railroad, there was no way for that system to work.

But one of Steele’s teammates came up with this idea. See if a few trains where “relived” of their goods, a small drop would occur in the amount of freight moving to the towns that have no rail connection. The price of good that was moving would rise drastically. Once the price rose, then Steele and his team would sell the good they originally stole back to the towns! Everyone wins.”

“I’ve been paying Jonathan here to store the contraband in the abandoned Kenneth mines.” Steele chimed in.

Aleu couldn’t believe her ears, this was an economical manipulation. These dogs acted as if they would be doing a service to some of the small isolated communities of Alaska, but she knew most of those towns couldn’t survive without the goods that would be sent to them, in the time between the scarcity, and their approach with the contraband, a few towns could fall onto the brink of economical or full collapse! Prices would rise and People would starve!

“And it wasn’t even my plan!” Steele said, braking Aleu out of her nightmarish future outlook.

Jonathon moved closer to Aleu, and putting his hand under her muzzle forced her to look at him. “So, The reason I’m telling you this is we all stand to make a good killing on this. I can retire south, possibly to Mexico or some other southern country. Now like I said, I have a soft spot for you…and I want you to come with me, as my mate.”

Aleu launched herself at the canine; in a move similar to the one she pulled on Steele, attempting to ram her skull into the bottom of his jaw.

But Brewbaker saw it coming, and backed away. Leaving Aleu to fall haplessly to the rock floor, there she lay on her stomach. Steele in anger kicked her in the ribs, then put his foot atop the small of her back.

Just as it looked like he was about the ram his steel-toed boot into her muzzle, a hissing sound echoed up and down the cavern as Kaltag arrived riding one of the agricultural locomotives. It ground to a halt as he stepped off the riding platform.

“The rest of the team is here. We’re ready to start loading this stuff up to take to the caverns in Isloosa.” He said.

Steele looked at Brewbaker. “Well sir…its been a pleasure and a pain, but I think we can warp up your services now.”   

The mine boss nodded. “Right, now if you will come to my office we can discuss pay….”

That was as far as the malamute got before Steele whipped out a Smith & Wesson revolver and shot his in the back. Jonathan fell to the floor with a sickening thud.

Aleu righted herself onto her bottom and watched as the miners blood seeped into the cavern floor.

“Sorry pal…but I like the idea of having more then 50% of our earnings.” Steele said pocketing the revolver.

Kaltag stood staring at the body, then at the bound and gagged she-wolf. “What about her.”

Steele looked at Aleu, his eyes full of cold malice. “Oh I have something special for the wolf-dog’s daughter.”

Her grabbed Aleu by the nap of her neck and dragged her over to the mine train, sitting her on the riding platform, he situated her on her knees and with a little bit of rope, bound her hands to her ankles, her tail sticking out in-between.

“Hand me that line on the wall, and a wrench.” He demanded to Kaltag, who instantly replied with much haste.

He then ran the line over Aleu’s waist and threw the frame of the locomotive. When he was done, she sat on her knees on the riding platform, he back to the controls.

Kaltag handed Steele the wrench, and he un-did the bolts on the throttle. Then with one swift move he opened it wide, and pulled it out of its housing.

With a blast of steam and a small show of sparks out its stack, The agricultural locomotive shot off down the track, caring Aleu on its back like some helpless rider on a runaway horse.

Steele waved as she disappeared into the darkness of the tunnels.


****************




  Aleu felt her body waver side to side as the little engine rattled on down the dark tunnels, before and behind her impenetrable darkness. The lanterns on this shaft weren’t lit, the only light being the single lamp on the engine. The track and tunnel descended like a roller coaster, curving in and out of the abandoned mine.

The first thing Aleu found, was that a wolf with cloth in its mouth screaming sounding like a cow. The next was that the chain drive of the locomotive wasn’t all that far from the ropes binding her arms together. It she could maneuver her back towards it, they might cut the ropes and free her just enough to move her wrists towards the same chain…then her hands would be free and she could make an escape.

It was easier though then done, the locomotive’s wild gyrations and diminutive stature made moving on it extremely rough. Each bump and jar in the track sent Aleu’s body off in some unknown direction. And no matter how she based herself, she just couldn’t control it. Her hair waved and whipped in the train slipstream. Her only view backwards looking as the tracks retreated into a chasing darkness that lay just beyond the edge of the glow of the lamp.

Faster and fast the engine flew, the rock side looked like blurs as it pumped every ounce of steam it could muster into its cylinders. Deeper and deeper into the mine it dragged the poor bound she-wolf.

But still Aleu tried for it. Finally, she was able to brace her hands against her ankles and lean back far enough for the rope running below her breasts and behind her back to touch the chain. It took every once of restricted energy she could muster to hold that painful position as the seeding chain cut the rope. Finally with a snap, the rope fell away, and was intently wiped off her body and backwards into the darkness behind her.

Next she lifted her wrists to the chain, but the ropes holding her to the frame prevented her from reaching it. She cussed herself and being unable to hit her wrists against the freedom bring drive chain, but she found that by moving her tail up just slightly, even though it brought her wrists away, it brought the ropes holding her to the frame, and her hands to her ankles, right into he chain! If she could cut that she could roll off this roller coaster ride from hell!


Suddenly she felt a blast of cold air, turning her head she saw the giant open maw of the shaft ending. But the tracks ended as a ledge that fell away deep into a pitch-black downward crevasse that seemed to stretch into infinity!


Aleu panicked and jammed the ropes into the chain, they snapped just as the diminutive locomotive launched itself into he deep abyss! It lantern looking like a red dot falling into the infinity of space!



For a good 2 minutes it fell into the downward shaft that stretched across for a good 400 feet…darkness surrounding it in some cold wicked game of destruction. The wheels still turned as if trying to reach for a track that it would never touch again. Wind whistling. Finally the rock floor, which was lined with sharp stalagmite, appeared.


The agricultural locomotive exploded when it hit the stalagmites, its boiler pierced. The light from the explosion illuminated the gravesite for a few second before it went out and darkness again shrouded the wreckage forever.

Its been said that the only three places total darkness can be achieved is underwater, in space, and underground.
Aleu could vouch for that last one. Even with her heightened since of wolven vision, she felt as if she was suspended in a thick black blanket, muffling her movement and slowing her thinking pattern.  

As the little narrow gauge locomotive jumped from the cliff, Aleu fell forward. With the link between her wrists and ankles broken, she did a contortion in the air and reach out with her still bound hands, wrapping the rope between her wrists on the other edge of the narrow gauge rail, braking her fall, but suspending her over the cliff. After the light from the locomotive disappeared in the chasm, she was plunged, hanging by her wrists from above her head, into the darkness.  

He ankles were still bound, and she was still gagged…not like her screams would make any difference, she was on her own.

Carefully, and inch by inch in the darkness, she dug the toes of her boots into the cliff face, and using the rope around her wrists like a grab slide, she pulled herself up along the rail till her fingers could rap around the iron band. She was glad for the darkness as it prevented her from looking down and seeing how deep the gaping subterranean cavern really was.

Her ears and fingers each worked to picked herself out of the hole. She once said that she could climb a mountain with one hand tied behind her back…but she never though it would happen with both hands tied in front of her! About fifteen minutes into her uphill climb, she was able to pull her shoulder and breasts over the precipice. Leaning forward, she threw her center of gravity over the edge and was able to slide onto the ledge.

Breathing heavily from the exhaustion, she lay there on the track, and took a few moments to catch her own breath. Then she set about freeing herself. With the knots in front of her now, she reached her fingers threw and tugged. Being a railroader she knew how to tied knots and shift weight. Within a moment the rope around her wrists slid free and she pulled the cloth bands away from her mouth.

Stretching her jaw and muzzle from the soreness of being clamped shut; Aleu quickly freed her legs and stood up.  Reaching her hands along the roof of the shaft she found a lantern, and with the turn of the flint wheel a small orb of red dim light glowed around her.

Turning around Aleu looked down at the underground rift. She gulped thinking about how it almost became her grave.

Taking off at a brick run, she started up hill.



Unlike the last time she ran threw the shafts, Aleu sprinted threw the tunnels, driven on by an unnatural bland of both hate and fear.

She arrived at the original cavern where she had awoken only 45 minutes