the rest of his white fur in a viscous mixture of melting snow and soot.

“That was a close one,” he whispered to himself.

He stopped in his tracks as he tried to get his bearings. He heard an intolerable squeak that could have only come from the butcher’s rusty hanging sign. He walked blindly around the nearest corner and stayed as close to the wall as possible.

“Well hello there.” Henry whirled around and saw another dog staring at him, well, grinning. He returned the gesture and the other dog continued to speak. “It’s a pleasure to see you again. It’s not every day that I get to see… Leader Henry.”

Henry stuck his chin out further and smirked. “Well maybe I’ll try to come ‘round more often.”

The dog managed to mask his disgust perfectly behind a friendly smile, “That would be most wonderful. But my, my, you seem to have gotten quite arrogant since we last saw each other. I wonder, has this position gone straight to your head?… I wonder…”

Henry gave a confident smile. “Of course not. I have everything under control,” his face quickly became more serious, “but enough of this idle chat, Henry, I want some answers.”

“Please, call me Hal, I prefer it much more… But please, ask away.”

“Alright then, first, when will this whole thing end? I think I’m starting to gain suspicion from the local dogs.”

Hal lifted and studied his paw, seeming like he was ignoring Henry. “Hmm, it should be over in a day or so. By then, everything should have fallen into place…”

“Good,” Henry nodded, “and second, and most important, when am I getting my reward? I’m a very patient and understanding dog, but one can only wait for so long.”

“And what a very modest dog you are too,” he said, covering his sarcasm in a laugh, “but we’ll get it tonight if it makes you feel any better.”

“Good, good… Now what time will you get me, and where will we meet?”

“We will rendezvous when I call on you, and it will be under the good doctor’s empty home. There you can take your reward wherever you want. Providing that you held up your end of the bargain… of course…”

“I can assure you that everything is taken care of. The dogs will be staying inside their homes no matter what they see, and I think fear has been spread throughout a few of them.”

“Only a few?” Hal asked disappointedly, though still grinning, “I am most surprised, I thought that after all of my advice to you that you could have frightened more than a few,” he shrugged, “but it’ll do I suppose.”

Henry snorted. He didn’t appreciate being, in a sense, scolded, but he didn’t want to lose his cool either. He mumbled a few words that were lost in the wind and he calmly walked off into the blizzard. Hal twirled around and began to hum merrily to himself as he walked through the crates and into his home.

Chapter Eighteen:

The day before had been horrible. It had been one painful, maddening blow after another. Each time sent a drill through their heads, making them whimper and beg for mercy. But the mercy would never come. Kaltag and Nikki were already long gone. As long as this incessant migraine was poisoning their minds, they would never return. Star felt another sudden stabbing in his mind. He gnashed his teeth together and grunted, his eyes rolling back into his head, sweat dripping from his muzzle. He grabbed his head and rolled back and forth, moaning and whining. There was another nail clawing through the chalkboard of his mind and he slammed his head against the ground uncontrollably which somehow eased the pain. The small dog rolled onto his back and began to claw at the ground, his tongue lolled out and eyes glazed over. A dull laughing made its way into his frazzled mind and his ear twitched towards the sound. Suddenly, Star let out a quiet chuckle and he started to smile. The intense pain turned to a dull ache as something else took its place. Laughter. Singing. Music. Wonderful, beautiful sounds and melodies. He squinted open an eye and bright colors danced in his vision, and whatever the others were laughing about, he was doing so too. Heh, he understood their amusement now. More chuckles escaped his throat until laughter exploded from his maw. He smacked his head on the ground again and howled with glee. His eyes fluttered shut as he rolled around in a fit of joyous laughter.

“Don’t hide your eyes from me… Open them and see me now.”

His eyes snapped open and he stared straight into Hal’s grinning face. Little brightly colored dots flickered in and out of his vision as he returned the devilish grin with much vigor.

“You’ve finally joined us Star…” he laughed excitedly, “I’m very proud of you My Boy.”

Star stood up slowly, his head hanging near the hard earth. He lifted a paw and wiped a strand of drool from his grinning muzzle. “Heh, thank you Sir.”

Hal chuckled, “Please, call me Hal… But you’re timing is most impeccable… I have an assignment just for you and your friend Kaltag.”

A set of ears twitched and the Chinook stood, his eyes dull and bloodshot, his muzzle twisted into a crooked smirk. “Ha! Some action at last!”

“Ooh, Kal, I didn’t know you wanted in on it so badly,” Hal sniggered, “very well. Tonight you will be retrieving something for a friend of ours, a reward of sorts. It means very much to him, and you will have to be most crafty in collecting it.”

He whispered what they were to collect and where to bring it into their ears quietly. Their grins widened and Star laughed.

“Oh that’s rich!”

“I know! Isn’t it!?” Kaltag snickered, “I’m up for a challenge.”

“Good, good, good,” Hal hummed a familiar tune, “now, if anyone gets in your way, just… knock ‘em out with a good fist to the skull… Now get going…”

The two friends left quickly, giggling like schoolgirls. Hal heard a dog walking up to him, chuckling softly.

“So Nikki,” Hal began without looking towards the other dog, “you want to help out too?”

“Heh, what would you’s have me do?”

“I’m glad you asked…” he turned and gave a wide smile, “you and I will be doing the most important job. I shall explain on the way.”

Hal turned his attention to his half-asleep sister. He whistled and she suddenly jumped.

“Y-yes?” she stuttered.

“Lilith… After Star and Kaltag finish their assignment, and I give you the go-ahead, I want you to contact one of three dogs. I will tell you what to tell them when we return… And do watch over the children. I wouldn’t want anything… bad to happen to them.”

She looked at the pups, somewhat nervously and she nodded her head slowly. Hal nodded back and led Nikki out into the frozen wasteland that was now Nome, Alaska.

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

Jenna woke up again, her eyes still shut and her body shivering. Had the fire gone out during the night? She suddenly felt a dull pounding in her mind. She rubbed the back of her head and felt a lump that stung when she touched it. When did she get this? She stretched her paws out and they dug into something unfamiliar. Dirt? But what was-? Jenna opened her bleary eyes and couldn’t see a thing. It took awhile for her eyes to adjust, and furthered her confusion. There were floorboards above her head, so she had to be under some building.

“Well, good morning Jenna…”

That voice… It sounded somewhat familiar.

“H-Henry?” she asked with a great deal of uncertainty.

“Close… Very, very close.”

A dog entered her vision. His crimson and white fur blended together perfectly, and his brown eyes shown in even this dim climate along with a small, pink, makeshift bandana that hung from his collar. Jenna even saw the scar on his cheek that she had left there before. Her eyes widened in a horrible fear, and then she felt a growl resonate from her throat. This dog was much, much worse than the one she had thought it was. And now she knew exactly why Henry had been after her the way he had. This dog’s name had never been Henry in the first place. His true name was Douglas…

Back when Jenna had been born, she had had three brothers and one sister. But because of this one dog, she had been the only other one left. Her parents, nor their owner, told anyone, including Jenna, about this dog and for good reason. He was sick in the head in many ways. A nut job from birth. Her parents had run Douglas out of town, and they thought he had died long ago. But towards the beginning of 1927, he had reappeared, trying to win Jenna over, but it backfired when she had told him that she was already taken by Balto. That’s when her parents finally confessed to her about him. She had gotten him to leave, but only after making it painfully obvious that she was not interested, and that scar on his cheek was the proof.

Douglas was her brother. Her sick, twisted brother that had killed off their siblings because they were viewed as his ‘competition’.

“Well, well Sis. Lovely to see you again,” he said smoothly.

“I wish I could say the same…” Jenna muttered, “What are you doing here? I thought you were supposed to leave for good.”

“Oh come on, no love for your own brother?” he asked disappointedly, “But you know that I love you…”

He edged closer to her until he was within a foot of her face. His eyes fluttered in a somewhat flirting manner. Jenna backed up slowly.

“Well you know that I don’t feel to same way at all, so back off and leave me alone.”

He made a sudden advance towards her and put a claw under her chin, bringing her muzzle right up to his. “Now… why would I let you go again? I lost you once, and I don’t plan to lose you again.”

Jenna jerked away from him and suddenly felt cold wood behind her. She glanced back and saw that she had been backed into a corner.

“Well, well, it looks like you aren’t going anywhere,” he grinned happily, “just how I like it.”

Now that she was trapped, she didn’t know what to do, but she knew what he was going to try and do. She started to panic, trying to find a way to get out of this tight spot. Douglas turned his body,

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