The legend of Cotton Grass

By Cotton Grass

It seemed it was like yesterday my brother Balto saved the small town of Nome. While he became famous I had to sit on the sidelines & watch. He got his chance at being welcomed by people, I was waiting for mine. Balto looked a lot more like our father while I looked more like my mother. Hello, My name is Cotton Grass. & This is my story. After my father & mother Died I was almost full-grown so I ran off. I didn’t want to look back because I knew if I did I would want to stay with my brothers & sisters, so I just kept running. After about 15 minutes I stopped. Nothing around here was recognizable & strange scents lingered around. After a few minutes I herd the crazed barking of an excited sled dog team. As I walked over the top of a hill I saw the vast wilderness of the Alaskan tundra. & Out in the open were around ten to twelve loud sled dogs pulling a sled with a musher on the back. I knew to keep my distance of humans after what they had done to my mother. But since it was winter my black pelt would make me very visible. So I hid behind a withered shrub. I watched as the sled dog team vanished over the horizon & continued on my quest, whatever that quest was. I don’t know how long I had been walking but I finally caught the smell of another wolf, or so I thought. I kept fallowing the scent till I came to a small forest. & After a few minutes the scent became stronger until. I herd rustling in the bushes in front of me. Knowing that other wolves can be territorial especially to other wolves. So I shrunk down till by belly was touching the ground & had my tail tucked in. Then suddenly out came someone I had seen before. Then I remembered who he was. His name was wolverine, the brother of steel the dog that picked on Balto when he was a pup. “Well, well, well, what do we have here,” He smiled sarcastically, “hello Cotton Grass. I didn’t think I would see you out here” He started to circle me & I stood up. “That’s the same thing I was going to ask you.” I said as I watched him carefully. He stopped circling & looked at me. “You know Cotton I always had a liking to you. & You & me being out here all alone…”

“Wait, what are you doing here?” I said wondering why he was here. “Oh well my owner abandoned me her after I turned my back on him during a sled run.” He came closer to me & I backed up. “Wolverine I know you had a crush on me when we were puppies but that was…” He came closer “I know but I still love you.” He said & smiled at me. I knew this was a bad situation & I tried to get ready to run. I never loved him but I didn’t want to tell him. Finally I saw my chance when he stepped on a pine needle & I darted off into the dense trees. Behind me I could her him yelling my name but I didn’t stop. If I stopped he would have caught up to me & I didn’t want that to happen. Finally I ran till he was out of my scent range & I stopped. There was now a different scent & I herd the rustling from the bushes. Thinking that it was wolverine I growled. But then to my surprise not wolverine, but a tan-white, wolf I had never seen before came out. He stared at me & I stared at him. I felt like I had made a terrible mistake. He might have been the alpha to some wolf pack & would be able to take me out in no time. “Sorry wolf, didn’t mean to bother you I thought you were someone else” I said apologizing. Then the unbelievable happened. The wolf smirked at me & said “Husky If you don’t mind. The names Arnaud” He wore a collar with a dog tag that said M.S.D.F. “my names Cotton Grass” I said then I looked at his tag, “What does that mean?” He looked at me, “Nothing that concerns you” But then he looked & sniffed the air. I looked at him “what’s wrong?” He turned around & barked back to me “stay low if you wish to live!” Feared for my life I hid in a bush as another dog, this one a little bit bigger than arnaud appeared & jumped on him. I was amazed at seeing how the two were fighting. And before long a bit of blood was shed. But in the end the strange dog ran off. I slowly crept out & walked up to Arnaud. “Who was that?” I said a little shaky. Arnaud watched the dog run “That was an SSdog.”

“An SS what?” I looked at him lake he was crazy. He looked back at me. “An SSdog. They’re dogs that are not afraid to kill you especially wolves.” I stared at him. “They kill wolves!” He looked back at me “yes” he looked at me harder “You’re not from around here are you.” I looked at him & smiled. “Fine you can stay with me as long as you want” I looked at him, “thank you so much.” And the two of us walked through the forest until we reached a small cave. He showed me to a little dip in the cave floor with some dead grass & straw inside “you can sleep here tonight”. I looked around the cave. It felt like home “Thank you so much.” I said as I watched him nod his head & walked toward the outside of the cave. He seemed like a nice wolf, He was nice enough to let me spend the night in his cave. He was also a gentleman. I started to get a licking to him, but then I knew I would have to leave tomorrow. Then I went to sleep. The next morning when I woke up I was going to see arnaud but he wasn’t in his bed. Thinking that he had gone off to hunt I went outside. But after a few yards. I saw a large clump of bloody fur. Fear ran through me as I realized that it was arnaud. I ran to him & licked his cold cheek. “Arnaud, arnaud are you ok!” I said franticly. Then I heard him moan a bit the he looked at me. “They… they attacked me… the Ssdogs…” he stopped, & I took him back to the cave. There I spent a good hour cleaning & licking his wounds. It wasn’t until then that he started to talk about what happened. “Thank you so much for doing this. “ He looked at me with respect & kindness, & I looked back at him the same way. That’s when I started to like him. He looked back at me with the same expression. I licked a wound on one of his paws & he smiled. But this was short-lasted for a few seconds later I caught the smell of another animal. Arnaud looked at me in terror. We both knew who it was, Ssdogs! Slowly arnaud got up & I led him towards the back of the cave. At he end of the cave there was a little opening that was big enough for us to go through on at a time. I looked at arnaud & whispered, “You have to go first. If the dogs fallow us they’ll kill you” he looked back at me, “but what about you? You could be killed yourself.” But I nudged him & he reluctantly went through. But before he ran off he looked at me “be safe Cotton. I looked at him & to my & his surprise I licked him on the cheek. He smiled then limped off up the hill. I watched him go but then I herd talking & sure enough 4 Ssdogs came around the bend. They were equipped with little jackets filled with all these weapons. I figured that they were for attacking other dogs & wolves. The leader dog looked at me & smirked. I knew I would have to face them on my own… (To be continued)