He did not have a sense of what time and age were though he knew he was either growing or grown, but as the years caught up to him, he noticed how his growth had slowed down. Not known for lacking in size, he had plenty of muscle and strength to offer. Two of his many duties within the family were guarding Raz every time he went out to go trade items with merchants, and helping Cata arrange the remainder of the jams, meat and other goods. On the other hand, Mother did not like him much but there was a time when she had warmed up to him. He just had to ruin what could have blossomed into a good relationship - at least that’s what Mother tells him from time to time. For the time he had spent with humans, he never fully understood them. To be sure, he knew when Cata’s sadness overwhelmed her, or when Raz’s moods began to shift, but he never knew what made them feel that way. All he could do was tilt his head as though asking

  They would never say.

  It was not always just the four of them in the house, there was once his master who he had not seen nor heard from since. That changed one early morning.

  Cata’s short arm was draped over him, and he waited patiently for her to toss and turn to the other side. When she did, he got up to his paws and noticed the boy - Raz sitting up, rubbing the dust off his eyes.

  “Come, Ager.” The boy said shortly, and he obeyed.

  Once Raz got up on his feet and began walking, he followed.

  The boy opened the wooden door and Ager bolted out first. Relief and calm washed over him as his excitement calmed down. He was almost happy. What once was a patch of grass that stretched throughout the area now turned into caked soil, but this did not dampen Ager’s spirits even when he returned to Raz.

  The expression on the boy’s face said nothing and he knew that another spell had started, it had become all too common these days.

  “You didn’t have to stop, boy.” Raz said with a terrible attempt at a smile. “I’ll start packing up for the trip, you go ahead and play.”

  He tilts his head at the boy, wondering if he needed help.

  “It’s alright, Ager.” Raz assured him. “Go and play.”

  Unsure, he offered a paw to the boy who shook it.

  “Yes, I’m alright.” The boy said, smiling at him.

  The reply did not dampen his concern.

  “You’d like to help me, don’t you?” Raz asked.

  Again, he placed a large paw on Raz’s knee, prompting the boy to laugh and give him a pat on his blocky head.

  “Let’s go, then!”

  Helping did not mean placing the fresh jam of blueberries and honey that the boy had been working on in wooden containers, granted, Ager only had paws and hind legs so he did what a dog could only do; watch over the boy. In doing so, Ager’s chest swelled up with love and joy from being so close to the boy. He may not know it when the hound turned to study their surroundings, but Ager felt it in his heart of hearts as he turned to glance at the boy for a short moment and return to his duties.

  “Best to work on the last of them than wait for Cata to wake up.” Said Raz.

  Ager looked at him again, then went back to guarding the boy and the goods.

  Life within the hill fort is simple but simple is never easy, and while he lived comfortably with the family complete with two meals a day and a bath every now and then, Ager wanted to explore life outside it. Of course, during his travels with Raz allowed him to go to places he could only visit in his dreams, he wanted more of it. Meeting new people, wide open spaces and the food - oh, the food!

  He felt something wet on the side of his paw. Snapping back into reality, he caught himself drooling followed by a hearty laugh coming from Raz.

  “Drooling?” the boy said, giving him a pat on the head then wiped Ager’s jowls with his simple tunic, shaking his head, smiling.

  The family did not break their fast until the morning chores were finished. Most of these chores were given to Raz who worked on them with due diligence. Ager on the other hand would encourage the boy with a soft nudge of his snout not to take these chores to heart.

  This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

  “Not now. Ager.” The boy said, pushing him away with a gentle hand.

  Licking the boy’s face was enough for Ager who left a bewildered Raz to wipe away the saliva from his cheek.

  “Come back when we break our fast,” said Raz, focused on placing the honey in a separate wooden container.

  The residents of the oppidum knew his name, and when he passed by them on his early morning walk, they would greet him with expressions that ranged from joy to indifference. There was one place that Ager loved, it was a few meters from the barn where he was born.

  The farmer named Bodicon gave him leftovers when he passed, having known Ager since his birth due to the farmer’s dog Haela being his mother.

  A few moments passed when a girl approached him with a piece of stringy meat. Recognizing her as one of Raz’s friends, a young boy towed behind her - struggling to catch up to the girl. She tossed the meat up over to him and with his eyes locked in on the treat, Ager leaped to the air. For a moment, a rush of something he could not explain - an ecstasy hovered above his four-legged frame.

  Looking up at the high wooden fortifications of the oppidum, his mind wandered to the places he and Raz had traveled to, places with names he could not pronounce. His mind’s eye gave him a vision of the river they often passed through in order to get to the nearby settlement to trade. These travels would exclude Cata due to her youth and because Mother said so.

  Ager closed his eyes, and the image of his perfect world came as clear as day. The family ate in peace just as they did a few years ago, passing each other the meal of the day - Raz placed a bowl of bread soaked in goat’s milk in front of him and there would only be laughter and cheer. They were not in the hill fort but elsewhere secluded, having the area all to themselves. He would get glimpses of a long-gone figure of his younger years smiling down at him then turning his attention to Mother who giggled like a village girl.

  The touch of a hand on his boxed head forced him out of his perfect world. His eyes opened, then he turned to his back swiftly and positioned himself in a guarded stance.

  The boy took two steps back.

  “Easy, boy!” Raz said, offering Ager his hand.

  Over on the horizon, beyond the oppidum, the sunlight touched the grassy hill that surrounded the peaceful commune. A faint trace of the sun’s heat reached him and the boy. Ager huffed not from the prickly warmth that surged from the sunless morning but as a calming resort for Raz who he knew could not wait to return home and break their fast.

  The walk home allowed him and the boy to have a moment with each other despite the silence between them. As the pair passed by, the farmers and their sons waved at them and said their good days and good mornings.

  Arriving home, Raz left him on the spot where the former placed the jam and honey in wooden containers where the wooden cart had already been stacked with the items for trade. Ager’s nose could not help itself to the sweet, aromatic smell of the honey fresh from the comb and so he placed a paw and knocked over the container for a taste of the biting sweetness. His tongue nearly folded and curled back after —

  “Ager!” the boy shouted, nearly breaking his voice. “What do you think you’re doing?!”

  He turned to Raz who had his back hunched in an attempt to strike fear into his heart. Ager looked at him with eyes drooped down and brows arched up slightly as an apology.

  “I worked on that all morning!” The young man rushed to the side of the container, dripping honey on the ground.

  The boy kicked him just beneath side of his chest, but Ager felt no pain, only shock that prompted him to escape anything the boy might throw at him in his wrath.

  He ran, scrambling on his feet to get away. Reaching the opened gates of the hill fort, he slowed his pace and paused on his tracks. Mud covering his paws and hind legs did him no good if he were ever to return home but he rarely thought ahead. He stepped out of the commune and began his walk to the river.

  The air bit at him, cold - almost as though a phantom called out for vengeance from elsewhere. The only thing colder than the air was the river that made even his big bones shake. Knowing he had to clean himself of the mud on him, Ager dipped into the freezing water for no more than a few moments then returned to the surface. There were still traces of the muck that stuck to his side, but the ones on his neck, hind legs, front paws and his side completely disappeared. The only one that clung to him was the one on his nose for he had been too fearful of drowning had he downed himself beneath the water.

  After shaking the excess water off himself, Ager lingered by the bank of the river longer than he expected, tempted to leave the family behind him. This is the dream, isn’t it? He wanted to leave, feeling sensations on his legs to place one paw in front of the other but something in his heart did not allow it, nudging him to return home instead.

  On the walk back home, he calculated each step, avoiding the mud that formed from the rain during the previous night. His urge to leave disappeared from his thoughts after reminding himself of what he would lose if he left. It would be an understatement to say that the impulse to leave dragged him down, causing him to walk slower.

  By the time he slipped into the hill fort, Ager walked the distance from the gate to the shack. There were more people outside, again, mostly men and their sons while a few women called and waved at him. The women in the fort were a collection of mothers, grandmothers and children. The younger population from his observation did not include many young adults outside of Raz and a few others. Afterward, he spotted a gaggle of youngsters playing, once they spotted him, they stopped the game and came over. The children petted, patted, hugged, kissed and fed him that he forgot about his thoughts of leaving. Still, he had to face Raz’s wrath and Mother’s judgment.

  He glided in silence into the shack, watching mother and son argue.

  “How could you be so careless?!” Mother asked, placing her hands on her hips. “Blaming the dog won’t make up for the fact that you were not tending to your chores!” she smacks Raz across his cheek with the palm of her hand with force.

  He huffed and barked then made his approach.

  “Come, boy.” Raz said, hiding the chatter of his teeth.

  Ager did not do so until Mother glared at him, signaling for him to leave her be.

  He asked Raz as the boy parted from him in favor of the windswept morning.