Bloodhound by Tamora Pierce Page B

Phelan and even kissed his cheek. "Just remember, she will test you by refusing orders sometimes," he told me before he left. "Don't get angry and shout. Repeat the order in a firm tone. Make certain that she knows you are the head hound in her pack. They have to test their handlers now and then, just to make certain that you are in charge." He rubbed her ears, saluted Kora and me, and ambled off with his hands in his pockets.
    "He misses her, doesn't he?" I asked Kora as we went inside. "Being a handler, and having Achoo."
    "He's got some curs at his rooms, mongrels that he's taken in," Kora said. "But the handlers get attached to their hounds, it's said. The good ones do. They prefer the hounds to any human partner."
    "Well, I doubt I can be as good as Phelan," I told Achoo once we were inside my rooms with Pounce. "But doubtless I'll be better than Hempstead."
    When we were about to set out for watch, Pounce refused to climb down from my bed. I must watch the skies tonight , he said. Try to manage without me .
    I put my hands on my hips. "Are you sulking because I have Achoo? I didn't ask for her, you know. And she's hardly the same as a constellation cat."
    I am not sulking because Achoo has joined us , Pounce said. There was enough amusement in his voice that I had to believe him. I do have other concerns that do not revolve around you, Beka. Now, will you argue with me and be late for training?
    I winced. Sergeant Ahuda does not like it when we miss the physical training before our watches begin. "Achoo, tumit ," I said. Off we went on our first night as a hound-and-handler pair.
    It did not begin well. I couldn't move as fast as I'd like, with all my bruises and twisted muscles. Worse yet, Achoo decided she was in love with a seller of cooked meat. She nearly dragged me onto his grill. Underweight she might be, but she was strong. The cove laughed himself to tears at the sight of me tangled in her leash. Then he'd added insult to injury by feeding the hound scraps until I untangled myself and got her under control again.
    "I'm the one holding the leash," I told her as I dragged her off. "Not you. We'd best get that straight right now. Tumit!" With no more fuss Achoo trotted beside me as if she hadn't nearly tugged me onto the brazier among the sausages. My arms were one big ache.
    Ahuda sniffed as we entered the training yard. "We'll be lucky if you can walk patrol tonight without falling over," she said, taking in the riot bruises on my face and my all-around stiffness. "So this is the hound, is it?"
    "Achoo, dukduk," I ordered. Achoo sat. "Turun." Achoo lay down in the dust as if she had taken my orders all her life.
    "Hmf." Ahuda stripped off a glove, turned, and threw it across the training ring. Puppies and Dogs scattered to get out of the way. They must have thought that the glove alone might carry some of Ahuda's power to hit.
    Then she removed her other glove and held it before Achoo's nose. "Seek," she ordered.
    Achoo looked at Ahuda as if she had no more understanding of the command than a flea.
    "Seek," Ahuda told her again.
    Achoo sneezed. She had the scent, all right. She just wasn't going to follow it.
    I reached down and undid the lead from Achoo's collar. "Menean," I said.
    Achoo stood and cast about, her nose in the air. Then she raced across the training yard. She returned almost instantly to drop the glove at my feet. I bent, dusted it off, and returned it to Ahuda.
    "Sit," Ahuda told Achoo.
    Achoo yawned.
    "You've been in the Guards longer than Cooper," Ahuda said. Her voice was dry, but I saw a tiny curl of a smile at the corner of her mouth. "You ought to know to obey a sergeant." To me she said, "You might actually be good for poor Achoo. And since neither one of you's fit to train out here today, you may as well go in and wait for muster."
    I wasn't the only Dog she excused from training. Ersken was inside, and five more of us that had been caught up in the Bread Riot. We all looked as if we'd