Page 99 of Phoenix's Fire

Okay, I wasn't sure what that word meant, but I decided to try. Heaving as hard as I could, I tossed the ball most of the way across the enclosed grass. Immediately, both dogs stopped and watched it.

"Dogs, fetch!" I said, trying to use the same tone Lansin did with them.

Immediately, Holly and Shadow darted after the ball, trying to outrun each other. I laughed, wondering which one would get it. Shadow darted in first, snagging the ball in his mouth, then he did the last thing I would've expected.

He ran straight toward me and stopped.

"Hold out your hand," Lansin told me.

"Okay?" I did, and Shadow dropped the ball into my palm.

"Now do it again," he said.

"Oh, me too!" Tamin begged, hurrying over.

Once he was out of the way, I threw the ball and ordered the dogs to fetch it. Like before, they raced after it, but this time, Holly got there first. And when they returned? Tamin held out his hands and Holly spit out the ball into them.

"Oh, that's a good dog!" I praised, petting her - and when Shadow got close enough, petting him as well.

Until Tamin threw the ball, then they both were off again. Then it was my turn. I alternated with the boy, both of us having fun doing nothing more than making the dogs run around, but it was incredible. I had no idea animals were this smart. So far, I'd watched them get things and bring them back, turn Tamin to go the way they'd been told, and knock him down!

"What else can they do?" I asked.

Lansin laughed, then gestured for Tamin to keep throwing even as he made his way over. "Shadow, collapse!"

Immediately, Shadow jumped on Holly, knocking her to the ground.

"Holly, dead!" Lansin ordered.

The brindle female relaxed completely, even letting the ball fall from her open mouth.

"Shadow, send to Irrik!"

The black dog grabbed the ball and took it over to Irrik, making my mouth hang open in astonishment.

"They know people's names?" I asked.

"I have to teach them, and they need to learn your scent," Lansin explained, "but yes. We use them to find people who get lost, to send messages across our camp - or back to another camp - and a dozen other things where they need to identify people."

"I want the fetch!" Tamin whined.

"Shadow," Irrik said, passing the ball back to the dog. "Deliver." Then he pointed.

"And," Lansin told me as Shadow took the ball to Tamin, "they understand what pointing means."

Beside me, Holly was breathing hard, so I crouched down to pet her. "They're amazing, Lansin. I never imagined anything like this."

"Oh, she's for sale," he said just a little too casually.

"She doesn’t have any money yet," Irrik pointed out.

"She does," Zasen said.

I just shook my head. "I need to buy Meri things, not me. But maybe I can have a dog one day? I mean, if it's not too hard to learn all the ways to use them?"

"And they sleep in bed with you," Lansin said. "They like to be petted, and we train them to tell us when they need to go outside."

"For the bathroom," Rymar clarified. "They also need a fenced yard."

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