The Haunt of Danzig Ruin

Huter

In calmer waters, Nora would have simply relaxed and floated on her back, the very first thing she had been taught to do in water as a child, but the waves were becoming more and more relentless. They tossed her about until the last of her strength had dwindled away.
Oh, Petrich. . . I tried. . .I am sorry, Nora weakly thought out to him, . . .I have always and will always love you. . .
And then out of absolute nowhere, something clenched hold of the sleeve of her dress and gave a few great yanks. It did not feel human, but more along the lines of a beast. Nora was frightened anew, but, at least, she could breathe again, and was hopefully headed for shore.
She was gasping for air on the wet sand as the ocean waves still rolled over her shallowly. She lifted her head and spit out as much sand as she could, but knew she'd be biting on grit for the rest of her life. Then she heard the panting and the lapping of something with a great mouth standing over her, blocking the sun.
Nora rolled over and saw it was a great wet dog. Its coat was made of dark curly fur, with a patch of curly white fur on its chest, paws and muzzle. It lowered its great head and pushed its nose against her shoulder and whined between its pants.
               Nora sat up in a daze and looked about her, not at all surprised that there was no longer a Hilary, nor a boat offshore ready to take her home.   To anyone else's eyes, it would have seemed that she had walked into the sea on her own freewill, walked in to never walk out again alive, and had now been saved by a strange dog.
The dog, still at her side, reared up its head, its nose twitching, its intelligent light brown eyes staring in keen alert.
             It let out a low 'woof' and began to flounce and spin around, flinging sand every which way. Nora had never owned a dog. Her brother Randell had a favored cat, and her mother had an affinity for colorful birds, but no dogs. But even without the experience, it did not keep Nora from understanding that this dog sensed something dangerous.
            When it suddenly took off at a run toward the long uphill trail toward their bungalow above, Nora knew she had to follow. Something dreadful must have had happened to Petrich, too.
          PETRICH!! I'M ALRIGHT!! I'M COMING! JUST HANG ON!! She thought out, but heard nothing in response. 
           The dog stopped and turned to look back at her, as if to be sure she knew to follow.
            Although still coughing up sand and sea water, Nora ran after the dog.
             "I'm coming!! Go!! GO!!" she shouted at it.
              The dog made a great howl and quickly scampered up the trail.

              Petrich lay in fetal position on the floor, keening, for the pain was too great to cry any other way. The fingers of his left hand were now a shaking, slippery, bloody mess after every nail bed had been stabbed as well as the cuticles.  But now the needle, still on his own right hand busied itself puncturing the skin of the inside of his forearm. Each puncture wound was deep enough to bleed.
"FEEL MY PAIN, YOU MAGGOT!!" Petrich heard roaring in his ear, as he made yet another puncture, bringing on fresh blood and fresh pain.
The vision of Theo Xander had thrown off his cloak as well as his mask. He was now naked from the waist up and Petrich could see all the scars left to him by the vengeful threads of the cursed tapestry.
"YOU AND YOUR CHILD ASSISTANT RUINED ME!! I HAVE BEEN SHUNNED BY ALL FOREVER!!" The vision bent nearer to Petrich's ear, and whispered, "But you, yourself have been tempted, haven't you, Master Hollenburg? Tempted to tell the stars they were wrong! Hiding that which they had already foretold was to die! Remember?? REMEMBER?? You are NO better, but more Abominable than I! MY transgression is no more than survival in this world! YOUR transgression IS YOUR INSUFFERABLE PRIDE! And you shall find out just  how vulnerable you are to being a Star  Defier yourself!!"
Petrich continued to keen and puncture holes, the stab wounds deep enough to puncture his arm's veins and arteries. . . But he could not stop. Although messy with flowing blood, he knew the precisely placed stab wounds were spelling out a word or words and the stabbing would not stop until they were complete.
But he was beginning to lose consciousness from the pain and loss of blood. Perhaps the stabbing would stop if he just. . .let. . .it. . .all. . .go. . .
In the distance, in his fading mental state, he thought he heard Nora's voice calling out to him , along with another sound he simply could not understand. If he didn't know any better, he would have said it was the sound of a growling wolf.

"No! No! No!No! NO!!!" Was all Nora could say when she reached the veranda and saw what lay on the floor.
The dog had arrived before her and had cornered something she could not see. Its mouth was pulled back in an angry snarl, baring strong dangerous teeth, as it positioned itself to attack.
              It did finally attack and whatever its target had been must have taken flight, for the dog lunged, then stood on its hind legs, with its huge front paws on the low wall surrounding the veranda. It barked angrily after the unperceived thing it had chased away.
                Petrich lay unconscious, but breathing.  The floor was smeared in dried blood, his left arm and hand were sticky with it.
                "Oh, Petrich. . ." Nora began to sob, but then sniffed it back and quickly went inside. She grabbed the tablecloth and rolled Petrich side to side to situate the large square of cloth beneath him. By this time, the dog had dropped back down on all fours and came around and merely watched her work. When Nora began to pull on the tablecloth to slide Petrich's body back into the house, the dog also took a mouthful of the cloth and pulled with Nora until Petrich was safely inside.
                Nora finally sat, exhausted in her own right, and looked at the dog, who had laid down nearby, head still up and alert. 
                 She laid a hand on the curly fur of the dog's head and scratched it behind the ear. She had not given much thought to how much ordinary animals could perceive their presence here in the Dream Plain, nor what their senses could recognize natually.  But this was obviously no ordinary animal, a fact Nora would have to think about later as she busied herself to caring for Petrich.
             She took a moment to change into dry clothes, then began stripping off Petrich's which were filthy with blood and sweat. All the while she talked to him, as well as thought out to him in hopes of bringing him back to his senses.
             "Oh, darling," she said gently, trying to stay calm, giving him a sort of sponge bath right where he lay, in front of the lit fire hearth. "You must wake up and tell me what made you do this to yourself.  I found myself  in the sea thinking I was heading for home! I even saw my mother onboard The Lux! Can you even imagine? Oh! Even more than that, I was saved by a dog! Just this random dog! He," Nora paused, "Well, maybe she, is still here! Like he or she lives here now! Might be a good idea. I believe this dog can see what we cannot."
              Nora was now focused on Petrich's damaged left hand and arm, and not quite prepared for what she found beneath the dried blood.  His fingers were bruised and swollen from the trauma. A couple of the nails had actually  lifted from their beds. The sight made Nora's stomach turn, but then she cleaned his forearm and what she found there shocked her.
So many seemly random punctures, some deeper than others. These were in most danger of infection, but even the more shallow ones would scar.
           Nora, quickly doused the arm and hand with an astringent to cleanse the wounds then wrapped them in strips of clean linen.
          She took a thicker blanket and again gently rolled Petrich side to side to take him off the tablecloth and onto the blanket.  She wrapped him up snugly and stayed beside him, wanting to be near when he came to. 
           The dog made itself comfortable and lay beside Petrich. Now that Petrich was resting more peacefully, Nora considered the dog, wondered where it could have possibly come from, and why with them it had decided to stay, if only for today.  Then she saw the collar, deeply embedded in the dog's neck fur. 
          Nora took a closer look at the collar and saw writing embossed into the leather.  She tried to read the wording, but could not without slipping the collar  off.  She gingerly unbuckled it and was relieved to see that the dog did not seem to mind.
Nora held the released collar to the light. It said:
         This is Huter, a guardian to watch and to guide you in your last days. CD
"Well, Huter," said Nora said lowly, replacing the collar about the dog's neck, then stroking its head, "We are most fortunate to have you with us. Welcome." She then sat in her armed rocking chair, wrapping herself in her own blanket. Just wished you had come to us long ago, she thought miserably.