The Burning Pen

An Original Story: Sahara (Yet Untitled)
by Ruth Solomon

CHAPTER 2

Disclaimer: This original story is rated NC-17 and contains graphic sexual content and violence. It is meant to be read by those 18 and over. Those who are underage please leave this site now.

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Chapter 2 ~ Darkworld

Sahara stumbled, falling on her front paws. She had expected to feel water, not more sand under her feet. The wolf recovered quickly and looked around. She seemed to be at the edge of another forest, but it smelled strange, foreign. She turned and looked behind her. There was nothing but water. It looked like the ocean, but the water was kind of muddy, not clear like she was used to. And in the far distance, there was a string of lights, like small colored fires in a straight line. She had never seen lights on the sea before.

To the right of her, a lit wooden pier stretched out into the darkness, like a dark arm over the water. Sahara looked at it curiously, her ears flicking forward as her head cocked. There was nothing like this on her island. She padded over to it. There were raised wooden blocks that led up to the pier. Cautiously, she placed a paw on the first step, found it firm, then placed another. Slowly she climbed up to the wooden planking. Her paws clicked as she walked over the pier slowly, scenting it as she did. It smelled of old fish, birds and men, although the man scent was tainted with other things, not clean like the scent of her tribesmen. Black shapes huddled at the end of the pier, and she moved forward, slinking, trying to see what they were. She caught the scent. Sleeping birds, roosting, their heads tucked under their wings.

Sahara had never seen birds sleeping in a large group like this. Her wolven instinct kicked in and she crept forward and snagged a bird, startling the rest of them so they flew up, a cyclone of screaming, angry, black-headed gulls. Some dove at her as she claimed her prize and she hurried back down the pier, to the sand and darkness, where she devoured the bird, pulling out the feathers with her teeth to get to the sweet succulent meat.

The edge of her hunger eased, Sahara looked back toward the water. The birds were still whirling angrily. She could smell salt, but barely. Tentatively she stepped into the surf and lapped at the water. It was fresh, but tasted wrong, as if something were in the water that didn't belong there. Still she drank, she was so thirsty. The black wolf walked through the water, her paws stepping on stones as she did so. This was also strange, there were no stones in their surf, only smooth sand. She must be in the Darkworld.

Sahara looked toward the forest and back toward the water. There was no place to go but into the strange woods. Sounds she had never heard before, peeps, clicks and buzzings issued from the weird looking trees. They were not long and thin, topped with broad leaves and fruit, but thick and coarse, with limbs all over them sprouting foliage. It was dark, and she couldn't see well but couldn't scent anything remotely edible in their boughs. She trotted forward into the woods, exploring this strange new world.

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Bowser, the basset hound was laying on his side outside his master Celia's small, rusty twenty-foot trailer. The dog was engaging in his favorite exercise, sleeping among the cast off tires, empty paint cans and other junk strewn around their home. His short back leg came up and made a half-hearted attempt at scratching his belly, before dropping back lazily. He smacked his long muzzle sleepily and began to drift off again when a strange scent hit his nose. It was dog-like, but not completely. After two attempts he managed to raise himself to a more alert position, though he still lay on the ground. He took a deeper sniff. Yes, there was definitely something canine out in the woods. He gave the alarm as he forced himself to his feet, padding forward a bit, stepping on his long ears. His long bay attracted the notice of his owner.

Celia pushed open the door to her trailer, looked out at the barking, baying hound and peered into the darkness. The blonde, blue-eyed woman had a can of beer in her hand. She took a swallow, looked about a good two minutes, then yelled at Bowser.

"Bowser, you stop all that barking out there. It's nothing but a coon or something! Get your butt back over here 'for I spank you, crazy dog!" she called to him, then closed the door. 

Bowser looked back toward the trailer balefully. He knew something was out there. He could smell it, and it wasn't normal either. He walked forward a bit more, his sad eyes searching the woods for movement. The scent was getting stronger.

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Sahara had padded through the woods, climbing over large roots that never looked as if they had ever been underground. An animal passed in front of her and looked startled, climbing quickly up a tree and snarling down at her. She couldn't see it clearly, but could tell it was about a third of her size, and very frightened by the scent of it. Sahara trotted over to the tree it had climbed, placed her front paws on the trunk and peered up at it, whining curiously, which caused the creature to snarl even more viciously, the scent of fear growing thicker. Sahara dropped to the ground. It was too high to investigate. She left the snarling creature alone and continued through the woods.

Strange scents and sounds surrounded her as she moved through the forest, looking up every now and then at the gnarled branches of the trees with flattened ears. Some of the limbs looked like hands reaching out for her, and she lowered her body and slunk when she had to pass under these. How could she be sure they wouldn't grab her? This was the Darkworld after all, the place of the dead.

She saw a light, and moved toward it to see if it were a campfire. She stopped at the edge of a clearing, still deep enough in the woods to blend in. It was some kind of strange house, lit up inside. It didn't smell of thatch, but something else. All kinds of scents issued from it. Food, spoilage, human female, and some kind of wolf-like scent, but not entirely…it was as if it was diluted. Suddenly she heard a strange sound, sort of like a howl, but short and stuttered, almost musical. Sahara crouched low, her wolven eyes widening as an animal walked toward her, the strangest she had ever seen. It was the creature making the strange noise.

The animal's head was large, with a rounded skull and its muzzle parallel to the top of its skull. The coat was short and shiny, white and chestnut colored, and the creature's skin looked loose enough to fall off. The ears were ridiculously long, long enough to wrap around the tip of its muzzle. It had sad brown eyes and a very deep chest that extended in front of its forelegs. It looked a little clumsy as it walked toward her, the paws seeming too big for its low-slung body.

The animal came closer, still making the strange noise. Sahara thought about retreating, but was curious. The animal smelled so close to wolven. She rose and slowly stepped into the clearing. The creature stopped making the noise and shifted from foot to foot, sniffing nervously and whining. Whining, she understood. Sahara walked to the animal stiffly. It had the responses of a wolf, standing stiffly, its tail raised high.

Sahara touched her nose to the creature's wet one. They sniffed each other, the creature's tail beginning to wag as they examined each other's hindquarters. He was a male. The tail wagging figured now. Man or beast, men were men. The creature bounced down on his paws, wanting to play. Sahara knew this was a true animal, but it smelled very much of human. She indulged the friendly creature, bouncing and racing circles around it, knocking it over with her paw playfully. It wasn't long before the creature tried to mount her. It was comical, it was too short, and she wasn't in season. She spun, knocking him down, but he rolled to his short little legs and tried again. Sahara knocked him down again, laughing at him with loud pants. He certainly was determined.

Suddenly the door to the strange house opened, and a woman stuck her head out. She smelled of fermentation, something sickeningly sweet, smoke and food. Sahara slunk back into the woods, the animal attempting to follow her. She snarled at it, making it draw back in fright.

"Bowser? Bowser! Get your butt in here before a gator gets you! Get in here now you crazy dog!" Celia shouted into the darkness.

Bowser looked back towards the trailer, then into the woods. The bitch he had been playing with was so enticing.

"Bowser!" Celia's voice rang out, sounding angry now. Bowser knew better than to make her angry. He reluctantly turned around and galumphed toward the trailer. With an effort he hopped up the three steps and inside.

"It's about time. What were you doing out there in the dark anyway? You know something could eat you, you silly dog. How you lived this long I'll never know," Celia scolded, closing the door.

Sahara listened as the woman continued talking to Bowser in that strange, nasal language. It sounded harsh and guttural to the shapeshifter. Whoever she was, the woman lived alone. There was no male scent anywhere. That was strange. She looked well over the age of marriage. Where was her mate?

There were two shining cylinders next to the trailer. They were covered, but interesting smells came from them anyway. Food smells. Strange but they still made the wolf's mouth water. Sahara slunk over to the garbage cans and sniffed around them with interest. She stood up on one, scraping at it with her clawed paw.

Inside the trailer, Celia heard the scraping sound.

"Goddamn coons in my garbage again. I'll fix their little wagons. Celia's tired of playing nice," she said, grabbing her shotgun. She was tired of picking up after them damn coons.

Outside, Sahara pushed over a garbage can, and the top flew off. She snuffled around in it, found some chicken bones and started crunching away. Suddenly, the door to the trailer flew open.

"Get out of my damn garbage!" Celia cried, firing in the direction of the cans. Sahara had reacted by cringing for a moment, drawing her body almost into a ball, and that was what saved her as the shot flew by her. The shapeshifter felt the heat whiz by her flanks and smelled the gunpowder. She didn't know what the scent was, but it was like smoke and anger and had tried to bite her. Sahara ran, disappearing into the woods.

Celia stood in the doorway with her mouth open. That wasn't no coon running from her garbage. She didn't know what the fuck it was. She reloaded and cautiously stepped down to the ground, her shotgun hoisted at the spilled garbage can. She walked up to it, and peered around the trailer. Whatever it was, it was gone. She looked at the ground and saw paw prints. She sighed with relief. Probably some stray dog looking for an easy meal. Not here, doggie. Still she was glad she didn't hit the animal. Celia liked dogs.

Celia rested her shotgun against the side of the trailer and used the garbage can lid to sweep the garbage, along with some dirt back into the can and stood it up. She took one more look in the darkness, then walked back into the house, her shotgun on her shoulder. She didn't think the dog would be back. She closed the door, and Bowser was sitting in the middle of the floor looking up at her, a worried look in his big, sad eyes.

"What?" Celia said to the dog. "I bet that's what you was out there doing. Playing with some stray dog. What kind of watchdog are you anyway? Letting dogs get in our garbage?"

Bowser whined and lifted up one big paw at her. Celia smiled, put the shotgun back in its rack over the kitchen table, and rubbed Bowser between his big, floppy ears.

"Don't worry, Bowser. I didn't get him. I missed. Lucky thing too. I can't afford to nurse a dog back to health," she said, sitting down at the kitchen table, pulling another beer off the loop and cracking it. They were starting to get warm. She'd have to put the rest in the fridge. In a minute. She looked at Bowser.

"Damn, Bowser. I wish it had been a man that wandered through here," she said wistfully. "I would've took a shot at him too. Different kind though."

She took a large swig of beer and stared into space as Bowser cocked his head at her.

Celia sure could use a man right now.

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A/N: Introducing Celia and Bowser the basset hound. What a cutie he is. Close call for Sahara. I'm starting to warm up to the story now. Yay! The Review Board is up and running! So please review.

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