Chapter 8: A wolf's Call to Aid
Upon returning to his old boat, Balto was surprised to found Star waiting for him there. "Uh… Balto! I came to… came to ask if you have found out the reason the wolves came. Kaltag should be in my place here, but… you see, he was buried by questions after questions about your brother, he decided to not visit you… so here I am!" said Star in his usual nervous tone.
"I only know that the lone wolves presence here was because their whole pack was killed and they are the survivors, my brother amongst them. As for the whole pack of wolves I haven't got the chance to ask." Balto replied, and then he added with a laugh, "Kaltag being overrun by questions, eh? I'll bet half of the questions came from Sylvie! Anyway, I think I'll be going to the boiler room tomorrow and cure some of their curiosity."
After Star left the boat, Balto decided that he was not going to sleep yet, although he was tired. He followed Star into the town, only to turn right when he reached the outskirt, towards Jenna's house; he had much to discuss with his mate of what changes his brother might bring to his life.
Jenna welcomed Balto into the side house, where she stayed, warmly. As soon as Balto settled himself beside her, Jenna asked "How's your day, Balto? You've been kind of occupied by issues concerning the wolf that look like you lately. Who is he, I wonder?"
Balto gave Jenna a weird look, and answered "I knew I have forgotten a lot about my past, but I never thought I would forget my brother." Seeing the startled look on Jenna's face, he added "Yes, his name's Kirdo, my brother. Don't take him as me if you ever see him on the street. His eyes are green, but otherwise he looks just like me."
"I'll remember that," giggled Jenna, "What have you been doing in the woods all day?"
"Kirdo was eager to find his lost pack mates, so I help him. We found one, who claimed to know the locations of several others. But he doesn't trust me and don't allowed me to follow. So here I'm back.
"Still, I wonder what he bring along that can change my life? I'm starting to worry about him, fear that he might encounter hunters or something that sort."
"All will be well," said Jenna, nuzzled Balto by the cheek, "All will be well." Even as Balto starting to fall asleep a smile appeared on his face.
The next day, the couple went to the boiler room. Some were already there to hear the news of Balto, thanks to Star. Once Balto got inside, they tried to exhaust Balto the same way they did to Kaltag, and Balto had no other choice then to tell them the whole story, which seemed to be the only way to fill their needs of information.
After he had finally finished his story, Doc said "If the lone wolves in the forest are not to be hurt, then I have something to tell you. The news had spread and many hunters are interested in the large pack of wolves. This undoubtedly proves impending danger to the lone wolves."
"Then I must warn Kirdo!" exclaimed Balto, panicked. At the same time he heard someone entered the boiler room and his audience gasped. "Speak of the devil." Said Kaltag. Balto turned and saw Kirdo standing by the door, smiling.
"What in the blaze are you doing here? It's dangerous!" asked Balto.
"I'm as safe as you are here, I should make use of the advantage of having your face in this town." Said Kirdo slyly, and he suddenly turned serious "I do not found pleasure in coming into a human's town; I was raised with the line 'keep away from humans' burned into my mind. But I need your help!
"Kamsa had found all of my pack mates, except for one. After my discussion with the remaining pack mates we concluded that our missing friend, after all she has been through especially after the downfall of our pack, would want to commit suicide! We wanted to find her before she really do it, but even Kamsa admit he has not become familiar with the landscape here and need a guide. So I'm here asking for your help, brother, and your friends'."
"How can I help?" asked Balto.
"As I said, we need guides, to lead us to all the places possible to commit suicide in the forest. Mind I said guides, not one guide, which means I need your friends' help, if they are willing to give help to a wolf?"
Balto turned to his friends, most of the dogs here don't trust wolves or even hated them, it had little hope that they would help… "Anyone?" asked Balto without much hope.
After a long pause of silence, when Balto almost gave up and intended to offer however little help he can offer to Kirdo, Kaltag spoke "I'll come. I once despise Balto due to his wolf heritage, and this should be a way to repay him back."
"I'll come too." said Nikki after a while, "If I'm not mistaken then you'll need four who understand the landscape in there."
"Ah… don't leave me alone!" shouted Star, running up to Balto nervously.
Balto was rather more shocked then happy, and he saw the same on his brother's face, although Kirdo hid it under his skin quick. "Let's go, we should act before all is too late." He simply said.
As they were getting out of the boiler room, Jenna nuzzled Balto and Doc gave them a warning "Be highly cautious in that woods, words said there are already some hunters in it, seeking for the big pack. Don't stay in there after sundown, and ask your friends to beware, too."
The canines moved out of the town swiftly, they met with the remaining pack mates of Kirdo at the edge of the forest, Shadowfang were there, already wanting to be off, and two others Balto had not yet known: Rokal, an old but still war-liking grey wolf who didn't think before talking; and a pure white female wolf-dog, Lyya, whose light in her eyes indicated the cunningness that can match those of a fox. She claimed to be the one who ensured Kirdo would be safe in Nome.
"Alright, here's the detail of our problem." Said Kirdo hastily. "My friend, Mista, who is still unfound, is very emotional, and we believe that she cannot bear the fact that our pack, including some of her only loved ones, perished altogether. She had sought death once, but someone stopped her and eventually they fell in love. Now he is gone, so we are almost sure that she would consider the road of no return again."
"It should be easy, we can just sniff around, and find her." Suggested Star.
"That's the point, husky, we got her scent in the forest, but it was all messed up and led us to nowhere, like she was trying to lose us. Even Shadowfang here can't get a clue out of it." Explained Lyya, and Shadowfang gave out a low growl at the mention of his name, apparently disturbed by his failure.
"My name is Star." Star replied.
"Come now, young one, don't always look at the darkest side available in the situation!" said Rokal, "She might just be wounded and waiting to die somewhere, no intention of seeking it herself."
"Yes but we still have to prepare for the worse." Said Kirdo, "Either way, we need speed. We can search for her at the places that can commit suicide, and if she's not founded, the whole forest."
They soon separated into teams, Balto with Kirdo, Nikki with Rokal, Kaltag with Shadowfang and Star with Lyya. They departed to four different directions and promised if they could not find Mista by nightfall, they will return to this place.
Balto and Kirdo took the northernmost way, the part where Balto understood the most. Together they searched the cliffs and valleys of that region, the winter was passing by and more life was coming out in the forest. They spotted hares, foxes and even some birds, but with no sign of Mista, only fainted scent of hers was detected, messed up and scattered.
They continued their search until they heard a wolf howl piercing through the air. "It's Lyya's howl," Said Kirdo, "I should say it's good, 'cause it's not a mourning howl. Let's get there and see what she had found." He seemed relieved to hear the call.
They dashed through the forest towards the region where Lyya and Kaltag were assigned to, and once they stepped into that part of the forest, they sniffed their way to Lyya and Kaltag. Balto prayed silently that whatever Kaltag found, it is good. They found Lyya and Kaltag under a small hill, which provided little cover, lying motionless before them was a brown wolf. She was quite beautiful in Balto's eye, but even she wasn't awake Balto could tell that she is sad, or in pain.
"Mista!" gasped Kirdo, he was about to asked, but Lyya answered before him. "Still alive."
"We found her here, right on this spot." Said Kaltag, "We did not move her to a safer place 'cause we want to find out what happened to her. But for now we should wait for others to show up."
The other two teams arrived almost at the same time, and were all anxious about Mista's wellbeing, but Lyya simply said "She's still alive."
Rokal walked up to Mista's unconscious body and observed for some moments, and said "Look at her face, there's tear marks, but strangely I saw no marks of injury." He lifted his head to look at the others, "Exhaustion."
"Then what would you make of the tears? Pain, perhaps?" said Kirdo.
"Maybe you are both correct," everyone was surprised because it was Star who voiced, "Uh… I mean Kirdo and Rokal. Maybe she was truly crushed by the annihilation of your pack, so she ran and ran, 'cause she don't know what she can do without it, and finally broke down here." He finished, looked a little embarrassed, "A bad guess, I think."
"And the best one!" Kirdo exclaimed, "You just explained it all, 'cause that is what Mista would most likely to do."
"Anyway, we can't leave her exposed here." Said Lyya, "I saw Shadowfang left his paw prints in the snow towards the west, he must've wanted us to follow him, because it's just so unlike his style to leave trails for other to follow, unless he want them to."
Only then did the others realize that Shadowfang was no longer with them, beside them, a pair of wolf's paw print led all the way into the forest. "I'll check on where it leads." Said Kirdo before dashing off.
He soon returned, bringing good news. "There's a cave not far away from here, it is large enough for five wolves. I think Kamsa wanted us to bring Mista there."
"So… are we still needed?" asked Kaltag, he and his two friends, along with Balto were sitting idle for several minutes.
"All we need are fulfilled, you can go back now, thanks a lot, we one day find a way to repay you all." Said Kirdo, then he smiled and put on a weird face "How strange today is? It's the first time wolves asked help from dogs, and the first time dogs offered help to wolves!" And they all laughed.
"What made you three wanted to help the wolves?" asked Balto, he and the trio were trailing back to the town. And Balto had this question in his head for a long time, but got no time to bring it out.
"I thought you heard. I wanted to repay whatever I did to you when I teased you for your heritage." Kaltag replied, and tilted his head, saying "But I guess I still have a long way to go."
"Same with me there." Said Nikki, and all of the looked at Star.
"I… I just want to follow! I rarely go out alone, you know." Said Star nervously.