Page 18 of Blacktail

“You’re a hunter?”

She sounds impressed, Blacktail thought, honestly confused. He had known no other way of life. But his erection cranked up another notch. “Yesss…?” he said, cautious. “That’s pretty much it.”

“Hmph. A likely story.” She considered for a moment. “Let us pretend for a moment that I am dumb enough to believe you. What would bring a wild hunter to this place?”

“When standing on my hill, I caught a…a scent. It was…”

“Ohhhh…Oh, I begin to understand. Yeah. That was me.” She twitched her rump. Seeing this, Blacktail began to pant. His knees trembled a bit. “It is my time. For mating.” She wiggled her hindquarters again. His vision went blurry. “You know about mating, right?”

“I, ah, that is to say…no.”

She looked at him for a moment and saw that he wasn’t kidding. “Wow. You really are from the woods, aren’t you?”

Blacktail scowled at her. He drew in breath, though he could not immediately think of anything to say.

“Never mind,” she said. “I’m convinced. You’re too dumb to be lying. Come over here, big fellow. I’ve got a surprise for you.”

Blacktail held back for a moment, his mind whirling. What am I getting myself into?

Sensing his hesitation, she turned around and smiled at him over her shoulder. She lifted her tail. At the sight, Blacktail’s erection rose up, eclipsing rational thought.

A moment later they were husband and wife.

—

When the mating was done, they dozed beside each other in the clover, cuddling and saying nice things, the way one does at such times. She was scratching her back against the dirt when the setting sun caught the long, supple piece of metal attached to her collar. It was shiny. When she scratched, a bit of it reflected sun into his eyes.

“Can I ask you something?”

“No.”

When Blacktail didn’t argue, she rolled over and nudged him with her nose. “Oh, for gosh sakes. I’m kidding. Of course you can. Ask me anything.”

He nuzzled the chain. It stretched from her neck to a metal stick pounded in the ground.

“What’s this thing?”

“Seriously?” She seemed surprised. He didn’t answer.

“Oh, right,” she said. “I forget you’re not from around here. No disrespect, you understand.”

“None taken. It’s just…this place takes some getting used to.”

“Yes. I imagine so. I’ll keep that in mind. Or try to. But to answer your question, that is the leash of my collar. My two-legs tied it around my neck…god, ages ago. I hardly notice it anymore.”

Blacktail nibbled at it, experimentally, with his small front teeth. Nothing. After a couple of tries he positioned it on his back teeth, as if he were cracking a femur. “Ow,” he said after he tried biting down. “Shit. Ow.”

She wagged her tail grimly. “Yeah, probably don’t do that again. It’s tougher than it looks. I broke a tooth on one when I was younger.”

When he spit it out, the chain links clinked. The sound wasn’t unpleasant. It pissed him off, nonetheless. “How do you run with this thing on?”

“Run?” She blinked. “Mostly I don’t. I’m pretty sure that’s the whole point.” She cast her eyes down. “I slipped free a couple of times. When I was younger. But it angers them”—she glanced over at the man-den behind her—“a lot. Quite a lot, actually.”

Blacktail sat up and perched on his elbows. Her chain was short. He’d been too distracted to notice earlier, but the boundaries of her world were plain to see. The length of the chain traced a circle of stony gray earth. She can run from this end to that, he realized. Then, if she likes, she can run back again.

Beyond that circle of stony earth lay all of the world, bounded by the lush grass of summer.

But it was worse than that.