CHAPTER 1

Home, Sweet Home

Octobre 29, 5599

 

Maidawn awoke with a start, hearing noise outside her bedroom window. She ran her right hand through her short, strawberry blonde hair. Her amber-colored eyes sparkled as she yawned, and then she stretched all the way down to her toes, curling them tightly together. She yawned and then yawned again, her eyes watering. She wiped the tear out of her right eye so it wouldn’t run down her cheek and get her pillow wet.

Maidawn had spent her entire life living in the welcorg village, and in all that time, she had never seen another human. She knew she wasn’t a welcorg, and she had been told she was human. But having never met one of her kind before, she longed to learn more about them. Her father had told her about Devinshyre, the capital of the humans, and she desperately wanted to travel there someday. Still, she was loved by her father and mother, even by her two brothers, and she loved them back. She was considered one of the welcorg pack.

Tomorrow she would be turning sixteen years old. She smiled at this and snuggled back down into her blankets, enjoying the warmth her body created while under them. She thought of her family and closed her eyes. Her surrogate father, Angustus, had always been there for her, and his wife, Betishine, had treated Maidawn as one of her own pups.

Maidawn thought about her life with the welcorgs in their village of Whails. Growing up in the Sherran Hills with the welcorgs had been wonderful, although she wished that a human had visited her village at least once. She had no idea what one even looked like, besides herself. She had seen her reflection in pools of water and was always shocked, as she thought of herself as a welcorg, but knew she was not truly one of them.

She sat up in bed and looked outside through the circular hole in the wall that served as her window. Maidawn saw her brother, a young welcorg named Zift, practicing battle techniques with his friends. She admired the size and strength of Zift, as he was one of the largest in the village. Descending from a breed of dogs called Welsh Corgis, he stood nearly fourteen hands high, and was covered in tan, red, and white fur. His four long legs were muscular and powerful. His pawhands ended in retractable clawed fingers that he could hold weapons with. He wore armor on his back, neck, and stomach, while he used both his sharp teeth and front legs to attack his opponents, often rearing up on his two back legs.

Zift jumped high into the air and came down upon the back of his friend, Paws. He clamped his teeth onto the nape of Paws’ neck and twisted his head, until Paws fell to the ground. Grabbing a knife from the sheath near his belly, Zift quickly moved it up to his friend’s throat.

He stood over his best friend growling, with his teeth clamped onto Paws, and shook him, just a little. Zift applied a little more pressure.

Paws grimaced, hoping that the bite wouldn’t hurt any more than it already did. He winced, “Okay, okay. I give. I give. You can let go now.”

Zift released his hold, reared back while sheathing his knife, and howled to the heavens.

Maidawn smiled as she admired her brother’s prowess. Zift was by far the most gifted of the young welcorg warriors, and Angustus had trained him well. She sat back on her bed and remembered a time when she was five years old and had asked her father about the welcorgs.

Angustus had looked at the young Maidawn and smiled. He loved to tell the story of his people, the welcorgs of the Sherran Hills. He stoked the fire and then sat down to tell the tale.

“A long, long time ago, in a world vastly different than it is now, there were many types of dogs. Dogs, in those days, were fairly smart, but couldn’t speak like we do now,” Angustus said. He lowered his voice almost to a whisper, “Here’s something you will find truly remarkable. All dogs were once owned by humans.”

Maidawn frowned at this.

“Oh, don’t worry, little one,” Angustus said, looking into her eyes, “they were loved by their owners. Dogs were once called ‘man’s best friend.’ As I was saying, there were many types of dogs back then. There were large dogs, though not as big as we are now, of course.”

At this, Angustus hopped up and pranced proudly around the room performing a small dance and then howled once. He danced a few more steps, froze, and then looked sheepishly at Maidawn.

Maidawn giggled and clapped her hands together. She loved her father so much.

Angustus laughed with her. “Oops, sorry . . . forgot where I was. Hmm, let’s see,” said the welcorg leader with a wink as he sat down and looked at Maidawn. “There were even tiny little dogs no bigger than your head.”

Maidawn laughed out loud. Who could ever believe that any dog that small would be worth anything at all? Why, they would not last one night out in the forest. What good would a dog like that be to anyone? They would end up being a meal for some creature, or become smooshed beneath some larger animal’s foot. Useless, that is what a dog that small would be. Just useless.

Angustus continued, “One day, a large rock fell from the sky, struck Kepler, and caused great devastation to this world. After that, both people and animals started to change . . . to mutate. This was called the Century of Creation. For one hundred years, almost all living beings changed. Some of these changes were good, like the elves and dwarves being born. But some of them weren’t, like the creation of the blorcs, goblins and trolls. Chelt would never be the same again.”

“Oh no,” Maidawn said, rocking backward on her bottom. She came forward again and said, “What happened then?”

“Most of the creatures that now inhabit these lands were born at this time. Back then, there were a lot of species that came into being that no longer live today, unable to adapt to what they’d become. Only two species of dog survived: the bloclabs and the welcorgs. The bloclabs are small black dogs . . . well, smaller than us, that is. Even though they are small in size, they have become quite adept at using magic and are extremely intelligent. There are rumors that they live far to the west beyond the Dr’gÿn Thickett. I’ve never met one, never having traveled far from Whails, but I’d like to someday.”

Maidawn picked up her small, black stuffed animal and stared at it. Her mother had made it for her when she was just a baby, and it was always with the young girl. It did not really look like anything in particular, at least no animal Maidawn had ever seen. She hugged it to her chest, as it was her most treasured belonging. This, she decided, is what a bloclab looked like. I want to meet one too, she thought.

“Welsh Corgis,” Angustus continued, “were herders and loved to chase things. They were a very playful dog and loved by all, as they were extremely cute. Our ancestors were short, with stumpy little legs but fairly long bodies. After the Century of Creation, we began to change. As the centuries passed, we evolved out of our dwarfish bodies, as our legs lengthened and our torsos elongated and thickened. Over the first thousand years after the change began, we continued to increase in size and mass. As we grew, our legs became more powerful, and our paws grew fingers that we could retract when we run. Our teeth also grew in length for fighting, and our ears increased in height, helping us to hear over great distances. Paralleling the increase in size, our intelligence also evolved, and we began to speak as we do now. These changes enabled us to become the most ferocious warriors on four legs on the planet!”

Angustus puffed out his chest in pride, held his breath, wiggled his eyebrows, and then coughed a little as he lost his breath.

Maidawn looked at Angustus with wide eyes, and then laughed. She rolled around on the floor, raising her eyebrows up and down, like her father.

Suddenly, she stopped and sat up, a serious look on her face. “Why do I look so different from you?” she inquired.

Angustus had always dreaded this question, but did not want to lie to his only daughter.

“One night, while I was patrolling the Tenebrous Forest looking for any enemies, I saw a flash of light in the sky. The light actually came out of the mouth of a cave that was a short distance up the face of a cliff. I climbed up to the cave and found you lying on the floor. You looked at me and something happened in my heart. I can’t say what it was, but it affected me profoundly. Looking into your bright eyes, I knew that from that point on, I would always protect you. So, I brought you home, and you’ve lived with us in Whails ever since.”

“What was I doing in there all by myself?”

Angustus squirmed a little and said softly, “You weren’t by yourself. Your mother was there. She was your birth mother. You were the only one alive.”

Maidawn got up and leaned against her father, crying softly into his thick fur. Angustus put one arm around the young girl and held her until she stopped crying. Wiping away her tears, she sat down again. “So then, if I’m not a welcorg, what am I? A bloclab?”

Angustus barked in laughter. “No, my dear, you are a human.”

Maidawn’s face scrunched up and she looked down at her fingernails. Quietly, she asked, “Does that mean that I own you?”

Angustus stared at her with a serious look in his eyes and growled, “No one owns us.”

The young girl looked up and smiled, instantly full of joy. “Good! I didn’t want to own you,” she said as she laughed.

Angustus stood up, laughing as well, amazed at her quick change of emotions. He gave her a big, slobbery kiss on her left cheek, which made Maidawn laugh even more. Zift came charging into the room and jumped on top of Maidawn and starting licking her all over her face, which made them all roll around on the floor in glee. Betishine walked in from the kitchen to see what was going on and leaned against the doorway smiling. She truly loved her family, her entire family.

Maidawn lay in bed, smiling at the pleasant memory, but she knew she needed to get up and get the day started. She threw the blankets back, swung her legs over the edge of the bed, and stood up. Stretching again, she walked over to the chair where she always hung her clothes for the next day. She quickly dressed in an old pair of tight-fitting leather pants, a shirt, and a leather vest. She slipped her boots on and left her room, looking for her mother. She found Betishine in the kitchen making breakfast.

“Good morning, Mother.”

Betishine, knowing her daughter was always very hungry first thing in the morning, turned around and handed Maidawn a piping hot dewshine pie. “Here, this one’s for you, dear.”

Maidawn greedily took the pie, sat down at the table, and took a hasty bite. Steam came out of her mouth as she made an “O” with her lips and breathed outward. “Hot, hot, hot,” she said, trying not to burn her tongue and the roof of her mouth. She took a few seconds to breathe deeply in and out through her mouth trying to cool down the pie. Eventually, she swallowed the bite.

“Thank you, Mother,” she said as she blew on the pie for a minute, and then took another steaming bite before it cooled down too much, as dewshine pies taste best right out of the oven. This was by far her favorite breakfast. The pie was filled with mountain dew berries and covered with a thin, flaky crust that was sprinkled with sugar. She finished the pie, wiped the green berry juice off of her chin, and patted her stomach as if she had never tasted anything so scrumptious. She stood up and placed the dirty pie tin in the sink.

While her mother was busy washing dishes, Maidawn snatched another pie, thinking her mother had not seen her, and scurried outside. She heard Betishine call out, “That one was for you too, Dear.”

Maidawn smiled as she shut the door behind her and walked over toward her brother. Nothing gave her more pleasure than watching Zift train with his friends. She sat down on a hanging swing her father had built for her from the tree in the front yard and laughed at their antics as she began to eat the second dewshine pie. More than anything, she wished that she could join the young welcorgs, but knew she could not stand up to their bared teeth and sharp weapons, at least not unprotected. She hoped for some armor for her birthday, so she could join Zift in his daily training regimen. The other issue she had was that her swords were ones that Angustus had carved out of wood from a couple of strong piney tree branches. What she needed, and dreamed of, were metal swords. She knew Zift could snap one of her wooden swords in two if he caught one in his teeth and clamped down.

Finishing the second dewshine pie, Maidawn stood up, dropped the dirty pie tin on the swing, brushed her hands on her pants legs, turned back to the kitchen window and shouted, “Mother, I’m going to take a walk into the hills.”

“Be careful, Dear,” Betishine replied, looking out the window.

“I will.”

“Don’t be gone too long.”

“I won’t.”

“Wait. Have you done your morning chores?”

Maidawn sighed. “No. I’ll do them right now.”

Thirty minutes later, she walked back to the porch, grabbed the long, thin leather bag that hung outside the kitchen door, and headed out of the village. The Sherran Hills were dotted with both piney and horaft trees, but were not covered nearly as thickly as the Tenebrous Forest to the north. Through the sparse trees, she followed the trail that she had created just by walking over the same ground twice a day for years, until she reached the crest of a small hill that had but one large horaft tree on it. She had been coming here almost every day, barring extremely bad weather, for many years to be alone. This is where she meditated, under that single tree, turning her thoughts inward and focusing on the strange power she felt inside of her. She had first noticed it three years ago when she was meditating on her thirteenth birthday. She did not know what it was, but she sensed that it was important.

After half an hour of meditation, Maidawn did what she had done a thousand times before. She stood up, reached for the bag that she had hung on a broken branch, and withdrew the two wooden swords. Moving away from the tree to the top of the hill, she held both swords slightly aloft, and then Maidawn began to practice with the wooden weapons. She started off slowly, letting her muscles warm up. Her moves were smooth and strong, but also held a certain graceful nature that no male could ever hope to match.

Soon, Maidawn’s blades weaved a shield in front of her that would have been almost impossible for another to penetrate. She then struck out with a thrust and quickly brought it back in. A lunge followed, then a feint, double thrust, and parry. On and on Maidawn practiced, until sweat ran into her eyes and dripped off of her nose. Finally, she walked over to the tree and collapsed on the ground, panting to catch her breath, exhausted from her long workout.

Looking up through the branches at the yellow clouds floating past, she let her eyes go unfocused and just laid there. Snapping her eyes back into focus, she wondered why the sky was blue in color. She looked toward, but not directly at, the larger of the two suns, Brumel, which appeared as a yellow globe in the sky. Following Brumel was a much smaller bluish-white sun named Pasq. Streaks of light could be seen passing between the two suns, as if Pasq was sucking the fire away from Brumel.

Maidawn sat up and drank some water that she had brought with her. She looked in her bag and laughed at the sandwich her mom had secretly packed. As she ate, she leaned back against the tree and looked up through the branches again, this time at the tree itself. A couple of the branches bent down to caress her cheek, and she smiled. She could understand what this tree was thinking and feeling. Silently, the two held a short, but meaningful, conversation.

Eventually, she hopped up and decided to go for a little walk. Knowing there was nothing to fear in the Sherran Hills, she headed down the back of the grassy hill, running her hand along every horaft tree she passed, greeting them inside her head. She made her way to a small stream that ran east between the hills, heading for the Fledorat Sea. She took off her boots, hiked up the cuffs of her pants, and sat down on a small boulder beside the water. She put her feet into the cool stream and sighed contently. She laughed as she wiggled her toes and tiny fysh swam around her feet.

Maidawn looked longingly to the east, wondering what the Fledorat Sea looked like. After all, the largest body of water she had ever seen was the pond just outside of her village. Someday, she hoped to travel there and see the sea.

As the day wore on, she drank a few handfuls of water out of the creek and walked over to the nearest horaft tree. She sat down with her back leaning against the tree and closed her eyes. The horaft tree talked to her for a bit, and as the conversation came to its natural end, she grew tired. It was a nice day, so she figured a nap was in order.

Last nap while I’m fifteen, she thought as sleep overtook her. The sound of kricketts chirping washed over her with the occasional croak from a fraug. A few minutes later, she was asleep.

Maidawn woke hours later. She looked toward the suns and realized that she had napped longer than she intended. She slid her boots back on and quickly made her way back up the hill where she had practiced earlier. She packed away her wooden swords and water pouch, and started down the trail back to Whails.

As she entered the village, Zift ran up to Maidawn and said, “Tomorrow is your sixteenth birthday. Are you excited?”

Maidawn looked at him and shrugged. “It’s just another birthday,” she said, as she continued walking toward their house. “It’s no big deal,” she said aloud, trying not to show any emotion outward, but inside she was thrilled. For some reason, she just did not want to show her brother how excited she was. After all, it was better to receive an unexpected gift that thrills you rather than expecting a specific something and not getting what you wanted.

Zift watched her walk away from him, tilted his head slightly to the right, a confused look on his face. He always loved his birthdays, having recently celebrated his twelfth. Who doesn’t love their birthday? he wondered. Turning around, Zift headed back toward Paws, who was waiting for him so they could continue practicing their fighting skills.

Wrecker came bounding out of the house and jumped up into Maidawn’s arms. He was only a little over a year old and not very big yet, weighing only about forty-five pounds. Maidawn grunted with the effort, as he was getting heavier every day.

“Maida, play?” Wrecker asked.

Maidawn, who was still a little groggy from her nap, sighed fondly. She knew Wrecker would continue to ask her over and over, for hours if need be, until she played with him. She never let her little brother down.

“Sure,” she said.

She bent over, dropped Wrecker to the ground, walked over to their cottage, and hung her leather bag on the peg outside the kitchen door. Turning around, she made her way to a grassy area and lay down on her back with her hands and feet straight up in the air, but with her knees slightly bent.

Wrecker backed up, yipped once with excitement, and started running toward her. At the last moment, he leapt into the air and landed with his chest on Maidawn’s feet. She grabbed his front pawhands, kicked up with her feet, and released his pawhands as Wrecker flipped over her head, turning two somersaults in the air before he landed on all fours, skidding across the grass.

Laughing, Wrecker tore around her, lined up for a second leap and started running toward Maidawn again, barking wildly. Leap, grab, flip, land, skid, laugh, bark wildly. Over and over, Wrecker flipped through the air until Maidawn finally said, “Okay, okay . . . that’s enough.”

“Aw, o’tay.” Wrecker said, and then turned around and tore off into the house.

Maidawn stood up and brushed herself off. Smiling, she walked to the house and entered through the kitchen door.

Betishine turned away from the stove. “Did you have a nice walk, Dear?”

“Yes, Mother. I always enjoy the hills greatly.” This was her usual answer.

“Tomorrow is your birthday,” Betishine said while looking into the stone oven. “Is there anything you wanted to do?”

Maidawn thought for a second and replied, “Not really.” She sat down on the only chair in the room. Welcorgs did not need chairs so the only one in the kitchen belonged to her. “It’s just another birthday. It really doesn’t mean anything,” she said, all the while hoping that it really did.

“Well, I’ve always enjoyed my birthdays and the gifts I receive,” Betishine said as she looked in the oven and tapped the cooking bread on the top with a spoon.

“I have everything I need,” Maidawn said. “A loving family and a happy home is the only gift I require.”

“No one ever has everything they need, Dear. Now go gather up the family. It’s almost time for supper.”

Five minutes later, Maidawn sat down to supper with her family. It was a supper like every other supper. It was always a time for talking about your day and enjoying time with the family. It was never a quiet time when welcorgs sat down to a meal.

Tonight, Angustus talked about kricketts and his hope that they would not be swarming next year, as they usually ate all of the grass on the Sherran Hills every three years. But, the grass always grew back in a month or two. Still, it was an inconvenience when the rains came and their world became a muddy mess. Betishine talked about a new recipe her friend Freidhowl had created using plotatoes and baquan. Betishine was going to try to make it for supper the following night and was quite excited to try the recipe. Zift, of course, talked about his training with his friends and how excited he was for Maidawn’s birthday tomorrow. Wrecker didn’t have much to add, except that he loved turning somersaults in the air and barking. Maidawn talked a little about her wooden swords and her desire to someday travel to the Fledorat Sea. She wanted to see what an endless pool of water looked like. Angustus promised a trip to the sea for the entire family the following summer.

All in all, it was a typical meal for Maidawn and her family.

Little did she know that this was going to be the last normal supper she shared with her family for a very long time.