Balto: Betrayal

  ***This story is copyright to Lone Wolf_fanwriter (me). Please do not attempt to reproduce, copy, or alter this piece of work without my EXPLICETE permission.

 Chapter One

Balto padded softly through the falling snow. There was a storm moving in, he could smell it. But I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect time. I bet Jen won’t expect me so early. He walked past the telegraph office and nodded to Morse, the telegraph operator’s dog. As he neared the boiler room, he spotted Kaltag climbing down from a perch by the window.

“Kaltag, how are you?”
        The tan husky looked up and Balto gasped. Kaltag looked as if he’d seen a ghost.

“Oh, Balto, h-hello.”

“Kaltag, what is it? What’s wrong?”

“I think there’s been, uh, trouble in the boiler room,” he replied hesitantly.

“Jenna’s in there, is she okay?” He turned and dashed toward the door, but Kaltag stepped in front of him.

“Balto, I’m your friend so trust me; you don’t want to see this, it’s not pretty.”

“If she’s hurt I’ve got to help her!” Balto leapt over Kaltag and ran toward the door before he could stop him.

“Balto, don’t-!” Too late. Balto looked into the boiler room. His eyes widened and he stopped in his tracks. Balto took a sudden step backward, as if someone had hit him, and fell in disbelief. Kaltag padded up beside him and put a paw on his back.

“I’m sorry.”
        Balto’s eyes filled with tears as he looked in. Jenna lay on her side, but no blood flowed from beneath her and there was no frozen mask of pain and terror on her face. She was smiling, and a black husky lay beside her with his paw draped over her.

“No…” Balto gasped, “How…how could she?”

“I don’t know,” Kaltag sighed.

“She…she said she’d be waiting for me. We were going to spend the whole day together. I didn’t…I didn’t think…” He bowed his head and sobbed.

“I’m sorry Balto. I didn’t want to believe it either, but I saw them go in together and well…they seemed to enjoy each others company.” Just then, Balto lifted his head again, but, despite the teams that streamed down his face, his teeth were bared and his eyes filled with anger. He leapt forward and glared down at Jenna, knowing he could end her life right then if he wanted too. He leaned down and opened his jaw, but stopped, amazed at what he’d almost done. The anger in his heart quickly gave way to sorrow once more and he whispered,

“I love you Jenna and I always will.”

He turned and ran, afraid that if he started crying again, he wouldn’t be able to stop. He dashed right past a startled Kaltag and out into the night. Kaltag took a step after him, but bowed his head and walked home.

        The next morning, Jenna woke to the whistling of the wind. She yawned and blinked the sleep from her eyes. Beside her, she felt someone stirring. She looked over and smiled. Kale woke up beside her and kissed her on the cheek.

“Did you sleep well, Kale?”

“I don’t remember getting much sleep,” he replied, “It’s been a while since Fairbanks, Jenna, but you haven’t changed at all.” Jenna felt a lump in her throat and swallowed hard. “What do you mean?”

"Well, I just meant that I'm glad you still...you know, care for me."

Jenna gasped. Oh no...

“We spent the night together, didn’t we?” Kale nodded and smiled. “I…I hardly remember it all,” Jenna said. Suddenly, her face lost all color as a wave of nasea swept thru her. She put a paw to her stomach and her cream-colored face turned pale. Kale smiled again and said,

“I really enjoyed last night, Jen.” Jenna began to shake so badly that she couldn’t stand.

“We spent the night together…”

Oh, how could I have been so stupid? What have I done?

“Jenna, what’s wrong? What is it?”

Jenna had begun to cry.

“Balto will never forgive me.” Kale looked at her in confusion. “Kale, I already have a mate… And he’s coming back home today.”

“Oh jeez, Jenna, I’m sorry. If I’d known, I-”

“I have to tell him.”

“What? Jenna, no one has to know. This can be our secret. Besides, I’m leaving for Applegate tomorrow. No one will know.”

Jenna shook her head.

“Balto will never forgive me, but I won’t be able to hide this.” She stood and took a deep breath to hold back the tears. “I have to tell him.”

Slowly she rose to her paws, and before Kale could say a word, she padded out the door.

Once she was gone, Kale breathed a private sigh of relief. Maybe she's not as smart as I remembered. She didn't even remember she'd told me about Balto, or falling asleep. He padded to the doorway and looked out after her. It was nice to have you one last time, Jenna.

* * *

Boris was mopping the deck of Balto’s boat and muttering something in Russian when Jenna walked up to him.

“Boris, is Balto-”

“YOU!!” he cried, spinning around, “I ought to strangle you with my bare wings! You’ve got a lot of nerve coming back here!”

“W-What?” Jenna gasped.

“Do you know what you DID to him? When he came back here, he looked like he was going to DIE!”

“What? Boris, please, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to-”

“Didn’t mean to what? Didn’t mean to break Balto’s heart? Didn’t mean to make him collapse into tears? Didn’t mean to throw his love for you out the window? You had to be pretty darn serious about spending the night with this other guy!”

“How did you know?”

“How did I know? HOW DID I KNOW? That tan husky, what’s his name, Kaltag! He told me. He saw the whole thing!” He paused and added, “And so did Balto.” Jenna felt tears coming, but blinked them back and said,

“Could…could I speak to Balto?”

“If you can find him,” Boris replied turning to resume his mopping. Jenna didn’t understand.

“What do you mean?” Boris turned around again.

“What I am meaning is that Balto is GONE!” he said, raising his voice to a shout. Jenna felt like she’d been shot. After a long moment of uneasy silence, she whispered,

“Gone?” Boris nodded.

“He left almost as soon as he got back here. Just ran off into the woods. And after what you did to him, I don’t blame him.” He pointed a long feathery finger at her. “In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me if he never came back.”

“There’s a storm coming… Do you…know where he went?”

“Balto didn’t say anything. He just left.” Jenna could tell by Boris’ tone that he was not in the mood for any further conversation. She looked into the forest, then up at the sky. Figuring she had at least five hours of daylight left, she said,

“I’m going after him.”

“Good luck,” Boris replied in an uncharacteristic lack of interest. Jenna leapt down and started to walk in the direction of the woods, but stopped and came back to the bow of Balto’s boat. She climbed up the plank and placed her bandanna on a crate.

“If he comes back, would you give this to him?” Boris said nothing. “Please, Boris…”

“Oh, alright.”

“If you see him, tell him…” She began to tear up. “Tell him that I love him, with all my heart.” Boris kept mopping, so she walked sadly down the plank and trotted into the forest. A few minutes later, Boris suddenly stopped mopping.

“Wait a minute…” He followed Jenna’s paw marks with his eyes. “She’s going into the woods? In a storm? In her condition?” He scratched his head for a moment. “Maybe I was wrong about her…”

* * *

Meanwhile, Jenna padded among the trees, guided only by Balto’s faint scent and what remained of his paw prints in the snow. She stopped and sighed, feeling tears in her eyes again. She looked at her stomach. How could I have been so stupid? Now, I’ll be lucky if Balto even speaks to me. She paused and thought of what Boris had said, and his angry voice echoed in her mind,

“Do you know what you DID to him? When he came back here, he looked like he was going to DIE!” She blinked back tears and whispered,

“Balto, I’m so sorry. I don’t know what I’ll do without you.” Jenna bowed her head and squinted against the howling wind. I’ve got to find him, even if it kills me…

 

Chapter Two

“Is all of this true, Kaltag?” Doc looked at the tan husky, confused, almost appalled. Kaltag nodded.
“I never thought that Jenna would do something like that.” But then again, Doc thought, I’ve been wrong before… “Have you told anyone else?”

“No, only…only Balto.” Doc sighed.

“Have you seen Jenna at all?”

“No. I came back and checked this morning, but she and that other husky were already gone.”

“Do you know where she might be?”

“She’s gone after Balto!” A Russian voice interrupted. Both canines looked up in surprise as Boris sat on the edge of a roof and continued. “She ran off into the woods early this morning.”

“What?” Kaltag couldn’t believe his ears.

“You heard me. Jenna’s gone after Balto.”

“Gone after Balto?” Doc replied. Boris nodded.

“After seeing Jenna with this guy Kale, he completely fell apart. He couldn’t even speak, he was so shocked. I tried to say something, but he ran off into the forest.”

“And Jenna followed him?” Kaltag said, unintentionally raising his voice to a shout.

“Da. She’s trying to find him to apologize, but how can you apologize for something like that?”

“I don’t know, but unless Balto returns and presses charges, we can’t do anything. Above all, we can’t tell Kodi and the others.”

“Tell me what?” Kodi walked up beside Kaltag and Doc, eyeing them suspiciously.

“Kodi, its nothing you should worry about.” The red and cream husky furrowed his brow.

“If it’s about mom and dad, I want to know.”

“Kodi…” Kaltag started to reply, but the look on Kodi’s face changed his mind. “Alright, but not here.” He led Kodi into the boiler room and closed the door. He turned and saw Kodi staring at him expectantly. How do I tell him? Just say: Kodi, your mom had an affair with another husky named Kale. Now your dad is gone and Jenna went