We never found them. They might have run away.”

“Or they might have been taken captive,” Balto added grimly.

“Look, we don’t know what happened,” Kaltag put in, “but we have to find out.”

Meanwhile, in a clearing near the mountains, an army of wolves was spread in groups of three along the tree line while others lay resting in the middle of the open area. Several yards away from their sleeping comrades, two wolves stood on either side of the entrance to a small earthen cave dug into the side of a hill. They chatted nervously with each other, but snapped to attention when a silver female padded up to them. Their eyes shone with pride as they stood on three legs and raised their right front paw at an angle to their right ear. She returned their salute and went inside. Rather than sloping downward, the tunnel had been burrowed up, following the rise of the hill. This would have been the pack’s whelping den, the silver female thought, if Steele had allowed any mating. She sighed as she finally stepped onto level ground. A young black wolf lay against the far wall, and she nudged him gently with her paw.

“Wake up,” she said. The wolf jumped in surprise and only calmed slightly when he saw Sena standing above him. While his eyes searched her own, she focused on a four-clawed cut on his cheek. “What happened?”

“I was captured defending my pack.” Sena flinched unwittingly at this. How could he have switched packs so easily?

“I meant your face,” she continued.

“Steele hit me…hard.”

“Why on Earth did he do that?”

“He doesn’t seem all too pleased with my return.”

“Well, you were with another pack,” Sena replied, “What did you expect?”

“It was the pack I served; and I expected to die defending it.” Sena flinched again, and could no longer hold back her curiosity.

“Why did you join them?”

“They accepted me.”

“Do you realize that our leader sent his best unit to get you back?”

“He sent them to wipe out my friends!” he replied in a low growl, “They didn’t capture me! Our ‘glorious leader’ left my friend and me to die!” After a brief moment, Sena whispered urgently,

“Don’t let him hear you say that, or you may not live to see the morning.”

“I don’t care.” Sena twitched for the third time. Her son had never been so bitter. She searched for any trace of meaning in his eyes, his dark brown eyes. She leaned back in surprise; her son didn’t have brown eyes.

“Who are you?” she whispered, a mix of anger and surprise in her voice. The black wolf just kept staring at her with no expression on his face.

“The friend,” he replied, “Your son is missing. I honestly don’t know where he is.” Sena sighed as a single tear slid down her cheek. Will I ever see my son again, she thought.

“This conversation never happened. Do you understand?” The black male nodded, and Sena padded out. As she left, she barely noticed her sister waiting silently along the tunnel wall. She passed her with a nod and went out into the clearing. Sadera, on the other paw, stood where she was, deep in thought at what she had heard.

The young wolf ran as fast as his legs would carry him, his brown fur rippling in the wind, but his pursuers were still gaining on him. Just as he felt his lungs would give out, he spotted a break in the trees and leapt for it. Bad decision. He suddenly found himself face to face with ten growling wolves. He turned to run the other direction, but as he did, he saw a wolf charging at him. Before he could move, he was up on his hind legs and pinned against a tree.

“Please, don’t hurt me;” he gasped desperately, “I didn’t do anything!”

“That’s not why we want you,” a new voice said. The young wolf looked behind his captor and saw that the figure approaching him wasn’t a wolf at all, but a black and white husky, or was it a malamute? “We want you because of what you’re going to do for us.”

“W-what do you want from me?”

“It’s a surprise for a couple friends of mine, but I don’t think you’ll mind, will you?” The pup shook his head frantically. “Let him down.” The wolf that had the pup pinned dropped down on all fours and the brown pup collapsed in the snow, gasping and panting for breath. “Come on, get up.” The malamute nudged him rather hard in the stomach and the pup obeyed. As they lead him away, the pup looked around fearfully at his captors. What had he gotten himself into? 

Echo led Balto and Jenna back toward the den in single file. He and Balto each carried a large chunk of a caribou while Jenna carried a small part of a leg. When they got inside, they presented their kill to the group. Once hunger had been turned away, the group laid down to rest. Kaltag and Krystal fell asleep almost immediately, while Balto and Jenna talked softly to each other. Echo curled up near the small hole that Vella had dug, just to be safe, and let his children nuzzle into his chest fur and fall fast asleep. Or so he thought.

As sleep was beginning to close his eyes, Echo heard a familiar small voice from beside him.

“Papa,” Laila whispered, “are you going to leave us too?”

“I’ll never leave you, Laila,” he replied softly, reaching over and holding her close, “I’ll protect you for as long as I can. And I’ll always love you.”

“Thanks, Papa,” she whispered, nuzzling her father and curling up against him. Echo looked once more at his three children and faded off to sleep.

Chapter Four

Sena padded softly through the trees and nodded to one of the sentries in the forest. To anyone else, it would have seemed that she was nodding to a patch of bushes, and in a sense she was. Even Sena herself had not seen the sentry, but she knew he was there. She had needed the time by the river to think. What the black wolf had said about Steele abandoning him had shaken her slightly. It was not uncommon for a leader to mistakenly leave fallen members of the pack in the heat of battle, but it seemed that Steele had done it on purpose. And that alone was reason enough for a new leader.

She needed to talk with the black wolf again. Perhaps there was some vital detail that she had missed, or that he had withheld. When she returned, though, she was mildly surprised to find the earthen cave empty. She padded back into the clearing and spotted one of the wolves who had been on guard duty the day before. He saluted her and she returned the salute.

“Where is the one we captured during the raid on Echo’s pack?”

“He went out with a few others on a hunt. Seems he changed his mind.” Odd, Sena thought, why would he do that? “Look, that’s them now.” The guard’s eye twitched and he looked closer. “Sweet mother of creation!” He rushed past her toward the returning hunting party. Sena followed him, and as they neared the band of wolves, she noticed that one of them was carrying another. It was only when they laid him on the ground that she recognized him. There before her lay the body of the black male whom she had spoken with just a day before. The right side of his head, near the ear, was depressed greatly and covered in blood.

“What happened?” she demanded, concern evident in her voice.

“A caribou caught him in the head,” one of the group supplied, “he was dead before he hit the ground.” Sena looked the victim over and was about to turn away when something caught her eye. Something was wrong with his throat. Not that it was malformed, but it just didn’t seem right to her. Not wanting to attract unnecessary attention, she ordered the rest of the hunting party to prepare for his burial. As soon as they had left, she looked closer. Again, everything looked normal, but she just had this feeling…

She reached out and felt his jugular, and blood flowed out from beneath her paw. Inadvertently holding her breath, she pulled her paw back and found to her horror that part of the skin came with it. Exposed for her keen eyes, the wolf’s throat had been nearly torn away, something no caribou could ever do. His Now shaking visibly, Sena quickly replaced the blood-stained fur where it had been and walked away as fast as she could without arousing suspicion.

“I’ve got to tell someone about this…” she muttered, struggling to control her short, panted breathing as she looked around,

“But who can I trust…?”

“Echo, are you serious?” Krystal said with a mix of confusion and awe.

“We have no choice,” he answered, “Until we have substantial strength to repel an outside attack, we must leave this den.”

“Where will we go, then?” Kaltag added.

“Somewhere else, anywhere else… Keep them guessing.”

“Are you sure, Echo?” Jenna inquired.

“Yes. It’s what is best for our safety. I’ll understand if you don’t want to come with us, Balto. You and Jenna have a more permanent life in Nome.”

“We’ll come with you for at least a day or two, just in case,” Balto replied. Jenna nodded in agreement.

“Alright then, let’s move out.”

“He will not be forgotten,” Steele finished, as the body of the black