We have to get moving. We have stalled at the barrier by the big freshwater long enough. My scent-masked, stealth excursions tell me that Monu-ment^ is to the South^ (if this twisted place understands Rise and Set as we do). I have heard a few floaters and seen darts in the sky that could be one, but I hid in bushes and scrub. Nothing suggests they found me. Over the days there seem to be fewer. Maybe they have split their forces in the search, maybe they are bored and have decided we’re not worth it. The barrier runs Rise to Set. I have followed it half a day^ in each direction. To the Set, it curves back round South; to Rise it seems to give a clear run to the coast (I can smell strong salt that way and the decomposition as by every big saltwater). So we will go that way. The compound didn’t have any saltwater so towards it is away from Pack. As our enemies grow, directions become more limited.

Throughout my scouting, I have mostly managed to get the ever-pups to stay in our den. It was dug inside the established tree line away from the bank. Dry enough to be habitable and soft enough to be diggable. Some days Vicious stayed with them, others he has come with me (those days it was hard not to end up with Late First Eyes Runt^ and then the others trying to tag along). Others he has apparently done neither, but I have no idea what he is capable of in stealth so he may have followed me those days and I didn’t notice. You are kidding yourself if you think that you have any worthwhile warrior skills. A big breakthrough in making them stay at den is the development and refinement of the “chit” call. When I first realised that we were trapped between floaters and barriers, I decided to work on the call sounds I had heard. Ki is now effective to draw all their attention and focus and call Pack together. Chit is a kind of wait command (that finally they heed until I give them a Ki), which I can do from a distance. If I am scent-masked, they don’t follow.

We have had plenty of provision. We can now hunt almost as well as a real Soil-dog Provision-pack. Vicious has “helped” several Rises. Again, it is unpredictable. One time, he raced forward and took a small deer without assistance from Pack. But he has also yipped at everything, ensuring the pack is riled, before I sneak off with Pointy and get it done. Spotless’s leg is not infected, but it has not healed very straight. He doesn’t seem to experience any pain in it now. He rocks along with the others as though he never fell in a hole because he didn’t know the terrain.

No more procrastinating. Time to get moving. Pack might be safe here for a while, but with a whole world to roam, staying near both floaters and Soil-dogs seems foolish. Yes, that’s it, trot away from your shame. And this wooded patch will only feed us for so long.

My ki is still echoing and Pack, including Vicious, is together. I sling a cache-pouch to Late First Eyes Runt. Vicious goes to pick up another.

“I would rather you did not carry any of the cache-pouches.” He smells genuinely hurt. “It is just that you’re not always with Pack. If you go off one day and you have things that Pack needs, it will be... awkward.” I am not good at sounding gentle. I’m better with the ever-pups. He doesn’t seem to remember he spent 3 of the last 8 days off on his own somewhere.

“That would be inconvenient. Well, tell me if I can take one later.” So, we have present, gently pack-minded Vicious today. If you hadn’t made him runt then you wouldn’t need to guess all the time. Yeah well, he never was gently pack-minded before I made him runt so maybe I should thank Soil for the accident. It wasn’t an accident, you were angry. I had no intention and I have lost everything. As you should.

“Vicious take point. This ridge follows the line of the barrier for at least half a day.” He cheerfully walks ahead. I take up First Eyes. The others walk between us, second nature to them now. Occasionally Spotless and Late First Eyes Runt run ahead and stick their noses in a bush. They can’t scent-mask, Vicious sometimes can and sometimes can’t, so I don’t waste any concentration on one. I am pretty sure no being is following us by nose or they would have found us by now. “The woodland is densest along the ridge, it’s the best concealment from aerial observation.”

I keep my nose up for a scent of salt. We crest the ridge. I turn my nose back to another temporary den in soil not Soil and wonder if I will ever feel truly safe in a den not on World.

First, we smelled the big saltwater. Then we smelled the weird, lifeless, human dens. I parked Pack.

“Want me to come too, Boss?” he is yet to call me “Pack Guider^”, which by all convention I am. He seems like he is at a point where he would be of use to Pack so I say,

“Late First Eyes Runt,” She tilts. She understands spoken words if she barely uses anything like it. Vicious was right that she won’t learn if I don’t use them. Has he been wrong about you yet? At least once. “look after Spotless and the others.” She huffs a short breath (her equivalent of “yes”), even though I know she wants desperately to be with Vicious. She sits. We travel quickly but carefully towards the human settlement.

Well abandoned. No floaters. Bigger than Monkey-ment and longer deserted. We separate to nose about for any useful items within scent distance. Familiar planted dens in rows as neat as a newly dug den-complex. I go to a sealed one and try the portal cover. It does not give. I wander down the row and try any portal covers. No luck. You are not as clever as you think you are. One den has a broken solid-air panel. I jump inside.

The chambers are completely bare. Anything left by former occupants has decomposed or been eaten cycles ago. I quickly check the chambers. There are the familiar selection of chamber-linings and locations of chambers. but nothing remains. No Wilderness-caches. Oh what a shame, you don’t get to show off to your impressive bond-mates! I jump back out of the broken solid-air avoiding the edges (they are sharp).

Vicious is in a den too. He’s rummaging. So some of these dens must have something in. He’s a made-Runt who has never been to a human settlement, and he found what you are looking for as the experienced “human expert”. You’re a joke. I try a couple more portal covers. This one opens revealing similar set of linings and chambers, less dishevelled by plants and animals, but equally barren.

I return to the black-path. What has Vicious found? I head to where he’s rustling about. He is not investigating! He’s scrabbling in a panic, probably against a portal cover. You were too busy beating yourself up about not serving “Pack”, so you let Pack down again. I burst into the entrance chamber through the open portal-cover. Scrabbling to Rise. I bound to the portal cover. It has a standard branch. I open it immediately. Inside, he is in a state of distress. He doesn’t know me. He is whimpering and whining and continuing to scrabble at the ground below where the portal cover was. I scent Pack and gentle warm den. He smells me and snaps his head up. He jumps all over me like the ever-pups when I get back after a day of investigating.

He stops and his lip curls back. He is fearful and prepared to defend himself from this unsmelled attacker. I make myself as non-threatening as I can for a heartbeat and then realise that I have more control than I think right now. I stand tall, my eyes level with his bared teeth and back him into the chamber and flick the portal cover shut. He howls and throws himself against the seeming wall that I control.

“Now listen you.” To my surprise he falls silent and I catch a whiff of attention “I can let you out or I can leave you in there until you are no longer a problem for my Pack.”

“You-“

“And do not tell me I would not because I am a twice runt-maker. No-dog, even me can say I would not let you Walk and move on.”

“I don’t see why you think I won’t figure out these covers, you did after all, it can’t be that hard.”

“By all means but it took me half a season^ to open one wide enough to get through. And I was able to provide for myself that whole time.” I hear a bang and a thump. “You cannot break this solid-air that easily. And wait until the peak of Dry and it will not melt. It seems what you need right now, is a dog who knows something about human technology.” I am freaked out by this confidence bought by the portal cover, but I dare not stop. Maybe this will persuade him I am First Eyes here with all that means in terms of responsibility and chain of command. Out here, I am Pack Guider. I wait for him to speak. Nothing. Silence. A mixture of smells that suggest he is thinking. I wonder if I could just leave him. I have never intentionally ever hurt any-dog. I feel the incapacitating rage I felt at him before I made Late First Eyes Runt a runt. I hear the sickening thud and feel it in my stomach. I probably cannot do much if it comes to it. Of course you can’t. But if I have to save my Pack from him then I will.

“Well, what do you want then?”

“I want to get my Pack (including you if you are prepared to be in my Pack) away from the humans and their sinister technology, away from Soil-dogs who could be damaged by my presence and to a place with plenty of prey where we can live until we walk. If possible, a little warmer than it has ever been here. That is all. If you’re an asset to Pack, if you will serve Pack, I welcome you. But there is one First Eyes in this Pack and if you are to stay then that must be recognised. I did not have notches. I cannot have them now. My lack of ears is a notch you can never achieve.” I pause as long as I can. “If you agree, I will release you and we will return to the others and den for the night. If you do not, I will release you and I will not smell you again or I will discover what more damage I can do to you.” I listen and smell for some kind of acknowledgement. His shock is dissipating in the air on this side of the portal.

“Yes, Pack Guider. I want to be part of this Pack. It’s more fun than any other Pack I have been in at least.” He has a hint of his glib humour that both comforts and worries me he’s not taking this seriously. I casually trip the mechanism and push the portal cover open. He sits there smelling like the perfect warrior. I decide to take it as it appears until I have evidence he is not being sincere.

“Come on then. Let’s get back to Pack.” He falls into step a noticeable head-length ahead of me, showing me, he knows I am First Eyes even when there’s only two of us. It is a degree^ until the hunting degree begins. I am not sure how to start conversation with him. To reassure him he is in-Pack (the fastest route I know to some-dog rejecting a pack is feeling excluded).

“Can you teach me how to open those?”

“Portal-covers? Yes. If you are still with us and serving Pack by the time we reach the next settlement.” He chucks and seems to accept that as reasonable.