and draw back to nearby grove. There, between the trees, speed and agility of dog couldn’t be fully utilized.

“Nava! Run!” panted younger wolf. “You can’t help me here!”

“Nava, do you remember me?” asked malamute, hitting Nava’s knee with paw. Darkfurred yelled with pain. “Year ago... The sled on the route to sea.”

“What do you want?” growled exhausted elder. “This is just a past.”

“Until you live, is not!”

“Boss, get out!” called Niju, shunning before attacking dog. Malamute’s jaws clenched just inches from enemy’s neck.

“You remember, I know it!” gasped Steele and unexpectedly he jumped high, above adversaries.

He rebounded from tree’s trunk and with his full mass, increased by energy of bounce, he fell on Niju. Wolf collapsed under that living projectile and Steele grabbed his throat with jaws. At the same time he tensed his muscles to inflict final and fatal blow. Predator awkwardly shocked his neck to avoid dog’s teethes and started to wrestle his enemy off. But Steele fell on side, pushed wolf’s body with stronger move and Niju hit with his forehead in hard trunk of pine. Before Nava went with assistance, younger predator was unconscious.

“I was waiting whole year on that, murderer!” whispered dog with almost gentle and joyful voice. He run to elder and pinned his weak body to the ground. “You had no mercy for your own blood. I hope you don’t expect that I have some mercy for you. Do you remember what did you tell me that night? < It’s North. Here is no mercy.> I was thinking long about it...” he bended over enemy’s ear. “...and I discovered...” moved his muzzle to Nava’s throat. “...that YOU HAD RIGHT!” White fangs of malamute crushed wolf’s trachea and caused fountains of blood on grey fur.

[Picture by Dorcia]

Steele left dying Nava, lying on the snow and went to unconscious Niju. He kneeled next to his neck and opened blooded jaws. <Save your pack!> screamed unknown voice in his head. Suddenly a picture from three years earlier came to his mind. He froze, looking on would-be victim. Also he recalled a scene when hungry Niju was pouncing on John Ash. But not on sky. He hadn’t her blood on fur. Maybe he even hadn’t wanted to...

Drove by sudden impulse, Steele stood up and backed few steps. He looked on wolf’s motionless body but he saw no breaks nor open wounds. Predator was ready to hunt just after he woke up. He had huge chances to survive. Malamute clenched his jaws and run into the forest to move away from unconscious wolf. On frozen ocean of dog’s hatred appeared very first crack.

VIII. The return

They had nothing to do in that cursed land.

Continent behind the Bering Strait was as cold as Alaska but it was burning wolves paws with fire of hostility and fear. Aleu made only decision she could – they were returning home by solid ice float. If road to Russia was hazardous run on crackling and melting floats, way back in freezing February of 1928 was much easier and secure at least from  the ground. Death was waiting not from below but from above and behind.

Mark, Yuni and Sumac died in spot after first encounter of unknown enemy but rest of the pack fled from an ambush. They were wandering for one week on shore looking for safe asylum but humans finally found them and opened fire. That time wolves avoided casualties – they already knew what meat sound of plane, rumble of trucks and hateful shouts of humans in donkey jackets.

Decision of return was obvious but hard anyway. Owi knew it perfectly and when they reached the beach, whispered to alpha.

“Aleu... I know you had to. But we had to go here anyway. If we stayed home, more of us would die from starvation.”

“How you know we won’t now?” replied wolfbitch with frozen voice.

Greyfurred was feeling the death of pack-mates as open wound on her side. All her thoughts were marked with culpability and shame of defeat. Unintentionally she had guided her pack in front of guns of that mad humans that were fighting all life in sight. Logical voice in her head was whispering that there was a little or none of her fault, but logic wasn’t helpful in regret and bereavement. She KNEW she was innocent but she FELT she killed three wolves. She was scared of returning home because she could met father there. How she could to stand before Balto and say what she had done? “I’ve failed you, daddy!” whispered over and over, finally drawing attention of anxious Owi.

“Aleu, what happened?” asked male.

“Nothing. I just... get down!” she screamed.

But it was too late. Pilot already spotted the pack, standing on seashore. Rear gunner fired few times (fortunately missing badly) to scare predators. Then plane flew back deeper into the land. But it meant only one – death was close. Suddenly all the ghost of recent past disappeared and touch Aleu-pack leader were back. She shouted first order.

“On ice! We’re repatriating home!” and she run on frozen surface.

But they were chasing them. Red humans, red not on faces but in hearts, sent after pack a place and two truck filled with soldiers and servicemen started to shot at feeing animals. Vehicles went on ice and speeded up. Surface of ice covered with dozens of scratches made by rounds of mosins and nagans. Wolves started to run, following their leaderess and just behind them were exploding small craters of numerous shots. Red humans didn’t begrudge bullets because they were avid to bringing death as quick as they could. It had been running that was for eleven years.

Eleven years earlier in Russia broke out some strange Wave, red as blood and growing fast. The New Authority, drunken with own cruelty and thoughtlessness, declared war against all what wasn’t obedient to it. It didn’t recognise God, so it enacted that God didn’t exist. Then It took a God’s place itself – started to murdering priests and monks, plunder and destroy churches and monasteries just to throw out every single sign of divine presence of Creator. The New Authority hated the Old Authority, because it claimed it was a plenipotentiary of forbidden God, not as plenipotentiary of Authority itself, like the New One. The New People started to kill old officials to wipe out every singe sign of Old Authority’s presence. Finally Red Wave killed tsar – leader and symbol of Old Ones – soft and undecided man, whose greatest fault was that he was too weak to stop the Red Wave and let his people suffer under new reign of madness and terror.

The New Authority set off a raging strike on other states, still governed in Old Ways, because it couldn’t stand that someone was ruling peoples without bayonets and pistols. It wanted to bring own nightmare of thoughtless violence as far as it could, to not see free peoples, who were reminding it, that once states were govern without Red Wave. But when The New Authority failed, because people of Old Regimes stopped it, it turned her rage against own subjects. It was murdering everyone who didn’t praise it loud enough, bored it or even stood in wrong place on wrong time. The New Authority was robbing all the property, couldn’t stands it still wasn’t the only owner on world. Defiant ones were killed in spot or send camps of cold and long death. Those camps were expanding fast in times of Aleu’s expedition overgrowing with thousands of miles of barbed wire. The New Authority was looking on it with pride, but something more was still disturbing it.

Nature. Nature was so Old-times-like. Older than Red Wave, created by forbidden God and wasn’t obedient to new laws. That why Red People hated it and were trying to destroy it – it was reminding them that something existed before they came on this world and will be when they would be gone. So thousand of soldiers of The New Authority with rifles, planes and trucks were sent in deepest parts of country and ordered to seek and destroy Mother Nature and her children. Years later Red Wave would kill them all with industry chimneys and intoxicated water, but then Wave was still to weak to challenge all world. It started to eradicate at first the most defiant signs of wildness. That why wolves had no changes – they were treated merciless, destroying theirs lives, independent so counter-revolutionary to the core.

Aleu didn’t know anything about Red Wave but that cruel logic of death she understood quickly, when Mark, Yuni and Sumac died from humans shots. Since that time fear and uncertainly was accompanying her pack and even when they were wandering on russian shore, preparing to return, distant rumble of Red Wave was piercing their ears.

Finally they were attacked on beach when they started way home. Although Aleu was respected guide and leaderess, she couldn’t repress the panic that broke out after plane’s arrival. So they all went into the scattered retreat. Leaderess was outdistanced by faster and more scared wolves but she had no strength to order them to manage their endurance for long trek. They were still chasing by bullets – incoming death was much too quick to even saw it. It was unbelievable. Wolfbitch hadn’t been ever scared in her life than in that moment. “I will die here!” she thought but she was running ahead. Just above her sounded the plane’s engine.

[Sniper's faces, blood-drunken; looking on with clear hate

Rain of shells tearing trees down to pieces

This is no more a hunting, this is no more a chase

This is eradication of species]

But even Red Wave wasn’t almighty. In some moment it had to acknowledge it’s defeat and agreed that Nature was stronger than it’s earlier victims. Ice broke below Wolga-truck and vehicle fell into the freezing water. Second truck stopped about hundred yards before ice-gap, in last moment to save from sharing fate of previous vehicle. It stopped the chase and plane returned to the base.

Aleu