nodded, but now her curiosity was piqued.  So she headed to the back door and slipped through.  Once inside, she stayed on the edge of the crowd near a wall, ready to bolt for the exit and praying she was the only one who knew where the back door came out.

The strays surrounded their leader, who stood on a makeshift stage assembled out of pushed-together boxes.  The furry bodies packed together like fans at a rock concert, although the hushed conversations were more akin to what might go on right before a choir performance.

Groven barked to the assembled strays, “Soldiers- and I’ll only call you that for a little while longer- the time has come to make our move.”

A cacophony of howls and barks went up from the group until someone asked, “How are we gonna take ‘em out?” The leader of the strays paced the stage once as he spoke.  “Chase’s dogs are better trained, more organized, and they have us outnumbered.  A direct assault won’t work.”

That quieted things down a bit.  Several dogs stopped barking and exchanged uneasy looks.  “So what will we do?” asked one of the strays.

Groven smiled, showing all of his teeth.  “Simple,” he replied.  “We’ll use a superior battle plan.”

Arrow shivered as she listened further, and a knot formed in her stomach as the boss explained his scheme.  'Why did I agree to this?' she asked herself.

The following afternoon, Arrow tried to relax and enjoy resting next to Luna’s head as she had so often wanted to do with her real mother, but pestilential unease kept addling her brain.  ‘She doesn’t know,’ she thought to herself.  ‘She trusts me, she loves me, but she doesn’t know me.’  She tried to drive it from her mind by thinking about Chase, the cause of all of this.  ‘It has to be done,’ she thought to herself.  ‘That wolf-dog is pushing us strays around, and she’s got to go.’

She’s not pushing you around, a voice in her head told her.  She’s a peacemaker, and a good one too.  Groven's the one pushing everybody around.

 ‘Chase is a wolfdog,’ she told herself.  ‘Why should half-breeds matter to real dogs?’

Luna’s part wolf, but she matters to you and you know it, her conscience snapped back.  If it had been in a human body it probably would have been waving its hands in frustration.  Look at you!  She loves you more than both your parents put together, and you’re using her emotions like a toy!  You’re going to just let her family be killed.  Is that the kind of freedom you-

The dam broke.  “Aaagh!” she cried in a mad combination of pain, aggravation, and distress.  “I can’t take it anymore!”

Luna jerked her head back like a doe that had just heard a gunshot right next to her ear.  “What… what…?” was all she could manage.

Arrow bolted to the door.  “It’s your aunt, Chase.  She’s in big trouble, I’ll explain later!”

Luna didn’t have the slightest idea what to make of this, but she recognized the urgency in Arrow’s manner and didn’t ask questions.  Hurriedly, she picked Arrow up by the scruff of the neck.  “Where should we go?” she asked.

“To the alley where she runs the army from!” Arrow replied.

Like an enraged bull, Luna bashed the pet flap open and, barely taking long enough to lift Arrow over the bottom of it, bolted out the door and into the snow.

As Arrow hung swinging from Luna’s teeth, she had a fleeting image of someone being hanged.  ‘I just hope it isn’t me if we don’t get there in time,’ she thought.

They passed Toby, who whirled and raced to catch up with them.  “Luna, what’s going on?” he asked.

“Chase… is in… trouble!” Arrow explained as she bounced in Luna’s teeth.  “There’s no… time to… explain… now… but we… need to… get there… fast!”

Toby nodded.  “Where?” he asked.

“At her headquarters.  Groven sent a messenger to challenge her to a one-on-one match in half an hour, but he’s really planning an ambush.”

Toby nodded.  “We’ll have to get some backup.  Luna, you and Arrow go get my dad and tell him to meet us there with as many dogs as he can round up.  I’ll go see what I can do.”

Luna nodded just a little, not wanting to shake Arrow any more than necessary, and dashed off.  Toby ran too, heading for Chase’s headquarters.  ‘I wonder how Arrow knows so much about Groven's plans,’ he pondered.

Luna ran for all she was worth, zig-zagging through streets and passers-by with a degree of speed and agility which would have won a gold collar in the Canine Olympics if there were any.  With a spray of snow she swerved into the lot where Chase’s army was headquartered.  There were already dozens of dogs, lined up on opposite sides to watch the spectacle.  Chase and Groven were in the middle and apparently talking.

Luna set Arrow down.  “Get somewhere safe,” she ordered.

Arrow didn’t want to get out of the line of fire.  She wanted to help, to make up for what she had done.  “But…” she pleaded.

Luna shook her head.  “Now,” she insisted.

Arrow hesitated, then scampered off.  Luna moved forward to join the strays on Chase’s side of the area.  “They’re planning something,” she whispered to one of the dogs.

“Duh,” the dog retorted.  “Everyone knows that creep can’t be trusted.”

“No, I mean-”

“Shh!” hushed another dog.  “Can’t you see they’re talking?”

“I’ll give you one more chance to give this up,” Chase warned Groven.

“Oh, you’ll give up all right,” Groven replied.  “Or your troops will.  You, on the other hand, won’t have the chance!”  And with that he threw himself at her like a tornado.

As the two dogs fought, sometimes grappling and other times darting in and out, Toby appeared at Luna’s side.  “Where’s Arrow?”

“Hiding somewhere,” Luna replied.  “I told her to go somewhere safe and stay out of the line of fire.  Where are the reinforcements?”

“Couldn't find anyone, so I came alone.  Now what’s going on?”

“They’re fighting,” she answered.  “Arrow mentioned some kind of scheme, although I don’t see how Groven’s dogs can do anything to her without…”

And then Groven rammed into Chase, hitting her in the shoulder and driving her into the line of his dogs.  They pushed her back, and in the commotion Luna saw several of the dogs striking Chase in the same shoulder.

“So that’s it!” exclaimed Toby.  “He’s getting them to weaken her for him!”

Luna's teeth were grinding like a millstone.  “Toby, we have to do something.”

“Like what?” he countered.  “If we attack, they’ll fight back and any number of them can tear her apart in the melee.  I’ve seen your aunt fight before, Luna.  She can handle this.”

But as the fight went on, Chase continued to weaken.  Groven was a tougher fighter than he appeared, and the repeated beatings by his troops were taking their toll.

Finally, Groven backed a battered and exhausted Chase up to his line, which moved aside to give him plenty of room for the final round.  “Time to finish you off, you miserable parasite,” he gloated.

“You double-crossed me!” Chase snapped.  “You’re the reason for this, not me!”

Groven's eyes narrowed.  “Well I suppose you’d know all about betrayal.  Isn’t that right, Second-in-Command?”

“I’ll show you who’s second!” she answered as she tried another slash at his shoulder.

Groven evaded the blow, and to Chase’s surprise he started to laugh.  “Oh, you’ll never be my second,” he replied.  “I’m surprised you’ve forgotten the dog who actually founded this whole army.”  As he continued to sidestep strike after strike, he grinned.  “See anything familiar?”

‘Of course!’ Toby thought, feeling like an idiot for having missed something so obvious.  The muscular build, the black-and-white markings, and the nasty disposition.  ‘He’s another one of Steele’s kids!’

Chase must have realized the same thing, for her eyes widened and she hesitated for one split second.  That was all it took.  With a roar, Groven leapt at her, flipped her on her back, and pressed his paw against her throat.  Chase, who was already short of breath, began to utter a gasping noise like water through a pinched hose.

Groven chuckled as his paw pressed down on Chase’s throat.  “You lose, wolfdog,” he mocked.  “Time to finish what my father started with your leg.”  Leaning in and speaking low so only Chase could hear, he added, “And I didn’t even need the ambush.”

Chase’s eyes bulged from lack of air as she flailed her legs, each kick more feeble than the last.

“Let her go!” raged Luna, desperate to join the fight.

Groven growled.  “I’ll deal with you next,” he snapped.  “Then the mutt who sent my father across the continent,” he added with a nod at Toby, “And then that half-breed Balto for dessert.”  Once more he focused his eyes on Chase.  “You’re the reason my father was driven out of Nome,” he spat.  “But you can’t stop us forever.  We’re not weak like you wolves.”

Toby watched the scene helplessly.  What could he do?  They were closer to Groven’s side than Chase’s.  ‘If I do anything, Groven’s mutts will attack and it’s game over!’ he stewed.  There was no escape, no way to win.

Suddenly his eye caught a flicker of movement from behind Groven’s lines.  By the time he focused on it, it was gone.  Tentatively, he sniffed the air.

“Arrow!” he breathed.

Sure enough, the pup had crept through the crowd unnoticed and climbed to the top of a stack of crates.  ‘Oh no she’s not…’ Toby thought with a mix of wry humor and abject fear.  If she was doing what it looked like she was doing, she had learned from his stories all too well.

But she was.  “Pick on someone my size, creep!” she yelled, leaping from