Raised with wolves
Recently, I was asked by a reader and friend if Braxis and Pyrrha, the Léasean wolves and Hounds of Sedivar who serves a protectors for Tarin in The Lost, were named after my two bullmastiffs; and while I will admit that my dogs (Buck and Annie, by the way) are intimidating, they are actually huge, scary looking goofballs that will protect their pack only when necessary. Most of what they do is drool—A LOT— and lie around on the couch or the humans in the house. And to answer your question, I have never had any dogs named Braxis or Pyrrha. The names reminded me of gladiators of ancient Rome for some reason and I liked that image when I thought of those two wolves—something more than their intimidating appearance and fully able and ready to dominate when threatened.
Braxis, at least, is modeled after a dog from my childhood and early teens. His name was Mackenzie, Mac for short; and he was 152 pounds, solid black with a white crescent-shape on his chest. He was a wolf dog and my mom got him from a local breeder before such breeding was banned. His parents were both basically wolf, Mackenzie River Valley wolves, to be exact. I think their papers said they were each 7/8 wolf with the final 1/8 being German shepherd, so Mac was as close to pure wolf as you could get without raiding a pack for a pup. Thankfully, we had the space for him as we lived on around eighty acres that we surrounded by even larger beef cattle, dairy cattle, and/or tobacco farms. He had a ton of space to run, which he did every day. I remember watching him just run laps for hours around the perimeter of our farm. When he was done, he’d throw himself down on the ground at my feet and just look around, ever vigilant.
That was Mac. He was always hyper alert and aware around those he viewed as his pack and Mom was most important. I remember one incident from when I was in the third or fourth grade. We were home and the construction workers were there completing some finish work on the house Mom and Dad built on their land. One of the workers showed up late and drunk. The others were around the side of the house doing I have no idea what, but their jobs, I’m sure. Anyway, my mom didn’t want this guy around her daughters and not just because he was inebriated. He was leering at us and made me feel uncomfortable. When Mom asked him to leave the property, he started advancing on her with that awful smile on his face and this look in his eyes that still makes me shudder. Mom tried to stand her ground and continue to ask him to get off her property while keeping me and my younger sister behind her. That man just kept coming.
It was about this time that Mac appeared from around the corner of the house. He enjoyed hanging out with the other workmen because they gave him treats from their lunch pails and he’d often run off with various tools or 2x4’s causing them to chase after him—an activity he found particularly amusing. Anyway, Mac put himself in between Mom and the man and backed the drunk into his truck. I swear I’ve never seen that kind of fear in a person’s face and I’m not quite certain he didn’t actually mess himself. As he was scrambling into his truck, several of the other workers made it around the house to see what was going on. Their foreman noticed Mom’s face and my sister and I peeking out from behind her and Mac’s stance and told the man to go home and not return today or any other day. Mac never moved from his stance staring that man down until his truck backed out of our driveway. Once he was gone, Mac turned and trotted back to my mom where he sat at her feet, threw his head back, and howled. It was awesome and scared the crap out of the other construction workers, except the foreman, who chuckled and nodded at Mac before getting his crew back to their work.
There’s a scene in The Lost where Braxis and Pyrrha help protect Tarin from a militia group from Vanguard that has been infiltrated by Vikari. After the bad guys are subdued, Braxis and Pyrrha flank Tarin daring anyone to even try something against the dwarf lord and Tarin grins as he’s never felt so indomitable in his life. That’s kind of how I felt even though Mac wasn’t howling for me, but it was cool.
Now Mac wasn’t exactly serious and intimidating the entire time. He had a definite sense of humor and mischief. No one can ever convince me otherwise. He would often run into the neighbor’s cow fields and “herd” the cows. He never bit any of them or took any of them down; he truthfully just got them into a close group and moved them around the field. Mom would always send me after him convinced the farmer would shoot her dog. My job was to catch him and bring him home. Mac knew the drill and always chose the field with the evil bull with horns. He could outrun and maneuver that beast, but I couldn’t. I always ended up treed with the bull below glaring at me. Mac would scoot under the barbed wire, jump the creek, and nonchalantly head for home as soon as I was up a tree, periodically, glancing back grinning at my fate. He would often sit in one of the horse fields halfway back to the house and just happily laugh at my predicament. Most times Mr. Ray would have to drive his truck up next to the tree and let me drop down into its bed to save me. Mac looked so dejected when that happened since his prank was over for the day. He seemed to enjoy messing with me—a little like Braxis and Pyrrha take such pleasure in “intimidating” Finn when they first meet.
So, to answer my reader’s question (probably with more information than they had wanted), I do not now nor have I ever had any dogs named Braxis or Pyrrha; however, I did know a wolf named Mac who was my friend, torment, and protector for many, many years.