The Circle of the Paw

Chapter 8

     A few neighborhoods away, Misha, Jacob, and Abigail desperately searched between dumpsters and underneath cars for their missing cat. All the walking led to sore feet and paws, but no sign of Akhi. The family returned home empty handed, promising themselves they would try again the following day. Misha, however, had other plans.

That night, after her humans fell asleep, Misha looked up through the kitchen window and spotted the moon. It was already high in the sky, meaning Akhi had been gone for over a full day. She gave herself the usual one-thousand tailwag buffer before quietly exiting the house through the dog flap and making her way to the backyard holly bush.

I hope Alaric was able to find Commander Lupo, she thought. It wasn't always guaranteed that she would be able to get in touch with the other Gibborim, even with the help of the Avian Guild.

The city of Philadelphia was large enough that its Circle of the Paw phalanx was divided into four geographic regions, each having their own captain. Operating out of the burrow in her human's back yard, Misha was the captain over the entire Center City. From her daily walks with Abigail, her news updates from Alaric, and trips to the dog park, she could discover if people or pets were in trouble. If she had to sneak away from home for a mission, it was almost always at night, since that was when she wouldn't be noticed by her sleeping family.

West of the Schuylkill River, a domesticated fox named Fannie was in charge as far as Cobb's Creek. Fannie lived with a retired biologist that spent much of her evenings reading science journals out loud to her pet fox. Misha was always impressed by Fannie's intelligence and considered her to be the smartest animal she knew. It was one of the many qualities that attracted Misha to her orange-hued dogmate.

North Philadelphia was patrolled by a loving, brindle patterned pitbull named Hilo. Hilo had been part of a police K9 task force before injuring his leg in a warrant-serving gone wrong. Upon Hilo's retirement from the force, he was adopted by one of his human colleagues, a detective.

The three captains reported to the city's phalanx commander, a thirteen year old schnauzer hailing from South Philly that everyone called by his pet name, Lupo. Misha always thought it was a strange name, since Lupo was the Italian word for wolf. Yet, the schnauzer didn't seem to have an aggressive bone in his body. The twenty Circle of the Paw Gibborim in Philadelphia typically referred to Lupo by his rank, commander. They looked up to him like a father, and he was content to let the weight of their responsibilities fall on his old and tired shoulders.

It shouldn't be too difficult to get the Circle's help in tracking down Akhi, Misha assumed while lifting up the hidden tunnel hatch beneath the bush. The other captains know how much he means to me. With the utmost care, she closed the hatch behind her.

Upon entering the tunnel, Misha walked down the hall towards the grand meeting room, where her comrades would hopefully be waiting for her. She ran her tail over the damp bluish-green stones making up the walls of the room and allowed herself a moment of satisfaction. In addition to her rank as a captain, Misha was also the Burrowmaster of the historic Rittenhouse base.