woke up.”

Balto shook his head.

“I didn’t know if I would or not.”

The wolf smiled at him.

“Well, the only reason that you did, is because our leader wanted to know why you had Raye, you’re very lucky.

My name is Raeona, and I was told to watch you, now that you're up, you should go see him. He'll be in the main chamber, just down that corridor outside, there.”

Balto stood up and walked out of the chamber, and down into what he thought was the main chamber.

A gray wolf saw his approach, and started towards him.

"So the trespasser wakes up." He said.

He smiled.

"I have to apologize for Knidu's somewhat rash behavior, but we are at war with your daughter's pack.”

Balto interrupted him.

"Actually, my daughter, Aleu, no longer leads the Talbourne clan; in fact she opposed the killing of Kilu very much."

"Yes," the gray wolf said, "that was most unfortunate. His father, Bundae, is screaming for blood. but I.... I do not know if we would win or not, t'would be a bloody war to be sure."

"Forgive me, I did not introduce myself. I am Hiluck, leader of this pack, and alpha of the Onasie clan."

"And I am Balto," Balto responded.

"Yes," Hiluck said, "I know who you are, your exploits reach much farther than you may realize brother wolf."

"Well," Balto said, "I'm only half..."

Hiluck smiled again and laughed.

"If you have wolf blood flowing in your veins, however much, you are a brother to us."

The wolf's tone changed, from one of simple conversation, to stern, almost warning.

"Whether that is the brother of an enemy or a friend, depends upon how you answer my next few questions, and you will find that we of the Onasie clan, have little use for our enemies."

"The most important question I ask is this: "Why did you have my daughter?"

"Aleu found her in a storm; she brought her into their cave, unable to let someone so small be affected by things she could not control."

Hiluck nodded.

"Yes, yes, go on."

"When Aleu brought Raye back, one of her friends tried to kill Raye. Aleu tried to defend her, but was forced to attack one of her own pack. After that, the friend challenged her, and beat her."

Hiluck interrupted him again.

"I am truly sorry for your loss, Aleu was a good leader."

The wolf hung his head.

"No," Balto said, "she didn't die, her mate, Shadow, jumped in and saved her."

"He violated the rules of challenge?"

"Yes," Balto said, "he did, in order to save Aleu."

"Aleu was a great fighter," Hiluck said, "I cannot believe she lost so easily. I fought her once, it was an experience I shall never forget, had it not been for Aleu's mercy; I would not be standing before you now."

"Aleu lost a lot of her martial training when she became a mother.” Balto said.

“She let herself become complacent with the lack of opposition within her own pack, huh?”

“I guess so,” Balto said.

“That’s how I gained control of this pack when I was a wet behind the ears youngster, had it been a leader who had stayed on top of the state of things within his pack, I probably wouldn’t have survived, It was a rash decision that I actually, somewhat, regret. There has been several times that my family has been endangered by my position, this was one of those times. Raye wandered away from the group, something that we didn’t realize until we returned here.”

The wolf looked at the ground.

“The storm was such that we couldn’t go back for her, it would have endangered the others of the pack unnecessarily.”

He looked back up at Balto.

“It was one of the hardest decisions I have ever had to make.”

“I can imagine,” Balto said.

“So,” Hiluck said, “back to your story.”

“Yes,” Balto said, “well, Aleu was kicked out of the pack, and only about twenty wolves followed her into exile.

They found a cave not too far from the Talbourne clan’s cave. I guess one of the wolves in the group knew about it, anyway, soon after this, this wolf named Gia showed up. She and nine of her… group, were trespassing, so Lightning, who led the security detail in Shadow’s absence, attacked them.

Balto paused.

“They are incredibly good fighters, the ten of them took down Lightning’s fifteen strong group in less than thirty seconds.”

“That is fast,” Hiluck said.

Balto nodded.

“They killed three, and immobilized the rest. Anyway, apparently Gia led this group of mercenary types, rovers I think Shadow called them.”

“Rovers?” Hiluck asked, “I didn’t think there were anymore of them around.”

“Seems to be everyone’s general consensus,” Balto said.

“Oh yes, sometime in the middle of all of this, Aleu’s little band of rebels, was attacked by two humans, and Shadow was shot, but not fatally, he’s doing just fine now, though he was pretty bad off for a few days, the humans also killed one other.”

“Anyway, Aniak, who was the leader of the Talbourne clan at that time, hired Gia and her team to kill Kilu.

Balto paused again.

“Hiluck, it was she who killed Kilu.”

Hiluck nodded.

“Aniak tacked on to their little deal, Aleu’s murder.

Only Gia had other plans, she brought Aleu back to Aniak. Seems Gia thinks she is getting a little old for the rover lifestyle, and she wanted to settle down. She brought Aleu back to Aniak, she viewed it as some kind of test, and told her to kill her.

Aniak refused.”

“So this Aniak could order her friend’s death, but she couldn’t do it herself?” Hiluck asked.

“Apparently,” Balto said.

“Shortly after that, Gia challenged, and killed Aniak.”

“So this Gia is in power now?” Hiluck asked.

“Yes, and she has Aleu.”

Balto looked at the ground, sighed, and then looked back up.

“Gia has given us an ultimatum. She wants Raye for Aleu. If we don’t comply… Aleu will die, and Gia wouldn’t hesitate, it wouldn’t bother her a bit.

Since we have given you Raye… Aleu will die.”

“Balto, while I appreciate what you have done, but I’m not sure that I understand your actions, given your situation.”

“Before they moved into the cave, Aleu made Shadow promise, and later me, that no matter what happened to her, that we would return Raye to you… so you can see, that Gia’s trade… it was unacceptable.”

“So what are you going to do now, is there any way to save Aleu?” Hiluck asked.

“That is why I came here, to plead, to beg you to assist us in attacking the Talbourne clan. It is the only way that Aleu, and my son, can be rescued.”
“I don’t know about that,” Hiluck said, “the reason that we have avoided open war with them, is that I don’t know if that’s a battle, that we would, or even could win.”

He thought for a moment.

“Tell you what, let me convene with our council and my mate, and I’ll tell you in the morning, I can promise you my personal assistance, but that of the pack I cannot.

I am very grateful that you have returned Raye to me, and that will go a long way toward persuading the council.”

He smiled at Balto.

“You have made a hard, but wise decision, brother wolf, one that may prevent much bloodshed, if we can get Aleu back in power within the Talbourne clan.”

“I would appreciate any assistance you can give, as I said, Aleu is dead without it.”

“I assure you that I will do everything within my power to see that that does not happen, but you must understand that even my power has limits.

I will have an answer for you in the morning, for now, go see Raeona, and she will show you where you can bed down for the night.”

“Thank you,” Balto said.

Hiluck nodded at him, and walked away.

Balto walked out of the chamber.

Balto woke up the following morning, as Raeona stepped in.

"My you're a light sleeper."

Balto yawned.

"Somewhat."

Raeona walked over to him.

"Hiluck wants to see you in the main chamber again."

Balto stretched and stood up.

"I wanted to thank you for returning Hiluck's daughter Balto, that was an awfully brave thing to do, or stupid, I don't know which..."

"Sometimes there's a fine line," Balto said, "between brave and stupid."

"Yes, I suppose that is true," she said, "I suppose it depends upon that which you believe in."

She paused briefly.

"Anyway, I wanted to thank you, because she's my daughter as well."

Balto looked somewhat surprised.

"You're Hiluck's..."

Raeona nodded and smiled.

"It's an honor to meet you," Balto said.

Raeona smiled again.

"The same is true for me as well Balto, I've never gotten to meet a hero of such renown before."

Balto smiled, a little embarrassed.

"Well, everyone makes a whole lot more out of that than I deserve, I only brought the medicine back about thirty miles, the team was the real heroes, sometimes I wish that they got more credit, they deserve it."

Raeona giggled.
"Ooh, a meek hero, I like that in a warrior."

"Well I'm not exactly