Chapter 8: An Unlikely Ally

For Steele, each second struggling over the ledge felt like an eternity. This was one of the few times in his life that he had ever felt true fear. Sonya could easily push him over the ledge and send him to his death, but she just stood there. The seconds painfully ticked by, with Steele anticipating her strike, "Come on, if you're going to do it, do it and get it over with," he thought.

However, the strike never came. As much as she hated him, she could not bring herself to knock him over. The debate raged in her; one side wanted to get rid of him once and for all, while the other side felt like that was going too far. He may have done so many horrible things, but killing was a terrible thing as well. Besides, it wouldn't fix Marcus's broken leg or prevent them from crashing.

"You should be more careful with the fights you pick, because you may end up getting someone you care about caught in the crossfire."

Amak's words rang in her head, and she realized how true they were. All this time she had been feuding with Steele, but in doing so, she had caused herself to be left behind, with Steele taking her place. Had she not attacked him, she would have led the team home by now. Instead, they had kept on fighting, and Marcus was the one who had been caught in the crossfire this time. She had caused this and she would have to be the one to fix this.

"It's never too late to give someone another chance. You may find it better than fighting."

Steele's grip was weakening and he felt himself start to slide off the ledge. Seeing this, Sonya dashed towards him and grabbed his collar in her jaws, pulling back to halt his fall, "Help me over here!" she called out and two other dogs came up to help her pull the larger husky back onto the ledge. Once he was safe, he stood up on shaking legs, surprised with what she had done. Even after everything he had done to her, she still saved his life.

"You know, you sure have caused a lot of trouble for me today," she said, "But I suppose I also had a part in this trouble too."

"Sonya…. why?" he asked.

"Why did I save you? Because, unlike you, I know that acting out of spite doesn't just hurt the one you're targeting," she replied, "Besides, what we were doing before wasn't working, so I'm trying this. Marcus isn't going to get home if we keep fighting like this. Do you want to do something good for a change?" she asked.

"….. Yes."

"Then help me get him home. Can you do that? Can you run under the command of a half-wolf?"

Steele thought it over. He had never liked the idea of taking orders from half-breeds, but it was either this, or get left behind in the cold, "Alright, I'll follow you."

"Good. Now, since there aren't enough harnesses for all of us, I'll lead the way ahead of the sled," she replied, "You can lead the team. Just keep watching my tail and you'll be fine."

"Wait, since we fell down that ledge, we can't simply go back the way we came," he said, "How will we get home?"

"Well, you guys went to the north of the trail, so if we go south…" she said, indicating towards the path on her left which hugged the mountainside, "…we should find the trail." With that, they set to work. The other dogs had finished putting Marcus in the cargo bed and Steele pulled the lead harness over himself, while Sonya stood free in front of him, "Is everyone ready?" she called out and everyone replied yes, "Then mush!" she said as she bolted off, with the rest of the team dashing to follow her.

The first few minutes of their journey were straightforward, but soon the path they were on started to slope to the side, towards the open chasm. The dogs had no trouble walking along the slope, but the sled was different matter. The heavy weight of it wanted to slide down the hill, while the dogs pulling it wanted to stay on course. The wheel dogs were trying their best to keep it moving straight, but soon the dead weight of it became too much for them. Their legs gave out and the sled slid down, pulling the rest of the team with it.

They dug their heels into the deep snow to slow down, but it had little effect. It was only when a rock caught on the side of the runners did their fall stop. Sonya looked back to see what had happened and gasped when she saw the sled teetering on the steep hill. If it titled too far, then anything unsecured would roll out the side and tumble down the hill. Unfortunately, there was something in the sled that wasn't tied down: Marcus. Sonya watched in horror as his limp form started to roll out of the side. She dashed down the hill screaming, desperate to catch her friend, but the team had slid too far away from her. She wasn't going to make it in time.

Steele had been focused on trying to pull the sled back up, but was alerted by Sonya's screaming that there was other trouble. Looking back, he too saw Marcus start to roll out of the sled. Knowing that Sonya was too far away, he sprang into action. In one quick motion, he unclipped himself from the harness and half ran, half slid down the hill. Jumping onto the sled, he grabbed hold Marcus's coat sleeve in his jaws just as he had left the cargo bed.

He had caught him, but he wasn't out of trouble yet. Marcus's dead weight was pulling Steele down and the husky would only have a few seconds before he was dragged away with him. Fortunately, his actions would buy the crucial seconds needed for Sonya to get down there and help pull him back. The two dogs strained to lift the heavy teen into the sled, and after much pulling and yanking, while being careful to not bump his leg too much, they got him secured back in the sled.

Knowing they had to get off the mountainside quickly, Steele returned to the lead, got in his harness and slowly, but carefully, the team started to pull themselves back up the hill. Sonya went ahead and called out, "Hey! The path is more level over here. You can take a break once you get there," The team followed her call, finding themselves on a straight path. Everyone stopped to catch their breath with a few, including Steele, lying down out of exhaustion. They had only been on the road for about half an hour, but pulling a heavy sled uphill took a lot out of them.

As he lay there, Sonya approached Steele. He had just saved her best friend and she had to say something, "Steele, thank you. Marcus would've fallen if you hadn't acted."

"I guess it was a good thing that you let me come along then," he replied, "Sonya, why are you doing this. You hate me. You didn't need to come out here to save me; you could have stayed home and left me to freeze."

"You're right, I could have left you to freeze," she replied, "That would've gotten rid of you, but it would mean that the rest of my team and my one of my owners would die too. Sacrificing them to get rid of you would be a very petty thing to do…… sound familiar?" Steele knew that she was alluding to what he had done on the serum run. He had tried to get rid of Balto, but in doing so he also put his team in danger. Before, he had always thought of them as underlings, but after some time away from them, he was actually starting to miss their company. After resting for a few more minutes, Sonya called out, "Alright guys, let's get moving again."

They all got up and continued following her through the mountain trail. Eventually, it led down into a ravine, one that Sonya recognized as the one that she had come through. Encouraged, she picked up her pace, with the team running to catch up with her. Finally, they left the ravine and were back on the main trail, turning west towards home. They had found the trail, but the storm was still howling, blowing snow across their path and obscuring their sight. Steele kept his eyes focused on Sonya's tail, determined to not lose her, but the snowfall made it more difficult to keep track of her. It didn't help that her silver and white fur blended in quite well with the snow, causing her to disappear for minutes at a time.

Sonya's injured leg had been throbbing all along this journey, but she soldiered on, desperate to get home. Suddenly, a sharp pain shot through it and she collapsed, tumbling down a small hill. She had been running almost non-stop for hours in order to find her team and the exhaustion had finally caught up with her. She just wanted to rest, but she had to get home. Soon, her eyes began to droop, eventually closing.

Steele had lost sight of her again, but he simply assumed she was still running ahead. Finally, he realized that even her scent was gone from the trail; it was as though she had vanished into thin air. He desperately looked left and right, thinking that they may have passed her, but all he saw was swirling white. Finally, he stopped, knowing that running aimlessly would be useless.

"No, no, no! I can't have lost her! Where are you Sonya? I can believe I'm thinking this, but I need you to get me home. I don't want to be stuck out in the cold again," he thought as he stood there.

"Hey Steele, what's the hold up?" Jake asked.

"I can't find her," he replied.

"WHAT? You mean you've gotten us lost for the second time on the same trip! Are you going for some kind of record here?" Jake howled in anguish.

"You shut up!" Steele snapped, wheeling around to face him, "With all that yelling and howling, you'll probably attract a wolf and-" Steele suddenly stopped, as an idea had come to him. It was an idea that he had never considered before, because for the longest time he had thought it to be below his dignity. After all, howling was something wild wolves did. "I can't believe I'm about to do this, but here goes nothing," he thought as he arched his head back and let out a loud howl. At first it sounded like his usual mockeries, but with his second try, he pushed it towards a long, wailing note.

Sonya was shocked awake by the howl cutting through the wind. It sounded distant, and she mentally kicked herself for falling asleep out here. The howl was a husky howl, but it wasn't one she recognized. The only husky whom she hadn't heard a howl from was- "Steele," she said to herself before howling back a reply.

Steele heard her reply and turned around to follow it, "What is Sonya doing behind us? She can't be lying down on the job," when he came up to her, he saw that she was in fact lying down, but it was not out of laziness. She was panting from exhaustion, and when she tried to get up, she would gasp in pain, "Sonya, what is it?' he asked.

"It's my leg," she replied, and Steele noticed her one leg still showed the wound he had given her, "Ack, I can't run with this anymore. I guess I pushed myself too far."

"What do you want us to do?" Steele asked.

"You guys have to keep moving; you have to get Marcus home. Just keep going west along the riverbed and you'll get home," she replied.

"What about you?" Jake asked, "You're coming with us right?"

"No, I'll just slow you down and Marcus can't afford any more delays," she said.

"No! We can't leave you out here like this! You'll freeze to death," Jake protested.

"I'm part wolf; I'm sure I can think of something," she replied, "Every second you wait is time lost, you guys have to go now."

"But-"

"No buts!" she said, "You have to get home while you can."

Jake looked at Steele, "We can't leave her like this. She's our lead dog."

"That's right, I am your lead dog and I am telling you to go on without me," she replied.

"No Sonya," Steele replied.

"Steele, I'm giving you an order!"

"Yeah, well, you know how bad I am at following orders," he replied as he unclipped himself from the harness.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"C'mon, get in the sled," he said, picking Sonya up by her collar, "You're coming with us whether you like it or not," he pulled Sonya over to the sled and helped her get in. Soon, she was lying in the cargo bed, on top of Marcus's chest. Steele resumed his position at the lead and started the team up again, pulling them towards their home.


Jonathan had been tossing in his sleep, worried about his son. A few times in the night he thought he had heard Marcus coming home, but it would turn out to be someone else's door opening, or a neighbor's dog barking. He had finally started to settle himself down, until he heard more barking. At first, he thought it was another dog from the town, but the barking didn't stop, and it was soon followed by the sound of scratching at the door.

He bolted out of bed and went down the hall to the front door. He lit a lantern and opened the door to find that Christmas had come early this year. Right in front of him was the entire team, with Marcus and Sonya lying in the sled. He jumped out into the cold night and quickly grabbed Marcus and Sonya in a tight hug, causing Marcus to stir out of his sleep, "Aah, dad? What's going on? How did I get here?" he asked.

"The dogs… the dogs brought you back!" he cried, "I always knew that they were smarter than they looked. I bet it was our own Sonya that led them home - she always was the smart one."

"I wish I could take all the credit, but it was the whole team that helped," she thought, "They always were there for me."


Three Years Ago

Sonya was completely beside herself in misery. Her adoptive father had been banished from the town, and she had been pushed into being the lead dog with a team she wasn't sure would trust her leadership, "They trust me as a teammate, but none of them would be willing to run under a half-wolf. Without Amak, it'll just be back to the way it was before. No one will trust me and I'll be the outcast of the team. Oh Amak, why did you push this on me? I'm not ready for this," she thought as she sobbed her eyes out.

That night, Steele had told everyone another one of his stories, where he had valiantly fought away a wolf and Amak, making sure to rub in the fact that he had kicked out their leader to Amak's team. Most of them were shocked over their loss, but they knew that one of them would be taking it the hardest.

"Sonya?" Jake called as he poked his head in the barn. Sonya had curled up in a corner and didn't respond to his call. One by one, the team started to enter the barn. Even as they gathered around her, she didn't respond, occasionally letting out another sob, "Sonya, I know that Amak meant a lot to you," Jake started, "He meant a lot to us too. He was our lead, so he was….. he was…"

"Family?" she mumbled, remembering how Amak had once described a sled team to her.

"Yes, he was family. I know we haven't treated you the best over the years, but Amak had always thought of you as one of his own, so that makes you one of our own too," Jake continued, "You're a part of our family Sonya, and we know that if Amak wanted you to be the lead dog, he'd want us to follow you."

"You - you really mean that?" she asked, "Even though I don't have much experience?"

"Hey, no one is experienced on their first day," Misha replied, "But you have talent. Talent that only a lead dog can have."

"I know this is hard for you; it sure is for us, but we're a team Sonya," Jake continued, "You aren't alone anymore. We'll always be there for you. Besides, someone has to lead us and you're the best dog for the job."

"Even though I'm only half dog?" she asked.

"Hey, there are some things that a dog can't do," Jake replied, "But that a wolf can."