Read DogForge for Free Online

her eyes already teary. “Child!” she barked out. “What happened to you?”
    Denali set herself down stiffly and whimpered. Then she lied.
    They returned with Sabot’s body as the sun dropped beneath the peaks and everything took on an ashen pale. The marauders stopped on the edge of the camp. Each draped a long red tongue into the evening air and panted heavily. They waited for Samus to come to them.
    Denali watched from the doorway and felt Grat and Barley both watching her. The pups had woken excited, played, and were sleeping again. She loved that they didn’t notice a thing. To them, she was still innocent. That very fact made her feel even worse.
    Samus stood next to the corpse with his head low. He turned to Munin and the two spoke. Then Samus walked towards Denali.
    “Father,” Denali said to Grat.
    Grat stirred and opened his heavy eyes.
    “Samus is coming.”
    Grat stretched and plodded across the room. He sat down next to Denali. His chest leaned against her with just enough pressure so that she knew he was there.
    Samus loped up to the doorway. “Why didn’t you say there were more?”
    Denali fumbled on the words. She’d forgotten about the other skelebots.
    Samus saw that she knew. “After all of this and you don’t warn us? The one with the golden nose.”
    She’d forgotten and now felt ashamed of herself. She whimpered and pushed her tail between her legs.
    “She’s been through enough,” Grat said in a rumble.
    “Tell that to Sabot,” Samus snapped back. He glared back at Denali with cold eyes and left without saying more.
    Grat huffed and stepped out into the dying light.
    “Where are you going?” Barley said quickly. Her eyes were worried and worn. “We need you here.”
    “I need to talk with him. I know what it’s like.”
    “He won’t punish her,” Barley said.
    Grat said nothing and walked away.
    Denali walked on empty legs and laid herself next to the puppies. The weight of the day seemed to shackle her down. All she wanted to do was sleep, but instead her mind replayed the fight. That made her think of the exile. Then the fear came and she shook.
    “Shh, shh,” Barley hushed and laid herself down next to Denali. Her stout muzzle nudged Denali.
    Denali felt the warmth of her mother on her. She was like a pup curled up on the rich brown fur. She whimpered and cried.
    “Hush now, child,” Barley said. She licked her tongue out and cleansed Denali’s wounds.
    “Tell me again,” Denali whispered. “How you found me.”
    Barley stopped the cleansing and made a hushing noise into Denali’s ear. She reached her head around and plucked up a chocolate brown pup and laid it down onto Denali. One by one, the pups piled up and snuggled all into a ball. Denali lay underneath it all and felt safe, at least for a while.
    “You came from the stars,” Barley said. “You were so little, so very little. Samus found you and gave you to me.”
    One of the pups stirred and Denali felt a wet nose in her ear. She liked the story when Barley told it, everything seemed so simple. Even still, she wondered why Barley still stuck to the fable. She didn’t want to call it a lie—lies seemed so negative. It was more of a legend to her, her own secret legend. She preferred it to the truth: she was just a runt.
    “You were so little, and we didn’t know where you were from—”
    “I thought you said the stars?”
    “Shh! You know the story, now be quiet and listen!” Barley growled back.
    Denali wagged her tail, just the slightest bit, and watched Barley’s soft eyes.
    “Soon after the bots came, as they always do when we dig up new things. But this time there were many, so many.” Barley paused and adjusted a pup. “When we came out, Grat was with Karoc and Crassius.”
    “Crassius?” Denali asked. The name was new to her. She wrinkled her nose and wondered how much of the fable was made up as time went on.
    Barley glanced out the door. “It was your uncle, Grat’s brother. The