silence, and suddenly Lord Shadow stood before him.

“This had better be good.”

 

 

“…and then we made our way here,” Desia finished. “Sadera hasn’t spoken to me since we left the river bank.”

“She feels betrayed,” Cloud Runner said. “Even though you saved her, she feels the only way things can be made right is by killing Nemec to avenge her slain family.”

“But surely she can see why we must remain neutral. A war, for this clan, would be disastrous without the support of every last one of us,” Desai replied. “Dragging ourselves into a war between two other clans when we were not violated would seem pointless.”

Just then, a howl rose above the trees and reached the ears of everyone in Cloud’s clan. Desai listened carefully until the call died away.

“Whoever he is, he wants to meet you just beyond our border in the neutral zone. He holds a message for you from the Ice Mountain pack.”

Cloud Runner stood immediately.

“Perhaps now we can hold off this war permanently.”

“But it could be a trap as well,” Desai cautioned her.

“There is always that chance, but I intend to take it if it means keeping this war away from us peacefully.”

“Then I’ll come with you, and I’ll bring a small security detail with me.”

 

A few moments later, Cloud, Desai, and a small group of wolves including Jacob and Fen padded into a tiny clearing a few hundred yards from their territory. True to his word, the wolf who’d called to them was alone; he was pawing at something at his feet when they arrived.

“So you come with a message from the Ice Mountain clan?” Cloud said. “Just know that we cannot join this war on either side. Does that affect your message?”

“Not in the least,” the messenger replied with a sly grin. “Tell me, do you know of a brown wolf-dog and a red and white husky?”

Cloud Runner took a step back in shock.

“What…” she whispered.

“I thought you might. You see, we found them making for Nome.” He shook his head in mock sympathy. “Pity. They were almost there. We might have spared the guards you sent with them if they hadn’t put up a fight.”

“I swear, if you’ve harmed my friends-” Cloud snarled, advancing a few steps toward the messenger.

“What will you do?” he taunted. “You’ve already professed that you’ll not enter this war, and your clan is too small and weak to last long even if you did join.”

“How do we know you’re not lying?” Desai challenged.

“Ah, you see, I came prepared for that.” The messenger dipped his head to the ground and snatched something with his teeth. “Just so you know not to try anything stupid…”

With that, he whipped back his head and yanked an orange bandanna from the snow. He smirked as Cloud’s eyes widened. Just then, a gust of wind blew from behind him, and he released the bandanna. It twisted about in the wind before landing at Clouds feet.

Desai picked it up; Jenna’s scent was heavy on it.

“We were careful not to get blood on it,” the messenger taunted again. “But it gets lonely sometimes back home, and she’ll provide some good company for all of us.”

With that, he turned and dashed away, quickly disappearing among the trees and undergrowth. But his laughter echoed for a long time in that tiny clearing.

 

 

Chapter Seven

 

            At that moment, Jenna and Balto were herded into a small cave in the Ice Mountain clan’s massive home den in the rock face.

            Jenna was silent, still in shock from the ambush. So entranced was she by her fear and disbelief that she still hadn’t tried to clean the blood off her coat; the blood of one of their guards.

            Those poor dears, she kept thinking. They never had a chance. We never had a chance…

            “Jenna, are you alright?” Balto whispered, eying her worriedly. When she didn’t answer, he nudged her gently. “Jen?”

            She snapped her head toward him and blinked.

            “Oh. I’m fine.”

            She glanced around the cave and noticed the two other occupants were asleep. A pure white female was curled up nearby, and not to far away from her lay a black male turned the other way.

            “We never should have left Cloud’s territory,” she said finally. “She’ll blame herself for this.”

            “Whoever these guys are, they’ll probably use us as bargaining chips,” Balto replied. “Just stay close to me, Jen. I won’t let them harm you.”

            Just then, the black male woke up.

Tes woke to see two more in the den with him and Belle. One was a dark-brown male wolf; the other was a red and cream colored female husky. They seemed to tense up when he looked at them, so he sat up slowly and faced them.

“Who are you?” he asked them.

“My name’s Balto,” said the male. “And this is my mate, Jenna.”

Tes eyed them carefully, and sensed what they were thinking.

“You’ve no reason to fear either me or Belle,” he said. “We are prisoners as well. Why are you here?”

“We’re Cloud Runner’s friends, so she sent us away with a few guards,” replied Jenna. “She wanted to get us away from the war. We were ambushed just outside of Nome.”

“War? Is that what she thinks this is?” said a firm female voice.

Balto and Jenna turned to see that the white female, Belle, had woken up.

“Well, yes, isn’t it?” Jenna said.

“It is more like slaughter,” Belle replied. “I suppose Cloud thinks the Ice Mountain pack is behind all of this?”

Balto and Jenna nodded.

Belle shook her head.

“What she knew as the Ice Mountain pack does not exist,” she said solemnly. “Several days ago, we were invaded and overwhelmed. Their leader, Lord Shadow, has since been slowly killing off anyone who opposes him.”

“So the Eir clan… Daciana’s death…?” Balto stammered in disbelief.

“All the doing of Lord Shadow and his second in command, Nemec,” replied Belle. “I’ll see them both dead, mark my word.”

“We’d better go back to sleep before the guard comes by again,” Tes advised. “Or he’ll start asking questions. I don’t want to loose anyone else to these monsters.”

Following his advice, the others curled up; Belle alone, and Jenna up against Balto. When the guard passed by, he had only to glance inside and move on. As his footfalls faded away, Balto looked up and caught Tes’ eye.

            Belle, however, didn’t open her eyes, and instead turned away from the rest.

            “What’s wrong with her?” Balto whispered to Tes.

            “When Lord Shadow took over, he killed her mate,” he replied. “And we sent her children away with Ruth to make for Cloud Runner’s territory, so she’s been terribly lonely I think.”

“I can imagine,” Balto said softly. “Loosing your mate and not knowing if your own children are alive or where they are must be terrible.”

“I’ve gone thru much the same thing ever since we let the humans adopt our…my last litter,” Jenna said, looking over at Balto and then at Belle. “I hope this ends soon.”

“We can only hope,” Tes replied.

The three fell into silence, and before long each laid his or her head down to rest.

 

About an hour later, though, the guard passed by a fourth time and looked inside. He was about to keep walking when he caught movement out of the corner of his eye. He turned his head and saw that one of the new prisoners, the brown male wolf, was looking at him. At first, he didn’t know what to say, but could only meet the wolf’s stare.

Just then, the wolf (what was his name?) blinked, and when he opened his eyes again, they glowed a brilliant yellow. The guard stepped back in shock, but the wolf never took his eyes of him. Then, he blinked again, and the glowing stopped. The wolf looked around and laid his head down as though nothing had happed.

In an instant, the guard turned and ran to report what he’d seen to his lord.

He didn’t know his lord had been watching, too.

From the shadows in the furthest corner, two dark, cold eyes peered out into the cave. There was a soft laugh, and the shadows briefly took the form of a wolf. Then, the form faded, as did the eyes and the laughter, and soon all was peaceful.

But it was not to last.

 

 

Desai padded slowly back to the den he and Cloud Runner shared. The news of Balto and Jenna’s capture weighed heavily on his heart, and he knew Cloud would be taking it just as hard. Just that morning, they’d set Echo’s body adrift on the river, and now this. He found her pacing back and forth, talking to herself.

“Cloud?” he said.

She stopped and looked at him, eyes filled with sorrow.

“I never should have sent them away,” she said. “I should have kept them here; I should have known!”

“You couldn’t have known, Cloud,” he said, nuzzling her. “None of us could have.”

“But what can we do now?”

Desai fell silent.

“I don’t know,” he said finally.

“The messenger was right. We can’t come to rescue them without leaving

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