pups.
“We got our first kill today,” Sheik said.
“You did?” Balto asked.
“Yeah,” Lima said.
“It was cool,” Thunder finished.
“Hey you can’t beat me to the top of the cave,” Sheik told Lima.
“But I can,” Thunder said, as they took off.
“They’ve got so much energy at this age,” Aleu said, “and they grow up so fast.”
“You’re telling me,” Balto said. “Seems like just yesterday I was sitting in the shed behind Rosy’s old house looking at Jenna in a box and a small little bitty gray ball of fur was tugging on her ear.”
Aleu smiled.
“So I heard about the situation back home,” Shadow said, as he walked up to Aleu. “Jenna should know better than that.”
“Yeah,” Balto said.
“Well you guys want something to eat?” Aleu said. “I’m sure you’ll want to be going to bed soon, you’ve got a long trip ahead of you.”
“Sure,” Balto said.
“I’m starving,” Tim said.
“Everyone laughed.
“Kids come on,” Aleu yelled.
“Coming mom,” they yelled as they came shooting around the corner.
The group all walked toward the back of the cave.
Chapter X
Back in Nome, Jenna was getting ready to take Blaize and Jadze for a walk. Though they were only a week old now, she still walked them around the enclosed yard of the cabin.
"It gets them used to the world around them," Jenna thought.
She felt a pang of sadness, and a little regret.
"That was Balto's idea," she thought, "even though he doesn't think he is, he was great with the kids, he was the perfect dad."
I hope I did the right thing.
She stepped out the door, followed by the two pups, who's eyes had just opened yesterday.
Kelli was standing on the porch.
"Hi Kelli," Jenna said.
"Taking the little ones out, huh?"
"Yeah," Jenna responded.
"Well," Kelli began, "something happened this morning, that I just thought you should know about. Balto came to see me this morning."
"Humph," Jenna said, "why would I care, you seem to be a nice dog and all…. I'm happy for him."
"No," Kelli said, "Not to see me specifically, he was looking for a dog named Jake."
"Why do I need to know this?" Jenna asked.
"Balto said that Jake knew he didn't do it… you know with Trinea, and that he could prove it."
"Well," Jenna said, "if he does, he does, but I have to see it first."
"Well Jake left yesterday, just said they were going home, not where. Balto… he looked really upset Jenna, I think you may have made a mistake."
"No," Jenna said, "I did what I did for my own reasons, and… and I'd do it again."
"Wouldn't I?" she thought.
"Well anyway I overheard him talking to this little dog named Tim, and apparently Balto knew where Jake lived."
"Who's Tim?" Jenna asked.
"I don't know," Kelli said, "never seen him before. Kind of a brown dog, a young one.
She paused.
"Anyway, he and the little dog took off to go find Jake."
"Balto left?" Jenna said.
Kelli nodded her head.
"But…" Jenna started "the… the storms will start soon, it's almost the winter season, doesn't he have any more sense than that?"
"Wait till you here where Jake lives," Kelli said.
"Where?" Jenna asked.
"Fairbanks," Kelli said.
"Fairbanks!" Jenna said, "is he out of his mind? It's going to start snowing soon and…"
She looked at the ground.
"This is my fault, isn't it?"
"Well," Kelli said, "he is trying to prove himself to you."
"Great," Jenna said, "just great, he never did have any common sense when came to the weather."
"If he dies," Jenna thought, "I'll never be able to forgive myself."
"Well," Kelli said, "he's a wolf on a mission."
"A half wolf on a stupid mission," Jenna said, anger creeping into her voice.
"Well," Kelli said, "he sees it as a test. He said he told Trinea that he'd do anything, even give up his life, to be with you. He thinks someone up there is testing him, and he intends to pass."
"He'll never make it," Jenna said, "out on the plains, with the storms like they are in the first of the year."
"I wouldn't give up on him just yet," Kelli said, "love can be a powerful fuel. He still loves you, you know."
Jenna smiled.
"Yes," she said, "I know."
"Well," Kelli said, "I just thought you should know.
"Thanks," Jenna said, "I may not be with him anymore, but I still care about him, about what happens to him."
"Maybe you should care a little more," Kelli said. "He's going through an awful lot for you."
Jenna sighed.
"Yeah," she said.
"I just… I can't get past the fact that he lied to me, that's the part that made me do what I did, I mean the other… well that's bad, and it hurt me that he would do something like that, but I… I could've probably worked my way through that… it was the fact that… that he lied to me, that he did it, and tried to hide it from me, he's never done anything like that before. We made a deal when Aleu was born, that we'd be open with one another, that we would have a trust in one another that would be unshakable… but he violated that trust, he broke it. I… I couldn’t trust him about anything then, could I? I mean if he lied once, then he could just do it again, right?"
"Jenna," Kelli said.
"Maybe he wasn't lying."
Then she turned and walked away, leaving Jenna standing on the porch, alone.
"So Balto left to go find his witness," A gray dog thought, from her hiding place in the bushes.
"I just may have to do something about that. My plan has gone just perfectly until now, and I'm not about to let you mess it up Balto. You don't understand that you're a prisoner here, how happy you'd be with me. I've got to protect you from yourself, and if I can't… well…"
She watched as Jenna walked the two pups down the porch and around to the front of the house.
"…some sacrifices may have to be made…"
Chapter XI
Balto and Tim had left the cave early that morning, and had made it to Applegate, they had talked to a dog there, who had talked to Jake yesterday, Balto was hoping to make it to the team, before they left Anchorage.
In his haste to leave, and find Jake,
"I'd forgotten about the storms coming up here in a few days."
He looked up at the clouds, they were getting awfully dark.
"I should have made Tim stay back."
He looked back at the young dog.
"I hope nothing happens to him." Balto thought.
Tim walked up behind him.
The wind started blowing.
"Hey Balto," Tim said, "the clouds are looking pretty bad… it's going to snow soon, huh?"
Balto nodded his head.
"I'm sorry kid," he said.
"It looks like this trip could turn real ugly, real fast."
"I want to be a sled dog," Tim said, "a sled dog can't be afraid of a little snow."
Balto thought back to the storm that he and Jenna had fought through, on their way to Shishmaref.
"Fifteen feet isn't a little snow," he thought.
"Well, let's keep going," Balto said. "The sooner we get there the better off we'll be."
The two of them kept walking toward Medtra, the next little stop in their journey.
Trinea had left out of Nome, early this morning. she was a very good tracker, and caught Balto's scent almost immediately. She'd followed it until she came to a cave, there were a lot of wolves milling about.
"Some distant relatives?" Trinea thought.
"echhe, I hate wolves, disgusting creatures but I guess for Balto…"
She decided to go talk to them.
"Hello," one of the wolves said, as she walked up to Trinea, "can I help you?"
"Maybe," Trinea said, "My name is.. Likea and I'm looking for Balto, I heard he came here."
"Yeah," the wolf said, "I think he was, hang on I'll get Aleu, she'll know."
The wolf disappeared into the cave and "Likea" sat down to wait.
Soon a light gray colored wolf came out of the cave, led by the brown one she'd talked to earlier.
"Hello," The gray wolf said as she approached, "my name's Aleu, can I help you?"
"Likea," repeated what she'd asked earlier.
"Oh," why are you looking for Balto?" Aleu asked.
"She's suspicious," Trinea thought, she looked around at all the wolves there. "There's no way that I can take all of them."
She just smiled.
"I'm looking for him, cause I've got a message from his mate."
"What's her name, I can't remember!"
"Jenna?" Aleu asked.
"Jenna that's it.
"Yes," "Likea" said, "that's it."
"She realizes how stupid she's been and sent me to go find him, as she's busy with the pups."
"I hope that she buys it," Trinea thought, looking around for a place to run if she didn't.
Aleu smiled.
"I knew mom would come around eventually," she said.
"Mom?" "Likea asked, not really realizing it.
"Yeah," Aleu said, a little
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