“Yep, strange.”

The telegraph operator, Mr. Kode, sat back into his chair. He switched a wire which connected to the town of White Mountain and started to click on the telegraph machine.

“White Mountain STOP Have you received message from Anchorage STOP Connection terminated here STOP”

He paused and waited for a reply, which came shortly after.

“Nome STOP Message was cut short here as well STOP”

Mr. Kode sighed and looked down at Morris. “Whelp, I hope it wasn’t too important, just wish the best of luck on us.” His dog gave him the same stare. “And maybe you should go on a diet, you’re getting quite round ‘round the edges,” he laughed.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

After long hours of struggle, the mail team finally pulled into White Mountain. The sky was filled with clouds that were all a bleak gray or black. Snowflakes started to fall heavily, and were swept up by large gusts. Mr. Simpson quickly threw his large sack of mail to the postmaster as a bitter wind swept around his nose, carrying large snowflakes with it. The postmaster looked at the musher funnily when he hopped back on the sled.

“You ain’t thinking of heading back in this storm are you young’un?” he asked.

“Well, I don’t have a place to stay, so we’d better start back.” Mr. Simpson replied politely.

“Oh fiddlesticks, I can’t rest easy letting you go when I know this storm’ll get worse. Say, what’d ya think of staying at my place until we can see the clear sun-shiny sky again?”

“But-”

“Now no but’s, I ain’t riskin’ yer wellbeing. Besides, we have a nice barn with plenty of hay that yer dogs can sleep in.”

Defeated, Mr. Simpson nodded his head. He unhooked his dogs and they followed the postmaster down the street. When he came to the barn he opened the door which creaked loudly. He then shooed all the dogs into the barn, threw a few pieces of meat in, and shut the door nosily. As the sounds of the men’s footsteps disappeared the dogs shuffled around and looked at their new sleeping area.

“Not much is there?” said Kaltag

Balto looked around the enclosure straight-faced. It’s floor was the bare ground, and it had catwalk-like structure the ran along the edge of the building, making a semi-second story. In the very middle was an enormous pile of hay. His lips curled into a humored smile as the smallest dog on the team, Star, bounded into the hay laughing. He looked over at his other friend Kaltag, a pale yellow Chinook with a brown patch over his eye, and chuckled slightly as he shook his head and laughed at Star’s antics. Each dog gathered large clumps of hay and proceeded to make beds. Their beds formed a circle around the now smaller lump of hay. The small purple-ish dog lifted his ears and looked at Kaltag who was besides him.

“Do you hear that wind howling out there? We may be stuck here for awhile.” Star said.

“For once Star, you may be right…” Kaltag replied.

The walls of the barn moaned and sighed as it was pushed on by the strong currents of air. As the team listened to the noises they one by one started to drift off into a deep and silent slumber.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

The storm that was over White Mountain was also smothering Nome with its swirls of fluff. The shudders of a house rattled nosily and the building creaked. The windows were always wide open and it seemed on the verge of falling. The porch sagged and sighed with the slightest bit of pressure. Inside this small, run-down building, a large black and white husky looked down at four figures, his sharp teeth curled into a grin. He looked up through the gaping hole in the roof to see the clouds twisting in the bleak sky. A nod from him dispersed two of the small figures.

“I’m really sorry, I know how bad you wanted to go out today, but I couldn’t let that pass.” the largest of the remaining figures said to another dog who was almost his size.

He walked over and patted the one he had spoken to and he heard a growl. He smiled slightly and leaned his face down to the other. He took one of his claws and raked it across the other’s muzzle, who then let out a muffled yell as red started to drip down.

“I’ve already told you to be polite, and if you chose to disobey me again, I won’t be so kind.”

The husky walked over to the smallest and smiled.

“Come, it’s time for us to take our leave.”

The one who had just been hurt was left alone as the two disappeared into the street through an ancient dog door. As the continued to their destination, the visibility continued to drop as more and more snow was flung around in the gale.

“Uncle Greg, I’m scared.” cried the smaller.

“Oh don’t worry Stevan, we’ll be out of this soon…”

After a brief span of time, they came upon a structure that had wire hanging over it. Greg snickered as he quietly motioned the little puppy inside through a dog flap. He stepped inside after the pup and spied a chubby, tan dog snoring.

“Stevan, you go over there and make sure sleeping beauty doesn’t wake. I’ve got something to do, and we don’t want his yap going.”

Stevan did as he was told and stood over the sleeping dog. Greg though, hopped onto a chair. He looked at the telegraph in the dim light of an overhead lamp.

“Haven’t used one of these in the longest time.” he smiled.

After checking which town he was connecting too, he started to tap on the delicate machine. He muttered what he was sending, but it was so quiet it was nearly inaudible. Stevan watched as the dog before him started to twitch in time with the beeps, but he didn’t even want to know.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

On the other side, a dog listened carefully. He snickered as the message ended. The dog sent back a message saying “Got it” before he hopped down off the chair and headed out the pet flap of the White Mountain Telegraph Office. He walked down the streets that were still swirling with snowflakes, but no matter how hard they lashed at him, he didn’t even flinch. He stayed close to the left side of the lane so he could tell where he needed to be. He heard a creek from a swaying sign that was above his head. He followed the edge of the building, and when he saw an open hole in the main door, he smiled and walked inside. As soon as he entered he heard a loud laugh.

“Come to see me Burt?” it sniggered, “And what pray tell brings you here?”

Burt grinned, “This should make you happy, we’ve just been given the go-ahead.”

A laugh echoed around this somewhat large room, but the source was no where to be seen.  “Excellent! I’ve been waiting to do something… fun.”

“You and me both Brother. But, before we start, I must go fetch Sister as well.”

“Oh yes, what fun would it be…without her…condition to liven things up?”

“Oh how right, of course, you aren’t much better than her in that respect.” Burt chuckled.

“Dear Brother, you are always such the kidder!” he laughed.

“And I thought that was supposed to be you, Hal.”

Hal snickered from the dark. He was sitting in a clawed up, dark, green armchair that was presently turned away from Burt. He pulled a small chain with his mouth which let loose a dim light from an old lamp. Hal hopped of the chair and walked towards his brother, grinning. His face was soon illuminated, showing his face that was a ghostly white, save for the black circles around his eyes and red painted around his muzzle, which was outlined by even more black. His nose looked abnormally large and red.

“You’re right, how could I forget” Hal chortled.

“But enough of these pleasantries, we must prepare. You can just wait here while I round up Lilith.”

“As you wish Brother.”

Burt gracefully bowed and slowly backed up to the door before ducking through the hole and reaching the outside. The billowing snow did nothing to distract him as he continued his trek to the opposite side, or the southern part, of town. He couldn’t help himself from smiling as he passed a barn and heard snoring and other noises of sleep from inside. Right after the barn, he came to a house that looked to be in pretty good condition. He saw a dog sleeping on the porch and grinned. Burt whistled loudly, immediately waking up the sleeping dog.

“Who’s there!?” she yelled, “Don’t mess with me!”

Burt walked towards her and she relaxed.

“Oh Burt, it’s only you… It is you, correct?” she asked, eyeing him suspiciously.

“Life is controlled by destiny. Everything that we do or do not do affects us in the end,” he said, using a phrase that was supposed to confirm that it was him to his sister.

“Oh good, it is you,” she sighed, relaxing her shoulders, “but what brings you to my neck of the woods? I’m guessing something interesting.”

Burt smirked, “Well, that depends, messing around with others sound interesting to you?”

Lilith’s ears perked slightly, “It sure does.”

She stood up and walked into the storm with her brother, glancing over her shoulder every few seconds.

“Don’t worry Sister,” he comforted, “no one’s out to get you…”

Chapter Two:

“Come on Stevan. I have much to share with you.”