Chapter 5 - Wise Words
As Balto ran through the deep, wet snow, he thought he saw a dark figure way up ahead in front of him. He thought he was seeing things, but he ran faster anyway. How was it possible to see them now? He had just started running after them. Plus, he didn't see them when Saint pointed to the mountain in the first place.
But there WAS something there, he knew. He could feel it all over his body. He wanted to see what it was, so he ran faster.
He stopped running fast when the figure collapsed in the snow. He eventually got to it about five minutes later. It was an all too familiar face.
"Aries? Where did you go two days ago? We were looking all over for you!" Balto exclaimed as he laid down beside Aries.
"Never mind that. Go and find them. You are very close."
"What... how... you know who I'm looking for?" Balto asked uncertainly.
Aries looked up at him and nodded. "Yes, I do. They are stuck up ahead at the pass. If you hurry up, you can reach them."
Balto looked at the far-away mountain up ahead of him and said, "Aries, thank you, but... what about you?" He then looked at Aries. Once again, he had disappeared.
"What the... Aries?" he yelled. "Aries? Where did you go? Why do you always leave me like this?" All he got in response was a deep echo rumbling off the mountainside.
Balto looked around one last time and ran towards the towering mountain. Aries might not be there anymore, but that didn't mean that he wouldn't take his advice.
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"Steele, you SO won't get away with this!" Aleu shouted as Steele tightened the rope around her neck. She cried out in pain.
"One more remark like that and I'll leave you out here in the snow."
Aleu wasn't sure if he was serious or not, but she didn't want to take her chances.
"Now... how do we get out of here?" Steele asked himself.
"You're asking me? I've never been here before!" Aleu exclaimed.
"Who said I was asking you, you little half-breed?" Steele snapped. Aleu glared at him and she lowered her head in sadness at the remark of her being a half-breed.
Then Steele and Aleu heard a familiar howl. Steele's eyes grew wide while Aleu's face lit up with joy.
"It can't be," Steele said as he squinted to try to see the figure sprinting towards them.
"Oh yes it can!" Aleu said as Steele tightened the rope harder around Aleu's neck. Steele then found an opening in the path and ran out of it. He dropped Aleu on the ground and closed it up with a huge rock so that Balto could not get past.
As Balto ran into the mountain pass with a determined look on his face, he saw the rocks and tried to push past them. He tried and tried again, but still could not get past. Steele kept on running.
Balto's muscles soon gave out and one of them gave way and sent a sharp pain throughout his back and his left forearm, causing him to collapse in the snow and cry out in pain. He laid there for awhile, limp and in excruciating pain.
Then a blizzard started blowing in from the south. "Great, something else to add to everything else that's going wrong," he said out loud. It wasn't as if anyone could hear him out here. He was alone. Or was he?
Balto's hope was almost lost when he remembered Boris' words very clearly.
"Let me tell you something, Balto. A dog cannot make this journey alone."
Balto sighed and started playing around with the snow.
"But maybe a wolf can."
Balto's eyes grew wide as Boris' words flooded back into his mind. Those words were the words that got him through his first journey. Those words were the words that helped him climb up that wretched cliff. Those words were the words that had saved half of Nome.
And those words were the words that would get him through this journey. And all the journeys to come.
End of Chapter 5