well make yourself comfortable.” Rodama walked away, and Balto shook his head, heading off into the pack, wondering if he could find some answers among the rest of the wolves. He said hello to a few of them, but received no response; they merely stared at him with that strange fire in their faces. One, however, was different. She was an adult female who sat miserably, staring at something Balto thought odd to find in the wilds. It was a well, four feet in diameter, made of plain stone and mortar. However, there was no device for collecting water, but that didn’t seem to be necessary; the water in the well reached very close to the top, only one row of stones away from overflow. The water itself was a cold black, and was as smooth as a polished stone, undisturbed by the breeze. Balto reached out a paw and cautiously touched the water. Instantly, he felt as if his paw was frozen stiff, and lances of cold reached up his leg. It felt as if icy fingers were gripping him, and terror swept over him. Hideous visions leapt into his mind: living wolf skeletons with shreds of gray flesh hanging from their bones, and a great, writhing, slimy black beast that snarled at him…

He cried out and pulled back, and the strange effects of the water left him instantly. His paw felt perfectly normal, not cold at all, and the visions were gone. In fact, though it had been only seconds ago, he could barely remember them. Suddenly, the female wolf spoke. “It will not harm you.” Balto turned toward her, and she spoke again, now looking at him. “It causes fear, but you are not in danger merely by touching the water.” Balto looked at the well again. “What on earth is this thing?” he asked quietly. “Evil,” the wolf whispered. Balto looked at her and saw that she was once again staring at the well. “There is nothing innocent about this. It is evil…and we all of us are cursed.” Balto became even more disturbed than he was already. “How?” he said. The wolf shook her head and walked away. “You will know soon. Watch tonight; there may be one then.” With the wolf gone, Balto was left to stare at the well, trying to figure out the reasoning behind the mystery he had been cast into.

“There it is! Just ahead!” The forest had finally thinned out, allowing Jenna to see what Zimm was gesturing at. It made sense that the dead tree had been christened The Broken Angel; it had been cloven in half by a lightning bolt, which left telltale scorch marks on the bark. Now, all that was left was the stump and two large, sweeping extensions, each formerly a half of the lower trunk. It looked just like an angel bending down, with two wings stretching out to either side. “Thank you,” Jenna said. “I doubt I could’ve found my way here without you.” “Think of it as repaying you for saving my family. Will you be needing me any longer?” “I think I’ll be alright; the tree is supposed to show me where to go next.” “Very well; I’ll go home. Good luck.” He scurried off quickly through the bushes. “Thank you again!” Jenna called after him. She then turned to look at the tree, examining it closely. She expected to find some sort of message scratched into the bark, or a map of some kind. However, there was nothing. She sat down, puzzling over the problem. She remembered Drezan telling her that the tree was supposed to send travelers to the sage’s home. “Send,” she thought. “That must be important. How can this thing send me somewhere…” As she observed again the shape of the tree, it occurred to her to look in the direction the angel’s “head” was facing. Walking around behind the tree, she looked out between the split halves of the trunk. It was only now she noticed how regular a V shape was formed by the sundered wood. Looking ahead, her mind was telling her that she saw something, but she couldn’t quite place it. Suddenly, she had an idea, and took a step backward. Now, it came clear. The distribution of trees of similar height on the plateau was such that from Jenna’s current position, the woods looked to be formed into a giant V shape themselves. Jenna moved her head until the two Vs were lined up, and then, in the very center of the two, a tiny flash of light came, obviously a reflection off of some distant object. “That has to be it!” Jenna thought, going around the tree and running straight ahead. “Maybe I’m on track for some answers.”

The trek to Jenna’s destination was only half a mile, and she covered the distance quickly. She only hoped this sage could help her find Balto; she didn’t feel she would be lucky enough to meet two animals that had seen the wolves she was chasing. Still, if this sage was so wise, he could likely offer some sort of advice. Before long, she reached the rock structure. It was a hollowed-out cylinder of gray stone, with a large chunk taken out of one side. With the way the chunk had fallen, it now acted as a ramp of sorts leading up to the hole. Atop the cylinder, one of the broken stones glittered brightly, which Jenna assumed had produced the flash she had seen. She climbed the ramp, looking cautiously into the cylinder. To her surprise, no one was there. The inside was bare rock, with a few jutting projections that would allow anyone within to climb out. It certainly didn’t appear to be a place someone was actually living in. Jenna hoped desperately that the one who was supposed to be there was not dead or gone, as she would then essentially be at a dead end. “Maybe he just went to do something,” Jenna thought. “He might not really be gone.” She sighed and lay down at the base of the ramp, preparing for what she feared would be a long wait.

The whole day Jenna waited, trying to keep herself from nodding off, fighting her boredom and anxiety and thinking of Balto almost constantly. All she wanted was to be home with him again. She knew it was very possible that might never again happen. “I don’t care what happens to me,” she thought. “He’s all that matters. As long as I can save him, nothing else is that important.” She remembered how she and Balto had made love that night, less than an hour before he was taken away, and this made her think of how much she missed the beautiful love and intimacy of their life together, even though it had been merely a few days since they had been parted. It made her think of how blessed she felt to be able to share her heart with such a wonderful husband, who loved her more than life, and how good it made her feel to know that he, like she, valued their relationship far beyond the physical aspect. “Although…if I don’t make it…I’ll never have that again. Same thing…if I can’t save him…” A few tears dripped down her cheeks, and she lowered her head, starting to sob. It occurred to her that she hadn’t cried yet, even when she had felt so hopeless the night she slept under the tree near the wolf pack. Now that everything that was at stake was in focus, however, it was too much to bear. She wept quietly for several minutes, allowing herself to wish Balto was there, even for the futility of doing so. She wiped her eyes and sniffed, looking out at the forest. Twilight was coming quickly by now, and she wondered how long she had been waiting, and how long she had still to wait. “Please…” she called out softly to the air. “Please…come soon. I need your help…”

Then, for the first time since her arrival, she spotted another creature. It was an arctic fox with blue fur that almost seemed to shimmer and eyes like a winter night sky. He walked slowly, and Jenna could tell that he was extremely old. She couldn’t guess how old he was, but she almost wondered how he could still be walking. She wasn’t sure if he had noticed her before, but it was made clear that he had when he spoke. “Sorry if you had to wait. I hope it wasn’t long?” He had a calm and pleasant voice. “Just part of today,” Jenna replied. The fox nodded. “No doubt you believed this to be my home?” Jenna nodded. “Well, you are correct, dear. I do live here, but I’ve been forced to avoid it for years.” “Why?” “Someone was coming here seeking me, someone I would rather burn alive that give aid to. He came very regularly, so I would stay away from my home on the days he would come, and only come close enough to see if he was there. For years it went on like this, until yesterday, when he did not arrive as he usually did. Hence, I checked again today to make sure he was gone, and now I find you. By the way, I’m Avantar. They call me the Moon Watch.” “My name is Jenna. Drezan the elder told me about you. I’m here because I hope you’ll be so kind as to give me some help.” “Yes; I heard you call out when I was walking up.” Avantar suddenly looked very suspicious. “You aren’t with him, are you?” “With who?” “Rodama, the wolf that kept coming here.” “I don’t know anyone by the name of Rodama.” “Very well. I suppose I can trust you. Tell me how I may help you.” “A few days ago, my husband was kidnapped from my house by about half a dozen wolves. I couldn’t see them very well in the dark, but one of them that I bit had…gooey skin. I know that sounds silly, but that’s what it…” “Wait a moment,” said Avantar. “Its skin felt rotten?” “Yes. Is that…important?” Avantar sighed. “Very. I can tell you with absolute certainty that it was Rodama and his soldiers that kidnapped your husband.” “Can you answer a question for me? Since this wolf Rodama took my husband from me, I don’t exactly have reason to like him, but why would you rather burn alive than help him?” Avantar sat down. “Make yourself comfortable, miss, and I will tell you a tale.”

“Many years ago, Rodama was a young, happy wolf, who enjoyed the privilege of being an aide to the elder of the Sheruna wolf pack. The elder was very fond of him, and truly believed in his potential to be a great leader. In fact, he believed in him so much that when he became too old to lead the pack, he named Rodama as his successor. At first, things weren’t that bad; Rodama certainly had the competence to be an elder, and the pack began flourishing. It