Toby Part Two: Steele's Return
 

This story contains a flashback with events and original dialogue taken from redwolf03’s story, “A Second Chance: Copper.  Flashback is © redwolf03.

Taya was having trouble sleeping.  She was sure her eyes had been playing tricks on her.  All day she kept catching glimpses of a black-and-white dog out of the corner of her eye.  But every time she turned to look, there was no sign of him.  “It’s got to be my imagination,” she thought.  “He can’t be back in Nome.”  After a great deal of tossing and turning, she finally fell asleep.

Her sleep was troubled by dreams of a snarling malamute fighting with another dog that was part wolf.  But the wolf-dog kept changing.  One moment it was Balto, the next moment it would be Copper.  Then it would shift back to Balto again.  Then Taya saw the malamute running off with a small puppy in his mouth.  The dream was dark and full of shadows, but even so she knew who the puppy was.  “Mom!” it called out.

“Luna!” Taya cried out in her dream.  She tried to run after them, but no matter how fast she ran she didn’t move.  She just watched as the dog dropped Luna down a dark hole.  Then he turned and laughed at her.

“I’m back,” he said.  “And I’m coming for you.”  As darkness closed in on Taya, she heard the laughter growing louder and louder, accompanied by her daughter’s cries for help and her own answering cries.

“AAHHH!!!” Taya screamed as she woke up.  Sides heaving, she stared wildly around the room.

“What’s wrong?” asked Copper, awakened by the terrified cry.

Taya looked around, making sure everything was it should be.  Only when she had managed to calm down did she tell Copper about her nightmare.  “I don’t know what’s the matter with me,” she confessed.

“Well, I wouldn’t worry about it,” said Copper.  “Dreams don’t usually mean a thing.”

Taya shrugged.  “I guess not.”

Copper yawned.  “Well, I’m going back to sleep.”  He put his head back down and was soon quietly snoring.

Taya was just about to follow his lead when a scratching came at the door.  “Hello?” called a voice, “Is Taya there?”

Without waking Copper, Taya crept to the window and looked out.  A strange mix-breed stood on the front step, scratching the door.  “Hello?” he called again.

Taya went to the door and whispered, “Who wants to know?”

“I’ve got a message for Taya.  Is she here?”

‘A message?’ she wondered.  “Yes, I’m Taya,” she said after a moment.  “What’s the message?”

“Somebody wants you to come see them pronto,” answered the stray.  “Said it was important.”

Sensing trouble, Taya turned and headed back to bed.  “Sorry, not right now.  Come back in the morning.”

“He said it couldn’t wait.  He said it was about Luna.”

Taya’s ears pricked up.  “What about Luna?” she asked.

She could almost hear the stranger shrug.  “I don’t know, but it sounded important.  Listen, are you coming or not?  If not, I need to get going.”

Taya stuck her head out the petflap.  “What’s the message?” she asked again.

“You’ll have to come with me,” answered the stray.  “He said it was for your ears only.”

Taya followed him down the darkened street.  “I’m warning you,” she said, “If you’re up to something you’ll regret it.”

The dog shrugged.  “I’m just doing my job.  I’ve got no part in this but the two bones I’m getting paid to fetch you.  You can believe me or not, it makes no difference to me.”  He led her to a dark alley, where he stopped and gestured.  “In there’s where he said to meet him.”

Taya looked into the shadows.  Even though the sun was beginning to peek over the horizon, the alley was still dark, just like her dream.  “I’m not going in there,” she said.

The dog shrugged.  “Suit yourself,” he said.  He watched Taya pace nervously.  “Look lady, us street dogs don’t usually talk to housedogs, but you don’t seem stuck-up to me.  If you want, I’ll watch and make sure nothing happens.”

Taya shook herself.  ‘What is this?’ she wondered.  ‘I grew up in the fighting pits and I can’t even handle an empty alley?’  “I’ll go in,” she said at last.

She stepped into the alley and heard a scuffle behind her.  She spun around to see the messenger lying motionless on the ground.  Standing over him were three dogs, two of which Taya had never met.  But the third one she knew all too well…

Later that morning, Copper woke up to find Taya missing.  “Taya?” he called.  There was no answer.  “Taya?”  Not a sound.  He sniffed, and at once he knew that she wasn’t home.  ‘That’s weird,’ he thought.  ‘Never knew her to be an early riser.’  He looked at the ground and saw her tracks leading away, along with another set of pawprints.  ‘What’s going on here?’ he wondered.  Following the trail, he came across a mutt lying on the street looking as if he had been in a fight with a gorilla.  “Hey, are you alright?”

The dog opened an eye that was nearly swollen shut.  “Ouch,” was all he said.

“What happened?”

The stray rose shakily to his feet.  “I got beat up.  What’s it look like?”

Then Copper remembered what he was doing.  The strange tracks led right to the stray.  “Do you know a dog named Taya?”

The stray looked at him in surprise.  “Not really.  But I saw her this morning.”

“What were you doing?”

“Well, somebody woke me up almost an hour before sunrise and told me he had a job for me to do.  Said he’d pay me two bones to go tell Taya that he had a message for her and that she was supposed to meet him right here in this alley.”  He scratched his head, then winced when his paw struck a bruise behind his ear.  “I went to the house he told me to go to, got Taya to come here, and then when she went in there…” he pointed to the alley, “Three maniacs jumped me and I was out.  Dunno what happened after that.”

Copper had a bad feeling about the situation.  “Did you recognize him?  The guy who hired you?”

“Nope.”

“Well, what did he look like?”

The stray shrugged.  “Dunno, really.  Never saw him in the light.  Looked pretty tough in the shadows, though.”

“Well, do you know what the message was?”

“He wouldn’t tell me.  He just said that if Taya wasn’t willing to come I should tell her it was about Luna.”

“Luna?’  Copper was really anxious now.  “Is that all you know?”

The stray thought for a minute.  “Yeah, pretty much.”

Frustrated, Copper put his nose to the ground and kept following Taya’s scent down the street.  But before long, the trail disappeared.

“Copper!” called a familiar voice.  “There you are!”  Copper looked up and saw Dixie trotting in his direction.  From the way the terrier was panting, it didn’t take a genius to figure out that she had some big news.  Copper, however, had no time for gossip.

“Not now, Dixie.  I’m trying to find Taya.”

“But that’s why I’ve been trying to find you!  I woke up this morning, looked out the window, and there was Taya, walking towards the west edge of town.”

“Thanks,” said Copper.  He was about to head in that direction, but the next thing Dixie said froze him in his tracks.

“She was with someone.”

Copper’s ears shot up.  Knowing Dixie’s brand of story-spreading, it was pretty obvious what she meant.  “What?” he asked.  “Are you sure?”

“Yeah, she was following him, and he kept looking back to make sure she was keeping up.”

Copper’s mind was spinning like mad trying to make sense of the story.  Dixie was a notorious gossip, but she had never been known to lie about seeing something.  Jump to conclusions, yes.  But not lie.  “Did you see who he was?” he asked.

“That’s the strangest part,” Dixie said.  “It was Steele.”

Copper’s ears lay back.  “STEELE?” he asked.  “Are you sure?”

“Yeah, who’da thought?” answered Dixie.  “Taking off with that no-good double-talker.”

Copper furrowed his brow.  “ Dixie, could you do me a favor and not spread this story around?  I’m sure there’s more to it than there seems.”

Dixie considered.  “Well, I suppose,” she agreed.

“Thanks,” said Copper, dashing off.  He knew for a fact that there was more to the matter