ran west.

She had been running for a while when she stopped, gasping for breath. She stood still and listened. No sign of the bear. But she smelt the scent of the bear from south. It was following her. She sighed. She would have to abandon sleep tonight.

‘Oh, where is she?’ Back at the pack’s cave, Aleu paced back and forth.

‘Don’t worry, Aleu. She’s smart enough to know not to go beyond the pack’s grounds.’ Thuni said and added in a mutter, ‘At least I hope she is.’

‘Thuni! We’re talking about our daughter here!’ Aleu said, panicing, ‘She’s never been out alone before. She could easily get hurt or get lost or’-

‘What’s going on?’ A voice said. Aleu turned and seen Balto.

‘Kiya’s gone missing.’ Aleu said quietly. Balto said nothing but his face showed concern.

‘She might not be missing. The rest of the pack went out looking for her, they’ll find her.’ Thuni said.

‘I’ll go out and help look.’ Balto said.

‘Dad, you’re still not well enough.’

‘I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about me. Howl if you find her and I’ll head back.’ Balto said.

‘You can’t go out alone.’ Thuni said. ‘I’ll go with you.’

‘Fine, we haven’t got time to argue this.’ Balto said, Aleu opened her mouth to speak but Balto interrupted, ‘Aleu stay here. I know your howl better than the rest of the packs.’ Aleu sighed but nodded.

‘I’ll inform mum later when the pack return.’ She said.

Balto nodded. ‘Come on, it’ll be dark soon.’ Thuni nodded and followed him.

‘Good luck.’ Aleu muttered as Balto and Thuni’s bodies faded away into the darkness.

Kiya’s eyes drooped, it was hard for her to keep them open. She was tired but deep down, hope kept her going. She decided it was safe enough to head back, having head no more roars. And besides She thought, the birds wouldn’t be chirping if a bear was nearby.

But Kiya was deep in thought. She didn’t notice the birds stop chirping. Still she walked on but was brought back to earth when she heard a roar. Horrified, she looked up and in front of her, was a bear.

Kiya screamed. She froze with fear. The bear approached, a claw in the air ready to hit. Kiya closed her eyes. But opened them to see a figure attack the bear. . Kiya tried to see who it was but it was no use, the figure was a wolf and Kiya knew she was well beyond the boundaries so it wouldn’t be anyone from the pack. Kiya instantly ran to help. The bear turned and pinned her, pushing on her windpipe. But the wolf ran and bit onto the bears wolf. Kiya stumbled to her feet and took a step forward, preparing to spring another attack. But the wolf, somehow manging to trip up the bear, sprinted over to her.

‘Run.’ He spoke for the first time. Kiya didn’t need telling twice, she sprinted off into the night, the wolf by her side, fleeing for their lives.

‘Come on, I’ve got her scent.’ Balto said, he and Thuni were also beyond the pack boundaries. Thuni nodded and broke into a sprint along with Balto.

Kiya and the wolf stopped.

‘Wow.’ Kiya breathed, ‘Where’d you learn to fight like that? You look maybe a few months older than me, yet your really good.’

‘Lets just say Ive had a few encounters with bears before.’ The wolf said.

‘Wow. My parents haven’t allowed me out by myself before. I’m ages away from my pack.’ Kiya said.

‘I’ll help you find your way back if you like. I don’t live with a pack. I never have. My mum died when I was about six weeks old, my siblings were stillborn.’ The wolf explained.

‘Sorry to hear that.’ Kiya said quietly. ‘My siblings were, too, stillborn.’

The wolf’s eyes were full of pain, ‘Whats your name anyway?’

‘Kiya. Whats yours?’

‘Cloud.’

‘Cool name.’ Kiya noted. Cloud just nodded in thanks. The death of his mother had obviously affected him badly. No wonder Kiya thought He’s spent most of his life as a lone wolf. He’ll probably lighten up soon.

‘What direction is your pack in?’ Cloud asked.

‘North.’ Kiya said.

‘I haven’t headed much in that direction ever. Too many bears around there.’ Cloud said, though he wasn’t afraid, just stating a fact.

‘I know.’ Kiya said. ‘They stay away from huge packs though. Have you ever heard of the town Nome? My packs near there.’

‘Hey, isn’t that where a wolf/dog named Balto came from? Saved the whole town, I heard.’ Cloud said. ‘

‘Yeah. He’s my granddad.’

‘Is he? Why are you out here then?’

‘Because my mum, Aleu, looked like a wolf, no human wanted her and eventually she became the leader of a wolf pack. She found a mate and…well, here I am. And how did you know of him anyway?’

‘Know of him? The whole world knows of him! He’s famous!’

‘He is? I never knew that.’ Kiya said. Cloud smiled but didn’t speak until a few minutes later.

‘Come on, we won’t get anywhere going this slow.’ Cloud said, picking up the pace.

‘Come on, Thuni, keep up!’ Balto called.

‘So…cold.’ Thuni said, running to keep up.

‘You’re a wolf, you’re supposed to be used to this!’ Balto said.

‘Yeah, but we huddle together for warmth, not to mention that we sleep in caves instead of out in the cold.’ Thuni protested. Balto chuckled but said nothing.

‘Come on, Kiya, we’ll have to find a place to sleep. Its no use, not in this weather. We’ll go too far off the trail.’ Cloud sighed.

Kiya nodded in agreement, ‘I suppose so. But where can we sleep?’

‘My caves not far from here, we can sleep there.’

‘I’m freezing.’ Kiya said, shivering.

‘Me too.’ Cloud said. Kiya huddled against him as they walked for once. Cloud, having had no contact with wolves since his family’s death, was rather surprised at this. But a few minutes later he relaxed, seeing that Kiya wasn’t meaning anything by this, only trying to keep them both warm.

‘Kiya, wake up.’ Cloud said. Kiya awoke. ‘Come on, we’ve got to get out of here.’

‘What?’

‘The bears been tracking us, I saw it a couple of minutes ago. Come on!’

Kiya jumped up and the two of them broke into a run. Cloud looked back once they had run for about five minutes.

‘Its behind us!’ Cloud said, running faster, Kiya did likewise. It was true, the bear was following them. They had been running for another ten minutes when Kiya said, ‘Is it following us?’

‘I don’t want to look and find out!’ Cloud said.

Kiya looked back, ‘It’s following us alright. Look.’

Cloud looked, it was about a couple of meters behind them.

‘Cloud…something isn’t right.’ Kiya looked down, a crack was along the ground. Cloud looked and halted.

‘Kiya…we’re on the middle of a frozen river…!’

To be continued…