Every now and again he would have flashbacks, but it never gave him a full answer, which frustrated him immensely.

‘How can I be one of Balto’s children,’ he thought as he flew over the ground, ‘When I’m so afraid of the world? Of everyone?’

The bright sky was blackening to a raven hue as the first day of running drew to a close. Dusty’s pads hurt, and his leg muscles felt like they had been stretched thin over a blazing fire and burned. His panting breath made frosty white clouds in front of his muzzle. He had remained silent for the day, but the pain finally got the better of him. He nudged Kira’s side with his nose and whispered hoarsely, “When do you think we’re going to stop?”

She laughed shakily. “How am I supposed to know? I’m as new at this as you are.” She nudged Kirby, and he looked back with a grunt. “When are we going to stop?”

“Soon,” Kirby growled, “We’ve run a little more than we usually do for the day. It’s got to be hard on you guys.” Dusty could see in Kirby’s wide face that, despite all his attempts to see superior, he was hurting, too.

Kira held her head high. “We’re fine. We just wanted to know.”

Kirby snorted and faced the front again.

Dusty’s wandering eyes settled on Kira, and he admired the smoothness of her gait as she sailed on through the snow. She didn’t run; she flew. He tried to copy her style, but she had grace and presence in the sure way she thrust herself into the journey that could not be duplicated. Again he found himself wishing he could be more like her.

“Brake!” the musher cried into the wind. Dusty glanced worriedly up ahead, and when he saw Kodi pull up, he did the same. The sled’s runners shushed to a stop beside a small forest of spicy evergreen trees and silvery birches. Dusty sniffed the pine-scented air appreciatively as the musher jumped down and unstrapped all the dogs. “Good run for today, guys. We’ve got some cliffs to climb tomorrow. Get some sleep.” He strew straw around on the snow, pulling the yellow stalks from a pack on the sled.

For a moment Dusty thought it looked like the sun’s golden rays had grown solid and scattered upon the cold ivory crystals. He shook himself out of his daydream when he felt gloved hands unhitch him, and he marveled at the freeing feeling of the harness’ absence. The tough leather had rubbed and roped itself around him until he felt like it had fused into his skin. Now with it gone he felt odd, but in a good way.

He brushed some straw into a small pile and curled up in it, and watched wearily as the musher went down the line. Dusty’s pads throbbed with blood and his muscles smarted, but he tried to ignore his complaining body and get to sleep.

Kira, Ralph, and Kirby were released from the harness, but a sudden snarl startled Dusty from his dozing.

The musher stood with his hands up while Lucas growled at him, daring him to touch the dog even with one finger. The musher sighed in frustration and dropped his palms to his sides. “You’re the one I’m worried about. Well, you’re going to have to learn some manners.” He snatched a short rope from the sled and looped it through Lucas’ collar and knotted it firmly. He tied Lucas to the sled and then hooked the harness off the gray mongrel.

Lucas snarled and scrabbled at the snow with his paws, but the rope held firm. Dusty shuddered and shifted his head, closing his eyes. He hated Lucas, and he’d hate to be Lucas, especially tied up to a sled.

His ears perked up when he heard Kira jeering at Lucas: “Tsk, tsk. Looks like you got yourself a little tied up. I hope that rope chokes you! You won’t be able to get me tonight, or any other night!”

“Don’t be so sure about that,” Lucas hissed, “Because you’re mine. You’ve always been mine. And I plan to have you, whether you appreciate it or not.”

Dusty could feel the dog’s lust heating the night. The heat barreled inside Dusty and bubbled into rage. He opened his eyes and sprang to his feet, only to see Kira roar with hate and slash Lucas across the face. Lucas barely flinched, just looked up at her with greed.

“That’s a taste of what you’ll get if you ever come this close to me again,” she menaced.

Lucas gazed frigidly into her face, then suddenly licked her cheek.

Kira jumped back in surprise, then growled to the high heavens and spat in Lucas’ face. She marched away, kicking the snow into his eyes. She flopped down in the straw and started chewing on a yellow stalk, when she noticed Dusty’s concerned gaze. “Don’t say anything. I hate him,” she said bitingly.

Dusty felt his anger and courage drain away to leave him cold and dis-spirited. Just for a moment, one moment, he had been free from himself, from his self-hate and doubt, and felt such a living fire he could’ve snapped Lucas’ head off. But it had faded as quickly as it had come, leaving him to himself, to be nervous, cowardly Dusty.

He bit his lip in frustration, and licked when blood spurted. It tasted hot, thick, and sweet. He flicked his gaze back and forth between Lucas and Kira, and found himself wondering if there could be more to the reason for Lucas’ raunchy behavior than just his being a street dog…

“What a great couple, huh?” Kodi padded up to his younger brother, startling Dusty. “It’s a good thing Lucas got tied up. Everyone knows what would happen if he was set loose with the rest of us, especially at night. Poor Kira.” He shook his head. “So, you doing okay? The first day pulling the line is always the hardest.”

“I’m fine,” Dusty said, tight-lipped. He didn’t know why, but there had always been a sort of rivalry between him and Kodi. They came from different litters, but there had somehow been competition between them for as long as Dusty could remember. Dusty would see Kodi run one day, and then he would practice running too, and Kodi would see him practicing and would try to run faster and better, and Dusty would see and would try to run better than Kodi, and eventually it would end up in a race between them. So far they were evenly matched.

Dusty wasn’t sure if Kodi hated being beaten by his little brother, or if he just wanted to make Balto proud by being the best sled dog in Nome. Whatever it was, rivalry had grown up between them, and now that they were on the same team it would be hard to cooperate, and the competition would become very fierce. Dusty ran for the joy of running; he hadn’t meant to turn it into a contest. He had only wanted to get better. But Kodi had taken it the wrong way.

He sagely looked up into Kodi’s frowning face.

“Huh! You’re a stuck-up little pup!” Kodi said, “You mean your feet don’t hurt? And your legs don’t feel sore? At all?”

Dusty shrugged, too tired to say anything.

Kodi snorted. “Well, then, since you’re not tired at all, why don’t we have a race? We’ll see how good you really are to the team, now that you’re a mail dog.” He nudged Dusty with his wet nose. “C’mon. I’ll start us off. Marks…”

Dusty’s body ached. “Kodi…” he groaned.

“Set…”

“Kodi…”

“Go!” Kodi dashed off into the night, laughing at his younger sibling.

Dusty moaned and swung himself to his feet, his eyes sparking. He was tired. No, he was exhausted. If Kodi wanted to play around and annoy him all night, well…Dusty raced away to give Kodiak a piece of his mind.

As the cold wind whooshed into his face, the fog in his brain cleared, and sleep became a thing of the past as he sped across the white powder. Pawprints and spores quickly led him to his older brother, and as he came up beside he kicked at Kodi’s drumming legs. “Kodi, I really don’t feel like doing this!”

“But I thought you said you were fine!” Kodi taunted.

“Well, I didn’t think you’d want the whole she-bang about how much I HURT and just want to SLEEP,” Dusty cried, forgetting himself for a minute.

Kodi’s grin was like the crescent moon turned on its side. “It speaks!” he cried with a teasing smile.

Dusty sighed in frustration and changed direction. “The race ends back at the sled, okay?”

“You’re on!” Kodi shouted.

Dusty narrowed his red-brown eyes into the driving wind and slammed his paws into the ground, whirring his legs faster and faster. He thought nothing as he shot across the snow in a sudden burst of energy, powered by a need for rest in warm straw. His ears whipped back, his pink tongue rolled out of his mouth, and his thick fur plastered flat to his small body as he sailed over the frozen tundra. A golden doorway opened inside him as he realized this was pretty close to what it felt like to fly. And for awhile, he soared.

Whines and whimpers shattered through Dusty’s momentary joy. He skidded to a halt near the sled to see Lucas’ collar lying empty in the snow, still attached to the sled by rope. In a flash Dusty knew what had happened.

He whipped around to see a collar-less Lucas rolling himself on top of Kira, clamping his mouth around her muzzle so she couldn’t cry out. Kira’s blue-green eyes were wild, slowly turning the emerald green they always did when she was angry.

Dusty felt himself hardening, his leg muscles growing taut, his mouth snapping shut, and his chestnut eyes folding into little slits. Kodi came up behind, panting. “I can’t believe you