Ridges of Doom

Chapter One

"Yama..." came Rain's soft, yet deadly voice from the hall. I gulped in my hiding space in a dark closet, trying to make minimal noise. I looked at my back with nervousness, as I always did and always have. No ridge. I sighed. Oftentimes I wished that I could wake up one morning and find a ridge on my spine like all the other Ridgebacks about this place. Yeah, I had to remind myself each time I thought about it. Keep dreaming.

"I'll find you, you know," Rain's speech continued, but it was only background noise to the pumping adrenaline and screaming in my head. "And when I do I'll rip the ridge right off your back...oh, right, you don't got one!" He gave a laughing grunt at his own pitiful joke as his pawsteps grew louder. I could practically smell his ego from here. Usually we got along fine, but even playful scuffles could become a fight to the death between the ridged and the ridgeless with Rain. And he liked to pick on me the most.

I could peer out of the closet and see him perfectly at this point. Sticking his brown nose into the air and giving a long sniff, no doubt searching for my scent. Ridgebacks like us were naturally great hunters, or so Mum told me. Rain's eyes widened with glee when he turned to the closet, and he began creeping closer. I backed away from the door, deeper into my hiding space, but in the end I knew it would do little good. My only option now was to fight back.

I howled and lunged straight at Rain, sending him careening backwards away from the closet and into our master's bedroom. I was on top of him, but not for long. He looked me right in the eye for a moment, his perfectly round and approachable eyes meeting my almond-like slits of ones. It seemed forever before he turned onto his side, bringing me with him. I hit the wood floor hard, and Rain scrambled on top of me, nipping playfully at my ears and nose and making me yip. His growls turned to giggles soon after, though, and my yips to laughs. 

"You know I'd never kill you, right?" Rain asked, stepping off me.

"Obviously," I replied, though I didn't meet Rain's eyes. Instead I only stared at my ridgeless back some more. 

Suddenly, we both jumped as we heard footsteps, louder and angrier than Rain's or mine. "Master," Rain whimpered. I gulped in turn. We both feared our master, but for completely different reasons. Rain would soon go into training to become a show dog, and had to show great behavioral habits basically all the time. He'd get punished for acting too roughly with me or anyone else. Me, on the other hand...let's just say our master didn't think I looked right, and apparently he found that enough to ridicule me.

"Milk Chocolate Rain! Ingonyama!" His sharp voice seemed to cut the very air. He appeared in the hall and stormed into his bedroom from there. I looked up at him, barely even meeting his knees at my full height. Rain wasn't much bigger. John Reedre was our master's name, a rigid human with the palest white skin and short, dark brown hair. His eyes were small and his nose large, and he always seemed to be dressed formally, like he was just about to venture out in public, perhaps to the streets of London. Mum followed him into the bedroom with a strange blend of scorn and pity on her face, especially toward Rain. Like she expected me to do these sorts of things, but not him.

Master kneeled down and touched Rain's face, the Ridgeback puppy's wide eyes meeting his with guilt. "I'll have you know my brother in London is stopping by today." His eyes glided to me, a rare occurrence. I had no idea what for. They only met mine for a second, however, before they went to Mum and then back to Rain. "I expect you to be on your best behavior." I couldn't make out everything he said in his human language, but I got the message all the same. Mum gave a grunt and what looked like a nod in agreement, looking sternly at Rain and I.

"Keep them out of trouble, Nola," Master told Mum with a single bark-like laugh as he got up to leave, leaving Rain, Mum and I in an awkward silence. It was quickly broken, however, as almost as soon as he had left, two more Ridgebacks came plodding into the bedroom: my two other siblings Maximilius Von Tuberon, who I simply called Max, and Aranola de Xidion II, who was just Aranola. Both ridged. Both qualified for show. Both looked at in much higher regard than me, or so it seemed.