eyes, stood up from his blanket that was his bed, and stretched. It felt like he hadn’t slept in days, which probably wasn’t too far from the truth. Through his bleary vision, he saw two dogs.

“Saba, Denali, what’re you two doing here?” he asked.

Saba smiled smugly and pointed to her brother. “See, Denali here was worried that you’d kick his butt when you woke up, so he brought along a girl.”

Denali shook his head. “I believe that she was the one that begged me to come. I wasn’t so much worried about dealing with you.”

“Oh come off it already!” she laughed, “You are such a blowhard!”

“Darn skippy,” he actually smirked.

The small dog looked at them confusedly. “What’s going on? Why were you worried about me?”

Denali nudged Saba. “Oh boy, looks like it’s going to be fun with the questions.”

Saba looked at Star sympathetically. “Just go back to bed. It’s a long story apparently.”

The three listened as the wind outside howled. It loosened the snow from the roof and sent it plummeting to the ground. A few flakes from the drift were caught in the wind and thrown this way and that. They danced to the outskirts of town and across the frozen plains to an old, abandoned fishing vessel. A Russian snow goose waddled on the deck, mop in wing. He ran the semi-wet, semi-frozen mop across a stain over and over until it at last disappeared.

“That mutt, coming here and causing trouble and messes,” Boris huffed. “why, if I could get my wings on him, I’d… I’d!” 

He paused for a moment as he tried to think of what he’d do. He looked at the mop in his wings and scratched his chin thoughtfully. A small drift of snow hit the goose’s beak and he spluttered. He dropped the mop and pointed to the clouds above accusingly.

“Is all your fault! I say, no snow, but of course not, you come anyway! Bad!” he scolded.

He soon felt satisfied with this bit of anger relief when the wind blew another conglomeration of snow past him and continued on its way as he began to yell at it once more. The icy wind whipped around back towards Nome and through the empty streets. It flew through the shell of the once burning roof, down the nearest alleyway, and over a few lumps in the snow that used to be dogs. One of the two dogs was just a week away from being three months old, but that would never come for him. The wind blew onward and whirled around a nearby telegraph post, to which two posters desperately clung to. Both had black and white pictures and a small description underneath with the headline, “Missing Dog”. The first showed five dogs. Three small pups were in a round basket, their tongues hanging out as they looked everywhere but the camera. One was near white, the other had white swirls on her black shoulders, and the final had two white stripes running down his back. Their parents looked very proud as they watched their children. The description below read as such.

“Five missing dogs, all being husky. Their names are Lucy (Adult Female), Bruno (Adult Male), Becca (Female Pup), Stevan (White Striped, Male Pup), and Seth (Near White, Male Pup). If found, please return to the Nome Butcher. Reward of Five Dollars for each one returned.”

The second poster showed only a single dog in the picture. She was a black and white husky as well. The pattern on her back was like falling snow in slow-motion. Her forelegs, one having a lacy ribbon wound around it, were crossed and her ears were laid back submissively, as if she were very camera-shy. In the picture, a little girl with long, auburn hair had her small hands wrapped around the dogs neck. She was grinning from ear to ear and obviously enjoying herself.

“Please help us find our missing dog. Her name’s Lilith, but she’s timid, so it would take some coaxing. We’ve missed her so much, and we hope she comes home soon. We’ll pay up to Fifteen Dollars to see her safely returned home.”

The wind caught underneath the second poster and ripped it from the pole. It sailed along over the head of a dog named Dingo who was going to visit his mom, and past the telegraph office where Lawrence Kode was busily working. As it continued its course the direction of the wind suddenly shifted, carrying it over the partially covered body of the dog that was also in its picture and above the rooftops. The poster flitted through the air until being sent flying at a fast pace. The freezing wind took it far outside of the town, towards the forests and mountains. The poster descended rapidly after spying a set of three dogs. It bounced along the ground, kicking up snow with it until a paw stepped on it by accident, halting any further movements. The owner of the paw looked down at the poster, the lacy, red, ribbon around her neck bobbing. She saw the picture of her aunt and gulped, her eyes still not dry from before. She quickly knelt down and picked up the poster in her teeth, crumpling it before her uncle could see it. She stuffed the poster in between the ribbon and her neck and looked up at Hal. He was watching the horizon in complete silence, a rare thing.

“Hmm, interesting…” Hal whispered.

“What?” Seth asked, curious.

“I gave a time that the trio were to meet us here. That must mean that they’ve been defeated…” he let loose a grin and chuckled, “which means that Balto succeeded in beating Star…”

“And why’s that a good thing?”

Hal patted the pup on his head. “Because Seth, this means that Balto isn’t as much of a pawn as I thought. Thus, he’s caught my interest… Maybe that’s why the others wanted him dead so badly…”

Hal looked down at Becca and noticed something. He stepped over to her slowly and put a paw on her head, pushing it down to get a clear picture at the back of her neck. Hal knelt down and lifted Becca’s head with a claw under her chin, locking his eyes with hers.

“Now, where did you get this thing?” he asked quietly, motioning to the red ribbon.

“I… I got it from Aunt Lilith…” she gulped again.

“You don’t say… What happened to her anyway?” he asked, acting innocent, “And, how did you get that?”

Becca shuffled her paws. “Well, uhm… I found Aunt Lilith in the snow, and she was crying… She gave me her ribbon and… and…” Becca couldn’t the sentence and she looked down at her paws. Hal put a soothing paw on her shoulder.

“I understand perfectly… Did you happen to see who did that to her?”

Becca shook her head back and forth as she shut her eyes tightly to block any tears. “I got there too late. They must’ve been gone.”

On the outside, Hal put on the best concerned face he could. However, he was grinning on the inside. 

“What a pity… Don’t worry, we’ll find out who did it some day, and avenge her…” he cooed.

The small pup opened her glassy eyes and stared up at her uncle. “R-Really?”

He nodded and patted her on the head. “But of course. Would I lie to you?” Hal hid a snicker as he turned her around slowly. “Now, you two start off ahead, I just need to be alone for a few minutes.”

Seth walked over to his sister and began to pull her away. At first she wouldn’t budge, but after a few more seconds she followed after Seth. The wind, intertwined with snow, whirled around Hal’s body. He stared into the barely-visible town of Nome, talking with himself.

“Even beyond the grave you’re trying to stir up trouble Lilith... But you won’t stop this time…” Hal snickered, “You’re powerless to stop me now. You weren’t even smart enough to tell your little niece that me, her own uncle, took you down.”

Hal licked his lips and turned his back to Nome. His tail swished as he began to walk away, but he stopped. He stole a glance over his shoulder.

“Oh, and Balto, be prepared. One of these days, I’ll return to find you. I think you’d make a most excellent addition to my little ‘family’.”

He took a few steps forward. Before the puppet master turned back around into the swirling blizzard, he said with pure gratitude and glee this simple phrase.

“Thank you Balto… I would have lost without you…” 

~Fin

By: Walto Disney.