Bobby heard the howl carry across the tundra dry wind. The howl echoed in his guts, pulling like a gravity well and leaving his legs weak. Bobby Indra looked at the worn sandstone tiles and beyond to the star filled void in the distance.
Bobby Indra decided that he had made a mistake.
“That is the Hound,” the small terrier in the Soviet marked space suit said, “The Hound hunts by fear. Beware the Hound, but the Hound lives here. The Hound is not your enemy, unless you make it so.”
Bobby nodded, trying not to freak out at the sight of the three small dogs in space suits.
“We live here, in the Ring. But the Men of the Empire have invaded. Maybe they are looking for something, maybe they are hunting somebody. But they have occupied the Stellar House, the house of the Lady of Fire. Our home, our pod is there. We are homeless while the Men of Black and White are about. We implore you, drive them out.”
Bobby hummed his lips and considered, “I wasn’t sent here to fight a turf war. I’m just here to find the Key to the Foglands. My teacher said the point of the place, the point of the Ring it to link to the other Realms. Why do you even live here?”
“The Ring is a liminal plane, a hub world, yes. But, the Ring is also linked in story to outer space. And people tell stories. The story of the space race includes tales of Dogs launched into orbit and left there by the great powers in the Cold War. This is myth. This is story. We are Space Dogs. And from that story, we are here.”
Deep in the distance, the Hound howled again; and Bobby Indra shuddered again.
The dogs cocked their heads to one side in unison, “You fear the Hound. That is a problem. The Hound hunts by fear. You will need to enter the maze of the Lotus Garden if you wish to find the Key to the Foglands. The Hound will track you and hunt you, while you wander lost. The Hound will make you its prey.”
“I don’t have time to help you if that thing is hunting me,” Bobby said.
The lead dog begin wagging her tail, “You don’t have time not to help us. We can help you. The Lotus Garden is part of stories too. Like old mazes with monsters, the Lotus Garden has a guiding spool of thread that will lead you to your goal. We can help you get the spool of Guiding Thread. Then you do not have to be lost in the Lotus Garden at the center of the Ring as you search for the Key.”
“But the Hound,” Bobby insisted, as he heard the howl a third time.
“Help us and the Hound will respect you and your ability to face fear. Run and hide and the Hound will smell your cowardice and pursue you.”
“I don’t have a choice, do I?” Bobby said.
“Of course, you have choice. But choosing wrong could get you in very bad trouble here.”
Bobby sighed and nodded.
Professor Harbinger's School for Villains 