Chapter Ten:

            Duchess came towards Balto. Balto could feel a certain air about her. An air of dominance.

            ‘Now I know how Ritchie feels around her.’ Balto commented inside his head.

            Duchess smiled. “My Balto. I’ve heard so much about you.” she then frowned, “And I’m not happy about any bit of it.”

            Balto so in the background as Ritchie slipped out of view, probably getting out through the back.

            ‘What should I so?’ Balto asked himself.

            “Are you looking at me?” Duchess snapped Balto out of his thinking, “Gosh. No etiquette. You’re supposed to look people in the eyes when they’re talking to you. What? Were you raised by a fowl?”

            “Well, actually-”

            “Never mind.” Duchess interrupted, “I have other things to worry about… I do believe that my dear told you about how important our sweet Jenna is to us, and how we would do anything to protect her. But if he didn’t, I could tell.”

            Duchess then slowly lifted her paw almost as if to shake. Balto hesitated for a moment, still uncomfortable with the vibes he was getting from her, but he still lifted his paw up to shake. The Duchess turned her paw to the side and swiftly smacked Balto across the face. Balto, from the surprise attack, fell for a brief second. When he got back up he put his paw to his cheek and felt a drop of blood. But when he looked back didn’t just see Duchess, he saw Ritchie and another dog. Balto at once recognized the newcomer was a tad bit shocked.

            Ritchie was the one to speak this time. “Hello Balto. I just went to fetch one of our friends. I believe you should remember him. Oh wait, that’s right, you blacked out before you to could meet. How sad.”

            “Yes. Nice to meet you.” the malamute grinned.

Balto, not being an idiot, was not going to even try to tango with three dogs in a confined space like this. He didn’t want to fight and he was no coward, but he had a better chance of surviving outdoors then in. So, he quickly bolted out the doggy door.

“Hmph. Typical.” snorted Duchess, “A wolf that’s afraid when we have backup.”

The three quickly went outside in pursuit of Balto. They didn’t have to go far; he was right outside the door, on the street. When the three came towards Balto, he backed away to try to prevent a fight. Up and down the street, a few dogs saw what was about to go down. A small number came from all directions. But with in seconds the numbers had doubled until there was a large circle fencing all four of the dogs in. Many of the surrounding dogs started throwing out cat-calls towards Balto which Greg smiled at.

“Sorry that it’s going to end like this.” Duchess said with false concern. “But almost dooming the town to diphtheria and risking all those children’s lives, almost killing a dog to get fame for saving the town, and worst of forcing yourself upon our daughter and making her spawn pups, can not be forgiven.”

Balto then heard Kaltag calling from the outside ring of the crowd. “Balto! Balto where are you!?”

Kaltag fought his way through the other furs into the center. When he pushed through he ran right into Balto.

“Hey Balto, where… What the heck!?” Kaltag just noticed that they were not the only two in the circle. “It’s, it’s Steele!”

“Yeah, tell me something I don’t know.” said Balto. “He and Jen’s parents want to pick a fight with me. Her mom already swiped me across the face.”

“Who is this Steele?” asked Ritchie.

Steele piped up. “Greg was just a name that I had to use to hide from him. Can never be too careful.”

You would have expected multiple gasps to appear from the crowd, but there was no such thing. All they knew was that right now, Balto was the enemy and they didn’t care who got rid of him.

“Well, how’re we gonna solve this?”

“I don’t Kaltag. We’ll try diplomacy, but I don’t know what else to do after that but defend ourselves… You should just get out of here. I couldn’t live with myself knowing that I caused you to get hurt.”

“Non-sense. Would I do such a thing to a friend. Besides, three against one isn’t fair. ” smiled Kaltag.

“Are you two girls done arguing yet!?” snickered Steele.

“Hello little puppy,” Ritchie called to Kaltag, “this doesn’t involve you. Why don’t you go join the crowd and just forget about this whole thing?”

“What? Are you afraid that you can’t handle both me and Balto?” countered Kaltag.

“Ooh. A lively one.” smirked Duchess. “This may be more fun then I thought. Not only will we get rid of a wolf, but a pest too.”

Balto looked at Kaltag. “That isn’t exactly diplomacy.”

“Well, I’m a bad negotiator.” chuckled Kaltag.

“Play time’s over boys. Time to get to business!” demanded Steele.

With that Duchess, Ritchie, and Steele started to growl fiercely. With the sense of being threatened, Balto and Kaltag had to growl back. It was natural. The scene was just about to explode into a frenzy of fur and teeth.

Chapter Eleven:

            “STOP!” shouted a few voices.

Everyone turned to look at the source of the noise and saw Dixie and Sylvia. The two quickly pointed to there right when they got awkward stares. They all then turned their attention to find Jenna and Boris coming towards them with young Alue trailing along.

            “Well Jenna. What do you think today’s mob is about?” asked Boris sarcastically.

            “Not now Boris.” Jenna replied with a little irritation.

            Everyone in the circle stayed silent.

            “Well? What’s going on here?” asked Jenna.

            Dixie was the one to speak up, “Well, Balto is in a fight.”

            “A fight!?” Jenna asked again in disbelief. “Over what?”

            “Let’s see for ourselves.” said Boris, “Move out of way!”

Boris pushed through the crowd. Jenna’s disbelief was further fed when she saw both Balto and her parents in the middle.

“Mom? Dad? Balto?... Can someone tell me what the heck is happening?” then she saw Steele and frowned, “Never mind that last question.”

“Ah! He’s back!?” exclaimed Boris.

“Yeah Boris, he’s been back… Mom, Dad,” Jenna started now looking at her parents, “what has he told you?”

Duchess spoke, “You should know. All the terrible things this wolf has done. I thought we raised you to avoid his… type.”

“Well, for your information I like his…type. And nothing you can say can change that.”

“Excuse me Young Lady. What did I tell you about-” started Ritchie.

“Dad.” interrupted Jenna, “Normally you’re right, but this time you’re wrong. Whatever Steele, or Greg or whatever his name said to you is most likely untrue. He probably wants revenge on Balto for ‘stealing his fame and me’.”

“What are you talking about?” asked Ritchie.

“Oh. Didn’t he tell you?” when Jenna got a confused look from both her parents she half-smiled, “Thought so.”

Steele started to panic. ‘I can’t let them find out. But what can I do. Maybe I’ll just…’ he thought.

Jenna continued on, telling the actual truth of everything to her parents of how Steele was the dog who almost doomed the children. “And if you don’t believe me, ask any of the sled dogs who were there.” she finished.

“And what about the rumor?” asked a dog from the crowd.

            Before Jenna could even ask Sylvia answered her, “Since you probably don’t know what it’s about because you’re always outta the loop, I’ll tell ya. See, our ‘hero’ supposedly attacked your dad one night in the boiler room when no one was around and if a good dog hadn’t come along, he probably would have been killed.”

            “What?” questioned Ritchie, “No one was there to see what happened.”

            “So what did happen then Dad? Something I should know about? You looked perfectly fine when I saw you.” Jenna said.

            “I-uh. Honey?” stammered Ritchie. He hadn’t meant to give such a huge hint by accident.

            Duchess sighed, “Well, it looks like the