Chapter 2.
Kodi and his sled team spent most of their time in the afternoon strolling around the town, having lunch at the town's butcher shop where the butcher was kind enough to give each of the dogs a handful of scrap meat to them, and then the rest of it running out in the open fields of snow either for exercising or just having fun altogether, As the afternoon went and came the evening when the sun was about to set, when the sun was about to set on the horizon and snow was coming down on the town, it would be getting cold when it's dark.
Kodi was the first one to tell his friends that it is time to head to town "Okay guys, let's head back to town." before Dusty said. "I'll race ya down there guys." as she ran off with a swift. "Hey, wait up!" shouted Kodi as he sprinted forward to head up to Dusty.
"Last one down there is a rotten egg." said Ralph as he and Kirby would follow in pursuit trying to catch up.
As Kodi ran he remembered that Ethan would meet them at the boiler room with some friends of his to meet them and hear them to tell of some qutie unique stories.
Dusty was the first one to beat them but Kodi came close right behind her tail and came in as second place while Ralph and Kirby came in third and fourth place.
"Aw man, we were too slow." complained Ralph.
"Well you said it yourself, last one is a rotten egg, so you're the rotten egg." said Kirby.
"No you are." said Ralph as they started arguing with each other.
"Guys, guys calm down, we were just having fun remember?" said Kodi who was negotiating with them both with Dusty replying.
"Yeah guys we are just having fun since we are taking a break from running the sled for so many miles, it's not like we are in a competition for real."
With that Ralph and Kirby started to pipe down with being reasoned by Kodi and Dusty.
"Alright, but who do you think can run faster, huh Kodi?" said Kirby forming a smirk around his muzzle.
Kodi for a moment couldn't come up with the answer since he always believed that he was the fastest because of his father Balto who was Nome's hero for saving the town's children and that Balto had trained him to run faster since his puppyhood, but Dusty could run just as faster as him as well since she can ran first place and he was just right behind her tail one foot away.
"Uuh . . . me and Dusty I think?" he answered to Kirby's question.
"So you think it's you and Dusty that can run faster than us?" said Kirby with a smirk on his muzzle getting the idea.
"Uh what do you mean?" said Kodi who was confused and turned his head towards Dusty who had a little blush in her ears but was not visible to Kodi and all the dogs present, she was just as confused as Kodi was since he mentioned that both of them together can run faster.
'So he thinks that I can run faster as him?" Dusty thought.
"HAHAHA! I am just kidding with ya, Kodiak." said Kirby laughing right next to Ralph who was giggling a bit with the prank they did.
Kodi and Dusty were looking at each other after what Kirby had said feeling embarrassed but let it go and moved on.
All four of the dogs went to the boiler room just as how Ethan told to them meet him and his friends to hear a story of his past.
"Do you guys know what a messenger dog can do?" said Dusty asking a question.
"I don't know, delivering messages from neighborhood to neighborhood?" said Kirby who could only came up with an answer.
"Yeah as if humans can't do it because they're lazy." said Ralph making a joke of Kirby's answer.
"Guys, what ever Ethan did as a messenger dog is probably important to him, just like how our jobs of being a sled dog is important to us, so let's at least be respectful to him, he may just be a hero who saved a lot of lives like my dad did." Kodi said in defense who wants to show respect to the elder dogs like Ethan and it would be possible if Ethan had done something in the past that could have made him a hero.
As they entered into the building that was the town's boiler room, it looked a lot like the one they had been in Nome, the furnace was on giving a glowing light in the room and warmth that felt better to be in then being outside that was freezing out there, when they were in Ethan wasn't there nor was his friends that he mentioned, so they lay down to rest their paws and legs as they waited, two minutes went by, they heard some mumbling form the walls as there was a debatable conversation going on.
"What do you mean if one or two of them is a wolfdog?" said a voice they haven't heard before, it was old and feminine that had an accent that sounded like an accent that Boris had which was Russian but sounded very different as it was elegant and polite but with a bit concern as she was asking the question about them being wolfdogs.
"The one who has a red coat and the other one with the blueish gray, but there friendly Amity." said another voice who was obvious Ethan answering the other dog's question as they entered in.
The dog sled team saw three dogs come inside of the bollier room, they recognize Ethan the old chocolate labrador as he was leaning his shoulder on the bollier room's door to let the other two dogs to come in, one of them had coat that was black with a white underbelly and legs with her tail being all black with a white tip at the end of her tail, her fur was long and thick but not too long, her face had a black mask that on her right side of her face covering her eye and half of it was all white while her ears were black and floby but were still up, it was obvious she was the one asking the question about who were the wolfdogs in the sled team, the other one to come in had a fur coat that was black and carmel, his back side having black fur while his legs and underbelly were all carmel, the dog had pointing black ears sticking up, his muzzle was black with bit of gray in it showing that the dog was just as old as Ethan.
"Hello there." said the old black and white dog as she greeted the sled dogs.
"Kodi, Dusty, Ralph and Kirby, this here is my mate, Amity." said Ethan as he introduced the black and white dog.
"And this here is Adolph." said Ethan turning his head towards the black and carmel dog.
"Guten Abend." said Adolph as his voice sounded a bit low with a an accent that was different from Amity.
"Guten what now?" said Ralph as he and the others on the sled team didn't understand what the dog was saying.
"He means good evening." said Ethan explaining.
"I assume that these Alaskan dogs have not heard of French or German." said Amity who was smiling at them.
"They must have come from an American settlement, but they sure don't know what's out there." said Ethan chuckling.
"Hey, we are sled dogs, we have been to places where you haven't." said Kirby as he stood up, trying to show their reputation of being explorers with pride.
"You're quite right, that's why I referred to you all as Alaskans, but have all four of you been to Europe?" said Amity mentioning a place called Europe as the three dogs who have just entered in lay down with the sled team relaxing themselves with the just right temperature to be warm in a room where it was so cold outside.
"Europe, what's that?" said Kodi looking dazed as they were all curious of what this place was.
"It is a continent that is far away east from here." said Ethan answering his question which lead to more questions to answered which Dusty had in mind "Like how far is Europe from here?" she said.
"It would be a long journey for you sled dogs, if all you were to continue to head straight through Canada and came to the United States on the east coast say like New York, you would then need a ship or flew in a cargo plane to pass the Atlantic ocean and drop off at Britain and then get on another ship or plane again to pass the English channel all the way into France, there you would be in Europe, there's also another way to get there, head west and come into Siberia and Russia or as they call it now the Soviet Union, you come to Moscow and keep heading west till your in Germany." said Ethan.
With Ethan explaining the details of Europe, it would seem like a long journey to travel down there by dog sledding and it might even take them a year either way on sledding, and with that they had mention some countries they have not heard of.
"So wait, what's Britain, France and Germany?" said Kodi with another question.
"Well those countries that are part of Europe, in fact these two dogs here with me had come from there." said Ethan
"I come from Britain and Adolph here is from Germany." said Amity with a "Ja." reply from Adolph.
"So wait does he speak English?" said Kirby with an answer from Adolph "Yes I can." he said in a bit of an irritated tone.
"So then, how did you two came here?" asked Dusty.
"It's a very long story and how long will you dogs be here?" said Amity wondering how long they will be here in.
"About four days, so we only have three days left being here while our musher is spending some quality time with his family here." said Kodi
"Sounds like the perfect timing." said Ethan as he was about to tell his own story before Ralph interrupted. "Wait, what does all of this have to do with you being a messenger dog?"
Ethan being a little bit irritated by Ralph but decided to tell them of the event that have them involved.
"Well ten years ago there was a great war going on in Europe." he said with another reply from Kodi saying "A war? What kind was it?" with Ethan answering his question. "The reason why humans call it the Great War was that, it is was a world war and had battles fought between large standing armies of young and adult male human beings who were soldiers and fighting for their countries, machinery technology also played a role in it as well such as the trains that would carry the soldiers to their destination, industrial factories making the weapons such as guns, ammunition, human vehicles such as cars, trucks, tanks, big battleships and planes that human beings had flew in them if any of you had seen an airplane before and don't forget to mention weapons that were so deadly such as artillery and chemical gas." he said with a bit of disgust in his tone at mentioning that deadly weapon.
The four sled dogs were intrigued as Ethan explained and yet why would some human soldiers would need some dogs to help them in the first place.
"Then why would the Humans need dogs for war?" said Dusty with another question.
"They have been using dogs in wars for a very long time, and they would use them just as the same way as you dogs are used to pulling sleds." said Ethan who answered the question to Dusty's question.
"Huh?" the four dogs in the sled said before Kodi was saying "So you mean dogs like us can be of service in the military?"
"Well it all depends on what type of breed you are, they wouldn't use a poodle or very small dog like, uhh . . . what do they call them Amity?" he said as Ethan was figuring out what small breed he could describe.
"Welsh Corgis Ethan." she said chuckling for a brief moment.
"Oh yeah, they are pretty small for a dog but they can still run faster, anyways you all know of my breed but let's at least talk about what these two dogs here with me are , Amity is a sheepdog or now what they named it for, a Border Collie, and Adolph here as you all know he's from Germany, his breed is called the German Shepherd." said Ethan explaining what breed of dogs they are before Dusty ask another question "So what about the breeds that are Siberian Husky or Alaskan Malamute?" before Ethan replied with "For your kind, you would most likely be used for pulling supplies, or machine guns for soldiers who are trained to go into cold climates for long periods of time such as during the winter or parts of the world where it's winter every year, like the antarctic for example, though I don't think any powerful country on earth here would to set up a colony or collect resources from it since it's too cold down there, but you get the point, every type of dog has a role in the military."
"Was it adventurous when you were a messenger dog?" said the curious red and white young wolf-husky.
"Well . . . Yes it was, but war is not like some game you sled dogs play, like racing in a competition to beat another sled dog team, really a lot of people including dogs die in wars." said the old chocolate Lab after answering the question to Kodiak when Dusty then ask another question, "Then why do humans keep fighting in them?" she said looking a little confused and a bit disturbed that some of their own kind die in human caused wars.
"Good question young miss, that I can't clearly answer because I am not sure why, they do it because of some intentions such as spreading some ideologies like religion, enlightenment, social and economic ideas,Social Darwinism, or they do it to defend their homeland, all of them sound good and humane or as the humans call it humanitarian, although they will intend to do for resources, I'll leave it up to you to decide." said Ethan explaining why humans intend to fight in wars if it were just or unjust before Kirby ask him another question. "Then why did all of you guys decide to be involved in this war?" Ethan answered his question with respect but in a bit of stern look on his face. "I'll tell you how."
June, 1915 Canada, somewhere in Ontario
It was a beautiful day in the green fields as the birds were chirping, the sky blue as ever with the sun's rays of light bright over the lands and the mountains. Chocolate pups were running playing with each other as they roam around the field, a man in the distance who was in his farming clothing and a cap on his head that covered most his hair that was faded in gray showing the man was old in his mid 60s along with two Labrador dogs were right next to him.
"Wheeeet, whoooo, Come here pups." said the old man who was whistling at the pups to come back, the pups acknowledge his command as the two dogs right next to him was their parents.
The runt in the litter of pups came up faster to his parents to lick their faces in excitement, happiness and love.
"Oh Ethan stop it." giggled the brown female Labrador in glee as all the other pups came in to do the same with their mother.
"Come along children." said the the dark chocolate male Labrador as they followed the old man into the house with the shed right next to it.
As they were all following the old farmer into the entrance of the house, in the distance they heard noise that sounded like it came from a local enige, as the 4 month old Ethan turned his head over his shoulder in wonder to see it was a car driving up on the road that lead to the farm.
"Ethan come inside." his Father the dark chocolate Lab demanded in a stern but calm tone, not wanting to get his father upset, he went inside as the door was closed leaving the the old farmer outside to speak with the people inside the automobile.
As they were all inside of the house there was a middle aged woman in the kitchen as she was preparing for dinner, in the dining area were three children sitting at the table where they would eat their meals, a boy and two girls were sitting there, two were working on their homework assignments before school was out while the youngest was drawing and coloring papers with Crayons instead of pencils, the middle aged woman looked to be in her late 50s and going on to her 60s while one of the children, the boy who was the oldest in the bunch was 12 years old while the other girl who was working on her own home homework was 10 years, while the youngest daughter is 5 years old, on the wall that lead the dining area to the living room where a row of pictures that featured the family and Ethan's parents, in the family photo that was taken pack in 1910 showed the farmer and his wife along with their newborn daughter in her arms while there were three boys and one girl, the boy and the girl were sitting in front of where the parents were while the two boys were standing behind the parents, the two looked like they were the two eldest brothers in the family, they were all smiling at the camera except for the newborn baby as she looked confused as it was her first picture taken as a baby, the other pictures had one of them that featured the farmer and his two eldest sons wielding shotguns such as a double barreled shotgun and two browning auto-5 shotguns along with Ethan's parents sitting right next to them along with rows of deceased ducks.
Meanwhile outside the old farmer welcomed the guests who had drove down here, the guests were two men in uniform, their uniforms had a dark tan fabric color along with bronze buttons, two of them had the rank of army officers, one had a rank of major while the other one had a lieutenant rank, the major had a stern look on his face as he was older in his 40s while the lieutenant had a calm look on his face and was younger in his 20s, the major's hair that was covered by his army cap had brown hair along with a mustache while the lieutenant had black hair, both of had a flag on their shoulders that was red with the union jack on the top left side corner of the flag with a shield that resembles their English and French heritages.
"Bonne après-midi Mr. Wilson." said the Major with a bit of a French accent even tho he was a Canadian.
"Major Tremblay and Lieutenant Lee, what brings you two gentlemen here? Has something happen to my . . . eldest sons?" said Wilson the farmer, he greeted with them until he ask them a specific question on the reason why they were here if they were to report about something that might have happened to his two eldest sons, he had a concerned look on his face when he had mention the last part of his sentence before the major replied back to him "No, we have heard they are doing just fine in the trenches on the western front that is, they have only had a stalemate against the Huns since November." he said answering Mr. Wilson's question of the status of his sons that would satisfy him but they don't know what is going on in the battlefields against the central powers in Europe at this moment, the next day they could hear a report of some casualties going on that had happened on the day before.
"Oh, thank heavens, sure hope my boys are fighting back against those Germans, It's going to take a lot of bullets to take down my sons." Farmer Wilson said with confidence that his sons are doing alright over there.
"Yes indeed, however that's not the reason why we came here for, we have heard that your dogs had just had litter of pups four months ago, is that correct?" said Major Tremblay now asking a question to the framer.
"Yes, they were just out here with me a moment ago, my wife is just making supper, would you gentlemen like to come in for some tea?" said Wilson as he turned towards the entrance of his home as the two men in uniform followed.
As they entered, the youngest child was playing with the pups as she was hugging, and petting them as the pups were licking her face, she giggled as their tongues tickled her face.
"There they are." said Wilson as he came in the house with the two uniformed men befor he said to his daughter "Lucy can you please take the pups into the other room with their parents and feed them?" said Wilson as he told his youngest daughter, she did as she was told with a "Yes papa." The pups followed her into the other room.
As dinner was being prepared Lucy and her brother and sister, Michael and Rachel fed the dogs in the other room, as the family was having dinner except for the Major Tremblay and the Lieutenant Lee as they already had their meals at their base, instead they had tea, Mr. Wilson was having a conversation with the men in uniform.
"So can you tell me what's been going on on the western front? You said there was a stalemate with the Germans." said Wilson in which the Major replied back to his question after taking a sip from his tea, "Yes, but I can't tell you that much information but I can tell you this, the Germans have been using this new weapon, Chlorine, it is a chemical weapon they have been using it since April of this year at the second battle of Ypres, what it does, it causes lung irritation making it harder for the soldier to breath and it is even Corrosive which can cause damage to the eyes, nose and throat, the worst part of it is that it is silent and deadly." said the Major as he was describing the chemical weapon and making the Germans look like they were the monstrous brutes they were, yet they weren't the only ones using weapons of mass destruction during the period of the war, matter of fact they came up with the ideas of protective equipment to combat it such as gas masks.
"Golly, didn't we agree to the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907." said Wilson as he was disgusted by the details of this weapon and imagining a soldier that was struggling with breathing as he coughing out the gas out his lungs and getting fresh air into his in this type of situation. "This is a world war we are discussing about." said Major Tremblay.
As they were continuing their conversation of the great war going on in Europe, Ethan heard what was going on and was curious of this Great War in Europe he asked his mother, "Mom, what war are they talking about?" he looked up at his mother as she was finished with her meal. "I don't know Ethan, but I do believe it has something to do with Wilson's sons, Adam and John." she said as she remembered the last time she had seen them back in October when they enlisted into the Canadian army to fight in this war.
"So, What brings you two here?" said Elizabeth, Wilson's wife asking the men in uniform a question. "Ah yes, we heard two of your dogs just had a litter of pups four months ago, is that correct?" said Tremblay with Wilson replying "Yes we do, is there something you need with them?" The major turned his head towards him to answer his question. "Yes, we are recruiting dogs for military service, an experiment really, you see here we need dogs that can become of use in the war effort like what France is doing." He said with pride on his face. "Alright, but I still need Baron and Cali for herding, hunting and protecting our stocks from wild animals." said Mr. Wilson stating that his two oldest dogs are not up for military service and are still in need for important reasons.
When Wilson was done eating his meal for the day he lead the two men in uniform in the other room where the dogs were, as they came in the pups came up to them wanting to play with them when really the men in uniform we're here to examine them, Baron and Cali were protective of their pups but did not resent against the soldiers as they are the master's guests.
"Well these puppies sure are very excited to see us." said Lieutenant Lee as he was kneeling down to reach them and grab one of them who licked his face.
"These pups may be too friendly around strangers when they're' young, but I am sure they will become protective around their owners and their property when they get older and more mature." said Wilson as he turn his view from the pups to the Major as he said back "Well these pups better be prepared when they are in need of service either their roles be it a guard-dog, patrol dog or be a messenger dog on the battlefield." as he said that Ethan was running around Lieutenant Lee in excitement as he was going faster.
"Hey Major, look at this little rascal here." said Lee as he grabbed Ethan before Wilson said "That's Ethan, he is some what a bit of a runt in the litter we have." he said as the Major then replied back to him "Maybe he could become a messenger dog then." said Tremblay before Mr. Wilson interrupted him "B-but are you sure? He is a bit of a ru-" he said before being interrupted by the major believing that Ethan wouldn't be assumed to fit the role of a messenger dog "By the look of it, this rascal likes to run faster." he said as he grabbed out a red collar that had a little brass leaf on it as a dog tag and can fit the neck of a puppy as well as an adult dog, he came to Lieutenant Lee and ordered him to put it around puppy Ethan's neck. "Be sure to not put him with the pups being adopted, okay?" said Major Tremblay stating to Mr. Wilson "Umm . . . okay then." he said at first with an objection but gave in and accepted it. "We will be back for him in October once he has matured enough to be trained and then set out to the battlefields." said the major as he and his assistant lieutenant Lee were exiting the farmer's home.
As the rest of the family were outside saying their goodbyes to the military personnel with Mr. Wilson shouting out to them "I will be sure to mature the runt when I am out hunting then." before the Major replied back to him "Very well then, Au Revoir." as he wave back to them. Ethan look outside as the family wave goodbye to the uniformed men and looked down to see he was wearing a red collar with brass seal that resembled a leaf and then wondered what was going to happen to him?
Sorry if this took so long, I was being lazy playing some Fallout 4, working on a Lego MOC project for Brickcon, and reading some other fanfic stories, tomorrow I am going to have an operation on my wisdom teeth but I will still be able to continue writing the story and I do have some ideas of stories that I want write some time in the future on a Star Wars Halo Crossover and maybe a Zootopia story if I have an idea, and thanks again to Dante Frost and Christian Knight for being beta readers
Update I have decide to change my characters name Ether to Ethan.