Chapter 9.

And this is the ninth chapter. May be interesting. Hope you enjoy it.

An hour or two later, out in the snow, Jenna (with the rest of her bandanna tried around her neck) pulled a searchlight used to spot enemy aircraft to the outskirts of Nome, its thick power cable trailing behind, hooked to a generator in town. It wasn't easy by herself, but her determination and hope gave her the strength to do it. When she reached the limit of how far she can pull it with the cable connected at both ends, she switched on the searchlight, its beams instantly lighting the sky above her, showing how high thy penetrated the falling snow and clouds. "Balto, come back." She prayed softly.

At the bottom of the cliff…

The bottom of the cliff was filled with nothing but white snow. Then suddenly, a cold looking face appeared out of the snow, short hair blowing wildly fast in the wind. He had lost his helmet in the fall, his face now completely unprotected. His overcoat was covered in snowflakes, which were blown off by the rapid wind, but now had several large tears all over it. Gasping for air, Balto lifted his arms out of the hole in the snow his body had made, moved them in front of his face and used them to pull himself out. Once he'd pulled his legs out, he laid on the snowy ground, as he lacked the energy to even stand up. "Rosy." He said weakly, before weeping and covering his eyes with his left arm, waiting for death to take him. Yet, something inside him told him he was alone. Bringing his left army away from his eyes and saw shiny silver metal boots. Looking up, what he was made his mouth open: a German Teutonic Knight! White fabric over chainmail covering most of the body, the lower half's covering his legs blowing wilding to the right in the wind, the black Teutonic cross (on the fabric) in the centre of the chest, a grey shiny cylindrical helmet blocking out all view of the Knights face. In his right hand was a "Heater" shaped shield, straight top, curved left and right sides meeting at the halfway point of the straight top, with the Teutonic cross painted on it. A belt and sword sheath in the middle of his body. And in his left hand was a shiny sword, its long thin blade gleaming even at night, a plain thin rectangular guard between the blade, and a black grip, mostly covered by the knight's hand, ended by a pommel with the Teutonic cross on it. The knight stood strong and straight, staring down at Balto. His posture only sent one message to Balto: "Get up." But was he to be challenged? The knight then suddenly rose his left arm with the sword gripped in it straight up into the air. Balto shrugged and crawled to the left, looking away from the Knight before him, hearing footsteps in the snow, probably meaning that the knight was leaving.

As his mind and senses came back to focus, Balto saw something ahead of him in the snow something which made his mouth open slightly, and his eyes slightly widen: the medicine crate, and even after a fall like that it was completely intact! Seeing what he'd put his life on the line for, Balto looked up at the cliff and saw how high and rocky it was. There's no way he'd be able to climb that. Then suddenly, as if sent by some heavenly figure, Boris's voice came surging through his mind: "Let me tell you something Balto: An Englishman cannot make this journey alone…. But maybe a German can." And then something clicked in Balto's mind. He was doing something that, in his experience, no British soldier would dare do what he was doing, especially in weather like that, and alone! And that's what makes him different from an Englishman. His German side had got him this far, and that's something he should be proud of. And now he was! With a determined look now of his face, Balto turned to the direction the Knight had been standing, and wasn't surprised to see no-one. He then found himself full of energy, getting back up on his feet and then saw the Knights footprints. Moving his right legs forward, he placed his boot into one of the footprints that faced the faced direction he was facing (in front of him) and the boot fitted perfectly. Then Balto withdrew the bayonet he still had in his sheath and raised it into the air with his right hand. Suddenly, out of nowhere the Knight reappeared like a ghost a few feet from him (this time with his sword in a sheath). The Knight then walked up close to Balto and with his sword from his sheath and raised it into the air with his left hand, almost touching Balto's much smaller bayonet blade. Balto then yelled out a war cry which echoed throughout the area.

Up on the cliff edge, the rest of the team (6 men) had stayed there, for they now lacked a sufficient leader. They stood close to each other, shivering in the fast-cold wind. They heard something strange which sounded like the howl of a wolf. This made the shivering stop and made them look around and at each other with fear in their eyes. "Oh great. Things aren't bad enough, now we got wolves." Nikki muttered in annoyance. This made the crew much more scared. "Wolves?!" They all cried out in fear in unison. Kaltag then got a hint of curiosity in him and then moved over to the edge and looked over. Hey, hey, over here." He said to the others, who got by his side mere seconds later and looked down into the cliff and saw what he was seeing. "What is it?" Nikki asked rhetorically on Kaltags right. "What what?" Star also asked rhetorically, on Kaltags left. It was Balto! Climbing up the cliff with his bayonet in one hand, the other holding the medicine crate. He was taking it slowly and carefully, but he was already three quarters of the way up. "Balto?" Star asked himself. "And he's got the medicine! Come on, Balto, you can do it!" Nikki cried. A loud gasp was heard when the rock Baltos left leg was on gave away and almost made him fall. However, Balto dug his bayonet deep into the rock and quickly got his left foot on another rock. Then he kept on climbing. "That's the most amazing, the most incredible, the most, the most, the uh…" Kaltag said, before having trouble finding the right word. "That's good!" Star cried out, before Kaltag shoved him backwards into the snowy slope. As Balto got closer and closer to the top, the others began crying out at him saying 'come on', you can do it' etc. Then his left arm with the bayonet in his hand came over the edge, then his exposed head and using his strength, pulled the medicine crate over the edge with his right hand, letting Nikki and Kaltag take it, before pulling the rest of his body up. He laid still in the snow for a few moments, smiling, while the rest of the team started praising him and patting him on the back.

In no time at all, the medicine crate was retied to the sledge and the sledge was on the move again. They went back up the slope and back into the forest again, only to come across more marked trees again. They then started to worry, as they weren't sure which way t go again. Balto got up and off the sledge and started looking at the trees on their left and right. He then saw a difference between the two marked sides. On the left, the marks were small and the scratches on the back were small and thin, while the scratches on the right were bigger and wider and longer, indicating it was cut by something like a knife. Then Balto knew they he had to go! He got back on the sledge and used the reins to turn the horses to the left, making them go in that direction. However, a few miles ahead, they had come across another cliff, but lucky for them, there was a small rock bridge across. Balto remembered this from earlier, meaning they were going the right way, but it would be harder crossing with the more weight from the horses and sledge. So Balto made the horses walk slowly and steadily across the bridge. However, halfway across, a crack started to form beneath them. Star and Nikki both looked nervously as they looked at the huge drop they were crossing. Suddenly, a louder crack was heard, and Balto heard it, and made the horses trot the rest of the way, just as the end of the bridge cracked and gave away, the rest sure to follow. The sledge was just about off when the other end of the bridge gave away and the end bit of the sledge with the medicine crate on it dangled off the edge, in danger of breaking apart from the rest of the sledge (due to the weight of the crate) and fall into the cliff. Not wanting that to happen, Balto got off the end of the sledge where the team was sitting on and then started to push the sledge up (with his legs out stretched backwards, his arms very close to his chest), the horse reins still in his hands. The rest of the team also got off on both sides and started pushing the sledge up the same way. After a few grunts and strains, the whole sledge was now back on firm ground and they all got back on. Grinning and smiling, Balto then made horses trotted on.

And that's the ninth chapter. Hope you enjoyed it. But the intense part is not over yet. But what is it? You'll find out in the next chapter, which will be out soon. Please review.