Jojo was sitting on the roof of his doghouse, lapping up a martini, when he spotted Nindy racing down the mountain. (Yes, of course, he was a dog, but that didn't mean he couldn't live in style.) He had a great life on the slopes of Mount Tsephon and really had no desire to go anywhere else. Well ... maybe the deserts near the Fertile Crescent. Gazelle hunting might be fun.

Jojo was a saluki, perhaps the world's oldest pet. Reaping the benefits of careful, selective breeding, he and his ancestors had been made hunters by the desert people of Mesopotamia. They all took pride in the fact that at times their ability to chase down a hare, fox, or gazelle was all that stood between their humans and starvation. Since they hunted in packs, without the supervision of their masters, it was vital that they be intelligent and self-sufficient, so this had been bred into them, as well. They had been the companions of mankind for more than 14,000 years, and in Meso they were revered for their speed, dignity and independant spirit — ah, the Mesopotamians always had been intelligent people. Even the Egyptians acknowledged the saluki's supremacy as hunting dogs. So, now, most of Jojo's cousins lived among the people and joined them during gazelle hunts. Some had even had their portraits painted on pottery urns or carved into official seals.

Jojo, however, preferred to remain with Nindy, where he could watch the wranglings of the gods. Sometimes people could be so amusing ... even divine ones. When she finally arrived, Nindy was panting and out of breath. Jojo cocked his head to one side and waited patiently to see what she was so excited about. It didn't take long.

"Oh, Jojo!" she breathed. "We have to get away. We have to run away!! That evil Ishat has convinced great-grandfather to make you the guardian of Eridanus, the River of Heaven. She's on her way here now to take you back with her."

Guardian of the River? Jojo didn't like the sound of that. That was Procyon's job. Still, it wasn't unknown for the gods or even the people to change things around abruptly. After all, hadn't Sirius displaced Draconis as the herald of the Summer Solstice? Why, when life was so perfect, did people insist on tinkering with it?

"Where will we go?" he asked. This, of course, came out as, "arf, arf," which would have been incomprehensible to most humans. However, Nindy being an intelligent little girl and the great-granddaughter of the king of the gods, knew precisely what he meant.

"I don't know. Anywhere. It shouldn't take more than a millenium for Auntie An to convince him to change his mind, but we can't wait for that. We'll steal one of Uncle Ba'al's tornados ... although I'm not exactly sure how to drive one."

"Let's take my house," Jojo suggested. "I'm sure it would sit nicely in the cone of a tornado, which should make the ride smoother." (Not to mention the fact the bottomless martini pitcher and snack box were in the house.)

"Brilliant!" Nindy agreed. Jojo was such a clever dog.

Directing the tornado, however, turned out to be much more difficult than Nindy had expected. It twisted and tilted so often that several times the whole doghouse nearly slipped off the edge. And, of course, riding around on a tornado is very stressful and tiring, anyway. In the end, she simply had to let it go wherever it chose.

After what seemed like hours, they bumped over a long range of huge mountains and the tornado lurched to one side so violently that Nindy lost control entirely. "Jojo! Oh, no! I can't control it any longer! We'd better get inside! Oh, dear! Hang on! We're going to crash"


Still holding onto each other tightly, Jojo and Nindy waited. Silence. But everything had stopped spinning — that was good. Although, they both still felt slighly dizzy from the trip, they picked their way thru the scattered furniture and carefully opened the door to Jojo's doghouse. Outside, a very strange and exotic landscape greeted them.

"Jojo," Nindy whispered, "I've a feeling we're not on Tsephon anymore."

About this, of course, she was right. They were no longer in the world Nindy knew ... Uncle Ba'al's storm had blown them into the AncientWorlds Zone to a place known as The Orient and all the way to MunchQinland.

Sources:
History & Origins: the Saluki
The Gentle and Faithful Saluki
Dogs Through History: Dog Stars of the Heavens
A Pair of Dogs Romp Across Our Starry Sky
Tracing the Sun Thru the Zodiac...