The wolfling followed Boris. Now a year old, he was taller than his guardian, nearly the size of an adult dog. He sniffed at a garbage can, then tipped it over. Known as Balto to the villagers, the yearling picked up a long line of sausages at the sound a closing door. Darting around behind a shack, Balto split the line in half.

“You eat that,” Boris said, as Balto offered him the other half. “I told you. I eat herring.”

He turned away as Balto slowly munched on each ring of sausage.

“We should go back to the boat,” Balto suggested. His voice was slightly deeper than when he had joined Boris, as a helpless wolf cub....

The two trotted through town. Balto and Boris were a familiar sight to everyone, so they had no need to worry. Balto looked around for any familiar faces. He saw none, and moved forward. Boris kept pace with him, saying,”You know, I think we’ve both come a long way in the past year.” He chuckled to himself. “Especially you, Balto. Moving from a helpless pup to a town dog.”

Balto snorted. “I ‘on’t ‘ow mu’ ‘bout ‘ ‘own ‘og’,” he muttered between a mouthful of meat. Then, he saw the first familiar creature of his kind.

A black and white malamute was standing beside his owners. A few other dogs hovered behind him, tails and heads always lower than his. Steele was the Alpha pup out of a few pups in training to become sled dogs. Balto had learned to avoid Steele and the others.

“Hey, wolf-dog!” Steele taubted. “Where’s your pack?” The others howled with laughter. Balto snarled.

“Just ignore them, Balto.” Boris pushed him in the direction of the woods, as the sled-pups jeered and taunted from behind them.

²²² ²²² ²²²

A few days later, Boris allowed Balto to roam the small town of Nome on his own. As he wandered along, a friendly voice called his name. “Hi, Balto.”

The half-wolf yearling turned to see another dog, about his age. She was white, with a red upper-body. Her eyes were orange. Her paws were as small as pebbles. Jenna, the husky, ran toward her girl, Rosie. Balto watched the two friends. At least Jenna had a human, was a pure-breed, and was popular among the dogs. Balto was a lone dog, living on a broken ship with a goose, he was a half-breed between a husky and a wolf, and was hated by everyone - except Jenna. When they were opposites, how could they be so much the same?

Balto watched as Rosie took her friend away from his range of vision. When he turned, he found himself face-to-face with another familiar face. Steele was wearing an expression between a smirk and an evil grin. “Hey, Half-breed.”

Balto snarled a warning. “You watch it, Steele,’ he growled. “We don’t want a fight.”

“Don’t want a fight. HA!” Steele bent low, growling. “No choice, Half-blood.” Behind him, the other pups appeared, but were far from being pups. Balto knew better than to just stand. He began to slowly back away, against a wall.

Steele stood. “The Half-Wolf dog is too afraid to stand and fight!” He began to laugh, a harsh cruel sound, that rang throughout the alleyway. A streak of red flashed behind him. “Get ‘im.”

As the dogs closed around Balto, he knew all was lost. No one was here to help him. He would have to fight his way out.

Then, a red creature leapt in front of Balto, snarling. Jenna advanced on the yearlings, who backed away, cautiosly.

“Leave Balto alone!”

Steele stood erect. “We weren’t going to hurt him,” he began. “We were just....”

“No, you weren’t,” Jenna growled. “You were going to attack him! He was at least smart enough not to attack you at the beggining! That shows me that he’s smarter than you are!”

Steele backed away. “Come on,” he grumbled. “Let’s go.” And throwing one, last, penetrating stare at Balto, he left the alleyway.

“Are you alright?” Jenna backed away from him.

“Yes,” Balto answered. “Thanks for that. He would have torn me to pieces.”

“That’s alright. He’s just...,” she shrugged. “I’ll keep watch for you. Trust me, I don’t like him any more than you do.” She grinned. “I’ll see you around, Balto.”

With that, Jenna galloped from the alleyway.

µµµ µµµ µµµ

That night, Balto had a dream. He was fighting Steele alongside Jenna. He floated across the ground as if he had wings. Steele was running. Jenna chased him off, as the others followed their leader.

Jenna turned to Balto. “You have the spirit of a warrior. Your will is strong.”

With that, Balto awoke. It seemed that he had finally made a friend at last.