More Sharama!

Foo, it's been a while since we've had a story update! I'll provide us one right now, then. Enjoy this chapter of Sharama, and remember that you can always see what's going on in the story riiiiiight here.

He dramatically walked over to the edge of the cliff, and looked over to the eastern horizon. The sky was getting pink, but there were a lot of clouds. Wondering about this, I look over at him. He was nipping at his back. I stifle back a snicker before I realize that he really IS taking a small ball of sunfire off of his back. Just a small bit, though. He glances at me and flings the fire into the sky. It wavered on its path then explodes into the sky, creating a small disc.

“What’s wrong with it?” I realized instantly that this is a really small sun.

Your turn, the Lundehund grinned. Just try it!

When I nipped the orb of fire of of my shoulder, I tasted raspberries. Confusion ensued but I threw it anyways.
After I opened my eyes, I saw a small dot of fire flying to join the rest of the fire. A grin exploded onto my face almost like how the sun had. I looked over at the adult Lundehund, but he was gone! Then the scene faded.
I realized that I had woken up and was REALLY bringing the sun up.

Looking over my shoulder, I saw the cat sharpening his claws on a tree trunk. Ven was still sound asleep, having nested in the leaves.

I looked around some more. I didn’t know where to go, but the shoreline sounded good.

“Cat! Come on, I’m leaving. Ven, wake up,” I snarked. I took care to make sure that I stepped on Ven’s tail. That got him awake.

They both followed me, despite all annoyingness. I wanted this OVER with, since in every story I had heard of before the hero succeeds. Why would mine be any different?

The cliff faces sharpened swiftly, and I was forced to walk along it as it got closer to shore. Ven and the cat followed, but I can’t say without mishap; the cat fell at a particularly tricky piece of stone and- of course- landed on his feet. In the sand. I made a mental note to make sure that he taught me that. When finally I reached the beach, I looked back. Ven stood unmoving at the top of a rock. The cat was shaking his head scornfully at him.

“Come on, just drop down. It’s not that far,” the cat hissed.

“Yes it is. And YOU always land on your feet. And she has extra toes,” Ven yapped. He really is sort of a wimp, I thought.

I called back, “Cat, are there any other routes he could take down?”

The cat flicked an ear at me. Ven winced.

“His name is Greol,” Ven explained.

“Whatever.” I growled. I wasn’t interested in the cat’s name. I didn’t even know why he was tagging along. “Just find another way. It’s not that hard to cut through the--” I stopped.
Ven had fallen and now lay unconscious in the sand.

Greol was gonna get it now.

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“Ebony! What are we doing? They’re obviously gone. We can’t do anything. Why don’t you just drop it for the day? We’ve been going ALL night!”

Pippin peered at the black poodle from just under a small bush. She wasn’t okay. The corgi didn’t know what was driving the black dog- she had hip dysplasia, not to mention the fact that she had broken her left leg and not done anything about it years ago.

Tor sat down next to her. “I hate to bring the crew down, but I don’t think we’re going to find them. At least, not today, tonight, whatever. Even if we’re going to continue our search, we ought to to get some sleep to make up for last night.”

Ebony shook her head. “We can’t stop. They’re both in danger. You all heard Treble yesterday- two Imperials came through. We can’t rest until we’ve found them, dead or alive. And if they’re dead-“

Pippin barked loudly, “Ebony! JUST STOP! You’re going to kill yourself! How does your hip feel right now, hmm?”

Ebony looked shameful. “It’s… sore.”

“You pitiful liar, it’s more than sore.” The corgi laughed a bit. “It probably hurts worse than a thousand bee stings!”

“But... Finding...”
“Sit.” Pippin stood up. “I’ll keep looking, and I’ll take Treble... I guess... cuz Tor can defend you. Right?”

Tor nodded his gigantic head. Behind the cuddly nature, he was a born guardian. It’s in the genetics of a Great Dane to protect.

Ebony sighed, and sat down unhappily.

Pippin started walking away, the white pomeranian at his heels.
“Pip, you don’t suppose she’s right? They’re dead? We haven’t found any sign of them yet... and the island isn’t THAT big...” Treble whined.

“No, I highly doubt it. Sharama’s tough. Ven’s the one I’m worried about.” Pippin looked at the sunset. “As a matter of fact, I know she’s alive. You didn’t notice the sun’s early rising today?”
Treble was hit with realization. “So she IS the sun dog! Amazing.”
“We all had our doubts, then... interesting. She’s got a lot to learn, and she needs to be more confident with herself,” Pippin stopped and sniffed at the ground. “Otherwise, she’ll never be able to do anything.”

Treble stood next to him. She could feel the excitement bubbling up inside the corgi as he snuffled about- a badger had gone through last night, apparently- there was a mole in a bush- a squirrel up that tree. Treble could smell it too. She just didn’t find interest in it. She felt watched, though. Something seemed to be watching their every move, but she couldn’t quite pinpoint what it was or where it was coming from. Treble ignored it, assuming it was a squirrel or some other hidden woodland creature.

Pippin suddenly barked. “Get in the backpack, Treble! I might have found them!”

With some clumsiness, the tiny Pomeranian jumped in the bag and Pippin took off.

TO BE CONTINUIFIED.... WILL VEN BE OKAY? HAVE TREBLE AND PIPPIN REALLY FOUND SHARAMA? OR IS IT JUST... A CLIFFHANGER????

Tune in next time to find out. :) Mwahahahaha.

Oh yeah, and trivia time. Highlight between the asterisks * to see a hint. If anyone can get them correct, they'll be mentioned in the next post I make!!

1. How does Treble know they are being watched and what Pippin is feeling? *Hint: Earlier in series!*
2. What breed of dog is Sharama? *Also earlier in series!*
3. What exactly is sunfire? *Just guess. This one hasn't ever really been explained yet.*
4. Who is the main antagonist in this series? *WAAAY earlier in the series.*
5. Why does sunfire taste like raspberries? *Hint: UNIVERSE FLAVOR! This is a random nerdy reference.*

Denial is bad!! owo

I lunged for the neckware and the cat looked at my path. He yelled something, but I was already shaking it over my head and around my neck. It started to glow and the cat hissed.
“WAIT!! Have you--” he screamed.
I felt like I was on fire. My paws were burning, and so was my head, but it didn’t hurt. The cat suddenly started yelling. I grew afraid and started to run; I ran out of the cave and out into the forest. It was now dark, but the moon glowed brightly as soon as I darted out. It seemed to reflect off of my movements; flickering when I turned and fading when I skulked into the shadows.
I turned back to look at the cave. The spotted feline sat on a rock watching me. Ven was peering out at the moon. I looked at it. It suddenly started to glow a menacing red color. There was an angry roar. The mountain itself seemed to shake and I dove for cover as I felt something burn inside me. I couldn’t say what it was. I growled and wondered if this might have been a torch that my mysterious ancestor was talking about.
His voice suddenly popped back into my head. Welcome aboard, young one.
I wasted no time. Was that one of the torches you mentioned earlier?
Glad you remember that. Yes, yes it was.
I sighed. I suppose I have to go relight it again, then?His laughter resounded in my head. Eeeeeyup. That one was love. You better fix that one quickly, for your own sake.
I groaned. Excuse me?
I’ll tell you later, he smirked. But I’m sure you’ll find out eventually.
I pleaded for an answer, but the voice in my head was silent.
Ven called my name and I looked his way. He looked scared for some reason, so I asked him why.
“Sharama, I felt something... vanish... inside me or something. We need to get back to everyone else, anyways. They’re probably worried sick, and we need to ask Ebony about this.”
I nodded and agreed.

The clearing was empty. Not even footprints remained, but I could tell there was stress in the air, causing a blinding tension in my head. I sniffed around but found nothing, and it was even a time was willing to accept help. I snarled and sat down.
“They left! How could they leave?” I felt fire creep up my paws and settle just above my shoulders, waiting for something that I didn’t know about.
“It’s well after dark, they could have come to search for you. Us. Whatever. Don’t blame them,” Ven moaned. I could tell that he didn’t believe himself.
“They left,” I heard to my right. I whipped around, still as untrusting as ever. It was the cat. “It looks and feels like they came looking for you two.”
He padded over and sat down before me, and beckoned my head down to his. I followed and received a sharp swipe to the face.
“Oww! What was that for?” I cried.
The cat smirked. “Look around,” he said. “Do you see any sign that life ever existed here?”
I didn’t see what he  was getting at, but I shook my head. The place looked dead as dead could be.
“That’s the genius of it all. It’s SUPPOSED to look dead. A fresh sheet of dead leaves have been spread, and the scents have been camouflaged somehow. They DID leave, they just didn’t want to either be followed or desecrated. It’s possible that they have gone on the same trek that you are now embarking on.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” I said. They all knew this. I was not getting involved with some dumb ‘save-the-world’ scheme.
“I think you are,” the cat started to laugh. I didn’t understand. “You have stolen from me, technically. Now you owe me a debt. If you want to live freely again without me hounding you for repayment, you can get your tail out there and relight the torch. Understood?”
I felt my ear start twitching. I  don’t like cats. I especially don’t like this one. What if I just ate him? No,cat tastes bad. Besides, I'm not that mean. I think for a split second before agreeing to save the world, as long as this greedy cat forgot about my dumb debt that shouldn’t be.
I look around. I noticed that it was still nighttime- that’s hard to do when you have sunfire on your shoulders.
“Why don’t I set off in the morning? I’ll be seen by any hungry night creature if I leave in THIS darkness,” I grinned. Buying myself time, I suppose. Well worth it.
“Why don’t,” the cat smirked, “you do something about the sun being down?”
I twitched my ears.
“That... that’s impossible, right?”
“The only things that are impossible are the things that haven’t been tried. Try it, you might be  surprised.”
I didn’t want to. I plopped down on the ground and tried to sleep.
That night, my dreams were riddled with strange other dogs and well- known formations of rock and sand all about Aikenew. On the plateau of the West Beaches, I saw a gathering of six canines. Then they left, immediately after I saw them. One, a slender Greyhound, leapt off of the rock and was carried away by the wind. The second, a retriever, padded down the beach and into the sea. A large, strong-looking one did something with a rock to get himself uipon the mountain itself. A wispy dog darted into the forest, its path hidden from view. A black Pom flew into the sky on wings of color that looked like the spirit lights I see in the sky during the snowy months. The only one left was my ancestor. He looked at me with a smiling eye.
“Don’t be insulted that they left. I had nothing do with your timely arrival. You have a question for me, I imagine?”
“Well, several, actually.” I wondered how he knew that.
“Let’s not waste time staring at one another, then. Ask away.”
“The cat said I could bring up the sun.” Which he did, but I didn’t believe.
“Yes, we can. That’s what I do every day. It’s quite simple, really. You just have to throw a touch of sun fire into the sky and WHAMMO! You have a sun. What else?”
“I can throw sunfire? Is that the fire that was on me? How was I not burned by it?” Interesting concept, throwing sunfire. “Again, yes. You just have to imagine it like there is a ball in your mouth. It’s terrible fun. Yes again, it sunfire. Our race is the only race that cannot be burned by sun fire, and we really have no weakness but ourselves.”
“I didn’t know that.”“You haven’t known a lot until yesterday. Next question?”
“The wings.” I wanted to fly, too. Fly away from all the people being stupid and trying to get me to save the world.
“Ah, the wings...” My ancestor sounded slightly concerned. “Those you don’t- no, can’t  learn how to use easily. I guess it won't hurt to tell you that you just imagine the sunfire into wings; but if you can’t yet even throw the fire you certainly can’t fly yet.”
I felt crushed. No fleeing yet, I suppose. “Oh. And who were those other dogs?”
“They will introduce themselves when they wish.”
There was an awkward silence as I thought about what would be a good thing to say next. After all, I can’t know who these other people were until THEY introduce themselves and I can’t fly. This conversation had been pointless except for learning about sunfire. The fire that danced down my spine and on my shoulderblades.
“I should go now and bring up the sun. Would you like to watch?”I nodded. The experience would be nice.

HiiiiiiiYAH

Hi ho, Zoners! I have some more of my Sharama story for ya! ^w^

I cantered through the thick, dense brush on the forest floor and tried to smell out where my pack could be. I didn’t smell anything familiar, so I kept running- sometimes walking- for several minutes.
I stopped when I smelled something- someONE- way too familiar- Merlin.
My brother was near.
I smelled the air and determined that he was behind me. How long has he been tracking me? I wondered. I turned around and saw not just Merlin- but a very light blue wolf, too. He wore great armor and on his back I saw a beetle just like Mug.
But this beetle was not Mug.
Mug was on Merlin’s back.
I was in shock again. “M... Merlin? Mug? And who’s...”
Merlin shook his head. “Sorry, sis. Can’t let you ask questions yet. Not until we get on the mountain. Come here.”
I almost ran over, but something held me back. I heard a faint scratch in the tree above the two of them. The beetle on the light wolf’s back dismounted and pulled a shimmering rope out of a bag somewhat like Pippin’s. I got tense all of a sudden.
“C’mon, Sharama, you know me. We do things either the easy way or the hard way...”
I growled and started to run the other way. I didn’t like this.
I heard a slight flicking noise in the leaves behind me and Mug landed on my back. He had the rope and he grabbed my ear. I rolled over onto my back, smothering him somewhat, and then my back was burning with pain.
The nasty, ugly little bug had bit into my back.
A lot of people don’t know this, but most of the beetles here are poisonous. Thankfully, it’s not potent enough to kill, but it still packs a huge punch. I felt myself growing dizzy already, and the great armored wolf pawed my body off the disgruntled beetle, who jumped back onto Merlin’s back.
I found myself suddenly gasping for breath and the world getting very dark. The last things I can remember seeing were the golden rope passing in front of my eyes and sliding down my neck and a golden-brown blur striking the face of my old brother.

Floating is fun, I find. I’m asleep- at least, I think this is what it is. I hear something yelling at another something, but I can’t do anything about it or identify it. Suddenly something appears in front of my face. I get the weird feeling that I jump, but I don’t actually jump. I can still feel my back burning like it was on fire, and a new ring around my eyes was burning, as well.
Ahead of me I saw that there was a faint glow. It was the sun. Out of it, a dog that looked just like me strode out proudly. Again, I got the weird feeling that I was doing something that I wasn’t- showing respect by folding back my ears and making myself small.
Something spoke. It was clear, and strong- and I had heard this voice before. The speaker sat down in front of me with his head held high and the pendant around his neck shining brightly. He laughed.
“FINALLY, young one, I have penetrated the mental wall you have set up against me!”
I did and didn’t cock my head to the side. “What do you mean?”
“I tried to talk to you earlier, warn you of what was to come. You blocked me out. I am the sun. You are the NEXT sun. The Mountain King is the stars; he wants them to rule over the Sun. Our line is in the way of him doing so; as long as we live he can never rule the sky. Or something along those tyrannical lines, but anyway, the first way he is going to accomplish this is by extinguishing four torches on the four corners of the land. The first is Love, the second is Truth, the third is Hope, and the fourth is Life. If any of them are extinguished, the traits will be taken from the earth... and only the fires of the Sun can reignite them. That’s us. Right now, I can’t really do anything, so it’s completely up to you.”
I thought about this unconsciously.
“But sir-”
The dog started laughing again. He was alot like me. He laughed like me, at least, and he laughed alot. “You’ll figure it out. Just because you can’t YET doesn’t mean that you can’t, period. You will soon.”
I eyed the amulet hanging around his neck. “Does that have anything to do with... the sun powers, or whatever they are?”
He nodded. “You’ll find yours soon.”
I just stared at him.
“You know, you’re starting to regain consciousness. I must go, before I get thrown out of your mind again. You will remember this, fear not.” He started to walk away, into the sun. He turned back to face me again. “And one more tip... you should laugh a little more. Drop the seriousness.”
And he vanished.

“SHE AWAKES!!”
I gagged and threw up a delightful mixture of liquid and other gunk. For the third time in under a week, I was awakening from near death.
I instantly remembered my encounter with... my ancestor. What did he mean, ‘I’d find mine soon’? I didn’t know, and I didn’t care. I was alive. I wasn’t going to save Aikenew, especially in my condition. Whatever that condition was. I was on a hard stone floor. Possibly a cave. I saw a cat, a blur of white, and a shimmer was in the air.
“Ugghghhhhhhh... I can’t see you... show... yourself...” I yawned.
The cat shoved his face right into mine and started hissing. “All right, you. Listen to me real close, now. START TAKING THIS SERIOUSLY. You’re burdened with something great, like all heroes and heroines. But that means that you need to use it. Stop blocking out that great-grandfather of yours and LISTEN TO HIM. What he says is important. ACCEPT THE HELP OF THE SIX. I know them as--”
“Greol!” The white blur spoke. “She just woke up...”
“SHE’S CONSIOUS. Your point is? I’m teaching her something she should have learned long ago.”
I sat up and stretched. Things came a little more into focus; I could tell now that it was the cat that had gotten crabby with us for being in the pool. I remembered that the white fuzz was either Ven or Treble. But... the shimmer in the air was a vast multitude of treasures and trinkets all around the cave floor.
The cat stared at me for a second. “She has finally seen him, I suppose...” I figured that he was talking about my ancestor.
I looked about the room again, and again. Each time things came more into focus. It was Ven that was the white blur; and the treasure was in fact ancient artifacts.
One thing caught my eye.
A silvery-gold amulet embedded with an orange-red gemstone.

EVEN MORE SHARAMA

Today for all of you I have some more Sharama and a flipnote based off of a story idea I had. The story itself is still going through approval, but it's about... yes, a wolf...


Foo, this is really going long, isn't it. Fourth post! I know it's short, but oh well, deal with it.

Tor shook himself off wildly, soaking Ven and I. I grew even more annoyed, and Ven laughing even more just didn’t help.
“Since we’re so wet anyways,” Ven looked at me, “shall I show you the best swimming hole around here?”
Swimming? SWIMMING? He thought I was swimming? No, you blind fools. I was trying to get out of saving the world. You house pets can save the world on your own, I thought. I just didn’t want to be part of it. What if we failed? What if we couldn’t do it in time? What if- oh, what the heck. What could a short swim hurt? There was night. Night was even better for escapes.
“I guess,” I muttered. It seemed that we had enough , Ebony was taking her sweet time.

Dripping wet, Ven dragged me out of the water with alot of effort. I was laughing so hard that I could hardly move. A fish had just jumped into Ven’s mouth, and he spit it out quickly, but not quick enough that I couldn’t see it.
He turned around quickly, hiding his face, but I could tell that he was laughing as hard as I was.
“What’s going on here?” a strict voice pricked through our laughter. “Who--”
Ven looked panicked all of a sudden. “Run,” he barked. “Just get out of here!”
I looked over at the cave the voice was coming from. “But...”
Ven grabbed my tail. “JUST RUN!”
I rooted my feet into the ground. “That’s not anything to be scared of...”
The snowball dog released my tail and ran into a bush. I stood still, my teeth bared and hackles raised.
“What were you doing in my pool of memories?”
“Swimming. What did it look like?” I stated defiantly. This thing wasn’t gonna see me running off with my tail between my legs- at least, not today.
A pair of glowing, green-yellow eyes glinted at me from the darkness of the cave. “And you weren’t aware that this is a special pool? A pool of reflection, a pool of thoughts, of dreams? See, look on your side. That’s when I killed my first mouse. Lost forever.”
I frowned. I saw nothing on my side.
Ven looked out of the bush. “He’s right... I see a kitten killing a mouse on your side.” He watched in awe and I realized that there was a picture on his leg. I looked at it- it appeared to be moving. It was a cat swimming. That was something that cats do not do.
“Go stand on that rock; I’ll get them off,” the eyes said. A sleek, golden brown cat with spotted fur slank out  from inside the cave. I saw his claws were bared and his ears were straight back.
I looked at him and saw that he was serious, so I jumped on the rock. The cat walked through the water and stood up on his hind legs. He had a severed tail, like a bobcat. I had seen one or two of those.
“You two need to learn to stay out of cat pools,” he said. “You can normally tell  what they are by the iridescent gleam they give off.” The gold cat started raking his spiny tongue through my fur. He was still tense and annoyed.
A fish darted around, and I saw that it was silvery-gold colored, and it shone red in the evening sun.
The cat suddenly nipped into my thick fur, making me jump a bit. He started pulling a string off- the string looked almost like a kind of frog slime, except for it was actually slightly pretty.
I saw a slight glimpse of an image of a (DEADMAU5 HAR HAR HAR) mouse being eaten. He pulled another one off of my leg and a third slimy thing off of my ear. That was the most annoying one, because he kept clawing my nose.
Finally, after what seemed like several hours, the cat scanned my body over once more, gave my nose one more swipe, and told me to get off the rock so he could clean Ven off.
Something snapped in my mind. I don’t know why I hadn’t thought of this earlier, but as Ven clambered onto the rock with the unhappy cat, I decided to sneak off. A bush scratched my snout as I edged into it and cast a look behind my shoulder. Ven had his back to me. The cat was peeling a “memory” thing off of his front leg, and was almost entirely focused on that. His short tail barely touched the surface of the water.
I pushed through the bushes some more, looked behind me one more time to make sure I wasn’t seen, and broke off running when I freed myself of bush.
I couldn’t wait to get away from these loonies.

MORE SHARAMA

THE AUTHORS' ZONE IS STILL LOOKING FOR ANOTHER AUTHOR.
Thank you.

Now we return to our normal broadcasting.

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--LISTENING TO: PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN SOUNDTRACK (hans zimmer)--

When I woke up... AGAIN... I was laying in front of a conveniently placed stream. I flopped over in fish-like fashion and drank like a pig. Not that I had ever seen one. I heard a high, obnoxious voice squealing that ‘she was awake’ before I remembered the events of the last two days. I was still exhausted, but not dying anymore. At least, I think I wasn’t dying.
Something jumped up onto my back- it was tiny, and at first I thought it was Mug, and I rolled over on my back and kicked it up in the air happily.
“Mug! THERE you are! I thought something-” I stopped talking when I saw the fluffy little puffball flying through the air, screaming. I ran to catch her in my mouth as fast as I could before she landed and broke something. She slammed into the ground just before I could catch Treble and almost immediately jumped up and started yapping at me.
“You’re insane, I say! You could have killed me! I’m glad you’re ashamed!”
I was about to ask her how she knew that when I remembered that she was a Reader.
“Anyways, the others want to see you. And you better not try to throw any of them, either. They aren’t gonna like that. Well, not that you could... Ebony would kill you first and she’s too big anyways... and then Pippin is just insane, and he would do the same thing to you. So come on, and please try to restrain yourself.”
I frowned. I didn’t like life with a Reader already.
The pom- about half my size- trotted happily ahead of me and announced that I was overly excited to the group of house dogs. One was a Show-poodle, the other was the Pippin-corgi, and the last one was a small white snowball dog. I had to admit- the snowball was actually kind of cute. I could see him being used as some kind of human manipulator.
The giant show poodle walked over and licked my nose. I growled at her and told her to watch it.
“Look, if you guys aren’t doing anything, I’d like to get back to my pack as soon as possible. See, my pack is probably looking for me and-” I explained, but was interrupted.
“We can’t take you back to your pack. You’d be too easy to find. And here, you’ve got us. We understand you better since we’re all dogs,” the poodle said. I imagined that this was Ebony.
“I am not a dog,” I growled at them. “I am clearly a tiny wolf! Can’t you see it?” I stood stiffly so that at least some of my weirdness wouldn’t show.
Pippin broke out laughing. “It’s so obvious that you’re not a wolf! Dude...”
Ebony and Treble glared at him, and Ebony kicked him.
“Sorry, puffin hunter. He’s nuts. You may have grown up thinking that you’re a wolf, but you’re... really not.”
“How would YOU know, show-poodle? You’re just a--”
She stared right into my eyes. “You don’t know how many times I’ve been told that, but you know what? Show-poodles like me are capable of so much more. I read. I read so much that I’ve memorized the Library. If it weren’t for me, you wouldn’t even be alive right now. You might want to think before you say anything else, just so you don’t get thrown into a tree.”
I decided to keep my mouth shut, even though show-poodles were definately not high on my list.
I knew all about these dogs’ human roles. I was taught them by my cousin, who studied them before I came along. He told me all about what the domestic dogs did to and with the humans, and what the humans did to them. I was positively horrified.
“Now, do you want to hear why we know you’re not a wolf, or do you want to keep lying to yourself?”
I flattened my ears and flopped down on the ground. “I guess it’s storytime...”
Ebony smiled and began.
“About a year ago, there was someone around where I used to live (a human) who owned a kind of dog that was meant to hunt the puffins that lived on the cliffs. She had two puppies- and then she vanished. The last anyone ever saw, smelled or... anything... of the puffin hunters was a puppy wandering off to the wilderness. Everyone else thought that this was the end of puffin hunters. I thought something was wrong. I took Treble out with me on a short expedition and discovered a pack of wolves living near the cliffs. They had one extremely tiny puppy that they said that they had found; the mother was no where to be seen. I told them what you were and they called me blind. They said that I would have to bring the mother with me next time if I were to have any hope of getting you back. I visited about three more times, each time getting more information. The last time I was there they said that ‘I needed to just drop it; the Lundehund was better protected with them than with the dratted humans and their pets.’ I asked why you needed protection, and the wolves told me that the Mountain King needed her alive in a year. I had no clue why the Mountain King would want you in a year.
“So then my library addiction began. I haven’t been without a book in ten months. I read and read everything I could about these ‘Lundehunds’ and about why the Mountain King would want one. Other than the fact that they’re so rare, I could find nothing- until recently. Last month I discovered that on this island, two hundred years ago, there was once a Lundehund that was able to somehow threaten the Mountain Queen’s rule. The Queen was in control before she died and then her husband, the Kingy, took over. He has feared Lundehunds now- he is out to end the race. He would do that to you because you had no clue that you were related to a dog who could control sunlight.”
Ebony stopped talking. I didn’t know what to say, and I didn’t want to believe this. Ebony hadn’t showed any hard evidence other than my size.
“Is your name Ebony?” I asked.
“Yes,” she said.
“How do you know that I’m a Loon hoon? Or whatever you said I was?”
Ebony picked up a book that sat beside her and flipped to a page. I saw something that looked a lot like myself. Extra toes. Fluffy butt. Ears. It was me. I just kind of... stared at it for a while. The others were patient with me, I was glad for that. I needed time for this to sink in.
While I was pondering this new piece of information, a great shadow fell over me. It was bigger than a wolf. I turned around and saw a box-like face, droopy ears, and- pure giganticness. I freaked out and ran behind Ebony and Pippin.
“Welcome back, Tor!”
The giant dog sat down and dropped a duck out of his mouth. “She’s alive! That’s good.”
I stared at it. That wasn’t a dog, that was a rhino. It couldn’t be a dog. It was about four times my size.
I sniffed at it cautiously. He could easily have reached down and snapped me up in its great wide jaws.
“Sharama, meet Tor. He’s a Great Dane. He’s big, but he’s actually quite nice,” Pippin grinned. “We think he’s part vegetarian crocodile.”
I gave Pippin a murderous glare, the crocodile comment didn’t help one bit. The six- no, five, I am not one of them- dogs gathered in a circle in the little clearing. I was left standing in the middle. Next to Ebony and the snowball dog there was a wide space.
“Sit down there,” Treble snapped.
I took my time getting there.
As soon as I sat down on the soft grass, Ebony the poodle started talking very formally.
“Everyone, let us remember this day as the day that we come together as the new Six; a group of dogs devoted to the protection of Aikenew. Whether young Sharama likes it or not, she is now a member of the group; free to do her own stunts, as the ‘alpha’. She is in charge, since she is the one with legendary blood.”
I frowned. “I’m nothing special,” I muttered. “I’m just a mutated wol- I mean, Norwegian Lundehund. Or whatever they were. Ebony can keep her role as leader.”
Ebony’s ears practically leaped up. “Oh, really, Sharama? You mean it?” She looked and sounded confused.
“Why don’t you want to be leader?”
I didn’t recognize this voice. I looked around to my left to see the snowball dog staring at me with much surprise in his voice.
I didn’t know what to say. His eyes bored into me like a woodpecker into a tree. He HAD to be used for human manipulation with those puppy eyes. I honestly had no clue what to say; I looked down. I would have to say something; I might as well make it good.
“I... I don’t want to have full responsibility over everyone’s lives, or whatever is going on here.” I brought my head up again. “I don’t even know you that well, and I have absolutely no clue why we even NEED a ‘the Six.’ The Mountain King seems to be a dandy fine ruler up there.”
Everyone looked down then, except for Mr. Puppy Eyes. He was still staring at me like I had bug eyes or something, which I knew I didn’t.
He spoke again. “Not many people know this, but the Mountain King demands a, well, monthly ‘sacrifice’ made to him. His trolls go out once a month and find him a meal from one of the many races on this island. Usually it’s something slightly valuable, like a wolf or a human or even a giant doggigator like Tor.” (Tor whined.) “A while ago, Treble lost her whole family because of this.”
I looked around for some confirmation of this. Treble nodded sadly.
“I’m Ven, by the way,” the puffball named Ven said randomly. “I’m a mix between human negotiations and recon; and when we’re just chilling I provide lots of conversation starers.” He grinned mischeviously. I flicked my ears back, suddenly rather nervous.
Taking the cue, Tor looked at me and introduced himself. “I’m Tor. I provide medical attention, hunting, and free hugs.” He smiled, his tongue sticking out the side of his mouth.
No thanks, I thought. I’d turn into a pancake.
“You know me,” Treble squauked. “I am the Reader, and generally go with either Pippin or Ven on Recon.”
Pippin laughed maniacally. I shuddered.
“And I’m Pippin,” he sniggered. “I’m the crazy recon expert, and I also entertain everyone with my compositions.”
“...Compositions?” I questioned.
“Oh, no. Here we go again...” Ven sighed and shook his head.
“Want me to sing you one?” Pippin smiled widely.
“I... sure.” I didn’t know what I was getting myself into. I THOUGHT he was going  to attempt to serenade me from what it sounded like, but what I heard was not at all what I expected.
The long dog trotted into the center of the circle and began to sing.
“I stuck my head in a hole in a log
and I saw a giant, vicious mole
It had giant claws!
I snapped it up in my jaws
Then it turned and scratched my head
Then I snapped it’s neck and it was DEAD!”
Pippin turned around and trotted back to his spot, bowing. “Thank you, thank you. Don’t all applaud at once.”

“I’m Ebony,” the poodle said, before Pippin could start on another delightful song. “I am mostly the research. I stay in the HQ most of the time, mostly because I have a condition that I can’t run with...” She stopped. “What about you? What are you good at?”
I flicked my ears back. I wanted to avoid anything that would get me involved with them, so that they wouldn’t know what I was thinking.
“I- uh... rock climbing? Rugged terrain?  I don’t know, hunting. I’ve never really needed to do anything like what I think you’re thinking before.”
Pippin started jumping up and down. “I GOT IT!! I GOT IT!! We could take her out on a training sort of mission, like a couple of recon, a few retrieval, and perhaps a couple of extermination jobs too!”
Ebony looked around. “Is everyone in favor of this?”
Everyone except for me nodded. I sat completely still and tried to drain my face of emotion. This actually sounded like a good idea, but I still didn’t want to be part of saving the world. It was such a big burden.
“I can go check what we have on the agenda for today, see what would be easy enough that she could tag along on,” Ebony said. “I hope she’ll like our line of business.” And Ebony trotted into a hollowed out tree and was gone. Pippin, Ven and Treble trotted into a different tree, and Tor sat down. I looked around. Tor had his back to me, and as long as I made absolutely no noise, perhaps I could sneak past them? It was worth a shot.
I snaked back toward the small stream and jumped in. It was always logical that when you were playing hide-and-seek and didn’t want your scent followed that you traveled by river. I followed the stream until I passed by a tree- and saw Tor’s lanky tail thumping on the ground. He was talking to Pippin, who was somehow in the tree. I guessed that that was their equipment tree. I sloshed through the stream when suddenly, it dropped off. I fell through the water, surprised, and came up gasping.
The stream joined the river here, and the current nipped at my ankles, and I slowly drifted through the watery valley.

I was concentrating on paddling and keeping my head above the water when I heard a great splash after me. Craning my head, I saw that Ven was standing on the bank and Tor was in the water after me.
I groaned, and barked at him, “I’M FINE! REALLY!”
Apparently he didn’t hear me, and the stronger swimmer overtook me and picked me out of the water with his huge jowls. I was not pleased one bit.
Tor swam back to shore with little difficulty and placed me right next to Ven.
“Did you fall in?” the snowball said with a laugh.
I growled and laid down unhappily.

*Thanks to Achilles for the Corgi Songs.*
Enjoy your cliffhanger. >:)

Sharama, Continued

I changed the settings, so now you can view this when I Have written more but not posted it on the Zone.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Eoo1QM1Amyf3CSQGN5DZkSWkqJcLWA099akv7sIrGPc/edit?hl=en_US&pli=1

Sharp claws dug into my snout and shook my head around like a rag. I snapped my eyes open and flung the thing that was harassing my head into a tree before remembering that it was Mug, and that Mug had a rather physical way of dealing with anything.

I quickly padded over to the tree and apologized to the glowing purple beetle. He still wasn’t happy.

“Don’t just  stand there apologizing, get me on your back and get moving! Time is wasting!!”
Mug poked me in the nose with a stick. I snorted at him and let him on, contrary to my desires to be rid of the pest immediately. We started the strenuous hike up the steep mountain quickly and at a brisk pace (due to Mug’s urgent stick-prodding) and we were making good time- until I smelled the trolls.
So I stopped.

Mug whacked me with his puny little cane. I growled softly and told him to hold still, there were trolls up ahead.

“Chillax, lady. We’re fine. As long as you have ME with you they’ll let you in too. You’re fine!”
“Mug, they’re trolls. One killed another of my pack last season. I am not gonna go approach one of them willingly.”

Mug kicked me.

I planted my fluffy little butt down on the ground stubbornly. Mug tumbled off of my back and into the dust.

“Listen, Sharama, I get that you know trolls are dangerous, but these ones are different. They’re guard trolls. It’s their job to, uh, kill tresspassers,” Mug said. It wasn’t really comforting me much. I flattened my ears and thumped my tail on the ground in defiance.

Suddenly, a tree bent back. I dashed behind Mug and cowered.

Mug slapped me. “Relax, they just heard me talking. They know me. Calm down.”

A huge ugly nose followed by a hairy face poked through the crack in the trees. The giant trolls looked down at the beetle and pointed at me. I made myself even smaller and held perfectly still.

Mug made some hand signals to the trolls. They nodded and let go of the tree- the poor thing nearly broke from whiplash- and were gone.

“They don’t talk,” Mug explained to me. “They only use hand gestures. The funny thing is, they CAN yell. They took a vow of silence to work for the Mountain King. They can’t communicate by talking, so they made up a code of hand signals. It’s only fair that I talk back to them with it, right?”
I shrugged. 

Mug got back up on my back and I cautiously crept up the slope. It got steeper and steeper, and I was suddenly glad for my extra thumbs right about then. The wind got harder and harsher and soon I was being pressed back from  progress.

Mug started screaming SOMETHING, but I couldn’t understand him. I had my ears pressed against my head as hard as I could to block out the screaming wind and continued up the cliff as fast as possible. Finally, the ugly beetle lifted up my ear and yelled “TURN BACK, WE MISSED THE CAVE.”

I failed to realize that there was even a cave to miss. I turned around precariously- the cliff face was still steep as heck- and slowly made my way back down.

After a ways, Mug screamed to stop again. I looked at the small hole in the cliff face he had jumped off of my head and entered.

Poking my head in, I yelled after the purple beetle, “GET BACK HERE! I CAN’T FIT IN THERE!”

Mug turned around. “Just chill out there for now, okay? I promise I’ll be back for you. I have to let the Mountain King know that I’m here before you come in- and there’s an easier way. He has to open it, though. We good?”
“N-” I started to say, but Mug turned around and hastily walked down the dark passage. I grew angry and stuck my nose in the hole and barked at him. The bug didn’t notice me one bit and the sound reverberated back at me. My head was thrown back and I just barely saved myself from a tragic fall of the edge of a cliff.

I laid down sadly and waited for Mug to return, too scared of returning and running into the trolls.

About a day had passed since I had seen Mug. I hoped he was OK- I was not looking forward to the trolls finding me and not being able to understand me and throwing me off the side of the mountain.
I realized that  I had no food.

My stomach growled at me rather angrily. I wandered up the mountain since the wind had died down. There wasn’t much up there, just strange scents of things that weren’t me. I had never smelled anything like it before, but I didn’t want to risk the trolls.
I made up my mind then that if Mug wasn’t back by sunset tonight, I would go find food. Then I laid down and stared at the hole some more.

The sun started beating down on me much harder than before, and I was afraid that I wouldn’t be terribly well when Mug returned- if he did. I got off of the ground and  went to snuffle around in the underbrush for some stray critters.

I scared a flock of birds when I poked my head into a bush, and they flew away screaming. I went into panic mode, and plunged into the bush lest the trolls come.  I stayed there with my ears pricked for hours; the only reason I got out was because of the singing. Yep, singing. It wasn't a beetle, but it wasn’t a wolf, either. It was the same smell I had caught earlier on the cliff path.

“They call me Short and that's just fine, no matter what they say, I'll sing my happy song...”

I poked my head even farther out of the bush, not believing what I saw.

A dog- yes, a dog, not a wolf, like me- was prancing down the cliff face. He was about the same height as me, but he was longer than he was tall. His ears stood, pricked up on the top of his head, and he had a grin stuck to his face. A bag with two pockets on his sides was tied around his middle. The dog kept singing his “happy song” and I watched him. He was about to the hole. He sniffed around it, then looked relieved for some reason. Still singing, he snuffled around on the ground and finally came to the bush I was in and put his head up. I pulled my head in, but his head poked in after me.

“What do you want?” I growled. I was hungry, cold, and just plain angry that Mug had left me alone with the trolls.

“Oh, here you are,” he said. It was a cheerful voice. “I’m here to get you off of this mountain!”

“Why? Just to antagonize the Mountain King?” I didn’t like this. Mug HAD been gone a while, but he said that he would need me. And I didn’t want to make the Kingy mad.
“Yeah, pretty much. The only reason he wants you is to eat you- he thinks that by doing that he’ll keep his reign over the mountain.”

“EAT ME? Why does he want to eat me?” I squeaked. I didn’t want to get eaten.
“Like I just said. To keep his reign over the mountain. But we also think he’s up to something a bit more... sinister than keeping his reign. We’re trying to figure that out, but as far as I’m concerned, let’s get out of here.”

I started to jump out of the bush, but stopped quickly. “I don’t even know your name, though.”

“I’m Pippin, if it makes you feel any better. He stopped and looked at the bag draped over his midsection. “Treble! Readings?”

A head poked out of the bags. It was the smallest canine I had ever seen, and one of the fluffiest. It was even smaller than me. It smelled at the air, and its blue eyes looked around at everything, taking everything in.

“Sir, I am sensing an unusual presence of anxiety and quite a strong load of anger. Oh, and a bit of fear, too. We should probably run right now. The trolls are on the move.”

My ears flopped down to the bottom of my head. A Reader? And a tiny little Pom, too? Hrrrgh, I must have been dreaming, I thought.

Readers were dogs that were characterized by their bright blue eyes and ability to sense feelings and danger around them. They weren’t very common since the Mountain King wasn’t a big fan of them. Did these two- or more- dogs have something against the King? Nonetheless, not wanting to get eaten, I followed the short-legged dog.

He could move surprisingly fast with stubby little legs like that. Every once in a while there would be a shrill yell from the bag, such as “VEER LEFT!!” or “ANGRY TROLL, MAKE HASTE!!”

With that Pom’s advice, we never ran into any trouble. And all the while, Pippin was humming a little song. I almost liked being around the two of them, even though we weren’t exactly having a conversation.

After several hours, some over-bent trees told us that we were almost out of troll territory. We rolled through the small tunnel created by the underbrush and sat down. I was exhausted. I hadn’t eaten anything in two days and I just ran- what, two miles? That’s a mile for every day I had fasted.

I fell down on my belly and just panted for a while. I hadn’t had much water, either. That was more of a problem...

A pair of black, bald paws dropped in front of my face. I was too tired to lift my head and see what it was, and slipped into a deep sleep. I didn’t feel anything, just darkness. I just heard a few faint voices before I passed out.

“Pippin! I told you not to run the whole way!” Couldn’t put a name on this voice.
“Sorry, there were a ton of trolls... Treble! She’s not dying, is she?” Pippin. Making excuses.

“No, not yet. But I can feel it coming if we don’t get her water soon.” Treble. Acting smart.

“Well, let’s not waste any time.” The mystery voice again. “I’ll carry her if you guys can get her on my back.”
I felt myself being lifted but couldn’t resist. I wanted to scream that I was fine but that would be a lie; and what the reader puffball said kind of concerned me. I let myself sleep.

Derpy approves.