numbing cold froze his courage to move on.

He began to find a suitable place to rest, he look around but could not get a clue of where he was, so he estimated that he was not really far from his destination and about half a kilometer from his den site, based on the faint scent below the snow.

At this point, there should be a big rock somewhere around here, large enough to provide me cover against the blizzard… Shadowfang thought. Only If I can find it…

If Shadowfang was correct, he would be facing north, and the rock he needed to seek was somewhere on his left, but to find it in such a blizzard was as easy as finding a snake in a field of tall and lush grasses. If Shadowfang could not find the rock, he might as well dig a hole in the snow and lie there until the blizzard passes. But Shadowfang did not like the idea, although in a forest, he was in a quite open area, who knows what might be waiting for him when he digs out of the snow?

He decided to find the rock, and dig a hole only when he cannot stands the winds and snow anymore. And he went on the snow blasting trail, he caught a new but familiar scent around him, the scent of a wolf. Not one of us, but I have smelled this scent before…

Shadowfang got alerted; he wheeled around and used all his senses to try to detect any other livings in the area. Nothing… but whoever he or she was, he or she must be here before this storm. To find out whom the scent belonged to, he followed it.

The scent led toward north, and Shadowfang followed it with great caution. The snow might blur the eyes, and his tactic covered up his scent, but his fur color did not blended well with the snow. There were, too, many ways his presence could be uncovered by the wolf, or wolves he was following, like accidentally bump into them, or them into him. 

 The blizzard continued to rage, and heavy snow hit his hide ferociously, but this no longer matter to him now. He had found the wolves that might threaten his friends’ safety.

The scent led Shadowfang to an area he was quite familiar with, the site where the very rock he was going to take cover below was. He caught the scent of several wolves in the air, some fresh, some old. There were about sixteen wolves here… but there’s only three left. For some reason, they left, perhaps to the east… Suddenly, he caught a scent in the gust, a scent he could never forget. Siria…

When Shadowfang served as an assassin in the war, he eliminated many of his pack’s rivals without a second thought, knowing that they are all potential threat to his pack. However, Siria was an exception...

One and a half month ago…

Shadowfang was patrolling the eastern border of his pack’s territory when he saw a stranger wolf slipped into his side of the forest. These activities had increased since the war broke out, and Shadowfang had dealt with the intruders all the same way, this time would be no exception.

Shadowfang tracked the intruder, a female wolf with tan colored fur, and waited for the right moment to strike. He observed the intruder from the shadow; the intruder did not notice someone was following her and kept finding a way to somewhere in Shadowfang’s territory.

He positioned himself behind a rock and waited for the trespasser. The she-wolf walked straight into his trap, a narrow spot on the path she was sniffing out. It was between two big trees and anyone who was panicked and tried to turn would find themselves stuck.

Just as he was about to sprung out and kill his victim, he noticed something different about her. There was not smell of blood in her scent. The one special treat of all the members of the Eastern War Pack, Shadowfang’s rival pack, was the smell of blood mixed with their scents. The causes of this were marked in their history.

Shadowfang had seen this wolf with the other Eastern Wars before, so her scent mark could only mean one thing. This wolf never joined in the war, she never killed her own kind… She’s innocent. Memories of all Shadowfang did enter his stream of thought the next second, reminding him of all the wolves he killed for his pack. What she’s doing is such a small crime compared to mine… does she deserve death? Shadowfang made a decision unlike any he had made before.

As the she-wolf was right ahead of him, Shadowfang sprang out, but not onto her. Instead, Shadowfang landed a few yards in front of her. The she-wolf yelped in surprise and quickly shifted to a defensive position.

But Shadowfang just stood there, neither advance nor fall back. The she-wolf looked at Shadowfang for a while, and then exclaimed “You are the ‘Assassinator’! Why didn’t you kill me?”

Shadowfang did not answer, nor could he, he simply stared at her with his ember eyes, his ears and tail were at the alert position but he did not defend himself. If she attacks, I have no choice but to do what I must… he thought calmly, calculating the moves he would need to kill her if he must.

They stood still waiting for each other to make a move for half a minute, and finally the she-wolf said carefully “Why didn’t you kill me, aren’t you the merciless assassin?” Seeing that the black wolf in front of her was not going to talk or move, she let her guard down and Spoke in a kinder tone, “Are you better with me talking this way? Can you talk now?”

Shadowfang, still cautious, stepped forward. Of course he cannot answer the she-wolf, for he cannot talk, but he would tell her another way. As he was only a yard away from the she-wolf, he stopped and held one of his front paws to his own nose, and then to hers.

The she-wolf jumped back a little, and realized what Shadowfang wanted her to do, “You want me to smell it?” As Shadowfang nodded, she smelled it cautiously, never taking her eyes of Shadowfang.

She took a moment before lifting her nose from Shadowfang’s paw. “I smell… many thing, but little of your scent. I smell grass, soil, blood and many more.”

When the she-wolf said ‘blood’, Shadowfang pointed at her. He made a motion of shaking his paw three times. “Blood? Me? No? What?” said the she-wolf, she was totally confused, but when Shadowfang did not say a thing, she began to put the things together.

“Erm…” said the she-wolf slowly, “Are you saying that there’s no smell of blood on me?”

Shadowfang nodded, his face without emotion. He tried to harness all the power in his broken voice box and spoke, but his voice were harsh and hardly audible, “Right… you don’t… kill… you… innocent. Can’t…”

“Oh, you can’t talk! I’m sorry for asking you to do so earlier!” the she-wolf exclaimed. “So… you mean you don’t kill me because I never killed a wolf before?”

Shadowfang nodded, I hope I wasn’t wrong, if she ever killed a fellow wolf and I let her go, I’d suicide myself… he thought in his heart.

The she-wolf seemed surprised, but she confirmed Shadowfang’s view upon her, “It is true, I never killed. I am a scout, I don’t join the war. Oh, and by the way, my name’s Siria. But I’m now your enemy! Certainly you can’t let an enemy of your pack just walk away!”

Shadowfang had enough of this, he bared his teeth and growled, and, “Leave!” he demanded in his raspy voice.

Siria looked at him for a moment, and turned. Her face showed confusion, sadness, seriousness and sympathy. “I’ll remember this day. I know I owe you my life, an honorable wolf will repay this.” She said before leaving.

Shadowfang never seen Siria again since that day. Soon his pack fell, and he left his territory. Little did he know that it was Siria, and her fellow scouts who led the rival pack into Shadowfang’s territory’s weakly defended spot and helped them win the war…

Present

It is no time for memories! Thought Shadowfang as he snapped himself back to reality, Siria’s presence could only meant one thing; they’ve come for us, the same pack that fought us! They’ve come to finish the job.

 

Chapter Four: Pending Danger

Shadowfang felt an urge to warn his friends of the incoming doom, but he hesitated. Why are they coming back? Don’t they have all the food they need? Best I find out…

The blizzard had not calmed down, but it was to Shadowfang’s advantage; the remaining wolves curled up into balls and stuck together under the rock for warmth. There were several smaller rocks around the larger one and Shadowfang could hide under one of them until the blizzard passes, by then he would start listening to their conversations.

Back in Nome, Balto and Jenna, and their dog friends watched in silent as two sleds, pulled by nine dogs each, entered the town. On the first sled there was a man, bulk compared to the residents in Nome, his skin showed that of a native’s. In the basket of his sled were packages, one of them was longer than the others, popped out from its opening were unmistakably gun barrels, two of them. The other sled was generally equipped with the same inventory, it also had a man sitting in its basket. Hunters.

The sleds stopped at the middle of Main Street, one of the men started to ask around for lodging while the other two inspected their equipments. The dogs, however, did not go as easy as their owners, they remained still, like a troops of trained solders, they kept sniffing the air, and more than one glanced at Balto.

Normally, the dogs of Nome would be welcoming them warmly and talking like friends by now, after all, any dogs that came to Nome from land had

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