right now she didn’t feel like seeing one more dead body, one more old enemy, or one more drop of blood. But then Ketch’s face swam into her mind. Her teeth clenched as she tried not to imagine what could have happened to him. Her eyes squeezed closed even harder as she realized she had to find out.

Chase opened her eyes and sprang to her feet. Immediately the world tipped and spun like a top. Chase knew her open wounds were doing her in, but nothing was going to stop her now.

“Chase?” Copper murmured, “Chase, are you okay?”

Chase realized all of a sudden that she was screwing her face up in fierce concentration, and she forced herself to relax. “I’m fine,” she said, trying to trot briskly forward, “Let’s go, so you can save Taya’s butt just like you saved mine!”

Copper’s eyes flashed with worry, but he stopped and quietly let Chase onto his back. Normally she would have been insulted, but her strength was sapping too fast for her to complain.

They reached the battlefield shortly, and Chase was struck violently by the tense silence that seemed to hang as heavily over it as the thick, iron gray clouds overhead. Streaks of red swept the grass, and broken bodies lay defeated across the field. Steele stood at the center with four wolves in a half-moon formation behind him, glaring at the gray beta wolf who pushed Kaila behind him protectively as he stood before Steele. That raised Chase’s eyebrows, but all thoughts were immediately washed away when she saw what lay blood-soaked and shaking on the ground.

“Ketch?” Chase whispered, choking on her own words. The sky whirled in a disarray of colors, and a lump of hard ice sat in her stomach. She barely felt Copper galloping under her, and when he threw himself at Taya, who was standing watch over Ketch, Chase flung herself off his back and tumbled to the ground. She rolled to a stop, breathing hard and closing her eyes. But the smell that swirled up her nostrils was the cloying scent of fresh blood. It smothered her, drawing stripes of red through the blackness behind her eyelids. Chase wished she were anywhere but here, any time but right now.

Feeling as if scabs were scraping the sides of her throat, she heaved herself up, and recoiled when she saw half of her fur was covered with blood. The reeking scent bruised her mind with sickly yellows and purples, and the ice in her stomach lurched forward. She dragged herself to Ketch’s side, and when she saw his face it felt like an icicle had plunged through her chest.

“Ketch?” she whispered. He looked so horrible; she could barely see his face through all the blood and torn skin and ripped fur. The ice in her stomach lurched again, and threatened to come up all the way, but she stopped it just in time.

Ketch’s hazel eyes opened a crack. They forced themselves to focus on her, and Ketch mustered up a pained smile. “Chase! You’re all right.”

“Yes, but you’re not!” Chase cried, her voice scraping against unshed tears quivering just below the surface. “You’re…you’re…”

“Yeah, I know. Let’s just say all my dreams of being a show dog are long gone.”

Chase gagged on her own cheerless laughter, barely hanging on to a world she felt was being smashed into a thousand jagged pieces. Even now, Ketch was trying to make her forget about the dead and dying all around her…even right in front of her eyes.

The leaden clouds drew across the sky like a curtain. The white-gold medallion of a sun was veiled behind the clouds. The first cold, white flakes of snow blew down the wind’s back, and Chase was vaguely aware of herself shivering.

Ketch’s beaten body quaked, and his grin had creased into a grimace. As if in a dream, Chase lay down beside him, curving her body to his, and started licking his wounds. “What happened?”

Ketch closed his eyes and lay back quietly, his body calming at Chase’s touch. “When Copper went after you, I saved Taya. I had to keep up my half of his bargain, right? I had to save her.”

Ketch’s body suddenly constricted, and he hacked onto the ground, his sides jarring and his legs jerking back and forth. Chase watched the sickening sight in horror, and then pressed her eyes shut so hard the tears squeezed out and trailed down her cheeks. The salt in her tears washed and stung the scratches across her face. She blinked fiercely with the pricking pain of it, and looked over to see Ketch’s hacking fit was over.

A shadow seemed to have bled into his eyes, making them deep and dark on his tired face. He was fading, disappearing into another world entirely. “A life for a life,” he murmured faintly, and Chase saw the light dim inside him.

A wildfire roared up inside her in an instant. “No!” she shrieked wildly, thumping Ketch’s back and side with her paws in a desperate attempt to drag him back to the living. “Ketch! No! Oh, God, no! Ketch, you can beat this! Ketch! Come on! You’re…you’re my best friend. You’re my only friend. Dang it, Ketch…I love you…”

Her energy simmered down to nothing inside her. She was tired of fighting battles she knew she had already lost.

She softly licked his face, her heart screaming silently as she showed her true feelings to him at last…but he wasn’t there to see them.

She sobbed, sucking in air as if it she who taking her last breaths, not Ketch. Her tears slid freely now, and the twinge of salt on her cuts brought Chase back to a world of pain, a world she could understand. She licked his face fiercely, bringing her mouth over his forehead, his nose, his muzzle. All the love and fear and pain and love she had locked inside came pouring out as she nuzzled his neck, nudged his ears. She had longed to do this for so long, but he wasn’t there to feel it.

Chase whined, her heart splitting, as she tenderly licked his chin. He tasted so good, and kind, and strong. He didn’t deserve a death like this.

Chase let her head drop to the ground, her unvoiced sobs howling inside her. It was time to stop fighting…

“Don’t stop.”

Chase slowly raised her head, one tear spattering the ground. She rested her eyes on Ketch, and her eyes widened slightly when she thought she saw a hint of a smile cross his mouth. It was gone in a second, but then his mouth cracked open, and the quietest voice whispered, “…Don’t stop.”

Unbelieving, Chase softly licked the side of his face. She was encouraged by his faint smile, and she rubbed her cheek against his, her heart pounding wildly. She brought up a trembling paw and brushed it down Ketch’s neck, and then licked his neck gently, over and over, feeling his blood pump under wherever her lips touched.

Ketch shivered at the feeling, and turned his head and kissed her.

Chase lay there, heart thudding against her chest, Ketch’s mouth pressed on hers, and felt the brightest, most beautiful streak of happiness shoot through her like a sunray. Ketch was alive, and he loved her just like she loved him. The whole thing was like the Northern Lights: beyond words.

They drew apart, and Chase watched the green flecks in Ketch’s eyes shine like stars. He was so good to her. He was so good… “Ketch…” she breathed. He looked at her with so much love, and kissed her again.

The feel of his burning lips on hers made Chase dizzy with glee. She was flying through the sunset on golden wings, and when they parted again she gazed up at him, hardly daring to believe this was happening.

“Ketch,” she said again, “You’re…you’re alive!”

He ducked down and rubbed his tip of his nose against hers. “I wasn’t going to leave you behind. I love you, Chase.”

“I love you, too, Ketch,” Chase replied softly, almost giddy with happiness and disbelief. She burrowed her head under his chin, and whenever he spoke the words in his throat thrummed against her temple. She closed her eyes with pleasure and bliss.

“I told you you weren’t going without a fight, not while I was still here,” Ketch said, “You still have a battle to win, Chase.”

‘He’s right,’ she thought, ‘I have one more fight.’

She fixed her eyes on the black and white malamute in the middle of the field and murmured savagely, “Steele, I am going to kill you.”

Dusty had lunged for Robin as Chase’s war cry rang through his ears. He sprang with all his strength, all his heart, all his love as a father, and his chest smashed into Steele’s paw, tearing Robin from his deadly grip. Dusty hurtled through the air and crashed to the ground, rolling to a shuddering, painful stop. He clenched his teeth as his wounds seared like lightning through him, and he listened in a daze to the screams and yells and growls and snaps of war raging about him. He could feel the anger and hatred of the dogs and wolves burning him as if he were trapped inside a growing flame. His own breathing sounded harsh and choking against his ears, but through it all came a small, soft whimper.

Dusty forced his eyes open and saw Robin lying beside him. One glassy blue eye peeked out from her battered face, and Dusty could see she was fighting to stay conscious. He pulled himself to his feet and closed his teeth around the scruff of her neck, and hurled himself through the barrage of lashing wolves and dogs. Teeth and claws sank into Dusty as he dashed through the fray, but he sent their owners tumbling to the ground yelping in surprise and anger. He ran as if he were still running for the mail team, but now he was carrying much more precious cargo.

Dusty crashed through the bunch of pine trees and came almost nose-to-nose with Kira.

“Is she all right?” Kira blurted.

Dusty only stared at her. They both knew the answer to that question.

He laid Robin on bare ground that had never been touched by winter snows, thanks to the branches above and around them. Silver and Gail, huddled together in fear of the battle raging beyond the trees, crept over and pressed against Kira as they stared at their sister.

The sounds of fighting grew distant as the space inside the circle of trees seemed to become a solemn, sacred grove.

“Mom,” Silver whispered hoarsely. His blue-green eyes