Chapter 16

Cerberus, monster cruel and uncouth,

With his three gullets like a dog is barking

Over the people that are there submerged.

Dante, Inferno, 6.13-15

At first Dante couldn’t tell what was happening. Then he looked where the crowd was parting, men running and screaming in all directions, and he could see the enormous dog they had been using for sport had broken free from its tether and was now running amok. The animal bit and tore at the men, and when it caught one and took him down with a crippling bite, it didn’t stay on him, but immediately got up to attack another man. Its rampage was doing the most damage to the greatest number of men. Dante thought if several of the men stood together, they might be able to get the animal back under control. Instead, every man scurried randomly around the area, crashing into others, sometimes knocking one another down, where they were even more helpless against the dog’s attacks. Some dashed into the buildings nearby, or ran down the streets. Then Dante heard another roar and looked to where the two bears were. The mother bear had also torn free from her bonds. The cub was still attached to her by the rope, and they were tearing a swath through the crowd, driving some of the drunken, panicked men back toward the dog.

Dante thought perhaps they should do something to help, or at least make a move to get away from there, but the whole scene of pandemonium held him mesmerized. It didn’t include just the vicarious, indulgent cruelty of a public execution or flogging. What they were watching now was even more enjoyable, because there was more going on, like some terrible, violent, random dance put on for them. It was, for Dante, a consciously guilty pleasure, but he nonetheless sat there with the others, dumbstruck and enthralled. He could see out of the corner of his eye that Bogdana kept on eating, steadily gnawing the shank down to the bone as the men dispersed or fell screaming and bleeding to the ground.

After just a few seconds of furious animal violence, the three marauding creatures cleared the area and now stood before Dante and his friends. Oddly, the bears and the dog barely seemed to notice one another now, but stood there with all their attention focused on the four people on horseback. Dante’s attention moved between the three wild animals, even more captivating now in their still and savage beauty than they had been in their frantic orgy of destruction. The cub was the least bloodied of the trio, its mother the most injured. So many teeth and claws must have raked her flesh for the sake of her young. Both of them seemed more bent and diminished from the ordeal than the dog, but all three animals looked powerfully in control, their large knots of muscle tensing slightly as they shifted their weight, their fur sleek and surprisingly clean. They did not growl or roar, nor did they blink. Their eyes were tranquil in their blankness, like polished obsidian. For what seemed to Dante a very long time, the only sounds were the moans of the wounded men, the ragged, wet panting of the three beasts, and the occasional neighing of their horses, nervous to be so near such wild, dangerous animals.

“They’re only animals,” Adam observed. “They know how to behave.”

“Well, I’d still like them to get out of the way, so we can move on,” Radovan said.

“Hey, doggie,” Bogdana said, leaning to the right and dangling the bone she had cleaned of most all its flesh. Dante’s eyes went wide at the sight of her small hand holding the greasy bone. He thought despite how nimble she was, the giant dog could probably lunge and bite through her wrist before she could pull it back. She was smiling and making clicking sounds, however, as she shook the bone at it. The dog crouched, still not growling, but coiled, ready to spring, its eyes now fixed on the prize she held. “No trick, just treat! Now find the way out of this mess! Hyah!”

Bogdana flung the bone back down the street they had come in on, and the dog tore after it, the two bears following right behind. It only took the dog a second to snatch the morsel up, and when it did, it looked back at them, though it made no move to return to them. The bears went shambling by the dog as it gnawed on its prize, then it too followed them down the street, back toward the town gate.

The three men stared at Bogdana, eyebrows raised, mouths slightly open.

“What?” she said, looking from the fleeing animals back to the men. “It was only a dog. You yourself said it behaved well.”

Adam smiled and shook his head. “I didn’t know you trusted my judgments so completely.”

She shrugged. “Well, not really, but I’ve seen a lot of dogs before. It wasn’t acting like it was going to attack. Bears are harder to judge, of course, especially a mother with its young, but they didn’t look like they’d harm us, either. They just needed an excuse to run away, a prize, something to make them think they were choosing to do so and not just being told to – sort of a way to save face.” She moved her gaze between the three of them. “What, you don’t think animals need to save face too, feel proud of themselves and not ashamed?” She shook her head and rolled her eyes. “Oh, please. They’re not so hard to understand, if you’d just pay attention. Now, let’s get out of here.” She nudged her horse’s flanks with her heels. Dante and the others followed her away from there. Dante constantly looked over his shoulder, though he saw nothing other than the empty buildings, the overturned tables, the spilled food, and the moaning, writhing bodies scattered on the corrupted ground.