The Cinders of Dezu

6th: Keeping Dark (6)

Julian kept laughing as the little creatures quickly scurried past Cairo's hand and out of the cage.

"Hey, those are the instructions, what are you gonna do?" Julian said, amusement still in his voice.

Cairo stood up once the cage was empty and looked around. His eyebrows drew together.

"Uumm... Where did the rest go?"

Julian's smile fell from his face as he realized Cairo was right. The ribbons were gone. The forest floor was dark again.

"The sun is down... Completely..." whispered Cairo, staring into the darkness of the trees.

He looked back towards their cabin. He could see the light of its lanterns glowing beyond the trees. A low hum rose from the silence. It sounded like the the shuffling of feet. It sounded like a lot of feet. It was the kind of noise that felt like you shouldn't be able to hear from far off, but the sheer abundance of pitter-patter defied it's natural state.

The two briefly shared a look of terror in the darkness. They took off toward the cabin as the sound began to increase. The footsteps had risen to the sound of a soft padded stampede. It drowned out the sound of their own footsteps as they reached the bright light of the lanterns.

In the night, the lanterns cut through the darkness and bathed the cabin in a light not unlike what they had seen in the first village they encountered. Each lantern created a light aura that stretched around the cabin so no shadows from the night could penetrate. They ran inside and shut the door.
They sat nervously at the table in the dark. The rising sound grew so loud the cabin felt like it was beginning to shake. Finally, it reached a crescendo and held there. The sound of the stampede surrounded the whole house, now peppered with yelps, cries, and a few growls. It went on for some time. Cairo finally couldn't take it. He stood up.

"No! Get down!" Julian hissed.

Cairo crept over to the closed window over the sink. It was covered with large wooden shutters. He undid the latches to them and opened them just enough to create a tiny crack to peek through.

There, beyond the glow of the light, was a streaming flood of black fur. It was an impossible horde of black dogs. They were parted like a river, flowing around the light of the cabin. He could make out that some were fighting and biting one another as they ran. Some sniffed the air, others the ground, as they combed the forest floor for food. As he kept watching to make out shadows in the dark, Cairo felt a chill run down his spine.

Right at the edge of the veil of darkness, a massive quartet of paws paced over one another. Back and forth. Raised an uncomfortable height off of the ground, was a large set of glowing eyes. A large wet nose ventured into the light and then crinkled as it snapped itself back behind the veil. From the quick glimpse of its snout, Cairo could make out the outline of the creature. It was a dog with a shoulder height that looked about as tall as the doorway of the cabin. It was sniffing them out.

A deep, bellowing snarl shook the ground as gleaming teeth snapped at one of the passers-by. The smaller dog cried out as the larger caught it by the nape of its neck. It crouched and scurried away to catch up with the rest of the crowd. The larger dog quit its pacing and followed it into the furry black current.

Cairo jumped as he felt a hand on his back. He heaved a sigh, realized it was only Julian. He let him switch spots to look through the shutters. Cairo sank to the floor. He could visibly see Julian tense up as soon as he saw the sight. A sliver of light from the shutters scanned across Julian's face as he shook his head.

"Home, sweet home," he whispered.