a dominant looking male coyote. Next to him was what had to be his mate, and the dominant female of the pack.

I slowly looked around. Sandy was still curled up, fast asleep, but Faisal was sitting, alertly looking around. There were three other adult coyotes, and five puppies, gathered near the leaders.

I slowly sat up.

"Why have you dogs trespassed upon my pack’s territory?" spoke the alpha (dominant) male.

I tried to think, but couldn’t.

"Please excuse us, sir," said Faisal, "we do not wish to cause you trouble. We are merely passing through, looking for our lost friends."

Sandy yawned and looked up. She yipped and jumped to her feet.

"What’s going on!" she cried.

"Stay calm." I warned her.

"What are you’re friends like?" asked a young coyote female, stepping forward. She tilted her ears in a non-threatening posture.

Faisal looked at me.

"What?"

Faisal shook his head slightly. "I have not yet met these friends whom we seek."

"Oh yeah… Well, Callie’s about a year old, sturdily built, though not stocky. She has a beautiful wavy coat, and glowing brown eyes."

"I’m afraid that she does not sound familiar," Said the coyote, "are there others?"

I jumped, "oh! Yeah, um, the others…" I tried to collect my thoughts. I turned to Sandy, "Who else did you say was missing?"

She had something close to a smile on her face, as she said, "Hero and Dallas."

At the mention of Hero, I suddenly remembered something.

"Sandy, how their relationship now?" I said so fast that I’m afraid I messed up the sentence.

"What?"

"What is their relationship right now?"

"Whose relationship? Dallas and Hero’s?"

"No! Hero and Callie!"

"Oh! I get it. Well I think Hero might be starting to convince Callie that he’s genuinely interested in her, but I don’t know how she feels about him." Sandy paused for a moment, then cocked her head at me, "You know, she’s missed you an awful lot."

"Really?" My heart thudded. But as a friend, or is there more? And who-ever came up with the idea that love is more or less than friendship, anyway? Friendship is a different kind of love, which makes it even harder to figure emotions out…

"Um, excuse me, but earlier I caught the scent of two dogs, one male and one female. They might be who you’re looking for." Said the coyote.

I looked at her for a moment, trying to figure out what she was talking about. She turned to her pack.

"Father, Mother, I could bring them to where those scents were, and if they are the dogs who they’re looking for, they could follow them from there."

"Very well," said Father, he turned to look at us, "Fern will bring you to the scent of the dogs. You have our permission to pass through our land, but I would appreciate it if you did not linger, pets tend to attract humans."

"Right, don’t worry, we’re just here to find Callie, and then we’ll be on our way."

Faisal inclined his head to Father, "thank you for giving us passage through your land. We shall try not to harm it, or it’s occupants."

Father nodded and said, "I am grateful for your respect."

"If you are all ready than I will show you the way." Fern told us.

"Hey Fern, you’d better watch yourself, you never no what stunt a dog might try to pull." Warned a female coyote.

"Thorn, I would have thought that you of all canines would realize that Fern is always careful," said a male coyote, "If anyone needs to watch themselves, it is the unwise fellow who tries to push her around."

Thorn glared at him, "Thremulus, Fern may be cautious, but she is not nearly as aggressive about it as I am."

"Which is probably why you have such a hard time making friends." Said Thremulus.

"And just what’s that supposed to mean?" snapped Thorn.

Fern sighed, "must you two always fight?"

"It’s what siblings do," said Thremulus, "well, most siblings. I haven’t had a good fight with you in quite a while."

"Thremulus, Thorn, we’re adults now, it’s time to put aside this silly play bickering."

"Play!" cried Thorn. "I am not playing."

"And besides, if we stopped arguing than the rest of you might die of boredom," said Thremulus.

Fern shook her head. She looked at us, "this way please."

I stood up and followed Fern, Faisal and Sandy close behind me.

My stomach gurgled and I suddenly realized just how hungry I was. Callie. Callie’s out there and she’s probably just as hungry as I am. If not more.

Sandy sighed. I looked back at her. "What’s the matter?"

"It’s almost midnight and I haven’t eaten since last morning."

"Yeah, I haven’t either, but try not to think about it. I’m sure the other’s are hungry too, only they’re still lost."

"This is the spot." Fern stopped by a tree and I walked up to it and sniffed.

"That’s definitely Hero and Dallas. But where’s Callie?"

Sandy sniffed around. "This way!"

We broke into a run, following the scent. As we traveled the scent got stronger.

I ran into a thicket and had to jump over a sleeping form, so as not to trample. I was standing between the sleeping forms of Hero and Dallas. Faisal ran around them and skidded to stop, as did Fern, but Sandy couldn’t turn in time and ran smack into Hero.

Hero leapt to his feet barking. Dallas jerked awake and also jumped up.

Hero barked menacingly at us.

"Just a moment, Hero, I think they may friends!" Dallas sniffed at us and then ran to Sandy. "Sandy girl! You found us!"

"Dallas are you okay?!" Sandy and Dallas danced around each other.

"I am now, dear!" Dallas let out a joyous bark. Then she turned to look at the rest of us. "Why Skip! You’ve come back! Callie will be so delighted! I know I am. I was afraid we’d be stuck in the woods for years! But you’re a real travel’n pro, so things should be just fine now."

I grinned. Let’s hope I can figure out how to get us out of this forest.

Hero turned to me stiffly, "Hello Skip."

"Hello Hero." I stood face to face with Hero. I don’t know what to think of you. You’re my competition for Callie. CALLIE! "Where’s Callie!?"

Hero hung his head, "We don’t know."

"WHAT! What do you mean you don’t know? How could you not know where she is?"

"Now Skip, honey, calm down." Dallas came over to me. "I know you care for her a lot, but panickin ain’t gonna help anyone."

Sandy came over and sat down. "So what happened?"

Dallas shook her head, "we were runnin though the woods and got separated. Simple as that. So who’re the new friends?"

"I am Faisal. I learned of Skip’s lost friends and wished to help." Faisal shook head to get his ears out of his face.

"Well gorgeous, I sure appreciate you’re taken the trouble to help."

Faisal shook his head. "Oh it is no trouble."

Hero snorted and then turned to Fern, "so why’s a coyote traveling with dogs?"

"You and your friends are in my pack’s territory. My parents do not like having dogs hanging around, so I agreed to help your friends find you."

Fern walked closer to us. "You are all much more friendly than most canines who pass through here."

"Yeah well, we are friends." Hero scratched at an ear. "So are you guys ready to go find Callie, or not?"

"Of course I’m ready." I leapt forward, "Let’s go!"

"Hold up another second dear, The coy hasn’t been introduced yet."

Fern took another step forward. "My name is Fern."

"Glad to meet’cha Fern. I’m Dallas and this here, moody one is Hero."

"It’s nice to meet you," Fern said to both of them.

Hero looked at me, "let’s go."

Hero and I ran through the woods. Faisal kept up with us easily, except when he had to pause to untangle his leash. Sandy, Dallas and Fern followed as well.

"Callie!" Hero exclaimed, as we both caught her scent. We charged forward.

"Wait!" Fern barked lunging in front of us. Hero had to hop and plant his feet to avoid running into her, while I skidded to a stop an inch away from her.

"Out of the way!" commanded Hero.

"What is it?!" I asked impatiently.

Fern looked carefully towards the path ahead. I tried to run around her but she jumped in front of me again. "Wait."

Hero couldn’t take it and dodged around her and started running, only to be brought up short as Fern grabbed his collar in her mouth.

"Hey!" Hero snarled and tried to snap at Fern, but she stayed well out of his range.

A loud warning huff came from up the path. We all froze. Hero stopped struggling and Fern released him.

"What is it?" whispered Dallas. Fern glanced back at us.

"A bear."

We waited. We could hear the creature lumbering through bushes. I caught a glimpse of a large brown animal moving through the forest. Slowly the sound faded away.

"Is it safe now?" asked Sandy nervously.

"I think so." Fern cautiously moved forward. Hero and I followed her, this time at a calmer, more alert, pace.

We came to a meadow with a small pond and paused. Fern looked around carefully.

I caught my breath and froze. Drinking from the pond was a very familiar, very beautiful figure. I trembled.

Hero looked at Fern, "Is it safe?"

"It seems like it."

I desperately wanted to dash across the field to her, but what if this was another dream. What if it all disappeared?

Hero tensed and then sprang forward, barking. That was all the encouragement I needed. I bounded forward.

"Callie!"

Callie looked up. The water dripping from her muzzle sparkled in the moonlight. Her eyes widened. She barked and ran towards us.

"Callie!" Hero glanced at me as we ran towards her. We raced each other, each trying to get to Callie first.

I jumped and landed in front of Callie. She grinned and reared up. I reared as well, placing my paws on her shoulders. Callie twisted away and pawed at me. We sniffed each other over. I play bowed and Callie responded with her own. Then we reared again and placed our paws on each other’s neck and shoulders. We landed and I licked her face. She licked my cheek and I breathed deeply, inhaling as much of her sweet scent as I could.

Callie dropped to the ground and rolled onto her back. I lay down next to her and licked her face and neck tenderly. Callie rolled onto her stomach and leaned into me.

"Oh, Skip…"

"Yes?" I licked her cheek again.

"I was afraid that I’d never see you again."

"So was I."

Callie sighed and put her head down next to me. I sighed and lay my head gently across her neck. I closed my eyes and concentrated on the feel of Callie’s fur and her wonderful scent.

I heard the others come up. Reluctantly I opened my eyes and looked at them. Sandy and Dallas where grinning happily. Fern was sitting a respectful difference away. Hero stood several yards away, ears and tail drooping.

"I hate to brake this happy reunion up, but we all should be think’n bout heading back. Don’t know about you, but I’m starvin!"

"Um, does anyone have any idea how to get back?" Sandy looked around worriedly.

Callie looked up at me, "I’m sure Skip can get us back. He can get us out of any situation."

I laughed ruefully. "I wish that were true, but I’m afraid that I was so busy looking for you," I paused and rubbed my head on hers, "That I’m now just as lost as you are."

"Oh."

Hero snorted.

Dallas tilted her head, "Oh dear. Now what are we goin to do?"

Hero walked over to Fern. "Do you have any idea where the nearest human settlement is?"

"Yes, but if that is our destination than we must hurry. I dear not go near there once the sun has fully risen."

And so we walked some more. Fern led the way with Hero and Faisal following. Callie and I walked side by side, and Sandy and Dallas brought up the rear.

"I take it the coyote is Fern, but who’s the other dog?" Callie asked me.

"That’s Faisal. He came with Sandy and me to help us find you."

Suddenly howls rang out near us. The noise was quite discordant. Some of the voices were beautiful and eerie, while others were whiny or rough. Fern froze and her ears tensed, listening as hard as she could. Some more howls rang out from the opposite direction.

"Quickly! This way!" Fern ran in the direction of the second set of howls. The dogs followed her.

"What is it? Who were those first howls from?" asked Callie running hard to keep up with Fern.

"That was Doom’s pack! They’ve been trying to take more of our land recently."

"They sure could use sing’n lessons!" Dallas tilted her head listening to the mismatched voices.

"Fern, who is it that we are running to?" Hero bounded up beside Fern.

"My pack."

The howls continued, first coming from one side, then the other, and back again.

I jumped as a howl went up from our midst. We all stopped and looked around. Sandy was sitting with her head thrown back, howling. She stopped and looked at us sheepishly.

"Sorry."

Fern looked around as the howls came closer from both sides.

"Now that they know someone’s here, we might as well announce the rest of us." Fern raised her mouth to sky. A melodious sound drifted into the air.

Sandy quickly joined Fern. I hesitated, and glanced at Callie. She was looking at me.

Callie smiled, "Shall we join them?"

I smiled at her. "Let’s." We tilted our heads back and howled.

Faisal, Hero, and Dallas soon joined us.

Our howls were answered by urgent but friendly howls from Fern’s family, and challenging ones from Doom’s pack.

I was quite alarmed to realize that Doom sounded closer than Moon and Star.

The bushes near us rustled, and nine canines rushed at us. Four leapt over the brush, four ran around and one squeezed through. Once in sight they slowed to a stop.

A large dominant male slowly walked forward, "And what have we here?"

A sleek, then female that resembled a Doberman pranced forward, "Would you look at that? It’s a pack of dogs. Why there’s even a coyote in it."

"Ah, how sweet, little Fern now has her own pack." A female that resembled a cross between a greyhound and a coyote stalked forward.

A long legged coyote that smelled related to the greyhound-like one took several steps towards Fern, "Fern, my dear, there was no need for you to go through all the trouble of finding a bunch of dogs. I’m more than ready to start my own pack."

"Like she’d be interested in a scrawny pup like you." A heavily muscled stocky dog growled at the long legged one.

A big coyote turned to the stocky dog, "Thunder, now is not the time for us to fight amongst ourselves."

A small, skinny female with tangled and matted fur slunk closer to the big one.

I looked around. Nine. How the heck are we supposed to keep track of them all, never mind deal with them? There were two other canines with the Doom pack. One was sleek with white, silver and black fur, and yellow/golden eyes. He looked very much like a wolf. The other one looked like a cross between a wolf and a German shepherd and had mostly tan and white fur, with some black areas. Both looked and smelled very strong. Actually, the only one who doesn’t smell and look strong is that skinny, scrawny one.

Faisal turned his head in a non-threatening manner. "Sirs, we do not mean to tress-pass. We are merely passing through." I noticed the ears go back on one of them, and his lips pulling back in a snarl. "Faisal watch it!" The stocky dog rushed towards Faisal, who jumped sideways just in time to avoid the massive jaws.

Hero ran, barking, at the attacker, who turned to him and opened his mouth wide. The dog lunged. Hero dodged to the side and snapped at the aggressor’s neck. The dog snapped his head around too fast for Hero to get out of the way. The dog got his mouth half way around Hero’s neck and used his massive weight and strength to push Hero to the ground.

"Hero!" Callie cringed and looked at me. "What are we going to do?"

"We defend ourselves." Fern flashed by me. She bit at the dog’s flank on her way by. He yelped and spun around.

"You!" The Dog lunged at Fern. She ducked under his head and took his neck in her mouth. She whacked her paw at the dog’s legs, off-balancing him. The dog crashed to the ground, Fern on top of him. He thrashed around but stiffened and stopped moving when he felt Fern’s jaws tighten. Fern let go and cautiously stepped away.

Hero had gotten to his feet and stood watching Fern in amazement. I think we were all amazed.

"Well done, little one." The alpha male, who must be Doom took a step closer. "You would indeed be a fine addition to our pack."

"I already have pack."

"You bet she does, and we don’t take to kindly to tress-passers." Thorn stalked up next to Fern.

Doom jumped and looked around sharply. "Moon, what a pleasant surprise."

Moon and Thremulus walked by us and stopped a short distance from Doom.

Moon laid his ears back and bared his teeth. "I am not interested in playing games with you, Doom. Take your pack and leave."

Doom’s ears went back. "Now, now, there’s no need to be unfriendly."

"Get your skins out of here, you mangy runts!" Thorn growled at them.

"Thorn!" Moon scowled at her. Doom saw this and lunged. Moon looked around as Doom reached him, jaws snapping. Moon reared and pawed at Doom’s shoulder. Doom bite landed on Moon’s shoulder. Moon twisted around and grabbed Doom’s neck in his mouth.

"Get them!" shouted the Doberman like dog and she charged at Thorn. The rest of Doom’s back charged forward, and we were soon engulfed in a whirling mass of fur and teeth.

I looked around frantically. I’ve never really been in a fight before! How am I supposed to handle this?!

A large Coyote was bearing down on me. I tried to jump to the side but he followed me. I trembled. Darn! I can’t think! Large jaws opened wide. I crouched and closed by eyes.

Thud! I looked up and saw the coyote pinned to the ground, Thremulus on top of him.

"Thanks!"

"No problem, but you had best keep moving!" Thremulus jumped off of the large coyote, just as the tan, white, and black wolf dog leapt at him. The coyote on the ground grunted as the wolf dog landed on him.

"Sorry!" the tan wolf dog called over his shoulder.

Thremulus gathered himself. "Quake, I shall win against you!"

Quake, the tan wolf dog, grinned, "Not today, Thremulus! Not today."

Quake and Thremulus raced each other around the trees.

I heard a yelp and looked around in alarm. Sandy was running all out to avoid the clashing jaws of one of the coyotes. I gathered myself and lunged at the coyote. She didn’t notice me coming so I jumped and slammed myself into her. She tripped and sprawled onto the forest floor. I quickly placed my mouth on her neck. She immediately stopped squirming and went limp. Surprised I let go and backed up. The coyote looked at me timidly, ears back and tail tucked tight under her.

"Thanks Skip." Sandy huddled close to me.

I heard an enraged snarl just behind me and spun around. Dallas had a tuft of silver fur in her mouth and the other wolf dog was staring her down. Both had their ears back, tails up, and teeth bared menacingly.

"Don’t underestimate me just cause I’m a dog." Dallas spit the fur out of her mouth.

"You are the one who should not underestimate me." The silver, white and black wolf dog flew at Dallas. She jumped to the side and grabbed onto his neck as he went by.

"Let go, female!" the wolf dog snarled and reared, twisting in the air. The fur on his neck was so thick that Dallas had mostly fur in her mouth with only a little skin, but she clung on. The wolf dog ran at a tree and turned slamming Dallas into it. She yelped and in the process let go of the wolf dog. In a flash he had Dallas pinned to the ground, his mouth encompassing most of her neck. She whined. The wolf dog let go and strode away several paces. He looked back as Dallas leapt to her feet.

"You! What’s your name?" Dallas cocked her head.

The silver, white, and black wolf dog looked at her in mild bemusement. "My name is Scythe."

"Well Scythe, you can’t beat me that easily!" Dallas yelled and ran at Scythe.

"Dallas!" I cried, "I don’t think that’s the best idea!"

"I can handle this!" Dallas jumped at Scythe. Shocked he barely avoided her bite, and Dallas came away with another clump of fur in her mouth.

"Are you trying to pull out all my fur, or is that your pathetic attempt to bite me?"

Dallas growled and lunged at Scythe, but he smoothly avoided her bite and pinned her down again. Scythe released Dallas’s neck but still stood over her.

"Well now, Dallas is it?"

"That’s my name, don’t wear it out."

"My, aren’t you cocky for someone who keeps getting pinned down?"

"I may be down, but I’m not out."

"Oh? Tell me, who should beware now?"

"You." Dallas snapped her jaws and connected with the soft underside of Scythe’s muzzle. Scythe gave out a roar of outraged pain, and jumped away.

"I shall pay you back for that." Scythe growled at Dallas.

"Just try it."

I shook my head. Well, I guess she’s all right. But what about the others? Callie? I turned and surveyed the others.

Fern and Hero were chasing the stocky, muscular dog. Faisal was racing around with the long legged coy-dog, taking turns dashing at each other, snapping and then dashing away. The greyhound like coy-dog was running circles around Callie, coming close enough to snap at her, then dashing away. Callie looked completely flustered.

I ran at the racing coy-dog. "Hey, you!"

The greyhound coy-dog paused and looked at me.

"Aw, is she important to you? Then you’d better defend her hadn’t you?" The greyhound coy-dog glanced at me a final time, then raced at Callie.

"Callie, watch out!" I ran as hard as I could to catch up, but the coy-dog was still faster than me. She ran into Callie, tackling her. I jumped as hard as I could and landed on the coy-dog’s back. I sunk my teeth into her and she howled and leapt off of Callie. I was thrown off. I braced myself expecting an attack, but none came. I looked around. With the exception of Dallas and Scythe who were still going at it, everyone else had stopped fighting.

"Rocket! We’re going!" Doom limped away. The Doberman like dog followed, with a bloody ear. Most of the other followed, some at a leisurely pace, others slinking and sulking away.

"Scythe!" Quake called out, "Time to go!"

"Sorry Dallas, dear, but I’m out of time to play." Scythe bounded over to Quake, who turned, and they cantered off into the woods.

"Play!" Dallas exclaimed indignantly.

Moon sighed and came over. "Is everyone all right?"

"Yeah, I’m fine." Dallas spit a few stray silver hairs out of her mouth.

Fern walked over to Moon. "Father, they do not know their way back, so I shall guide them to edge of the human area."

"Very well. Be careful."

Fern nodded, then turned to us. "Follow me."

After a while of walking we could hear running water. We soon emerged from the woods. There was a metal bridge across a river.

"Oh no," moaned Callie lying down, "no, no, no. Please tell me that we are not crossing that."

Fern looked at her, "It’s all right, if you are alert you can tell in plenty of time if a car is coming." At that, Callie whimpered.

Dallas came over, "look, this time you can cross the bridge in the middle, I’ll go last."

Fern listened for a moment. She walked slowly onto the bridge. "It’s all right, we can cross now."

Hero quickly trotted across.

"Come on, I’ll walk with you." I nudged Callie. She got up and we walked onto the bridge. We were almost off it when we heard a menacing bark behind us.

I spun around. A dog, a coy-dog, a coyote, Scythe and Quake were racing at Dallas, Sandy and Faisal.

Coy-dog grabbed Faisal’s leashed and hauled back on it. Faisal growled and tried pulling himself free, but it didn’t work. He ran at the coy-dog and snapped at his shoulder. The coy-dog released the leash and lunged at Faisal. The two clashed teeth and bodies.

"You wanna fight do ya?!" Dallas ran to meet the coyote who was running at her. Dallas pinned her to the ground.

Sandy yelped and went running as the large dog bared down on her, his teeth raking the air. He was to fast for her and slammed his head into her, sending her flying. Sandy yelped again as she hit a metal bar of the bridge. The dog charged at her again and Sandy scrambled to get out of the way. He collided with her again. The dog barked in surprise and Sandy gave a cry of fright as they both realized that there was nothing under their feet. They’d fallen off the bridge.

"Sandy!" Callie cried. We ran to near the edge of the bridge. There was a splash and we saw the dog swimming towards the shore. We frantically looked around. I stared as I watched Quake, Sandy’s neck in his mouth, carefully pull her back onto the bridge.

"Skip, Callie," Fern shouted as she ran up to us, "You’ve got to get off the bridge, now!"

Callie and I ran the rest of the way off the bridge and looked back. Fern and Hero were running full speed at the fighting group.

"Quake! Claw, Ripper! We need to go, now!" commanded Scythe. The coyote fled into the woods.

The coy-dog hesitated, growling at Faisal, who stood his ground.

"Listen everyone! Danger is coming!" Fern called, as she got to the point were Sandy and Quake were. Sandy gasped and ran towards Callie and me, while Quake turned and loped back towards the woods.

Dallas charged at the coy-dog.

"Ripper, now!" Scythe stood about halfway across the bridge. The coy dog spotted Dallas and then turned tail, as lights suddenly illuminated the bridge. I jumped and pushed Callie farther away from the road, upon which a car was screaming along. Dallas and Fern froze, staring at the headlights, while Hero barked furiously at the approaching car. Fern snapped out of her stupor and shoved Hero out of the way.

"Dallas!" Sandy yelled, from were we stood at the end of the bridge.

The car honked, but Dallas still stood like a statue. A silver shadow hit the windshield. The car’s brakes shrieked. Scythe leapt off the hood and snapped at Dallas. "Move!" Dallas jumped and followed Scythe to the very edge of the bridge while the car picked us speed again and sped by.

Scythe loped away into the woods. Dallas shakily followed Fern and Hero over to us.

Callie ran up to Dallas. "Are you okay?"

Dallas sighed. "Yeah." She looked back across the river, "Thanks to that Scythe. I can’t imagine what would posses such a fighter to risk his life to save an enemy."

"What ever it was, it happened with Quake. He saved me from falling in the river." Sandy shook herself.

"Come, it is almost dawn. I will bring you just a little further." Fern walked onwards.

"Hey!" Sandy raced around, excitedly, nose to the ground. "I smell our humans!"

We all started sniffing around.

"You’re right!" Callie barked happily.

"I think we’re just about there now!" I ran towards a clearing. "Yes!"

The others caught up with me. We could see the building of the rest stop and several parked cars.

"This is where I leave you." Fern nodded her head. "Fare well my friends."

Hero looked at her. "will you be able to make it home all right?"

Fern smiled, "These woods are my home. I will fine."

"Good by Fern, thank you for all your help." Faisal nodded his head, an ear falling over his eyes. Fern nosed it out of his face.

"Yes, Thank you for helping me find Callie." I licked Callie’s cheek.

"Thank you so much for reuniting us."

"I’ll miss ya!" Dallas waved her tail.

"By." Sandy sniffed noses with her.

"…" Hero walked over to her. "Thank you."

Fern touched her nose to Hero’s then turned to all of us. "You are all very welcome. I’m glad that I was able to make so many friends. Please take care of yourselves." She grinned. "And try not to get lost so often."

"Right, definitely, we will." We all agreed.

Fern quietly stepped away and disappeared into the woods.

We turned back to the rest stop. The sun was just rising giving the surroundings a soft glow.

"Let’s go!" cried Dallas, running towards the buildings. The rest of us followed, though Faisal quickly outpaced us all.

When we got to the buildings we barking and jumped playfully, full of joy.

"What the?" Humans started getting out of the cars and buildings to see what all the commotion was about.

"Sandy!" a woman knelt down and held out her arms. Sandy barked with joy and ran to her. The woman swept Sandy up in her arms, and while hugging her, dug out a leash which she quickly put on Sandy.

"Callie!"

"Faisal!"

"Dallas!"

"Hero!"

Faisal danced around until Lily got her arms around him. She held him tightly, rubbing her head in his fur.

Callie jumped up, placing her paws on Zack’s chest, while he ruffed her fur up and patted and stroked her.

Dallas ran around Phaedra, barking her head off, while Phaedra tried to grab hold of her.

Hero jumped in the air and knocked Linda over. "Hero, you should know better than that!" Linda exclaimed as Hero licked her face. She hugged him.

"What’s going on here?" Richard said. I barked and ran over to him. Richard picked me up. He got another leash and put it on, then patted my head.

"What was with all that running off huh? And coming back at 5:00 in the morning!"

The humans were all too exited and happy to go back to bed, so they had a picnic. They were all very sure to keep a tight hold of our leashes. I’m happy to say that they thought to give us dogs food as well. (We were all starving after not having eaten for practically a day.)

After we had all finished eating the humans packed everything up.

While her human was talking, Sandy came over to us as far as her leash would let her. "Good by everyone. I hope to see you all soon."

"Ya, it’s been fun." Dallas sniffed noses with Sandy.

Faisal came over to us. "I hope that our human’s friendliness means that we shall meet again, but whether or not we do, I am glad that I had the to chance to be friends with you. Fare thee well, my friends."

While everyone was saying good-by, a thought suddenly struck me. I looked at Callie. She was staring back at me, a look of alarm on her face.

"What are we going to do? Our humans don’t live near each other!" Callie looked at me desperately.

I looked around, thinking hard. I just found her again. I’m not going be separated from her. I won’t be.

"Well, time to go, come along Skip." Richard strode towards the car. I planted my feet and braced myself against the end of the leash.

"Skip come on!" I was out of time. Richard took a step towards me and I used the extra room the jump beside Callie and place my head on her neck. She reached around and licked at my face. Richard and Zack talked, but I couldn’t follow what they were saying. I licked at Callie’s nose as Richard picked me up. I struggled as hard as I could but Richard was a big strong man and held on tight. Zack knelt beside Callie and I watched in desperation as Callie struggled to pull away from his arms.

Richard got into the car and only released me after he had shut the door. I lunged around the car, checking that it was all closed tight. The car started to pull away. I jumped into the back and pressed my face to the window. I watched as we went further and further away from Callie. I heard her howling, and answered with my own howl of despair.

I sighed and stared out the window, seeing Callie in my minds’ eye, long after she was out sight.

To the wind I cry,

As it blows by…

Fluttering in the wind,

Like a leaf upon the breeze,

I know not where I’m heading,

Only where my heart will always be…

To the wind I cry,

As it blows by…

Author’s note: Well there. I finally finished this darn chapter! I have no idea if I’ll ever get around to doing more Paw Prints stories, but it probably won’t be for a long time. (Unless of course, I suddenly have a bunch of fans who really want to read more. If that is the case, please let me know. I may also simply write an epilog, but I’m not sure.) In the meantime I’ll be working on a gazillion and one other projects (I have several stories that I’m working on for fan fiction. Net, and loads of other original stories).