couldn’t kill Kodan, they couldn’t!

Seeing my distress, the sled dog smiled comfortingly.  “Ah, don’t worry about it too much.  The vet’s a softie for dogs that put up a good fight, and so is the musher.  They won’t kill him.”

I was grateful to see that he was right.  Kodan was not killed.  Instead, they gave him a warm cage in the veterinarian’s office, along with plenty of good food to eat.  As for myself, I stayed out of sight under the building, talking to Kodan through a grate in the floor when he was awake.  At night, I ventured into the woods to hunt.

One day as I was talking to Kodan, a voice piped up from the cage beside his.  It was Snowflake, who was also recovering from her brush with death.  “Say, Aniu, I have an idea.  Do you want a home?”

I nodded.  Even with Kodan to talk to, I had been somewhat lonely without my pack.  Moreover, it was cold underneath the building.  “Yes, I would,” I answered, “but who would take me?”

“You and I look alike, right?” said Snowflake.

“Yes,” I agreed.

“My owner is pretty old and doesn’t see so well.  Once I get out of here, you can come to live at my place.  As long as he doesn’t see both of us at the same time, he’ll think you’re me.”

I nodded.  It seemed like a sound idea, and I had to admit that after so much time around dogs I was very curious to see how they lived.

The plan was agreed upon, and when Snowflake returned to her home I went along.  Using one of her spare collars to make my disguise more convincing, I managed to settle very quickly into the life of an ordinary housedog.  Looking back on it, I see now that in a way things had come full circle: I had made Kodan a part of my culture, and now I had become a part of his.

Speaking of Kodan, I suppose it is obvious what eventually happened.  We mated, and it was not long before I gave birth to a litter of five beautiful cubs.  Or pups, since they were half wolf and half dog.  We never knew what to say they were, but they were beautiful.  There were two girls, whom we named Snowflake (in honor of our friend), and Nina, after my mother.  The boys we named Blizzard, in honor of the dog who had brought us together, Shadow, and Balto.

All was well for a short time, but then the world fell apart.

Part 14: Kodan 

Getting back to Nome was quite a relief.  I enjoyed my time among the wolves, and Aniu and I had plans of returning to her pack as soon as our children were old enough to make the journey.  All the same, I was happy I had a chance to see old friends one last time, and I thought it would be fun to see the look on old Sequoia’s face when he found out he was now a grandfather.  For the moment, however, all that mattered to me was my family.

Unfortunately that family was soon jeopardized when a visitor to the house where Snowflake and Aniu lived recognized Aniu as a wolf and drove her away.  The old man was very confused, and Snowflake later told us that she herself had almost been chased out as well.  Fortunately, no one was harmed in the incident, and Snowflake smuggled the puppies out safely that night.  Between the two of us, Aniu and I decided that it would be best if she moved into an empty cave nearby until it was time to return to her pack.

Perhaps if I had not been so preoccupied with the near escape of my wife and children, I would have seen the warning signs that took place in my own home in the weeks that followed.  Since my owner was dead, I had been handed over to his brother, who had thoughts of forming a sled team himself.  I had little time to think of anything, and tried most of the time to remain aloof from my new owner in hopes that it would be easier on both of us when I left him.  So it was that I never noticed the suitcases.

Several weeks before I was to leave with Aniu and our children, my new owner stopped me as I was heading out the door.  He took me by the collar and guided me toward a cage.  “Come on, boy,” he said.  “Get in.”

I struggled.  I knew enough to know that a cage could only mean trouble- especially now.

“Hey, no fussing, Kodan.  We’re going to Nenana.  A friend of mine told me that they need a musher there.  We’ll go, buy us some dogs, and you’ll have a job again.  Doesn’t that sound good?”

I struggled harder and growled.  I didn’t want that life anymore.  I didn’t want to be part of a sled team, pulling mail.  I wanted to run with my pack, with Aniu’s pack.  I wanted to sleep in the wild and eat my own food.  I wanted to live… with my family.

But my fighting was useless.  I was forced into the cage, and the door was shut behind me.  I howled in despair.  I howled all the way to the train station, and long after I had been loaded into the car and taken far from the sight of Nome.  From Aniu.  From all that I loved.

When at last my voice gave out, I lay down in the cage and wept, wishing that I could die.

Part 15: Aniu 

I waited for Kodan to come, but he still did not appear.  Even weeks after our children were old enough to travel, I wondered and waited.  I asked every dog in Nome, trying every method from pleading to threatening, anything I could think of to find Kodan.  But no matter what I did, no one knew what had happened to him.

At last I decided I should go back to my own pack.  Before I left, I asked Snowflake to tell Kodan where I had gone if he ever came back.  She promised that she would, and assured me that Kodan would turn up eventually.  “He never quits,” she said.

I sighed.  “I wish I believed you.”  And with that, I took the children and left.  We trekked for days, stopping only to eat and to rest.  I hunted small game to feed the children, only eating whatever they left.

One night we sat to watch the stars come out.  I told the children stories I had been told as a cub.  I also told them how Kodan and I had met and fallen in love- partly so they would know and partly so I would remember.  “Are we ever going to see Father again?” asked Balto as I finished the story.

I looked at him.  He was so much like Kodan, it was impossible to bear looking at him and impossible to bear to look away, like some bitter medicine I couldn’t live without.  “I’m sure we will, son,” I replied.  I left unsaid the fact that I had no idea whether or not he- or we, for that matter- would still be alive when it happened.

“Oh, I wouldn’t bet on that,” chortled a voice from the shadows.

Every hair on my body stood on end.  ‘That voice…’ I thought.  I spun to watch as a black shape stepped out of the darkness.

“Miss me?” it asked.

“No,” I gasped as my heart turned to ice.  “You’re dead.  Kodan killed you.”

Kava threw back his head and howled with laughter.  “Oh, it’s going to take more than some housepet to finish me off.”  He glanced around.  “Where’d he go, anyway?  Did he run off once he found out you were pregnant with this half-breed excuse for a litter?”

I spread my feet and lowered my head, ready to fight.  “If you say that again, I swear on my life that I will kill you.”

Kava laughed.  “On the contrary, Princess.  I am going to kill you, and your miserable whelps as well.”

“Children,” I said without taking my eyes off of Kava, “run.  Get as far away from here as you can.  I’ll find you as soon as I’m done with him.  Whatever happens, don’t look back.”

“Mother!” cried Balto’s voice.

Taking a chance, I looked back to see tears in my son’s eyes.  All the other children were already running, but he remained rooted to the spot.  “Go, Balto!” I cried.  “Be strong.  Be brave.  Be careful.”

A tear fell from his eye to the snow.  “I will, Mother,” he promised, before turning to run.

“I should thank you,” said Kava spitefully as I returned my gaze to him.  “Pups on the run make better sport for hunting.”

I lunged at him with my teeth bared to the gums and fury in my eyes.  As the two of us locked in a deadly embrace of fangs and claws, I didn’t know who would win.  All I knew for certain was that one or both of us would not leave that place... alive.

Aniu and Balto © Universal Studios

All other characters © Dragon Tamer

Dedicated to redwolf03, who inspired this story and so many others, and to tibb wolf (who is leaving this December). No matter where you are, I won't forget you.