Denial. Absolute denial. That was something Jenna was going through right now, sitting in front of the window to see how Rosy was doing. Aside from her human's health ailing while the medicine was not here yet, her best friend was presumed missing. Worse, dead. That could not have been true!
She recalled the day when Balto first left Nome after having it enough, only to return incognito very soon, figuring out that he was going to find the medicine and bring it home. Her mind raced as fast as possible when he followed them to the wild and how her timing couldn't have been better to come across them just as the bear attacked.
Then she recalled the pain in her front right paw after being violently thrown by a bear twice and rescuing her friend from drowning. She had to return home otherwise the medicine would have been stalled even longer. Muk and Luk, under Boris' leadership, both pulled the branch she was resting on to be brought back home.
It almost seemed like they were never going to return home until they saw the lights of the town in the distance and she stood on her injured paw. It hurt, but she no longer needed assistance from Muk, Luk and Boris. She thanked them for their service and told them to stay put if she needed them.
She carefully walked to the town, hoping to reach the hospital first and rest there while letting her paw heal. Clearly she gained the attention of some other dogs in Nome, but the biggest one came from her closest friends. As much as Max and Molly, even Audrey, wanted to know everything about Balto's journey, she insisted on resting overnight and telling everyone the following night.
They were reasonable. She had spent that night by Rosy's side, hoping that she was going to be strong during her illness. It was the best thing she could offer at this point. She used the night after to tell the others everything she'd known about Balto's journey to find the medicine. She settled down in the boiler room, the warmth being good enough to defy the raging blizzard outside. Max, Molly, Audrey, Doc, Sylvie and Dixie were among many dogs. The responses weren't encouraging:
"I don't get it, how could Balto hope to find Steele and his team?!" Those were the comments Jenna heard, showing that no one would take Balto seriously in his journey to retrieve the medicine. Even so, the others doubted Jenna's words by claiming: "They were off the trail." However, she didn't want to look like she was offering empty promises so she simply told them: "Well, he's… tracking them."
"That mutt?!" One of the sled dogs in the boiler room, chewing a bone, asked loudly and mockingly, alongside his friends and teammates. "Tracking a championship team in a blizzard?!" Everyone else seemed like they were going to burst in laughing, save for Doc, Jenna and Jenna's friends in general. How could they laugh on a topic like this in these dire times?!
She remembered how in the next moment, the doors busted open widely and she was hoping that Balto had returned, but a bulkier and a tougher canine, Steele, was there. He told them everything, a story of a dangerous journey that had claimed the lives of his comrades, how the medicine was hopelessly lost after Balto tried to "help" him, seeking the glory for himself and in the end, she saw her bandanna in Steele's jaws to "prove" that.
That was something she could not accept! She knew that Balto survived the blizzard as a little puppy, survived the wild after leaving for the first time, the bear attack and drowning… she refused to believe that another nature hazzard claimed her friend's life! It just didn't make any sense. She also sensed Steele's lies when he told her how Balto asked him to promise him to look after Jenna.
He despised Balto all his life and having a change of heart was not the option Steele ever considered in his life! She had left the boiler room not long ago to hide her grief and emotions from everyone else. There she was, watching her human in a bed, without any hope. This couldn't be the end, there had to be a light at the end of the tunnel.
Speaking of the light, Jenna's attention shifted towards the telegraph's office where she saw the telegrapher coming out of the office and after reluctantly looking at the oil lantern, he grabbed it to turn down the light. The humans were already seeing the arrival of the medicine as hopeless and unlikely at this point that they were already giving up…
"See this? It's the polar ice caps." Balto's voice echoed in her head, reminding her on their first date, just underneath the hospital. "The sun." Once more she tried to figure out what those words meant… when she remembered the light being diminished. The polar ice caps, the sun… then it hit her!
She knew exactly what place she had to see first! She rushed straight to the back side of the hospital into the boiler room. The doors had not been replaced yet, leaving it broken in two halves when Steele had caused that time ago. She made it down below the doctor's office and found what she was looking for.
"Polar ice caps." Jenna whispered to herself. She had used her bandanna to carefully place those broken bottles inside, hoping not to cut herself. She did it wisely and well so she could take them outside to the hills above the town. It was a raging snowstorm out there, but nothing that would prevent her from reaching her destination.
She had placed those glass shards onto snow first and then she had to seek out the source of the light. Even if she'd witnessed the lights in many houses being turned off as a sign of a diminishing hope, there was nothing to prevent her from rekindling it when she saw an oil lantern in front of the house nearby. She'd hoped that no one would resent her for this "theft".
Taking it up the hill with herself, she knew well how this trick was going to work out. She struggled to reach the top of the hill that'd shine through the shards. "Sun…" Jenna muttered when she'd placed down the oil lantern in the middle of a snowstorm, being relieved that the wind wasn't knocking this lantern down. Then…
"Ice caps…" Jenna muttered once again when she moved some glass shards around to make sure they were going to be a good source for the lights. It was time to let the light flow and once she did, there was a miracle in front of her eyes, something that Balto had taught her the other night…
The rhapsody of red, green, blue, yellow, violet, orange, cyan… all dancing across the sky above this small town. They were meant to give a hope to everyone in this town with the medicine that had to be here… but the strongest hope Jenna could possibly give was to her best friend, far away from this town… "Balto." She muttered.
Gazing at the lights that would most likely end up being overlooked by humans and dogs alike, Jenna didn't notice the presence of a white wolf behind those lights and the wolf's eyes were golden and black. The wolf was there as if there was someone in a dire need. That someone whom this wolf was about to see by travelling to his location…
...and motivate him…
Feeling the cold around him, being covered under the thick layer of snow, he'd finally regained his consciousness. He was breaking free from this layer and resurfacing. Air. He needed air. He needed to come back to his senses. He needed to recall what happened ever since he'd been buried under snow.
Balto fell down as soon as he emerged, feeling the wind and snow flowing by. The exhaustion and unconsciousness had weakened him and the weight of his responsibility had never been heavier. Was it a failure he had been facing? Did he let Jenna down by going on this journey foolishly just trying to prove himself of being someone he wasn't?
"Rosy…" Balto muttered the name of a child he'd hoped to save from her illness. He'd been stranded from Nome, miles and miles away, deep in the heart of Alaska. He'd covered his eyes with his paw to let his tears flow down his cheeks. He just couldn't believe how he'd failed her and how he'd been there under snow for hours… or days?
Denial and grief were two of his feelings at the moment, thinking how guilty he'd feel like if he had to return to Nome without anyone and anything. No team, no medicine, only a dark future for that town. He was deeply regretting his actions that he didn't notice at first that he was no longer alone.
Eventually he did. A large white paw with gray claws, standing out in comparison to snow, was in front of his eyes. Not just one, but another one next to it and two more from behind. He slowly gazed above and after noticing a scruffy white fur, he finally saw the head of the wolf in front of him. A large wolf, with golden and black eyes, standing in front of him…
"W… what?" Balto thought to himself, not being sure if he was seeing things or not… but how could this possibly be? Ever since that raging blizzard, he'd never thought of seeing a wolf like this one in his life, being left behind at the mercy of a place full of resentful dogs and humans, save for few. The wolf raised head above and let out a deep howl.
Once the wolf was done howling, Balto was face to face with that wolf in hopes he'd follow with his howling. Instead, Balto declined, being shattered by grief. He looked on his left, trying to ignore the presence of a wolf of whom he had doubts if this wolf was even related to him, only having brief images in his head of his mother.
As he ignored the wolf's call, he didn't bother to see if the wolf was still there or not. He let the guilt destroy him over his failure when… suddenly, his eyes locked on something shining on the pile of snow. An oil lantern? Strapped to a crate of medicine, without any serious damage applied to it? But how…?!
He gazed above, at the top of the cliff he'd ended up falling from. It seemed like there was no end to that cliff even if he'd noticed the top of it very soon. He'd fallen from a great height with that medicine and neither of them had any serious damage inflicted to them… but that climb seemed downright impossible to accomplish…
Balto bowed his head down, thinking how there was no chance of him and the medicine making that way back. The voice in his head echoed, but it wasn't his. It was a Russian-accented one and it was none other else than Boris saying: "Let me tell you something. A dog cannot make this journey alone…"
What was he thinking? A half-breed like him always craving a dog life in town who brought himself into this. This was something he'd been questioning himself from the beginning. Yet, Boris' voice didn't die down yet: "...but maybe… a wolf can." The answer was right there! He was a half-breed, but even the side he'd never really liked was the one he needed to rely on !
He looked back at the spot where that white wolf was at before. The wolf was gone, but the paw prints in snow still remained despite the raging snowstorm. He wanted to see that wolf one more time or at least call the wolf back. He slowly and carefully got on his fours and made his step ahead to follow the white wolf.
As soon as he did, Balto felt something odd when he had placed his paw on the wolf's paw print. He was amazed by one thing - his paw matched perfectly with the pawprint of that white wolf. He lifted his paw up to see if his eyes weren't cheating him. It fit once more. He knew what he had to do.
He lifted his head above and with the power growing stronger in his veins, he let out one deep and long howl, no longer being ashamed of his wolf heritage. It was his wolf heritage that had him continue this journey and bring the medicine to Nome against all odds. When he howled for the second time, he'd gained the attention of that white wolf.
The white wolf had approached him and together they'd let out deep howls. Balto's inner wolf was awakened after being suppressed for far too long in his life. The white wolf had come to him as an encouragement, even if he was still trying to figure out what if that wolf was… her? But if that wolf were her, would she know that he was her son?
After the wolf and the wolf-dog had howled to prove his courage and strength, he knew he had to move and the first thing he had to do was to get that medicine back to the top of the cliff, against all odds. The white wolf left again, knowing that he had a mission to accomplish and he started it by grabbing the leather ropes of the crate.
The first steps to the top were the most difficult to begin with, but Balto had finally accepted his wolf side, he saw it as his strength this time. He noticed his pawprints being left behind, wolf pawprints from his mother's side. It was something that motivated him to climb to the top and return the medicine to the team, if they were still there.
It was slippery and dangerous for him to reach the top, but even if he fell a few times to take the crate above, he told himself: "Not this time! You've brought me down so many times in my life, this time I strike back!" He defied the danger in its face and didn't give in to reach his destination. At the top he saw someone's head looking at him.
The voices from above were unclear to him as he was reaching the top of the cliff, but few more heads popped in and he knew that the team had not left this spot! Those had to be the team he'd taken the lead of before as they had nowhere to go leaderless. Their voices weren't clear yet to him but the actions spoke louder than words. He noticed Kaltag and Star when the former smacked the latter in the head.
"I'm almost there, hang on! You wouldn't believe me what was down there!" Balto thought to himself, his head getting clearer and clearer as the voices from his teammates sounded clearer and clearer and he was even closer to the top. This is what he'd heard of them: "Come on, Balto! Keep tryin', baby! Pull! Pull! You got it!"
He placed his paw at the edge of the cliff and pulled the medicine with himself, even if he almost lost his balance at one moment. He heard some more encouraging words from his teammates: "Just keep pullin'! You're almost there! Yeah! You got it! Come on, Balto! Come on, let's go! Let's go!" Kaltag was the loudest one here, but Nikki and Star didn't sound any less enthusiastic, especially when Balto had made it with the medicine at last!
"Alright! Yeah, alright! You did it!" His teammates congratulated him on this massive stunt by climbing back up the hill with such a burden and both Kaltag and Star made it easy for him by taking the medicine back to the sled! He laid down just for a little bit to finally get his head clear after making such a daring climb up the hill with a heavy crate with him.
"Congratulations! That was great!" Nikki, Kaltag and Star didn't waste any more seconds to praise their new leader for this accomplishment. Balto faced three dogs who were bullying him following the orders of Steele, now they were his allies… and friends. They couldn't show enough of their enthusiasm here.
"Alright, we have to get moving, guys! There's a long way home!" Balto told them not to waste their time here anymore, getting on all his fours. Nikki spoke: "Make sure our master is back in his sled! He still may make it!" Sure enough, Kaasan was placed back onto the sled and the crate was resting on top of him, carefully and flexibly strapped.
"Balto, do you know the way home?!" Star asked his leader if their path home was going to be any easy. Having the harness strapped around him, Balto let him know: "Trust me, Star." The team was getting ready to move on once again. Kaltag wanted to make sure: "Alright, if you know the way, lead then!" He said it out of hope, not spite this time.
"Right, mush!" Balto told them to move and the entire team was now leaving this place. They had to retrace their steps back to the patch of forest they first got themselves lost at first and disoriented. Then Balto was going to use his trustworthy sense. As for now, they had to make sure they were going the right way.
Making it across snow plains and then through the forest, Balto and the team were now making through the maze of trees in order to find the path first. There it was, in front of them. Those trees, cut, clawed and peeled, showed how there was no way anyone would follow them and find the way home…
...unless that someone was Balto, who now had one advantage in comparison to his enemy –advanced sense of smell. He sniffed the air to separate his scent from his own. Sure enough, Steele's was still fresh when he tampered with the marks that led home, but Balto recognized his own scent amongst them and he finally knew what way they had to go. Hope was rekindled!
"That way!" Balto knew this time and he gave his teammates a nod to the right. This time his teammates felt more encouraged to follow his lead. Soon enough, they were getting on the right track and it was evident when there were less and less clawed trees. In fact, the smiles on their faces didn't cease when Balto finally figured out that there were no longer ones marked by Steele.
"Now we're on our way home and nothing will stop us!" Star bragged how Balto led them effectively, being right behind the lead dog, or in this case, lead wolf-dog. Yet Nikki spoke from behind: "Don't jinx it. This journey is far from over!" He wasn't wrong. They found their way home, but many nature hazards were on their way to cross.
"Careful now! This ice bridge isn't that stable!" Balto told them what was in front of them, making Kaltag ask: "Ice bridge?!" Balto shushed him, fearing that the additional noise would destabilize the structure. He led them ahead across the bridge, knowing that if they proceeded slow enough, the bridge would stay still at least.
Star was just behind him, Nikki followed and so did Kaltag, then the rest of the team and the sled. The sight down this ravine looked already frightening enough, but they had to know the rule of nature - not looking down. Star was already shivering in anxiety when they were passing and he was, honestly, not the only one.
Suddenly, the ice started cracking below their paws. If they were going to proceed further in this slow pace, then they knew that this ravine would have been their tomb! "Come on! Mush!" Balto yelled to them to move immediately, changing the plan in the last second. Balto reached the other side first with the rest of the team as the ice bridge was giving in.
However, the sled was still hanging dangerously behind when the ice bridge collapsed. Every single canine yelped in terror when they felt the sled dragging them down! With the unconscious musher, medicine crate and oil lantern being an additional burden, this seemed like a really desperate situation for the team!
Yet Balto saw a branch sticking from the snow and giving his last hope, he effectively grabbed the branch with his fangs, hoping that this would not give in and that they were going to make it. For a second, there was a high tension, only to be replaced with a relief when Balto realized that the branch in his jaws remained still and didn't pull out.
"That was a pretty close call. Thank spirits, nature is sometimes merciful." Balto thought to himself when he figured out that they were safe. He pulled the team ahead and soon the team followed, thus defying nature's dangerous side once more when the sled was back on the ground and eventually they found themselves on the solid ground.
Unintentionally, as he moved ahead to take the team down the path he'd originally come, the tip of his tail scratched Star's muzzle. In a few seconds, Balto had heard Star sneezing very loudly. That sneeze echoed for miles and miles from where they continued… and it resulted into another nature's hazard.
The ground rumbled behind them. Not from the place where the ice bridge collapsed, but from far behind and far above… a very tall mountain behind them unleashed the massive avalanche due to a very loud sneeze coming from Star. "Not the avalanche!" Balto's look said it all, fearing how one avalanche in his life wasn't just enough, this one could have been more devastating.
He didn't tell his teammates anything. Instead, he rushed ahead as fast he could and some of them were rather dumbfounded by Balto's rushing, but when they saw the massive avalanche, carrying the broken trees with it, they all rushed ahead in fear. The path they had taken was unlikely to avoid the avalanche…
...but there was an opening in the mountain to their right. A small one, but was there an alternative? It was either do or die. If they were going to carry on with this path, they'd have been buried under the avalanche, but if they were to take a refuge in that opening, that'd force them to abandon their original path.
There was no other choice. Balto pulled them into the opening and with their swift move to their right, they managed to get inside right on time. The sled suffered very little to no damage once everyone was inside. The avalanche sadly blocked their way outside but this opening had some kind of tunnel on the other side…
"Do you think we should go that way?" Kaltag asked Balto when he noticed the wider tunnel ahead of them. His answer was: "We don't have any other path now. I hope that there is a way out on the other side. Let's move!" They were thankful that the oil lantern was the source of light in this cave, although it was curious how long that was going to last…
Leading them through the tunnel, the floor, walls and ceiling were made out of solid ice and it wasn't until they entered the ice chamber ahead of them, making Balto gasp how many ice crystals were inside. The team also observed this cave, either being shocked or amused, in Star's case, by the ambient.
Something cold dripped on Balto's muzzle. He looked above to find out where that water drop came from. Stalagmites, lots of stalagmites on the ceiling, long, sharp and pretty frightening to look at. The murmurs of his teammates would have caused them to drop down on them so he just shushed them altogether, hoping to survive this cave.
Once again, Balto's tail unintentionally scratched Star's muzzle, but thankfully, Nikki's intervention stopped him from sneezing otherwise this cave would have been their grave. Then, a small light in front of him caught their eye. There it was, the exit of this ice cave! They made no mistake going through this ice cave.
They had to gently move through the main corridor and they failed to notice that there was a "step" to enter this corridor. They were aware of it at last when the sled tumbled down to the corridor, very loudly, like a thunder. This frightened them, but not as much as when one stalagmite shook violently and dropped down from the ceiling!
For a second they all closed their eyes in shock and terror. They were all afraid for the fate of their musher or even the medicine! But when their eyes slowly opened, they had found out that both Kaasan and the medicine were just as fine, but the handles on the back of the sled had been pierced in half by that fall!
"Mush!" Balto yelled once again, making a pretty bad mistake here because more and more stalagmites ended up falling down on them. Even the stalagmites ahead of them prevented them from keeping the line straight, flailing all across the cave and trying to survive yet another one in the line of nature hazards.
"If the ravines, cliffs, ice bridge and avalanche didn't claim us, this ice cave won't do the same thing!" Balto hoped that they were going to reach the exit of this dangerous place. However, the way this sled flailed on the side and smashed back onto the ground, the crate broke on the side and exposed the crate of the medicine.
The worst part? Balto got in his sight how the bottle of antitoxin slipped out of the crate and smashed onto ground, spilling the precious medicine all across the cave. "NO!" Balto's voice echoed when he saw it with his own eyes. He saw a fallen stalagmite ahead of him which made him think very fast how he could prevent more medicine from falling out.
In a rather desperate attempt, Balto bounced off the stalagmite and with his paws he shunted the crate onto his side. The best part? This managed to tighten the crate back in one spot and that way the medicine was safer! But who wasn't safe yet? The team. They were closer to the cave entrance, but more and more stalagmites dropped down.
It wasn't until the one that were hanging above the entrance that all fell at the same time and with the last strength they had and adrenaline combined altogether, the team had pulled themselves out of the cave, almost losing the sight in front of them. For a moment, the shock prevailed, but slowly washed off when they noticed something.
They had made it. They were outside again. The cave entrance collapsed, but no one suffered any injuries or damage inflicted on them or anyone else. They lost one bottle of medicine, had the crate damaged, but they were still in one piece and breathing. Still, as Nikki pointed out, the journey was far from over.
"Do you think we should take a rest now at least?" Star asked his teammates. He seemed like the most exhausted dog in this team. Even Balto seemed like they were going to take a rest as they were surrounded by a canyon, trees and thick layer of snow… but then he noticed a rather familiar sight in the horizon.
"Hey, hey, let's get moving! I've been on that spot when I was looking for you, right over there!" Balto let them know that there was no time to rest, not even a minute. Even if they were going to tell him to stop for a second, they knew that the team was the only hope for the town. They knew that many lives would be saved if they ran the fastest they could in their lives.
The frozen lake was ahead of them, the same one Balto almost drowned… but now this time he wasn't going to drown, or anyone else for this matter. "I've made a promise, everyone! If we keep up with the fast pace, we will have Nome saved tonight!" He heard them mutter: "What promise?" They decided to ask him that when they returned. There was no time to ask questions in the middle of the frozen lake!