The Ember’s Flame

Written by 3DGWolf

          Warning:  This story contains mild blood and violence, so make sure you can handle these things before reading my fic.

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Prologue

          It was the beginning of winter when it happened.  The dark heart of Man had struck once more upon the wildlife of Alaska.  No matter how brave and strong one was, Man seemed to come out stronger than its nemesis.

          Around fifty miles from the small village of Nome, Alaska, a young wolf, around the age of three years, was running for his life; from the freezing cold heart and senseless mind of the arch enemy of the forest.  One of their metal spheres had cut deeply within one of his pure brown legs, and this made the task of sprinting through the deep snow near impossible, yet he trudged on with a heart of steel.

          They were not far behind at all; likely within hearing distance from the lupine.  Their piercing shrieks of metal were continuously shooting mere inches from his body.

          “When will it end?” thought the wolf as he weaved in and out of the trees.  “These accursed humans will never leave us alone!  Well, if they won’t stop on their own…I’ll make them!”

          He was about to turn to face his pursuers, but something caught his eye that made him think differently.  A small hill leading down to a cave lie to his left.  It was the safest place to go for the injured creature.

          He turned towards it, and he was nearly at the hill when a searing pain shot through his already injured front leg.  He had felt this pain before; it was the heat of Man’s weapons.  The wolf tumbled down the seemingly endless hill, and just before reaching the bottom, his skull was cracked by the trunk of a tree.

          The wolf remained conscious, yet unmoving.  His world was spinning with thoughts and emotions he had not felt before.  In his mind, death was imminent, for Man had paid a visit to his home, and had gotten what he wanted.

          Just before all went dark, he could faintly hear one hunter mumble something to the other.

          Then…..nothing.

Chapter 1

          A small truck drove toward the small town of Nome, Alaska.  In the two front seats sat two men.  One was in about his mid-thirties, had a long, bushy mustache, and had one of the leanest forms in town.  The other was a bit shorter, somewhat rounded, and was clean shaven, unlike his partner beside him.

          In the back was a male, brown coated wolf entrapped within the confines of a steel cage.  His hind left leg was matted with his own blood, and two small metal objects protruded from the leg, and was likely the cause of all the bleeding.  Luckily for his captors, he had remained unconscious throughout the ride to Nome.

          On the other side of town, four canines stood atop an old, wrecked trawler on the outskirts of Nome, looking down at the truck with the hunters and the hunted.  One was a brown wolf dog with golden eyes, whom everyone in Nome knew as Balto.  To his left stood his loving mate, Jenna, with fur as red as a blossoming rose in spring.  Next to them were three smaller canines of around one and a half years of age.  One of the males, named Riko, had a brown back and red underside and blue eyes just like the sky above him.  The other male, named Turu, had a completely brown coat and emerald green eyes.  The female wolf dog’s name was Ember.  Her coat was mostly black with red around her eyes, belly, and the underside of her tail.  Her small yet strong eyes were red just like her fur, and around her neck was a small pendant with a colorless picture of herself and her owner.  All of them belonged to Balto and Jenna’s second litter.

          They looked on towards the truck and saw a metal cage within the truck, and they all saw a brown form lying within its confines.  Although they could not see the form well, their sense of smell told them that it was without a doubt a wolf, and that he was still alive.  With this realization, all five turned away in disgust.

          “They’ve done it again,” said Riko.  “One more wolf is in those two’s hands.  I won’t be surprised if they kill it.”

          Turu turned towards his brother and said, “That makes two of us.”

          “Someone has to do something about those two.  They’ve already killed ten wolves this week!” exclaimed their sister, Ember.

          Jenna was about to speak, when her attention was turned to Balto, who looked as if he was going to break down any second.  “Balto, what’s wrong?” she asked.

          Balto turned to his mate, and she saw hurt and rage in his eyes.  “Sorry Jenna.  It’s just that those two have killed more wolves in such a short time than any other humans have.  It’s just…despicable.”

          Jenna knew that this was tough for not only Balto, but for the rest of the couple’s family.  Each of them had wolf blood, and to see so many of their kind aimlessly wiped away was too much for them all.  Just the previous day, the hunters pulled in with two kills, and Balto immediately recognized one.  He remembered having a short glimpse of the same wolf while he was accompanying his daughter, Aleu, on the journey that made her the alpha female of the pack that Nava once led.

          “This needs to stop!” growled Balto.  “If those two kill another wolf-“

          “You won’t hurt them!” interrupted Jenna.  “If you do, the humans would surely kill you.”

          There was a long silence as the five canines wondered about what they could do to stop the hunters’ brutal executions.  This silence continued for mere seconds until Ember finally spoke up.

          “Well, we know that the last wolf they brought in is still alive, so maybe we should try to find him and release him before they decide to kill him.”

          Her parents and brothers looked at each other and nodded in agreement.

          Balto turned to his young daughter with a smile and said, “You go do that Ember.  Maybe you can find some way to get him out.”

          Ember nodded her head with approval and walked off the boat towards Nome. 

                                      ************

          The caged wolf began to stir within the confines of his metal prison.  He winced in pain as every bone in his body ached as if he had aged within the short hours that he was unconscious.  He turned to look at his injured leg, and saw that it was lightly bandaged, yet a small amount of blood continued to seep from its sides.  Only when he tried to remember the events that brought him to his prison had he begun to panic.

          The only memory that came to his mind was when he was lying in the snow at two humans’ mercy.  Everything else was blank.  He could not remember any other part of his past; not even his own name.

          The more he tried to remember the more his head pounded in frustration and pain, and it seemed that it would burst at any given moment.

          As he turned in all possible directions for clues to his lost memories, the sound of footsteps in the snow came to his ears.  Not far from the cage, a canine approached the torn wolf.  A quick sniff of the air revealed that it was a female, but he could not distinguish whether she was a wolf or a dog.

          She padded towards him until she was mere inches from the cage and looked upon the wolf.  She noticed the wrapped wound on his leg and pity swept her mind.  There was silence between the two before she finally spoke to him somewhat hesitantly, “Hello.  I saw-“

          “Who are you, what are you, and what do you want?” interrupted the wolf.  The hybrid thought of leaving the wolf to die there but her intuition told her otherwise and to go along with the wolf.

          She replied sternly, “My name is Ember, and I thought you might have wanted help.  Also, what do you mean by ‘What am