The Wolf and His Boy
Teaser: AU. A wolf defies the Witch and frees Edmund. As the two travel through Narnia, Edmund discovers humans are not the only denizens of Earth to find Narnia. Narnia/Balto crossover
Chapter Two: What's a Sled Dog?
Nikki groaned as he sat up. "I think I hit my head on something."
"Yeah," Kaltag agreed. "My head."
Star whimpered. "Where's Balto?"
Silence descended as the other two dogs searched for their leader. Nikki frowned. "Somethin's not right. These woods don't look like home."
Kaltag snorted. "We don't know the woods well enough to say that Nikki."
"True," Nikki agreed. "But I ain't ever seen a beaver near Nome."
Star and Kaltag whirled, staring at the animal that had just appeared. It studied them a moment and they gaped back at it. For a long moment none of the dogs said anything, then the beaver snorted and asked, "You gonna stand there all day?"
Nikki took the lead in Balto's absence. "Excuse me, have you seen a dark brown dog around these parts?"
The beaver looked at him pointedly. Kaltag sighed and put in, "Tipped ears, long bushy tail, answers to the name Balto?"
The beaver shook his head. "Sorry lads, can't say as I have. Why don't you come and have dinner with me and the missus. Perhaps she's seen your friend."
"Goodness gracious, I'm afraid I haven't seen anyone matching that description. How long has he been missing?"
Star spoke up. "We got separated earlier today from him." His tail drooped. "Could anyone else have seen him?"
The beavers thought for a moment. "Well, Tumnus might have seen him, but it's no good askin' him," Mr. Beaver replied.
"Why's would that be?" Nikki asked.
Mrs. Beaver sighed and Mr. Beaver snorted. "Where in Narnia have you three been? Tumnus is a spy for the White Witch."
He received three blank looks. Kaltag spoke up. "Narnia? Where's that? We're from Nome, Alaska."
"What's a White Witch?" Star asked.
The beavers were absolutely speechless.
Kaltag growled. "This Witch sounds like Steele."
"Except Steele can't turn anyone into stone," Star pointed out.
"The attitude's the same," Nikki insisted.
"Who is this 'Steele' dears?" Mrs. Beaver inquired.
Kaltag puffed up. "He is the most obnoxious, the most unbelievable, the most vicious…"
Star interrupted, "He's a nasty sled dog back home." Kaltag hit him.
Nikki stepped in. "He used to be top dog back home. Now he's the outcast 'cause of what happened about a year ago."
The beavers looked at one another. Then Mr. Beaver turned and asked, "What's a sled dog?"
Now it was the newcomers' turn to be speechless.
Finally Nikki found his voice. "A sled dog pulls a sled…"
Mr. Beaver snorted. "Why would you do something like that?"
Kaltag growled. "We pull sleds for our men. It's the best way to travel in Alaska."
The beavers looked at each other. Timidly Mrs. Beaver asked, "You've seen humans?"
Star tilted his head. "Is that so unusual?"
"Oh yes, my dear. Humans are utterly foreign to us Narnians."
"So who lives here?" Star asked.
Mr. Beaver snorted. "Talking Animals, Mythical Creatures, Fell Beasts, and of course the White Witch."
"Isn't she a human?" Nikki asked.
The beavers laughed. "Lord bless you, Nikki. No, she's not human, though she'd like us to believe she is. Doesn't have so much as a drop of human blood in her."
"That's why she's bad, all through," Mrs. Beaver put in. She put her paws to her face, combing her whiskers. "So you three are from the human world."
They nodded.
Mr. Beaver leaned forward. "Tell us about this incident you mentioned."
Nikki growled. "Nome is cut off from the rest of the world for half the year. Even the sled trail is dangerous. Most of time, it don't matter but last year, the young 'uns o' the town started fallin' sick. Bad times, I tell you. Word came, that they was sick with sommet called diphtheria. Very dangerous an' the hospital didn't have any more 'anti-toxin'."
Mrs. Beaver gasped. "Those poor children."
Kaltag went on. "Our men tried everything. Boats couldn't get through the pack ice. Planes were grounded. Finally they shipped the medicine from Anchorage to the town of Nenana. The train line ended there so a team of dogs would have to go from Nome to Nenana and back. The fastest dogs were chosen for the sled team. Steele was considered the best lead dog back then. We three were on his team. Seven dogs and a musher left town and headed to Nenana. On our way back, we missed our second checkpoint and got lost."
Mr. Beaver covered his wife's paw as she gasped again.
Star took up the tale. "Steele ended up gettin' us in a mess and when our musher got hurt, Steele wouldn't even do anything. Balto was the one who found us. He offered to lead us back to town. He'd tracked us and marked the trail to find a way back. Steele attacked him."
"Why?" Mr. Beaver asked.
Nikki rumbled. "Steele didn't like Balto. Jealous, I think. Like fools, the rest o' us went along with it." He shook his head. "Balto lived on the edge o' town, with a snow goose named Boris an' two polar bears named Muk and Luk. He'd come intuh town every so often an' Steele would find a reason to run 'im off. See this pretty lil husky named Jenna seemed to like Balto an' Steele wanted her all to himself. Pretty pitiful now that I think 'bout it."
"Surely there was some other reason," Mrs. Beaver said.
Kaltag nodded. "Most of the dogs went along with Steele because of what Balto is. He's half dog, half wolf…"
"A wolf?" Mr. Beaver demanded, angry. "You three are friends with a wolf?"
Star was taken aback. "Balto's more dog than wolf," he protested. "He didn't even fight Steele. Steele kept attacking him that night, 'til the idiot overbalanced and fell off a cliff."
Kaltag cut back in. "Then Steele turned the whole thing into a grudge match. He got ahead of us and ruined Balto's trail markers. Left a whole slew of false trails. Nearly worked too but Balto found another way to follow the trail."
Star bubbled up excitedly. "He could sniff out the real trail and we made it back home. After that Steele was the outcast for what he did. It wasn't just 'cause Balto got the medicine and Steele didn't. It was 'cause Steele tried to get us all killed and leave the little ones in a jam and then he went back to town and lied about it."
The beavers thought about that for a long moment until Nikki spoke up again. "Not tuh be rude or anything, but uh, do you know how we could get home once we find Balto?"
"I'm sorry dears, but I wouldn't know," Mrs. Beaver replied.
Mr. Beaver eyed the three. "So, looks like you three will be here for awhile. Maybe I could whip up a sled for you. It's been too long since I could work with wood."
Nikki grinned. "We would be most grateful."
"That is the most generous, the most thoughtful, the most wonderful…"
"That's good!" Star burst out. Kaltag whacked Star and shook his head.
Mr. Beaver chuckled at the sled dogs' antics and rubbed his paws together. "Let's get started."
A/N: LOL. For Balto fans: Nikki is the brown bulldog-like sled dog, Kaltag is the yellow sled dog who loves to ramble on, and Star is the grey dog constantly getting whacked by Kaltag. Next chapter: The sled dogs settle in and four visitors arrive. Please read and review
