Read 100% Wolf Online

Authors: Jayne Lyons

100% Wolf (8 page)

'A wolf, can't you tell?' Freddy yipped defiantly.

'We don't like poodles in here.' The boxer gave an
unpleasant snarl.

The other dogs growled in agreement.

'They don't never live on the Wildside. You wimps
always need a human, you're always snitching to them.'

'No-one calls my friend a snitch,' Batty snarled,
moving in front of Freddy.

'Yeah!' Freddy yipped. 'So if you do it again, I'll tell
her.'

The boxer looked down at Batty and snorted.

'Like I'm so scared, of a
girl
,' he laughed sarcastically.
He and Batty glared at each other.

'Bruno! Is that any way to talk to a lassie? You should
be scared of the girls – they'll cause you more trouble
than anything else in the world.' This new bark came
from a small white-haired terrier, who limped up to
the boxer. The big dog immediately drooped his ears.
The terrier was obviously their leader.

'You'll have no luck with the ladies that way, lad.'
He gave a woofy chuckle. The boxer's nose went red
with embarrassment and he stuck out his lower jaw
in a sulk.

The terrier laughed.

'Well now, who do we have here?' He and Batty
danced the Hello Sniffing, and he introduced himself
as Hamish.

Freddy sat down quickly and held out his paw.

'He's a stranger. He don't understand no Good
Doggery,' Batty woofed.

'He's strange all right,' the boxer yipped.

'He doesn't understand when to keep his muzzle
closed.' The terrier looked at Freddy and shook his head.

'That's 'cos he's a poodle,' the boxer growled. 'Don't
never trust 'em.'

'My hairy ears! Bruno, you talk nearly as much
rubbish as this wee pink lad. I've told you many times;
don't judge a dog by its breed.'

The boxer stuck out his lower jaw grumpily once
more.

'Bruno is in here because of a poodle, you see;
it led the dogcatcher to his hideaway.' Hamish
turned to Freddy. 'You're a brainless buffoon, lad,' he
laughed. 'But we'll give you one more chance. Good
Doggery is more important here than anywhere.
There is no escape from each other and no escape
from Coldfax.'

'Yes, we know,' Batty sighed sorrowfully.

'Speak for yourself!' Freddy barked. 'I'm going
to escape even if you can't. Just 'cos you're all afraid
doesn't mean I am.'

The terrier was unimpressed and gave the pink
poodle a scornful laugh.

'Big words for such a silly dog,' Hamish yipped.
'Wait till you have been here for ten years.' (He meant
dog years, of course.) 'I've seen nobler hounds than
you sink under the dread of Coldfax. There is no
escape. Hiding, climbing, digging, running, jumping.
Many dogs have tried, but not one has succeeded. I
received this for my third attempt, when Cerberus
caught me.' He held up his lame paw.

Freddy and Batty gasped with sympathy. The other
dogs whined gently.

'Don't dare insult those who have tried and failed.
You have not been tested.' The surrounding dogs
growled their agreement.

Freddy, crestfallen indeed, now spoke up with
great remorse. 'I'm sorry, I never meant to be rude. It's
just that I need to escape. My pack is in great danger,'
he woofed miserably, thinking of Dr Cripp and the
Wolfen Names.

'Every dog here has a family they care for. Do you
think yourself so special, so Crufts?' Hamish replied
sternly, though this time with some softening of his
tone.

'Erm ... I don't know,' Freddy said in confusion.
He had no idea what 'Crufts' was.

They heard footsteps outside.

'Walkies,
quick, everyone!' the terrier woofed
quietly. The circle of dogs began to pace again. Hamish
turned towards Batty and Freddy.

'Remember, there are two rules: do nothing to
anger Cerberus, he is as savage as a man and without
mercy; and no more talk of escape, it is dangerous for
us all.'

With that the dogs returned to the endless circle.
Batty and Freddy joined in without another word.

C
HAPTER
T
HIRTEEN
Cell Mates

After walkies Batty and Freddy found themselves in a
cell with three other dogs. Hamish, Bruno the boxer
and a King Charles Spaniel.

'Just my luck!' the boxer woofed roughly and glared
at them in disgust.

'Why, too scared to share with a wolf?' Freddy
yipped defiantly.

'Oh joy,' the spaniel yawned lazily. He was sprawled
out on the straw licking his paws. 'I always hoped to
meet a miniature pink wolf.' He snorted with sarcasm
through his damp nose.

'Och, leave the wee pup alone. It's not his fault
he looks like a ridiculous sissy. Who did this to you,
son?' Hamish asked with a friendly woof.

'The Putrid Pair ... Two
human
pups. They dognapped
me,' Freddy told them with a snarl. 'And when
I get out of here I'll ... I'll ... I'll
show
them.'

'That's the spirit, laddie,' the terrier woofed. He
pointed his ears at the spaniel.

'This is St John.' (He pronounced it Sin-john.) Batty
waved her ears and turned a few circles in welcome.
The spaniel totally ignored her.

'He was once the Supreme Champion at Crufts,'
Hamish added.

Batty raised her eyebrows in surprise. St John
smiled as if he were the king of the world, rather than
a prisoner in Coldfax.

'What's "Crufts"?' Freddy asked, wholly unimpressed.

St John nearly choked with disbelief. Hamish
laughed.

'Where have you been all your life, lad? Crufts is
the most famous dog show on the planet. And The
Lord St John here was once the Champion. The best
dog in the world,
apparently.'

St John looked away from them all coolly.

'Says who?' Freddy frowned. Hamish, Batty and
Bruno all seemed more impressive dogs to him, in
their different ways.

'Says humans what want dogs to wear perfume like
them,' Bruno snarled at Freddy, clearly smelling his
terrible pong. 'You'd probably win too. No real dog
would ever be in a
Show.'

Freddy glared at him and so did St John.

'We still don't know your names, though,' Hamish
went on.

'I'm Batty and this little pup is Freddy,' she told
them. 'We're here for stealing sausages.'

'You will excuse me if I don't rise for petty criminals,'
St John sniffed.

'I'm the best sausage thief in Milford,' Batty
informed him with an angry swish of her tail.

'Oh dear, how un-Crufts you are.' The spaniel gave
a wheezy laugh and turned his back on them. 'Now if
you please, I need my beauty sleep.'

'Just ignore the Supreme Champion – that's what
we do,' Hamish told her with a woof. 'So, a sausage
expert, hey? A lassie after my own heart.'

'Did you steal sausages too?' Batty gasped in
admiration.

'Only more than any other dog in history,' he
yipped proudly. 'But that was years ago. You would
have been only a pup.' He sighed. 'It's a long while
since I ate a sausage.'

'You will again once we bust out of here,' the boxer
woofed, then he slapped his paw over his mouth.

'Put a paw in it, lad,' the terrier yipped in warning,
giving a meaningful wag of his tail towards
St John.

'So you
are
planning an escape?' Freddy yipped
loudly. 'Me too! I'm going to escape tonight.'

Batty put her paw on his muzzle to shut him up.

'My hairy ears!' the terrier growled. 'It's bad enough
trying to keep Bruno quiet.'

'I'm sorry about this silly pink pup. But you'll like
him when you know him better,' she promised.

'I won't,' Bruno growled. Hamish looked unconvinced
too.

'Maybe,' the terrier said. He dropped his growl
very low. 'But no more talk of escape, it's not safe.' He
pointed his ear towards the sleeping spaniel.

'Why?' Freddy whispered back. 'Doesn't he want
to leave Coldfax?'

'Shush!' Hamish growled. The dogs grew closer
together.

'St John was Supreme Champion at Crufts
but...'

All the dogs paused and looked over at the now
snoring spaniel.

'... but when he went to collect his ribbon ...
disaster.'
Hamish continued.

'What happened?' Freddy yipped.

'St John lost control in his excitement and did a poo
on the judge's shoe,' the terrier told them solemnly.
'He lost his title.'

'A poo?' Freddy cackled. 'Fantabulous!'

The other dogs looked at him in surprise.

'How can you cheer at a fellow dog's disgrace?'
Hamish frowned.

'Freddy, will you try to be more like a dog?' Batty
whispered crossly in his ear. Freddy sighed. Surely he
should be allowed to laugh at such a silly story.

'It was on the television, of course, and so every dog
in Britain knew,' Hamish carried on. 'His owner put
him in here in disgrace. He has to stay here because
he can't show his muzzle in public again.'

'It's him what tells Cerberus about anyone's escape
plans. He's always listening,' Bruno muttered in
disgust.

'He's a
spy?'
Freddy yipped. He knew what it was
like living with spies around. Harriet and Chariot were
forever telling tales about him to Uncle Hotspur.

'But why does he want to stop
us
escaping?' Batty
was puzzled.

'If he tells tales he gets treats as a reward,' Bruno
told her.

'So no more loose words, for Cerberus always finds
out. Now get some sleep,' Hamish ordered, 'you've
had a big day.'

Freddy and Batty curled up together. Freddy
looked around the cell miserably, while the other
dogs drifted off to sleep and began to snore. The floor
was made of heavy stone flags that no dog could dig
through. The tiny window was too high to reach.
The heavy iron bars of the door were too narrow for
even Hamish to pass through. There was no chance of
escape. Unless ...

Freddy looked at the door. The cells were designed
for dogs, not boys. Between the top of the door and
the ceiling was a gap of about thirty centimetres. It was
too high for a dog to reach, but maybe a skinny boy
could climb up the iron bars and squeeze out over the
top. The Plan Master began to smile. It was against all
the rules of the Hidden Moonlight Gathering to ever
reveal your true identity to a human, but no-one had
ever mentioned telling a
dog,
had they?

Freddy noticed the other dogs' snores growing
deeper and decided it was safe to wake Batty with a
friendly nip on the ear.

'What now, Stinky?'

'I have a plan, but first I need to tell you everything
about me. You must promise to believe me and you're
not allowed to bite my tail off.'

Batty gave a little growl but nodded her ears in
agreement.

He told her the whole truth about himself, his
family, werefolk, the Wolfen Names and the dreadful
Dr Cripp. Poor Batty! Her ears perked higher and
higher with astonishment as she listened. It had been
hard enough to believe that Freddy was a wolf, now
she had to believe that he could be a boy too? She
began to growl suspiciously again. Could she really
trust this silly pink poodle and his ridiculous stories?
But somehow it made sense. She sniffed him once
more. He had never smelt right, never smelt like a
dog. That was when she believed him.

'You smell like a human!' she woofed in realisation.
'That's why you stink. I thought it was because you
had that pukey perfume on, but you really do smell
that bad underneath!'

'Oh great, thanks!' Freddy almost sulked, but
was too pleased to have convinced her. He began to
explain his escape plan. Batty was close to giggling at
the thought of it.

'I must get out and warn Sir Hotspur,' he said urgently.

'But why do you care about your family when they
are so horrible to you?' Batty asked. She had never
had anyone to care for her.

'They're more than my
family;
they're my
werepack,
the pack of Sir Lupinne. It's my duty to help them, or
any werefolk in danger, even if I can't stand them. It's
the Golden Rule. Cripp may be on his way to Farfang
already. He mustn't find the Grand Growler.'

'Well ... even if poodles can be boys ... or
wolves ...
I'm still not sure that it'll work,' Batty
growled.

'Yeah it will, listen ...'

Freddy's plan was quite simple. Somehow he
would remove the Moonstone, turn back into a boy
and climb over the gap at the top of the iron door.

'Then I'll find the keys and let us all out!' he woofed
excitedly.

'Shush ... What's a key?'

'It's a little metal stick that humans use to open
doors,' Freddy told her pompously. Batty was
impressed by Freddy's knowledge but she, of course,
was more used to planning manoeuvres than him.
She immediately pointed out several problems with
his plan.

'How do we get the wolf-stone off you? Where will
you find the metal stick of opening? And what about
Cerberus?'

'I haven't thought of those bits yet,' Freddy
admitted, suddenly feeling less optimistic.

Batty inspected his chain collar for a moment.

'I see the stone but don't know how to break the
chain,' she growled. 'I'll have to think about it.'

'But I have to escape now!' Freddy yipped. 'Dr
Cripp is dangerous.'

'And so is Cerberus! Don't worry, Stinky.' Batty bit
his ear affectionately. 'I'll think of a way of turning you
into a boy again.'

With that, the two dogs snuggled down and slept.
St John licked his paws and yawned.

Oh, dear,
he smiled to himself.
How marvellous, how
Crufts. A human, a wolf and a pink dog all in one? Just
wait till I tell Cerberus.

Freddy was wrong about Dr Cripp. He was not on
his way to Farfang Castle. He was hiding in the
woods as night approached, looking up at the walls of
Coldfax Fort. On his finger the Moonstone shone
brightly.

'I've got him now!' he cried loudly. He had found
another werewolf at last.

Suddenly, the same deathly howl that Freddy
and Batty had heard earlier echoed from the heart of
Coldfax once again. Dr Cripp stopped his cackling
and froze.

In their cell, the two dogs jumped to their feet in
fright.

'What on earth
is
that?' Freddy woofed.

'Oh, that's just the ghost hound of Coldfax,'
Hamish replied sleepily. 'Nothing to worry your pink
little head about. He prowls the dungeons underneath
us. Nightie-night then.'

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