A Cold War
By Jason Wolfman

Author’s Note

No, this is not a conflict between Communism and Democracy. Trust me on this.

This is the official "Copyright stuff and other blah, blah, blah" section which I don’t care if you skip the entire thing, but if you violate it, then that demon fella in Roland’s head will come into YOUR head. Understand?

Band, Bitey, Kembala, Nathaniel, Esperanza, Jason (not in reference to me), Drake, Jared, Sherry, Salem, Liza, Rosalina, Sal, Benja, Shella, Elizabeth, and Draco are my characters and to be used only with my permission.

Jenner and Kala, Cyberwulfe’s creations, are not to be used without his consent.

Balto, Jenna, Rosy, Steele, Kaltag, Nikki, Boris, Dixie, Sylvie, Star, Muk and Luk are characters from Universal Studios and Amblin Entertainment. As you can see, I have finally decided to put those two bears into the story, although briefly.

This story flashes from Pine Cove in the past, to Nome in the present, being split by chapters. To prevent confusion, I added in the states below the chapter numbers: California for Pine Cove, and Alaska for Nome.

The character Esperanza speaks fluent Spanish, and I thank Canis Lupis (Jay Ortega) on helping me with the English-to-Spanish translations. If you wish to know what in the world she was saying, then request for a Spanish-to-English translation to either Jay or me.

Oh yes, another thing. I have an apology to make. I apologize for making my second Balto story, "White Fur, Blue Eyes, Black Heart" as one of the darkest stories I have made, and it was based on an animated movie that had little bloodshed. I do honestly believe that I have made Band too evil for this audience, and I hope that I could compensate for whatever disgust you have toward me. Believe me, I’m a very nice person. I just have a habit of making evil characters very evil. One of my StarFox fans used to believe that I was a jerk because of the evilness in my stories, but as she knew me better, she later considered me as one of her friends. I hope this would be the case for those that were upset with my past story.

"Band and I may have our little spats, but our love is too strong to be destroyed by such petty disagreements. At least I thought so at first. I’m not so sure now."

--Rosalina, Irish Setter resident of Pine Cove

"Nice morning, isn’t it?" Draco remarked as he met the rising sun that peeked through the pine trees in the mountains of California. The chinook was just an infant in his adult stage of his life, living with Band for a year now. He had still yet to face the harsh blizzards of Nome, Alaska, many miles to the north, and it was long before he confronted the "fires of justice", as Band would put it.

A greyhound just behind him nodded. She was an older dog, whom lived in a cabin across the dusty road from the house Draco, Band, and Bitey called their home. Her light-grayish fur was streaked with white lines that stained her like veins. She never considered herself to be beautiful, but there was no mistaking her brown eyes. Her organs of vision were darker than coal splattered with mud.

She looked up and sniffed the air. She recognized the obvious smell of pine, but there was also a tint of oil and kerosene, mixed with the tempting aroma of bacon and freshly slaughtered pork from the nearby slaughterhouse. Even though she was a dog of elegance and splendor, she couldn’t help but go through the butcher’s trashcan with her best friend Draco to snatch a treat several times.

"Yeah, sure is. You know, I love Pine Cove. You don’t get mornings like this back in Los Angeles. It’s always so dreary and noisy and crowded over there. Hot, too."

Draco could only grin. The horror stories about this "City of Angels" coming from the gossip-loving greyhound was more than enough for him to avoid that kind of urbanized environment, even though he had never experienced it. While the greyhound Liza had been here for only nine months, Draco was born and raised in Pine Cove.

"Well," Liza said after a deep breath. "What are you going to do today? Sunbathe with Band? Chase a cat? What?"

Draco shrugged. "I don’t know. Maybe just walk around till the opportunity for an activity bumps to me. It sometimes work."

Liza purposely bumped him jokingly on the side. "Yeah sure. I’m going over to the stream. Been needing for a bath for some time."

Draco laughed. "But your owner makes you take a bath once a week!"

Liza made a face of disgust. "Don’t remind me."

More laughter erupted from Draco till his sides hurt. He knew that Liza was not in favor of the harsh scrubbing by her wealthy owners, and the feeling of soap duds creeping up her nose. The greyhound simply shook her head and turned her tail at him.

"Farewell, you big dufus," Liza sighed. She walked with a brisk pace away from her friend, whom was still laughing.

"Bye! See ya tonight at the Gallery!"

"As always!" Liza responded with a yell from a short distance.

Her full name was Rosalina, but Band called her Rose, due to her dark chestnut coat. At three years of age, she was not only beautiful outwards and spiritually, but she was unique. Typical of her Irish (Red) Setter heritage, she was large and built as a hunter’s companion and retriever. Sharp mahogany eyes studded her square-muzzle face, and her ears drooped down like small pieces of velvety cloth. Her sinewy legs, a product of around two hundred years of careful breeding, were speckled with a hint of tan lines of fur. Finally, long and fine feathering fur protruded from the back of her front legs, and they spread up through her belly to the front of her hind legs, and also to the bottom of her low set tail.

Despite her beauty, she was more known as a dog with an active spirit. It seemed like she was never tired, never unwilling to do anything. Ever since she showed up when her masters had moved to town two months ago, she would come up to a complete stranger and attempt to start a conversation with the other dog. Due to her sense of humor and kindness, very few strangers could find a reason to dislike her even in the least bit. She was very popular almost from the start, and she would always have a story to tell in the Gallery about her experiences in the hunt with her master back in some place called Minnesota. No one knew where exactly this Minnesota was, but they cared little about it.

But a month ago, things went topsy-turvy when Rosalina announced her relationship with the dog none other than Band. The dogs were shocked at hearing the news. How can an intelligent and gentle dog like Rosalina would fall for Band’s flowery words? Rosalina replied that she honestly believed that Band had learned his lessons from past relationship failures, and he won’t treat her like the others. Almost all the other dogs disagreed with her, but they were forced to accept it, though only openly, not in secret. After one month, Rosalina had admitted that there were several "spats" between her and Band, but to everyone’s surprise, she still loved him.

As always, the Gallery was bustling with dogs socializing under the stars and Draco often commented to others in his stay in Nome that the Old Mill reminded him of the Gallery so much that he would burst in tears sometimes. Like the Old Mill, the northwestern most building in the mountain town was a gathering place for the dog residents, a hub for domesticated canines to chat, gossip, meet strangers and friends old and new, and just have a fun time. While the Old Mill’s problems of overcrowding were often solved due to the sledding routines that the residents there had to do, the Gallery was never overcrowded due to the low population of dog residents. Pine Cove was a cat-dominated society. Also, another perk that the Gallery had over the Old Mill was that it was located close by the shores of a small lake.

No one knew why it was called the Gallery, but the most credited story belonged to the one which the first owner of this building was an artist, and his paintings would adorn the walls. It was larger than the Old Mill, and a furnace (maintained by the current owner of the Gallery, whom was deaf and therefore couldn’t hear the dogs as he was sleeping on the second floor) was placed on the back of the room. Flimsy boards took up the entire floor, and some of the planks curled up partly, so they were avoided to prevent tripping. The walls of cracked brick had four windows with discolored glass and one of them had a curved crack that shone under the illumination. It was one of the oldest buildings in Pine Cove, and it showed.

"Hey, did you hear what happened earlier this morning?" Liza asked her friends amid the general hubbub of chatter in the nightly social event. "Sherry and Salem had another fight."

Her circle of friends, including Draco, gasped and looked at each other with shocked eyes. The oldest in the group, a runty Boston terrier named Benja, shook her head in dismay. "That’s the third time in two weeks. How did you hear about it?"

"I heard some screaming when I was taking a bath in the stream. I didn’t actually go to the source of the sound, for I didn’t want to be caught snooping."

Draco sighed. "You’re doing it again. I think you’re jumping to conclusions."

Liza knew he was right, but she still pretended to be shocked. "Me? Since when I have done that?"

A smug look appeared on the chinook’s face. "What about that time four days ago when you thought-"

Liza interrupted him, shaking her head. "No, no, that wasn’t jumping to conclusions! That was a mistake!"

Draco chuckled. "No, it was jumping to conclusions."

Another friend, a spaniel named Sal, interrupted. "Excuse me, but what exactly happened?"

Liza burst out a sigh of frustration. "Oh, I don’t want to hear this. Let me know when you’re done, Draco. Bye," she said as she turned away.

Draco’s chuckles grew into laughter. "Listen to this closely, Sal, for if Liza has to hear this funny thing again, I believe she’ll try to kill everyone so that the news of this incident won’t spread any further. Anyway, Liza was taking a leisure walk in the forest when she came across a husky that seemed to be lying under a fallen tree. At first, she thought the dog was dead, so she burst off and told everyone she met of the ‘tragic’ news. Two hours later, Liza and five others, including me, walked over to the ‘dead’ dog that was still lying under the tree. At first, I thought he really was dead, but then Liza nuzzled that cold nose of hers against the husky’s muzzle. Just then, the so-called dead husky awoke, screaming in shock, and he was knocked out cold when his head bashed against the bark of the tree above him. Man, you could’ve seen the look on Liza’s eyes when that happened! Ha, ha, ha, ha!!!!!"

"Are you finished now??" Liza yelled from a short distance away. When the chinook acknowledged that he was, she grumbled as she went back into her circle of friends. "I don’t want to hear that ridiculous story again, you hear me?"

Draco grinned. "Whatever you say, my dear."

Sal suddenly spotted someone come inside the building, and hushed her friends. "Look’s who just came in. Rosalina."

The dogs turned their faces toward the doorway, and spotted the setter strolling inside. Although her appearance was no surprise to the dogs since she was a regular in the Gallery, there were several odd things about her that literally shocked them. For one thing, she came inside quietly, ignoring the other dogs, even when they greeted to her. As long as they could remember, Rosalina was the cheery type, the one that would say "Hello!" with enthusiasm, even in rainy days, which was rather quaint. Her silent entrance was so out of character that Draco almost burst out with one of those "Are you all right?" questions.

Draco spotted another strange thing about her once she came up to them, greeting them softly. The crimson fur mostly hid it, but the chinook could spot several scratches on her face, as if someone slapped her with sharp claws.

The chinook couldn’t resist asking her the typical question. "Are you all right?"

Draco expected the little "I’m fine" lie and her expectance of having that common answer to the common question to be the end of that subject. However, Rosalina sighed and faced her friend with eyes that begged for help. Or, that was Draco thought he saw in them.

"If it’s because of the scar marks on my face, that was because I fell."

Draco was stung. It was an answer that would try to avoid the truthful answer. Living with a female-abuser had the chinook exposed to all kinds of false versions that come out of the same incidents. "Where did you fall?"

"Out in the forest, beside the stream. I don’t know how far away I was."

Rosalina, are you trying to avoid ‘spilling the beans’, or are you answering direct questions with direct answers? Draco thought. Oh, I know! Maybe you did fall down! Right onto Band’s paw!

Draco slightly shook his head to force that last thought out of his mind, and tried to drag the conversation as long as he could. "Hmmm, okay. How?"

The chinook expected her annoyed reaction. She wanted to leave this subject behind and here was this friend of hers bringing it up. "If you really want to know, I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going, and I tripped over a loose rock. A ground of loose and sharp rocks met my face. That’s all that happened, Draco. It’s boring news, so please don’t ruin my night here by bringing the damn subject up!" Rosalina snapped.

Fazed by her unusual outburst, Draco resigned on the subject. "Okay, sure thing. I won’t talk about it again," he replied submissively, although he knew that no rock could scrape her face to make scars like this. Unless Band’s paws were rocks. The rest of the night went along with the same general chatter like always, although Draco had been deeply disturbed by this case with his friend. Not by Band coming back to his abusive ways, but rather, Rosalina’s decision to make the beating incident a secret one. Since the other dogs were as disturbed as he, they too never brought up the subject again throughout the night.

Like clockwork, the nightly social gathering had waned down soon after midnight. Finally running out of topics to gossip and talk about, the dogs tiredly walked out of the Gallery back to their homes, one by one and in small groups. With weary eyes and weak legs, Draco yawned as he stepped out into the chilly mountain air, and paused to feel the breeze softly pat on his fur.

"Draco? You want to sit next to me on the lakeshore now? I want to talk with you privately." It was Rosalina.

Draco turned to spot her already walking toward the lake, and though his hay-filled bed back home was tempting, he was interested enough to resist the temptations of sweet dreams. He yawned again and followed Rosalina to the nearby shore of the lake. The dark-blue water of Pine Lake glistened with the murky reflection of the moon, and although the lake was not really large, it seemed so to Draco’s eyes.

Rosalina was too busy admiring the water to glance at her friend as he sat on his haunches beside her. "Beautiful, isn’t it? The water reflects the moon like a strange mirror. Water is the first version of a mirror, I think."

"What is it, Rosalina?" Draco asked somewhat impatiently. He wanted to get this right to the point.

"You saw right through my story on how I got these, right?" She said as she raised a paw close to her face to empathize the question.

Draco nodded. "Of course. You can’t get scars like that just by falling down on rocks. If it was possible, then I haven’t seen one case of it yet. Why did you lie about it?"

"That’s what I want to talk to you privately about. I’m afraid. This is the second time that he slapped me like this, and this time, I got the scars to prove it. If I tell this to everyone, then Band will surely find out, and I don’t want to be in the receiving end of his wrath. You understand what I’m talking about, right?"

"Yeah. So what do you want me to do? I have argued with him about his behavior toward his mates in the past, but he’s stubborn. I have hoped that time a few months ago when I saved his life would try to make him listen to me, but to no avail."

"Well, I’m thinking about breaking up with him. When he slapped me the first time, I thought it was just an accident, really. It didn’t hurt much at all, and he quickly apologized. But back then, I felt that our relationship was strong enough not to let a brash action of anger ruin it. But now, he’s beginning to make a habit of being angry around with me. I thought his days of abusing females was over, but now I think I’m wrong."

"But you’re afraid that if you did leave him, he will become even angrier and even try to stalk you."

Rosalina lowered her head, close to weeping. "Yes. How can I be so stupid to even believe his flowery words in the first place? I must have been drinking contaminated water at the time, fouling up my common sense. I should’ve known that once he has control over me, I’m done for."

"Regretting your actions in the past will not benefit you. It happened in the past and it should stay that way. How can I help you?"

"I don’t know what I want you to help me. I just want to tell you the truth and my intentions on the future of my relationship. Like I did with the first time he laid a paw on me, I’m going to try to get this incident behind me, but if he strikes me for the third time, it’s over. Even though I may get killed if I leave him"

Draco shook his head in disagreement. "I know this sounds crazy, but he’s not a killer. Bitey may have killed some cats during his lifetime, but I have never seen Band come even close to killing someone. He may try to harass you once you make the breakup with him public, but I’m positive that he won’t kill you."

"I hope you are sure about that, Draco. Only you, Band, and I know the truth about this. No one else must know about it, unless I say so first. He warned me not to tell you or anyone about it, so that’s why I’m so nervous now. Someday, I will gather enough courage and sense to break up with him. Will you keep this a secret from him?" She pleaded, and laid a soft paw on top of Draco’s right front paw. Her depressed eyes drilled into his mind, forcing him to answer with the expected word.

"Yes," he replied, but it was a hypocritical answer. Like he did on the other times that Band had abused his mates, he wanted to speak out for the victimized dogs, to condemn him for his unmoral actions. Band may have promised to her at the beginning that he would change his behavior, but it took only a month for him to dive right back into the foul-smelling pit of abusive demons. However, Draco owed his life to the white-furred malamute, and for Rosalina’s sake, he would keep this incident quiet from the ears of the public.

"Thank you," the Irish Setter said softly, and stood up. "I know that you owe him your life, but someday you got to make the right decision and leave him for good."

Draco only nodded. The thought had crossed his mind, but his mind was stuck on being loyal to his best friend and for a time, foster parent.

"Pitiful little whelp. If he didn’t save my life several months ago, I would have disciplined that stupid chinook with my paw every time he dares to object to me."

--Band, resident of Pine Cove, California, 1923 A. D.

It was a warmer day than usual in Nome, and to take advantage of it, Balto and Jenna decided to spend most of the morning and afternoon doing something that Band loved to do back in Pine Cove: sunbathing. The wolf/dog hybrid sighed deeply as the sun baked on his furry back, his eyes dreamy with relaxation. No wonder Band loved to do this, he thought.

Jenna yawned deeply and rolled over so that her other side, flaked with melting snow, would face the sun. Since their two pups were under the care of Boris in the old trawler for the day, it was sort of quiet in the small backyard of Rosy's family home. The faint bustle of the nearby street buzzed into their ears like calm music, and because of that and the sun soaking its rays onto their fur, they became drowsy and were rarely in the mood to even move.

"Whew, things like this would spoil me," Balto mumbled as he yawned. "But I don't care."

Jenna grunted lazily. "Slow day here. You know if Draco saw us like this, I don't know if he would chuckle or cuss at us for sharing Band's old hobby."

The sudden memory of the chinook made Balto cringe a little. Two weeks after Draco’s sudden disappearance, there had been no sign of the chinook anywhere still, and because he vanished at the same day Band last showed up, Balto feared that he had died. Most of his friends disagreed with him, but as time dragged on, they began to realize the horrible reality of Draco actually dead. Only one dog remained stubborn and clung to the faith that Draco somehow survived whatever danger had happened to him.

And that dog came up to them with a small grin. "It’s evening and you guys are still asleep?"

Balto turned his head slowly to face the dog with sleepy eyes. "Oh, hey Kembala. Yeah, we’re going to sleep like this all the way till it is dinner time, and there’s nothing that can stop us," he answered in a confident yet soft voice.

Kembala, a husky/malamute mix, simply chuckled. "I think there’s one thing that can spoil your plans. I just came from the trawler. Boris wants to talk to you."

Balto yawned again, but Kembala could clearly hear the groan coming out of his mouth. "What were you doing in the trawler?"

"I was looking for that wind-up toy that I found in that boat a few days ago. I couldn’t find it now, but Boris was there, babysitting your pups. He seems to be quite nervous."

That got Balto’s attention. He struggled to stand up, his bones creaking after hours of laying still. When he finally got his balance, he made one more yawn and smacked his lips. "What was he nervous about?"

"He says that he spotted Band in the distance."

Now Jenna’s attention was grabbed. Before Kembala knew it, she stood up from the snow, facing her with frantic eyes. "WHAT?"

Kembala cringed back and drew back a few steps. "Hey, don’t worry. Band was only at the edge of the forest when Boris spotted him from the trawler, and he stayed there the last time I checked before I ran over to town to you. I don’t think that’s a cause for any alarm, but Boris insisted on me telling you this."

Jenna suddenly swayed sideways, her head bowing low as if a great weight had rested on it. "Oooh…. my head is a little woozy. It happens when I stand up too quickly."

Balto softly patted her on one of her paws. "I’ll go over to the trawler to check up on them. They might still be safe, and Boris would be glad to see me if our pups were getting rambunctious around him," he replied with a smirk on his face. "You want to come with me?"

Jenna nodded. "Of course," she said, regaining her senses. "I hope we get back here before Rosy and her family comes home. They might get worried if we aren’t here."

"It won’t take long," Balto answered. "You coming?"

Kembala shook her head. "No, I’ll just head home. Make sure you bring back that wind-up toy, okay?"

Balto grinned. "Sure thing. Let’s go, Jenna. Boris might be grumbling after being bitten by Kala for the fiftieth time today."

Jenna laughed as they hurriedly walked out of the backyard toward the old trawler just outside of town.

Even though the trawler seemed normal as Balto and Jenna approached it, the silence was the one that spooked them. Even at fifty feet away from the edge of the lonely ship, the usual sounds of Jenner and Kala playing could be heard, along with Boris’ grumbling. This time however, only the sounds of a crisp breeze buzzed in the air, and as the two dogs climbed to the bow, they became worried, close to panicky.

"Boris?!" Balto yelled out as his paws patted onto the wooden planks of his old home. "Where are you?"

After several moments of silence, Jenna burst out into a run and rushed into one of the rooms where the bed of blankets should be. Balto heard a scream shortly afterwards, and was horrified to see Jenna come out almost in tears.

"They’re gone! My pups are gone!"

No… can’t be…, Balto thought, not believing it. He continued on searching for the pupsitter, hoping that the goose simply didn’t hear him the first time. "Boris?! Boris?!"

His ears fluttered as a faint groan erupted from downstairs. He rushed straight to the staircase, still hoping that he was in a nightmare or something. Jenna followed close behind.

The Russian goose Boris was found in one of the lower floors of the boat, wounded on the head and neck. By the time Balto got to him, he was still woozy from the head wound. "Boris! What happened! Where’s Jenner and Kala?"

The goose groaned a bit before gaining enough consciousness to reply. "I’m sorry… I couldn’t save them…"

Jenna was still too stubborn to believe that Band would actually take the pups, despite all of the evidence. Silently whimpering, she rushed pass Boris and searched frantically on the floor for her pups. Meanwhile, Balto stayed with his best friend.

"Boris… Band got them?" Balto hesitantly asked him. Please say no, Boris! Please tell me that you’re doing one of those cruel jokes and that my pups are hiding behind me, waiting for the right moment to ambush their father.

Boris nodded, almost recovered. "Yes… he took them. I’m so sorry… I couldn’t fight back…"

The life drained from Balto’s flaxen eyes and his legs collapsed from under him. He plopped down onto his haunches, staring at the goose in disbelief. Jenna, boiling with anger after failing to discover her pups, howled in frustration. She marched straight to Boris, and Balto was getting worried of her trying to bite the goose’s head off.

"What happened, huh? Why couldn’t you save them?" She demanded, breathing heavily.

"Soon after Kembala left, I was attacked by both Band and Bitey. I led Jenner and Kala to this floor, hoping I could hide them, but they discovered me too early. Bitey grabbed me by the neck, and was about to kill me when my head smacked against the wall, knocking me out. I’m still lucky to be alive, but the pups are gone."

Jenna growled and shuffled her paws in anger, her eyes like daggers ready to strike even those who dared to say ‘Hello’ to her. Boris inched away, nervous on whether or not Jenna would finish what Bitey had started just minutes ago.

Balto wanted to step in between to defend his friend, but he refrained, knowing that it would make her temper grow hotter. To his relief, Jenna stormed pass them and walked upstairs, grumbling in frustration and depression. Boris breathed out a sigh.

"You didn’t have a chance against them, Boris."

"It’s still my fault. I could’ve seen them coming and that way, I would have plenty of time to hide Jenner and Kala to the most remote room in this boat, and they would be safe."

"But didn’t you see Band at the edge of the forest? How come you didn’t keep watch?"

"I did, for the first minute after Kembala left. Then Kala wanted to play with me and though I wanted to stay and keep watch, Jenner joined in, clamoring for my attention. When Band retreated back into the forest, I thought he wouldn’t come out again, so I came to their room and played with them for a while. Later when I came out, I found Band and Bitey running toward the trawler just ten feet away. I didn’t have a chance to fight back or hide the pups. Maybe if I told Kembala to stay and it would be me who would come to warn you."

Balto shook his head. "No, that won’t be good. For one thing, Jenner and Kala wouldn’t stand to have a stranger as their pupsitter, and Kembala might die fighting them. It’s not your fault, my friend. It’s Band and Bitey who must pay for this."

The goose grumbled again. "You know, that smelly malamute could’ve been gone a long time ago."

"How long ago do you think this happened?"

"Probably a few minutes ago. I don’t know."

A distant howl startled them, and Balto rushed upstairs to investigate. Boris struggled up to his webbed feet, and slowly followed him, equally curious.

The dog hybrid found Jenna facing the distant forest from the very edge of the bow, growling loudly. Balto walked up beside her. "What is it?"

"Band showed up again at the edge of the forest, howling to get my attention. Our pups were beside him. Then he disappeared with them just before you came up here. He was mocking us, Balto. Daring us to come get our pups."

Balto himself growled, nodding. "Oh, we’ll get them all right. Right now," he said as he jumped from the bow onto the snow. As soon as Jenna jumped down beside him, Balto looked back at the goose watching them from above. "Boris, come with me. I need your help."

Boris gulped. "Me? If those two fiends see me again in that forest, they’ll slaughter me!"

"Please, Boris! Without you, my plan won’t work!"

The goose hesitated a bit, but Balto’s pleading became too much for him to resist further. Reluctantly, he fluttered down to join the dogs. "I hope this plan of yours would work."

"I hope so too. If Muk and Luk are already in the forest, then I’ll howl for them to join us as well. I hope the pups are still unharmed."

"They better be," Jenna replied, almost to a guttural growl. "Or Band will see all four of his legs bitten off."

"Isn’t this great?" Band said to his friend with giddy tone in his voice. He and the Samoyed Bitey were back at their temporary home den, with two frightened pups inside a small foxhole. The whimpering and cries spewed out from the den like music to the malamute’s ears, and he joined them with laughter.

"Balto will come," Bitey answered quickly, still using his firm voice. The seldom-speaking dog lied down next to the den entrance, guarding the only way in and out for the pups.

"Of course he will come. I want the half lobo to come. And if Jenna comes with him, then that will be better for me. Slaughter two cats with one bite, I like to say."

"What now? What about pups?"

"Well, we wait, simply. They’re just bait for my plan to annihilate that freak of nature, Balto. Once he comes to demand his pups’ return, then he will be in my territory, where he is not safe. I will give those pups back, but only when Balto’s carcass is being fed by ravens."

Bitey nodded, and rested his head on the snow, ever alert for a possible escape by the pups and/or the sounds of approaching danger, either expected or unexpected. Band meanwhile left the area in search for Balto, hoping to ambush him from behind.

Although he had successfully captured the two pups, Band was still disappointed. His first plan was to wait till he spotted Balto in the trawler all alone, and attack him while his friends did not surround him as usual. Earlier in the morning, Band snickered with delight when he spotted Balto walking to the trawler with Jenna and their two pups, and for some unknown reason, he believed that this time, Balto would end up alone there and soon. With rash judgement, he headed back home, and therefore failed to see Balto and Jenna leaving with the pups in the trawler with Boris already there. He would later regret that mistake, but dognapping the two pups should compensate the mistakes and missed chances.

A few minutes after retreating back into the forest with the pups, the malamute heard a familiar howl, and cringed. It was Balto, calling for someone. His lips curved up into a cruel smile and mouth-warmed air condensed out from his muzzle as he chuckled. "Welcome to my territory, Balto. Please enjoy your stay here, for you won’t leave anytime soon," he muttered to himself. Still, if he howled for help, then help he would get. Banishing his ideas for a lone ambush, he headed back to the fox den to meet up with Bitey.

"Here they are," Balto whispered to his mate and best friend, crouched behind a snowy hill between two trees, the trio’s eyes fixed on the dognappers waiting for them beside a fox den. "Jenner and Kala must be in that den. I can hear their whimpering."

Crouched alongside him, Jenna was jumpy with anticipation, her eyes focused on Band, thinking malamute-butchering thoughts. "Good. That way, they might not see what I’m going to do with that-"

Balto roughly knocked her on the side. "Hey, there’s no need for fighting. You know the plan."

Jenna noticeably calmed down, but she was still growling. "Fine… but don’t blame me if you hear the scream of a coward soon after his legs were ripped apart. It’s his fault. All his fault."

"Keep your cool," he advised her, and then faced Boris to his left. "You know what to do. Just wait and once the time is right, then you take the pups and bring them home as fast as you can. I don’t know if Muk and Luk answered my call, but I hope they do."

Boris lightly shook his feathers in nervousness. "Yeah…I hope this plan works."

"Well then, let’s do it," Balto said, and stood up from the hiding place along with Jenna. Boris kept still, his breath rate quick with worry.

Band’s ears shot up when he spotted Balto and Jenna approaching them. Bitey stood up with a snarl, and though Balto was unnerved at his nasty appearance, he tried to be bold. He would have to for the sake of the pups.

Band grinned, his fangs glistening. "Ah, you’re finally here," he said coldly at his greatest rival, and then glanced at Jenna and changed his tone. "Welcome to my abode, Jenna."

Jenna lowered her head, still looking up at him with sharp eyes of hatred. "We want our pups back, scum," she answered with a savage growl on her voice.

The malamute threw back his head and howled with laughter. "Oh, what a stupid demand that is at this point of the situation. Do you really think I’m just gonna bring you those whiny balls of fur? I’m not that stupid."

"What you had just done was stupid," Balto growled. "If you don’t bring them back unharmed, then…"

Band made a mocking gasp and interrupted him. "You’re going to do what? Howl like one of those freaks of nature and bring all of your wolfy friends here? Well then go ahead! Wolves are almost extinct already. I might as well finish the damn job!" He exclaimed and ended with bellowing laughter that even Bitey joined in.

A chunk of well-aimed snow smacked him on the face, silencing him instantly. With a shocked snarl, he shook his head wildly, sending snow off in all directions. He blinked his eyes in rapid succession before gathering his senses.

Balto flung another pawful of snow from the ground at him, only to miss by a mere centimeter. Jenna joined in, sending a flurry of snow directly at Bitey.

Band ducked a third snow attack. "Hey! Quit that, you moron!"

"You want to kill me, Band? Go ahead and try, loser!"

The malamute would not stand being humiliated like this. With a savage growl, he roared as he burst off in a charge directly toward Balto, Bitey following suit. Both Balto and Jenna, wanting them to do that, turned tail and ran, the dognappers on their heels. In just a few seconds, the area became quiet, as the sounds of the chase grew fainter.

When he felt he was safe enough, Boris crept out of his hiding spot and hurriedly waddled over to the den. Whimpering nervously, not wanting to hear the signal howls that cued him that Band or Bitey was coming back to the den, he stuck his head into the den, the familiar cries of the two pups bursting into his ears. "Jenner? Kala?"

Jenner was the first to greet him. The frantic pup grabbed his long neck and tried to hug him despite the small space of the den entrance tunnel. "Uncle Boris! You here to free us?"

Boris was almost choked from the neck hug, but was conscious enough to answer. "Yeah, yeah, but we better hurry," he replied, pulling the pup back out of the den, and Kala followed them. When the two pups suddenly realized that the two dogs that captured them were gone, they burst out in an immature victory howl, only to be quickly silenced by Boris.

"No! We are still in danger. Follow me, and run out of here the fast you can!"

Jenner and Kala knew that the goose meant business, so they quickly heeded his words and followed him out of the den area. The panicky yet determined trio pushed themselves through the heavy snow, kicking up snow flying in most directions, brushing past snow-capped bushes and tree bark.

Then three sharp howls echoed through the woods. Boris halted and gasped. It was the signal that he didn’t want to hear. Either Band or Bitey had realized that they had been duped, and now were rushing back to the den.

"What was that, Uncle Boris?" Kala asked, breathing heavily.

"C’mon, let’s continue on! Faster, faster, faster!" Boris replied, pushing the pups ahead of him with his wings. "Straight line, go! I’ll stay behind you!" Goose eyes flickered and twirled as Boris frantically scanned the woods to find any hint of danger. Hopefully, Jenna or Balto or even both would try to stall the two fiends from catching me or the pups, and what about Muk and Luk? Are they here? How far are we from Nome? Boris asked himself turbulently.

For what seemed like forever, Boris and the pups continued on, the thawing snow resisting them from hurling themselves to full speed. They quickly became exhausted, since they weren’t of perfect health in the first place, and their progress became slower, despite their best efforts. Finally, Jenner collapsed onto the snow, and was too slow on getting up to satisfy Boris’ patience.

The goose scooped him up onto his legs again, and bit him on the scruff of his neck. Carrying him like a mother wolf would with her pups, Boris continued on, Kala trying desperately to keep up with him as the goose trudged pass him.

A growl halted them both in their places. Boris gulped loudly and dropped Jenner onto the snow as he spotted a certain Samoyed staring at them just a short distance away. Bitey was breathing heavily as well, but his eyes showed blood-lust and a determination to finish off the job that he had started in the trawler minutes ago.

"Oh dear…," the goose mumbled as Bitey crouched to spring at him. A scream echoed throughout the forest as Boris let loose his possible last sound as Bitey leaped at him. Suddenly, the goose was saved to live a couple more years or so.

A bear claw coming out of nowhere smacked Bitey on midair, and a sharp groan erupted from the dog’s mouth as the claw scratched his face. He landed on the snow hard, nearly winded from shock. He stumbled back as a large polar bear, followed by a smaller one, rushed toward him, growling and swinging their sharp claws in the air threateningly. The sight of them were too much for the dog to handle, and in an embarrassing fashion, Bitey burst out in a run to get away from them, disappointed that he couldn’t kill the goose.

Boris sighed out a large breath of relief. "Ahhh…Muk and Luk! About time you two got here!"

The two polar bears changed their moods instantly when they realized that the danger was gone for now. The larger of the two (by far), Luk, suddenly rushed over to Boris and grabbed him in a hug for the ages. Boris, almost suffocating from the squeeze and the bear fur blocking his mouth, would have none of it. Rudely and hurriedly, he batted his wings against the fur, cueing Luk to release him. As soon as he did, Boris grunted harshly. "Not now! We are still in danger!"

"Was that the Bitey fellow Balto told us about?" Muk asked. "If he was, then he’s not much of a fighter."

Boris groaned and his right wing rubbed his neck, still sore from the trawler incident. "Try being a goose and fight him, why don’t ya?"

At hearing that, Muk rubbed his forehead, confused. "Huh? I don’t think it’s possible for me to be like one. I don’t have feathers, you know."

Boris cursed out in a language that the bears and the pups couldn’t understand, and then sighed again. "Carry the pups and follow me. We must hurry. Bitey might come back, along with that malamute friend of his, and they will attack you next time. Let’s go!"

Luckily for them, Band and Bitey didn’t show up to ruin their escape afterwards, and when they rushed out into the snowy clearing close to Nome, Boris inhaled a breath of hope. Just as Balto told his friend earlier on what to do once the pups were rescued, Boris led the polar bears back to the trawler, the pups still shaking in shock as they were snuggled into the thick bear fur. When the pups were safely with Luk in their sleeping room, Boris and Muk were now worried about Balto and Jenna, for they have still not exited the forest.

"Oh where could they be?" Muk wondered out loud, perched at the bow with eyes scanning for any hint of two familiar dogs running out of the forest. "You want me to go over to see if I can find them?"

"No," Boris ordered. "I want you and Luk to stay here with me."

"Well, I don’t want to just wait while they are all alone with their enemies."

"They can handle themselves," Boris replied, and that was that.

Jenna’s sides were sore as she reached a small frozen pond, breathing heavily. The uniquely colored husky had been running at full blast (or close to it) since the chase began, and Balto’s dreaded three-howl signal happened four minutes ago. She found it strange that Band would try to go after her rather than Balto, but soon, she realized that it was an almost obvious decision for him to make. Even though Band hated Balto’s guts and his entire wolfish side, he still had a love interest toward Jenna. Band’s version of love, though. Not the kind of love that Jenna would define.

Her eyes squinted from the pain, and each breath blew out gusts of steam. "Gaw…," she gasped. "He’s relentless… but I think I lost him…"

The bone-weary legs under her collapsed and she plopped onto the snow, unable to go further. The constant running and worries about Balto, Boris, and especially her pups had worn her down, and now she seemed helpless.

"Tired? Aw, so sad," a voice from behind spoke out in mock sympathy.

Jenna closed her eyes in disbelief. Band…

She didn’t bother to turn her head to face him as the malamute walked over to her, chuckling victoriously. Although he too was exhausted, he tried hard not to show it, and so his voice seemed calm when he spoke. In a cruel act of temporary bliss, Band calmly walked above her, his legs on both sides of the dead-tired husky. Jenna nudged her head lower as Band laughed softly directly on top of her.

"You know, I have been wanting to be on top of you for a looong time," Band softly muttered.

Jenna forced a faint growl. "Sicko."

The malamute simply shrugged and walked forward, and swatted his tail down onto her eyes as he got in front of her. He then turned and neared his face close to her. "Even though you slapped me in the face and bit me on the tail, as well as staying with that wolf freak, I still love you."

Jenna refused to answer. She merely turned her head sideways, angering the malamute. With his paw, he roughly laid it on her chin and lifted her face up to face him. "Look at me when I’m talking to you, Jenna."

The husky jerked her head off his hold, and laid it on her paws again, utterly disgusted. The name Jenna may sound beautiful, but when you say it, Band, it sounds disgusting, she thought. Band scoffed a wind of steam at her face, and stepped back. "Okay, be that way. Just lie down and take your rest. You will need the energy to weep once Bitey comes here with the carcass of a former wolf/dog hybrid."

"Fool," she replied, her speech broken by deep breaths. "He will…never succumb…to the likes of you…"

Band laughed and sat down next to her. "So you say. However, now that I have you, I guess I can actually accept him to exist. Maybe a deal can be struck."

"No deal," Jenna uttered. "He’s not stupid…"

"You haven’t even heard of what the deal is going to be."

"I know what the deal is… you would spare… Balto’s life but only… if I stay with you forever. You are… very predictable."

Band rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Hmmm… you do have a point in that. All right, no deal then. I wonder what else I can do…"

He stared down at her with sniveling eyes, a certain type of lust growing brighter in them. "Maybe… I might as well do the one thing that I want to do with you for far too long now."

Jenna quivered at those words. What could Band be thinking?

The malamute stood up and from the way Jenna saw in those eyes of his, she knew what he wanted to do, and was horrified at the thought. She uttered a whimper and nudged away, her ears laid against her skull in fear.

Band could only be confused. "What? Oh c’mon now, you had pups before. It’s not like this is going to be new to you."

"NEVER!!!" The enraged husky burst out in a pumped-up fit of rage. With all the strength that she had left, she lifted herself up from the ground and bared her fangs. With one lucky bite, her fangs stabbed into a portion of Band’s muzzle, and the malamute yelped in pain as the flesh tore open. He flinched away, a trail of blood droplets flying off in the air. Jenna collapsed back on the ground, relishing the taste of an enemy’s blood.

Band groaned as blood stained most of his muzzle; a torn-off cut of flesh being covered by a bloody paw. After several moments, he regained his senses from the pain and blew his top off at the assailant. Growling, he rushed toward Jenna, and slapped a vengeance-filled paw across her face. "You mother of wolfish freaks! You wanna try that again? Huh?" He yelled at the top of his lungs directly in front of her face, forcing her to cower from the blow. She needed Balto now or never.

Another slap to the face sent a yelp of pain from the apprehensive husky, and Band continued on with the forceful taunts.

"Band! Pups escaped!" Bitey suddenly yelled as he came into view. Band stopped whatever he was doing to snatch a horrid look at his friend.

"What? They escaped? Dammit all!" Band cursed, punctuating with a stamp to the snowy ground in frustration. "Where is Balto?"

"Don’t know," was the urgent reply.

Band grumbled and with his anger with Jenna subsiding due to this new distraction, he sat down with a grunt. "Damn slut bit my muzzle," he muttered. "I believe Balto will show up here anytime soon, and this time we’ll be ready to destroy him."

"Jenna?" Bitey asked. His pain from the bear attack had subsided, but a small cut on his face was still bloody.

Band was too used to him to ask him what he was talking about. "Ah, she’s not going anywhere. Don’t be concerned about her."

Bitey grunted a reply and lied down in exhaustion, his tongue rolling out like the tired Samoyed that he was. Band however was not tired enough to rest now. Again he turned his attention to Jenna. "You know, if I didn’t love you the way I do now, I would have killed you a long time ago. Be very lucky for that."

Jenna had used almost all of her energy to make the biting attack, and as a consequence she couldn’t move much even to respond. Only her heavy breathing cued Band that she was still alive.

The malamute tried desperately to ignore the painful sores on his muzzle as he sauntered over to her again. This time, Jenna found the energy to growl as she spotted his muzzle close to her face, her eyes seeing the red-stained fangs of a cruel grin. "Go… away."

"Aw, you still hate me? You’re foolish to even love that domesticated wolf. He belongs to that torturous pit where all doomed wolves go to while their bodies rot here, and because you love him, you will go down to that pit with him. Can’t you see that I’m trying to help you here? If you officially snap the rope of love from him, you will be saved."

Jenna’s growl was even deeper. "Go… away."

Band shook his head, muttering soft and obviously false words of sympathy. "You know, there are several things that I admire in you. You have beautiful eyes, beautiful fur, beautiful legs, beautiful everything. But your behavior will ruin all of your beauty for the pit will burn you up till you’re the ugliest charred dog in the area, and you will still be alive,… forever. Is that what you want?"

Yes… the thought warped throughout Jenna’s mind. But only if Balto stays with me. If I’m doomed to this pit, which I won’t, then as long as Balto is with me forever, it doesn’t matter if I became ugly. The husky wanted to say her thoughts out loud, but instead only two words came out. "Go… away."

Band screamed out in disgust, stamping his paw. "Ack! Quit saying those stupid words! You know that I won’t go away! This love toward Balto is ridiculous! You’re a stubborn little whelp, and the fact that you’re actually a mate to him sickens me! You’re influenced by his evil. You allowed him to take control of you with his false love to you, and the only reason why you’re not believing me now is because his evil had warped your mind!"

"It’s your mind that is warped," Jenna shot back. "Why do you hate wolves?"

"That’s a long story," Band replied. "A story that I wish not to talk about at this moment."

"You’re afraid of them, aren’t you?"

With a savage growl, Band countered with a slap to her face. "I’m not afraid of them! Those admonitions of nature dared to exist in this world, and it’s up to me and dogs like me to eliminate them off the face of the Earth! They will destroy us if they are allowed to exist here!"

Jenna muttered a faint curse, shaking her head. "You are the one that must be destroyed. You are the one who is mistaken."

Band simply scoffed and turned away. "Whatever you say, Jenna. You’re the one who will be doomed to enter the pit of demons, not me."

He lied down on the snow once more, patiently waiting for Balto to come. Then, he hoped, the part wolf would be killed once and for all. Jenna was worried that Balto could or could not figure out a way to get both her and himself out of this, but for now, her need to rest was greater. Despite Band’s presence nearby, she closed her eyes for a needed sleep, trying desperately to ignore the slash sores on her face.

Minutes passed slowly. Band would occasionally snatch a look at Jenna to see if she would show any signs of trying to escape, but as time stretched along, he became bored. He stood up and stretched, grumbling. "Ah, Balto chickened out. He’s not coming here."

His words woke up Jenna. "He’ll be here. Just watch your back."

"Shut your flapping gums," Band snarled at her. "Balto had lost faith in you. I told you so. He’s evil and scum, just like all the other moon-howling flea bags."

Jenna just couldn’t stand it anymore. With her ears laid back in an aggressive manner, she stood up with bared fangs, growling deeply. "You shut your flapping gums, Band-Aid. Balto can beat you even if you have grown ten times as strong as you are now!"

Band spat out in anger. "Don’t call me that! I always hated that name! I always hated it!" Enraged, he rushed toward her and smacked another paw to the face. This time however, Jenna counter-attacked with a carefully aimed slap to his wounded muzzle. The malamute yelped loudly in pain and jumped back, his eyes snapped shut as the pain drilled up to his mind. She was about to make a leap for his jugular when Bitey rushed in, and butted her on the side. Jenna fell onto the snow with a scream, and faced a world of danger as Bitey threatened to attack her again, his fangs close to one of her narrow-boned legs.

"BALTO!!!!!!!" Jenna screamed as Bitey opened his mouth; his fangs ready to sink into the bone of her left front leg.

Then, a moment later, Jenna was prevented from being added to the growing list of Bitey’s list of crippled victims. As if in cue, Balto stormed into view in a fit of rage, fiercely slashing onto the shocked Samoyed. Ignoring Jenna in the spur of the moment, Bitey stumbled back and turned his attention to Balto, and at that moment, Jenna was not being watched.

"Go!" Balto yelled as he stood up on his hind legs, slashing his front paws like a bear. "Run!"

Jenna hesitated for a second, wanting to help out Balto, but it was only for a brief second. Obeying him, she caught her second wind and ran off like a bat out of Hell, kicking up snow high in the air like the steam roaring off a drag racing car. She didn’t look back to see Balto overwhelmed by his two enemies, growling and snarling to the bitter possible end. She ran faster than she thought she could run, blasting pass trees and snowy bushes.

A few seconds later, the sounds of the fighting behind her stopped. Jenna slowed down to a halt, her ears straining to hear any more hints of the fighting. There was none. The husky turned to face back, and there was no sign of Band or Bitey. What happened? She thought. Balto… oh no!

Against her better judgement, she ran back to the battle scene, though cautiously. What she found was a scene that she didn’t really expect. Balto was there all right, but there was no sign of Band or Bitey. Her mate was all alone, lying down on the bloody snow in pain, bleeding from several wounds on the face and sides. Quickly, Jenna came up to him, and was relieved to find him still alive.

"Balto!" She gasped, quickly inspecting his wounds. In response to her presence, Balto stood up slowly with a groan.

"What happened?" He muttered, his eyes fazed with pain.

"That’s what I want to ask you. Band and Bitey are not even here. What happened to them?"

"I don’t know… I was fighting them then all of a sudden a dog burst into view and before I knew it, I’m lying on the snow all alone."

Jenna made a puzzled face. "A dog? What are you talking about?"

"I don’t know… I just don’t know."

"Well, let’s just go back to the trawler. I’m sure Jenner and Kala are waiting for us there."

Balto nodded and with one more groan, he dragged himself to walk with Jenna out of the battle scene, their minds warped with relief, worry, and confusion.

"Look, I have no idea what had happened. It’s all a mystery to me."

--Balto, concerning about the recent ‘rescue’

It was a calm noon in Pine Cove, with barely any breeze. Because the day was slow, Draco became quickly bored and sleepy, not planning to even move all that much except during meal times. The sun splattered its heat onto his fur as he lied down on his side on his cabin’s front porch, his ears catching only the chirping from birds. Band was off somewhere to a stream, and Bitey was in the cabin, eating what remained of his dry food breakfast.

"¡Hola amigo!"

Draco’s ears perked up at hearing his friend’s greeting and turned his head to face the Ibizan hound strolling up to the cabin steps. "Hey Esperanza. Um…como esta?"

The female hound’s lips curled up to a warm smile. "Muy bien. You’re learning, Draco. That’s good."

Draco nodded, but then became puzzled. "Ah. What exactly did you say then?"

Esperanza threw back her narrow-muzzled head and laughed. "I’m fine. That’s what I just said," she responded in an accent that no one else had. Even though she was fifteen years old, she had the appearance and energy of a dog nine years younger. She was a tall dog, being a head taller than Draco, and her fur was bristly and short. The yellow eyes in her face showed the wisdom of the elderly, and still kept the shine of youth. Her most striking figure was her ears, like two brown triangles that seemed too large in proportion to her head. The rest of her fur was white-dominated. Her narrow tail, like that of a small snake, patted against a wooden porch post as she sat on one of the steps close to Draco.

"So, slow day?"

Draco nodded and rested his head back on his front paws. "Yep. You know, even though I love this town, I can be so bored here, like now. We may have our social hours in the Gallery, but that happens only at night, and during the daytime, there’s barely anything to do except to sleep and eat, basically. Sometimes, I think my life would be more interesting if I was in Minnesota, fetching ducks like Rosalina. Or maybe live the life of a sled dog, which I believe my breed had been created for that purpose."

"Vive tu vida como te la dieron," Esperanza answered. "That’s what my mama used to say, bendiga su espiritu."

Draco sighed, which was a habit of his. "If that was an advice or something, then it would be best if you would speak that in English and therefore I would understand it and could live by it."

Esperanza laughed again. "Like you really pay attention to my wisdom, perro."

Draco grinned. "Don’t just call me a dog. I do have a name."

Her laughter grew in volume. "Oh, I thought you didn’t know what that word meant! You amaze me sometimes, dear Draco! Ha, ha, ha, ha!!!"

"What brings you here?"

It took several moments for the Ibizan hound to calm down. "I found a tennis ball in almost mint condition yesterday and buried it in the forest. I’m going back to it and play around with it, since I got nothing else to do. You want to come with me?"

"Aren’t you a little too old to play? Your bones are so frail that you might break one if you trip over a loose root or something," Draco said in a joking manner. "Or maybe lose a tooth if you bite on that ball too hard."

Esperanza shook her head and stood up with a scoff. "Hah! I can beat you in a game of fetch any time of the day! And I can beat you under the stars as well! Come on, don’t just lie there like a dog se consume su vida!! Come with me, and I’ll show you a tail-whipping like never before!"

Draco stood up, his energy revived in anxiousness. He smiled and nodded. "You’re on! Your old legs will never keep up with me!"

Esperanza burst out in a run toward the woods, whooping like a three-year-old dog. "Try me, slow-poke! Ha, ha, ha, ha!!! Whoo!!!"

An hour later, an exhausted Draco plopped onto the grassy hillside amid tree trunks, and his tongue dripping sweat and loud panting forced Esperanza to make a chuckle. "Told you so."

Draco sighed. "Yeah, yeah, someday you are going to be accused of lying about your age."

"Pereza se hace blando. Con razon te golpé tu cola," she replied with such a haughty air that Draco sighed again. "Never underestimate me, Draco. Never underestimate anyone, actually. Even a pup could beat you if you let it."

"So I see," Draco responded, and his eyes squinted from the weary sores on his legs. "Are you really sure you’re fifteen years old?"

Esperanza, whom was exhausted herself, plopped onto the grass with him. "Of course. Still, I wish to be young, like nine years old."

"Why that age?"

Esperanza grinned. "That’s when I moved in here and met your mother. You know how I loved to be her friend."

Draco nodded, gazing down on the grass, his mind suddenly becoming melancholy. Of course he still remembered her mother and sisters. The wisecracks of his oldest sister still rang through his mind occasionally. Images of his mother’s smile and the comical scenes of his two bumbling youngest sisters were still fresh to him. He had never met his father though. His mother told him that he had to leave for some expedition far away, and he never came back. Despite all of the good memories, there was one that overclouded all the others; the death scenes of his family on a so-called "frozen" river.

Esperanza realized that he wasn’t all that happy at the mention of his mother. "I’m sorry, Draco. I know how you miss her. I miss her too."

"It’s all right. You ever knew my father?"

"He was rarely at home, but I have seen him. He was a bit of a tough one though. Always strict and serious. If you try to have fun with him, he would refuse to budge. Fun is not in his vocabulary. He was still a nice dog, despite his stiffness in the terms of emotions."

Draco was about to reply when a faint hubbub of voices reached their ears. He glanced toward the direction of the sounds, which was where the stream was. "Hey, you hear that, Esperanza? Sounds like yelling."

The hound’s large ears pointed toward the same direction. After a brief moment, she hummed. "Ah, yes, I do. I wonder what’s going on over there."

Draco stood up. "Let’s go find out. Could be someone that needs help."

However, as they ran closer to the source of the noise, Draco recognized one of the voices: Band. The noise was not clear enough to be understood, but he was indeed yelling. But to who? Why? The questions swarming in his mind strengthened his curiosity, and he ran faster.

They finally stopped behind a hill, and like two spies, they looked down toward the sources of the noise. Band was there all right, a deep scowl on his face and Draco could feel the anger vibrating from him. Inches from him stood Rosalina, whom was fuming also. Like the nosy dog that he was, Draco’s ears were open to eavesdrop on their conversation.

"…Look, why must I have to stay home?" Rosalina demanded, pacing back and forth on the grass, her face focused on Band, whom sat on his haunches, growling occasionally.

"I just don’t want you to go back to the Gallery anymore," Band replied back, his blizzard-blue eyes drilling anger at the Irish Setter. "Those dogs there are spreading lies about me."

Rosalina stopped and laughed. "Oh c’mon, Band. They’re not telling lies about you."

"Don’t you realize that just because they hate me, they are trying to wedge our relationship further apart with their lies? If you continue to go there and be exposed to all kinds of scum, then our relationship will be jeopardized."

"What, you don’t have faith in me to disregard these lies? You actually believe that I would be foolish enough to be deceived?" Rosalina responded, challenging him to answer those questions.

"This is just a precaution. By staying home, you can avoid them and…"

"This is ridiculous," Rosalina snapped. "You actually believe that I would do this?"

"Yes!" Band demanded with a firm voice. "Stay home because I say so."

The Irish Setter shook her head. She mumbled something that Draco couldn’t hear, and bellowed a sigh. "You can’t control me, Band. Not anymore."

Draco flinched at hearing those words. If those words were spoken to a dog like Band, then the next couple of seconds would be rather violent with hot-blooded tempers. As he expected, Band growled louder and stood on all fours.

"What makes you think so?" He asked, almost with a threatening tone on his voice.

Rosalina gathered up all the courage that she had bottled inside since the moment that she realized the mistake of being Band’s mate in the first place. "I’m leaving you, Band. I should have done this weeks ago."

The malamute didn’t explode just yet, but Draco expected him to do so within another moment or two. He walked up close to his mate’s face. "What did you say, Rose? Say that again."

Rosalina knew she would be slapped in the face for this, but she didn’t care anymore. If Band threatened to stalk her down after this, then her many friends would protect her. She was sure of that, or otherwise she wouldn’t be this brave. "I said… I’m leaving you," Rosalina replied, unfazed.

Draco almost yelped out in alarm when Band’s paw roughly scratched the furry surface of Rosalina’s face. He wanted to burst out from his lookout place and try to stop him, but Esperanza prevented him from doing such a rash action by laying a stern paw on his leg. The chinook could only watch as the Setter stumbled back from the blow, and turned his back on him to escape.

As Rosalina ran back toward her home, Band yelled out in anger. "Go ahead, run! Run like the worthless bag of fur you are!" In frustration, he kicked up dirt with a furious hind leg, and grumbling, he stormed into the thick woods, and soon all was silent except for Draco’s heavy breathing.

Esperanza cursed out a word in her native language, her eyes almost watery in tears. "¡Perro estupido! That’s yet another dog in his growing list of former mates. Heh… she would be better off without that disgusting malamute watching him like a hawk."

Another one of his trademark sighs spewed out. "I don’t know about this, Esperanza. She may have finally gotten enough courage to break up with him, but what happens if Band decides that their relationship is not yet over?"

"Then Rosalina will need help. I don’t know how she could be helped, though."

"I’ll talk to him tonight. See what he’s going to do about this, and maybe convince-""Don’t waste your breath, Draco. He won’t listen to you."

"Maybe not, but someday… someday, he will find out that my words will benefit him. Once then, he will listen to me, and hopefully his ways will be changed."

The Ibizan hound simply shrugged. "You’re a stubborn dog, Draco. Very stubborn. Listen, I’ll try to find Rosalina and see if I can help or anything. I think you’ll better go home and do your part in this."

Draco nodded, and after saying their farewells, they parted, their minds warped with questions and concerns about had just experienced.

As the sun drifted down behind the trees, Draco waited impatiently for his friend to come home. The chinook was too preoccupied to eat dinner, so his stomach growled as he lay on the porch floor, but he didn’t care. His conversation with Rosalina days ago on the shores of the lake kept repeating itself in his mind. What if Band wanted to keep his mating status with Rosalina alive at all costs? In past breakups, Band would simply shrug them off, saying that the relationships were meant to be broken. But Rosalina was different. Band actually wanted to have a flourishing relationship with her, but of course, his control-obsessive ways had gripped his mind and heart, and now that relationship was ruined.

"Or so Rosalina wanted it to be ruined and brushed aside to be a memory," Draco mumbled to himself. "But can Band think the same way?" The chinook remembered how Band would treat the other mates like they were objects, so when they broke up with him, it was obvious that Band would shrug off the breakups and therefore not be utterly depressed. "I love Rosalina more than the other females that deserved to break up with me," Band once told him two weeks ago. "Don’t ask me why, but I sense real love in the air whenever I’m with her. She’s the one that I have been looking for, and I’m destined to be with her."

Draco chuckled at remembering that. "Looks like you’re wrong, Band. How many more till you find the one that you are ‘destined’ to be with? How many more hearts are you going to break?"

A few moments later, a white malamute was spotted strolling onto his porch, his blue eyes exposing his anger. He looked directly at his chinook friend, and muttered a greeting.

"I have been waiting for you, Band," Draco greeted as Band strolled onto the porch steps. The malamute stopped and grunted.

"I’m not in the mood to talk."

Band wanted to get inside the cabin, but Draco stood and blocked him. "Right now."

Blue eyes rolled up and the malamute stood put grudgingly. "What is it?"

"First of all, you seem to be quite angry. Had something happened?" Draco asked. If he blurted out anything about the breakup right now, then Band would suspect that he was snooping on him again, and Draco would be in hot water.

"None of your business," Band muttered, and moved sideways to get around his friend. Still persistent, Draco moved along with him, continuing to block the entranceway.

"Do you mind?" Band demanded, almost to a yell.

Draco shook his head. "Not until you tell me what’s going on."

Band cursed out several words under his breath, but gave up and sat down. "Fine, fine. I broke up with Rose. There, you happy now?"

Draco pretended to be shocked. "What? How?"

"I wanted her to get away from all the lies about me, but she refused. She refused! An argument happened and then she told me that she is not my mate anymore. That’s all."

Draco’s eyes narrowed. You forgot to tell me about the Irish Setter-slapping part, Band. "So I see. So why are you so angry about it?"

Band was shocked at that question. "What are you talking about? She broke up with me! How can I not be angry?"

"You weren’t this angry when you broke up with the others. I thought you was used to this," Draco replied coldly.

Band wanted to slap him for making such an insult right at his face, but refrained. "I loved her more than the other worthless bags of fur. I have fought with Rosalina before, but I believe every relationship is not a relationship without a mere scuffle of words and such. I really wanted to have her as my mate forever. But she became so stubborn that I began to hate it. I used to think she was perfect, but she’s not. Still, I want to continue loving her, and eventually she’ll come crawling back to me. She’ll beg for forgiveness, for she’ll be lost without me."

Draco absorbed his words with some level of disgust, but refrained from exposing it on his facial expression. "So what are you going to do about it? I don’t believe she will come back to you after this mess. You need to stop-"

Band interrupted him by shaking his head furiously. "Oh shut your lip, Draco. I don’t want to hear it. When you say the words, ‘You need’, I just know what you’re going to say. Well, I’m in no mood to listen to you. Just shut up Draco, and you will be saved from being wounded tonight. You got that?" He said threateningly, his eyes blazing with anger.

"Please listen to me!" Draco pleaded. "Just leave her-"

Band snarled and pushed him aside. "Get out of my way!" He bellowed and stormed into the cabin. Draco’s mind wanted to follow him and keep on at it, but his body refused to obey. He simply stood, watching Band’s tail whip the air wildly in rage and then disappear into the darkness of the cabin’s interior. An odd feeling of worry crept into the pacifist canine’s mind, a possible prediction of the worse scenario. Would Band be desperate enough to bring back his relationship with Rosalina by force? Draco cringed as he remembered what happened to Band's mates in the past. All six of them were fooled by his flowery words in the beginning, and they ended up with scratch wounds on their bodies and the emotional scars were even worse. What would happen in the case of Rosalina?

With the plans of meeting Rosalina tomorrow in his mind, the chinook crept back into his cabin to go to sleep, avoiding Band along the way.

"When she broke up with me, I became so angry that I tore a tree branch to pieces. She was the one that was destined to be with me forever, and I will stop at nothing to keep it that way."

--Band, resident of Pine Cove, California

"Daddy!! Momma!!" Jenner exclaimed cheerfully as his two parents dragged themselves to the trawler. Oblivious to their exhaustion or injuries, the pup rushed over to them and jumped onto his mother. Despite Jenna’s weariness, she managed to crack a smile on her face and fell back onto the snow, her son on top, licking her face. Balto grinned also, but was too injured to move much. As Kala joined with her brother in the greeting-the-mother-with-a-thousand-licks-to-the-face attack, Balto chuckled at them, then groaned as the sores ruined his laughter.

"My goodness, Balto, you’re injured!" Boris observed in shock. He rushed over to his best friend and laid a soft wing on top of his head.

"I’ll be fine," Balto mumbled back. "A little scratch never hurt anyone."

Boris reared back with puzzled eyes. "I wouldn’t call this a mere scratch. Looks like to me that you have been battling against a bear."

"Band and Bitey actually. Boy, those guys are real bruisers when they fight together."

"How did you beat them?"

Balto sighed and shook his head. "It wasn’t me that beat them. It was some dog. I was fighting them when all of a sudden some dog attacked them both, and I was too unconscious to see who it really was. But anyway, he or she managed to fight them off, somehow. Or maybe it wasn’t a dog at all. Maybe it was a wolf, but I do know that it was a canine that saved my life."

"Balto!!!" Muk yelled out as he got out of the trawler, Luk following him. Before the hapless Balto could utter a warning, the polar bear grabbed him with his paws and hugged him furiously. Not to be left out, Luk in turn hugged the both of them.

Boris flapped his wings wildly, since his feathers were ruffled, so to speak. "No, stop it, you two!! You’re hurting him!"

Luk was the first to learn the error of their ways. With surprised eyes, he let go with a whimper, and backed off. Muk mouthed an ‘oops’ and released Balto. The dog collapsed onto the ground, his face showing a grimace of pain. Muk gasped as the bloodstains splattered onto his paws and belly, and reared back with Luk.

"Oh dear… I’m sorry, Balto. I didn’t mean to do that."

Despite the pain, Balto staggered to stand up with a smile. "You’re forgiven. Next time, think about what you are doing and not act involuntary. I’ll have to get my wounds mended as soon as possible, of course, so I’ll be heading off to Nome. You sure you’re all right, Boris?"

The goose nodded. "Yeah, I’m fine now. Luk’s hugs hurt more than what Bitey had done to me," he said jokingly.

Luk mumbled and crossed his arms, a hint of a scowl on his face. Muk laughed and patted him on the leg, due to differences in height. "It’s good to see you alive, Balto. I’m glad everything turned out okay."

Balto shook his head. "No, everything is not okay. Band and Bitey still lives, I’m sure. Once my wounds heal, then the day that they will receive the ultimate punishment will come," he said in a bass voice of determination.

Jenna stood up once her pups had subsided from their bombardment of tongues. "I hope that day will come soon. If we are to be safe, then they must be stopped. If all the dogs of Nome are to be safe, then they must be stopped. Let me know once you’re ready, Balto."

The wounded canine nodded. "Of course."

After two months of living in Nome, Kembala became a frequent sight to the other dogs. At four years of age, she was still not the lead dog in her mail-delivery team, but she was close enough for her to be promising for that role. She was a multi-colored malamute/husky mongrel, with a touch of Samoyed that was barely noticeable to the others, even to her. Cinnamon-colored fur pasted onto most of her body, with mud-brown spots on the side. Her belly however was beige-dominated, and though her eyes were brown, it had a crimson touch to it. She had a gentle nature, and intelligent also.

However, she was sometimes viewed as rather insane. One of the things that stood her out from among the dogs were her weird (not to her, though) beliefs. In the social meetings in the Boiler Room or in the Old Mill, whenever Kembala would speak out her beliefs, the others would often sigh in disbelief, roll their eyes, or object to her.

For example, she believed freedom was an illusion. To her, freedom was something that both humans and dogs cling to get self-satisfaction and determination, but while it may seem to exist, freedom was never in existence. When Kaltag commented about Balto being so free at the time he was living in the trawler, being without a collar or a human owner, Kembala objected, saying that he was restricted due to the ridicule that he got from the other dogs. He was restricted because his wolfish heritage dampened his spirits, as well as his social life. Therefore, even when he wasn’t owned by anybody, he was still tied by an invisible chain. Since no human would feed him at the time, he would have to look and hunt for food himself. Later, when he lived with Rosy, he was being fed, but still he was restricted because he became dependent on them to bring them food. Because of this case and others, Kembala argued, freedom never actually existed, despite its existence in the thoughts of the vast majority.

Two days after the terrifying incident with their pups, Jenna and Balto decided to take their pups with them to the Old Mill around dusk. Because of the dognapping, Jenna and Balto were more protective of their pups, and taking them to the Old Mill was a case in point, for they rarely take them there. Jenna was still a little unnerved due the confrontation with Band, and Balto had several bandages wrapped around his body. His wounds were still sore, but he was healing. Upon entering the Old Mill, they spotted Steele gnawing on a small steak bone, and the sounds of bone cracking and the smell of meat perked up Balto’s hunger. Meanwhile, Kaltag and Star were near the back end of the room, carrying on a conversation and were oblivious to Balto’s family coming in. Nikki, sitting beside Kaltag, greeted them from a short distance, but decided not to walk over to them. He had finally gotten his cast out (for about two weeks now), but his leg was still too weak to be of much good for now. On the center of the room were five other dogs: Sylvie, Dixie, Kembala, Jared, and Nathaniel, a German Shepherd with poor hearing on his right side.

"Hey Balto!" Dixie greeted him. "You going okay?"

Balto nodded as he and his family settled in a small haystack on one corner of the room. "Fine, thanks. I think these bandages will come off in another couple of days. I heal fast. What about you?"

Dixie shrugged. "Oh, I’m just gossiping with the others. We’re expecting to meet a newcomer here soon. I met him when he first got here, and he seems nice. Quite charming, I tell ya."

Sylvie chuckled as the Afghan hound strode beside Dixie. "Charming, indeed. The first thing he said to Dixie was some comment about her collar. She fell for it immediately."

Dixie rose her muzzle high to further expose her sparkling collar that shone of false diamonds (although Dixie thought they were real). "What’s wrong with a compliment about my beautiful collar? I thought that was nice of him," she said, rather offended.

"I didn’t say that he wasn’t," Sylvie replied back. "But don’t you think he’s doing this a rather too fast?"

Dixie gasped. "What, you actually believed that he was trying to woo me or something? He was just being a gentledog!"

Sylvie rolled up her eyes. "Whatever. I give up. Just remember that you already have one suitor," she said, motioning her eyes to Star’s direction.

Dixie grinned. "I know. I wonder how he would react once he sees this Lundehund coming in and-"

"A what?" Jenna interrupted with a puzzled face.

"A Lundehund," Dixie repeated. "He said that there’s another name for it. Norwegian Puffin Dog, whatever that means. What’s a puffin, anyway?"

Balto shrugged, but Steele looked at her from his bone and chuckled. "Probably one that puffs in something. Get it? Ha, ha, ha, ha!!!"

Although Jared and Kembala laughed at his joke, the others didn’t and Jenna rolled up her eyes. Embarrassed, Steele shut himself up and went back to his bone. Balto quietly chuckled so that his former enemy won’t hear it.

"What’s his name?" Jenner asked, almost asleep like Kala.

Dixie pondered to remember, but only shrugged. "I don’t know. I forgot to ask him. We’ll know eventually."

"Drake," a male dog from behind suddenly spoke. "My name is Drake."

Dixie and Sylvie turned to face the newcomer in front of the door. He seemed quite young, with a strong compact build and a short rough coat. His fur color was mainly black, but hints of white patches could be found, and one patch of brown covered the front of the muzzle. He was just as short as Dixie, and his thick black tail swayed silently as he smiled. Two sunny globes focused onto Dixie and Sylvie.

"My apologies for forgetting to inform you of my name, although you both are at fault as well," he said in a medium-pitched voice that had hints of suave as he walked up to them.

Dixie chuckled, slightly embarrassed. "Oh right, we forgot to tell you our names. I’m Dixie, and my friend next to me is Sylvie."

Drake’s smile grew wider as he swept one of his paws (which seemed to look odd to Sylvie) under one of Dixie’s paws and lifted it up. "Ah, such a beautiful name for a beautiful dog," he said softly as he kissed the paw that he had lifted. Dixie stifled a giggle and then bowed.

"Thank you Drake," she said in a rather girlish tone. At the back of the room, Star’s ears perked up in surprise. Balto chuckled, but upon seeing Star’s reaction, he grew nervous.

"I don’t mean to sound insulting, but you have weird paws," Sylvie remarked as she looked at his paws with puzzling eyes.

Dixie stamped her paw as she gave her friend a hot glare. "Sylvie!!"

Drake chuckled. "It’s alright. In comparison to most of the other breeds, Lundehunds like me have strange paws." He then lifted up one of his paws to give Sylvie and Dixie a closer look. Drake was indeed correct. His paws had six toes, which almost made Sylvie squirm at the sight of it. Also, two dew claws, not one, poked out above the toes.

"H-How…"

"Please, let me explain, dear Dixie," Drake responded as he laid down his paw. "Like all dogs of my kind, I was made to climb sheer cliffs. To aid my climbing ability, I have these extra joints and toes."

Jenna walked over to him, her eyes focused on his paws, studying them. "But why climb cliffs?"

Drake’s eyes grew wide. "To hunt for puffins, of course!"

"What’s a puffin, anyway?"

The dog looked at Jenna with a quizzing look. "What, you don’t know what they are?"

Jenna shook her head. "I have no idea."

"Hmmm… they’re birds. Short and fat ones, with large beaks. I guess I won’t be staying here long, since puffins might not be around here. My father told me that my breed existed mainly for hunting these birds, so I’m like a fish out of water here."

Dixie sat down, utterly amazed about him. "Wow, you climb sheer cliffs like Balto runs on dog sledding teams. Was there a time when you became scared that you would fall?"

"Yes, of course. I remember my first time on it very well. But shall we go on with the introductions before I tell my tale?"

Dixie stood up quicker than the eye could see. "Oh yes, of course!" She remarked rapidly and already energetic. "Follow me!"

As Dixie introduced the newcomer to the other dogs, Jenna shifted herself back beside her mate and her sleeping pups. She gave Balto a sly look. "He seems to be one in a million, all right."

"And the dogs said I was weird," Balto replied, his eyes still on Star. The dog was often cheery though a bit timid, but when Drake came to introduce himself to him, Balto saw a rather disdainful look on Star’s eyes. "I don’t know about him and Dixie though. I think Star doesn’t have a liking toward him."

Jenna grunted in reply. "Jealousy. I hope that won’t make him do something that he would regret. Still, Dixie won’t fall for Drake’s compliments if he really was trying to woo her. She knows that Star is in love with her, and she’s mature enough not to break his heart. Although I hope she’s mature enough."

As the minutes grew to hours, Balto and the other dogs, with the exception of Star and Kaltag, which continued on their conversation, and Steele, whom wasn’t finished with his bone, listened to Drake’s stories about his days in another cold terrain far away, where he was born. His homeland had more rocky ground, with a roaring ocean and sheer cliffs that shot up from the ground to such heights that from the bottom, it looked like they could touch the sky. His father was a legend among the canine community in his small town, being an expert climber and he had once caught twenty puffins in two days. Drake adored his father and desperately wanted to follow in his pawsteps, but according to his father, the interest among humans to hunt puffins had declined, and the Lundehund population was dragged downward with it.

Three months ago, Drake was shocked to find that he was to be transported to a new place, without his father. He was so stubborn to stay that when it was time for him to be boarded on the plane, his owner had to drag him to the plane slowly. He howled in despair during most of the trip, for he knew at the back of his mind that he would never see his father again. As for the purpose of the transportation, he believed it was because another colony of puffins were found in the area he was going to, but now, he wasn’t so sure anymore.

Using a natural ability of tale telling, he astonished the dogs with his stories, for they have never gone outside of Alaska, although Kembala’s team of mail carriers had gotten close to Russia. As all of this was going on, Balto kept a steady eye on Star. Although he was mostly chatting with Kaltag, Star would occasionally glance away to send a dagger-like glare at Drake from the distance. Balto shook his head in disbelief. It looks like a talk will be needed once the social hour is over, he thought.

As Drake concluded his stories for the night, the crowd of dogs decided it was time to head home, for the sun was gone and darkness swallowed the illumination of day to the bare minimum. Even though their owners knew that their dogs would be out by this time, they usually became worried if the dogs didn’t come home before going to bed.

Dixie breathed out a heavy sigh, her eyes drooping in exhaustion. "Whew, I think I stayed up longer than I should."

"My apologies for keeping you from your must-needed sleep," Drake replied back, his eyes and mind still fully alert.

Dixie stood up and waved her paw in a no-need-to-apologize gesture. "I can always sleep late and catch up, so to speak. Farewell, Drake. I had a fun time listening to your wonderful stories. You’re such an adventurer!"

The Lundehund blushed, if dogs were capable of doing so. "Ah, I was just doing my job. I’m sure dog sledding is just as much as an adventure. From what I know, you guys are not affected by the one thing that is my greatest enemy."

"Which is?"

"Gravity, of course," Drake answered with a smirk on his face.

Dixie laughed so hard that her sides hurt. "Very funny, Drake! Goodbye."

Drake bowed courteously. "Farewell, milady. I look forward to seeing you again."

With that he turned around and headed out. Dixie made another sigh and headed out in another direction to her home. The other dogs soon followed suit, but when Star was just about to leave, Balto stopped him.

"What is it?"

"Wait till all the other dogs leave," Balto replied. "I want to speak with you privately."

Star cringed a little as he sat down. "Is this about Dixie and that dog?"

"Yes," Balto answered quietly, and waited till the last dog left out of sight.

"Look," Star spoke before Balto could start. "I know that I shouldn’t be jealous, but I just can’t help it. Didn’t you see the way Drake was treating her?" He asked with a tone of growing disgust. "He can’t just waltz into town and woo the first lady he meets! He’s got to be a complete moron to do that!"

"He’s not a moron and you know it," Balto snapped, although still calm. "Drake had no idea that you are in love with Dixie at the time, and he still doesn’t know. All you have to do is to tell him that you are in love with her, and he seems mature enough to understand and accept that."

"You don’t know him that much. If I just simply barge into his face and warn him to stay off of her, he will think I’m some sort of control freak with a jealousy streak or something."

"Is doing this worth the risk? You don’t know him as much as I do as well. Besides, you heard him say that he might only be here temporarily, probably."

Star scoffed. "Yeah… probably. What if he ends up staying here for good? Huh? What if that happens?"

"If you let him be deceived into believing that you have no problem with him wooing Dixie and complimenting and all that, then it would be too late at a time too soon."

Star was a bit puzzled at his words, so Balto explained again. "If Drake actually wants to be a suitor to Dixie, then he will continue on doing what he just did, as long as he believes that Dixie is not in love with anyone. If you let him be deceived like this long enough, then by the time you finally gather up the courage to tell him that you are in love with Dixie, he might accuse you of jealousy and trying to ruin his ‘relationship’ with her. Let him know about this before the real messy parts start. You got that?"

Star was still a bit hesitant. "What if Dixie got a hold of this? She might be mad at me for doing that! I don’t believe she thinks that Drake was trying to become her suitor."

"Maybe he’s really not. Maybe he’s really just being polite."

"A bit too polite to me," Star replied, still in his disgusted tone. "Well, okay, I’ll wait, for just a little while. If I know for sure that Drake is trying to become her mate, then I’ll tell him to back off. It’s risky, but I’ll do it."

Balto nodded, although he wanted him to tell Drake about it immediately. "Fine then."

Star stood up and with a farewell nod, he walked off, leaving Balto alone in the Old Mill. Soon afterwards, just after Balto himself had left, a third dog that Balto and Star had failed to notice had left also, her mind filled with the recent conversation that was really supposed to be private.

Meanwhile, in another corner of Nome, two Siberian huskies, one a few seconds older than her sister, marched casually down a silent and dark road, their paws taking them to their house aimlessly. They were newcomers to Nome, and though they were often high-spirited, the darkness and the fear of the unknown had crippled them into silent souls.

"Are we close to home yet?" The husky almost behind her sister whimpered, her eyes scanning the dark houses with fear. Being the younger of the two, she felt dependant on her sister, but her sister was feeling the need to depend on something as well.

"Pretty close… I think," was her nervous sister’s reply.

"Ahoy there!" A voice out of nowhere burst into their ears. With a simultaneous short scream, the two sisters jumped in fright, and then twisted and turned their heads and bodies to find where the stranger was. They spotted him just ahead of them. Under the darkness, they could see it was a white malamute coming at them, wearing piercing blue eyes and a smile.

"Um, um, stay away," the older sister barked back, retreating back.

"Aw, I won’t hurt you," the malamute said. "I can be your friend. Aren’t you lost?"

"We can find our way home," she defied. "We don’t need your help."

The younger sister slapped her on the hind leg. "Hey, give him a break! Maybe he can lead us to the house."

The malamute came up to close to them, though he kept a respectable distance. "I know my way around here. Surely I can help you."

The husky sighed, and upon seeing her younger sister’s urgency in her eyes, she gave in. "Okay then. Our house is close by the Boiler Room."

The malamute answered that with a grimace. "Oooh, that’s all the way to the other side of town here. Why are you in this spot?"

"Oh, my younger sister wanted to explore and it took us longer than we thought. What’s your name?"

"Albert," the malamute lied. Even though he had guessed that they were newcomers, they might already have been warned about a malamute named Band. "Follow me then. I’ll show you to your house then. How long have you been here?"

"We arrived this morning," the same husky replied as she followed him alongside her sister. "From a town called Killdeer Pike, which is quite a ways from here. I don’t know why I have allowed my sister to explore all the way till dark. We don’t know this town, and I might have already forgotten what the Boiler Room looks like. For one thing, the door to this room was closed so we couldn’t get in, and no dogs came to us what the Boiler Room looks like or why it’s there. We only overheard from the humans that we live close by it."

Band’s grin grew wider. Ah, that’s good that you don’t know. I can use it for my advantage. "Ah, I see. Well, the Boiler Room is a place only for dogs to relax in."

"You’re kidding me, right? The humans built that place only for dogs?"

"I’m not joking. Dogs are regarded to be almost priceless here. The Boiler Room is the place to go if the dogs are cold."

The younger sister laughed. "Oh, that’s got to be a joke. Our fur can keep us warm even in a blizzard!"

"I know," Band agreed. "That’s why I rarely go there. That kind of place makes me soft, so to stay hard-willed and strong, I live in the woods. The dogs here have their freedom oppressed by the humans, and they are disillusioned enough to actually accept it."

"If you live in the woods, then why are you here?"

"Oh it’s not like I’m banished from here or anything," the malamute lied. "I have friends here and I sometimes visit them."

The younger sister shivered with excitement. "Oooh, that must be exciting. You in the woods without an owner. Gosh, you must have the most freedom of all the canines here."

Her sister rolled up her eyes. "Oh please!"

Band laughed. "Oh, I do have to hunt and sometimes when I fail, I have to go hungry. But I still prefer it to being dependent on the human scum to feed me. What are your names, anyway?"

"I’m Shella, and my younger sister here is Elizabeth," the husky replied.

"You can call me Liz," the dog suggested in a rather girlish tone.

Shella blew out a breath of disgust. "Are you already flirting with this dog?" She whispered to her sister. "Give me a break here!"

"I’m not doing that!" Elizabeth shot back. "I just like the name Liz better than Elizabeth. It’s easier for me and the others to say my name."

"You’re just lazy," Shella replied back. Her sister just scoffed.

For the next several minutes, they followed ‘Albert’ through the dark snow-capped roads and between dark houses till they reached a room which illuminated and radiating with heat. Next to the room was a larger building with lighted rooms, and it seemed too big for a house. Shella breathed out in relief.

"I remember this place. We’re home, Elizabeth."

"Ah, good. Thank you very much for guiding us, Albert."

Band’s grin was ever charming. "No problem. However if you don’t mind, I would like to show you what the Boiler Room looks like, since you never came in there."

"No thanks for me," Shella flatly refused. "I’m exhausted."

"I’ll come with ya," Elizabeth said eagerly. "That is, if my bossy sister doesn’t mind."

Shella gave her a hot glare, but she was too tired to argue. "I’m giving you ten minutes with him, or I’ll come looking for you, and then I will never again leave you unattended."

"Oh you’re always so over-protective. Come along, Albert. I’m anxious to see this place."

Band nodded and led her into the Boiler Room as Shella watched them, still quite nervous on leaving her sister with a dog that she still considered a stranger. As soon as they disappeared into the room, she nested upon the front steps of her house, and curled up into a ball before nodding off to sleep.

"Wow, it feels so warm here," Elizabeth remarked as she and the one she called Albert settled down close by the boiler. The over towering machine radiated heat upon the dogs, and Band grunted at remembering the last time he was here. It was in this place where Jenna slapped him in the face all those months ago.

"Yeah. It’s easy to be spoiled here. I used to enjoy this place, before I noticed the evil behind it."

"Evil? But this seems so relaxing. How can it be evil?"

"Evil doesn’t always serve the purpose of harming others. It can deceive you into believing that it will benefit you, but in truth, it does not. When I learned the evil of this place, I tried to warn the other dogs here, but they called me a fool, and so with my only friend, I escaped this place. Even though I visit this town sometimes, it’s only because of my friends and family that had refused to come with me to live in the woods. I accepted that, for there is nothing I can actually do to convince them to escape the sloth-encouraging town of Nome."

Elizabeth nodded, and then gasped as Band laid a paw on her foreleg softly. The malamute watched her with warm blue eyes and there was sense of pleading in them. "Liz, I know that I have only met you, but I don’t want you to suffer like the other dogs here. In fact, I wanted you to come with me to here for a purpose. I have a request."

The husky was a little shocked, but she was curious. "What is it?"

"I want you to come with me to my home in the woods," he answered with his best grin. "Together we can be truly free. You will never have to wear a scratchy collar that doesn’t show your identification, but rather the proof that you are a slave. You can eat real food in the woods, not the artificial dry food that had been stained by human hands."

Elizabeth chuckled. "But we just met!"

"I know, I know. I may seem to go too fast here, but I just can’t stand to see yet another innocent soul to be contaminated by the sinful muck in this town. Please make your decision quickly, for the time now is best."

"But what about my sister?"

"Forget about your sister!" Band snapped. "She’s already spiritually dead; killed by the evil that had struck her early," he said as he walked close to the door and peeked out. "She’s sleeping now. We can sneak out. Will you come with me? With me, your life will be much better than the snobbish dogs here."

Because Band’s words were very convincing and she had already wanted to experience living in the wild for some time now, it took only a few seconds to make her decision. "I’ll go with you."

"Perfect, my dear Liz. We leave now," Band answered, and then swiftly left the room. Elizabeth followed him out, and upon seeing her sleeping sister she stopped.

"Sorry sis, but I think it will be better for me to go with him. I’m truly sorry," she whispered, and at the urgency of the malamute, she ran off into the darkness, and Shella had lost one sister.

"Now where in the world did my sister go?"

--Shella, husky resident of Nome, Alaska

"Rosalina? You here?" Draco called out as he stood in front of the Irish Setter’s cabin several blocks away from his home. No one came out of the house, and Draco felt a pang of disappointment.

"She’s over by the stream," A voice from behind made the chinook jump. Draco turned to find a thick-furred collie watching him, a grin on his face.

"Oh…" Draco replied with a sigh. "You scared me, Jason."

"Sorry about that," Jason replied plainly. "Why are you looking for her?"

"She just broke up with Band, and I have a strong feeling that Band might hurt her soon."

Jason uttered a gasp of shock. "I just saw him this morning in the forest as well!"

"What?" Draco shot back, eyes wide with a sudden worry and fear. "C’mon, let’s find her!"

Jason quickly nodded as he followed Draco in a run into the woods, desperate to find Rosalina before Band would.

However, both Draco and Jason were already too late.

Two blue malamute eyes spied Rosalina as she lay down beside the stream, trying to gather all the peace in her mind after yesterday’s turmoil. She had finally gathered enough courage to break up with the one that she now considered to be a creep, but would she pay the consequences? Would the slap to her face be just a preview of things to come? Her face was still sore from that hard slap, and she didn’t look forward to further beatings.

"What have I done?" Rosalina muttered softly to herself. "He said he was going to change; to reform himself, and I was stupid enough to believe him. And now that I have learned the error of my ways and broke up with that bastard, will I pay a price?"

Footsteps from behind trickled into her ears, shooting her alertness straight up. She stood and pivoted her body around, only to growl on who was walking toward her. "Band… what the Hell are you doing here?"

The malamute was still fuming, but his behavior was more on the pleading side. "I’m willing to give you a second chance, my love."

Rosalina’s growl grew in volume. "No more chances, Band. We are finished. Our relationship is over. Why don’t you let that get into your thick skull?"

This time, it was Band who growled. "Don’t you see that I’m helpless without you? I need you!"

"Save your breath for some other dumb dog. Perhaps the main reason why I fell for you was because you promised that you would change. It’s obvious that you didn’t, so once everyone hears about this, then only the newest of newcomers would fall for your so-called charming words," the Setter shot back coldly. "So why don’t you just turn around, direct your brain to use those legs of yours, and get out of my sight?"

Band bared his fangs at her. "You piece of slime! You must have half a brain if you think I can back off this easily! You’re mine, Rose! We are destined to be together and I swear if anyone dares to prevent that, I will twist their necks!"

Rosalina’s eyes stared daggers at her former lover. "You don’t own me, Band. If you’re smart, you would stay out of my life and leave me alone. You have to realize that I won’t accept you back anymore. This is the end, Band."

"Are you sure, Rose? No second chances?"

"I say this for the last time: no second chances. Please accept that."

Band’s sky eyes narrowed, and his growl had a demonic touch to it. A cold chill ran up the Setter’s spine, and that forced her legs to retreat back a few steps. "Well,… if I can’t have you… no one can."

It sounded too much like a death threat, but Rosalina was too angry and afraid at his presence to realize that at first. "Huh? What are you talking about Band?"

Without warning, Band leaped at her, and a scream echoed across the forest as malamute fangs punctured into Rosalina’s flesh. The frantic Irish Setter lifted her front legs up, hoping to break loose from Band’s death grip on her neck, but the control-crazed canine held on. They splashed onto the stream, spraying droplets into the air like small geysers, and guttural growls mixed in with panicky screams filled the air. A sense of glee brightened Band’s eyes as he tasted blood, and turning his neck, he forced Rosalina onto the ground, pinning her into the water. Bubbles flashed into view as Rosalina’s head became submerged, her legs splashing water in all directions as they flay out aimlessly.

After just moments, Rosalina’s legs declined in speed, till finally she went limp. A last burst of bubbles spewed out her mouth as she uttered her last breath, and her eyes rolled up before they closed for eternity. Band released his death grip on her, and sat down behind her, grinning.

"Sorry I had to do that, my love. But it’s for your own good. You won’t be happy with any other dog besides me, anyway."

With his eyes still fixed on the dead Irish Setter, Band stood up on all fours and retreated slowly, half in pleasure and half in mourning. "Farewell, dear Rosalina. I shall see you in the afterlife, where your mind can be purified and you would finally realize that you’re meant to be by my side forever," he said softly, barely above a whisper. As a finishing touch, he bent his head down and kissed her head that was still partly submerged. The wet fur tickled his nose, but he was unfazed by it. "Farewell."

With that last quote, he turned around, just as his ears caught rustling among the nearby bushes. Startled, he glanced toward to source of the sound, and spotted his friend bursting out into view.

Draco uttered a short scream of shock as his eyes caught the image of a dead Irish Setter close by Band, and with his eyes wide, he glanced at the malamute. "Band! What happened?"

"I let her free," Band simply grumbled.

Draco had to blink several times to digest what he was seeing. A hard lump developed in his throat as he learned the horrible truth. The blood flowing on the stream, Band’s lack of remorse, the speckles of blood on the malamute’s muzzle. He knew what had happened, and it was definitely not what he wanted to expect.

The chinook shook his head slowly, still in a state of shock. "Band… WHY?"

Band walked up close to him, ignoring Rosalina as he passed by her. "I had to do it, Draco. There was no other way around it."

Anger arose out of his grief. "What? Of course there is! You should have left her alone! You’re crazy, Band! You are f--"

Draco grimaced as an enraged white-furred paw smacked him on the side of his face. He stumbled sideways and his legs buckled from under him. He fell onto the dirt; a small cut on his muzzle.

He could only cower as Band stormed up to him enraged. "I am not insane!!! Don’t you ever call me crazy!" He yelled, and then stopped, breathing heavily in sheer madness.

Draco slowly got up, his muzzle hurting from the slap. It was the last time Band had actually slapped him, but for numerous times in the future, Draco felt fear whenever Band threatened to harm him. Now that he was capable of killing, Draco felt even more fearful toward him.

"What are you doing here, anyway?" Band asked, his eyes fuming with declining anger.

"I was searching for Rosalina," Draco quickly replied.

To his horror, Band grinned. "Looks like you’re too late. Did anyone else go with you?"

"The collie Jason. He’s on the other side of the forest for as all I know."

"Good. We must leave this place now, or collie blood will be spilled today. I want no witnesses. Draco, if anyone tells you what happened to Rose, then lie. If the word of me killing her came around, then I swear my eyes will be the last things you will see. ¿Comprendé?" He spat out, ending with a mocking attempt of using Esperanza’s accent.

Draco bowed his head, his eyes watery in depression. "Yes, Band…"

"Good. Now go," Band said and then turned tail and ran. As the murderer scrambled away, Draco maintained his position, and his head slowly rose to glance at Rosalina.

"I’m so sorry…," he said with a choking voice, and then slowly walked away, leaving the body of Rosalina to be found by anguished humans two days later.

As the stars sparkled above the small cabin mountain community, Draco slumped onto his bed of blankets, his empty stomach demanding to be filled. It growled continuously, but his ears turned deaf toward it. Dozens of questions, none of them jocund, warped through his mind like a swirling tornado, and his depression, guilt, and disbelief did not benefit the situation at hand. Now Band is a killer. Who will be next? Will keeping this murder silent be the right thing for me to do? Or will I be damned because of it? Why not would I be? Why am I still with Band? Is the chance of him reforming lost now, for he had caused the death of another one of his kin? Or do I still have a chance at finally making him see the light that all that he’s doing is wrong? Will he ever notice the error of his ways that would eventually doom him in both physical and spiritual means before it would be too late? Should I give up and become his enemy, for he had crossed the invisible line of morality? Or should I give him another chance and receive the brunt of guilt and despair attacks, along with depression and fear? Will doing so benefit or harm me? How would it affect the other dogs? Will trying to solve all of these questions make me crack and become insane like a rabid fox? Or not?

"AAAARGHH!!!" Draco yelled out in sheer frustration, letting loose a brief tantrum of anger. He stamped a tawny-furred paw onto the wooden planks of the floor, and bellowed out another loud sigh. "Why? Why? Why?"

He snuggled himself tighter onto the blankets, trying to ease his tensing muscles with little success. "Curse you…," he muttered.

And so, amid the coolness and serenity of night, a chinook wept.

"A coyote killed her. That’s the apparent truth."

--Draco, chinook resident of Pine Cove

When Balto came home with his wounds healed and his bandages thrown away, Jenna knew that the time to enforce justice had come. She could see the determination for revenge and justice in his eyes as he spread the news that a special meeting would be held in the Old Mill tonight. Though the other dogs had to ask him what the meeting was going to be about, Jenna needed no explanation. If all went well, there would two less canine residents in the forest. Or so Jenna hoped.

The air became thick with tension as the dogs gathered in the Old Mill that night. Balto hoped that all of the dogs would agree with him to march straight to the forest and hunt Band and Bitey down, once and for all. However, from the look of some of the dogs, he might be opposed. As soon as the welcoming greetings (not as jubilant as usual) had honed down, Balto took center stage to make his plans known. The dogs, twenty strong, sat or laid in a semicircle facing Balto, their silence broken only by the wind outside.

Balto cleared his throat before beginning. "As I told you all earlier today, we are here to develop a plan to conquer over the two dogs that had become our biggest thorn in recent weeks and months. When we banished Band and Bitey from this town, I had somewhat trusted him to stay out, but that was broken months later, and I have no idea how many times they have trespassed to here before the fire incident."

Balto paused a moment to glance at the floor, his mind developing words that would hopefully convince the skeptical dogs to follow his plan, if there were any in the first place. "I have been living here for more than three years. First as an outcast and now as a respected resident. You know what I have done for you and the people of this town, so right now I implore you to trust what I am going to say next, and for you to follow my plan, despite the risks and difficulties that comes with it. During my existence here, we have banished only four dogs from this town. First it was Steele, for endangering the anti-toxin mission and the lives of the children," he said as he looked at Steele. The malamute paused to glance at the other dogs, but seeing that they had not really reacted to it, he let it pass.

Balto continued on. "And there was also Roland, for the murder of one of the canine residents in this town. And then there’s Band and Bitey, for taking my mate hostage and committing numerous crimes that harm our well being and even existence at times. However, we have forgiven Steele and he had come back to us as a resident of this town once more. Roland, sadly, died under mysterious causes soon after his banishment. But Band and Bitey had ignored the sentences that we have laid upon them. They mocked us by showing up here, knowing that they had just defied their banishment and had illegally stepped foot in here. Like a thorn, they had attacked us and disrupted the peace that we try so hard to maintain, and before we could stop them, they would turn away and run like the cowards that they are."

The former outcast’s eyes narrowed, and his voice now carried a sense of anger and even a tint of hatred, ending with a growl. "When they were banished the first time for trying to steal Jenna away from me, I tolerated their mere existence. When they almost kidnapped one of my pups, I continued to tolerate them. When Band crashed through the window and confronted Jenna, even then, I tolerated their lives being continued. But when they almost killed my best friend and then dognapped my two pups, my patience had ran out." He then raised his right paw to his head. "I had had up to HERE with that white-furred slime and his sniveling friend. Of course, they must be stopped, but this time… this time, I won’t tolerate them living anymore. No more chances for them. It’s time for us to preserve the peace once and for all. It’s time to seal the fates of Band and Bitey."

A murmur arose among the audience, and one of them, the German shepherd Nathaniel, spoke out. "Wait a minute here! We banished Roland because he committed a murder. Now you are telling us to hunt down Band and Bitey and make it our turn to commit murder? Yes, I know that they had caused a lot of trouble here, but they are still dogs like us. Is it ethnical for us to be the killers?"

"What other choice do we have?" Kaltag replied back, followed by murmurs of agreement. "If we just leave them be like we have numerous times in the past, then the harassment will go on, and on, and on. It doesn’t take to have a cat’s brain to know that they have obviously no respect to our boundaries, and as long as they come here as much as they please, then we will never be safe."

This time it was Jared’s turn to speak up. "So we preserve the peace by killing two dogs? Do you want to know what will happen once the other dogs hear the news that we have actually headed outside of Nome to hunt down two canines like us? What will be next? Public humiliation?"

"You’re blowing it out of proportion," Jenna shot back. "This is much better than sitting around and let Band and Bitey make the last laugh and test our tolerance and patience. Kaltag is right. We have very little choice in this matter. Either you agree with Balto to hunt those fiends down, or you disagree and stay here. Even if all of you disagree, Balto and I will try to hunt them down ourselves."

Dixie stood up on all fours, her ears perked up in shock. "You can’t be serious! Those fellas know the forest much better than we do. They almost killed you two, and this time around, I believe they will not give you any more chances, Jenna."

"Despite the fact that I was almost killed, Band will not just simply march up and murder me. Like I said, he’s too predictable. He won’t try to kill me at the first second, or in the first minute for that matter. I’m the only one who has the chance to stall him, and we can take advantage of that."

"If we are to hunt them down, how exactly are we going to do it?" Steele asked, intrigued as well as anxious. Like Balto and Jenna, Steele had a personal grudge against Band.

"Basically, we leave Nome at first light and just simply chase them down. If they want to fight us, we will not hesitate to give them a fight. If they turn tail and run, then we will chase them at our top speed. Somehow, we must make sure that in the end, they will never come out of the forest alive."

Once more, the divided murmurs revived. Kembala shook her head with worried eyes. "Too risky. Dixie is right about them knowing the territory more than we do. We have gone through the forest before, but only in duty or temporary leisure. Band and Bitey live there, so they have more time to know the place and could navigate around even when they’re blindfolded. They know the traps, escape routes, and dead ends. We however don’t, and they surely know that."

"I know it is a great risk for us to do this, but I honestly believe that we must do it," Balto replied. "We will start tomorrow morning at the northern edge of town. If you wish to join with Jenna and I, then we will be more than happy to accept you, for that’s what we want. If you wish to stay, then I won’t object. I’m sure you have reasons for your fears, and I won’t hold anything against you if you back out."

"Count me in, Balto. I want to be there when Band utters his last laugh. That is, until I rip open his throat."

Balto simply nodded in return. "However, I want Dixie to stay here and protect my pups. If our hunt went wrong and Band made it to Nome before we do, then we must have some form of protection--"

Dixie was all against it. "What? Why me? I don’t stand a chance against that dog!"

"You don’t need to fight him directly," Jenna said in replication. "Since Kala and Jenner will be in Rosy’s house, her family might be around with them, and they should be more than enough help to you. Besides, all of you have to do is to cry out an alarm, and Band, knowing that he’s in forbidden territory, would just run away."

"I’ll stay with her," Star spoke up. "I’m not cut out against them anyway."

"You all sleep on this, and make your decision before the morning comes," Balto said. "This meeting is adjourned, and I would suggest that we sleep in earlier. We need the extra rest."

"Sure you want to go with us, Drake?" Kaltag asked him at the northern side of Nome. Although it was not surprising for Steele, Kaltag, Nikki, and even Kembala to show up along with Balto and Jenna, Drake was the first to make a surprise appearance, for he was a newcomer and had no idea whom Band was.

The Lundehund simply nodded. "Of course. Although this Band character had done nothing directly that deserves any malicious intentions from me, he had laid harm on those that I now consider to be friends, and that I will not tolerate."

"You have a quaint way of speaking," Steele retorted, who was circling around the group, impatient and anxious at the same time.

Drake chuckled. "Ah, that is just my style of speech. I have brothers who speak just like you, and because I cling to individualism like glue, I have taught myself to speak differently from them. I have no intentions of the kind to belittle you, but I believe your style of speech is too general for anyone to claim individualism through the use of language. I may be false, but my mind is stubborn on most issues and beliefs."

"I think you speak wonderfully," Dixie said as she walked up to the group from behind. "Good morning, fellas. I’m just here to bid farewell, for I have a strange feeling that one or two of you might not come back."

Her words laid a sudden gloom spell over the group, and after several moments of silence, Balto spoke up. "I hope that won’t be the case. Where is Star?"

"Right here!" Star exclaimed as he puffed and huffed his way to the group. When he stopped, his tongue rolled out tiredly and his lungs inflated and deflated quickly. "I was in a hurry to get here. I wanted to say goodbye too."

Steele nodded and grumbled. "Only seven dogs to be in the hunt? Out of twenty that showed up at yesterday’s meeting? Good grief."

"I think that will be enough," Balto said and then smirked. "I can always call for help in the form of my wild kin."

Steele rolled up his eyes and scoffed. "Ha! Who needs those wolves? I certainly don’t."

"Whatever you say," Balto replied and then turned to Dixie and Star. "Please protect Jenner and Kala well. After what happened the last time that I confronted Band, Jenna and I might not be able to recover emotionally if they were stolen from us again and this time they would be killed. Even if we did, it will be a very slow progress."

Star raised up his muzzle in a proud stance. "I will protect them with my life. You can depend on me. I will die for them if necessary."

"I hope that won’t be the case Star," Kaltag replied with a grin. "Otherwise I will miss knocking you silly on the head."

Star laughed and shook his head. "Don’t worry, I’ll be careful. Farewell guys. Good hunting."

Balto nodded. "Good luck to you too. Don’t get in any love spats, you hear?"

Dixie tried hard to stifle a chuckle, and Star shrunk a little, blushing in embarrassment. Star waved goodbye and then left. Dixie would have followed him immediately, but Drake stopped her just as she turned away.

"Even though my stay here has been brief, I have enjoyed your company. For that, I send you my compliments," the Lundehund said with a bow.

"Goodbye Drake. You’re a good dog, and whenever you drop by here in the future, please see me. I just love the way you talk," Dixie said with a smile.

Drake grinned and made a quick bow. After Dixie waved her own farewell and left, Balto cleared his throat.

"Okay fellas, let’s do it. This is something that should have been done a very long time ago."

With those words, the seven canine hunters left the boundaries of Nome and at their top speed, they headed toward the forest, where they hoped to confront the prey that they wanted so bad to destroy.

"Is my jealousy making me overreact on this, or am I right all along?"

--Star, resident of Nome, Alaska

Being accustomed to living under a roof, Elizabeth felt a little uncomfortable sleeping inside a den amid a mysterious forest. The husky was used to a hay-stacked bed or a couple of blankets with an occasional pillow, not to a bed of fish and rabbit leftovers, dirt, and rocks. Also, since she had never hunted wild game or fished before, it was left up to Band to feed her, and he doesn’t always welcome the extra responsibilities. Elizabeth felt disappointed at this bad start of living in the wild, but after a week, she was still stubborn on not going back to Nome, which Band viewed as a very evil place full of sin. Elizabeth became a victim of Band’s influence and his charming grin, and the worse part about it was that she didn’t even want to believe that she was a victim in the first place.

On the day that her life would change forever, Elizabeth waited patiently for Band to come back with breakfast, smelling the breezy air as she lay inside the den, with only her head and paws sticking out of the entrance. She hoped to get pheasant this time, for she preferred those above the stringy meat of rabbit and mice. However, she learned quickly never to request what she wanted to eat. When she did so for the first and only time, she got a slap across the face as a result. From that point on, she would accept whatever Band had given her, promising her that once she settles in and hunt for herself, she could have whatever she wanted.

Her ears perked up when Band showed up, the tail of a mouse poking out from his mouth. She grumbled in disgust, but she dared not to complain. "Hello Albert. What’s for breakfast?"

Band stood in front of her and spat out the mouse. "Eat and be quiet," he muttered angrily, and stormed off as soon as he came in. The husky sighed and nudged the saliva-soaked rodent with a bored paw. It felt sticky to the touch, and the mauled up mouse sickened her at the sight of it. Alone once more, her hunger overcame her and she calmly bit into the mouse, trying hard to resist the gooey feeling in her mouth. Once more, she wished she could learn to hunt better so that she wouldn’t be this dependant to him. He had taught her a few lessons already, but he seemed uninterested in actually being a teacher. She ignored Bitey from the start, since he had never even spoken a word to her. Only the times when he would rarely speak to Band would prevent her from viewing Bitey as a mute.

A wolf howl rang into her ears and she grew nervous with fright. Devils, as what Band had called them. To him, they were demons that deserved to be exterminated off the face of the planet. Elizabeth absorbed just about everything Band had told her, and as a result, she began to agree and believe his viewpoints on many things.

Suddenly Band rushed back to the den, his eyes showing worry and concern. "Liz, leave this place! Bitey had just found seven dogs from Nome in this forest! I’m very sure they are on their way to here, so you must leave now. Always remember what I told you about them."

"They may appear to be gentle, but don’t believe and trust them. I got it, Albert. Don’t worry about me."

"I’m not," he grumbled urgently. "Now go. Avoid them until they leave, and meet me by the place I showed you two days ago."

"Right," she replied quickly as she stood up, scooping the mouse into her mouth. Wordlessly, she bid farewell to the one she called Albert and ran off, roughly brushing past bushes along the way.

As soon as she left, Band uttered a sharp curse under his breath. "So, the fools had ventured into my territory. They will pay for that! You want to hunt me down, Balto? Go ahead and try!"

Are we sure we are doing the wise thing here? Kembala uneasily muttered in her mind as she trailed the rest of the group across unknown territory in the forest. During her occasional walks through this place, the forest was serene and calmed her nerves. But this was no leisure walk. Now, the forest seemed mysterious and too silent, and it unnerved her. Being in the very back of the group didn’t help her calm down either.

"We should split into two groups," Balto exclaimed at the front of the hunting party. That way we won’t have to face the two of them together, where they would be stronger. Steele and Jenna, follow me. Nikki, you take the lead and Kaltag, Kembala and Drake will follow you. Any disagreements?"

The dogs kept silent, and already they gathered into two groups. Wordlessly, they went their separate ways; Balto’s team went northwest toward the frozen lake, while Nikki’s group went northeast toward rocky ground and Devil’s Cliff, which was a steep cliff that only the best of canine climbers would overtake, and the others lacked the courage to even try it.

"Really? They separated?" Band replied back to his friend just after Bitey told him the latest news from his observations.

Bitey nodded. "Yes. Three and four."

"Who’s with Balto?"

"Jenna and Steele."

Band stamped his paw onto the ground in disappointment. "Damn. You go find those three, while I take care of the other four. Once you do find them, take out Steele first and Balto next. I want Jenna alive, you hear me?"

Bitey nodded again and rushed away in a blur. As soon as the malamute caught his breath, he ran off to find the four hunters led by Nikki.

"Hellooooo???" Steele yelled out under the towering trees. "If you’re listening to me, you smelly white-furred cat, then come out now and fight like a real dog! Come on out, you yellow-bellied punk!"

"Steele!" Jenna snapped back from behind. "I know you want to confront Band badly, but we don’t need to attract more attention than we need."

"Attention?" Steele replied, turning his head back to snatch a look at her. "What kind of attention? Because that wolf den was empty when we got there, Band and Bitey know we are around anyway, and besides, there’s no one around here besides us anyway."

A guttural roar coming from a nearby distance froze the trio hunters on their tracks. They scanned the area, only to find nothing but trees, snow, and bushes. Steele gulped uncharacteristically. "Um… what was that?"

"Sounds like a bear," Balto answered nervously. "A grizzly perhaps."

"See what I mean about unwanted attention, Steele?" Jenna retorted.

Being at the front, Balto’s eyes were the first to spot the huge brown ball of fur lurking just two hundred yards away, coming out from behind a tall hill. Balto had seen a bear only once before, and after that confrontation, he didn’t want to meet another one again.

He retreated back a few steps, and stood alongside Steele, who had just spotted the bear. "Um….let’s get the heck out of here, shall we?"

Steele had already pivoted his paws to turn around. "You’ve read my mind!"

Spotting the intruding canines, the bear roared loudly at them and stood up on its hind legs. Balto had to strain his head up to see its eyes, since the bear must be close to eight feet tall. As the bear went down on all fours and bulldozed his way toward the dogs, the trio screamed in panic and kicked up snow as they tried to escape, their legs being a blur as they burst through the forest.

With the huge brown beast of Death bearing down on them, one of Jenna’s paws caught on a thick tree root and with a yelp of pain, she collapsed onto the snow hard, and rolled a few feet before coming to a stop. Because Balto and Steele were already ahead of her when she fell, they didn’t realize the sudden danger she was in until they were nine yards away when Balto looked back to see his mate just below the bear.

"Jenna!!!" Balto screamed, and screeched into a halt. Horrified, he saw the bear roar just inches from her, and lifted a huge claw to strike her down. Balto obviously wanted to save her, but he was too far away right now. Despite the extreme risks and odds, he turned and burst directly toward the bear in a suicidal rampage.

Just seconds from death, Jenna struggled quickly to stand up and managed to leap away just as the bear claw smashed onto the spot where she was a second ago. The snow sprayed out from the collision, and distracted the bear long enough for Jenna to escape. To further confuse the bear, Balto took advantage of the distraction and leaped at his huge leg.

The bear screamed in pain as wolfish fangs stabbed through the flesh of his leg, and thrust out his claws in retaliation. Balto released his bite and ducked just as a claw buzzed above him, and leaped back from harm’s way. The enraged bear went down on all fours again and stalled a few moments to gather his senses. Just then, Steele went into the fray, leaping onto his back and sank his jaws onto the nape of his head.

Enraged at having three opponents of smaller stature harassing him, the bear shook wildly and threw Steele off, and then with one final roar, he turned away and stormed through the snow till he was out of view.

A grin showed up on the malamute’s face. "Ha! That bear is a wimp!"

"He almost killed me, Steele," Jenna shot back. She then sat down and licked her wounded paw.

"You okay?"

"I’ll survive, Balto. Just got a little cut on my foot, but it’s not threatening. Shall we go on?"

Balto nodded and resumed the hunt, only to stop when Steele sat down. "What are you doing?"

Steele grunted. "I just saved both of your lives and I’m not even thanked for it. Now that’s bad."

Balto rolled up his eyes and stamped his paw onto the snow in frustration. "There is no time for this. You’re acting like a pup here!"

"We’ll thank you later," Jenna remarked in disgust. "Right now we got a white-furred malamute to hunt down, and this behavior of yours will not help us anything. I tell you once more, stop being such a glory hound!"

Steele grunted and stood up, grumbling. "I don’t need your help. I can beat their tails myself! If I can fight off a bear, then surely I can whip Band from one side of the forest to the other! I have beaten him once, and I will surely beat him again!" With a rude flick of his tail, Steele turned his back on them and walked away. Balto growled and tried to follow him, but Jenna stopped him.

"Let him be. We’ll keep a close watch on him, but we don’t really have time to convince him that trying to hunt Band alone will be quite foolish."

Balto sighed and mumbled several curses. "Fine. I do have some respect for him, but I do hope Band will teach him a lesson for not being in a group. Safety in numbers, you know?"

His mate nodded in response and they resumed the hunt, keeping an ear open for any sign of Steele needing their help, or so they hoped. If Steele did manage to beat them both by himself, then Jenna would have to suffer by listening to his countless boasting for years to come.

"Well, here we are," Kaltag announced sarcastically. "Lost and facing a steep cliff. Now what are we going to do?"

Nikki shrugged and looked up. Devil’s Cliff shot up from the ground like a building, and though he knew he would never try to climb up there, the top would be a nice observation point. Also, just a few minutes earlier, Kembala spotted a white dog actually climbing up the cliff, although she failed to identify it. At first she thought it was Band, but then again it could be a white-furred wolf.

"Do we have to climb up here? Maybe Band is up there, but I might be wrong on that." Kembala asked with a groan.

"We don’t have to," Nikki replied. "But there’s no other way to get to the top. Whose will climb it?"

"This is the right job for me," Drake replied confidentially. "Stay here. I’ll inspect the top."

The black Lundehund jumped onto the first rock of the cliff and began his climb up the seemly impossible cliff. Jump after jump, hop after hop, the experienced climber took full advantage of his unique paws as they gripped onto the snowy rocks, and before the dogs knew it, he was almost halfway up the cliff.

He was so high up that Kembala had to retreat back a few steps and strain her neck to keep her eyes on him. "Sheesh, he’s good. We have been marching through this forest for more than two hours, but he’s climbing like he had just woken up after a century-long nap!"

Kaltag grinned. "Wish I could climb like him. Although I would keep my dialect intact. Who knows what would happen if I start speaking like him!"

The group laughed, but Drake was too intent on his climbing to hear them. Humming softly as his paws gripped yet another rock above him, he appeared to be an acrobat, leaping upwards in seemly reckless abandon. Finally, his paws had reached the surface of the cliff, and with a sigh of relief, he poked his head up above the surface.

A white-furred malamute sat just inches from him, and when Drake saw the evil in his blue eyes, he knew that he had just met his enemy. His muzzle went agape in a silent gasp as Band lifted one of his paws and in one hard swoop, smacked him directly on the chin. Drake’s front paws had lost the grip on the surface, and his body threw back as he screamed.

Drake fell, and smashed against a rock directly on the spine. Pain drilled into his mind like stinging darts, and like a log, he continued to roll downwards. The snow sprayed off as the Lundehund collided into rock after rock during his descent, and a rumbling buzzed into his tortured ears as a small avalanche developed. The three other dogs at the bottom screamed in panic and turned to escape the avalanche, but the blanket of roaring snow smashed into them along with Drake just moments after the Lundehund was struck in the chin.

As the avalanche slowed into a still pile of snow at the bottom of the cliff, Nikki frantically poked his head through the top of the pile and let out a heavy groan. "Uhh… I think I stepped on sumthin’"

Kaltag poked his head out of the top and a bruised paw rubbed his head. "Yeah… my head! Again!"

Nikki scanned around the pile of snow as he struggled to get out. "Where is Kem and Drake?"

"They’re still submerged. C’mon, let’s dig them out," Kaltag replied urgently and already he was fully out of the pile and his nose nearly touched the ground, hoping to find the scents of the two dogs. Soon afterwards, Kembala jumped out of the snow pile slowly, groaning as the weakened legs pushed herself to the surface.

"You all right, Kem?" Kaltag asked as his nose continued the search for the Lundehund.

"Not really," she replied as she sat down and licked her right front leg. "I have a bad leg now, and because there’s no bleeding, I think the injury is internal. I don’t think I can be of much help now. I’m sorry guys, but I have to limp my way home."

A sigh of disbelief bellowed out from Nikki. "Darn it," he muttered. "If Drake can’t be wit’ us, then that leaves only Kaltag and I."

"Speaking of Drake, I just caught his scent!" Kaltag exclaimed as he feverishly dug into the snow and soon the black fur of the Lundehund became surfaced. Nikki came to help out, but to their horror, Drake was barely breathing. Blood wounds stained onto his back and muzzle, and one of his legs was bent in such a way that seemed impossible without the bones being broken.

"Drake? Drake!" Kaltag muttered in panic, tapping his muzzle lightly. To his relief, Drake made a moan and his attention was diverted to Kaltag.

"Hmmmm… ouch," Drake muttered, almost above a whisper.

"Who did this to you? Was it Band? The white malamute?"

"Ja… ‘Tis this Band. Although… he didn’t kill me… gravity did."

Kembala couldn’t help but to make a light chuckle. "Oh Drake…"

Despite his extreme pain, Drake forced a smile. "Father…"

With one last breath, the only Lundehund that the dogs of Nome had ever known became limp and his eyes closed for the last time. According to his father, the most honorable way to die besides natural causes was to let gravity take a hold of the Lundehund, and let it take its course.

"Yeah, I’m addicted to gossiping, and sometimes it feels unfair if I eavesdrop on someone, but hey, somewhere or the other, some dog is gonna want to know what happened in whatever time in the past, and I got to inform them to ease their curiosity."

--Sylvie, Afghan Hound resident of Nome, Alaska

"How long as it been since they left?" Star asked his co-pup-guardian Dixie as they relaxed near the front steps of Rosy’s house. Jenner and Kala were safely inside the house, noisily sleeping amid thick wool blankets.

"Probably three hours now," Dixie replied with an almost sharp tone in her voice.

Star created a look of puzzlement on his face. "You know, you have been quiet and distant from me lately. Something’s wrong?"

Dixie finally turned her head to face him, but her eyes were glared with anger. "Don’t try to act innocent with me. I know what happened. A friend told me."

Star stood up, blinking his eyes in confusion. "What? Pardon me?"

"What you wanted to do concerning Drake. Do you think that he was actually trying to woo me into having a relationship with him? Don’t be stupid!"

Star lightly shook his head, growing in panic. "I’m sorry--"

Dixie’s growl silenced him. "Didn’t you notice that you are being selfish in this? If you think that I could be brainwashed by his charm, then you’re dead wrong! I do have a mind of my own, you know, and I can make my own decisions. I do have the power to resist him, but I do think that he was just being polite!"

"Dixie, you don’t understand! I was just worried about him and--"

"What exactly are you worried about?" Dixie demanded.

Star opened his mouth to speak the truth, but nothing came out. He suddenly realized that doing so would only reinforce what Dixie had been saying all along. He drooped his ears and sat down somberly. "You’re right, Dixie. I’m sorry, okay? I promise that I won’t make such immature decisions and jealousies again."

"That’s a hard promise to keep," Dixie snorted. "But since this seems to be a forgivable type of stupidity, I’ll accept it. This is one promise that you must not forget, for I won’t, you understand?"

Star nodded nervously. "Sure thing, Dix."

"Don’t call me Dix. It sounds stupid and it might be proof that you are too lazy to call me by my real two-syllable name," she said in her still fumed tone of voice.

"Um, right. Sorry," Star replied sheepishly.

When Balto was dreaming up his plan last night, he had hoped that this hunt would be short and sweet, even though he had expected some bitterness in this risky venture. However, when his team reached their home den only to find it vacant, he knew that it would not be short and sweet at all. He didn’t actually want to split his team, but his impatience had forced him to make the necessary evil. Or so he hoped it was necessary.

Now with his other team out of contact for over an hour, and Steele gone for thirty minutes without even a hint of his existence, worry had crept into the wolf/dog’s mind. He had begun to realize that his plan was cracking open by the seams, and unless he could do something about it, the plan would go out of control, and too much blood would shed as a result. He had howled for help, but the wolves were either too far away or just not interested.

"Jenna, am I wrong about this?" Balto asked his mate behind him as he dragged himself through the snow on the shore of some frozen lake. Three hours of searching had taken an energy toll on both of the dogs, and to make matters worse, the first snowflakes of an upcoming small blizzard fell onto their faces. "I think we have just dug ourselves a hole that we may never get out of."

"Don’t give up hope, Balto. The other team of dogs might not have answered your howls because they just simply failed to hear it. I’m sure they are all still alive. As for Steele, I think he’s just ignoring your howls to him," replied Jenna. She then gazed at the frozen lake and stopped on her tracks. "Balto, wait."

Balto turned to face her. "What is it?"

"This lake… I remember it."

A dose of memories revived through Balto mind as he took a "break" from the hunt and scanned his eyes on the lake. "Yeah… this was where you saved me from the bear all those months ago."

Jenna grinned. "Yeah, and I got injured because of that."

"Did you mention that to remind me of some debt to pay or something?" Balto replied with a smirk.

"Don’t worry, that debt has been repaid over and over again," Jenna said as she nuzzled his face. "At least we know where we are at."

"Yeah, we are a long way from home. Band may boast all he wants on wanting to kill me and all, yet he’s running from me at this moment. He’s nothing but a bunch of hypocritical hot air."

Just then, Jenna spotted a dog far on the other side of the lake. "Hey Balto, that’s Steele!"

"Yeah, I see him," Balto replied and sat down. He raised his muzzle to make a howl, but hearing Jenna’s gasp made him stop.

"Bitey just attacked him from behind!" Jenna cried out in alarm. In shock, she watched as Steele and Bitey scuffle each other amid a blurry of snow. "C’mon!"

"Not straight across the lake! It’s too dangerous!" Balto warned. "Follow me!"

Both Balto and Jenna rushed off toward the east, keeping themselves on the safe shore of the lake as they tried their best to save Steele and assist him before it was too late.

"Guyuaa!!!!" Steele spurted out as a Samoyed paw scratched deep onto his hind leg, and pivoted his legs quickly to face him. "Puh! Attack a dog from behind?"

"Why not?" Bitey quickly muttered and raised his paws up to slash at his face. The attack hit home on Steele’s muzzle and the smaller dog grinned as blood stained his claw nails. Relentlessly, he attacked again a split second later, and Steele grunted against as another wound showed up just below his right eye. With his dangerous fangs ready, he launched himself directly toward one of Steele’s front legs, but the malamute saw it coming, and leaped away just as Bitey’s jaws snapped onto the chilly air.

To give himself more room to maneuver, Steele backed up a few steps, his eyes intent on his enemy. "You’re not going to finish me off that quickly," he growled deeply. "I have kicked Band’s tail, and I can surely kick yours."

The Samoyed didn’t bother to reply back, but instead charged toward the larger dog in a flurry of sharp claws and guttural growls. White-furred legs flew in the air in slashing motions wildly, some of them missing the dog entirely, and the rest had succeeded into adding a wound to Steele’s new collection. Steele retaliated with a hard blow to the muzzle that sent the Samoyed reeling back and Balto’s former enemy took advantage of the distraction and shoved his heavier weight onto Bitey.

The ramming collapsed Bitey onto the ground, and Steele soon leaped on top of him. He then snapped at the nape of his neck with his fangs, and hauled him up. Using the weight to his advantage once more, he swung the Samoyed like a disc thrower, and threw him straight onto a tree. The tree shook and the snow on the branches dropped onto both of the dogs. Before he could shake off all the snow on his head, Steele was slashed at again. If he had more time to think, he would be in awe of Bitey’s speedy recovery rate.

Back and forth the raging paws went, scratching, opening and reopening wounds new and old. The growls of battle sounded out through the trees, and their fangs became crimson with blood. However, although Steele was the largest and strongest of the two, he was almost no match for the more experienced fighter’s agility and snap-and-run attacks. Continuously, Bitey managed to leap to the side of and even behind Steele’s body, and make a bite or slash before Steele could pivot his legs to face him. With wounds all over his body and his energy in a dangerously low point, Steele became frustrated with this fighter, but his anger only gave him more blunders. However, he was always alert for Bitey’s possible "finishing" attack that could make him a cripple. Already he had blocked that attack several times.

Several minutes into the battle, they found themselves on the shore of the frozen lake. They were too busy fighting to notice, and before they knew it, the ground beneath them suddenly became smooth and slippery. The paws owning to both of the dogs collapsed below them, and they fell flat onto the ice.

Steele was glad for this momentary break from the action, but that was replaced by sheer horror. "Ice… darn it!" He stood up the best he could, and stepped back toward the shore when the expected sounds of ice cracking buzzed into his ears sharply. Finally, he made one giant leap forward and landed onto safe ground. Breathing heavily, he turned around and spotted Bitey standing as well, but he stood still, merely staring at Steele with cold eyes.

His bloody face shook with anger and pain. "Come back here…" he muttered.

Steele grinned. A victory grin. "Didn’t your mother say not to walk on thin ice? Or at least, stand on it?"

A roar resounded as the cracks prevailed into making the lake as a deathbed for a certain Samoyed. Freezing water gushed up as small islands of ice collided against each other after days of bonded unity. Bitey didn’t even scream as the ice fell apart under him and he smashed through the surface of the water, and succumbed to the chill even before he was totally submerged. He sunk like an anchor, and soon the lake was quiet again after claiming its latest victim.

After seeing his enemy gone, Steele plopped himself onto the snow, groaning in pain. He was prevented from becoming a cripple, and managed to have all of his bones intact, but he had lost too much energy for him to plan resuming the hunt for Band, and his wounds created too much pain for him to continue on doing the hunt as well. His victory against one of the greatest fighters he had pitted against went with a great cost.

Just then, Balto and Jenna ran to him. Steele grunted a reply to them, grinning smugly. "Hello you two. Look what I’ve done," he said with his head motioning toward the cracked ice.

"You killed him?" Balto asked.

"There’s one new thing that I learned about Bitey. He can’t swim," Steele replied, and laughed until his sides hurt, as well as the rest of his body.

Jenna shook her head in disbelief. "Sheesh Steele, you look horrible."

"Yeah… but I’m still alive."

"Just barely though," Balto replied. "I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to continue on with us. I think I’ve better call for Nikki’s team again. Call for them to regroup with us. Hopefully they are close by."

Steele’s grin grew into a smile. "Jenna, since I have just defeated a honorable opponent, don’t you think that um, I would deserve… a kiss?"

Jenna knew what he was trying to do, so she appeared to be resistant. "But I never saw the fight."

"But look at my wounds! All the pawtracks on the snow!" Steele pleaded with a growing voice.

"All right you did defeat Bitey, but then so did Muk and Luk."

Steele could only be confused. "Who are they?"

"Friends of mine. They were never considered to be fighters."

"Then how did they beat Bitey then?" Steele demanded, frustrated on not getting the kiss.

"They appeared to be scary and hit him with one swipe."

"She’s right," Balto said with a grin, knowing what Jenna was getting into.

Steele blinked his eyes several times. "But-but wait a minute! I think you’re just playing around with me. If two dogs with weird names managed to beat Bitey and they were not fighters in the first place, then I’m Miss Lulu of the Cats!"

"Who says they were dogs?"

"Huh? Oh give me a break here!" Steele exasperated and then followed in a whining voice, "I just want a kiss, okay? Just one victory kiss!"

Jenna sighed and rolled up her eyes. "Oh fine then, you will get your silly kiss. Balto, will you do the honor?"

Steele’s eyes turned wide and his front paws shuffled back away from them. "What? No! No! No! Forget it! Just forget about the kiss!"

Balto and Jenna laughed, ignoring Steele’s grumbling as he lay on the bloody snow in pain and depression for failing to get that one kiss.

Several minutes later, Kaltag and Nikki finally showed up, only to gasp in horror at seeing the condition of their best friend.

"I’m okay fellas," Steele replied. "Just scratched here and there. A kiss would have healed one of them though."

"Oh don’t bring up that stupid kiss thing again!" Jenna snapped. Balto could only chuckle.

"Where is Kembala and Drake?"

A somber look appeared on Kaltag’s face. "Drake is um… dead. Band killed him. Kembala is catching up with us. She got a bum leg."

A depressed sigh fell from Balto’s mouth. "That Lundehund was a good dog. He shouldn’t have come with us in this hunt."

"He wanted to, Balto. He knew the risks involved," Kaltag replied and then spotted the cracked ice. "Um, what happened here?"

Steele chuckled. "Ha! That runty dog forgot to take swimming lessons."

"Bitey’s dead then," Kaltag responded with little relief in his voice. "We now have only Band left, but can we do with only the four of us? What if he attacks Steele and Kembala on their way home?"

"Actually he’s going home alone," Kembala said as she limped into view. "I’m staying here actually."

"But why?" Nikki asked. "Yer leg will not do youse much good."

"I have changed my mind because I have a strange feeling that I should stay here. Don’t ask me why or how, but I just do. However," she said after a moment’s thought, "I can escort Steele back home, but only as far as till Nome is within view, as if that’s okay with you."

Steele shrugged as he stood up. "Fine with me. I may not be able to defeat Band, but at least I got rid of that spooky best friend of his. I think its best for us to go now."

Balto nodded. "I agree. I hope you get home safely."

"What, no thanks for me defeating Bitey?"

The wolf/dog rolled up his eyes and chuckled. "Okay, okay… thank you very much for defeating a dog half your size."

Steele knew he was just joking, so he just grunted and grumbled as he limped along with Kembala back into the forest. At the same time, Balto, Jenna, Nikki, and Kaltag went off in another direction to continue their search for the surviving prey that they still yearn to eliminate. Hopefully, Balto thought, the time for the final conflict would come soon.

"I don’t really think they should have risked their lives to do this. When I heard the news of Drake’s death, I just knew the flaw of Balto’s reasoning behind this. That to satisfy his and his associate’s needs and safety must be done at any cost, even at the life at least one of our kin."

--Nathaniel, German shepherd resident of Nome, Alaska

As the sun’s position told the hunters that it was close to noon, Balto continued to be discouraged as they found themselves close by the top of a cliff. They were lost and the entire trip took too long. Obviously Rosy back home would be worried sick about him and Jenna, and what about the pups? Also, the long time that it took for this hunt to go on had taken a toll on morale and energy. What if their endless walking depleted too much strength to stand a chance against Band? But then Band might be close to exhaustion as well. Every time they stop to rest, Band has a chance to be further away from them. The blizzard was growing in ferocity, and the snowflakes distorted their vision.

"It’s been four hours now since we started," Jenna remarked. "I know we are close to that creep. I can smell the evil around here."

"Or maybe it’s my love to you that you’re smelling," a voice from behind startled the quartet of hunters.

They turned around sharply to find the white malamute Band sitting on his haunches just fifteen feet away from them. He was breathing heavily, and his mouth spewed out large doses of steam. His blue eyes stared at his enemies coldly, and a small grin showed up on his face. "You have been chasing me for almost all of the morning, for miles beyond my home and yours, through countless trees, cliffs, and alongside frozen lakes and rivers. But it ends… now."

"It is about time you gave up this stupid chase," Kaltag snapped. "We should have ended this all the way back in the area of your home, you know."

"Yeah, I should have, but I treat this as a strategic game, and for the most part, it had worked. For one thing, you have three dogs down, and I think I have done a good job of eliminating one of them. Some black dog that I haven’t seen before. Also, even if you kill me right here, then I will already cripple all of you bastards so much that you won’t be able to get back home before you succumb to the cold. That’s how far we are from Nome. You’re also exhausted and weak, and I enjoy killing those like that."

"Must I remind you that you are exhausted as well?" Balto shot back, growling deep from his throat, his eyes narrowed into a threatening stare.

Band sighed. "Aye, that’s the heavy price for having a bunch of idiots chasing me on fresh snow. But since I have rested more, I believe, I should have the health advantage over you."

"Not in numbers though," Jenna replied, and then grinned. "You’re all alone. Your silent friend is dead."

Band’s grin vanished. "He’s… dead? No! You’re trying to trick me!"

Jenna shook her head. "Nope. He’s now a Samoyed Popsicle lying on the bottom of some lake. If you don’t believe me, then I’ll more than gladly show you the way to him."

The malamute still refused to believe it, but he decided to know about his existence later. "Ha! He’ll never allow himself in that position. I’m giving you one last chance, Jenna. Just one last time. Come back home by my side, and we can live a blessed living together. All the other butt-sniffing animals of Nome will be left alone, no questions asked. Stay with that wolfish devil, and you will suffer both physically and spiritually the consequences."

"You really are crazy, Band," Jenna answered. "This so-called love to me had numbed your common sense straight down to where there’s almost none at all. The answer, of course, is no. No chance in the world will you ever get a kiss from me, no chance in the world will I even think about coming close to you, and no chance in Hell will I leave my beloved Balto to be together with a dog drowning in slime like you. Oh yes, how did you enjoy my gift to you?"

Band twitched his whiskers at remembering the wound Jenna gave him the last time they met. The scar had showed up where the wound was, and the sores would show up from time to time. "What about my five or ten slaps to the face? Did you enjoy that?"

Balto stepped forward alongside his mate. "How many times must I tell you? Leave her alone! Leave us alone! It is your refusal to abide to those simple favors that led to right now. You are doomed simply because you have created too much trouble."

"How can I do that, Mr. Half and Half?" Band taunted. "You’re a disease that must be cured through the medicine of death, and I am the doctor. How can I leave you alone when I just know that I must be the instrument of purity with the goal of cleansing the evil in Nome, and to do that, I must kill you."

"Insane," Nikki muttered. "Simply insane…"

Band raised up his right front paw and pointed it toward Balto. "I want your tail, Balto. I want to use it as a toy when I’m bored. That is, once I’m finished with my daily job with Jenna."

Not being able to tolerate even one more word from him, Jenna made the first charge toward Band, growling loudly with her fangs bared. Her eyes burned with all the frustration and anger that had boiled ever since that first meeting in the Boiler Room, and they glared hotly into Band’s mind. With a battle cry, Jenna leaped and dove onto him, but Band saw that coming and sidestepped away. Just as Jenna landed, she was struck from the side, sending her rolling on the snow for several feet. Moments later, Kaltag burst into the scene, ambushing the malamute almost from behind and struck a small wound to his left side. Band countered with a slap to the husky’s muzzle, but when Nikki came to help, Band knew that he was too outnumbered to just stay and fight. When he turned toward the forest again to break out in a run, Balto leaped toward him and grabbed his hind leg, preventing him from escaping.

"Stupid fool!" Band yelled out as he kicked Balto off his grip, only to be ganged up by both Kaltag and Jenna. The disarray of slashing paws were a blur right in front of his face, and whenever the scar on his muzzle got slapped, the pain made him wince. Blood smeared across his face quickly as his muzzle wound reopened deeply, and was attacked ruthlessly and consistently by the dogs that yearned to see him stopped once and for all.

It didn’t take long for the hours of constant traveling to catch up on him, and Band’s energy was sapped to a dangerously low point. The quartet of hunters attacked at almost every second, surrounding and bullied him. Finally, they ended up close to the edge of the cliff, when Balto knew that Band couldn’t stand to fight no more.

"He’s had it," he announced. "Back off of him."

Though the three others wanted to keep at it, they heeded his command and retreated away. Band collapsed just inches from the cliff onto the snow, his face smashed and cut like ribbons, and his once sharp blue eyes now lacked the shiny color, and was partly blood-shot. After months of terrorizing the dogs of Nome, it took a long chase and a beating from four dogs to defeat him.

"It’s all over Band," Balto said. "Even though I’m still not finished with you yet, I cannot hand over the ultimate punishment of eternal torment. That is up to the ones that control your afterlife. I may be a forgiving and kind dog, but in the case with you, I will forever spit at the mention of your name."

Despite the blood covering his face like a mask, Band managed to make a smile. "Come… here… wolf."

Balto was hesitant to come over, but then he realized that Band was too exhausted to do any more harm, and besides he might hear his last words. Cautiously, he walked over to him and came close to his face.

Band bellowed out a large breath before speaking in a whisper. "Balto… if Jenna can’t have me…," he said, and then his eyes narrowed. "NO ONE CAN!!" With one last burst of energy that he himself didn’t know that he had, he launched his fangs directly toward Balto’s neck. Balto’s eyes grew wide in shock as the jaws clasped in a death hold on his jugular, and bellowed out a scream. He shuffled his paws back quickly, and soon Band’s revived energy had been completely sapped once more. He lost his last chance to defeat his sworn enemy as he released his hold on him, and collapsed onto the ground again. Still, he was too stubborn to call it quits as he struggled to stand up, staring at Balto with wild eyes.

Kaltag barged up to Band for one last attack, and it proved too much for Band to tolerate. He stumbled back a few steps, but that was already one step too many. His hind foot lost ground and already half of his body went off the cliff.

"NOO!!!" Band screamed as he slid off the cliff, and pummeled down two hundred feet, his body colliding against the rocky wall of the cliff harshly. The four hunters walked up to the edge and looked down, but they soon couldn’t see Band anymore, for a small fog had blocked their view.

Jenna let out a sigh. "My Gosh… is it over? Is it really over, Balto?"

Balto nodded. "I think it is, Jenna. We have done it."

"About time!" Kaltag exclaimed. "I’m getting hungry!"

Nikki laughed and softly nudged his friend on the shoulder. "Yure thinking of food at a time like this? Well so am I! I’m famished!"

"Let’s go home Jenna. I’m sure our pups are waiting to meet us soon."

Jenna smiled. "Sure thing, Balto. Sure thing."

I’m still alive… I’m still ALIVE!! Ha ha ha!!! The thoughts warped through Band’s mind as he struggled to stand up. A thick mist and darkness surrounded him, and it had a spooky feel that could send any dog a chill up their spine.

"Sheesh, you look like one sick little puppy," a voice out of nowhere spoke out.

Band’s ears (torn for the most part) perked up and his eyes spotted a dog facing him, and he gasped in shock. "You again… when I saw you last time, you prevented me from my chance of killing Balto… but you can’t fool me this time!" He screamed, panting heavily and ignoring the yellow eyes floating amid the darkness. "You’re a ghost! You’re dead! DEAD! Friggin’ dead! DEAD!"

The dog shook his head. "Ah Band, how wrong you are. Oh yes, in a way I am dead… the old me that obeyed your every whim and became afraid from every one of your threats. But that’s over now. This is the new me Band, and I can live without you perfectly fine."

"Ha! You can’t kill me! You’re still weak hearted! You’re a wimp!"

"Oh… did I ever say that I’m going to be the one to kill you?"

Just then, Band heard growling spewing from the darkness. Five wolves, the ones belonging to the yellow eyes, appeared right before his eyes. Band tried to growl back, but lacked the strength to do so. He sat down on his haunches, accepting death.

"So be it. It is my destiny… that the last word that I will ever say in this pathetic little world would be…JENNAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!"

The five wolves barged up to him in lightning speed, and soon Band’s voice stopped along with his life as the dog watched on.

"I still don’t know why I had that strange feeling to stay in that forest, but I couldn’t find the answer in that trip. I know I will someday."

--Kembala, canine resident of the Nome, Alaska

Two days after the death of Band and Bitey…

The dogs were still in a festive mood as they joined together for the nightly social hour in the Old Mill under the stars. Kembala was disappointed for not being able to find the cause of her "strange feeling" back in the forest, but she was still stubborn on finding the answer, although some of the dogs believe it was another one of her strange karma-thingys that made her get such a strange reputation. Balto and Jenna received bandages to cover their wounds, but it was not as serious as Steele, for he had to be covered over two-thirds of his body with bandages. It gave him a comical sight, and he was upset about it. Dixie was saddened by Drake’s death, but her ties with Star remained unbroken.

Nikki, the only one that joined in the hunt that remained uninjured (Kaltag suffered several wounds from the fight against Band), was in the backside of the room, chatting with Star and Kaltag as usual. Steele, grumpier as ever due to his bandages, sulked to himself on one corner of the room, ignoring everyone. His boasts of killing Bitey would not show up till about a week later, when the bandages came off. Dixie, Sylvie, Jared, and Kembala were mostly in the center of the room, gossiping among themselves. A cast wrapped over Kembala’s injured leg.

"You know, I don’t think Steele is enjoying this party," Jenna whispered to Balto as they lay down close to the door.

Balto chuckled. "Yeah, no kidding. Just wait till the bandages come off. He’ll be boasting about defeating Bitey over and over again. I can just hear him, I’m the most powerful dog in this town because I defeated and killed a monster half my size," Balto said in his best Steele impersonation. Jenna responded with laughter.

Just then, Kembala limped over to them with a puzzled face. "I’m getting that strange feeling again. I think I’ve better go back to the forest."

"Can’t you wait till your leg feels better? It’s dangerous to go out there at night," Jenna warned.

Kembala shook her head. "I must go there now. See ya," she muttered and quickly left.

"You know, she’s a friendly dog and all, but she’s weird," Balto sighed. Moments later, a husky that they have never seen before entered into the Old Mill, her face showing awe and confused at the same time.

"Hello there," Jenna greeted. "You new here?"

"Yeah, I am," the husky replied as she walked up to them. "Just moved here and I seem to like this place. Do you all meet here every night?"

"For the most part. What’s your name?"

To Balto’s surprise, it took several seconds for her to think up her own name. "Rosalina."

"Ah, Rosalina. That’s a good name," Jenna replied with a welcoming smile.

The husky blushed. "Thank you. I love that name myself. What about yours?"

"I’m Jenna and this is Balto."

Suddenly, Rosalina’s face of joy transformed into that of shock and even a touch of hate. She stared directly at him. "You’re Balto?!"

"Yeah… something wrong?"

She shook her head. "No, no, sorry. I gotta go back home. Bye," she muttered and quickly left.

Balto grunted uneasily. "Did you see the way she looked at me? Like she’s mad at me or something. I don’t know about her, Jenna. I have a feeling she’s going to be trouble."

Jenna nodded. "So do I, but let’s not worry about her for now. We just had gotten rid of a huge thorn on our lives. No need to worry about another possible one."

"Sure thing," Balto replied, and laid down his head onto the floor to relax with his mate.

Minutes later in the forest, close to Band’s own den site, Kembala limped close to the tree and leaned against it, breathing heavily. "Gosh, I got to stop walking long distances with this stupid cast," she muttered to herself, and then looked around. The forest was silent and seemed empty, but she knew she was being watched.

"Come on out, please. I won’t hurt you," she said to anyone in particular.

Out of the shadows came a tawny-furred dog with bright eyes, though scarred a little on the face. "Yes?"

Kembala knew who he was instantly, and limped over to him, smiling. "You’re alive. I knew that you were alive. I was the only dog in Nome that still believed so."

The dog smiled back. "So I see. I admire your faith on this. I guess I’m the reason why you’re here with a cast, all alone here in the forest in the middle of the night."

Kembala chuckled. "Yep, you’re the one. Why don’t you come back home with me in Nome? I’m sure the others will be happy to see you. Some might even faint," she said, ending with a giggle.

The dog chuckled in return. "I guess my return to Nome is past overdue. Sure I will come home, Kembala."

The husky/malamute mix nodded and nuzzled him on the neck in an almost loving embrace. "Welcome back, Draco. Welcome back."