Balto and Aleu faced the threat behind and above them - three wolves standing on a rock. One was a tan furred one and his eye was more open than the other one, with some bugs buzzing around his ears - fleas. The other one was dark gray, standing in the middle. The one on the right was a dark one and he had a massive body build.
It had to be the one in the middle who warned them to worry about them, being the first one who leaped down below to face the "intruders" on the territory. Then the tan one with fleas on his head followed and trying to sound intimidating, laughed maniacally: "Yes, us because we're… mean! Right, Nuk?"
Nuk, the bulkiest of the three, leaped the last, causing a minor tremor upon landing thanks to his weight. It was very soon revealed what was he best known for: "Yeah, especially when I'm hungry!" The three wolves held the two wolf-dogs trapped on the edge of the stone peak by the ocean.
However, Balto hoped he could handle this situation in a diplomatic way, hoping it wasn't too late: "Look, we don't want any trouble! This is your territory, we'll just go!" His diplomacy had failed because these three were just thirsty for some fight against the half-breeds in front of them, with the dark gray one warning them: "Sorry, but you are not going… nowhere!"
So it was settled that the only way to handle this was the hard one, but Aleu was annoyed by one other thing, firing back at him: "That's 'anywhere', fleabag!" That wolf didn't seem to take it kindly as she just called him. Balto let his daughter know quietly: "Aleu, I hardly think this is the time to be correcting his grammar!"
"Papa!" Aleu reminded him why she didn't enjoy hearing others say words grammatically incorrect. Still, her father wasn't wrong, both of them were getting less and less space as they were slowly pacing behind. These three wolves were cornering them from one side while the ocean, with the wind raging, cornered them from the other side.
However, they had almost forgotten there was a raven flying above them. As soon as it made a pass above these wolves, their confidence crumbled rapidly and it further continued with the waves spraying them from both sides. Balto exhaled in relief: "At least we know the raven's on our side."
"Come on, we can take them!" Aleu used her chance to break their siege by taking on these wolves, much to Balto's dismay and disapproval of this dire situation: "Aleu, no!" Too late because she already leapt ahead and tackled down the dark gray wolf. This just drew the attention of the other two wolves.
Therefore, Balto intervened to draw away their attention from his daughter by attacking Nuk, the bulkiest wolf. He pulled him by his ear to prevent him from attacking Aleu, which just drew the attention of the tan wolf to strike Balto. He was too slow, missing the wolf-dog who leapt off his clanmate and landing on a rocky ground, eventually being sprayed by the wave.
He looked at Aleu, still facing off against the dark gray wolf all by himself and acting like any other father should, just made a jump for it and tackled the wolf. Aleu's surprised look indicated that she could have done it herself. However, Balto should have paid the attention when he was being tackled by a heavier set of paws and pressed against the ground.
Aleu was occupied with dealing against the tan wolf who had regained his pawing. At first, she seemed successful in pushing him against the rock and the hard place, but she had taken action prematurely. At the same time, she leaped at him, but he swiftly dodged her attack. To make matters worse, she slipped towards the edge!
She could feel the salt-water soaking her fur while attempting to reach the solid ground. A strong wave pushed her ahead, but because she didn't react well enough on time, she saw herself clawing the ground to get a grip, without success. Then the tan wolf returned and cackled like lunatic, raised her paw with the words: "Bye-bye, doggy!"
As he tried to push her off the cliff, Balto yelled: "Aleu!" She saw her father ramming the wolf by his side, yelping in process. Then he rushed to grab her by her neck scruff, lifting her to the safety. Still being stuck between the rock, Nuk and the dark gray wolf, and the hard place, tan wolf, they were both taunted by that dark gray wolf: "Aw, and I thought all doggies could swim!"
That tan wolf tried to connect to his comrade's sentence with his joke: "Yeah, yeah! And don't they all go to heaven?!" While he found it funny, Balto and Aleu were giving him those looks that were saying: "Are you serious?" Thinking that they didn't get the joke at first, he repeated some of these words: "Doggies go to heaven!"
He realized that his joke fell flat big time when his clanmates weren't even laughing at it, giving the looks as if they were asking: "Why do we have him stick around with us?". The tan wolf snorted and apologized: "Oops.". Instead of cracking watered down jokes, they had two wolf-dogs to face.
Then all three pressed them against the stone wall, cackling like mad. Balto and Aleu didn't know how long they could hold them off, but they had help coming when a large tide formed behind the wolves and before these three knew what happened, they were all swept down in a blink of an eye!
Both of them were still standing dry up there, but these three were laying down, soaked wet. "Come on, let's go!" Balto whispered to his daughter not to waste a second there before the tan wolf spoke: "The tide is coming." He wasn't wrong because another large one was coming before he yelled: "Get out of here!"
None of these five were wasting their time, knowing that if they were to stand on this slippery stone peak for a second or two, the tide would pull them underwater! The wolves were the first one to make a run for it and then Balto and Aleu followed, wishing they were ahead. Then, a new voice growled at the wolves: "Get back there, you snivelling cowards!"
Another wolf stood above, this one being dark brown with darker gray underbelly and eye patches that were matching with his fur color, also bearing blue eyes. Unlike these other three, who were trying to look intimidating, but failed to do so, this new wolf was actually leaving a pretty intimidating impression. The tan wolf told him: "But, Niju, the tide! We'll drown!"
Revealing the name of the new wolf to be Niju, he didn't seem like he could care any less for their warnings, leaping down so all could see him properly. He issued them a warning in case of their disobedience: "Yes, there's always that chance. But then, if you don't take it, I'll make sure you drown! If those two live, they'll take what's left of our food!"
His last sentence was issued on the two wolf-dogs who had no choice but to retreat again as they were facing Niju, the head of the serpent in its venomous embrace. Realizing there was no other choice, Niju's wolves listened to his words and started pushing back at the intruders.
Balto and Aleu were trapped again! They should have used their chance when these three were washed away, presumably having only Niju to deal with. Worse, he was in front of the crowd that was pushing them backwards, ready to strike them down on the peak of the raging tide… when… "Stop! Clear a path for our visitors!"
Aleu, Balto, Niju and his wolves looked behind them, revealing not just one wolf, but at least more than a half dozen of them! The one who prevented Niju from proceeding onward was the bright tan wolf in the middle, who also, judging by his voice and his face, looked pretty old. He must have been at least 10 years old in human years, which was at least 70 years in canine years.
"Now." The elderly wolf let Niju know what to do, with a rather soothing voice. Niju's wolves, noticing the presence of this elderly wolf, bowed their tails down and whimpered away, thus having any kind of menace torn away from them. However, Niju was persistent in his intentions, addressing the elderly wolf: "I will not let them go, Nava!"
He further suppressed Balto and Aleu closer to the edge of the peak and let the elderly wolf, Nava, know: "I will not let you, an aging fool, destroy us with your weakness!" He clearly had guts to directly spit his venomous words at Nava. Speaking of the latter, he was joined by one of the wolves in the pack to settle this issue down with Niju.
"I admire your passion, Niju." Nava let him know what he had in mind, overlooking how he just insulted him, as if he was looking at someone who tried to insult him, but made a bigger fool of himself. "But do not mistake my old age for weakness nor your youth for strength." He and the rebellious wolf started circling around, this taking off the pressure from wolf-dogs.
"I ask again: Will you clear the way for our visitors?" Nava had in mind to settle this issue in a peaceful way, clearly knowing Niju for a good while. He got a cold shoulder from him: "No!" It was four to far more wolves, but he had brawn to deal with many of them. Aleu noticed something, standing aside, when she saw Nava taking a look at the water behind Niju.
Then, a loud noise came from the water and as soon as Balto and Aleu looked behind them, they had noticed a large stream springing from the sea. It came from a whale that was resting in the sea shallows and when Nava looked at the sea… both of them realized that there was something about Nava and the nature connected!
Niju did not see it, but he felt it on his own fur when the stream of seawater splashed him from above, much to his surprise. He lost his pawing due to a huge amount of seawater soaking him wet and growling in an embarrassment, he heard his packmates laughing at him for trying to stand up to their alpha.
Getting up on all fours, he refused to look at his packmates but at Nava, not even stopping to shake the water off his fur. He issued the warning to the elderly wolf: "Some day your tricks will not be enough to save you." With that being said, Niju retreated to his hideout in the wolf territory all while Nava told him: "I'm sorry it had to be this way, Niju."
Balto and Aleu could clearly see how Nava didn't do this to Niju out of spite but because the rebellious wolf wasn't listening and because of his disobedience, he was forced to rely on his mystical powers to end his bad attitude. Balto got to talk to the alpha of this wolf pack, hoping he'd not turn on them: "Thanks for your help."
"You're welcome. But it is I who thank you for coming at last!" Nava spoke to both of them, thus revealing his side and how he had no intention of turning on them or have his pack doing the same either. Aleu wasn't getting it so she asked him: "You knew we were coming?" The answer she received had them both surprised.
"Of course. It was I who sent for you." Nava let them know that he was not surprised to find them on his territory and the wolves in the pack seemed like they knew about their arrival thanks to their arrival. "Come now, to the den. We have urgent matters to discuss. Sadly, we're nearly out of food so I'm afraid we cannot offer you two a proper meal in our territory."
"No, it is alright, we've had our meal not long ago." Balto politely declined Nava's offer. He and Aleu were following the elderly wolf and his pack deeper to the den, which was not far from where they were standing. It was a stone chiseled den with few naked trees surrounding the entrance, not far from the sea.
"Papa, look at the pack! I've never seen so many of them at one place, not even back home!" Aleu admitted to her father how impressed she was with the size of this wolf pack, or clan. Balto didn't even try to tell her about being polite because this was the first time he was in a really big wolf pack when it came to quantity.
Walking among the wolves, brown, gray, tan, silver, slender gray and a lot to number, Balto and Aleu were stuck closely to one another. While these were the wolves they could trust compared to Niju and his ones, they were keeping their distance. The sun was looming to the west and the afternoon was already here, indicating a sunset any hour soon.
This made Balto think about it that his mother, as far as he knew of, and Aleu's grandmother, could have lived in a wolf pack? Or was she a lone wolf? If only he had some more memories of his mother before being separated from her, then he'd have known how it was to be in a wolf pack, or clan, more so than in the one he almost got the other time.
Aleu and Balto were watching the elder wolf, Nava, walking up to the peak in the den. He had some very important news to tell the pack: "My brothers and sisters, our summer has almost passed and I have listened to the trees and to the blades of grass." It was truly the end of summer, days getting shorter and colder and trees getting naked.
He continued: "And they have said this: The caribou will not return this year…" He warned them about the possible famine without their main source of food this winter, which they spent muttering to one another. However, Nava's following warning was more than dire: "...nor any other year, for they have passed the Great Water!"
This had each one of them shocked to core and had them shivers sent down their spines. Caribou, their main source of food and prey, weren't going to return? This had always been their home, which Balto and Aleu could see in their eyes after they exchanged worried looks with one another and muttered.
"If we are to survive, we must follow them!" Nava assured them their futures were not forsaken, but a greater challenge laid ahead of them in order to prevent famine. Only one wolf openly defied this challenge and the words Nava offered them and it was none other else than Niju: "The old one believes that trees and grass can talk!"
This just sparkled the agitation in Balto and Aleu eyes now that the wolf who desired them both dead dared to speak like that to alpha. He wasn't the only one because many other wolves in the pack, save for those three who were his underlings, showed no respect towards the dark brown wolf, who just continued: "It is time to realize that our leader has lost his ability to lead!"
"How dare you say that!" A wolf nearby scolded him. He had a pine brown fur, bright gray underbelly, eye-patches, "socks" and his eyes were emerald green. He growled at Niju just so he showed his respect towards Nava. He wasn't the only one when another wolf, a gray one with brighter gray underbelly and green eyes, stood by Nava: "Yes, Nava has always led us well!"
The situation could have escalated if it wasn't for Nava: "Stop! Let him speak! It is his right." Despite the odds between the alpha and the rebellious wolf, Nava was willing to give Niju any chance possible to look through his mistakes and wrongdoings, even if the stubborn wolf refused to obey his alpha.
"Nava would have us leave the land that has been our clan's home for generations. So what if the caribou do not return this year? That does not mean they will not come again!" Niju explained why it was, from his point of view, non-sensical to go across the Great Water after caribou all because he believed they would return home any other year.
"Niju could be right." A gray wolf spoke skeptically, wondering if Niju's words could be trustworthy, but the pine brown wolf assured him otherwise: "And he could be wrong." The third wolf walked in to bring opinion, a brownish-black female with gray eyes: "If we do stay, how will we survive without the caribou? They bring us life!"
"Caribou… Life…" These words from mother echoed in Balto's ears when he heard that young female wolf mentioning caribou and how they were bringing them all life. So far there was a fox, then the wolverines, then the bear… then there were caribous, the ones who were bringing life. Was the path finally complete?
Then, Niju offered the solution to the wolves, being a very unethical one: "Simple. We take what we need from other clans." This put all the wolves, even wolf-dogs, in a greater dilemma. Stealing from other clans? Balto lived his life previously by hunting on his own, stealing was something he saw as a last resort kind of thing to do. Looking at Aleu, she seemed quite shocked by this decision.
"Steal from others? It isn't right!" Those three wolves, gray, brownish black and pine brown, were discussing whether Niju's vision of leading the pack was desperate or foolish, or only possible solution in this crisis? One of them, most likely the gray one, brought it up: "When you're hungry, there's no 'right'."
"Yes, there is a 'right'! Our right to survive." Niju assured them that if they were to steal food from other clans in order to survive, that would be justified under their rights, not seeing how selfish that idea was. Even Nava had to interfere with his decision: "And if we eat the food of other clans, what will they eat?"
"That is not our concern." Niju answered him out of spite, showing how he did not care for the consequences of his actions at slightest. Nava issured the warning to other wolves in the pack what it would become if they were to take after Niju's decision: "Is not the balance of our world the concern of all? If we steal from other clans, those clans will be forced to steal as well! Soon, we will all be fighting for less and less food."
The last one was very chilling to listen at, making all those wolves think about the upcoming wolf pack, or clan, wars, for very little food. There would have been many dead, fighting on the isle until the last one standing. Was it worth it? Go to a war against other wolf clans and cause the turmoil that would see no end for times to come?
Niju's three wolves were heard whispering to one another, the dark gray one telling tan one: "Uh-oh. Less and less food? That sounds bad, doesn't it, Sumac?" It was revealed the second wolf was named Sumac, thus leaving the third one unknown. Sumac answered him: "Oh yeah. Yeah, really bad! Unless you're on a diet!" Nuk, the bulky one, did not take these words kindly the slightest, asking him: "Who's on a diet?!"
Aside from their bickering over how they were going to get their food, Nava focused on their two visitors, every other wolf followed by looking at Balto and Aleu, who also looked pretty concerned for the well being of the pack, Aleu especially. Nava told them: "Aniu, the white wolf, has come to me in dream visions… and has told me what we must do!"
This had all the wolves around gather closely, especially when Nava spoke to them about this Aniu or any other wolf he'd seen in his vision, indicating that not only he was their alpha, but a wolf shaman too. He revealed: "She said we must move on and we must be led… by the one who is wolf and does not know."
Up to this point, Balto and Aleu weren't even in focus in this wolf council, but the mention of someone who was a wolf and didn't know put them ahead. "Huh?" Balto didn't believe with his own eyes or ears, nor did Aleu, asking: "Papa?" All those sharp eyes looking at him, raising questions if he was the one to lead them because he was a half-breed?
"Look, I'm flattered. Really! I mean, I've led a dog team before, but never a wolf pack!" Balto assured them that this was something he could not bear on his own shoulders. True to his words, he was a lead dog in Nome, but having a responsibility to become an alpha male? Not even in his wildest dreams he'd have thought of that!
Niju was heard cackling, not believing with his own eyes that a half-breed would become Nava's successor?! "See here! Our wise leader, who visits with the 'great' Aniu only in his dreams - has brought a mutt to guide us!" This just made the dark gray wolf, Sumac and Nuk burst into laughter whereas the rest of the pack just gazed in confusion. Was in the destiny of all of them to have the wolf-dog be their new alpha?
However, one who could not take this mocking was Aleu. To Balto's surprise, she approached the rebellious wolf growling and even Niju took it as a warning. The wolves in the pack all looked at the wolf-dog taking onto the dark brown wolf by herself until Balto calmed down the situation: "It's alright, Aleu. His blood may be pure but his motives aren't."
Aleu, while she wished her father didn't interfere with everything she was doing, actually took it well when he prevented the further escalation. Therefore, taking his words cautiously, Aleu looked at the peak where Nava was previously standing. She had the urge to openly defy Niju's idea of leading the pack, being previously shocked to find out how he intended it.
Now that she was standing above, she had a much better lookout on the wolf pack and once each one of them noticed her standing above, she shared her own opinion about Niju's plan: "I say Niju is afraid to cross the Great Water!" The whole idea of clan wars seemed frightening, with the possibilities it'd endanger humans and dogs living up there.
This made the wolves gasp, namely the gray one, brownish black one and especially the pine brown one with emerald green eyes. Even a half-breed sided with their elderly alpha, thus ruling out the chances of Niju's plans coming to fruition. Niju did not want to take any words from a half-breed like she and her father were.
"I am not afraid, but crossing the Great Water is impossible! We cannot swim it, we would all die!" Niju wanted to tell them why crossing the Great Water was a pure madness and then he asked for it: "So now I, Niju, say Nava must step down, and let a true leader take his place!" By true leader, he meant none other else than himself, much to everyone else's chagrin.
Nava was standing above, peacefully defying his offer that he was the true leader: "I will step down, Niju, when a true leader takes my place." This riled up the rebellious wolf because he could hear under alpha's tone that the true leader he was referring to wasn't him. The very next thing he had done was leaping at the elderly wolf in order to bring him down and take the leadership by force.
"Papa, look! He's gone!" Aleu noticed that at the very moment Niju was about to lay down a paw on the elderly wolf, vanishing in thin air and leaving that white mist behind, making Balto gasp in surprise. He was just standing there and within the blink of an eye - he was no longer! "Come on!" Balto led her to see where Nava went.
She followed her father to see if Nava tackled himself down to the ground to initially avoid Niju's attack. He wasn't there. No other wolves saw their alpha around. Niju looked around himself, wondering where he could have possibly been! Growing furious that he'd fallen for another trick by this shaman wolf, he snarled angrily, demanding him: "Show yourself, Nava! Your magic tricks will not stop me."
Only ones who showed up were the rest of the pack, but there was no sight of the elder wolf. The wolf-dogs watched Niju climb on the nearest peak, after failing to have Nava come to him and assuming the elder one foolishly ran away, proclaimed himself: "I will be a leader who does not depend on foolish dreams! Those who will, follow me!"
At first, it looked like someone would have told him: "Follow you? What are you, insane?!" However, the insane thing was when Aleu spoke: "Papa, they're actually following him! How can they do such a thing?!" Indeed, a good part of the wolf pack split up and followed Niju, who led them beyond the cliffs by the sea. "Aleu, in times like these, everyone's ideas will be accepted… no matter how insane they look."
She looked behind them, wondering which ones did not follow Niju. She noticed the pine brown male, gray male and brownish black female among these who did not fall under Niju's venomous words. There were some other wolves, tan, silver and dark furred, but they started retreating to their den, not knowing what was going to be of them in this split.
Suddenly, a rotten and naked tree on the cliff started revealing a figure coming out. Balto and Aleu were surprised to see the figure taking the shape of Nava, eventually obtaining his physical form all while she asked: "How did you do that?" She waited for him to fully obtain his physical body, joined by her father nearby.
"I simply became one with the tree." Nava's wise and also strange words continued to amaze Aleu, who could not stop thinking what this alpha had seen in his life before. She answered: "If I tried that, I'd get splinters. Would you teach me?" She started to look at him as if she were good enough to be her grandfather, acknowledging her wolf side more and more.
Balto joined the alpha and his daughter in a walk towards the ocean, both of them listening to what Nava had to say: "It is a thing that cannot be taught. One just knows." This did make Aleu lightly disappointed, wondering what could it have been if she were to become one with nature objects.
The three of them were standing at the edge of the ocean in the dusk, watching the ice chunks floating on the sea, with the Northern Lights dancing in the distance. Aleu listened to her father and Nava talking: "But now we must speak of how you will lead us to the caribou." A far greater challenge was coming to this wolf-dog, who could not believe it was going to be him to lead this wolf pack across the sea!
"Nava, I don't understand how I can lead you anywhere!" Balto objected, seeing how his leadership wasn't making any sense. All he wanted was to end this strange dream once and for all and bring his daughter home. Speaking of Aleu, her eyes glowed. She saw something, in the night, the ice chunks formed closely to one another and many figures running to the horizon.
And another vision came, much closer to those running figures. Caribou, a herd of them, running to the horizon. Her vision faded back to present, since her talk between her father and Nava wasn't going anywhere: "I had those dreams, but I don't even know what they mean!"
"Each of us has an unique gift. Perhaps your dreams show us the way." Nava put it lightly that abandoning his dreams that were coming to him every once in a while wasn't wise before the old wolf returned to his den. As for Aleu, she sided with the elderly wolf: "Nava must be right."
In that moment, the raven had come from above cawing, but to Balto, he couldn't see the way out of this entire situation, walking back and giving his opinion: "This has gone too far, Aleu, and it isn't our battle!" This entire involvement with the wolf pack he'd just met today made him draw the line in the ground.
"But, papa, I saw caribou!" Aleu stopped him in hopes that he'd reconsider his decision and work with her on this. He didn't: "Look, this could get very dangerous. Despite my dreams, or anything else, I will not put you in any danger." All he wanted was to bring her back home and stay out of dangerous business happening in the wild.
Aleu persisted: "But this isn't just about us anymore, papa. This is about something bigger! Don't you see? We're supposed to help them." She stopped for a little bit, thinking about how going home at this rate was something she did not consider the slightest, not in a situation like this going on. She made it clear to him: "I'm sorry, but whether I stay or go should be my decision."
She didn't want to go this far, but she didn't want to leave the wolves at the mercy of a warmongering wolf at the brink of starvation. The wind whistled from nearby, which Balto took as a warning, especially because it was this time of year: "That wind is a sign that winter's coming early. Your mother will be worried sick. We both leave in the morning."
Those last two lines were something he made clear it was going to happen, making Aleu go silent. The thought of her not seeing her mother after that shooting incident was weighing her down and it wasn't just her mother… her siblings, her aunt and her boyfriend and all those dog and non-dog friends of her parents… all of them were worried back home, for both of them.
She slowly followed her father to a safer place of the den, where both of them could simply go lay down and rest properly. Her father went almost two days without any sleep just so he could find her and bring her home, something he intended to do very first in the morning after. This had been a long night for both of them.
"Papa, if only you knew what you're missing with this deal." Aleu laid down next to her father, with the final rays of sun sinking below the horizon. Balto, who couldn't wait to finally rest after over a day of waking and running, answered her: "I know what I'm not missing - tomorrow at dawn before anyone else is awake here, we'll be on our way home."
She sighed, thinking how Balto's decision would cause a lot of harm not just to Nava's pack, but to any other clan in this land and lead to a much bigger conflict in the near future. Her eyelids were getting pretty heavy and the last thing she needed to think about how a bad decision like her father's could leave possibly grave consequences.
Balto, who had been sinking in his dreams for the first time since he'd been awakened the day before at dawn, wasn't seeing this future conflict as something that'd matter to him. All he wanted was to have his daughter home and on safety. He had hoped that his dream tonight was going to be something normal and not that one he'd been having for a long while. If only he knew it wasn't that simple.