The lead spot on the team. Balto couldn't believe the opportunity. Part of him almost didn't want to take it. But he could see the look of trust in Star's eyes as the smaller dog held up the harness that had previously been Steele's. And the similar trustworthy looks the rest of the team was giving him. Whether they were desperation for any lifeline out of the wasteland they'd ended up in, a complete rejection of Steele after his angry outburst and near homicidal attack moments before, a newfound faith in him, or perhaps a little bit of everything, he didn't know. Either way, it was he and they now, and they carried all hope for Nome on their paws again.
He slipped into the lead harness, feeling quite warm inside. Finally, the moment he'd waited so long for was at hand. "Is the medicine all right?" he called back to the wheel dogs.
"Looks like it is," Jet examined the box carefully, "I was worried Steele was going to smash it there, but it looks like there's no damage."
"Good, good," Balto breathed a sigh of relief, "And Mr. Kaasen?" he glanced back at the still unconscious musher in the sled's basket.
"He isn't any worse than he's been, but we ought to get him in quick."
"I know. Do you guys need anything before we go?"
"Just don't turn on us," Bear, apparently still partially loyal to Steele, growled at the rear, "I'm not going down without a fight..."
"Hey, Balto risked everything to come find us out here, Bear. I think he's earned at least a chance," Blackie retorted at him, "If you like Steele so much, why don't you go down there and walk home with him?" he gestured sharply over the nearby cliff.
"Um...I think I'll take my chance with you guys," Bear gulped, "Steele is OK, though, isn't he?"
"Looks good from here," Nikki glanced over the side. Balto did the same, in time to see Steele stumbling to his feet at the bottom of the cliff. Part of him was amazed the malamute had survived what had looked like a particularly brutal fall relatively unscathed. Although, he told himself, Steele only had himself to blame for being so completely angry and irrational about being the leader. Now, he thought with some satisfaction, Steele would have to walk all the way back to Nome on his own and miss the glory he'd been obsessed about-although, he reminded himself firmly, lives were very much at stake at the moment, and that trumped any glory...
"Anyone hungry?" he asked the rest of the team.
"Like you can't believe. I'm completely famished, starving, wasted..." Kaltag lamented.
"I could eat a seven foot moose," Star quipped, prompting another conk on the head from an unamused Kaltag. "Well, I think I know where we can get some food before we tackle the portage back to the coast," Balto told him and the rest of the team, "And there should be enough for all of us. OK, let's get going. We've all got a town to save."
The other dogs cheered, their spirits restored. With a deep breath and a loud, "Mush!" Balto broke into a run with the sled back up towards where he knew the mail trail was...too fast and lost in his thoughts to hear Steele's cold, vengeful words echoing up from the canyon below, "...you'll never make it home! I'll make sure of it!" or to see the malamute running at full speed up the canyon, heading for an opening at the end that would have let him reach the trail well before the team would have...
It was an hour later before Balto eased the team to a stop by a series of abandoned huts alongside a river. "This is an old fishing camp," he told the others, "I passed it on the way to finding you guys; they must have abandoned it for the winter. Which means there's got to be fish in the river for sure. We can eat here."
"How, when the river's frozen solid?" Nikki asked with raised eyebrows, "Even a wolf couldn't fish through thick ice," he gestured at the iced-over river.
"Not on his own, no, but..." Balto picked up a large rock nearby in his mouth and hurled it through the ice, shattering it and leaving an open hole. "Now we just have to wait till the salmon come..." he told the team, crouching over the hole. Sure enough, he could see approaching air bubbles, hinting fish were passing by. The split second one came into sight, he snatched it up out of the water with his paws. "Here," he handed it to Star, who eagerly began eating away at it, "I'll get enough for all of us."
He glanced back at the hole, snatched up the next fish to swim by, and handed it off to Blackie. Ten minutes later, a dozen fish had been extracted from the river, and the entire sled team was eating away on the catch. "This is the best fish I've had in a long time," Blackie said in delight between bites. "Thanks," he commended Balto.
"Glad to share it with you," Balto nodded, "I've been fishing like this on the beach and the rivers by Nome for a long time now."
"I see. Well, on behalf of all of us, Balto," Kaltag took a deep, embarrassed breath, "I'd just like to say, I'm sorry for the way so many of us treated you all this time. I can see now that you're much better dog than all of us thought. You should have led the team from the start..."
"Well, I'm here now, and I'll get us all safely back in time," Balto forgave him, "All of us will, together. We're a team, after all."
"That we are," Jet nodded with a grin. "Remember how with Steele, it was just about him and him alone?" he fixed Bear with a glare.
"Well...he wanted the glory, yeah. But I'll trust him when we're safely on the home stretch back," Bear eyed Balto down suspiciously.
"You can trust me," Balto assured the wheel dog, fishing another salmon out of the river and handing it to Bear, "Unlike Steele, I know we're all in this together."
"How bad is it back home?" Fox asked, concerned.
"Getting worse by the day," Balto shook his head grimly, "The sooner we can get back with the medicine, the better. But I marked the trail the whole way, so we're not going to get lost this time."
"That should do it...!" Steele grinned darkly, clawing out a marking on one last tree on the far side of the portage to the coast. He glanced backwards. Nearly every tree as far as the eye could see in every direction now had Balto's trail markings on it, as he had been doing since the last stretch of the Interior before the portage. "Good luck, wolf dog," he snarled coldly, "The next time anyone sees you, all that will be left of you is yours and those traitors' bones!"
With a dark, satisfied snicker, he loped down the actual trail. That freak of nature would never find the way back now. Let him and the others perish in the deep wilderness, he growled to himself. That left him all the time to get back to Nome unencumbered by any of them. And then, he'd still get the glory as the only survivor of the run. No doubt somebody would build him a statue somewhere; he knew he definitely deserved it. Already, he could see the waters of the Bering Sea through the trees ahead. It was the beginning of the home stretch...
...when abruptly, a wolf's howl rose up from the woods to his left, followed by numerous others. Steele tensed up, barring his teeth, ready for a fight. "Show yourselves!" he called out, "I'm not afraid of any of you!"
With loud barks, the wolves rushed out from their hiding places in the trees and bushes and surrounded him. "Well, who have we here?" it was Amarok, leering as he stepped through the rest of the pack, "The great and mighty Steele. We've heard a lot about you. The supposed pride of the humans, the greatest domestic dog to ever run in the Arctic..."
"I AM the greatest dog in the Arctic!" Steele snarled back, "And if you don't let me pass, you're going to regret it!"
"Oh, we're really scared," Umaak mocked him, joining Amarok at the pack leader's side, "But in case you didn't realize, dog, you're outnumbered here. And all of us have vowed that the antitoxin shipment will not reach Nome. We're taking back the North from the humans..."
"You don't have to worry about that sled; it's not getting anywhere near Nome..." Steele started to tell him.
"Trying to hide it from us, are you? Well, Steele, I'm not a gullible fool," Amarok glared him down. "Rip him apart," he ordered the other wolves.
"Wait, Amarok, do we have to kill him?" Sila spoke up from the rear, sounding worried yet resolute, "He's alone, he doesn't have the medicine..."
"He's the leader of that sled team, and he needs to go!" Amarok shot him down. "Nothing can save you, dog," he growled at Steele, barring his teeth and preparing to pounce.
"Wait, I'm on your side here!" Steele protested loudly right before the wolves could spring on him, "I don't want that sled to reach Nome either now!"
"Huh?" another wolf frowned, confused, "What are you talking about?"
"I was forcibly deposed by that freak Balto!" Steele growled in disgust, "He pushed me off the team and took it over. I marked every single trail branch I could find to throw him off," he gestured backwards, where his own markings on the trees could be easily seen, "But instead of killing me, work with me here," he offered the wolves, "If by some miracle he finds the right trail, he'll be coming this way. You can wait for him here and finish him and the rest of those backstabbers off, and then destroy the serum. Then the North will be yours for sure. One life in exchange for multiple ones; I think that's a fair deal. Just let me pass home safe, that's all I ask in return."
"So you want the sled run to fail now?" asked yet another wolf.
"Let it," malevolency burned itself onto Steele's face, "If I'm not leading that sled into Nome, no one is. Let the whole town die if that's what it takes; no one gets the glory with this run but me."
"One moment," Amarok told him, gesturing the other wolves into a circle. "Hold," he warned Steele when the malamute tried to softly sneak past them, and one of the larger wolves stepped into Steele's path and growled to emphasize the point. The wolves conversed for a minute before turning back to Steele. "OK, I want you to know, if this is a trick, we're going to hunt you down and tear you to pieces more gruesomely than you can imagine," Amarok warned the malamute, "But for now, dog, you've got a deal. We'll destroy the sled if it comes this way and take care of your former teammates."
"See, we both want the same thing," Steele nodded in visible relief, "I'm firmly on your side here."
"So you say. All right, take off," Amarok jerked down the trail towards the sea with his head. Steele immediately burst into a quick run towards the beach, not looking back. "Follow after him," Amarok ordered another wolf, "But don't be conspicuous. If he's tricking us, I want to know right away so we can make him pay."
"Right," this wolf slowly followed after Steele. "The rest of you," Amarok turned back to the rest of the pack, "We take up positions around Norton Sound. If he's telling the truth, and the sled does make it through here, we'll strike where they'll be the weakest..."
"Here's the trail," Balto let out a sigh of relief, seeing one of his markings on a nearby tree. He made a hard left turn onto the trail. "We're back on track now."
The rest of the team cheered in delight. "How much further to the portage from here?" Nikki called up to the front of the sled.
"Probably no more than twenty miles," Balto told him, "It'll be a hard climb, but I think we can make it."
"And you sure you marked the whole trail back?" Bear remained skeptical at the wheel position.
"Once every mile. So the way back's clear. We should the next marker right...about..." Balto ground to an abrupt, sudden stop, his eyes widening in horror to see markings on every tree in the grove directly ahead of him, effectively disguising whatever the actual trail was. "Oh no...!" was the only thing he could say to this horrible turn of events...