Chapter 14

Balto looked up just as the moon edged it's way out from behind a building. The moon was nothing more than a sliver adrift in a sea of stars. The combined light from the moon and stars created a pale blue glow, which for the dogs seemed like the middle of the day, but for humans still seemed inky dark.

Balto brought his gaze down from the stars and the moon to the dark alley he stood at the end of. On Balto's left, in between two large piles of broken wooden boxes which were being chopped up for firewood; were thirty dogs, all lined up, their tales hung straight down, their heads and ears held high with the yellow pale glow of a distant lantern on the left side of their faces. They were intently listening to the story which Kodi was reciting.

Kodi limped along in front of the dogs telling the story of what happened earlier in the evening. Kodi's bum leg was tucked up against his body to keep it away from the cold ground, and to keep it from bouncing painfully off the ground. Kodi walked with a bounce in his step. He would step forward with his front feet then with his one back leg would bounce his hips to catch up.

It was late in the evening and the temperature hung around forty five below. The breath from all the dogs crackled and popped as soon as it left their mouth. They lifted their feet in a rotation movement; first lifting the front right, then the front left, then the back left, and back right. Each time that they lifted their feet there was a sticky ripping sound that sounded like tape being removed.

Balto watched and listened to Kodi as he told the story that he had already heard earlier in the evening. Balto was afraid for Kodi. He was afraid that Kodi was trying to drum up a army that wasn't listening, or that didn't want to fight. But Balto knew that if he got the dogs will on his side they would fallow him to the grave.

Balto glanced over at the dogs on his left and could see several dogs that he recognized. There was Nikke Kaltag and star standing nearly in the middle of the pack of dogs. Balto feared a little for star; he was so small and weak that any wolf who wanted to could rip him right in half. Balto could also pick out a few females standing in the crowd of male dogs. Even though most male dogs thought that female dogs were no good for fighting or pulling, Balto always knew that were just as tough as any male dog.

Balto glanced back at Kodi who was just beginning his turn around. He planted his good back leg then swiveled with his front feet until he was facing the other way.

Balto feared what would happen to Kodi if he went on this mission. Balto knew that if Kodi froze his foot one more time he would definitely loose it. Balto tried to picture what his son would look like without a foot, which wasn't hard because he had it tucked up against his body. Balto found it hard to picture his son in this state for the rest of his life. But if Kodi didn't go after the wolves who took clover how would he live. Kodi would never be able to live up to having stayed behind while a team of rescuers went out in search of his love. Balto knew that if he were in Kodi's position he would do the same thing and do anything to find his love.

"so." Kodi interjected with a slightly higher pitch of voice than he had been talking in in order to get everyone's attention. Balto glanced to his left to see if any of the dogs had had the same sudden reaction to Kodi, but Balto was the only one who had jumped like that.

"if we intend to abolish this preponderant force, we must band together. Because apart, none of us are able to have a spitting fight, but together we can overcome anything." Kodi paused in the middle of the line of dogs where he sat facing them. "I'm not asking any of you to become hero's. I'm just asking that you are willing to fight for me." Kodi paused letting the words sink in. he then lowered his head and stared at the ground in front of him. "I will not think any of you as cowards if you decide to stay. But I ask you, if you don't fight now your going to half to fight sometime. Because they wont stop doing this. If it isn't clover, it could be you who is taken by them. So, whoever will fight with me, if you would take one step forward."

Kodi paused, waiting for the few and the brave to step forward. But moments passed with no movement. The dogs all looked at one another waiting for another to take the first step.

Balto also saw this and knew that he had to do something. He took several steps forward until he was right next to Kodi. He raised his head, puffed out his chest, and in the most delightful tone of heroism. "I'll fight with you son."

The dogs all turned their heads to see Balto's brave action of being the first too say he would go. But they all knew that Balto would of gone anyway, it was just that he had decided to go first.

"me too."

"yeah I'll go."

"lets kill them all."

"I will help in anyway possible."

All the dogs suddenly burst out and took there steps forward. They began cheering and yelling, for they were off to be heroes.

The dogs all turned, lined up, and began there march out of town. They still yelled and howled at how much fun this was going to be. But Balto knew that the dogs who were saying this didn't know what they were getting into.

Balto ran to the front of the pack and seated himself right next to Kodi in order to talk to him.

"Kodi are you sure that you should be going."

Kodi glanced over with a scowl on his face. "and what if I didn't go, hmmm. Then what would all the other dogs in town think of me?"

"they would think of you as a coward, sending others to fight your battle."

"exactly." Kodi pushed his hopping limp ahead of Balto. "now come on line up. Hurry up, we got to get up there as fast as we can."

Balto fell behind until he was as the very back of the pack just behind star. The line of dogs began to make there way up the ridgeline to the east of the river. But right off the bat the rescue team ran into problems. The snow on the southern flank of the ridge was nearly ten feet deep. It was this way because the wind blew down the valley and the snow that was on the wind would fall off into a eddy and pack itself down on the very bottom of the valley.

The dogs wallowed chest deep in the snow. They each tried to bound forward through the snow, but were only digging themselves down into the snow. Kodi had made it the farthest by lowering himself down onto his belly and crawling up the hill. The other dogs noticed this and began to do the same thing. In ten minutes they had made it to the top of the snow bank and took a moment to rest on a plateau with hardly a bit of snow.

The dogs then lined out to nearly one hundred feet in length. Fallowing one behind the other. They forced themselves up through more snow banks and more plateaus. They kept this up, getting higher and higher, colder and colder. Until the stream in the valley off to their left appeared to be a small line moving through the land.

The sun came up but they didn't bother stopping to let it warm their fur. They kept moving, the sun temporarily warming there back. Then the sun went down and a afternoon storm began to blow up.

It wasn't the kind of storm where a lot of snow fell, but the kind of storm where the wind did nothing but blow, and blow hard. The storm blew snow off of the peak above them, swirling the particles of snow around them so the snow was bighting at them from the downhill side. Their vision became fogged with the snow, they were barely able to see the back end of the dog in front of them. The snow bit into their nose's, filled their ears, and covered their fur. Soon their fur blended perfectly with the snow they were walking on. Ice hung from there noses and mouths, life had become miserable.

None of them knew how far, or how long, they had walked. None of them really cared how long or how far they had walked. They just wondered if they were going to be able to put up a fight when they got there, if they got there.

There was a sudden slight clear to the storm. The wind had stopped blowing for a moment and the crystalline bits of snow slowly fluttered to earth. Balto looked up and could see the line of dogs snaking up the hill. he spit some ice that had accumulated on the front of his muzzle. Balto's entire face had been crusted with snow, his ears held heavy with snow packed inside of his ears. The snow around his face had melted with the heat from his breath and froze to create one solid ice sheet. He stared at the dogs making there way up the hill. He knew that they had to take a rest or there would be no fight, but instead a massacre.

Balto glanced down from the hill to the dog in front of him. His flanks were covered with snow, much like all the other dogs in this parade. He walked stiff legged, his knees seemingly unable to bend. Balto had to do something, they had to take a break.

"star, are you ok." Balto yelled over the wind that beat at his ears.

"yeah I guess so." star turned, on his face he wore a mask of snow that ran up his cheeks and down the bridge of his nose. The only two spots on his face that hadn't any snow on them were his eye's and nose. "but I could sure use a break."

"yeah me too. Listen sit down and rest for a while. I'm going to go see what Kodi is thinking."

Star didn't bother to throw in his two cents, but sat in the snow like instructed.

Balto moved off to the snow on the side of the trail and began to make his way up the hill; as long as the wind kept down for a few minutes he would be able to make it up there in no time. Balto ran along up next to the trail. As he past the other dogs he would lean over and yell. "sit down. Were taking a break."

Balto closed in on the last dog behind Kodi. He leaned over and yelled his command, then continued on to Kodi.

Balto had hardly noticed the faint trail of red in the snow at his feet. He slid to a stop to examine it. He got his face right down next to it and cleared the particles of snow away with a brush of his right paw. It was blood, and in the shape of a foot print, a dogs foot print.

Balto looked up where the trail went, his ears began to flap as the wind picked up again and the snow began to drive into him. Balto searched the white fog in front of him to see Kodi's hind end, but didn't.

"Kodi must be a little bit farther than everyone else." Balto whispered to himself.

Balto picked up the pace and began a steady trot after Kodi. Balto hadn't gone more then twenty yards when he caught up to him.

Kodi was standing, just standing, in the snow with his back end to Balto. Kodi's back was covered with the same kind of snow that was on Balto's. but the snow on Kodi's back still couldn't hide the thick luxurious red fur from coming through.

Kodi could hear someone coming so turned his head to see who it was. When he noticed the snow covered creature coming towards him Kodi began to walk forward. "come on lets go, we don't have time to waste."

"wait."

Balto moved around the side of Kodi. For a moment Kodi just stared at Balto wondering who it was. Kodi thought for a moment wondering who the voice belonged to. "is that you dad?"

"yes"

Kodi looked back to see if any others were fallowing but didn't see any. He then looked at Balto, knowing what Balto had done.

"why have you stopped us?"

"we need a break. Were exhausted, and if we keep at this pace we will be in no shape to fight."

Kodi shook his head silently in agreement, they hadn't stopped since early this morning at the top of the first plateau.

Balto looked Kodi over. Balto could see the snow that stuck to Kodi's back leg was red with blood. A very small pool of blood had formed under the foot.

"are you ok Kodi?"

"yeah just fine." Kodi was busy looking up the hill.

"your foot looks horrible."

Kodi turned to look at the foot. "it looks a lot worse than it really is."

Balto knew he was lying.

"we should go see how close we are." Kodi turned and walked up the hill through the swirling bighting snow; Within just ten feet Kodi vanished from Balto's sight in the swirling torment of snow. Balto chased up after him and quickly caught up with him, he then set in stride next him.

The hill seemed to go on forever, constantly up with the wind swirling around them. Balto knew that they wouldn't be able to have a fight in this weather. The temperature was unbelievably cold, and with the wind chill it was incomprehensible.

Then it appeared out of the storm up to their left. It was a boulder face sticking nearly straight up out of the top of the mountain. The boulder was rounded but had a triangular shape. It was made out of gray granite splattered with black bits of crystal, all clearly visible in the storm.

Kodi and Balto moved side by side to it but found it to steep to climb. Kodi moved around one side of it while Balto moved around the other. Balto found nothing but the steep silver black granite. He tried once to jump up onto it and climb, but was only defeated back down into the snow.

"dad, over here." came Kodi's faint whisper.

Balto ran around the other side of the rock fallowing Kodi's blood trail. Balto thought about Kodi's bleeding once again. It seemed so bad, wherever he stepped a puddle of blood was left.

"up here dad."

Balto looked up and could see Kodi scratching along the side of the rock face. Kodi's left side was facing Balto, his feet all held together on a single point. Balto watched, almost helplessly, as Kodi edged along the rock face, the wind blowing and beating his fur; his feet ever so delicately touching the rocks on which he stood. Kodi then edged his way around the corner of a rock outcropping and vanished. Balto waited several seconds, several tense seconds where anything could happen.

"come on dad, it's safe." Kodi said firm and reassuringly from some safe point.

Balto could see a slight crack in the rock, a crack at least two inches wide that moved at a angle up around the front of the rock. In this crack Balto could see the blood drippings of Kodi. Balto put his front feet in the crack of the rock and lined them one in front of the other. He made sure that his footing was good, then put his back feet in the same order into the lower part of the crack.

Balto was set. He began to edge his way up the rock face with same delicateness of a ballerina, his toes spreading around the sharp edge of the rock. He walked carefully, making sure that his foot was in place, then shifting his weight to that foot.

Balto then came to a spot in the rock where the crack no longer continued in any direction. He checked all his foot holds to make sure that he was secure, then looked over his left shoulder at the spot where Kodi had been earlier. There was no crack or trail on which to walk, but there was a flatter spot in the rock, a place where the steepness of the rock face receded into a thirty degree icy slop.

Balto checked his footholds once again then looked over at what he had to do. He instantly figured out all the foot movements in his head then moved to do them. He lifted his front feet off the rock, balancing his weight on his back feet. He shifted with his hips putting his front feet on the sloped rock, then hopped up with his back feet.

The ice was slippery and Balto could feel himself slipping every so slightly on the rock face. He stepped forward moving quickly across the icy slope, the exact opposite of what Kodi had done but it worked the same.

Balto came to the rock outcropping that Kodi had vanished around. Around the back of the rock outcropping was a large crack, big enough to walk inside, which led up at an angle to the top of the rock. Balto passed easily up to it.

At the top of the rock face Balto was immediately exposed to the harsh wind. There was no snow in the wind and it didn't bight at him like it had. The wind was nothing more than that, wind Balto looked into the wind, his eyes began to water and freeze instantly, but he could still see Kodi's back, now bare of snow from the bighting wind. Balto jumped up onto the rock top and let the full force of the wind get to him.

The top of the rock was rounded like the top of a bald persons head with many lines and wrinkles across it. Balto moved over next to Kodi where he sat.

"see anything?" Balto asked.

Below them stretched the valley long and wide with the river snaking it's way along. On the very far left of Balto's vision, below and rock cliff, was the clearing where they had fought the wolves earlier. The mountain across the valley, near the ridge, had snow swirling off of the peaks. Just up the river was one large hanging valley that split off of the main valley. Trees came from the mouth of the valley down into the river which mean that there was a creek flowing down it.

Balto watched it very close, watched the field that ran down from the valley and ended just above the river.

"there." Kodi said staring at the same place Balto was. "that's where they are."

"how do you know?"

"I know." Kodi stood and began to turn around.

"how?"

Kodi paused and glanced back at his father. "trust me," he turned his head back. "I have a hunch."

Kodi continued on down the rock the same way he had come up. Balto paused at the top to notice the weather along the ridge they were walking under. The wind moved over the ridge of the mountain, picking up snow, then swirled over and over in a tumbling torrent right where the dogs were walking. Balto fallowed right behind him. They both bound down through the swirling snow until they met up with the very front of the rescue team.

"ok were getting ready to go." Kodi said yelling over the wind to the first dog. "pass it back that were going."

The dog turned and yelled over the wind that they were going, but neither Balto or Kodi could hear what he said exactly.

Kodi turned to begin leading once again but Balto had to ask him one last question. Balto stepped forward and nudged Kodi with his nose. Kodi turned to see what he wanted.

"are you sure your up to this?" Balto yelled at him over the wind.

Kodi eyed Balto. "I'm up to anything." Kodi then turned and walked off into the storm.