likely be another beating sometime soon.  In the few days that he had been trapped, the torture from the humans became almost routine.  It made him sick to think that one creature can be so harsh to another for no reason.  And for what?  Although he had no memory, he knew that the humans did not eat wolves.

          Out of his hate for them, he began to rant out loud yet softly, “Once I get out of this cage, I’ll knock some sense into those abusive, selfish, dirty pigs and—“

          “Look at that guy!  He’s already loosing it!”

          The wolf turned his focus ahead of him towards two dogs in the street, only a few steps away from him.  One had a white coat and green eyes, and the other had a black coat with yellow eyes; like night and day.  The Malamutes stared down at him with half-grins showing, and snickering all the while. 

          The white one, who had spoken before, said, “You’re talking to yourself!  This whole ‘death-in-three-days’ has to be messing with your mind!”

          “Actually, now he’s only got two!  Best be sayin’ your prayers, pal!” exclaimed the black one.

          “What do you want from me?  I’ve got enough pressure on my paws right now, and I don’t need two babbling idiots getting in my way!” said the wolf.

          “And you’re going to do what exactly?  You’re a caged beast!  I doubt you’ll be messing with us any time soon,” said the white one.

          The wolf’s voice suddenly became low and threatening as he said, “Oh, I’ll get out soon enough.  When that time comes, your fur will be off your skin in seconds.”  He smiled as the two showed a small hint of fear in their eyes, but it quickly faded back to their original evil stares.

          “You need to be tau—“

          “Kilo!  Mitch!  What do you think you guys are doing?!”

          All three looked farther down the street and saw a single canine.  The taunting pair’ jaws dropped, and the wolf just sat and smiled; it was Ember.

          “Hellooo?  Did you hear me?” she growled.

          When the black one finally came back down to Earth, he turned to his comrade and said, “Lookie here, Kilo!  We have a guest, and she’s a beauty!”

          “Hey, babe,” said Kilo dreamily, completely forgetting the wolf behind them.  “My, aren’t you looking precious today?”

          “Lay off you pig!  I want to know what you’re doing here with that wolf.  Knowing you two, I bet it’s not just an average chat.”  She padded forward until she was inches from Kilo and Mitch.  Her scent wafted into their noses and the two nearly fainted.  Ember snorted in disgust and continued, “I don’t want to see either of you near him ever again.  Get it?”
          “Oh, come on Ember.  Just forget about him,” said Mitch.  “We can ditch this guy and go over to my place for a bit, huh?”

          Kilo butted in, “No, not with him Ember, come on over to my place.  I’ve got the biggest stash of bones you’ll see in your life!”

          “Hey, lay off, man.  She’s going to go with me!”

          “Not a chance!”

          In all the commotion, the wolf had just been sitting and waiting for the two to depart, but they seemed to be glued to the ground.  The two were bickering over who Ember liked more, while the canine in question attempted to get them quiet and back to the point.

          “This’ll be a while….unless…”  The wolf reached his paws out of the cage until they were just above the dogs’ tails.

          Kilo and Mitch were still at it, when out of nowhere, something behind them yanked their tails backward.  They crashed into the metal cage, and were met with a snapping, snarling mouth of a wolf right in their faces.  They jumped up in horror and scampered away whimpering for mercy.  Ember watched as they turned a corner and disappeared from view, and when she turned back to the wolf, she saw something that she thought she’d never see from him.

          Inside the freezing bars of the cage, the wolf was on his back, rolling, and laughing.  He seemed to have forgotten all about regaining his memories and escaping the cage and the hunters, and before Ember new it, she began to laugh along with him.  They laughed on for some time, and by the time they had stopped, the two were nearly out of breath.

          When Ember could finally breathe again, she said, “Thanks for getting those two off me.  They seem to do that whenever they cross by me.”

          “It’s nothing.  Besides, they were getting pretty annoying after a while.”

          Ember let out another small giggle before she straightened out and looked sternly at the wolf before her.  She said, “I think we might have a plan to get you out……tonight.”  The wolf’s head perked up a bit at this and almost hit the top of the cage.  Before he could speak, Ember continued, “My brothers and I thought that since Turu looks almost exactly like you, we can trick the hunters into thinking that you had escaped, and they might chase him while me, Riko, and my parents can try to get the cage out of town to a place where they won’t find you.  From there we can try to break open the cage much more easily.”

          The wolf’s excited face gradually dimmed at the thought of putting Ember’s own brother at risk, for his own life.  “Are you sure that you want Turu to do this?  For all we know, the hunters might shoot him…..”

          “He agreed to do this; he knows the risks involved, and he’s willing to do it.”  Still with a grim face, the wolf nodded in approval.

          He said, “Tonight then?”

          “Tonight.  We’ll try our best.”  With that, Ember turned away and padded away to find Riko and Turu.  The cool wind blew her fur and she shivered.  Thinking of the cold, she turned to look at the wolf, who was also shaking in the freezing temperature, but the look on his face seemed to say to her, “Don’t worry about it; you have better things to think about.  Go on.”

 

 

End of part one of what will hopefully be a two part story.  The nature of the title will be revealed in the second part.  The next half will most likely be sent in some time in the summer.  I hope you liked it!

 

All characters from Balto 1, Balto 2, and Balto 3 are the property of Universal Pictures.

 

The unnamed wolf, Riko, Turu, Mitch, and Kilo are my characters,  please do not use them without my permission.

 

Ember is the property of _Fury_.  She gave me permission to use her character, and if you wish to use her in any way, ask her, not me.

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