Chapter 3
The temperature had taken a turn for the worst. The temperature had dropped to fifty below, a temperature that burned the nose and throat and would make trees explode due to expanding sap. The night ruled once again, making the world dark and bleak. A storm had blown up, dumping three inches of snow onto the ground, most of it being blown up off the river ice and then being deposited onto the team.
The snow had covered up most of the blood, but not the blood sprayed across the trees that had frozen solid. The sled had been turned over, with all the gear being spread from the sled to the riverbank. Behind the sled the musher lay on his belly, his coat having been ripped off his back revealing the numerous bite wounds that had bled out. In front of the sled, eight lumps stretched out in a slightly curved pattern. Each lump hadn't been completely covered by the snow, but body parts and fur stuck out the top's and out the sides of each.
Then a dog burst through the snow, his head gasping back as if he were going to let out a loud howl. Then the dog lurched forward, vomiting violently onto the snow the adrenalin that had been pumping earlier had churned his stomach too much. The dog then fell forward, falling into the pile of vomit and almost passing out.
The dog could see that the day had grown much darker, and colder. His nose burned along with his back. The dog knew that he had to make it back to Nome if he ever expected to live. But he was afraid to move. What if the wolves were still out their waiting for me? What if the cold got to me? The dog had to make an attempt.
The dog knew that he first had to check his wounds; he had remembered being bit on the middle of his back. The dog slowly began to twist his spine. The dog felt a sharp pain run up his spine, then the blood flowing down over his side and freezing solid before it could reach the snow.
"The colds the only thing keeping me alive." he whispered to himself, not wanting any nearby wolves to hear him.
Other then the large wound on the back of his head he felt reasonably well. He felt a little stiff in the joints, and he felt a little bit tired, but that was just the cold he figured.
The dog stood, dragging the traces up with him, but fell down before he could reach a full stand. The harness, he figured, that must be what was pulling him down. He rolled around a little bit, moving and contorting himself a little until the harness lay empty on the ground. The dog moved to make another stance, with several shaky moments he was standing. For a moment he stood proud that he was standing now.
Then he began to feel his legs growing weak on his left side. He began to fall, and tried valiantly to save him self, but it was in vain. The dog bumped his head up against something hard, and he laid on the ground with his paws over his head covering the spot where it hurt. When the pain began to subside he looked up. Hanging above him was the frozen foot of their leader, Kodi. The dog moved his paw up to feel the foot and found it frozen solid.
"Such a sad ending." the dog said lowering his head in respect.
The dog didn't wait around for this same end to happen to him. He once again stood with the same wobbliness. For a moment he stood still, then he reached out with one foot, then one of his hind legs. His hind legs were stiff and unmoving. He fell on his side, depressed at the fact that his hips had become to cold for movement. He stood once again, this time he moved a little bit more, then fell.
"This isn't going to work." he whispered to himself. "I'm going to half to crawl."
The dog began to move towards the river. He drug himself with his front feet and drug his hind end along the ground behind him. As his front legs began to loose their stiffness, he began to pull himself up on his hind legs and take a few steps. The steps were small and he would usually fall over on his side before he could make it too far. But each time he did it he would walk a few more steps before falling over. Within a half hour he was able to walk up to a hundred feet in one shot. But no matter how much he tried he couldn't get warm enough to make it any further, which meant that he wouldn't be able to make a run for it.
The dog made his way along down the river, and always being sure to keep close to the bank. Having trouble walking for a long time, and not wanting to be caught out in the open, he would aim for a certain spot along the river. When he found a spot that he felt he could reach, he would stand and half hobble towards the spot.
The night distorted his perception of distance and time. Several times through the dark he thought the cover he was aiming for was close, and large, when in reality it was far and much too small for him to hide in. he began to realize that this would be a problem when he reached the field.
He stood at the edge of thicket, looking out across the field. The field stretched for nearly two hundred feet downstream, and from the base of the large cliffs on either side of the valley. Scattered across the field were the countless uprooted trees, and rocks, that had been laid this way after hundreds of avalanches during bad storms. Running almost straight down the valley was the frozen over stream, with the cracked and groaning ice.
It was hard to see all this in the dark but it was clearly visible to a dog with the good night vision he had. As he stared across the field he worried. He worried about the wolves, and where they were. He scanned either side of the valley, searching for the pinpoint sign that would declare their position. But even if he knew where the wolves were he would still half to cross the field.
He dropped down out of the thicket, dragging his body over the small logs lodged in it. At the river he drug his body downstream to the last bit of cover. The dog looked down the river, finding the spot where he would be able to drop behind and hide. There was none. He measured out how far it would be in one shot. After several seconds which seemed like minutes he had it, it was three times as far as he could go in a single shot. It was a risky business; he noticed that the sides of the river gradually got lower, which meant that he would half to run low. There was no use waiting, there was nothing to wait for. So in his head he began the countdown. Three, two, one.
The dog shot out of his cover. He ran low to the ground almost low enough that his chin drug on the ground. His hind legs bounded along behind him, leaping forward with their stiffness. But as he ran he started to realize that on his right the bank was becoming lower, lower then he had previously thought. He watched the bank come down, and the mountain go up. The dog tried to get lower and lower until his chin began to bounce off the ground. His hind legs began to run out from under him
No no no. He screamed in his mind. He struggled to regain his balance without raising his head. The dog had no choice; he raised himself up but only tripped over his own legs and fell with a. "oofh."
As he lay there hoping that no wolf had seen him, a low howl began to rise over the land, The dog knew nothing of wolf howls, but just by the tone of it he figured it was the hunting call.
Two wolves stood on the hillside, watching the river and field very carefully. They both sat under a spruce tree that had the lower limbs ripped off. The wind was blowing, and even the cover of the tree was unable to keep it out. The storm had let up, and for the first time they were able to see the river. Their fur had little protection from the blowing wind that came with the end of the storm. Their faces were thin, their skulls clearly visible under their fur, with frozen blood down their muzzles and chest. Their ribs stuck out like the ridges of mountains, and their stomachs sunk up to their backs. They had the focus of a hawk on the field, and riverbank.
"Why did Agrona send us up here anyway?" the younger wolf said turning and looking at the older one
"Because you have the energy of a puppy, and I have the brains to go with It." the older one said without moving.
"But why is it always you and me that get this job? While Agrona is out hunting with the rest of the pack." the pup said turning his head toward the older one again.
"Because you're in training, and until you learn the brains that go along with all your responsibilities, I half to fallow, and train you." he said with a low growl.
For a moment the two were quiet, listening to the breeze blow through their fur. Then the young one turned to the older one again. "I don't trust Agrona in his ways."
"What!"
"I mean I think he is leading us down a trail that leads nowhere." the young one stepped forward a little bit.
The older wolf, seeing the young ones insolence opened his mouth, and bit at the side of his head. The bight wasn't to intentionally inflict harm but just meant to put him in his place. The young wolf received a bloody scratch along the side of his head; he yelped out in pain then dove away from him. The young wolf knew his place, and that you don't attack an older member of the pack, so he let the conversation drop.
"I don't know why were up here. I mean we killed those dumb dogs dead, it isn't like there ever coming back." the young wolf said with a smile, but the older one wasn't amused.
"It doesn't matter." he growled. "Because more dogs and more humans will come. They will come looking for the missing team, and we will kill them too." the older wolf said with unnerving courage. Then the silence rained for several seconds while the wind blew through the valley.
"I'm starving." the young wolf stated.
"Shut it, I'm starving too, but we wont eat until someone comes and takes our place."
For a moment the two were silent again. Then the young wolf charged forward.
"Did you see that?" he yelled back. "I saw something down their." he yelled, struggling to be heard over the howling wind.
"Would you quit it, your belly's just aching." the older wolf began to step forward
"No no no I saw something down their."
The older wolf came to a stop next to the younger one. "Ok where did you see it?"
"Down their, where the last cover is upstream. What ever it was it was running downstream." the young one said his nose pointed out over the stream.
"There there, did you see it?" the young one stepped forward again. Then turning and looking at the older one for confirmation. The older one shook his head in an agreeing manner. It was time to hunt.
The dog fell over and came to a stop under the cover of the thicket downstream. He looked about the young willow trees that covered either side of the river. He had to find a place to hide if he expected to make it back to Nome in one piece. As His adrenaline pumped, and his heart raced, he scanned the nearby bank for a suitable hiding place.
"Aha!" he yelled out, having found a place to hide. It was set up in the thicket on the right side of the stream. It was a pile of old grey logs covered by snow that had a small opening on one side, just big enough for him to crawl inside.
He got to his feet, and bound in the seesaw fashion to the edge of the thicket. He dove headfirst through the thumb sized trees, and crawled. Stretching out with his front paws and dragging his hind end behind him. It was tough moving through the trees, but possible.
At the log pile he found that the place he thought he could hide wasn't big enough for him. It was only half the size of him. "No, no, no." he whispered to himself in disgust. He had no time to find another hiding place, this would half to work. He bedded himself down in between two logs, and with his free paw he moved snow over the back of his head and remaining body. He had a clear view of the river so he waited and hoped.
Two wolves slid across the ice, snow running up their legs as they came to a stop. As soon as they were stopped, they put their noses to the ice. For a moment they remained still, each sniffing the spot in between their front legs. Then they circled each other, searching for the smell, and then one of the wolves got it. He turned straight for the place where the young dog was hiding. He squinted in the low light, then opened his eyes wide. "I see him." came the wolf closest to him, the other one running up behind him.
The young dog, scared and full of adrenaline, bolted from his hiding place. He sent up a flurry of snow from where he had been hiding, and flew further into the brush. The closest wolf dove forward, the trees stopping him before he could make it more then three feet in. the young dog crawled franticly at the base of the tree, and he then burst into the open field. To his right the other wolf had moved around the brush and was now charging straight for him. The dog tried to run but knew this was feeble; he instead turned back into the tree but hadn't gained enough distance from the wolf. The wolf made a dive through the air, landing on the square of the dogs back.
The dog screamed in pain as the wolf's weight pushed him into the snow. The wolf then leaned forward and began to rip at the back of the young dogs head. He opened the wound, that was already their, wider then it had previously bin. Blood spewed forth onto the snow under the dog.
The second wolf moved up through the trees, squeezing and forcing his way through it. He then reached out with his jaws, and grasped hold of the dogs left front foot. Then dragging the dog, with the other wolf on top, he pulled him out of the brush and onto the ice. Their, the two wolves proceeded to finish the job they hadn't earlier.
The two wolves ripped and tore at the dog. One wolf grasped at the dogs hump, and tore the flesh down over his tail, and down along his leg. The other wolf grasped at the dogs neck, and began to rip and tear at his chest, and tore at the dogs face, blood flew and drained from the dog. For what seemed several minutes the two wolves bled the dog until the call went out.
It was a howl not more then ten feet away. The two wolves let off their attack and turned to the source of the howl. The dog lay on the ground his face half skinned; he coughed blood and made a puddle of it under his nose. But there was still enough energy in the dog to know what was going on
The dog turned and looked at the source of the howl. The dark wolf stood at the edge of the river. On either side of him were two equally large wolves, with slate gray fur. The large black wolf stared for a moment at the two wolves that had been attacking him. The two wolves stepped forward.
"Why did you stop us we were finishing the job we had not finished earlier." a younger voice sounded. The black wolf let a low growl, then with one slashing attack he ripped the young wolf's eye out. The younger wolf screamed in pain, swinging around letting blood and some blackish fluid fly about. The wolf then stopped and held his head low as the fluid and blood poured from his eye. The large black wolf stepped forward.
"Maybe this will teach you, to not speak like that to your elders." he said through his teeth.
The wolf then turned and walked towards the young dog on the ground. He stood over the dog, watching him slowly bleed. The wounds were freezing fast so he was going to live. But this didn't concern the black wolf.
"Do you know who I am?" the large black wolf said in the most calm, secure voice the dog had ever heard. The young dog shook his head with a negative.
"I am Agrona. The leader of this wolf pack." he said raising his head up as if talking to a large audience. The dog moved his head around and could see that thirty wolves had moved in silently. They all stared at him bleeding on the ground.
"This dog shall live." the large dog commended. "On one condition, you will go to the town, and deliver this message to the dogs."
The dog shrunk down under the wolf's gaping body that hovered just above him. The dog was afraid when the wolves laughed in unison. Something was going to happen.
