laying her head on his shoulder.

“Oh I will Jen,” Balto said, “I’ll never forget.”

She smiled.

“I love you Balto.”

Balto nuzzled her neck.

“I love you too Jen, more than anything, or anyone in the entire world.”

She smiled, and was soon back asleep, her left leg wrapped around his back, and her head resting on his neck.

Balto laid his head down, slowly, so as not to wake her, and yawned, just now realizing how tired he was.

“I wonder what Talkeet is doing right now?” Balto thought.

He laid his head against Jenna’s chest, and was soon fast asleep.

 

Talkeet walked wearily into the cave.

It had been a long, very long night.

It was morning now, and they were just getting back, but…

Their mission had been accomplished.

The hunters had found a small group of deer, bedded down for the storm, and had taken two of them.

If the group rationed them right, that, and a little more, should be enough to last their waiting of the storm.

Talkeet hoped that the wait wouldn’t last longer than a week, he was ready to get this competition over with.

He’d decided that he didn’t like war.

As pups, he and his siblings had played war, staying outside, setting up sentries, had battled, and killed thousands of imaginary Uniea.

But, in the imaginary world, your friends didn’t die, and in the imaginary world, you always knew when an attack was coming, even if you pretended to be surprised.

The real thing was nothing like he’d imagined it, glorious, and maybe even a little fun… no, the real thing was horrible, bloody and should never take place.

In the real thing, friends, like Snow, did die, in the real thing, the deaths of those you killed, even if they are the enemy, weighed heavy on your mind. In the real thing, attacks came when you least expected it, and so you always had to keep watch.

In the real thing, your survival depended as much on how well your fellow troops fought as much or more than how you yourself did.

No, Talkeet didn’t like war at all, and this wasn’t even the real thing, this was soft, compared to the real thing.

Talkeet would still fight, he had no choice but to continue on, but…

He would fight, not for the pack, but for peace, for the cessation of the very fighting he would become so good at.

It was time for the changeover, and Talkeet saw that one of the wolves, who had just been woken up, was so tired, she could barely stand up.

Talkeet walked over to her.

“Go to the back, I’ll take it.”

She smiled slightly.

“Thanks Talkeet.”

He nodded, and she walked back to the end of the line of sleeping wolves.

Talkeet and the other new sentry walked out into the snow.

Talkeet was tired.

He’d taken the girl’s spot, not because he felt sorry for her, there was no room for pity in war, he’d taken it because he didn’t think he could fall asleep knowing that the sentry who was watching out for them was half asleep.

Talkeet stepped into the blowing snow.

 

Talkeet opened his eyes about an hour later.

“Dang!” He thought, “I can’t believe I fell asleep!”

He’d been really tired, hadn’t slept in over a week now, but that was no excuse, he could’ve gotten the entire group killed.

He looked behind him, saw the other sentry standing there, and wondered if he’d seen him asleep.

A crunch of snow suddenly came to Talkeet’s ears, and he turned his head back around.

The next thing Talkeet knew, he was on his back on the snow, a growling snapping wolf on top of him.

“ATTACK!” he yelled.

The other sentry was down already, and the other wolves were being swarmed by the attacking wolves.

Talkeet avoided another snap from the wolf on top of him and rolled, throwing the wolf off of him.

The wolf hit a nearby tree, and Talkeet got up, all tiredness gone from his body.

He ran at the wolf, and leapt on top of him, slamming the back of the wolf’s head against the tree, and exposing his throat.

Talkeet went for it.

He dropped the wolf to the ground.

He was horrified.

The wolf’s blood covered his chest and face.

He could feel it’s warm salty taste in his mouth.

It made him want to throw up.

He looked down at the wolf, who gurgled once, and then was still.

“This doesn’t get any easier,” he thought.

The other wolves had scattered.

The attack was over as suddenly as it began.

Talkeet walked back to the cave.

There was no movement.

The other sentry was dead, his neck had been broken.

Talkeet walked into the cave, and gasped.

“Oh my God.” He thought.

He hung his head.

Of the ten wolves that had been sleeping… two might be alive.

“How… how could this happen?”

He stumbled over to the end of the line, and saw that the female who he’d been afraid to let go on sentry duty... was dead.

Most of them probably hadn’t even woken up.

Talkeet backed away from the horrible scene.

The two that were alive, were barely able to stand.

They wouldn’t be continuing in the competition.

Talkeet turned and ran from the cave.

 

Four days later, June finally got up the courage to go talk to Shadow.

She walked into Shadow’s chambers, and he stood, smiled, and walked toward her.

“Hey June, how are you?”

“Alright I guess… worried.”

Shadow smiled.

“Well, you shouldn’t be, Talkeet is doing quite well, or… well he was.”

“What’s that mean?” June said, a pain beginning to form in her stomach.

“Well, he made it through the first fight and agility test, then he won the second fight, and he had joined up with a group of the other competitors to make the survival section easier. Good idea by the way. Anyway, it was led by another wolf, not sure who that was, but for some reason, he and Talkeet got into a fight, which Talkeet won, and then Talkeet took control of the group. Did a pretty good job too; we’ve been watching all of the competitors. He set up a rotation of sentries, found some food, and then… they were attacked…”

“What…. what happened?” June asked, afraid of the answer.

“The group he led was wiped out, only two of them survived, and they’re hurt pretty bad.”

“Oh no,” June said, “so is he…”

“No,” Shadow said, “his body wasn’t with the rest, and it wasn’t outside either, we looked, but we haven’t been able to find him, and the storm’s cleared off, so….”

June sighed.

“I’m sure he’s alright June,” Shadow said, “He’s one of my best students. He knows how to take care of himself.”

June nodded.

“Thanks Shadow.”

She turned, and began to walk away.

“June…” Shadow said.

June stopped and turned.

“I’ll let you know as soon as we find him.”

She smiled.

“Thank-you Shadow.”

Shadow nodded.

June turned, and walked out of the chamber

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 9

 

Talkeet laid in the hole he’d dug for himself into the snow, more than a week ago.

It had stopped snowing, yet Talkeet hadn’t moved.

Why?

He’d been thinking, thinking hard.

“It’s my fault.” He thought. “If… if only I hadn’t fallen asleep, maybe….”

He sighed.

Talkeet didn’t know what he was going to do.

He knew that Shadow probably had people following the competition.

He couldn’t go home, not after what he’d done.

His father was a war hero, how could he look him in the face when he’d done what he’d done.

He laid there, and continued to feel sorry for himself.

Then he heard someone, and stood up.

“Hey Talkeet.” Snow said, as she dropped into the hole.

“What the….” Talkeet said.

“I… I thought you… I saw you… die.”

She nodded.

“Something is about to happen that’s not supposed to.”

“What?”

“Aniu sent me.” She said.

Talkeet noticed then, that there was a blue glow, aura around her.

“You’re… you’re a ghost?!”

She laughed.

“Well, not really, more of an… an angel I guess.”

Talkeet smiled, he liked the thought of Snow as an angel.

“So what are you doing back here?”

“Telling you to go on.” She answered. “You must.”

“I can’t,” Talkeet said.

He hung his head.

“I’ve failed.”

“No you haven’t,” Snow said, “you must go on, you are meant to win this thing, you are supposed to fight for this pack, you’re supposed to, something awful will happen if you quit now.”

“What?” Talkeet asked.

“I… I can’t tell you, just know that it’s bad.”

Talkeet sighed.

“But… but I can’t, I failed them, I….”

He hung his head.

“I killed them.”

He sighed.

“They looked to me to protect them, and…. and I failed.”

Snow smiled and shook her head.

“No Talkeet, I was…. am your friend, and will always be. Please believe me when I say this… It was meant to happen. They would have died anyway, even if you hadn’t fallen asleep.”

“That doesn’t excuse what I did.” Talkeet said.

Snow lifted his head with her paw.

Talkeet felt a

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