Misha panted as she stopped on the corner of the sidewalk. Between billowy breaths, she looked up at the green and white street sign to read the words '10th Street'. The muscles in her legs ached. A smattering of snow flakes filled the air. After Jacob had brought her home from the veterinarian, she had raced out of the home's rear dog-flap and into the night. Misha had sprinted down an entire thoroughfare across the city and back again, to no avail.

She waited for cars to pass before crossing the street and continuing her search. The cool air stung her lungs with every inhale. But she knew she had to keep going. Noah's life depended on her.

There had been a distinct rodent odor upon leaving her backyard, but that was blocks ago. Eventually, the scent had faded. Somewhere around 13th street, the smells of rats, kids, and the city had all blended together, confusing one's senses. Despite this, Misha kept searching east, as her instincts commanded.

I know they must be around here somewhere, her mismatched eyes darted from left to right as she sprinted among the rows of brick homes and ground floor businesses. What if I lose Noah like I lost Emma? She repeated the grim thought to herself over and over. Her chest began to feel tight. Great Canidae, where are they?! Her teeth began to grind together as she ran, constricting her breath even further.

Misha stopped in the middle of a darkened sidewalk. She tasted blood. She had bit down too hard on her tongue and had barely felt it.

I'm panicking, she realized. I'll never find him like this.

She closed her eyes and sat on her haunches. She allowed herself the time to slow her breath. Worrying about Noah won't help me find him. Time began to slow down for Misha. I cannot change the fact that he is gone. But I will focus on the things that I can do to find him. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up and her tail wagged one time along the ground. Allow myself to think clearly of what I can do, and not what I should have done.

Misha opened her eyes. She stood up and began to backtrack to the corner of 13th and Waverly streets, where she had last picked up on the odorous trail of vermin. Upon arriving at the corner, she smelled the ground. The scent had completely vanished. She lifted up her head and looked around. Just north of the corner, she spotted a tiny alley with a sign reading 'South Mole.' Originally, she had continued east, down the wider avenue of Waverly street.

They could be taking a winding path to throw pursuers off the trail! she realized with delight. That should give me time to catch up to them. As she sprinted towards the Mole alley, Misha reminded herself to tell Fannie that she had cracked the puzzle all on her own - when she saw her partner again, of course.

Misha turned the corner of Mole alley and froze. It was nearly pitch dark, except for a couple of bright overhead lights that illuminated two circles of cobblestones halfway down the alley. There, near the metal garbage cans, stood over fifty rats, including the mammoth gray one that had ambushed her with the spear.

"Fire Hydrants," she cursed under her breath. In her rushed pursuit after arriving home from the veterinarian, she had neglected to visit the burrow's weapon room to arm herself. All she had was her powerful jaw and her quick paws.

The rats were scurrying over a broken down cart with a chicken wire cage for a carriage. A wheel had apparently come loose and they were struggling to reattach it.

Further down the alley was another rodent-made carriage, as well. It looked to be some type of chariot being pulled by harnessed squirrels. In the cab of the chariot, stood an older brown rat wearing leather armor and yelling at his subordinates while waving a curved scimitar. Misha could tell it was Roman by how other rats cowered in his presence.

As some of the guards scurried away from the top of the cage, Misha could see inside. Her heart skipped a beat.

Noah! The boy was wearing his flannel shirt, thick woolen pants, and purple wool socks, barely enough to protect him from the bitter elements. Misha could tell that he had been crying. His face was pale and his lips purple. She knew the cold would soon be too much for him. He looked petrified while his kidnappers worked furiously to fix their transport.

Noah curled his tiny fingers around the cage wire and leaned forward to look at Misha's direction. In all the commotion, he was the only one who had noticed the retriever watching them.

"Mish. Mish!" Noah cried out in a hoarse voice.

A rat quickly bit the boy's middle finger to dissuade him from putting his hands on the cage walls. Noah let out a yelp.

The sight caused a fury to rise in the pit of Misha's chest. Any thought of waiting for Gibborim backup quickly fled from her mind once she saw the rodent bite the hand of the boy she had sworn to protect.

Misha flattened her ears, bared her teeth, and lowered her head. She released a vibrating growl from the back of her throat and began stalking closer to the mass of rodents. Her careful walking turned to running and then outright sprinting as one of the rats turned to look at her.

"Baldwin! Gibbo..." The rat's warning was cut off, along with his head, as Misha barrelled into the pile of rats with her whole body, chomping down furiously on the sentry's neck and decapitating him in one quick motion.

With a predator's reflexes, Misha alternated between grabbing rats with her powerful jaw and attempting to swat others away with her paws. Most of the vermin pulled back to Roman's chariot upon being bowled over by the large animal that rained havoc among their ranks. A few of the braver ones attempted to climb onto Misha's fur and began nipping at her legs. They, too, quickly found themselves thrown off the beast or torn asunder from valuable limbs.

With this many rodent's against her, Misha knew that it was only a matter of time before the Legion troops realized that she was just one dog and they'd be able to regroup. She sprinted over to Noah's chicken wire cage and placed her two forepaws into gaps along the bottom of the wire.

"I'm here, Noah. Misha's here," she quickly assured the boy through the cage wall.

Noah pushed a chubby arm through the wire to place a shivering hand on Misha's head and rubbed.

"Mish," he said calmly.

She blinked for just a tailwag, savoring the moment.

Her ears perked up cautiously as she could hear Roman and Baldwin hollering commands from farther down Mole alley. Through the cage, Misha could see some of the rats marching back in her direction.

"Sit back!" she barked intensely. "I'm getting you out of here." The volume of her voice seemed to get Noah to obey her command.

Misha pushed her snout through one of the gaps in the wire with an open mouth and bit down on the chicken wire. She steadied her forepaws before ripping her head back furiously, still clenching her teeth around a bundling of wire.

Pop. Pop. Pop. The cage began to come apart where the wire was nailed to the cart. Misha kept pulling until a large hole appeared in the side of the prisoner transport.

She released the wire from her aching teeth and wagged her tail. Noah began to crawl through the gap she had created. The toddler grabbed onto her collar for support as he climbed down from the wagon.

Just as Noah reached the cobblestones lining the alley floor, Misha heard a whipping noise pass by her ear. A weasel she hadn't taken into account was standing next to Roman in the chariot and had launched an arrow using a small oakwood bow. Misha could see the weasel cursing as she notched another arrow onto the string.

Misha pushed Noah down and ducked behind the carriage.

"Hold onto me and I'll walk us both out of here," she ordered the boy. He looked at her dumbfounded until she used her snout to gently bring his left hand onto her back. The boy seemed to understand and they halfway stood up in unison. Noah and Misha began shuffling towards the street that she had come from, away from the rodents.

They proceeded to take a few steps before Misha felt Noah tug on her back.

"Mish! Mish!" the boy hollered.

Out of the corner of her eye, Misha noticed a few dozen rats that had caught up to them. Most were armed with cudgels and wooden spears. They began charging all at once, weapons aimed towards her.

Misha knew if she had any chance of effectively fighting back, she would need to be unencumbered. She shook off Noah's grip, causing the boy to sink back to the floor.

With a wild ferocity, she leaped through the air towards her attackers. Her paws knocked over two of the rats instantly while she attempted to snap at others with her jaw. She felt her ears ring as her chomp missed its mark, having bitten down on her own teeth.

Within a tailwag, she swung her head to the other side, hoping to find another target. Instead, she felt a tremendous blow across the right side of her face, as one of the rodents was able to strike her, point blank, with a wooden mallet. Instinctively, she shut her eyes as she struggled to remain balanced. She quickly shook her head, planted her paws, and again attempted to bite an attacker. Misha managed to grab onto one of the rat's wooden polearms, tossing it, and the rat, into the air. She snarled and bared her teeth at the remaining rats that seemed to be all around her.

Suddenly, she felt an acute pain in her side. She barked and turned around. A rat had managed to pierce her with a spear while she wasn't looking. She then felt another searing pain on the other side. Misha again swung around to discover a jab from another rat.

"That's it, legionnaires! Keep her off balance and encircled."

She could hear the large gray rat, Baldwin, shouting out commands as he joined in the melee.

Misha began to pant heavily as she realized she was surrounded. A wave of spears was in her face every direction she turned. Each time she faced one way, a rat out of her field of view would quickly stab at her with their pointed weapon. She howled loudly as a pointed spear stabbed her between the ribs. Instantly, she knew it was a serious wound.

Wobbly, Misha turned to face the rat that had caused the grievous injury. She came snout to snout with the large rat, Baldwin. He was smiling. She attempted to snap at him with her jaw, but, unfortunately, the rodents were ready for her. Another rat immediately hit her square on the top of her snout with a cudgel. Misha collapsed from the shock.

"Good work, my boy!" Roman announced as his chariot rolled closer to the chaos of the battle. "You've really outdone yourself this time, Baldwin. Outfighting a Circle of the Paw Mutt!"

Despite feeling woozy from blood loss, Misha opened her eyes and saw Roman stepping down from his chariot to pat the large gray rat on the back. She could see Noah crying just a few tail-lengths away. She was gasping for breath and feared Baldwin's spear might have punctured one of her lungs. The world seemed to spin.

The rats stood aside to clear a path for their noble lord. Roman knelt down on the ground, beside Misha's snout. His scimitar was tucked into his belt. The old brown rat lifted up one of her ears with his bony fingers before dropping it back down on her face.

"So you're the Gibbor that has been giving my legion so many problems lately?" Misha watched as Roman stood up and took out his curved metal sword. He held it above his head, ready to strike her down. Misha feebly growled, unable to lift herself up from the cold cobblestone ground.

"No! No hur Mish, No!" Misha could hear Noah's yells come closer as the toddler came into view. He had crawled over to the ruckus and pushed his way through the armed rats. The rats, unsure of what to do, let the human through their defensive lines. Roman paused as the boy leaned over Misha's form and shielded her with his own body.

"Let the boy go," Misha gasped. She began to feel cold. Noah placed her head on his lap.

Roman shook his head with a look of remorse, "I can't do that." The rodent leader looked at Noah before looking down at Misha's clear eye. "I need him as leverage over your friend, the cat. This boy..." The rat pointed at Noah with the blade of his sword, "...can help put me on the throne." Roman examined the edge of his blade.

Misha closed her eyes. She hoped that whatever happened would be quick, and that she would be spared having to view Noah's horror at what was to come next.

Noah began to sob as he put his arms around Misha's neck.

"You fought bravely, dog," Baldwin chimed in from the circle of rodents surrounding them. "You almost beat us."

Misha's ears perked up at a sound carried on the wind.

Through a labored breath, she smelled a familiar odor. It grew stronger as it approached.

Her tail weakly brushed the cobblestones from side to side.

"Too bad you were all alone," Roman nodded.

Misha's eyes remained closed as her head rested on Noah's lap. Her fur covered body lay in a growing pool of red.

"We're not alone..." She smiled.