still have the chance to be a friend of yours.”

“Yes. It would be most pleasurable to have your friendship.”

Henry shook Balto’s paw, squeezing it rather tightly before he pulled away and rubbed his paw on the floor. He looked beyond the two and saw the clumps of fur that littered the floor. He pointed to them.

“Excuse me if I may be intruding on your own affairs, but what is that fur being used for?”

“Oh, nothing. Actually, I just finished up removing some band-aids that my girl put all over him.”

“Ahh. I see… Here. Let me be a good citizen and clean that all up for you.”

“Oh, I’m sure we could get it,” she said.

“Nonsense. I feel absolutely dreadful for my behavior earlier, so it’s the least of what I could do to make up for it.” Henry moved passed them and kneeled down. “And I won’t take no for an answer.”

He gripped the fur in his mouth tightly and headed for the exit, mumbling something that vaguely sounded like ‘Good night’ before leaving the house.

A fierce wind lashed out at Henry as soon as he stepped foot out of the building. His eyes started to sting as snowflakes whirled around his face and pelt him. He glanced up and down the desolate street before walking down the nearest alleyway. He crinkled his nose. The fur he carried smelled most unpleasant. It was almost a dingy, musty smell, and he didn’t care for it in the least. He was so relieved when he finally saw it. A garbage can, half open, and frozen in place by the bitter ice.

~-~-

Henry walked out of the alley only to go down another. His paws made loud crunching noises as he crushed the snow beneath him, and he began to shiver occasionally from his exposure to this most bitter of winds. He spied two figures halfway down the alley, but had no cause for worry. He had stationed these two to guard the scene of the first murder, as to keep it from being meddled with. He was the only one allowed past, and only to inspect for clues.

“Alright you two. You can go home now. I’ll stand watch.”

The two dogs nodded before parting ways to return to their owners. Henry looked over the too bodies, holding his breath as he did so. He let it out in the form of a sigh. He still couldn’t find a single thing to go on from this. It was starting to seem pointless, but he was determined not to let down the town so quickly. He spotted another trash can, only this one was down, open, and looked clean enough to suit him. He tried to make himself comfortable in the hard metal can, and after some effort, he was able to get some rest.

Chapter Thirteen:

The sled seemed to increase in speed as Nome came into the horizon. Along with gleeful barking, there was also much groaning and grunting. This mail run had taken nearly twice as long to get through as it should have. But what could you really expect? The only dogs available had rookie experience at best, and just the clear shortage didn’t help.

“Oh thank goodness!” called Saba, “I thought we’d never see home again!”

“Really now,” Denali panted, “you are so overdramatic. Tired from a little run?”

She stuck her tongue out at her brother as the four dog sled team whizzed past a weather-beaten sign that marked their town. They barked louder and louder until they were finally in front of the post office. The dogs sat down and panted together as Mr. Simpson lifted the sack of mail. The post office door opened and there stood Mr. Conner.

“Ahoy!” he called, “I see ya finally got here!”

Mr. Simpson could only smile. “Well, for a four dog team, I dare say that we didn’t do too badly.”

The musher threw the mail bag to the post master, who just barely managed to catch it, and stumbled as he did so.

“Careful now Sir,” Mr. Simpson joked, “I had to mend up the last post master, and I don’t want to do another.”

As the two men laughed together, the four dogs began to wander away. After all, they weren’t needed for awhile. As Denali and Saba strolled down the street, they spied a figure coming towards them. He had a limp from what the two could gather, and he seemed to struggle towards them.

“Kodi! You’re supposed to be in the vet’s!” Saba scolded him.

Kodi smirked, “I couldn’t stand being locked up in there any longer. I want to get back to work as soon as possible.”

“Careful now. You don’t want to kill yourself, especially over something like working. You have to learn when to rest,” Denali commented.

“You could be right. But speaking of learning. Apparently a lot’s been going on while we were off the street. Want to help me find out?”

“Sure thing. You know how Denali is about learning. He has to know everything.”

“For once, I have nothing sarcastic to say to that true statement.”

“Now that’s a scary thought,” Saba giggled.

Kodi coughed, “Anyways… Let’s get going. I’m going to Mom to ask about what little I did hear. Apparently, Doc has been replaced by some new guy.”

Surprisingly, Denali was the only to show shock. “Are you positive?”

Kodi nodded his head, “Absolutely. Someone told me when I snuck out of the vet‘s office.”

“Incredible.. I would have never expected something like this to happen to Doc.”

“Well, I vote we go find out from Ma about this,” Saba chimed in.

“Agreed. It wouldn’t be wise to jump to conclusions so hastily.”

The three siblings began their walk to their mother’s house as a harsh wind blew past them and the dark storm clouds on the far horizon inched closer and closer.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

Henry jumped awake, hitting the top of the can as a clump of snow fell from a roof and rattled his bed. He peeked out, rubbing his head. He sighed heavily as he moved towards the scene of the bodies again. He began to study it once more, obviously not expecting to find something.

“Wait a minute… What do we have here?” he whispered to himself.

Henry knelt down closer to the female and began to carefully inspect her collar. He nearly jumped when he heard footsteps from behind him, but he breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that it was only the two dogs that had offered to guard the scene.

“Is something wrong?” the first asked.

“Of course not,” he smiled up at them before he went back to pawing at the collar, “but I think I found a clue, and a good one at that.”

He pulled something out from between the body and her collar and smiled.

“Well, I think we have the fur of the very dog that did this. Unfortunately, I’ll probably need help in identifying it.”

“What do you want us to do?” the second dog asked.

“Just wait here. There’ll be a meeting as soon as the sun rises, so I hope you can attend.”

“Sure thing,” the first nodded, but then noticed something, “are you alright?”

Henry looked at him quizzically, “I’m sorry, but what?”

He pointed at Henry’s front paw. Henry looked down and saw a patch of red.

“Huh. I wonder how that got there. Maybe it was from my inspection?” he shrugged. “But never mind that. I must make haste in order to reach all the others in time to tell them about the meeting. See you there!” he called as he trotted down the alley.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

Kaltag awoke with a groan as he rubbed his head. He sat up and looked around, his vision very blurred. From what he could tell, Nikki and Star were also beginning to stir, and they too were doing something to try and quell their awful headaches. But it was no use. After a few minutes, Kaltag could finally make out his surroundings. There were boards above him, dirt as the floor, and an assortment of wires, houses, and beams around him. There was a chortle from behind him, and Kaltag whirled around before he felt a sudden pain. He grabbed his head again and fell to the ground with his eyes tightly shut.

“Aww, poor Pup. Does your wittle head still hurt?” Hal cooed mockingly.

Hal began to pace around each individual dog, grinning madly as he patted each one of them on the head and they squirmed away from his touch.

“I see you haven’t quite adjusted to your migraines… See, each of my siblings had a different idea on how to cause you suffering. Would you believe the idea of this came to me just a few days ago? Now you will know exactly how I feel most of the time. That dull pounding in your head that increases in intensity each time you move or hear a noise, isn’t it… maddening?”

Hal padded over to Star and lifted his head up. He began to chortle before dropping the dog’s head back to the cold, hard earth, and smiling at the yelp of pain he heard.

“Well, if it doesn’t drive you insane now, it will. The best part is, is that while you try and resist me by combating this mind-numbing phenomenon, your body is completely powerless. Too bad you don’t have the luxury I did though. No laughing gas for you I’m afraid. But this will do… I did hear the most interesting news while eavesdropping this morning though. Apparently they are planning another meeting today, as the sun rises if I heard correctly.”

He looked at each dog carefully. As he circled each one, he mumbled to himself, maybe throwing in a chuckle or too. Hal took a particular interest in Kaltag though. He seemed to be the most determined fighter compared to the other two. He would do perfectly for what he desired.

“Kaltag was it?” Hal moved to the Chinook and lifted him to his paws. “You are going to that meeting. You will tell me every detail that goes on there. And if you even think about spilling anything, then you better prepare yourself for a harsh lesson.” He snickered quietly as he led Kaltag out. “And if you dawdle on your way back, then I will hunt you down.”

Kaltag stumbled out of the exit, a hole that led directly underneath a building. He kept trying to focus as best as he could. To be honest, he felt as if he were about to lose his lunch, well, if he had had a meal of course. Hal watched after him, grinning from ear to ear. He knew exactly what this one would try to do, and that was the only reason why he would be the

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