Chapter 24

Confused I look at Chase and just shrug as he gives me a questioning look as we follow my grandmother through the hall towards another side passage. Passing through a door we enter a long hallway leading down in a gentle slope before gradually curving to the left leaving the end hidden.

Leading the way my grandmother strides quickly down the hallway with an almost excited bounce in her steps. Noting her enthusiasm I ask, “Who are you taking us to see?”

She glances over her shoulders at me with a mischievous sparkle in her eyes, “A very old friend of yours has been waiting an extremely long time for you to come home.”

Confused I reach up and scratch my head behind my top right horn saying, “But I don’t remember anyone that I was friendly to aside from you and my parents.”

Smiling softly, if a bit sadly, she says, “Well you were both very young the last time you saw each other, and you have endured so much heartache, so I’m not surprised if you don’t remember, but I can assure you that he remembers you and has missed you every day since.”

I glance over at Chase and see a raised eyebrow at her mention of the friend being a he. Shaking my head in confusion I just shrug, “I honestly have no idea.”

With that we finally round the bend in the hallway and come up to a large pair of doors made from a dark wood. The doors are engraved in mirrored carvings of several hellhounds of all breeds and sizes. 

Putting a hand on the door my grandmother looks at me and says, “The last time you came here you barely came up to my knees. I remember you were clinging on to my robes so tight with your little fists scared to let go. But your eyes were so wide and filled with excitement....”

As she trails off with a small smile remembering what is obviously a very fond memory for her I turn a glare on Chase and mouth quietly, “Never say a word.”

He just smiles and chuckles silently and I know that while he will never tell anyone else, I will likely receive no end of torture when we are alone.

Shaking her head slightly coming out of the trip through her memories my grandmother smiles to me and asks, “You remember my hobby of breeding hounds right?”

Smirking slightly as I look at him I reply, “Yeah, we met a couple of them on our way in.”

Her eyes twinkle as she says, “Oh you saw Magnus and Orinous when you arrived? I told them we were expecting a visitor and to let you pass. Though I am a bit surprised they revealed themselves to you.”

The names trigger something in my memory, “That was Magnus out front?”

She nods glad to see that I remember him, “That’s right it was, he was the one on the left of the door as you came in. He has grown a bit since you last saw him though I think.”

Shaking my head I say, “I remember you nursing him in your lap cause he was the runt of the litter when I was a teenager.”

Chase chooses that moment to join the conversation, “Wait, the bigger one with three heads... was the runt?”

Celeste chuckles, “Yes Chase, Magnus started out as the runt, and likely would have died had I not taken a special interest in him.”

He mutters something along the lines of a runt being the size of a house as he shakes his head. Smiling I turn back to Celeste, “Chase had never even heard of hell hounds before. So when Magnus stepped out of the shadows at the front entrance... well I think he was more than a little concerned at becoming a new chew toy.”

Celeste laughs and turns to Chase saying, “My boy, those two would never have hurt you so long as you did not threaten them or any member of our family. Besides you were with Eb, they knew you were no threat. The same can’t be said for all of my hounds however.”

She places her right paw on the door before saying, “As long as you stay close to either me or Eb though none of them should bother you.”

With that she pushes gently on the door causing them both to swing into the room with almost no sound at all. As the doors open wide they reveal an expansive cavernous space so large that the far end is out of sight. The slight gasp from beside me makes me realize that I may have left out a small detail about demon realms.

Chase turns and looks at me with wide eyes, “How.... How can such a large room be inside? I know we didn't go down deep enough in that hall back there for a room to be that large.”

Celeste chuckles slightly before saying, “I forget you know so little about our home. In a demonic realm such as this interior spaces can be as big or as small as you want, provided the demon in control of the realm has the strength to make it happen. Eb’s grandfather, being a very powerful demon lord, has made numerous such rooms all throughout his domain. It is one of the reasons other demon lords covet his realm so much.”

Chase shakes his head and mutters, “If demons can do this kind of thing where they don't have to worry about space, why do they try and take other realms? Wouldn't they just be able to make rooms as big as they want?”

Celeste gives him a sad smile before saying, “If all demons could do this that would be the case, but only a few demon lords are capable of it, and none are as good at it as Tribus is. As a result any demon lord that can do it has his realms marked as prime territory for any rival wanting to expand their dominion. Thankfully my husband has been very good at discouraging any of his rivals from trying to hard.”

With that she turns and heads into the room. Along one side is a flowing river of magma snaking its way through cracked and dry earth reminiscent of a desert I once visited. Opposite the desert stretches out a lush forest full of tall trees and thick underbrush. Separating the two is a wide stone path leading us deeper into the area.

Looking around I ask my grandmother, “Isn't this your kennels and training area for hellhounds?”

She nods, “Yes it is, though I’ve expanded and remodeled a few times since you were a young pup. No need to worry though none of the dangerous ones are running loose right now.”

Chase pipes up at that, “There are more of those.... dogs, running loose in here?”

I chuckle and place a paw on his shoulder turning him to the right and pointing into the trees, “Yeah, we have been watched ever since we set foot in here.”

He follows my pointing claw and for a second has a confused look on his face before jumping back in surprise and nearly tripping over my tail. For a moment nothing can be seen that would have caused him to jump, then a set of red glowing eyes solidified within the shadows followed soon by a large black wolf like body that appears to pour out of the shadows themselves. The hellhound slowly approaches us before coming right up next to the path and sitting on its haunches. With every step its eyes never leave Chase. 

Celeste walks up next to the hound, the top of her head barely reaching the creatures large shoulders, and reaches a hand up to scratch it between the ears. Grinning up at me she says, “How long were you aware of Shade watching you?”

I shrug, “I wasn't really sure until I pointed I just felt like something was studying us hard.”

She nods, “Well he is the most curious of the lot running loose right now, but we have actually been checked out by several hounds already.”

Chase’s ears start flicking back and forth as he begins looking around, “Really? Where are they?”

He even takes a moment to lift his nose up and sniff the air, “I don’t even smell anything but trees and smoke.”

Celeste and I both chuckle slightly before she says, “That’s because hellhounds are considered by many to be one of the most perfect predators. A fully grown, fully trained hound, is capable of remaining undetectable by all but the most sensitive individuals. Some breeds are able to hide their presence so well that they could be standing right next to you and you would never know.”

As if he had been waiting for a command Shade stands back on all fours and before our very eyes seems to vanish into the air. The only sign of his presence are the four large indents in the grass where his paws are and a slight glowing area where his eyes would be. Chase blinks several times before taking a slight step closer to me saying, “Well.... that’s terrifying.”

That causes a snort as Shade comes back into view. He stretches his head forward getting to within a few inches of Chase before stopping and looking at him. For a moment neither of them moves, then with a sudden jerk forward Shade plants a long slobbery lick from the base of Chase’s neck all the way up the right side of his face stopping only when his tongue runs out of ear.

The instant his surprise lick is done Shade quickly turns and darts back into the forest with a playful bark, leaving a very stunned and wet Chase in his wake. For a moment nothing happens then my ability to hold my mouth shut fails and I let out a loud barking laugh followed soon my my grandmother.

As soon as we are able to control ourselves Celeste says, “Shade likes you Chase. He’s usually not so friendly with visitors.

Chase grabs a corner of the cloth making up my toga and wipes his face despite my half hearted attempt to pull away before saying, “I thought he was going to bite my head off.”

Fighting back another chuckle I say, “If he had wanted to attack you would have never known it.”

Smiling Celeste waves for us to follow as she continues along the path, “Don’t worry to much about it Chase. As I said before only the better behaved ones are allowed to wander around free. I wouldn’t have brought you two in here if I thought other wise.”

For a several minutes we walk along and begin to see more and more hell hounds out in the open. Some are lounging in clearings, while some are playing in groups of three or four. 

Eventually we reach a wall that more closely resembles a cliff face than the wall of a building. As we grow closer it quickly becomes  apparent that the path we are on is leading towards a cave opening at the base of the cliff.

When we are about twenty paces from the cave my grandmother stops and turns back to me and smiles, “Do you recognize where we are Ebony?”

I look around and frown as I try and find any familiar landmarks. Eventually I have to shake my head and say, “No I don’t. Should I?”

She sighs slightly and lowers her gaze, “No I suppose not, you were rather young and it was a long time ago. But the last time you were here you made a friend, and I assure you he has not forgotten you, and perhaps when you two are reacquainted some of the memories will return.”

I open my muzzle to speak but before I can she turns back to the cave and lets out a long, sharp whistle causing my ears to fold back reflexively. As the echoes from within the cave die out I turn to my grandmother and ask, “What was that for?”

She looks up at me with a smile and says, “Well I had to let him know that we were here. He doesn’t like to come out most days, not unlike you when you were young.”

Chase lets out a small snort of laughter, “Guess he hasn’t changed much in that regard, getting him to go outside is harder than pulling teeth.” 

I cross my arms and snort, “You know I don't like the sun or the snow.”

Celeste smile softly, “And I doubt you ever will. Your father and grandfather are much the same in that regards, in fact I remember once when your father was a young pup....”

Before she can get deep into the story however a low thumping comes from deep within the cave causing me to shift my focus on the entrance and the deep darkness within. In a matter of seconds the thumping becomes a noticeable vibration within the ground as something large and heavy moves through the cave at a fast pace. 

Just as I am about to open my mouth to ask my grandmother what is coming a large shadow launches itself out of the cave and impacts me square in the chest sending me flying backwards. As what feels like a grizzly bear impacts me at full speed knocking the wind from my lungs I feel the ground hit my back causing my spines to dig deep furrows into the dirt as my wings are crumpled at odd angles beneath me.

As the pain from the collision and rough landing begins to register in my shaken brain another sensation begins to take over all my senses. A large, wet, very happy tongue is busy trying to coat every hair and scale on my face in thick, smelly, slobbers.

Sputtering and coughing I try and push back against the mountain of fur currently penning me to the ground. Eventually I manage to get my face clear of the attacking tongue long enough to call out, “Get.... get off... get off me you big mutt!”

Gradually, despite the animals best efforts, I manage to extricate myself from the onslaught and push myself into a sitting position allowing my wings to unfurl behind me relieving the pain from where they were being crushed. The sudden expanding of my wings behind me is enough to finally spook the animal into halting his attempts to drown me in saliva.

Once he is off of me I manage to get a claw free to try and wipe my face clear. In between sputters and spitting I try and question my grandmother, “What... who.... why do you have a hound that friendly to strangers?”

Smiling with a bright twinkle in her eyes Celeste says, “I don't have any hounds that are that friendly to strangers, but you are no stranger to him Ebony. Look a bit closer at him”

Managing to wipe the last of slobbers from my nose and eyes I turn back to the large hellhound and give him a proper look for the first time. His most obvious feature is his shear bulk. Standing up he can look me almost straight in the eyes with little effort to try and stretch. After that I notice his coat, instead of the almost pure black that most of my grandmothers hounds have this animals fur has a moving pattern of red flames that flicker in and out of existence across his whole body.

His widely wagging tail shifts from a typical canine tail to one almost draconian along the last third with a scaled spade shaped tip. The paws that are barely holding still on the ground are each easily twice the size of my own and tipped in very sharp claws which are longer than normal hounds but not quite long enough to be considered a talon. Shuffling in his excitement he starts digging a deep trench with said claws.

Moving my gaze back up to his face I see a pair of horns curving out and up from just behind his ears, horns not to different from my own top pair. Tracing my gaze along his muzzle I see a pattern of scales a deep crimson, almost black, leading a path from the edges of his nose up under his eyes. Then I make full eye contact with the beast for the first time and what I see in them causes my heart to skip a beat.

In his eyes is what looks like two wreaths of flame around black pupils filled with life and energy. Looking back out of those flaming eyes is a level of intelligence you will never find in another creature, while I know he isn't going to be a conversationalist by any means, I can tell that he is fully capable of understanding anything said around him and able to get his point across.

For several long moments we just stare into each other’s eyes. The hound panting happily his long tongue lolling out the side of his mouth as he seems to be waiting for me to say or do something. 

Waiting for me to..... remember something.

Then as though a fog bank was blown away by a hard breeze in my mind a series of memories from a very long time ago begin to come back into focus.

..........

I remember coming with my grandmother to her kennels as a very young pup, I had been begging to go see the new pups that had been born recently but she had kept telling me I had to wait until they were ready. When that day finally came I remember being so excited that I had woken my parents up at the crack of dawn.

As my grandmother and I had made our way through her kennel to the cave at the back, the very cave we were at now, she had called out for the mother of the puppies. For several long moments we stood their waiting, me hiding slightly behind her left leg holding onto her clothes in both fear and excitement. 

After a short time a tired but healthy hellhound female came walking out of the cave with a half dozen smaller hound puppies trotting along after her all yipping and playing. Each of them was easily the size of an large house cat with fur black as midnight with glowing red eyes.

The mother walks over to Celeste and gives her affectionate lick hello before laying down beside us as her puppies begin playing around nearby. I watched with wide eyes eager for the moment when my grandmother says its ok to go play with them myself when movement from the cave catches my attention. 

Another smaller pup, roughly half the size of the others came limping out of the cave careful not to put to much weight on his front right paw. As I’m watching him I hear my grandmother clucking her tongue, “Tsk tsk, didn’t realize she had a runt in this litter. Poor thing.”

I look up at my grandmother a second before looking back at the small pup as he tries to make his way over to where his mother is laying in the grass. While he is limping along two of his siblings come running along and run over him sending him rolling across the ground with a loud yelp.

Without even taking a moment to think about it I let go of my grandmother and race over to the pup who is laying in a whimpering, shivering mound. Before I can touch him however a loud bark comes from beside me. Turning I hear my grandmother yelling something at the same time as a large fanged maw snaps down towards my outstretched paw.

In a flash of bright pain the mother hellhound bites the back of my right hand tearing a small rip in the skin. As I fall back on my rear, tears starting to well up in my eyes from the surprise and pain my grandmother runs over to check my hand. While tears start to fall from my eyes I hear her saying “Ebony that was very foolish, you must never get between a mother and her pups, especially if the pup is hurt. She could very easily have taken your whole arm off if she had wanted to.”

Fighting back the tears I manage a weak, “I’m sorry gramma, but he was hurt I wanna help him.”

She looks over her shoulder at the injured pup still laying in the grass but no longer whimpering. With a sigh she turns back to me and says, “We can’t always help them Ebby, no matter how bad we may want to sometimes.”

As she is saying that however I feel a sudden push against the palm of the paw that’s bleeding. Looking down I see the small face of the injured pup looking up at me. Dirt and bits of grass are mixed in with this ruffled and matted fur but his eyes are full of life as he looks up at me.

Without thinking I pull my hurt hand free from my grand mother and reach for the small pup asking, “Hey there, are you ok?”

As if to answer my question he presses his face into my paw and licks it softly causing me to chuckle slightly. From up above me I hear my grandmother say, “Well I never would have thought....”

But my attention is so focused on the pup that I miss what she says, and soon I even forget that my hand is hurting as the pup keeps licking at it, cleaning off the blood that had been seeping into my fur. While I watch the pup seems to grow a little bit bigger and just a bit stronger as he starts to stand fully on his front paws again.

Before long the bleeding has stopped and the pup is soon climbing up on me trying to lick my face clean of what remained of my breakfast. Laughing I fall backwards and start to play with the young hellhound pup before I hear my grandmother asking, “So what are you going to name him?”

..........

As my mind returns to the present, my gaze still locked in place with that of the hounds I hear a name echoing through my mind as though coming from a great distance, “Ranger..... You’re Ranger aren't you?”