Balto: All Good Things…

Pages: 87 Words: 13,394

Started: 03/03/06

Finished: 04/16/06

Written By: Anthony E. Rotramel

Note: This story was inspired by Balto, (© 1995), Balto II: Wolf Quest (© 2000) and Balto III: Wings of Change (© 2005) by Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment. The characters Shadow, Dash, Melody, Timbre, June, Drake, Gemeni, Everest, Trina, James, Stripe, Tycha, Tim, Astarre, Asta and the events of this story are © 2005 by Anthony Rotramel. The other characters are © Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment. The name Saba is the intellectual property of Juuchan 17.

© 2006 All Rights Reserved.

Prologue:

A hawk flew over the frozen landscape of a field just outside Frontier, Alaska. He was very hungry, for the snow hares that he usually hunted were hard to find this year for some reason.

His piercing eyes scanned the ground below for food as he rode the thermal air currents emanating from the ground.

His vision locked on a small bundle of golden fur down below. He gave serious thought to going after the small husky pup, but that thought vanished when two adults climbed over the hill behind the pup.

The hawk knew that the adults would be able to kill him before he could tear the young pup up enough to carry away.

He resumed his scanning of the ground, hoping for a rat or rabbit to poke its head out of its hole.

The young golden pup didn’t know how close she’d come to being dinner. The last thing she was thinking about was danger from the sky.

She ran over another hill, and threw herself over the top, rolling to the bottom, laughing as the freezing snow covered her.

The two adults reached the peak of the hill, and stopped. One of them was golden, just like her daughter, the other was a dark gray color.

“She’s so happy Sam.” The golden female said, nuzzling the gray dog.

Sam pulled away. “I’m still mad at you Asta.”

The female sighed and turned her head away. “I told you I was sorry. We didn’t do anything… and we weren’t going to.”

Sam laughed. “Yeah right.”

“Why can’t you trust me?” Asta asked. Hurt evident in her eyes.

Sam turned back to her. “You were in the basement alone with my best friend, and he was licking your head. I don’t know about you, but my imagination fills in the rest of what would’ve happened had I not walked in.”

Asta sighed, and looked at the ground. “How many times do I have to apologize to you? I said I was sorry. Let’s just put it behind us, for our daughter’s sake. Sam… please?”

Sam laughed and shook his head. “That’s easy for you to ask, isn’t it? You’re the one who got caught; of course you want me to put it behind me. If you’d found me, would you have put it behind you?”

Asta narrowed her eyes. “Well I sure wouldn’t have become as unapproachable and cold as you have. I’d want to work it out. I… I love you Sam.”

Sam laughed. “Sure you do Asta… sure you do.”

“The least you could do is be civil in front of your daughter.” Asta said. “What was with the screaming match this morning? You like to have scared her to death. You do what you want to me, but I swear if you ever touch her I will see you dead.”

Sam chuckled to himself, and then gritted his teeth, snarling and turning, bringing his paw up and smacking Asta in the face.

She rolled sideways in the air, and then fell to the snow.

She didn’t get up.

Sam walked over to her. There were tears in her eyes as she looked up at him. “Please Sam… not out here… not in front of her… please.”

Sam looked behind him and saw the small gold pup running through the snow, laughing.

“Just so you know, she can’t see.” Sam said, turning back to Asta.

“Please…” Asta said.

Her plea went unheard, as Sam raised his paw and brought it down on top of her head. Sam proceeded to beat Asta senseless, stopping when she finally stopped crying.

He knelt down beside her.

Asta was breathing, though it was a little ragged. Her face was busted up pretty bad, and a think line of blood ran from her mouth.

Sam leaned near Asta’s ear. “If you ever… EVER! Threaten me again, I will kill you… do you understand?”

Asta tried to stop crying enough to talk, but was unable, so she nodded.

Sam stood up. “Now stand up, come on. We’d better head back into town.”

Asta didn’t move, but Sam could hear her crying again.

“You hear me Asta? Get up!”

Asta still didn’t move, but she did speak. “Sam… you… you hurt me… I need to lay here for a minute… I don’t think I can get up yet.”

Sam gritted his teeth and walked over to her. “Get up!” He yelled, kicking her in the ribs. She yelped, and curled up in a ball. “I said get up!” Sam yelled again. This time he kicked her twice.

“Sam… please… please stop.” Asta said.

Sam just glared at her. “GET UP!” He put all his strength into a single kick that struck Asta in the center of the stomach.

She yelped again, and curled up a little tighter.

Sam pulled back his paw again. “I SAID…”

Asta’s voice stopped him. “Alright… alright… I’m… I’m going to get up.”

She took a deep breath, and stood up slowly.

“Now was that so hard?” Sam asked.

He walked over to her. “You know I hate to hurt you, right?”

Asta just hung her head and nodded. “Yeah…”

Sam smiled, and licked her on the head. “Come on, let’s go get the little one.”

Sam started walking down the hill.

Asta started to limp over the hill, but stopped as she realized that there was no way she was going to get down without falling.

Her entire body felt as if it were on fire. Pain filled every muscle and joint in her body.

“This has got to stop.” She thought as she wiped the tears away from her face with her paw. She felt more liquid than she expected, and looked at her paw.

It was covered in blood.

Asta shook her head. “How did I get here?” Asta thought. She didn’t’ really know the answer to that question. “…but I know when it’s going to end, and that’s tonight.”

Sam and the small gold pup started up the hill then.

“I’ve got to get away from him… I’m afraid of what will happen to her otherwise…”

Chapter 1:

(8 months later)

Saba walked up to Aleu’s chambers and scratched on the wall.

Presently Aleu appeared at the door, and smiled. “Hey Saba.”

“You said you wanted to see me?” Saba asked.

Aleu nodded. “Come in, make yourself comfortable.”

Saba followed Aleu back into the cave. It was late at night, and everyone else was asleep.

Aleu turned to her. “Let’s step out onto the ledge here so we don’t wake Shadow and the kids.”

Saba nodded, and followed Aleu through a small hole, that opened up onto a ledge about four feet wide, situated about one hundred feet up the outside of the mountain the cave was dug into.

“It’s a marvelous view isn’t it?” Aleu said, as she sat down on the ledge.

“Yes it is.” Saba replied. She paused and then added. “…so, what did you want to talk to me about?”

“Shadow tells me that you’re doing great at the training he’s giving you…” Aleu looked at her. “…but being a member of this clan is a lot more than just being a wolf.”

“What do you mean?” Saba asked.

“Well,” Aleu said. “We as the Talbourne have certain things that we believe, certain beings that we believe in. Have you ever heard of Aniu?”

“No.” Saba said. “I haven’t.”

Aleu smirked. “No, I suppose not, most dogs have forgotten about her.”

“Who is she?” Saba asked.

Aleu laughed. “That’s a very complex question.” She paused. “I guess the best way to tell it would be to tell you the story that all wolves are told as pups, the legend that they grow up with… Aniu was the first wolf, and after there were more, she became the Alpha, of wolf in the world. This was back before the Earth was tainted by the humans, indeed, even before they existed. Long ago, when the Earth was young, the wolves ruled the animal world. It was because of Aniu, because of her ability to keep all the wolves under one clan, that this was possible. Aniu led the wolves of the world for quite a time. This was before there were continents and oceans, back when the Earth was whole. Eventually a wolf rose up against her. Fueled by jealousy of the power she wielded, a wolf named Shade decided to kill Aniu and take her power for his own. It was the first such event in