Back to the sled team… when Steele had fallen down the ravine…
Standing at the edge of the ravine, after suffering some beating and pain from his stronger enemy all while he tried to reason with him, separated from the bandanna given to him by his best friend… Balto stood there, just trying to get his mind fixed on what had just happened as everything he'd witnessed after getting up was as quick as flash…
He watched Steele on the bottom of the ravine, not moving. This was not what he wanted. As much as he disliked Steele for bullying him, bringing him all the misery and pain for his own personal pleasure and even desiring to fight him for Jenna's love… having him fall down and remain motionless down there was something he actually never desired.
He desired no one's death. He wanted to make his enemy see what he was doing wrong and lead him back to the right path, but he was too blind to his fame, fortune and glory that he let him be consumed by it and he was down there, not moving. If he could go down there and see if he was alive, he would… but the time was too precious to be spent by now…
"I am sorry, Steele, but we are no longer staying here." Balto thought to himself, turning around to assume the leadership of the chosen team and lead them home. Balto saw the team already preparing themselves, Kaltag, Nikki and Star helping injured Gunnar to lie down in his sled and rest for the journey home all while the crate and oil lantern were comfortably placed.
Balto walked up to the injured human and sniffed his hand, hoping that the human was still alive and quite unexpectedly, he noticed Kaasan moving his hand and muttering something like: "Oh… good boy…" It was a very brief moment of Kaasan regaining his consciousness before falling back into his slumber.
However, he had heard someone in the sled team calling for him. The entire team was in position except for the lead dog which belonged to Steele. Balto walked to that harness and it was held by none other else than Star. Out of all three cronies who stuck to Steele closely, Star was a sore thumb.
A small purple gray husky was energetic and anxious one, just sticking around the other two in hopes of having a higher reputation among others. Him holding that harness for Balto truly showed that he bore the least judgment towards him and how he didn't hesitate to hold it for him, Balto accepted the offer as if it were the very first gratitude he'd ever received in his life.
Wearing a leather harness around his neck and being a sled dog in this team rekindled Balto's hope to do something that'd have made him happier. Leaving Steele behind was something he didn't wish to do, but there was no more time to waste. Children and people of Nome needed that medicine and once again, Jenna's words echoed in his head:
"Rosy can't hold out much longer…"
"Don't worry, Jenna, we're coming home at last. Rosy will be saved." Balto thought to himself when he was in his harness now. The survival of children and people of Nome now depended on them and the first thing to do was to leave this cold and isolated place, with him being in a lead: "MUSH!"
Instead of being led by a glory hound who clearly set off on this journey not for the safety of the children, but to boost his own reputation, the sled team was now led by the scruffy wolf-dog whose intentions were opposite of Steele's. As long as the children and people of Nome were going to live, that was the only thing that mattered to him.
First they had to ascend from this place and it was challenging at first due to a slippery path underneath their paws uphill, but with Balto's really sharp claws and a will so strong to bring that medicine, the team collaborated to get up there. Star shrieked when he slipped a few times, but Nikki kept holding him up, either out of generosity or he was just fed up with his shenanigans.
"Come on, soon we're going to follow the marked way home!" Balto encouraged them to carry on no matter what, hoping to leave this dreaded place behind. He knew that there were the trees ahead of them where he left his clawed markings and because of them, their journey home was going to be easy… or it wasn't.
"Oh no." Balto was shocked by the revelation upon reaching trees in front of them. Much to his horror, instead of just one tree that he'd marked, there were many more trees clawed! What was this meant to be?! He knew very well that he didn't claw that many trees! It didn't help when Star, who also noticed so many clawed trees, asked: "Which way, Balto, which way?"
The others started asking him the same question - which way to go. Trying to think which ones he clawed and he didn't, the instinct didn't work out well for him when he made a hasty and unwise decision: "Uh… this way!" He pointed to the path that led to the left and without asking him twice, they all followed.
The path they'd taken was a convoluted mess to begin with, each tree on their way leading into ominous directions and even to the paths where Balto had not placed his paw at all. Left, right, left, right, back, front, back, front, above, below, aside, ahead… they were all getting desperate and deteoritated in the wild after taking each dead end.
After taking each path that forced them to go back, Balto already feared the looks on the faces of his teammates - doubtful. What were the chances that the journey home under his leadership was going to be questionable? How could he have known that there were so many marked trees left behind when he didn't have enough time to do so?! Unless… but how could it be that Steele did this? Did he survive that fall?!
They kept running and running… and running… with no end, direction and hope in sight. Each tree looked like another one to the point that they started seeing each unclawed tree and clawed one. It wasn't until they had come to the familiar spot where they'd faced clawed trees in their way.
"Huh?" Balto asked in disbelief when they unintentionally returned to this very spot, having no idea how'd they come back here in the first place. They all had collided with one another when Balto stopped dead in his tracks. No longer they held it for themselves to question his lead and especially not after Kaltag asked him: "Why are you taking us in circles?!"
"I'm not!" Balto was in a denial, not wanting to bow down to Kaltag's or anyone else's questioning about his leadership. Even if he wasn't sure about Steele surviving that fall and coming up or even getting ahead of them, he only gave them a wild guess: "I mean, I don't know. It's Steele!"
None of his teammates could actually connect Balto's statement as a possible one due to them witnessing Steele's fall down the ravine. Still, that didn't stop them from having second thoughts, namely from Nikki: "Maybe we was better off with him there!" What for, to spend more and more days out there in wild and cold and starve to death leaderless?!
"No! Come on, mush!" Balto persuaded them to follow his lead no matter the outcome. They had to return to Nome with that medicine or at least die trying. They started making a really, really mad dash across the forest that had everyone worried and surprised. There were infinite rows of trees in their sight and not a single way out.
Panic and anxiety embroiled in Balto's blood. As if everything he'd been through all these days before evaporated in thin air, he couldn't think of where to go or what direction to take, only to hear the frantic yells of his teammates, Star being the loudest one: "Balto! Slow down! Wait… UHHH!" Something silenced him, either a smack from Kaltag, but very unlikely, or something else. He couldn't look back!
More and more clawed trees in his ways that Balto's focus rapidly declined at this point , fearing that he'd make even worse mistakes than the previous lead dog. In fact, he finally noticed the end of the infinite column of the trees… straight down the cliff that led into yet another ravine!
"Hey! Hey! Goin' too fast!" This was already alarming to hear when they were making a hard braking in the snow, Balto being the first one, with each one of them doing the same behind him, Star, Nikki, Kaltag and the rest of the team, almost tumbling down the ravine. The rapid turn of a sled made an unconscious Gunnar fall off his sled, yet the medicine and the oil lantern remained… for now.
"LOOK OUT!" A scream echoed when the team saw the ropes on the crate snap and lean towards the edge of the ravine! Balto immediately released himself from his harness and with adrenaline rushing through his body, he made a mad leap towards the edge of the cliff and he was precisely on time to grab the ropes that held the crate and oil lantern down!
The team was left without breath when they witnessed Balto's precise catch on the very edge of the cliff. Star broke down the silence: "Alright! Good catch, Balto!" He wanted to mutter "Thanks!" for this action, but the ground started to shake. The enthusiasm shaped into fear when they witnessed the chunk of snow where Balto was standing, giving away.
The team gazed in shock and awe when they heard Balto screaming and tumbling down the cliff and snow into a ravine with the medicine! Balto's screams faded very soon and he was gone missing with that medicine. Once again, as they had lost another lead dog, they were left disoriented one last time.
"W-w-what are we going to do now?!" Star asked the others, shivering and gazing at where Balto was last seen. The rest of the team, Nikki and Kaltag didn't seem like they had any ideas at the moment, just sitting there and shivering, without any hope left. He asked them again: "G-g-guys?!"
"Look around yourself, Star! What do you think we're even going to do, huh?!" Kaltag didn't want to listen to his annoying flow of questions, one after another, showing what situation they found themselves in. "We are once again lost, with Steele either being left behind there or tampering or way home! Now we have lost another lead dog here!"
"But that can't be right!? What if he is still alive and the medicine is still alright?! We have to go there and find it!" Star begged them not to sit there but to do something. Even Nikki seemed hopeless when he offered: "After youse! If you make it back from a ravine this deep, be sure to bring Balto and the medicine, if there's anything left of them now!"
"D-don't say that!" Star tried to stay hopeful, even if the rest of the team didn't give him any hope here. What could they do anyhow? Return to Nome without the medicine and witness one of the darkest moments of Alaskan history in their eyes for their failure… or remain here indefinitely so the failure they were responsible for would remain their secret...