November was just around the corner and the days had become colder and shorter. To humans this meant any means necessary to make it through the cold months until mid-to-late spring so they could carry on with their lives. As for dogs, especially the thick furred ones, winter was just what they were looking for.
At the wooden sidewalk, in front of the news agency house, were five dogs, laying down and having a talk with one another. One of them, who raidated with leadership and authority, was a black furred golden eyed malamute. He led the talk: "All I'm saying is that if we stick together in the last race, we may reprise our victory from last year!"
One of the dogs, a smaller husky with a mixture of gray and indigo fur and a male to say it, replied: "That we all know, Fritz! And besides, what are the odds we will have a formidable competition?" It was like as if he was not taking the future race seriously, for which Fritz told him: "Look, Cosmo, I have no idea why you're that insecure. I mean, yeah, you may be the shortest among all of us, but pretty full of energy. Though you should never overestimate or underestimate the competition."
Cosmo got that clear to think about, albeit the uneasy look on his face wasn't proving it that well. The only female in the group, a black furred malamute, leaning her head against Fritz's shoulder, whispered: "Fritz, sweetie, we know that no one is going to let you down or any of us at least for the race!" For once Fritz liked how someone knew how he was feeling like, for which he nuzzled her and answered: "That's nice coming from you, Della."
With her pretty blue eyes she smiled at her friend warmly. A dark yellow chinook, next to Cosmo, loudly stated: "Also, Fritz, I know that you didn't want to get into any odds against the former rivals in the last race because you've admired them as a young dog and that way you repaid them. What will you do about the new rival team?"
It was true, Fritz refused to break down the amicity between him and Clark and Marion he'd grown and respect. This didn't give a lot to think for him to which he answered the chinook: "Well, I like to play fair and square, Hardy. As long as the rival team is going to play clear, then I won't play dirty. There are standards for such things!"
Hardy looked next to him, at a tan chow-chow male and the bulkiest dog among them, even bulkier than Roger from the other team, and asked him: "Laurel, do you think that we'll have any chances to perform well in the race with a leader like Fritz?" Laurel, the chow-chow, expressed his doubts by the look on his face, replying: "I don't know to be honest, but if he warms up too much to the rival team, I guess we'll have to search for the new leader!"
"Hey, you guys, what am I missing?" Cosmo asked his taller and bulkier friends as he was only close enough to hear some talk between them while Fritz and Della had their affairs being discussed. Hardy told him: "Not really much, Cosmo. Just how Fritz should not warm up too much to the opponent team." This had Cosmo quite confused.
"What do you mean?" Cosmo asked, as if he was either not aware of what they were talking or he was just not that bright. Laurel took over: "It's easy! While Fritz won the race last year, he was a bit too amicable towards the opponent team. We just don't think that repeating such in the race of this year would be a great idea."
Just then, the barks in the distance broke the silence that followed for like ten seconds among them, with Della perking her right ear so she was able to recognize to whom it belonged to: "This must be that young team's leader Beringo. They are surely having a practice run! Rumor has it that they might be our likely opponents for the final race."
"Really? A young dog like him and his team?" Laurel was quite surprised and full of doubts when he heard Della saying something like that. Fritz thought about Beringo for a while and then he spoke: "You know, with that looks, that Beringo sometimes reminds me on Clark whom I admired as a puppy. Funny how they are both gray furred!"
He laughed amusingly at this, as did his team, it was quite surprising that Fritz was unaware that Beringo WAS Clark's son. It could have been that how Beringo was for months outside Nome, Fritz and Beringo didn't get to meet one another properly and know one other's backstories, although there had been some kind greetings to one another.
"If that young kid is going to be an opponent in our race, then we can be sure who'll be winners! Heh heh heh!" Hardy remarked this as he saw the young gray husky as a not formidable competition. Laurel and Cosmo shared laughs with whereas Della wasn't amused by the joke. As for Fritz, he knew that no matter what age his opponent was, never should he underestimate or overestimate him or her.
"If that's what you think, boys!" Fritz replied to them with a snarky tone as the time was soon for… "When Beringo's team is done with their practicing, we'll go there afterwards. Laurel, I hope you didn't overeat yourself for breakfast! Cosmo, I hope that you didn't drink too much water!" Now this was something Della laughed at as both Cosmo and Laurel weren't amused by these jokes.
Speaking of Beringo and his team, there was a mail delivery coming for them that was not going to be like any other else…
In early November morning, Beringo and his teammates were sleeping in the living room. Beringo separately from others and also Roger. Dakota was sleeping closer to Indiana as was Hallie to Justin. The footsteps of their master, Peter Nash, were heard as the musher was descending from the floor above. He was up quite early.
"Alright, wake up, all of you!" Nash spoke loudly to his dogs loud enough to break away from their sleep. "Come on! We should be going for a mail delivery pretty soon!" The dogs were waking up, one by one, and they were surprised. They knew that they were going to deliver mail today, but it felt like to them as if they… weren't sleeping enough.
"What's the time? Why do I feel like I've slept an hour or two too short?" Justin lazily yawned as he was stretching his gray furred body, but not before letting Hallie move gracefully aside. Indiana was closer to the window that was overlooking at the east and peeking through the blind, he was surprised when he realized what the time was right now.
"Guys, girls! The sun hasn't risen yet, it's still dawning out there!" He informed them as he could see the mixture of orange and yellow rising to the east. Beringo didn't believe it at first as he asked: "Are you kidding me?! We never get up this early, honestly!" Not that he complained about it, but it just felt out of place for them to wake up before the sunrise.
"Breakfast!" Nash called them from the kitchen, serving each of his dogs their food. All six moved to the kitchen where they noticed a dog food combined with the grounded raw beef. Hallie rose her eyebrow when she saw there was more food in their bowls then it was supposed to be, making her say: "Do you remember when we had this much for meal?"
"Who cares? The more, the merrier! I love the smell of beef in it." Roger seemed to be quite relaxed when he saw what was on a menu, moving to his bowl. Each one of the dogs moved to their bowls, starting their meals. Dakota gazed at her master, to which she asked the others: "Do you think there's a reason master woke us up this early and gave us this much food for breakfast?"
"Well, if he was aware that we'll be doing a mail delivery today, then I have to ask myself why this much?" Beringo was curious as the others were, even Roger despite him enjoying his food. Now Nash had turned around and asked something his dogs were asking themselves: "You're probably wondering why we're all this early, right?"
The dogs glanced at the musher, hoping they were going to get some important information. And they were not wrong when Nash answered: "Last evening I was being told that our mail delivery was not going to be to White Mountain, nor Golovin. They told me it is an important mail delivery and that we should deliver all the way to the town of Elim!"
"Elim?! Where's that?!" Justin was confused when he had heard the name of the town. Other dogs were as confused as him, although Dakota mentioned: "It is said that town exists for a few months and not far from Golovin, but due to a mountain terrain, it will be hard to get to Elim." That did not really sound any soothing to them.
"At least we know our answer why we are having this much food and are this early awake." Indiana was in one paw relieved that they knew what was coming to them, although he was not really fond that they were going to go over the hostile terrain to reach Elim. Hallie was curious: "But what if our delivery to Elim is a test for the annual's final race?"
"You think so?" Roger, who was finally finished with his meal, before the others were, found that theory likely. Hallie spoke: "So far our trails to White mountain and Golovin were not terrible when it comes to terrain, but if we're going across the mountains, maybe that will prove us how endurant we are in the nature!" This theory made much more sense now.
"Well, if there is anything we can do right now is make sure we're fit enough to get across the mountains!" Beringo hoped for the best, wondering how they were going to get across the forests, snow and mountains in this mail delivery. Right now, they had to make some last preparations before heading to the post office at last.
Seeing the streets being empty and silent as the dawn was breaking, none of Beringo's teammates felt that thrilled to begin their mail delivery at the break of dawn. Still, if it were to deliver mail to Elim and return at the evening, all of them were hoping at least that this was all going to pay off one way or another. Only the time would tell.
While Nash entered the post office as it was open for him to get the important bag of mail, the dogs were placed in their harnesses individually. Beringo and Indiana in front, Roger and Dakota in the middle and Justin and Hallie at the rear. Hallie asked them: "What do you think we'll be delivering that is so important anyhow?"
"Beats me… I'm still trying to get my head clear from this early getting up!" Indiana told her, clearly being the one who slept the least last night. Beringo answered: "To be honest, if we cannot see what is in that bag, should we be concerned what's in it? I don't think that I'll find something important in it other than letters." He made his point.
Soon enough Nash had come out from the post office and he was carrying a larger bag of mail, much to Roger's sarcastic remark: "Now that is what I call a very important mail bag! It only has more mail than ever!" Whether that was true or not, it was obvious that there was no point what the bag had inside as Nash was getting ready to mush.
Counting each of his dogs to make sure they were ready for the mail delivery, he was pretty much satisfied with the outcome that he'd gone to the end of sled, grabbed the leather harnesses and now all six of them prepare themselves as Nash yelled: "Mush!" This was it, the mail delivery to Elim had begun!
The familiar path to the town of White Mountain was a routine every once in a while for the team and so was when they crossed the town just as the sky was shining crystally blue. Eventually the town of Golovin was next, resting on the delta of river Niukluk that was ending in the Golovin lagoon. So far so good, as now the lesser known path was ahead.
"Team, halt!" Nash commanded them as they had moved slightly south from Golovin, causing all six dogs to stop dead in their tracks. They almost collided into one another, but they got the hold of themselves when Nash put his hands in the pocket, to which Dakota asked: "What do you think master is doing right now?"
"I don't know. Maybe he is searching for something?" Justin could only answer this as a logical answer when the look on Nash's face from curious shifted into disbelief when he said: "Oh, this is just great! I've forgotten the map that marks the shorter path through the mountains to reach Elim in no time! It looks like we'll have to take a way around, team."
"Around the mountains?" Dakota looked ahead and noticed how the mountains extended southwards, albeit lower and lower in horizon. Knowing it was only was right now, Beringo knew that it was everything or nothing when Nash yelled: "Mush!" once again and thus they had taken a longer path to Elim.
It was just a small mountainous peninsula to go across to reach Elim, but it took them like two hours to get all the way across. In the mid of their delivery while passing it, Roger's tone didn't sound promising: "Oh, that's not looking good! Look at those clouds coming from the east!" So they all looked there and their worries began.
The sky was gray over there and the clouds were moving to the west significantly, which meant that they were bringing in the wind and also snow along. This was a big trouble for them, but right now they had to advance to Elim and see if there was going to be something done about their trouble. The town was almost there…
And of course, the last stretch to Elim was easily finished. Beringo and his team all stopped in their tracks when they had reached the post office in Elim all while Nash grabbed the mail bag and headed inside for the mail trade. While resting, the clouds in the east were closer and darker, thus making them feel insecure about their path home.
"Do you guys think they will let us stay over night here?" Hallie asked them, not feeling like it was a right time to deliver mail in these conditions. Indiana wished it was so, because his answer was: "If only, Hallie. Since these humans were not expecting us to come here anytime soon, I don't think they've prepared shelter for us!" This was even more discouraging now that he'd said it.
After a while, Nash was seen coming out of the post office with a new and smaller bag and the look on his face was not promising at all. Placing the bag in sled, he told his dogs: "Well, we've got bad news and good news. Bad news are that people of Elim could not provide us a shelter because they received the message of our arrival this morning, which means we'll have to return to Nome with the imminent snowstorm!"
The dogs were not happy about these news. Not even good news were compensating enough: "While good news are that the post master had told us where the shortcut through the mountains to Golovin is, so that may reduce our delivery for two hours and if we manage to evade the storm somehow, we'll be home by evening!"
Still, they could only hope that the storm wasn't going to affect them and so he got at the end of the sled, grabbed the leather harnesses and yelled: "Mush!" Thus the path to Nome was ahead, leaving the small town of Elim behind and heading westwards and soon enough, it was when Nash yelled: "Halt!"
All of them stopped as there was a curvy mountain path on the side and the coastline they'd been going by. According to what he'd been told before, Nash informed them: "This path up here is the shortcut! Now easy does it, because it won't be an easy path up the hill!" Just then, as the dogs were ready to move on, strong wind started to blow, carrying snow.
"It seems that the storm is even more unpredictable and chasing up with us!" Indiana yelled when he felt the breeze going through his fur. As concerned as he were, Beringo told him: "There is no going back now, Indiana! Alright everyone, let's go!" And thus, at Nash's command, they had started running up the hill as the storm was intensifying.
Not only that going uphill was anything but easy, the snow and wind was making that way even harder. Still, the sled team bravely ascended through the mountain shortcut when it was getting less and less steep. When it was more flat than straining upwards, it seemed like their troubles were over, but…
"Uhhhhh, where do we go now?" Justin was puzzled, noticing how the storm was taking tool, rendering the vision reduced slightly as they couldn't see much in distance. It was either stand here and panic while snow and wind was making things worse or it was… "To west, obviously! We must head westwards and we'll find the way to Golovin!"
"Are you sure about… Hey, WHOOOOOAH!" Hallie was doubtful at first, but Beringo's fear of being stormed under was strong enough to start running westwards, followed by his teammates. They had to go towards west, there was no doubt. There could be no other paths up here and as if they weren't on higher elevations, they realized they were on cliffs.
"Team, be careful! We should stay away from steep cliffs if we're going to make it through this mess!" Beringo alerted them as he knew that it was his duty to keep his friends and team in general safe. Roger told him: "I hope you know what you're doing, Beringo! I can't see a lot in front of myself because of snow and mist!"
Now mist was reducing sight for them, as if snowstorm was not enough! Looking frantically around, Beringo was assuring himself that they were going to make it out of this place alive and well. Just then, he made a step ahead and little did he know that the step he'd made was almost costly…
"LOOK OUT!" Nash yelled as Beringo and Indiana's weights in front caused them to descend down the hill. All dogs panicked as they were braking down with their limbs while they were descending fast towards the cliff ahead! This was not looking any good right now! Not even when Nash's voice was heard: "Aaaaaaaaarrrrggghhh!"
Justin got a better view as he noticed that Nash was holding his right hand pressed against his left arm, which was shredded because of the rock standing there and wincing in pain. Even worse, there was another scream, while not as strong, belonging to Roger: "Aggggggghhhh!" Dakota, who was next to him, noticed that he hit his head against the rock and was knocked out.
"ROGER IS OUT COLD!" Dakota screamed, trying to keep her teammate up and at the same time, tried to slow down the team with others as the cliff was getting nearby. Surprisingly, somehow Roger's weight helped up in stopping at the edge, less than a meter away! However, troubles didn't end here.
"WATCH OUT FOR MASTER!" Dakota screamed at Hallie and Justin as Nash was losing his balance and was dangerously close to plummet down the cliff because he was holding with just one hand the sled. Thankfully, Hallie and Justin were both fast enough to get out of their harnesses and grab Nash by his coat and pull him back, much to their relief.
"INDIANA!" Hallie noticed how the ground below Indiana's paws was giving up and Indiana's reaction was a bit too late for him too notice that he was about to plummet! Dakota's eyes widened in fear, but thankfully, Beringo's reaction was fast enough to grab him by his neck fur as the ground was now gone below Indiana's paws: "GOTCHA!"
He pulled his friend up to the safety, with Dakota's help, her face showing relief that Indiana made it out safely. However, the unstable ground and too many dogs at one spot caused one more try for ground to give away and that was underneath Beringo's paws, making Indiana scream: "BERINGO! GET OUTTA HERE!"
However, as he was attempting to jump on safety, he was a second too late as the ground below Beringo was gone and he was unable to grab the edge, screaming as he plummeted down the cliff in snow, mist and wind… and his scream was gone after like three seconds, much to horror of his teammates, save for unconscious Roger, and Nash, who screamed: "NO!"
Indiana, Dakota, Justin and Hallie stood at the edge of the cliff where they saw Beringo falling down, paralyzed in fear and shock that their lead teammate was… gone. The snow, mist and wind was making the entire thing desperate. Neither of them could believe that their friend fell down there and his screams were silenced. It couldn't be…
"BERINGO! BERINGO, WHERE ARE YOU!?" All of them screamed in despair, hoping that there was going to be some response. Only response they could get was the menacing howls of strong wind. Not a sound from Beringo was coming and this was not encouraging at all. Justin muttered in disbelief: "What if he is not…"
"DON'T SAY THAT! JUST DON'T SAY THAT WORD!" Indiana yelled, refusing to accept that fate was going to claim his friend this soon. This was already pretty chilling that he yelled like this, but no one blamed him for so. Indiana further continued: "He is still alive! And we are going to make sure of that!"
"But what are we going to do?! Roger is out cold and master is hurt!" Dakota asked him, wondering what they were going to do next. With Roger laying down, passed out, and Nash sitting on the rock and wincing in pain as he was trying to close his wound where the rock shredded his fur coat. Hallie asked them: "Indiana, how do you propose we'll find him?! The storm is very strong!"
He knew that this storm was merciless, but as a second-in-command, what would he do? Looking down once again, and then at his teammates, and at last at Roger and Nash, Indiana thought about this and had finally come to the solution: "LISTEN UP! Here is what we shall do, each one of us!"
Dakota, Justin and Hallie moved closer to hear what the orders were: "Justin, you stay with master and try to comfort him! Hallie, stay with Roger and make sure he comes to his senses! Dakota, you come with me! We will go and search Beringo ourselves!" With that tone, he was pretty amazed how he was commanding this situation that he felt chills with that.
"But we have to communicate with one another in this storm! We have to make sure that we know how you're doing in search!" Justin yelled because the wind howling was easily silencing their talk on normal tone. This was where Dakota told him: "Have you forgotten, Justin?! We are going to use 'Polar Bark' as means of communication!"
"You mean that chain of barks and howls in the distance?!" Hallie asked, remembering that 'Polar Bark' was commonly used in these parts, meant to be used as means to communication on distances in case of very important news and alerting situations, no matter where they all were at. Dakota yelled: "YES, THAT ONE!"
"GOT IT!" Justin agreed and with Indiana saying: "SPREAD OUT!" Justin rushed to his master and Hallie headed to her unconscious teammate all while Dakota followed Indiana towards the possible safe way where they could trace their lost teammate. This was going to be a dire and hard search…
Justin made his way to Nash, who was clenching his teeth trying to stand against the pain and cold. Justin gazed at his master, pressed his muzzle against his coat and whined, hoping that he'd somehow sympathize with his master's pain. It worked somehow, with Nash saying: "Justin, it's alright! I'm going to be alright, even if I don't have first aid with myself. What frightens me more is that Beringo has fallen!"
At least Nash's condition was not severe. He looked at Hallie, who was hoping that Roger's impact was also not severe. He asked her: "Hallie, how is he doing? How bad is Roger hurt?!" The news were relieving at least: "He bumped his head against the rock, but it was not a hard impact! I think he'll come to his senses quite soon!"
From all this disaster happening, at least neither Nash nor Roger were too badly injured. Wind, snow and mist was leaving an impression of how awful this situation was looking like and it was like ten minutes when the howls, this time canine howls, were heard in the distance, along with barks. This was surely 'Polar Bark'!
"Justin, I can hear Indiana and Dakota in the distance!" Hallie alerted her friend as she perked her ear towards the howls and barks, with Justin asking: "What are they saying?!" All that information that was coming didn't look promising as Hallie's face was saying and she reported: "This is not good! The terrain is more hostile and unpredictable and searching for Beringo in these conditions won't be easy, that is what they are saying!"
"Darn it!" Justin growled in frustration as this entire search was going to extend to over night very likely. He told her: "At least tell them that master and Roger are going to be fine soon!" She barked in the distance and howled, sending her message with 'Polar Bark', which was soon passed onoto Indiana and Dakota. As relieving as these news were, they deeply knew that Beringo's fall was too much to handle.