A bracing arctic wind whistled softly through the pine forest surrounding Nome. Its soft but relentless force caused branches to swish and creak, and embraced a lone brown figure treading through it.
The canine, old and grizzled, lifted his snout to the air and drew the wind down his nostrils. The sharp, crisp feeling brought a sense of awakening to his tired frame as he concentrated on the scents it bore. Rabbits, birds, a squirrel or two… Nothing of interest, since he wasn't hungry. He had fought a lone wolf over a deer carcass that morning and managed to fend it off – the sole advantage, he supposed, of what he'd been doing since he could remember. The wolf was long gone now, he having wandered one way and she the other.
Lowering his muzzle and giving a brief shiver to fend off the cold, then trudged on. He wasn't sure where he was going; wasn't sure of a lot of things. He had broken out of the place about a week ago, and was now wandering with no particular aim except to get as far away from there as he could.
On and on he walked, but when he stopped to scent the air again, he froze. His eyes, weary with long travel, sharpened and hardened. He spread out his paws and bristled out his fur.
There was another scent near; feral dog, as best he could reckon. Male. An enemy?
"I know you're there!" he growled. "Show yourself!"
For a long moment, the silence of the woods gave no answer. Then a figure, brown and golden-eyed, came up over a low rise. "Hello yourself," greeted the stranger.
The wanderer paused, studying the newcomer warily. He could have sworn he smelled a dog, but the eyes were a wolf's. So were the massive paws which came into view. Part of each? He'd heard of such things.
Strangely, the wanderer felt himself growing a bit calmer. It must have been the way the stranger carried himself so placidly, as if he was used to strange dogs menacing him and was willing to take whatever came without complaint.
While this study was still going on, the newcomer spoke. "You must be new around here. Are you lost?"
The wanderer bristled a little. "No," he answered coldly. "Just…" he searched his brain for some answer. "… sightseeing. Who are you?"
"My name's Balto – and if you're sightseeing you picked a bad time for it. There's a bad storm on the way."
Of course, the wanderer knew all about the storm. He'd been keeping an eye peeled for some kind of shelter. He didn't like being advised of it by a total stranger, though. "Then you'd best be getting home."
Balto moved as if to turn around, then stopped and beckoned with his head all in one smooth movement. "There's a town this way with a boiler room if you want to wait out the storm."
Boiler room. The old dog knew about those, or at least what the words meant. Dogs without some other place to be often congregated in them to take advantage of the heat. He didn't remember if he'd ever done it, but he wasn't sure he wanted to be around other dogs. Besides, he got the feeling boiler rooms were a human place. "What about you?" he asked, stalling.
"Well, myself I usually live in an old boat outside of town, or at my mate's house sometimes. You're welcome to stay at the boat, but I don't know if her family would welcome a strange dog."
The stranger growled slightly, making Balto step back. "Uh, sorry. I didn't mean that quite the way it sounded. I just meant that they know me, but…"
The strange dog snorted. "I don't go near humans." Then, seeing the look on Balto's face, he seemed to soften just a little. "Sorry. You said something about a boat?"
Balto tried not to take it too hard. Lots of dogs, he knew, distanced themselves from humans because of bad history. If it wasn't for Jenna and Rosie, he might have done much the same thing.
Returning to the question in front of him, he gestured with his head. "This way. Oh, and what's your name?"
My name, thought the old dog uncertainly. "Call me Shade."
It was about an hour's walk back to Nome, and considerably less time for Balto to wonder about his new acquaintance. Maybe Boris is right, he mused. I do have a knack for picking up odd friends. Apart from his name, Shade had told basically nothing about himself despite several attempts at friendly inquiry. It was pretty easy to guess he was from out of town, and it looked like he'd been banged up a bit, but all questions were either ignored or rebuffed.
Probably had a rough master, thought the wolf-dog, feeling a pang of sorrow for the old-timer. He'd had a rough time of it most of his life, being a stray, but with what some humans did to their dogs there were times when he was almost glad to be homeless.
"Sorry about the strange dog remark," he offered, hoping to thaw the ice if he couldn't break it. "My mate's got a really nice family if that's any help."
Shade seemed not to hear him at first. "Your… mate," he said, as if he were thinking hard about that. "She's got humans, but not you?"
Balto coughed. "Well, I sort of do most of the time. It's kind of a long story, but they like me. I'm just not really an indoor dog… or wolf-dog. It's great having a warm place where I'm accepted, but every now and then I like to sleep outside. Sometimes she joins me, especially in summer if the mosquitoes aren't so bad. But they always know to expect me if the weather's getting rough, and they, uh…" He had been about to say that Jenna's humans always had food for him if he dropped by, but he realized that might be indelicate. It wasn't like he could invite Shade in for some. A growl from the strange dog's stomach bolstered this cautious train of thought. "And if you're hungry, I know the places where you can usually find something," he offered, changing the subject.
"Hmm." Shade's moment of attentiveness seemed to falter as he grew distant again.
What's with him? wondered Balto. He got a strange feeling about Shade; a feeling much like the one he'd had about that suspicious vixen when he was looking for Aleu. There was something not right about him, like he ought to be one thing, but was something else or someone else.
"What were our old humans like?" he asked.
Shade's lips pulled back slightly from his teeth. "I'd rather not talk about that, if you don't mind."
Balto couldn't help feeling somewhat abused, since he had offered this stranger his place for the night. Still, it seemed like the best choice all around was to just give him his space. Shade was obviously tired, and that storm wasn't getting any farther away.
"Do you want something to eat?" he asked. "I don't have much, but I know…"
Shade shook his head, irritated with the hybrid's persistence. "I'm not hungry," he answered decisively.
It was an obvious lie, and Balto frowned anxiously. "Well, okay," he relented. "Some other time, maybe?"
"Hmph. Don't count on it." Then he paused warily. "Thanks for having me."
Balto sighed and turned to go. "You're welcome, but I may be gone the whole night. Are you sure you'll be okay?"
What is with this pup? thought the stranger. Still, he couldn't be too angry with Balto; not after all the younger canine's hospitality. "I can handle a night by myself. Just… have a good time, okay?"
With a nod, Balto trotted off toward the town.
That night Shade wished Balto had returned, or – perhaps – that he had chanced a trip into town if only to find someplace not so drafty as the old wreck. A cruel north wind swept through every crack and around every corner, and though Shade huddled as far under the blanket as he could shrink, it felt as though he were encased in ice. His dreams – for he did sleep at length – were of mountains of ice and drifting snow.
Then, out of the darkness of sleep, a figure formed from the swirling flakes. Closer and closer they packed, until a living creature stood before him; a wolf, pure white with gleaming yellow eyes. Then he saw nothing but the eyes, burning into his with an intensity that made him pant as from a great heat in spite of the biting cold.
"Who are you?"
"What?" he asked. The voice seemed to come from too far away to be the figure before him, but he saw no one else; nothing else.
"Who are you?"
He shook his head. "I don't know who I am," he answered bitterly. "Who are you anyway?"
"Who are you?" pressed the voice. "Who ARE you? Who ARE YOU? WHO ARE YOU?"
"I don't know who I am!" Shade thundered, leaping towards the wolf only to have it vanish before him like smoke. He stared around, dumbfounded. "What?!"
"WHO ARE YOU? WHO ARE YOU? WHO ARE YOU?"