pretty good looking and there aren’t too many females either. It’s like an early Christmas!” she said. I only just managed to catch it as her voice dropped to almost a whisper. Her friends nodded their heads, and I moved on to listen to anything other than the new dog sled. But it seemed it was the hot topic, everyone was talking about it. The girls were all on about the males on the sled and the boys were talking about a few that might be replaced. It got rather boring after listening to about fifteen different ways to say ‘I heard all the boys are fit’. I swept back up to the broken entrance to the Alley and slid out back into the frosted street.

A good amount of time had passed, and the midday sun beat down upon the town. Most of the morning snow had melted away or turned to a muddy brown slush as hundreds of pairs of boots had tramped it down. It turned right, heading to the edge of town to one of my favourite spots. Not many dogs liked to watch the sled teams, but I found it hypnotic watching them all run in unison, as a team. I almost envied them, the bond that they must have shared with one another to know exactly where to go and when. Of course I knew the musher would be shouting out commands, but that didn’t really matter to me. I knew I would never get on a dog sled, and I didn’t want to, I was happy to just watch.

I reached the sled runs just as one team was setting off. The sound of paws pounding the snow exhilarated me and I watched them run closer to me. As the passed the breeze they caused ruffled my fur and made me feel all flustered.

I’m going to do it, today, and I don’t care if anyone sees me I thought. I had always wanted to do something, something that would probably make everyone else laugh. I had always wanted to run beside a dog sled, to just run as fast as I could with no real destination and today I was going to do it. I wandered further towards the forest, careful not to get too close, and stared down an empty sled run. The flattened snow was imprinted with paw prints which glistened as the light caught them, turning the run into a path of diamond. I tensed my legs, feeling myself get ready for the run, feeling the ground beneath my paws. I took a deep breath, giving the area one last glance, and started. It took a few seconds for my paws to get used to running on ice, I didn’t run very often, but once I did it felt wonderful. I felt like I was flying, gliding over the snow like a bird over water. My surroundings passed as a blur, but either side of me was glistening, pure snow. I shut my eyes for a few seconds, feeling the joy of the run seep into me, before opening them again and lowering my head. I charged forwards for what felt like an age, but I could feel the strength leaving my legs. I slowed to a breathless stop. My head was whirring with adrenaline and I knew my legs were quivering from the exertion, but I didn’t care. I took a few last wobbly steps forward before sitting back on my haunches and finally lowering myself to the ground. I flopped over onto my side and lay there panting, feeling the cool of the snow calm my pumping heart. I heard paw steps, but didn’t look up to see who it was.

“Are you O.K?” The voice was male, one that I knew from somewhere but couldn’t remember where. I didn’t have the breath to speak, so I didn’t. “I saw you running, and I was worried you collapsed, are you O.K?” the voice persisted. This time I raised my head to see a young light brown Chinook with a darker brown patch over his right eye.

“I’m alright Kaltag, really, I just got tired that’s all” I mumbled back, suddenly embarrassed that he had seen me run. He shook his head and continued in his normal stutter that always used to make me smile.

“But that was the f-fastest, h-hardest, most horrifying, m-most – “.

“I’m fine, really, just me being clumsy” I interrupted quickly. Kaltag sometimes droned on for hours, spewing out words that meant more or less the same thing and it was better for everyone to stop him early, even if it was cute. Kaltag nodded and turned to leave, glancing back at me one more time before walking back towards the town. I lay my head back down on the snow. Kaltag was alright, very sweet, but not for me. I picked myself up, trying to preserve some dignity, shook myself down and blinked the snow out of my eyes. In the distance I could see the sled team from earlier come through the mist in the direction of the darkening town. It must be really late if the sled teams are back already I thought, worry pressing itself against my mind. As much as I didn’t want to, I glanced behind me into the woods that were slowly heading towards being pitch black within their depths. It sent shudders down my spine. I hurriedly trotted towards the blinking lights ahead to get away from the ever growing darkness. Above the rooftops were the last tendrils of light, but they were disappearing quickly. One glance behind me proved my worries. The forest was already dark and menacing, and I knew there was probably a pack of wolves just waiting to kill me. I didn’t know why I had such a fear of the forest and of wolves, I had never even seen a wolf, but the stories humans and dogs told about them terrified me. I hurried forwards to chase the last glimmers of day back to my home.

I was very dark when I neared my house, all the street lights already extinguished. The air was cold and for some reason I could feel a bad omen in the air. I reminded myself how nothing bad ever happened in Nome, but the dark alleyways and heavy silence seemed more threatening than usual. I rounded the corner to be greeted by a small group of grinning dogs. My throat tightened and I tried to edge around the watchful group, but they were spread along the entire width of the street.

“Looky here, seems we got ourselves a little lost lamb’ one of them sneered. Several rose to their feet and began to take steps towards me. I panicked; street dogs were renowned for being brutish and sadistic. Against my will, I heard a whimper escape my throat. The group began to roar with laughter, but kept coming towards me. I was trapped, they had blocked me in. A loud growl erupted from the shadows and a tan and brown form careered into the group. The street dogs turned their attention to their attacker, and using that distraction I fled.

The dog door thumped against its frame as I dived in front of the fire. I crawled, quivering, into my bed. My Mistress sat asleep in her chair, oblivious to my return. I could smell an increasingly familiar tinge on her breath, but also came from the glass bottle filled with dark red liquid. I didn’t understand how humans could drink something that smelt so foul. It didn’t help my queasy stomach. My Mistress had only recently started drinking the red stuff, after the birth of Rosie’s younger brother. He had been kept away from me for weeks and when I did finally see him he smelt sickly and didn’t look very strong. Mistress and Master were always sitting by his bed or holding him and the worried atmosphere lay heavy around me. I sighed as my thoughts drifted back to what had happened earlier. I hadn’t exactly wanted to hang around to find out the identity of my saviour, I didn’t even know if he had intended to save me. All I saw of him was his tan and brown fur and burning honey eyes. It was with that image that I slipped into a dreamless sleep.

No happy voice woke me the next morning. I had risen with the sun and left the house in the greyness of sunrise. My feet had taken me to a remote spot overlooking where the sled teams often ran. I needed to think. I settled on a flat rock, the only area not covered in snow, and closed my eyes to think.

Thudding pawsteps woke me; I didn’t even know I had fallen asleep. I pulled my eyelids apart to glance at the source of the noise. Several dogs were rushing past my resting place, their coats well groomed and their muscles rippling under their fur. They were wonderful to watch, which is exactly what I was doing. I couldn’t help myself; I just stared after their moving forms with eager and jealous eyes. It took me some time to realise I didn’t recognise any of them. It didn’t bother me much, though, as long as they didn’t disturb me. Waves of sleep began to wash against the shore of my consciousness and I could feel my eyes sink shut again.

“Is the view good from there, ‘cos it’s certainly good from here”. I groaned. Could I not get any peace out here? The voice from behind me sounded male, and I disliked him already. I stood slowly, deliberately not turning to face him. A moment of silence passed and neither one of us moved or spoke. The tension was killing me; I had to know who had spoken. My careful and cautious turn, or at least I hoped it looked that and not too eager, brought me almost nose to nose with another husky. Like the runners from earlier he was well groomed and well muscled with a confident air about him, almost cocky. His face was set with a triumphant grin, as if getting me to face him was some great achievement. I merely frowned, my contempt for him growing with every second. I examined him, checking him over. He was mostly a dark tan in colour, with a white undercoat. He had dark red markings in numerous places on his body, which strangely attracted the eye to those parts. His blue, nearly lilac eyes were framed with attractive white patches. All in all, he wasn’t that bad. But that was just his looks, and looks didn’t count for much. ‘Do you not talk girlie? What, wolf got your tongue?’ he laughed, pulling his lips back into a wide, toothy smile.

“I talk, and I don’t like people calling me