Sira crouched low. She knew her prey's every movement, every breath. The prey wandered closer, closer. Suddenly, Sira pounced. The prey came into sight as she bounded over the empty crates she had hidden behind.
Landing on top of Nathon, Sira shouted, "Tag! You're it," and bounced away giddily.
"Oh, no you don't," Nathon growled under his breath and ran after her. He had two advantages over her: one, he knew where she was going, and two, he knew a shortcut.
As Nathon turned to use his shortcut, he ran into Borris, who was not looking very pleased with them.
"All right, enough with ze roughhousing," Borris yelled. With a collective groan of dissapointment, Sira and Nathon sat before Borris. They knew better than to mess with Borris, even though Sira had only been in town for a week.
"I am supposed to be babysitting. How am I supposed to babysit vhen you don't sit novhere for more then two seconds?" Borris lectured.
"That's 'anywhere,' Uncle Borris," corrected Nathon. His yellow eyes were glowing, indicating that he could and was reading Borris's thoughts. Sira grinned. Her mother had had this exact same conversation with this exact same goose exactly two years ago today.
The thought of her mother sent Sira's mind reeling. Aleu, Sira and Kodi's mother, had been in the Nome Animal Hospital for a week, and she was still to regain consciousness enough to talk with them.
Borris's voice brought Sira back to the present.
"You," Borris yelled, whirling to face Nathon," are as bad as older sister! And you," Borris fixed his attention on Sira," are as bad as mother! Now, where is Kodi? He vas here just second ago..."
Kodi, named after his uncle, Kodiak, pounced Borris from atop the nearby pile of crates.
"That was fun! I can see why you like it, Sira! Sira? Where'd you go?"
**********
Kodiak ran as hard as he could, ignoring his team's protests and his own aching muscles. He had to get back home as soon as possible. Aleu might need him.
From behind Kodiak and to the right, Dusty called," Kodi! We're going into wolf territory! We won't get home any faster by getting killed, I'm pretty sure!"
Kodiak pretended not to hear and ran faster. He was driven by one thought:' I have to get home. I have to be there when my baby sister wakes up.'
Suddenly, and out of nowhere, a snowy-white wolf appeared in front of them. Kodiak swerved to avoid her, but the sled was moving too fast and capsized.
**********
Balto sat by Aleu's hospital bed and thought about the good times he had had with her.
He thought about the day all her brothers and sisters had been adopted by humans, but not Aleu.
He thought about the day that he had told Aleu about her heritage.
He thought about the nightmares he had had about what might have happened to her after she left.
Most of all, he thought about when he was gonna tell Nathon, his only other lupine child, about his ancesters.
"I suggest tonight, right after dinner."
Balto started at the unexpected voice. Aleu was awake. She was giving him advise that was easier said than done.
In other words, she was feeling fine.
**********
Jenna was worried. Aleu had been here for nearly a week with almost no change.
The phone rang. Rosy's dad picked up.
"Hello? Oh, hello, doctor."
At the mention of a doctor, Jenna got tense. Was it Aleu's doctor? Was she all right?
"Okay, doctor. We'll be right over." Rosy's dad hung up the phone and smiled. "She's awake."
**********
Nava paced around in the cave. Balto had promiced to send a messenger as soon as Aleu came to.
That was almost a week ago.
A hyper yorkie suddenly ran through the trees and started shouting something about Aleu being awake.
Nava thanked the yorkie and sent him home. Then, and only then, did he heave a sigh of relief.
**********
Gasi Mordos grinned. With Aleu out of the picture, she could be Alpha without competition. She was glad she had kept her weather-control ability secret from Aleu.
First things first. She called her loyals to her and said,"Tell the rest of the pack the good news. If anyone oposes my rule, kill them."
**********
Steele grinned. Balto was preoccupied with the convienient return of the prodigal daughter, so he wouldn't notice when Steele killed his youngest son...
**********
Kodiak sat up. He didn't seem to be hurt.
Dusty hit Kodiak in the back of the head. Hard.
"Nice going, brainiac. Now we're stranded in wolf territory with a broken sled and an injured musher. I told you to slow down," Dusty half-yelled.
Kodiak didn't tell her the reason he had swerved. He knew that she would freak out if she knew he had seen a wolf.
**********
"Jenna, if you don't settle down, we're gonna have to leave you in the cold when we get to the vet, instead of taking you in to see Aleu," Rosy's dad threatened.
Jenna knew he meant it, too. She was just so happy that her daughter was awake.
**********
At the doctor's, the nurses were having a heck of a time with Aleu. They were trying to get Aleu off the IV and back on solid food, but she refused to eat.
They tried everything from dry and canned dog food to what you might find in a human's refrigerator.
Aleu turned her nose up at it all.
When Jenna walked in, the nurses were in a panic, saying that Aleu was a devil dog, and didn't have a stomach.
The doctor assured them that Aleu did, indeed, have a stomach, by showing them x-rays of her insides.
As Jenna approached Aleu, she was surprised to see a little brown mouse appear by Aleu's head.
Much to Jenna's surprise, Aleu giggled and told the mouse," Think they'll ever figure it out, Muru? I do not eat cooked meat anymore! It's funny to watch them try to find something that I'll eat, and yet not consider raw meat!"
The mouse,"Muru",and Jenna both simultaneously said,"Maybe you can make an exception, just this once."
At that, Aleu burst out laughing. She was laughing so hard, she almost fell off the table.
The mouse sighed. He looked at Jenna, then vanished.
Balto came from the back room, and started to say something to Jenna, but was interrupted by a fresh volley of laughter from Aleu. Balto took Jenna to the back room, where they could hear each other.
"They gave her a dose of painkillers, and it's made her a little loopy," Balto explained,"But at least she's having the time of her life."
Aleu yelled from the other room,"Hey, mom, get back in here! We can have a real party now! Dingo's here!" There was more wild laughter.
Dongo wandered in, looking a little disturbed.
"What's up with her?" He asked.
"Painkillers made her loopy,"Balto explained again.
"Maybe just a little. I was going to visit her, but not if she's going to act like she belongs in a white room and a straight jacket," Dingo said."Anyways, I got news. Bad news. From the overanxious scotty at the post office."
"Oh, him? Mel is always exaggerating. So what's up?"Jenna inquired.
"Well, besides having a sister that's tipsy, Kodiak's musher stopped responding to his handheld. And the team missed all the checkpoints except the first three."
"Well, I'm sure Kodiak has everything under control. And there's one good thing going on here. At least Aleu didn't see the needle." Everyone knew that Balto was right. If Aleu had seen the needle when the humans had drugged her, she would have been on her way out the door, broken legs or no.
**********
Steele worked his way through enemy territory.
The old boat was where he knew Nathon to be. He could smell him.
Steele snuck up ehind Nathon, making sure he was downwind. As Steele lunged for the mongerel, Nathon launched straight up into the air. Steele noticed his miss, but kept running. He didn't want to face the embarassment of missing.
Nathon watched Steele go, and smiled to himself as his eyes stopped glowing.
**********
Ralph was shivering. Kodiak noticed the weather getting colder, too.
He walked over and lay on top of the musher.
A wolf walked out of the woods, grinning evily.
"I am Roan, Psi of the Southern woods territory. You must," the wolf chuckled,"stay for dinner.
When all the other dogs cowered, Kodiak stepped foreward. "Why should I be afraid of a common thief? Your very status indicates that you are too lazy to hunt for yourself."
Roan looked impressed. "Who are you who is so wise to the ways of the wolf? A Nu, or spy, perhaps?"
"I am Kodiak, son of Balto," a surprised look spread across Roan's face,"and Jenna, brother to Aleu, Alpha of the Northern Ice Pack."
Dusty was still cowering, but slightly less. She was reassured that no harm would come.
Roan bowed to Kodiak. "Then you are Alpha-Beta, not an Alpha, but also not a Beta. Your wish is my command as long as you remain within these woods."
Kodiak placed his paw on the wolf's shoulder in ceremony, saying,"I accept your service. I will lead you well." Kodiak then looked around and said,"Help us right our sled, and tell me what you know of the Northern Ice."
**********
Aleu groaned and curled up. Finding this even more painful, Aleu returned to her previous position.
As Aleu looked up, she saw Jenna watching from across the room.
"Mom,"rasped Aleu in a hoarse voice,"Mom, I don't feel so good."
Jenna jumped down off the human's chair she had been sitting on and trotted across the room. She looked down at Aleu and frowned.
"No, I don't imagine you would. You were up all last night screaming and laughing and just having a party."
With a start, Aleu realized something. Mom is above me, yet she didn't climb anything to get there.
Aleu looked around and found her theory to be correct. She was on the floor.
"Hey, how'd I get down here?"
Jenna shook her head and said,"Don't you remember? The nurses put you down here so you could try to use those special crutches."
Aleu frowned and looked at her legs. Sure enough, there were strange sticks attatched to them. They were similar to an old man's cane, except they were padded at the bottom with pieces of rubber shaped vaugly like a paw. They were only about an inch longer than Aleu's real legs, so she would have almost no trouble using them.
Aleu tentively tried to stand up. After a few attemps, Jenna helped get Aleu off the floor.
Aleu carefully put one crutch in front like she was walking on her own four paws.
"Well, look who's up so soon after her little hangover!" Balto came into the room."How you feeling, sport?"
Aleu glared at him.
"You must be fine, if you can make ME feel like I was the one who nearly drowned just by looking at me. By the way, I took your advise and told Nathon last night."
Jenna glared at Balto, then asked,"How did he take it?"
Balto shook his head. "Apparently, he's known for a while. It seems I talk in my sleep."
**********
Balto, Jenna, Aleu, Muru, Kodiak, Dusty, Ralph, Mel, Nava, Dingo, Boris, Steele copyright Universal.
Kodi, Nathon, Roan, Sira, Gasi Mordos copyright JackOdd.