and I wish to be in her presence . . . please.”

 

“Melody?” Saba’s voice echoed from behind the guard, much to his surprise. He instinctively stepped aside, allowing the two sisters to nuzzle each other in friendship. “Please, would you excuse us?” she ordered the guard after noticing the gray sister in near tears. “I’d like to speak to my sister in private.”

 

“Oh, of course, my Alpha,” the guard bowed and stepped away, respecting Saba’s wishes.

 

“Melody, what’s wrong?” the white wolf Alpha asked once she felt like they were alone. “Why are you crying?” She gasped. “Oh my – was there an attack on the guards outside? Is everything all right?”

 

Melody shook her head, no longer able to hold her tears. “No, Saba . . . the guards are all fine and everything is clear, but . . . but . . . it’s Aleu . . .”

 

 

 

It was dark . . . it felt like she was inside the cave again. Aleu hadn’t been in here for a while. In previous times, she had learned about battling Shade from Aniu, received prophecies and warnings from her spirit guide, Muru, or had been able to communicate with those that she had lost. At other times, she would encounter the evil lupine face-to-face, challenged in a fierce combat that she could not escape.

 

However, this time the air was slightly chilly inside the cave. Aleu’s back bristled, shivering in the unseen breeze that surrounded her. She could feel someone else’s presence inside the cave with her – she did shutter a couple of times – but the only thing Aleu could see was a thin spray of white-gray mist lingering about the dark-gray, glittering walls and the rocky ground beneath her paws.

 

“Aleu . . .”

 

Her ears pricked up. Someone was calling her name, but the voice was not so familiar to her. Well, I know that’s not Muru calling me, Aleu narrowed down the possible list in her mind. It was a female’s voice – she could tell that much – but what else, she didn’t know. Aniu, maybe? I’m not sure . . .

 

“Hello?” She answered back, hoping to see whoever was calling her. “Where are you? Who are you?”

 

“Aleu . . . it’s us . . .” Now the first voice was joined with a second female voice and speaking in unison, but this one was one she had heard before within her pack . . . one that she had last heard at least some years ago.

 

Well, it’s not Aniu’s voice – that second one’s the voice of a fallen wolf of the Talbourne Clan, Aleu acknowledged. No, I can sense their energy . . . They are both fallen soldiers in battle . . . but who are they . . .?

 

Finally, Aleu could see them – it looked like two she-wolves beginning to break through the mist, approaching her slightly shuttering form. She could not see their natural colors from when they were on Earth, but their eyes . . . oh, their piercing gaze was glowing blue, drawing her closer towards them like a more powerful force.

 

“Do you not remember your younger sister?” the slightly taller of the two asked. Her shadowed form seemed to be slender and strong, like a sled dog’s. “Has it been so long that you have forgotten your own blood?”

 

“Have you forgotten your niece as well?” the second female followed. Her form was a tad bit shorter than the first, but her scruffy chest and shoulder clearly showed that she had embraced her wolf heritage, just as Aleu had. “Did you not keep my memory with you always?”

 

Suddenly, the name that they shared returned to her memory as she spoke it.

 

“Jadze . . .”

 

Tears began to drip like large drops from her eyes. She hadn’t seen either of them for years, mainly the first of the two.

 

She was more like her brother, Blaize, wanting only to become a sled-dog like their father was. The last time Aleu had caught a glimpse of her sister was when she was still a pup, showing her spunk and spirit while she played with her brother and father. She did not hear the same call of the wild that several of her siblings before her had, but she did have a strong desire to be harnessed in front of a musher’s smooth, wooden sled. Her passion for dog-sledding made her smile . . . made her live . . . and Balto wanted nothing more than his daughter’s happiness. Sadly, she was crushed in a horrible accident – her first real race in the harness. Even as her life began to slip further away, she didn’t cry; the last thing she ever wanted to do was show her father that his baby was in pain, so she died with strength and complete courage in her eyes. Ever since then, Balto was sent through a period of guilt after burying his daughter, swearing to never run on a sled team again. She was the first child he had ever lost to the natural act of death, and he took losing her rather hard, but eventually . . . things worked out.

 

Balto was finally at peace with his daughter at last, . . . but he still missed her.

 

The second was indeed Aleu’s niece, Melody and Timbre’s daughter born after the clash with a rogue band of “rover wolves” and Aleu’s instinctive rescue of Raye, a child-heir of the Onasie Clan. She was named as such in memory of the aunt that she would never know, but somehow, she grew up inheriting her strength and spirit. Even as a young pup learning to take her first steps, she was a leader amongst her siblings, unafraid of danger and willing to be brave when times meant for her to be. No one would have ever expected her to be shot in the chest by a human’s shot after volunteering to take her father’s place on guard duty with Shadow at her side . . . and no one expected that her mother, Melody would take the sudden death of her daughter so seriously. Even Balto and Aleu herself felt saddened by the loss, but she felt that her niece valiantly sacrificed her life for the ones she loved, knowing fully well of the possible consequences.

 

Both of them were lost far too soon, killed in the spring of their lives. They had goals and plans for their futures, but Aniu must have meant them for a greater purpose . . . one that would cost them their lives.

 

“Why . . . why are you here?” Aleu asked them. “Why do you both appear before me now?”

 

“Aleu, . . . Sister,” the first Jadze stepped forward, still with that shadowed face and blue glowing eyes. “We come bearing a message from Aniu . . . one that will affect Her Clan forever . . .”

 

How the raised sled-dog daughter knew of Aniu, Aleu would never know, but that was not of importance right now.

 

“Aniu . . . She feels your pain, Aleu,” The younger Jadze continued where her namesake left off. “Know that we are here to remind you of the pain of losing a child . . . a sibling . . . or even a much younger niece . . .”

 

“I’m sorry, but your children will not survive this time, Aleu,” the first uttered in a tone that lacked any emotion.

 

The words seemed to verbally stab Aleu in the chest, even more so was the fact that the voice felt numb and almost heartless as it swirled into her ears. “No . . . my last chance . . .” She wept with her head fallen towards the ground, creating a puddle of tears at her paws.

 

My children . . . Her own thoughts made her head throb in pain as tears continued to fall. Shadow’s already distraught after the first ones were born dead . . . Why would Aniu take them all from me?

 

I thought . . . I thought she cared about me and my family’s well-being . . .

 

Suddenly, a sudden thought entered Aleu’s mind. Wait – is this happening because I’m no longer Alpha?

 

“You must be willing to endure this difficult time, Aleu,” the second tried to offer some condolences to her aunt, causing the light brown-gray to lift her head from her weeping. “Carry on . . . and perhaps, Aniu may bless you with a second chance . . .”

 

“I . . . I don’t understand,” Aleu sniffled a response, confused by the young wolf’s message from the White Wolf spirit. “What do you mean by that?”

 

“That . . . we cannot say, I’m afraid . . .” Suddenly, the two forms began to fade from her sight. “Now, we must return back to Aniu’s side . . .” the first form bowed her head towards the sister she hardly knew. “Farewell . . .”

 

“But remember, this is not goodbye . . .” the second one completed as both wolf-dogs named Jadze vanished within a flash of mist.

 

Even their eyes of bright blue were nowhere to be seen around her as Aleu remained confused, saddened and rather touched to see her fallen sisters for one last time. However, a final set of words lingered through her ears like an echo, only leaving her to wonder what her lost relatives actually meant.

 

“Even after death, we shall continue to live on . . .”

 

 

 

Saba stood in the presence of her sisters, brothers and parents, trying her hardest to try and keep a straight expression on her face, but after this tragedy, . . . there was no strength that hold back the sorrow she felt. Not even the news Melody had told her earlier would have prepared her for the sight itself.

 

Aleu’s body remained where she had fallen, but now someone had placed the five cleaned pups that she had bore in her final few moments of life on her belly, lining her teats as if they were nursing. Three of the pups were dark red like their father, one was grayish like their mother, and the final pup was a creamy beige color. However, Shadow’s red form was there – he wanted nothing more than to be beside the one he loved right now while others – starting with the Alpha – stepped up to offer their commiserations to him.

 

“Oh, Shadow,” she leaned over to console her sister’s mate with her muzzle. “There are no words I can say to express how my heart weeps for you and your family.” A thin

Previous Page

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Next page