led out of town along with the wolves, being dragged away. They took her; they took my sister!"

At this, Balto's stomach dropped out from under him. So that was what Tikani had really meant by going to the next level; he was going to take a prisoner just to show how serious he could get. But would the wolves simply hold her… or would he make an example out of her?

"Why would they do that?" Kaltag asked.

"I don't know, but we have to go after them!" Spitz barked. "We have to get her back before-" Spitz stopped mid-sentence when he heard the groaning coming from one of the side rooms. Balto and the other three froze as well when they realized that their 'guest' was starting to wake up. "What was that?" Spitz asked, before pushing past them in order to get a look at where the noise came from. When he saw the wolf lying there, starting to stir, his expression turned from panic to rage. "It's one of them! It's one of the wolves that took her!" he barked out and Balto had to hold onto his collar to prevent him from rushing at her. His shouts fully woke Kisa, and she when she saw them, she bolted up, taking a defensive stance.

"What is the meaning of this?" she growled.

"Where did you take her? Where is my sister?" Spitz barked out, still struggling against Balto's hold on him.

"Shut up for a moment will ya!" Kaltag barked, before raising his paw and striking Spitz upside the head with it. The blow silenced the incensed husky, and Balto felt that he could let him go without much more trouble.

"We found you unconscious in an alley and brought you here to keep you away from the humans," Balto explained. "However, I am curious about how you were knocked out in the first place."

Kisa looked at the floor and scrunched her face as if she didn't like the answer she had to give. "I was chasing one of the dogs that had ran away from the main group and he climbed a stack of crates. His weight must have destabilized the pile, because after he jumped off, they came crashing down on me," she replied.

"Why did you take one of our dogs?" Kaltag asked. "What did you hope to accomplish?"

"Our previous attempts to deter you didn't work, so we decided that something far more drastic was needed to get your attention," she replied with a shrug.

"Where did you take her? What will you do to my sister?" Spitz asked desperately.

She simply gave him a coy look. "I think I've answered enough of your questions," she replied. "Your dog is okay, for the moment at least. However, if you still refuse to leave us alone… she may not be fine for much longer," she warned. "I guess I'll be off then."

"What? You can't just let her go after what they've done," Spitz said.

"He kinda has a point Balto," Kaltag continued. "It wouldn't be fair to Kari or the others if we let her off scot free."

Balto thought for a moment; he was a little uneasy about holding her here, but he knew Kaltag was right. As much as he valued forgiveness over punishment, this time the wolves had crossed the line. "I agree. I'm sorry, but you'll have to stay here for now," Balto said to her, before turning to Nikki, Kaltag and Star. "Watch over her."

"So I'm your prisoner then?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. "Interesting; you claimed to be a neutral party in this Balto, but it's obvious which side you truly favor."

Balto gave no reply as he walked out of the mill.

Despite being up for the entire night, Balto felt alert as the dogs gathered in a nearby alley to hear the news. Some had already heard about Kari's abduction, along with the wolf being held in the mill. "If they've taken one of our own then we have to get her back!" one dog cried out.

"I know and I'm working on it," Balto replied.

"We should go out and find them," another dog put in. "You said that you knew where their territory was, so we should run out and teach them a lesson!"

"I know you want to get them back, but running into their territory blindly is a bad idea," Balto insisted. "Their lands are vast, and chances are that Kari would be well hidden. We would have to search for her, and knowing these wolves track records, they'd find us within minutes."

"Plus, we'd be going onto their home turf, so they would have an advantage over us," another voice put in. It was Jenna, as she had just joined the meeting. "Balto's right, rushing into their land without much of a plan would be a disaster for us."

"What about the wolf in the mill?" a younger border collie asked. "She's from their pack, so maybe she'll know something."

"She ain't talking to us; believe me, I tried," Spitz cut in. With a grim smile, he added, "However, we might be able to get something out of her if we were a little more… forceful."

"You aren't going to harm her, and neither are any of you," Balto said firmly, causing some raised brows. "She told us that Kari would be okay as long as we didn't do anything to aggravate them further."

"Why are you being so protective of her?" a stocky malamute put in. "After all, she's one of the wolves that has been attacking us! Maybe it's our turn to fight back!"

"But if you did that, what would it say about us?" Jenna cut in. "The wolves see us as violent invaders and taking revenge would only prove them right."

"And it's not like I don't have a plan here," Balto continued, trying to make himself heard. "While the wolves do have something of ours, we also have something of theirs."

"You're saying that we should trade her in to get our dogs back?" the collie said.

"Exactly. These wolves operate on the idea that if someone does something to them, they must reciprocate. While they have so far used this to justify their strikes against us, we can use it to our advantage," Balto said. "We can use it to start some actions of good faith between us, and hopefully resolve this dispute."

"What if they don't buy it?" another voice asked.

"If that happens, then we'll have to think of something else," Balto conceded. "For now we have to hope that they'll be willing to listen. In the meantime, I don't want any harm to come to Kisa. If this is going to have any hope of working, then we have to return her to her pack unharmed. Agreed?" Many of the dogs looked uncomfortable with having to babysit a wild wolf, but most of them nodded anyways. They had started to trust Balto's judgment, and each of them wanted this conflict to end. They were all getting tired of being woken in the night by wolf howls.

Spitz trumped up to Balto as best he could with his injuries and growled right in his face. "You'd better be right about this, wolfdog," he spat. "Otherwise, I'm holding you personally responsible for what happens to my sister."

"Fine, but I'm just asking you to trust me on this one," Balto said.

"Trust you, a half-wolf? I don't think so," Spitz sneered. "All this time you've been talking about talking, but nothing has been done."

"Maybe, but this time we have something they want," Balto replied.

"You're betting my sister's life on one wolf?" Spitz said. "That's why I don't trust this, and why I might have to take matters into my own paws-"

"Don't even try it," Balto growled at him, taking a more aggressive stance. Confrontation wasn't his style, but it seemed to be the only thing Spitz understood. "You won't hurt her, intimidate her, or even touch one hair on her body, understand?"

Spitz stepped back a bit on seeing Balto's posture, but did not reply before dashing off. "Great, now I have one more thing to worry about," Balto thought as he realized that Spitz or someone else may want to take their frustrations out on Kisa. Soon, he heard the rustling of snow in the alley. He looked and found a red-brown head peeking around the corner, indicating for him to come over. It was Anya, and Balto looked around to ensure he was alone before going over to her. "Anya, what are you doing here?" he asked.

"Maska wanted me to check up on you to make sure everything was okay," she replied. "Though, it looks like you had some excitement last night."

"You could say that… just hold on a second," he said, before poking into the mill and calling Jenna and Kaltag. "Hey guys, I need you for a moment."

Curious, they came out. "Balto, what is it… oh hello there Anya," Kaltag greeted. "It's nice to see you, especially after tonight."

"Glad I could brighten your day Kal," she answered with a brief smile before returning to the matter at hand. "Now, what exactly happened? Is everyone alright?" she asked, and they told her everything.

"So now they have one of our own and we have one of their own," Balto finished. "I'm hoping I can use that to get Tikani to talk to me. In fact, I should probably leave now."

"If you're going, maybe I should come with you," Anya suggested. "If you're planning to make a deal with a wolf pack, then it would be best if you had someone who knew how they worked and lived to help you