To his surprise, the white fem smiled for an instant.

            “I am she.” Her smile faded. “But tell me… What danger were you fleeing from?”

            “To tell the truth, kind eva, I do not know. We only knew that Belle’s children were in danger, and as loyal members of the Ice Mountain clan we took it upon ourselves to keep them safe.”

            Cloud Runner padded back and forth; she seemed to be deep in thought. Finally, she stopped and turned her head toward them.

            “Follow me. You can tell me more once you and the pups have rested.” She gave them a friendly smile as she indicated a light brown male of about seven seasons padding up to them. “My mate Desai will show you around. If you’ll please excuse me, I have a lot of thinking to do.”

            Cloud nodded to Desai and padded away through the trees. After a short while, she arrived at the banks of the river, and lay down in the grass. For a long moment, she closed her eyes and meditated on her decisions. There was abundant food about, and she knew the two would be warmly welcomed as all visitors were, but she worried over their cause for flee.

            She sighed and looked toward the river, watching as it splashed over the rocks within it and flowed away into the forest…

            …and to a small bank where it suddenly turned dark red from a small river of blood that met it at its edge. There was a final cry of agony and then a splash as the body of a fine young wolf was thrown to the river’s edge. While his back end lay sprawled on the bank, the wolf’s head sank into the shallow water along the edge of the river. The air bubbles still issuing from his muzzle became fewer and fewer until his eyes clouded over and closed forever.

            Nemec surveyed the bloody scene before him without emotion, but only for a moment. He quickly found himself chuckling as he remembered their unanswered pleas as they were caught unawares. At least two of the three wolves had families, and all of them had called out to Aniu in their final moments of life, but Nemec cared nothing for them. Weaklings, he thought with a snort, only the chosen ones can be allowed to live.

            He turned and nodded to the five wolves waiting for him, and they padded back toward their new territory. He had one last job to attend to before his lord awoke.

            In Nome, Jenna woke in Balto’s embrace, the same way she had been when they fell asleep. She kissed him gently on the muzzle and smiled as his eyes flickered open.

            “Well good morning, sleepy-head,” she said.

            “Good morning, Jen. Sleep well?”

            Jenna smiled again.

            “I always do when you’re with me, but I don’t remember getting much sleep last night.”

            Ruth lay shivering in a damp earthen pit among the many caves and caverns of what had been her clan’s sanctuary and home. The icy river water soaked through her fur and clung to her skin, and the small gusts of wind coming through the cracks in the wall did little to help. The pit she lay in had been where prisoners were held, but in a sense the den still served its purpose. Ruth was a prisoner in her clan’s own home. And by the way the guards acted, she sensed that it would not be long before she would be punished.

            A few of the guards had laughed about it quietly when their superiors weren’t around, and although she knew she had done no wrong in Aniu’s eyes she also knew that her captors needed no excuse to harm her.

             Just then, her ears perked up at the sound of paws on stone, and she looked up to see a well-built wolf, likely an officer, striding toward her. The scar across his eye twitched as he grinned at her.

            “What do you want from me?” she demanded, rising to her feet and backing a few steps away.

            Nemec ignored her and just kept padding closer…

            Meanwhile in Nome, Balto and Jenna were making their way thru the weekend crowd. No one paid the two much mind, but they were too caught up in conversation to notice.

            “It was nice to see Kaltag again,” Jenna said, “It seems like it’s been years since we’ve seen him and Krystal.”

            “It’s probably been a year at least,” Balto agreed, “I’m glad they’re doing well. Where did they say they were heading?”

            “Krystal said they were going south, where the weather’s a bit milder.”

            Balto sighed thoughtfully and nodded.

“I think it’s about time we paid Cloud Runner a visit, don’t you?”

Jenna nodded. The two left Nome behind and padded into the forest.

Ruth cried out again as Nemec threw her against the earthen wall of her pit. She had barely gotten her second wind when he was on her again. This time, he tore at one of her legs. Ruth screamed louder, choking and gagging on the blood from the cuts in her mouth. Suddenly, there came a sickening crack as her leg snapped in his jaws and her scream rang through the caves to where a black wolf lay alone under guard.

Tes jumped up at her cry and immediately recognized the voice.

“Ruth…”

He started forward and the guards stepped in front of him.

“You may not move about freely,” one of them said sternly.

“Then I demand that you take me to her,” he said in a low growl, “Under the Clan Pact and the Laws of Aniu-”

The same guard took a threatening step toward him.

“We know of the Clan Pact,” he snapped, “but you are not to even mention her again.”

“Take-me-to-Ruth!” Tes snarled, stepping forward until his nose almost touched the guard’s.

The guard glared back at him and turned suddenly away, padding quickly down a stone corridor. The other guard nodded after him.

“Go on,” he said, “Move it.”

Tes followed close behind the first guard and the other followed him.

Though Tes was containing his anger, what he came upon broke what little self-restraint he had left.

Ruth lay in the middle of the earthen pit that had been her cell. Tes cringed when he saw that her beautiful light brown coat was smeared with her crimson blood, and her right front leg was so horribly mutilated that he felt his legs tremble. But just then, he spotted a black male climbing out of the pit. With his attention centered on Ruth, he had never seen this other wolf down there with her.

“Ah, another visitor,” he said with a soft laugh.

Tes barely suppressed a deep growl.

His muzzle was red with blood.

Ruth’s blood, Tes thought, why you lousy son of a…

Tes lunged forward with his teeth bared, and was only prevented from tearing into the wolf’s throat by the guards holding him back on either side. Still he made a try for it, and his teeth snapped shut only inches from his goal. The black wolf laughed.

“By your reaction, I’ll assume you knew the vic… deceased.”

“You lousy murderer! Where do you get off killing innocent bystanders?”

“Ah, but you see, she was merely being punished for her actions against us.”

“What actions?” Tes demanded, chest heaving in rage.

“It seems your little girlfriend here aided in the disappearance of the thing we were most concerned for. Your leader’s children.”

Tes’ anger vanished instantly.

“Her- What do want with them?”

“Nothing, honestly,” the black wolf said shrugging, “But you see we cannot allow them to escape because when they grow up and learn of us…”

“Your leader’s reign won’t even last half that long!” Tes said defiantly, spitting in the black wolf’s face.

The black wolf flinched, and the scar across his eye quivered.

“Take him back to his cell,” he said to the guards, “He is not to leave again.”

“Yes sir,” they replied.

As they half-dragged Tes away, Nemec chuckled to himself as he looked back down at his latest victim.

First the leader, then this little whelp, he thought, I’m beginning to wonder what the defiant captain’s connections are with all