Chapter 7: Decisions, Decisions.
"Bane!", Balto exclaimed.
"Balto, it's been too long", the gray wolf replied. "And you Jenna, look as lovely as ever", he added.
"Bane! Has it really been six months?", Jenna asked, grinning.
"Feels more like six years", the gray wolf said, sharing Balto and Jenna's cheery mood. Balto and Jenna walked forward (to their friends' shock), and both started nuzzling the wolf on the nose.
"Um, is anyone gonna tell me what's going on here? Are we gonna get eaten or not?", Kaltag asked, confused.
Balto laughed, and shook his head. "No, Bane is old friend of ours. Jenna and I used to meet wolf packs all the time on our adventures, and we helped saved Bane's pack from some hunters once. They've been good friends of ours ever since", Balto explained.
"They helped save my family. I promised them that someday I would return the favor. Though, I thought that day might never come, when you suddenly stopped visiting. I thought you were dead my friend", Bane said, frowning a little.
"Sorry about that, my son and his wife are about to have a baby, and we've been busy supporting them", Balto explained sheepishly.
"I understand. Childbirth is turbulent time for the entire family", Bane said reassuringly.
"Kodi and Dusty are actually the reason we're out here. I think something's gonna happen to them soon, and I have to find them before it does", Balto explained.
"The universe has spoken to you in your dreams again?", Bane asked, curious.
"Yes", Balto replied, nodding.
"Then who am I to get in the way of your journey? I promised you that someday I'd help you in an emergency, and today I finally get to keep that promise. Me and my pack will come along with you the rest of the way", Bane decided.
Star's eyes widened as he realized what the wolf was suggested, and the husky tapped Balto on the shoulder urgently. "Wait, so we're already in the middle of the forest, during a blizzard, hopelessly lost, and you want us to trust a bunch of strangers?", Star asked, obviously terrified, as usual.
Balto frowned slightly. "Bane and his pack aren't strangers, they're family. Besides, it's either that or keep stumbling through the storm and hope that we either find town or bump into another pack of friendly wolves", Balto reminded him.
"Well, when you put it that way…", Star said hesitantly, his voice trailing.
"Alright then. Let's keep moving", Jenna said. Her and husband took their usual positions at the head of the group, walking side-by-side with Bane, while the rest of the wolf's pack walked next to a terrified Nikki, Kaltag, Star.
((()-()))
As the winds in White Mountain grew stronger, the walls of the local inn creaked more and more. And the wooden support beams whined and groaned every few seconds, like they were struggling to hold up the weight of the inn and the snow piled on it's roof. But the hotel guests paid the noise no mind. Most of them, including the animals, were fast asleep, hoping to dream their way through the rough night ahead. Some people however couldn't sleep, because they had too many things on their mind. Kodiak was one of them, and his musher, John Simpson, was another. "Still no sign of Steele?", John asked.
"No. The wind's already picking up out there. In an hour's time, nothing will be able to stay out there on those streets", Roger said sadly.
"Look, I'm sure Steele's fine. He's a pro, he knows what he's doing. He's probably hunkered down in some old abandoned building somewhere, riding out the storm like we are", John reasoned.
"He used to be a pro. But that was a long time ago. Now he barely even seems like himself. He just wanders off alone for hours at time. He doesn't want to work his team, I have to practically force him into his harness every day. He barely eats, I don't even thinks he sleeps. And he doesn't get into dog fights anymore. Like his pride, all that swagger that used to be in his step, is gone. It's like he's not really alive, he's just sort of moving his way through life. If he was human, I'd say he was in some kind of depression, but since he's not I have no idea what's going on with him. And I don't know how to fix it. And now he's gone off and done some foolhardy stunt like this", Roger said guiltily.
"Roger, you can't keep blaming yourself for everything that dog does", John insisted, hoping he could try and comfort the older man.
"Yes I can. I promised Gunnar that I would take good care of him. The whole reason he gave Steele to me was because I told him I could give his dog a better life with me than the one he had back in Nome. But if I had known that Steele would turn out like this, that he'd run off and get himself killed on my watch, then I would never have taken him away from his owner. I let him down. I failed my best friend", Roger continued, holding his head down in shame.
While John tried his best to calm down Roger down, Kodi watched the whole scene from across the lobby, the husky's chocolate-brown eyes filled with youthful sympathy. He wished he could help the man. But right, he could barely even help himself.
The husky had just barely managed to survive Steele's assault, and he had an even narrower close call even after the danger was over, when his wife and friends almost noticed all the spots where his fur was messed up. Now they were all lying asleep on the floor, while Kodi was the only one still awake, nuzzling his sleeping beauty and listening to the humans' conversations.
So before Kodi could even think about Roger's dilemma, he had to help Steele with his. After all, so far he had only done phase one of his plan to save Steele - which was getting him to stop being angry long enough to listen reason. Now it was time for Kodi to finish what he started.
He licked Dusty's head, and nuzzled his wife one last time. "I'll be back soon Dust", he whispered. Normally, he wouldn't have even dreamed of leaving her alone, and pregnant, during a blizzard. But for the first time since they were married, Dusty would actually be safer away from him than she would be with him. Then again, when they were promised to each other, they had both acknowledged that there would be good times in their marriage and bad times. And Kodi guessed tonight was part of the latter.
((()-()))
"So how you have been doing?", Bane asked suddenly.
"What do you mean?", Jenna asked, confused.
"You have visited in a while, and Balto told me about what happened with Aleu. I know that letting go of a loved one can be painful, especially on a mother, so how have you been holding up?", Bane asked the husky, as Balto and the rest of Kane's pack trekked further ahead of them. So far, the wolf-dog seemed preoccupied with finding their way through the storm.
"Fine", Jenna said curtly. But when she glanced at Bane again, she saw the wolf staring at her with a frown on his face. He didn't need to reply, she could already guess what he was thinking.
"You're lying", he said simply.
"Of course I'm lying", Jenna sighed. "It's just, I had always told Balto that we'd have to say good-bye to Aleu sooner or later, let her go on and find of home of her, maybe even start a family like we did. But when she finally did leave, I was a hundred miles away. And when Balto returned to Nome, alone, I just…lost it. I had had all that time to prepare myself for that moment, but it still hurt", Jenna explained, her voice breaking.
"Of course it hurt. There'd be something wrong with you if it didn't", Bane said comfortingly.
"Balto tried to help me the best he could, like the good husband he was, but he was still grieving just as much as I was. It took us a whole year before we were back to normal again. And now this happens. If something happens to Kodi and I lose him and Dusty too then…I'm not sure I'd be strong enough to go on this time", Jenna sobbed.
As tears started to flow down the husky's face (stinging her eyes in the sub-zero air), she stopped walking entirely, and sat down on her hind legs to cry. As her breakdown further spiraled out of control, she half-expected Bane to try and tell her something to calm her down. But what she got instead was two large paws on her shoulders, rubbing them gently in a move she already knew by heart. It was what her husband always did to comfort her when she was feeling sad. Without opening her eyes, she lifted her head to nuzzle the neck of the half-wolf she already knew was standing behind her. "You were eavesdropping", she whispered.
"Of course, that's what husbands do", Balto replied, but though his tone was as blasé as possible, anyone could tell he was still worried about her.
"You could still hear me, over all this wind?", she asked, though still keeping her eyes closed. She knew the burning feeling wouldn't stop until she stopped crying, which wouldn't be for quite some time. Until she did, she would just have to keep her eyelids closed for a little while longer.
"I can always hear you Jen. Always. You should have told me you were this upset", Balto said, rubbing her head now.
"So you could tell me to stay behind in Nome, where I was safe? No way", Jenna insisted.
"We're gonna find Kodi Jenna, and help him with whatever he needs our help with. And we're gonna find Aleu. I promise you. No matter how long it takes, or how hard we have to search, we will find her someday. And you'll get that good-bye you never got", Balto promised her.
Before Jenna could reply, the couple heard the sound of Bane clearing his throat. "Um, sorry guys, I understand you're having a husband-wife moment here, but if we're gonna reach White Mountain before sunrise, we've gotta keep moving", Kane reminded them.
Balto and Jenna hesitated, each one checking the other out to make sure they were okay, before both dogs stood up. Bane was right. The blizzard was already at full power, which meant that their senses would be all mixed up. And without the light of the moon to guide them, they couldn't afford to slow down, lest they risk getting off course.
As they were walking, Balto glanced at Jenna again. The husky seemed to be doing okay, she wasn't crying anymore, and she could stand up just fine. He knew she was trying to be strong, like he was, but he also knew it wasn't easy for her. It was never easy for a mother to lose a child, and this incident with Kodi only succeeded in bringing back all the pain and sadness she had fought so hard to control.
"You know, you really should have visited me sooner", Bane suddenly.
Balto groaned, his ears flattening. "I know, I know", he said, frustrated.
"No, I mean, you should have visited me sooner because it could have saved you and Jenna a whole lot of pain and suffering", Bane explained. "I know where you daughter is", he said.
And that was all Bane needed to say to grind their journey to a screeching halt, and restore hope in the heart of a mother who had long lost it. "What?", Balto and Jenna whispered at the same time.
((()-()))
Kodi shivered. The wolf-dog hybrid braced himself as left the warmth of the inn behind him, and stepped through the hotel's dog door. As soon as he went through the flap, he was met frigid cold temperatures, the ice cold wind slapping him right in the face. Kodi grimaced, but put on his best brave face as he made his way across the street.
You could barely see or hear anything over all the snow and ice, but a few feet away from him he could see a large, dark shape sitting on the edge of the sidewalk. Kodi knew there was only person in town foolish enough or suicidal enough to sit out in the middle of a snowstorm. Steele, sitting in the exact same place he had been for the past hour, like he was determined to just stay there and wait for himself to die.
"Steele!", Kodi shouted.
If the sled dog had somehow heard him over the wind, he certainly didn't show it. Steele didn't even flinch, as Kodi approached him from behind. It was only until Kodi was a few inches behind his head that Steele could ignore him no longer, and growled at the husky. "Shouldn't you be in there with your mate?", the malamute snapped.
"I came here to talk to you. To talk some sense into you", Kodi explained, before he braced himself for whatever Steele's next reaction would be.
But instead of being mad however, the malamute seemed amused by Kodi's concern. "You came here to talk some sense into me?", he scoffed, before laughing at the way Kodi shivered from the cold. "For a half-wolf, you're sure not very tough, are you?", he asked sarcastically.
"Steele, you've gotta come inside. Even you have to know that staying out here will only get you killed", Kodi reasoned.
Again, Steele seemed completely unfazed by the boy's worries, and simply rolled his eyes. "What do I have to live for? I've lost everything now. My job, my friends, my glory, my reputation. And I never even had Jenna in the first place. All I had left in life was revenge, and even that was taken away from me, because of that goddamn promise I made to her", Steele growled.
"You haven't lost everything. You still have Roger. He's in there right now, driving himself crazy worrying about you", Kodi reminded him.
For a moment, Kodi thought he actually saw regret in Steele's eyes, before the malamute blinked and his cold state returned. "Piss off", he said, his opinion still unchanged.
Kodi frowned, and sat down in the ground (trying his best to ignore how insanely cold the snow was), right next to Steele. He wasn't going to give up that easily. "No", the boy said simply.
Steele growled at him, and shoved the boy with his paws, pushing him on his back in the snow. "I said…go", he ordered.
But Kodi wasn't afraid of Steele. Not this time. "And I said no. If you're staying out here, so am I", Kodi declared.
Steele stood up, and walked over towards him, obviously trying to intimidate him like he usually did what other dogs. By now, Kodi had gotten to his feet again, so him and Steele were looking at each other face-to-face, eye-to-eye. "Don't be stupid. You said it yourself, anyone who stays out here has a death wish", Steele reminded him angrily.
"Then don't stay out here then. Go back inside, and we'll both live", Kodi said simply.
As he expected, Steele no made effort to hurt him, or even last out him. He only stayed in the same place, fuming. After snarling and saying all kind of curses and obscenities under his breath for several minutes, Steele only thought of one thing to say to the boy. "You…you may look like your mother. But you're nothing but a meddling half-breed like your father", Steele growled.
Kodi smiled, and sat down in the snow again. "Thanks", he said.
"Damn it kid, why are you even out here?!", Steele demanded, sitting down next to him.
"Because I can't stand to see a fellow dog suffer", Kodi replied.
That was all it took to make Steele's scowl disappear, replaced by an amused smirk. "Fellow dog", he said to himself, laughing under his breath.
However, Kodi still didn't take the malamute's bigoted comment as an insult. Instead of making him angry, it only made him even more curious. He figured since he was already playing with fire, he might as well poke the bull some more with a stick. "Why do you hate wolves so much?", Kodi asked.
Steele wasted no time in answering. "Because you're nothing but savages. Wild savages, who only want to kill dogs, and undo everything we have with the humans", Steele said. He had said it with such a calm, even tone that it didn't take much for Kodi guess that the malamute considered his thoughts to be more of fact than opinion. Which is why Kodi couldn't stop his next, natural reaction.
Steele turned around and glared at that boy, as the half-wolf started laughing. "What?", he demanded, annoyed.
"It's just, for someone who hates wolves so much, you're a lot like one yourself", Kodi explained, before the boy was suddenly shoved down to the ground again, with Steele's entire body weight centered on his chest as the malamute stood on top of him.
"What did you just say?", he asked dangerously.
Kodi coughed, as he slid out from under Steele's body (a little surprised the malamute had allowed him to do so), while brushing the snow off his fur. "Well think about it, you said that wolves are nothing but bloodthirsty savages, who only think about killing and fighting, and ruining people's lives. But isn't that what you planned to do to me just this morning? Torture me by hurting my family and then kill me? Isn't that everything you used to do to dad?", Kodi asked rhetorically, raising his eyebrows.
Steele didn't reply, only sitting back down in the snow, and Kodi knew the only reason the dog was so quiet was because he couldn't argue with him. For the first time, he couldn't think of some snarky comment or prejudiced insult to throw at him.
"The way I see it, when we let ourselves give into that kind of hate, even the purest of purebreds are no better off than savages", Kodi said, before lifting his paw into the air. He hesitated for a moment, wondering about whether or not he was going too far with his plan, before putting his hand down on Steele's shoulder. The malamute tensed, but made no move to rip the boy's arm off, which meant he was doing good so far.
"Everyone I've talked to seems to think you're a monster. A cold-hearted bastard who only thinks about hating people and getting revenge all the time. But you're not. After all, you spared me. You let me live because you didn't want to hurt my mother. Just like before, you were willing to put your hatred aside for her sake. Which means, there might be a heart in there after all", Kodi noted, before Steele cut him off.
"Kid, enough with the sappy stuff already. I get it", the malamute said. But he didn't seem angry, only strangely calm. Calmer than Kodi had ever heard him.
"My point is, you've been hating for so long Steele. You've let it become your whole life. But now it's time for you to stop. There's another life for you, a happy with one with Roger, and it's right there in that hotel. It's not too late for you, you can still be a good guy. You can have a wife, and a family of your own. You already have a musher, if you and your team really commit to it, you can have a brand new career, one even better than your own one. All you have to do is-", Kodi reasoned.
"Alright, alright, I said I get it!", Steele snapped. Kodi flinched, and moved back, before he was surprised to see Steele getting to his feet. It seemed he had finally made up his mind. "I'll go inside if it'll shut you up", the malamute growled, as he walked past the boy.
Kodi grinned, and walked after the dog. "Yes!", the husky thought triumphantly.
As they walked across the street, Steele turned and glared at Kodi, causing the boy to stop in his tracks again. "You planned this, didn't you?", he asked angrily.
"Well…I came out here to stop you from giving up, but I knew you probably wouldn't listen to me. So I knew I probably had a fifty-fifty chance. But otherwise, I just got lucky", Kodi explained, stuttering.
Steele's scowl grew, and for a moment Kodi worried that the dog just might change his mind, before Steele spoke again. "You're so stubborn…just like your mother", the malamute grumbled, before turning and walking towards the inn again.
As Kodi followed him inside, he couldn't help but grin. He had just went from being the annoying half-wolf to the annoying meddler, which in Steele's eyes was the closest thing to a compliment you'd probably ever get.
But before they could go through dog, Steele stopped, yet again, and turned towards Kodi. "Before we go in there, I want you to know this meeting never happened. After we go in there, you and I are gonna ignore each other until you leave tomorrow morning. I'll stay away from you and your mate if you don't bother me. Do you understand?", Steele asked gruffly.
It took Kodi a moment before he realized what Steele was actually asking, and the boy's grin grew even wider, stretching his lips to the limit. Steele was actually suggesting a truce. He was willing to make an agreement between himself and a wolf-dog. Well, a wolf-dog's son anyway.
Steele groaned, and then growled to get Kodi's attention again as the boy's mind started to wander. "See, that's what I'm talking about it! You getting all googly-eyed on me over something like this. It's not like I'm telling you I like you and your kind, I'm just saying I'm not gonna kill you", the sled dog reminded him, his mood as sour as ever.
"Right. Sure, sure", Kodi agreed, though the grin on his face still reminded as the wolf-dog stepped through the dog door.
It had taken him a lot of hard work. He had suffered a lot insults and bruised bones, but Kodi's mission had been a success. He had got Steele to come inside, a chance there was indeed still hope for the malamute. And maybe, just maybe, there was a chance the boy's advice would have a long-lasting effect on him. Maybe now that Steele had let go of all that hatred he had been holding onto for so long, he could finally find that happiness he had been looking for his whole life.
Or maybe Kodi was just getting ahead of himself, just like Steele said. After all, these sort of things did take time. Lots of time. And Kodi still had one problem left to solve. How to explain things to friends, who were still clueless about-
"Get away from him!", Kirby shouted, bring Kodi back to reality. Apparently, when Kodi had slipped away earlier, his disappearance had not gone unnoticed. His sleeping wife woke up, noticed he was gone, and alerted the rest of his team. Not to mention Steele's team too. And now, after worrying about him for half an hour or so (Kodi really had no idea how long he had been gone), they had saw him reappear with Steele. Which was certainly not a good thing.
"Kodi? Where have you been? And why are you with him?", Dusty asked, scowling at the malamute standing next to her husband.
As Kirby, Ralph, Blake, Griff, Ron, Jake, and Hal approached, all of them baring their fangs, Kodi glanced at Steele. The sled dog had seemed so calm a few seconds ago (well, as calm as Steele could get anyway). But now the short temper that Kodiak dreaded so much had returned, as the malamute prepared to face the boy's friends head on.
"Oh crap", Kodi thought, groaning. No matter which way their confrontation went, this was not going to end well.
Author's Note:
So, I bet some of you are wondering…. If Kodi's made peace with Steele, then what's the horrible catastrophe that Balto dreamed about? And what does Bane know about Aleu? As the blizzard hits White Mountain full force, there are still plenty of questions to be answered.