Chapter
3
Angel
And so, Kavik's wonderful new life in Nome began. He discovered that he liked Balto and knew the feeling was reciprocated not only from the wolf/dog but also from the rest of his family – the pups took an especially strong liking to him. He visited them wherever he could – which happened to be about once a day – and it grew to become a sort of daily ritual. Such a close relationship which the children could only lead to an equally strong one between their parents, yet he and Balto entered a friendship with an ease and warmth that was surprising to both. He quickly grew to form an equally strong relationship with Kaltag, Star, Nikki and the rest of Balto's 'posse', as soon as they got to know him too (after they got over the shock of finding out how much bigger he looked up close, that was). Kaltag even went so far as invite him over to meet Triksey and his pups, the evening on which he did so went in much the same fashion as with Balto's own pups; They loved him, and within ten minutes, they were wrestling and yipping like they'd known each other forever. Kaltag's mate Tricksey was helpless not add her own regards in general feeling of affection for Kavik, saying; "Man, what is it with him? We'll have to ask him to look after the pups one of these days so we can actually go out and have some 'fun' like we used to…" (She had nuzzled Kaltag under the jaw as she said this last).
In no time at all, the pups – both Balto's and Kaltag's – were treating him like part of the family, dubbing him 'Uncle Kavik' – though he was of no known blood relation to any of them, save for one common background, that being their wolf heritage. (Balto's pups had inherited a fourth of his wild nature whilst Kaltag's had been granted a slightly smaller amount; they were only 1/8th wolf, seeing as their mother had only been 1/4th to begin with and their father was a purebred through and through.) But that was of no never-mind to the pups, and they all played and romped with him, often dragging their more than willing parents into the fray. In one particular instance, Kavik was beset by all 12 of both Balto and Kaltag's pups combined. "Man, that's GOT to suck at least a little…" Star was heard to snigger as he, Balto, Nikki, Kaltag and their mates watched the semi-unfortunate hybrid (who, I might add, was roaring with laughter) almost disappear under the mass of wriggling bodies, still laughing.
Another unusual thing about Kavik was that he never seemed to get tired; it was like he had an inexhaustible reservoir of energy with which to match that of all his small furry friends. The only exception to this fact came after facing the full dozen pups, which, as I'm sure you'll understand, caused him to simply lay down in the snow in front of their parents, red tongue lolling out of his mouth, panting like a race horse.
"What's the matter, Kavik? A little tired are we?" Triksey asked, barely able to keep a straight face.
"Well…I just faced about a dozen of the most energetic little devils I've ever met for about 45 minutes, so…yeah, I guess you could say I'm pretty well tapped out at this point." He replied, smiling craftily up at her. They all had a good laugh at this, except for Kavik, who merely snorted and pretended to be pissed off. "Well, thanks for your concern, guys! I can see what a good bunch of friends you turned out to be!" He scoffed, and then joined in, his deep, booming laughter echoing out to roll back to them across the Tundra.
((()-()))
This time of fun and infinite joy went on and on, the daily schedule including – well, in truth it was more like demanding – that 'Uncle Kavik' be invited over to play with the pups, who all grew to see him as some sort of second father. And he himself grew to see himself as a sort of defining factor in their lives; indeed, he certainly watched over and loved them as if they were his very own. Sometimes, the weather would throw up a snowstorm in an attempt to thwart their meetings and he would come nonetheless, suffering only the aggravation of the constantly driving snow in his face. But all that could – and often was – melted before a roaring fire. On such occasions, seeing as they could not go outside to play and that both the houses were no place to engage in such raucous activities, he would often call them to gather around his great furry bulk before the fire and, when all were comfortable, would entertain them with any number of grand stories. They roared with laughter at his recollections of all the predicaments that he and his siblings had gotten into when he himself had been their age and stared with wide eyes and open mouths in awestruck silence at his tales of having to live and fend for himself in the wild at the age of three.
Then, the first sign of an impending complication was heralded by one simple thing; there was a meeting. Well, 'party' might've been a more accurate description of what annually took place every year in the Broiler Room on December 14th. It was the anniversary of the day on which Band's reign of terror had ended with the long overdue death of the evil Malamute.
Surprisingly, Kavik actually knew a lot about Band, having met him by chance before Draco and Biter had joined him – the former only for a short time. He described Band as being "Arrogant, cruel, bossy, self-absorbed, lust driven, unforgiving, and a no-good dirty slimebag!" (This was, of course, the abridged version of his ranting). He growled in remembered rage as he recalled what the Malamute had done to all the dogs of a certain area both he and Kavik had VERY briefly called home. Band had began a bloody and merciless campaign (or coupe, if you wanted to get all technical) against all of the dogs, picking them off slowly one by one, until the humans caught wind of what was going on and dove him out, that was. Kavik told Balto – bitterly – that if he hadn't moved on the day before Band began the bloody fray, he would most likely have torn out the beast's throat, had he merely been given the chance. "Although," he added "a quick death like that would've been more than what Band deserved for the things he'd done by that point." Balto heartily agreed.
Kavik, who hadn't been living in Nome during the town's dark days and knew nothing of Band's evil deeds – save for the eyewitness accounts shared by Balto, a handful of others and his own chance encounter with the evil canine – felt inclined that the party wasn't for him to attend. "It's not my place to be there, Balto. I'm not a member of the town." This, as we can be assured, was a statement Balto – and almost everyone else in the community – strongly objected to.
"Ah c'mon." Balto cajoled him, right side of his mouth lifting in a smile as he gave his friend a light tap on the shoulder. "It just won't be the same without you there! You're practically part of the family as far as Kaltag and I are concerned! Besides," Balto said, lowering his voice a bit, "I wanna see the look on Steele's face when he sees you for the first time up close and personal!"
"Steele huh? The dog that was exiled and presumably 'changed ways' in the wild and came back to be forgiven? The 'air-head', I mean, if I may quote Jenna?" Kavik asked, smiling crookedly.
"Yeah, pretty much." Balto sniggered in return. It had been a while since he'd heard anyone call Steele 'air-head' and in truth, he was beginning to miss it a bit.
"Listen," Kavik said as they approached the fork in the road where they had to split up, Balto going left and towards Rosy's house, while Kavik went right and up the road a ways towards the church, Our Lady of Serenity. "Do you think it'd be okay for me to bring a friend to the party tonight? Someone I met on the train?"
Balto had to laugh a bit at that; this guy was just a little too polite for his own good sometimes. "Yeah sure! Go ahead! Most of the other new dogs will be there as well so what the hey, right?"
"Sure," Kavik grinned, chuckling a bit as well. "You know what they say; the more, the merrier!"
"I hear that!" Balto replied, and they both laughed as they went their separate ways, Kavik going right and Balto going left. 'Wonder who his friend is?' Balto thought, and then dismissed the idea of trying to narrow it down; there were too many possible candidates to make a decision. 'Ah well, no sense worrying about it now,' he chided himself. 'I'll find out tonight anyway…'
((()-()))
As Kavik trooped up the street, every now and again hailed by one dog or another, he thought back to how his life in Nome compared to the one he had lived before being carted up here with Maverick... He shook his head. 'Too many good friends and too many names to remember,' he thought even as yet another dog called out a friendly greeting. Yet he was happy. For the first time in what felt like forever but had really only been a year or two, he actually had friends, good friends, that didn't judge him on first sight, marking him to be a bully and a liar – an opinion usually based purely on his size and wolf-like stature and appearance.
In truth, this newfound friendliness had actually started on the one of last trains taking him to Nome (he'd had to ride about four or five different ones with Maverick) and originated in the semi-comfortable travel car after a particularly nasty brawl…
((()-()))
Kavik whined gently in his throat as he and Maverick walked steadily over to what he earnestly hoped, was the last train he'd have to ride for a while. He grimaced and growled softly as somewhere close by, another of the cast-iron behemoths blew its whistle, signaling its departure. He hated the noise, as it was always crashing into his overly sensitive ears, making his brains feel like scrambled eggs. He shook his head, helping to clear the dizziness from it somewhat as Maverick reluctantly unleashed him and helped him as much as he could to climb into the already packed canine-travel car. The leash wasn't usually used, for Maverick had never needed it, seeing as Kavik wouldn't have dreamed of leaving his side unless commanded to do so. But, coupled with his size and the amount of people in the stations, it made onlookers a little more comfortable if they saw him restrained by something.
He turned, whined softly and nuzzled his large head against the side of his master's face, making the other chuckle slightly as his glasses came askew. "I know boy," Maverick said soothingly, scratching his loyal companion behind the ears and along the back of his neck. "I know, I hate to leave you too, but don't worry; this is one of the last ones we'll have to ride for a while…at least I hope." Kavik licked his cheek as the Pere continued to scratch, now along both sides of the neck. "You be good and stay out of trouble, you hear? And don't go and get any young females pregnant." Kavik gave a short purr-like growl of consent at his master's little joke before Maverick stood, and, with one last good-bye pat, walked off to board the train elsewhere.
A few more dogs were loaded in, some Huskies, some Malamutes, all were smaller than he. Some tired to challenge him, lips writhing back to show fangs, hackles bristling. But his low growls and snarls sent them away in a hurry, and they soon learned to leave him alone for the most part. The train started with a jolt, causing some of the dogs to yelp in alarm. It only served to make Kavik smile thinly. And they thought they were SO tough…
He slept – though not soundly – for an untold number of hours, dreaming dreams that left his head as soon as he awoke, only to fall back asleep. Some unknown amount of time later – it might've been as little as two hours, maybe as many as four, Kavik had no way of knowing – he was roused yet again from his slumber, this time by a low, frightened whimpering coming from somewhere in the car. Curious, he swung his gaze around the small cramped space. It didn't take him long to spot a group of maybe a dozen or more dogs of various breeds and sizes all crowded in one of the corners. Curiosity further aroused, he got silently to his feet, padding over to see what all the fuss was about. Whatever it was couldn't have been pretty, he was certain of that.
"Ah, c'mon babe." A Husky with a strange gray colored coat said in a cajoling voice to someone blocked from view. "It won't hurt a bit, I promise…" He licked his chops, making some of the others chuckle darkly.
"No! Get away from me you perverts!" A defiant female voice replied, and there was the sound of low growling. Then a snarl and snap of teeth, followed by a yelp of pain and outrage, and the gray Husky staggered away from the rest, his shoulder ripped to the bone by a six-inch gash.
"Ow! That hurt, you bitch!" he growled, now enraged. "You're gonna pay for that one with your life!" At some sort of signal, the rest of the dogs began to quickly advance upon their unseen victim, she letting out a slight whimper of fear.
Kavik had seen enough.
Though not normally at all violent or bad tempered, he allowed his dominant heritage to take over, as he sometimes did when the occasion called for it. The wolfish part of him was frothing and spitting with rage at what these things in front of him were about to do, for it was against the wolf's natural instinctive code to battle with or injure females. This, apparently, had no standing whatsoever among the dogs, who were about to begin the horrid act, and Kavik snapped, a loud and ferocious snarl tearing from him as he leapt forward.
The dogs were taken completely off guard, all their attention having been focused on the defiant female. The raging hybrid fell upon them like a mad beast, his rage churning into a veritable maelstrom. He seemed to be everywhere at once, long white fangs ripping into his opponents, his angelic white fur beginning to become spotted with blood here and there. After about thirty seconds or so, the remaining dogs all limped away to cower in the corners, utterly decimated, to lick what wounds they could heal that way. One lay dead, his great vein having been severed by Kavik's powerful fangs. Almost all the survivors had severely bleeding wounds and several had a few broken bones. One (the gray Husky) stood his ground bravely, growling menacingly at Kavik, but one look and snarl from the wolf/dog sent him scampering into a corner, yelping, with his tail between his legs.
Kavik snorted in disgust, snout wrinkling in displeasure. What had happened to the dogs of the world? They were all too soft for their own good these days…He sighed and shook his head slightly, turning to face the one dog he had been careful, even in his bloodlust, not to harm. At first, he was perplexed, as he could see no one, but a split second later, he looked downward and realized why; she was rather small, the top of her head barely coming up to the great dog's knees.
She was small in stature, with a thick coat of golden fur and a long bushy tail that had a slight curve to it, suggesting there was at least a trace of Malamute in her blood. Her legs and underbelly were a sort of creamy-white and there were two or three large dark brown patches running down the length of her back. She stared at him with large baby-blue eyes that were wide with fear. All in all, she looked (although he wouldn't realize it till much later, that was) like a female version of Star. As he turned fully upon her, she backed hurriedly away until her tail pressed against the paneled wood of the car.
Trying his best to act as though the whole violent thing had never happened, he said in a gently soothing voice. "You know…you don't have to be afraid. I'm not going to hurt you. And neither will they," he assured her, shooting a malevolent glare at the beaten dogs cowering in various points about the car, making them cringe. Her fear seemed to lessen somewhat at this show of scorn towards the dogs that had been planning to have a little 'fun' with her, and she moved forward a few paces, although still slightly wary.
"Thanks…for saving me, I mean." She said in an embarrassed sort of voice. "They were going to…to…"
"I know what they were going to do," Kavik replied darkly, shooting another menacing glare at the dogs. "Disgusting mongrels…" he muttered, unable to keep a low growl of fury out of his voice. "Trying to take advantage of a female just because they're bigger than you are! Makes my blood boil…!" He growled, but managed to cheek himself; he didn't want to frighten this poor little dog again. After all, she'd already been though more than enough as far as he was concerned. "Sorry…I get a little carried away sometimes…" he muttered, half embarrassed.
"It's okay!" she replied, spirits seeming to rise a little. This dog seemed very nice and polite…not at all like those other pigs from before. "My name's Angel. What's yours?"
"Kavik." He replied, mouth quirking. He lay down heavily, seeming to make the floor shift the slightest bit under his weight. She was unperturbed and moved forward and lay down in front of him, her blue eyes boring into his own ones. He smiled, a soft and comforting thing, totally devoid of all anger and hostility. It made her feel good inside and she immediately liked him, so she returned it, making him laugh slightly. "So, Angel, what's your story? Why are you here?" he asked.
"Well…my master used to have a house in some place called Canada, but it burned down one day. So, he called his family in Nome and they invited him to stay with them…I'm all he has left." She seemed to drift off for a moment before asking; "What about you?"
"It's a long story, so I'll just give you the extremely short version; I'm basically with my master who's going to be the new Pastor for the only church in Nome." He grinned. "So far, I've been on six trains, all in one God-Almighty day. I've been VERY bored." She laughed at this and the two, upon striking up a conversation, found they had a lot in common.
When the train made a short stop for fuel, and when someone went to check on the dogs, they were immediately shocked a large number of them were wounded. Upon trying to enter, the dogs had whined and cried piteously and the men had shrugged their shoulders and went back to the job at hand. The dogs were always getting into fights, after all. So it was considered a part of the daily routine to discover at least one dog that'd been slain by his traveling companions. In a few minutes, they were on the trail to Nome again, this time with a few hours until they reached their destination.
As fate would have it, they had one last train to ride, seeing as the one they were currently on had decided to break down as a result of overheating. Needless to say, when news of this reached Kavik, he groaned aloud, making Angel giggle, as he said "Ah God! When will it end!" And so, they were all loaded on, and the dogs once again rode peacefully for a time.
This peace, I feel it's my duty to inform you, lasted only for about an hour and a half before it was broken.
18 or 19 other dogs consisting of a mixture of those from the last train, and new ones who had either known the one Kavik had accidentally slain or the ones he'd injured (which was pretty much all of them), approached, surrounding him and Angel in a rough semi-circle. When the white dog did nothing but lie there blithely with Angel behind him, a very large and muscular jet-black Malamute moved slightly forward, green eyes flashing with anger. He growled menacingly, but Kavik just sat there. This continued on for something roughly like 20 to 30 seconds before Kavik – with a sigh – opened his eyes and asked, in a mildly polite, yet slightly bored tone of voice; "What's your name, dog?"
The Malamute, obviously not expecting anything like this, was startled into answering. "Kraven." He replied in a slightly dumbfounded voice.
"Well Kraven," Kavik went on, speaking as though the others weren't present, addressing only the Malamute directly in front of him. "Do you mind terribly not making so much noise? The lady and I are trying to catch some sleep. We've had a very long day you see and –"
Kraven interrupted him with a menacing growl and snap that was barely an inch from the tip of Kavik's nose. "You hurt my buddies, Buddy." He snarled.
Kavik remained cool as the Polar Ice Caps. "I was provoked. They were going to do some–"
"I don't think you get me, scum-bag." Kraven interrupted him yet again only this time he actually nipped the tip of Kavik's nose with his snap. In spite of this, Kavik tried valiantly to reprimand his temper; he had shed enough bad blood for today and had no desire to shed anymore. But despite his best efforts, his anger was starting to rise.
"Oh, I 'get you' just fine, Kraven." Kavik replied, allowing the edge of a growl into his voice. "You're mad that I whooped those pathetic mongrels you call your friends when they were going to rape this poor little dog behind me." He gestured vaguely towards Angel. "And now, you want revenge. Listen –"
For the last time, Kraven was stupid enough to interrupt him. Only this time instead of using words, he spat into Kavik's face, the disgusting gob of mucus splattering on his right cheek. "Get up. I'm gonna' grind you to a pulp." Kraven challenged.
"Trust me, friend, you don't want to fight me." Kavik replied in a deceptively calm tone of voice. "Walk away now, or I'll see to it that you walk with a limp for the rest of what will pass to be your miserable bully's life. I don't want to fight you, but if you insist on trying to hurt me or my friend Angel, then I guess I've no choice." He rose, easily beating the other in the areas of size and ferocity, and growled deep in his throat His eyes blazed.
Kraven, in the true manner of all bullies who can 'talk-the-talk' but couldn't 'walk-the-walk', fell back into his protective little group and snarled "Get him!" whereupon they all fell upon Kavik, teeth flashing, all snarling. Angel cried out and tried to come to Kavik's aid, but the big dog told her to stay back.
Though vastly outnumbered and beset by many a strong sled dog, Kavik was barely touched. Try as they might to tumble him from his feet in order to strike for the soft underside of the throat (the place where his Life's Blood bubbled,) they were unsuccessful; Kavik had long ago learned the value of staying upright in a fight, especially when set upon by large numbers, and no dog could do the deed. Also, nature had been more generous to him in the areas of both speed and agility (not to mention blessing him with the strength of any three of them combined). Therefore, despite his size, he was able to leap about and deliver punishing blows with his fangs to any who made a wrong move or was stupid enough to expose a vulnerable but not particularly or potentially fatal area.
If Kavik had expected a long and drawn out fight that would've lasted for almost 10 minutes, he was sourly disappointed; Dogs are not made with the same degree of ferocity, stamina and skill in combat as wolves are. Therefore, most of the dogs were easily whipped when he merely struck them from their feet and slashed and bit at their unprotected sides, shoulders and legs. It also helped that none of them had any real skill, seeing as they all tried variations of the same attacks and maneuvers on him, and so, within 5 or 6 minutes at the most, over 80 percent had given up and limped away to nurse both new injures and old ones reopened. The remaining six were made of stouter stuff than the rest, and Kavik was forced to make near fatal attacks to the stomach and neck to drive them off.
When all was said and done, Kavik (still bristling slightly, with fangs now red with blood) strode stiff-legged over to Kraven, whose forelegs and right shoulder were deeply bitten and torn. The arrogant Malamute growled menacingly but Kavik simply looked at him, his usually warm eyes now hard with a contemptuous sort of pity. "I warned you." He half-growled, half-sighed to Kraven. "I asked you nicely to please leave me alone. You refused and now look, you've all got injures that I wish I hadn't given you. Please, let this be a warning to you all. Don't. Piss. Me. Off."
With this little nugget of advice passed to would-be-murderer from intended-victim, Kavik padded back to the corner where Angel sat, with a worried and concerned look on her face. She got up and came hurriedly to her new friend's side, saying, "Oh my gosh! You're hurt!" indicating a shallow gash that ran along Kavik's right hind flank.
"It's nothing." He assured her with a chuckle. "Just a scratch." He sighed and lay down with his back to the corner, and smiled slightly with amusement when Angel lay down beside his outstretched head. "I wish they'd all just learn to leave me alone…" he muttered aloud.
Angel sighed in return, replying; "They never learn…that's the problem. They all think they're tough enough to beat you…and then you have to injure them when you don't want to…" She sighed again, eyes closing. "They're all a bunch of morons…"
"Yeah, but I make sure I don't kick their butts too badly…" he said, and they both chuckled softly before Angel feel asleep, leaving a more-than-willing Kavik to stand guard over her for the remainder of the trip.
((()-()))
Kavik smiled as he recalled the events, now thinking Angel had been pretty bold to attack a much larger and stronger dog than she…especially when that dog in particular had intended to forcibly mate with her. Yes, he decided, he'd have to invite her to the party, seeing as she was his first real friend after all.
'Plus,' he thought as he took a detour through an alleyway that would lead him to Angel's house. 'She'll make the party all the more fun…and maybe she'll find somebody who'll actually appreciate her for her personality as well as her body…Heh, there's always Star…' This thought caused Kavik to snort with laughter; Star hooking up with Angel? Yeah, he could maybe see that all right…if Star could get over his nervousness around females that was…
He smiled to himself as he rounded the last corner and came upon Angel's house, a small, plainly constructed 2-story log cabin with black shingles and four-pane windows. He walked up to the front porch and scratched at the door, whining softly until he heard the pitter-pat of his friend's small paws on the floor as she hurried to meet him. He stepped clear of the doggie-door just as Angel bounded out, tail wagging madly as she saw her largest and newest friend sitting off to the side.
She bounded playfully forward, jumping nimbly up onto his head and almost knocking him off balance. Angel snorted with laughter when, after she leapt clear of his head, Kavik actually lost his balance and fell face first into the new snow. She walked over and lay down in front of him, where upon he fixed her with a frosty look.
"Is that any way to greet a friend?" he asked, spitting out a mouthful of snow and raising one eyebrow, attempting to sound disapproving.
"You bet!" she replied with a huge grin, her blue eyes sparkling.
"You're such a pup…" he muttered, causing his friend to huff indignantly, which in turn caused him to smile.
"So…what's up?" she asked, cocking her head to the side. "I know you didn't come over here just to give me some exercise. So spill it, mister."
"So you think you know everything, do you?" he retorted.
"Come ON," she said, rolling her eyes slightly. "I can read you like a book Kavik."
"Oh? I'm surprised, seeing as you can't even read English print at all."
"So? Neither can you! And you know what I meant!" she pouted, brushing a pawfull of snow at him.
He dodged, laughing out in that loud and instantly identifiable way of his. He stood and stretched, shaking snow from his coat. "Actually," he said, giving her a crafty sidelong look. "I wanted to invite you to a party that Balto and a lot of the others are throwing tonight in the Broiler Room. Think you could make it?"
Angel looked slightly puzzled. "Who's Balto?"
"Oh! That's right! I forgot! You haven't meet him yet!" Kavik said, mentally kicking himself for being so stupid. "But don't worry! You'll like him! Heck, I've only known the guy for a couple of weeks and we're already good friends." He grinned sheepishly. "His kids even call me…'Uncle Kavik'." He admitted, making Angel shake with mirth as she laughed uproariously.
"Sounds interesting." She said after her laughter had faded away. "Balto sounds like a good guy…too bad he's already married…" she shot Kavik a slightly hurt look when he started to laugh. "What? Am I not allowed to look for a guy every once and a while?"
"You'll never change," he muttered, shaking his head slightly.
"And just what's THAT supposed to mean?" she replied, pouting again.
Kavik grinned. "Nothing at all, Angel. Anyway, the party's supposed to start around 8 or 9 o'clock." He winked at her. "Try to be there, okay? I've got a feeling the party would kind of be boring without you." He started off down the road at a gait somewhere between a trot and a walk.
"You bet!" she yipped after his retreating back, him nodding in response. She watched him go, a dog that was a head taller than all the rest currently rushing hither and thither. "That guy…" she sighed shaking her head, but she was smiling as she stepped back in through her doggie-door into her nice warm house.
