I.
The air and sky were calm as Togo shot toward the docks of Nome. His jowls were watering as he thought of the delicious sheefish the fisherman always brought in. When he arrived at the old bait shop, a cat hopped up on a barrel and snuggled up against him. Togo chuckled and returned one when another cat jumped up on his head, followed by another. The canine also welcomed the sight of petrels; they weren't family but friends he had known all his life.
One of the cats started clawing at the shop's support beams and Togo happily joined in.
"Oooo-kay," One of the men lugging a wooden bucket dumped his spoils along the snow.
Everyone's eyes bugged out as fish heads spewed in a slimy stream over their paws. Togo licked his chops hungrily and started gobbling down the heads as the petrels did. He would take some in his mouth and gobble them down along with his black seabird friends. The medium-sized Siberian Husky was just starting to lick his paws with his family when they all scattered away.
"Hey! Where ya goin'?" He looked around himself and then at the fleeing petrels. "I just got here." The husky's ears perked up and he turned to the shadow looming over him, hands on it's hips.
"Togo," The young bundled musher glared down at him, "Look at you," he pulled the dog out of the discarded bones and skin scraps. "You are not a stray dog anymore." Togo whined and pulled as Sam fastened a collar to his neck. "You're the fastest dog in Nome," the husky paused to pose proudly, "and the most stubborn. Stop struggling or it's the ship to Norway."
The husky tried with all this might to fight so Samuel Reigns couldn't get his leash on.
As they entered town, Sam noticed one of the other mushers buttering some toast outside of the town bakery. He stole a conspiratorial glance as his stubborn husky and started in on a quick conversation with Mr. Lionheart. Togo tried in vain to pull his furry head free of what turned to be an unusually tight collar, he was panting hard when Sam looked down at him...
With a knowing smirk. Togo bared his teeth in a growl but the young man only tightened it.
That's when the husky noticed some melting butter in a glass dish and smiled cleverly as a thought occurred to him. When he was sure Sam was deep in conversation, Togo lapped up the butter, used his tongue to spread it inside of his collar and easily slipped out of his bind.
The man buttering his toast raised a brow at him.
Togo grinned with butter and fish in his teeth and ducked under the man's arm carefully.
His mild-mannered witness cleared his throat and gestured as the discarded collar on the loose leash. Togo frowned and then returned to place it over an old hitching post. The man smiled and tried to pet Togo, but the dog avoided his butter knife hand and dashed off. With a shrug, the man returned to his toast. Togo was halfway through town when he saw an old lady in a starch apron light a fire under a huge wooden bowl, rip off some blubber to throw under it and then after making sure no one was looking, fanned it with her board-stiff apron. It was at almost the exact same time she went back inside that Togo tried to get inside of it. He would do anything, regardless of how things turned out.
The flames were rising high and the dog kept away under a long ladder propped up against it. Agitated, Togo tried to think of a way into the giant wooden thing. He then noticed an old whisky barrel and rope where a bell used to hang. Togo was at least a good twenty feet off the ground as he stared into the bubbling bathtub. Grinning, the husky flopped backwards into the steaming cauldron. Water splashed up like a mini-geyser and soaked the returning woman's head. Four Native children who had climbed into the bathtub by way of the ladder saw the husky floating around and sighing as the steam rose up. Their caretaker - her white cap still soaked over her eyes - appeared on top of the ladder with lye soap and a big brush.
Togo stifled a yelp as the old woman started scrubbing him down. The kids grinned, coming up to scrub the husky down as well. Togo enjoyed the lathering so much he even started to lap at her hand. The children's quiet giggling grew louder as their matriarch was made wise.
"TOGO!" She tried slapping the dog as he paddled backwards and allowed her to fall in.
The kids were doubled over in laughter by the time the husky made it to the edge and fell outside of it in a soaking heap. Togo raced away as Sam came running, shouting about how late he was making them. He finally made it to where two men were about to exchange a steaming plate of halibut for a bag of walnuts. Togo managed to rip open the bag from the bottom, causing the nuts to fly out towards an ensuing Sam and steal a second lunch in all of the confusion. By the time everyone arrived on the scene, Togo was rushing to the beach.
He grinned as he stopped after a minute or two, breathing a little hard with the fish still in his mouth. The husky gave his head a shake at the sky before lying down to have a calm, ill-earned bite to eat. He happened to glance toward a mound of snow when he saw a pure white canid appear at the top. His jaw fell a little, halibut still on his pink tongue. He'd seen wolves before. Large, curious animals that sometimes left a deer on the outskirts of town.
Togo knew when the wolves left there would always be something left to scavenge; unlike humans, animals never disappointed. But this wasn't an animal. This wasn't anything Togo had ever seen or copied. This was a queen, a winter goddess fresh out of a snow palace. It was without a doubt in Togo's mind before her golden eyes ever found his where his life was destined to go. She stood, part of the earth itself, and looked at him for a few more seconds before the low grunt of another wolf diverted her attention. Togo's eyes grew with yearning.
The goddess gave him one final look and disappeared over what felt like a great mountain.
Togo's intrigue won out over his fear of the forest. He was one heartbeat from throwing his entire life away and pursuing his new passion when a hundred hands grabbed his muzzle as if he were a wild bear, they grabbed his legs, tail and body as if he were a wolverine set to slice them apart. Togo fought, kicked and cried as they stuffed him in a bag as if they were netting an eagle. I'll show you wild! I'll show you all! He thought as he felt the outside give way to painful punches, kicks and at one point a piece of wood knocked him about his head.
The husky staggered, fell and found his limbs bound further as he slipped into darkness.
...
He was running, following a wall of black that went on forever.
Togo felt hopeless as he realized he was lost. Scared, because he couldn't find the light.
The dog almost collapsed in pain again when a large, white image appeared in the sky.
Eyes like glittering stars formed in the face of the glowing shape.
"You're the moon," he whispered, mist spewing from his black lips, "The Goddess."
A gentleness entered her eyes and light like starbeams fell onto him, filling him with gold instead of the white coming off of her. Togo became intoxicated with warmth. He almost let his tongue fall out of his mouth as she spoke his name softly, "Togo," Like a mother's voice.
"Togo."
He tasted something bitter and smelled something musky.
"Togo!" A stern voice snapped him awake. The husky was momentarily shocked that Sam wasn't in a fit of rage... until he realized his paws were tethered together. He tried to fight but the calming effect was still there. The dog saw the rag laying next to his head and hit the offending item away. He hated false hope or things you had to have faith in to see. It didn't occur to him right away that he and Sam stood in front of a large Nome residence.
Oh, no, He thought as two men unbound but kept him in place while Sam very courteously helped an old woman down the stoop of her home. Togo noticed the late day and knew he'd been out of it for a while. Wait... wait, humans had done this to him. If Togo wasn't still shocked that men could do this and bewildered by the dream of his strange Goddess-,
The Goddess.
Togo strained under the hold of his captors as the narrow-sighted little lady was helped into the sled that served as a cab in Nome, AK. Sam grinned so hard he almost strained his jaw muscles. "I am so sorry about the late hour, Misses Hampton. The petrels were pecking at Togo again." The dog shook his head from side-to-side; Sam had done this to him! What?!
"Hmph," One of the men said quietly. "Them birdies get all the credit."
The other man chuckled roughly. "Don't they always?"
He shook his grip on Togo to stop him and ignored the dog when he snapped at his hands.
Scared, the dog strained to look back at Sam. He seemed to give the accouters permission to leave and came to look at Togo with a calm smile, as if nothing had happened and he was still the nice young musher from Fairbanks who had taken Togo in almost five weeks earlier.
"Okay," He held up the intended harness to make a point. "It's just like a collar and leash." Sam smiled. Togo forgot the incident and scowled at him. "Except..." the man conceded to this. "For half your body. Now, come on," Togo whined but stood still as Sam fastened it on.
He knew where Sam wanted to go and he now knew the price for disobedience.
The two men were gone but the injustice filled the husky with a strange, raw rage.
And so, Togo fumed. As his musher got in the front, the harnessed animal ripped and bit at his chest. He was working towards his stomach when his head jerked back abruptly, he let out a small whine and saw that Sam stood adamantly with a rope tied around the sled bar.
"Mush," The man insisted, slackening his choke hold just a bit.
Togo grumbled and pulled the sled with it's occupants outside of Nome, AK.
If he never saw this humorless, hick town again...
...
All the while the wolves waited until everyone had gone inside for the night before retrieving a half-eaten moose killed on the edge of town. The top wolf, a dark grey and black male, let it be known to his pack of seven what the white wolf had seen. She was a young scout; her eyes missed nothing. So even as she was not the fastest or the strongest, she purposely let herself fall behind to stare down into the fishing village long after the bushy coyote had left.
Scavengers didn't interest her, but ones that acted as strangely as this one had did.
The top wolf gave a gruffer reprieve then the last time and she reluctantly followed.
As the pack headed off into the dark forest, four men with guns appeared on the horizon.
One of the men had a sack.
To be continued...