The Hounds

February 25th 2019

October 1st 2020 (last major edit)

Before the Hunter shot his old hound for being toothless and feeble, he took her five pups.

The Hunter brought the pups to his hunts as soon as they could walk. Unlike other hunters, he gave them only breadcrumbs instead of meat, water instead of milk, and a beating for an unsuccessful hunt. The hounds would cower in a corner, whimpering, not daring to even bark at their master.

On a stormy day, during a hunt, one hound lost track of its pack. Perhaps because he lost count, the Hunter never looked for it.

The lost hound desperately tried, but failed to track the scent of its pack, washed away by the heavy rain. Alone, afraid, and famished, it wandered in the wild.

For days, out of fear for its master's punishment, the hound dared not hunt nor eat without the man's order. The hunger burned its stomach like a growing fire. It consumed the hound's strength until its legs trembled under its own weight, and the world around seemed to spin.

At some point, even standing proved difficult. The hound crumbled on the ground. Feeling his life slip away with each exhale, it closed its eyes ready to embrace a darkness that all living creatures, not only humans, had been subconsciously aware of.

Perhaps, some higher force sympathized with its misery; in its moment of great fragility, the hound's nose twitched at the scent of blood. It opened a tired eye and noticed a wounded squirrel not far from itself.

Its mind a haze and its conscience, along with the guilt and shame, no more than a faint echo overshadowed by hunger, the hound felt its legs move by themselves. It lifted itself then dragged its weary body across dry soil and dead leaves.

After a tedious journey, the hound finally found itself next to the dying rodent. The hound sniffed hesitantly at first, but as the fragrance of life invaded every fiber of its being, it could no longer resist the fresh meal. It sank its teeth into the flesh.

The succulent aroma of Life burst against its dried tongue. The hound tasted the wild, tasted grandeur, tasted Freedom.

It is during this sacred moment that he finally understood.

The wild was his shelter, the creatures there were his sustenance, and the Hunter was no more than a creature.

He had for master no one but himself. So did his siblings.

He told himself that he had to free them, to save them, to show them the wonders of the Wild.

For days, he tracked them, sought for hints in the air, then finally, noticed a familiar scent. Heart drumming in anticipation against his rib-cage, he rushed to the source.

He found his siblings, wagging their tails and barking excitedly. His tongue burned with the urge to speak, to tell, to enlighten, but before he could open his mouth, he noticed the Hunter. The man was no longer a tall, dark, and frightening shadow, but a monstrously large, disproportionate creature.

This creature was mad, howling reprimands at the lost hound. At the hint of their master's anger, the hound's siblings cowered in anticipation of a beating.

To think that the hound, himself, had once feared the clumsy creature to such an extent... Had his physique permitted him, he would have laughed – not at his siblings, but himself.

The hound was distracted by the glimpse of an approaching foot. Swiftly, he evaded the kick then pounced on his assailant. He bit the Hunter's leg with such strength that he struggled to shake him off. When the Hunter finally did, the hound elegantly landed on his feet.

The hound internally grinned at the bloody leg, at the pleasant image of a certain fallen Hunter, but his fantasy was shattered by the Hunter's smirk. Before the hound could comprehend its meaning, his siblings growled then pounced on him, sinking their teeth in every patch of his bare skin.

Shocked, the hound barely had time to react. He let out a howl of pain before his furious, frightened siblings tore him into pieces.

The hound expired his last breath in confusion and the misery of betrayal. He never understood that, for his siblings, he had become a traitorous stranger the moment he fought their master.