Saba_chap_9

Saba and Kanai, bored.

Kanai was more of a pup than Saba, so he was who'd you expect to be playing around… Instead, Saba was the one who spent the last hour or so trying to build something with the snow. She knew what she wanted to make in her mind, but Kanai just sat there watching her, confused. Kanai laughed as Saba tried to roll a ball of snow, only to have it fall apart and cause her to sigh in defeat.

"What are you trying to do anyways?" Kanai finally asked.
"I'm building something, duh." Saba replied.
"What are you building?" Kanai asked.

Saba looked at him as he angled his head, pointing his right ear up.

"Well, you cutie-pie, you'll just have to wait until I finish."
"Okay… If Rusty doesn't get back soon what will we do?"
"Nothing, he'll come back eventually."

Saba replied to him at the same time she was pushing a ball of snow around to build it up.

"How can you be so sure?" Kanai asked.
"Jeez, you're the pup here, why are you so negative?"
"Well, I may be the pup here, but it doesn't look that way."

Saba removed her nose from the snow and looked up at Kanai. She tried to stare him down seriously, but a bit of snow on her muzzle melted, and a cold sliver of water dripped down her nose, crossing her whiskers and causing her to…

"AAAA—AAA-AAACHOOO" Saba sneezed, leaving her face contorted and making her sniffle a bit after that.

Kanai laughed a bit at her futile attempts at trying to act serious.

"Okay you little fuzzball. What do you want to do?"
"Uh… I don't know! Something fun!"
"Yeah, and I was the pup…" Saba smirked.
"What were you doing before? I'll help!"
"Okay. Try and make a good sized snow-ball, maybe… half a foot across."
"I can do that!"

Saba plopped down in the snow and watched the wolf pup go to work. She was surprised by his efforts, because within half of the time it took her, Kanai had a larger snow-ball to show for it. Saba and Kanai worked together to build a snowman. Alien to Kanai, but something common to Saba, as it reminded her of her childhood. Jenna and Balto once showed her and her siblings how to make one, and together, they built one larger than the human kids of the town could.

Sure, it was a fun pass-time, but when night fell and the snowman was completed, Saba began to worry.

Where was Rusty?

Balto

Balto led this time, eager to reach South Peak. Siku and Jenna walked a bit behind him, as they began to gossip, and talk… Balto wasn't intentionally trying to listen to them talk, but words of "going into heat" were heard, and that was one topic Balto wanted to stray far from. He kept his distance, and kept hard on the trail, eyeing their destination that broke free of the trees above, and even cut the sky a bit, forming trails of cloud-cover. And all this time, Jenna and Siku enjoyed their own conversations.

Jenna was talking to Siku about Kodi now; asking Siku how her son treated her was something Jenna did often. Jenna believed that, if Kodi wasn't treating a girl right, then she had failed to raise her son. Siku caught onto this early, so she mostly just told Jenna everything good, unless she wanted to get back at Kodi for something.

"Then I told him "So what? It's just a collar." And he snapped at me saying "oh yeah? Well at least I have something of value", then he began apologizing like a little kid." Siku laughed.
"That didn't bother you?"
"Not really. I'm not one to be offended by such nonsense… But Kodi sure seemed to think he hurt me somehow, because later he brought some flowers for me."
"Aw, how sweet"
"More like cliché as hell, then yes. I'm more of a "bring me juicy bones" kind of girl."
"You and I the same… I mean, the night of our engagement, Balto brought me flowers too, and the only bone I want… I liked-… The uh… Moonlight." Jenna lost her smile and stammered, blushed, as she stared back at Siku.
"Come on, I know what you were going to say."
"Well, anyway. I'm glad you and Kodi make such a good couple… You guys are so cute together, you know?"
"You wouldn't know it if-"

Just then, Jenna stopped Siku, who looked at Balto, who looked back at Siku and Jenna. Something wasn't right, and a quick read from Jenna's nose told her that they were not alone in these woods.

"Oh great, the wolves have surrounded us…" Siku thought aloud.
"Girls! RUN!" Balto yelled out.

Before either of them could react, Balto ran straight into the forest beside him and jumped a wolf, who was hiding behind the thick brush. Jenna and Siku ran, but looked back as they heard the intense growling coming from the battle, and within a second, as many as ten wolves filled this small clearing. Siku was most scared of all, and snuggled close to Jenna, who held her tight, wishing simply for these wolves to leave them free.

Balto growled, snarled, bit and fought the wolves as best he could, and just when he thought he was winning, a wolf grabbed him by his fore-arm and twisted it, breaking his wrist in the process.

The same wolf dragged Balto to Jenna and Siku, and threw him down. Above all, Balto's whimpering and cries of pain out-weighted the rest. Siku was not going to stand by this…

She quickly examined Balto with her mouth open in awe, but that instantly turned to teeth shown, and a snarling, ready to attack, stance at the wolves. She jumped over Balto and grabbed onto one of the wolves, successfully pinning it on the ground, before she quickly ripped at its face and neck, using teeth and claws, like razors they were, but the wolf easily recovered and ran off with it's tail between it's legs. Jenna wasn't the fighting type, so she huddled around Balto, further assessing his injuries.

Siku only had 15 seconds to enjoy her victory before another wolf knocked her out cold with a single hit, dragging her smaller body away, and being led by a much larger, black wolf. Jenna and Balto were too dragged off towards their Alpha, and all that could be seen around them was the thick forest, meaning they had no idea where they were.

"Black Eye"… Balto thought.

He gritted his teeth, and tried to call out to Jenna, but she was too far behind, being led by another small group of wolves. He tried his best to get a headcount… 10…15… twenty… There were too many for him to count, let alone while he was being dragged on the ground.

"God damnit Alex." Balto thought.

Black Eye

Black Eye was not in a good mood, a good portion of his pack was out hunting, and have yet to return. Usually this wouldn't be such a problem, because this wasn't the first time that the pack struggled to find food. It was only this time, he felt a bit more irritated at his recent visitor, and his plead for help. Again, he wasn't angry either at the defenseless pup being separated from his pack, it was the dog… The dog. It was female though, and he remembered his motto… One he swore he'd never break, yet here he was, denying this Saba from coming anywhere near his territory.

Black eye allowed his thoughts to be broken, as the few of his pack finally came forth, and they had a few extras with them. First, a wolf dropped Siku in front of him, then dragged Jenna and Balto near her. Black eye took a quick sniff of each one and instantly developed a look of disgust.

"What! A dog?! Why did you bring them here. Orders are to kill only."

The leader of that group stepped up, he was a large wolf, not as large as Black Eye, but large enough to scare the socks off of anyone. Plus his fur was black as night... Well compared to Balto, who was a light gray.

"These we're found walking into our territory. The demon wolf aided them in finding us."

Black eye stared down Balto, who stared back with his face still twisted in pain.

"Balto. What are you and your mate doing here?"

Black Eye's words surprised everyone, including his pack, who expected him to kill the dogs on sight, yet he spoke to them as if he knew them already.

"Argh... How do you know my name?"
"Stupid question. Word of you and your valiant heroism has spread to every human ear around the world, and it has not escaped the likes of my pack."
"We are here looking for our daughter, nothing else."

Black eye seemed to get even angrier with Balto as he said this, but as wise as he was, he knew exactly who Balto was looking for. It was that female dog... The female, Black Eye refused to help in her time of need. He paused to think for about a minute, before turning back with a growl.

"Kijo, Hamlet, take these 'dogs' to a holding den before I turn and rip their heads off."
"Yes sir, what of the wolf?"
"Why is she out cold?"
"Uh... Someone hit her!" Kijo replied.
"You never harm a female! Whoever hit her, hit them twice as hard, that's an order!"

Black eye yelled to the crowd, and the wolf that hit Siku was instantly singled out. Kijo walked up to him, and he lowered his head with a whimper. One swift knock to the muzzle and he was out, face first into the snow.

"Now that's taken care of... One of you go and find Rusty... Tell him I've got the dogs parents..." Black eye ordered, then turned and walked away.

Rusty Saba and Kanai.

It was dark already... Not that it mattered. Once I reached Saba and Kanai, they could barely be seen since the moon was behind cloud cover, and the trees above did their best at eating up any light that remained. I followed my nose, and sniffed along the ground to find exactly where they slept. As I followed what seemed like the paw prints of Kanai, I began to hear a child's laughter… Was it Kanai? No… This was human… Then, before me, something caused me to gasp and jump back in instinct. It shot me back to a point in my past I had tried to hard to lock away, and this just had to refresh it.

The snowman...

Flash back, Nome, 1922

How happy I was... Not a single thin could bring me down this moment, as long as I had Maddie by my side. We were out in the snow, training to become the greatest musher in the world... Ha, as if. I was a police dog, trained to take down those who thought they had endurance, not have endurance.

We were just a few meters from town, defiantly not too far so that the good inspector would be worried, but defiantly far enough for me to keep a watchful eye of my human. She laughed byherself, whether she knew I could laugh with her or not, she was laughing at me, as I nearly fainted at the short run. In y defense, training down at the station had run me to the brink, and Maddie's sled wasn't exactly a cheap cardboard knock off. But I loved her enough to give it my best shot... And best shot I did.

She stopped her little giggle and came over to let me free of my leads before hugging me. I enjoyed her warmth, her smell, her knack for not having a care in the world. She lived in the moment. Something I wished I could learn. I wondered why she had brought me outside of town, but I learned soon enough. See, Maddie was lonely, since we moved down from Anchorage, she hadn't had the best of luck making friends, and I the same. If I hadn't joined the police force, I might have ended up on the other side of the bars, as I wasn't exactly the most social out here.

Maddie started to gather snow, and I sat patiently watching her as she rolled a snow ball larger and larger until it formed the base of something. What was she doing? Well, whatever I was, it made her happy, so by extension, it made me happy. After a while, her creation became apparent, it was what she called a "snow-man". Defiantly not something I saw in the outback, but it intrigued me.

I walked up to sniff at it, because something that looked this menacing could easily be a threat in disguise. I moved up to the face, she had used a stick and a few rocks to form somewhat of a face, and cocked my head at a slight angle as I was confused at what Maddie had just created.

It looked like a very disfigured human, roughly the size of Maddie herself. It's eyes were rocks, that much I knew, but who's to say this threat couldn't still smell. I gave it a gentle nudge with my muzzle, and to my surprise, it moved! I jumped back a few feet as the smaller top half of the snowman crumpled to the ground and soon it was nothing but a pile of snow and rocks.

"Rusty? Rusty!"

Saba and Kanai

"Rusty… Rusty? Hellooooo?" Saba said.

Rusty jumped back as the snowman before him fell in the same fashion as it did all those years back, only this time it wasn't Maddie's innocent laughter, it was a red-furred paw waving in front of his nose that woke him. He stared at Saba and tried his best to slow down his breathing. She looked at him like he was crazy… "Maybe I am" Rusty thought.

"What? I was just admiring your… Snowman."
"Well Kanai helped, and I don't think he'll be so happy when he finds out you knocked it down."
"Eh, I'll make it up to the little guy. How long have you guys been asleep?"
"Few hours… Listen, what's wrong with you?"
"What?"
"I'm asking… But I don't know how to… Ask"
"Well? Spit it out."
"What happened in your past?"
"What makes you think anything happened?"
"You told Kanai that you've lost your mother, and just now Kanai's snowman nearly caused you to faint… I was calling your name and you ignored me"
"Maybe I was just lost in my thoughts. Or just tired… I walked a long way."

Saba wasn't satisfied, and she knew he had something to hide. Fortunately for Rusty, Saba was not going to try and pry it out of him just yet. Rusty shook his head and turned away towards Kanai. He tried to change the subject.

"I went ahead and talked to Black Eye by myself. I'm sorry I didn't tell you, but it wasn't my original plan anyway."
"Really? What did he say?"
"He said that all he needed was a quick scent sample of Kanai and he'll be able to point us in his pack's latest known location."
"It's a start at least…"
"Yes it is, but there is one more thing" Rusty paused for a second and this time turned to Saba. "He hates dogs"
"Oh great."
"Well… Not dogs per-se, it's just the fact that you are the Human's creation, and he hates Humans with a passion."
"So do I!" Saba argued.
"Doesn't matter. You're a dog, and you will stay here. I'll take Kanai to him in the morning, get the best direction to go in, and come back for you."
"Fine. I guess it's the only thing we can do."
"Good, now go back to sleep. I'll go keep watch."

Saba nodded and then turned back to Kanai, snuggling around the pup to keep him warm, and drifted to sleep quickly. Her last few moments awake were spent watching Rusty as he lie out in the open, watching the trail and facing the other way. Perhaps he was just a cold-hearted wolfdingo… No need for her to try and "fix" what isn't broken.

Sorry for the delay on this one. I had to research some things because this story is tied to two others… So I had to make sure all references were in check lol