Chapter 8 - One Friend Leads to Another
"Hey... Balto?" Steele asked.
"Yeah, Steele?"
"Remember when my team and I got lost in these mountains that one time?" he said as he looked around, reflecting on the time he and the team could have frozen to death.
"Yeah, I do. What about it?" Balto asked, looking around and reflecting also.
"I never got a chance to thank you. I mean, you saved our lives! We could have frozen to death if it wasn't for you." Balto smiled.
"You're welcome, Steele."
They walked in silence for about five to six minutes until Steele remembered something he wanted to tell Balto.
"You know something, Balto? Your daughter was the one who made me realize what I'd done wrong in my life."
"She did? How?"
"Well... after I took her, we settled down in a cave for the night and she asked me if I thought this was any way for her mother to fall for me, and if I thought this was helping me get along with my life. That really made me realize what I'd done wrong all these years. I was so worried when she disappeared the next morning... which is today."
Balto felt a pang of sadness at the mention of his lost daughter, but also a stroke of happiness. He had always been proud of her, and he was so relieved that she had returned. If only she would do it again.
Balto smiled and said, "I'm very proud of her. I've always been proud in all that she's done." Steele glanced at Balto and watched him look down. He frowned. "I just wish she was around so I could tell her."
Steele frowned. He felt deeply for Balto and his family. It couldn't be easy to have to deal with Aleu, and it couldn't be easy for the family to deal with Balto. He didn't even live with them. He knew in many ways that his life was much easier than his, and he knew it always had been.
"Balto, if you have negative thoughts about this whole thing, there's a good chance we won't find her. But if you have a good attitude, I know we'll find her."
Balto smiled, but then frowned again.
"Just look at the stars. They will light your way."
Balto looked up at the twinkling balls of gas above him and thought. He thought about Jenna. He thought about Aleu. But most importantly, he thought of the goose he had forgotten about. Boris.
"Steele! I forgot about Boris!"
Steele then remembered what he had done with him. He didn't have the guts to tell Balto what he had done. "Uh... isn't that the goose?"
"Yes! Yes, it is! Back at the cabin, he went outside and then he disappeared! Will you help me look for him?"
Steele looked into Balto's glistening eyes. He couldn't say no.
"Of course I will!" he said, hesitating slightly. "C'mon, let's go!" Steele then began running back a little ways before he stopped.
"Hey! Why'd you stop?" Balto asked, backing up to join Steele at his side.
"Balto, I did a bad thing. A very bad thing. I can't hold it in anymore!"
"Steele! What did you do? Just tell me!"
"Okay... I..." a tear fell from his eye. Balto had never thought that he would see Steele cry. But there was always a first time for everything.
Then Steele finished his sentence. "I... I killed Boris! Okay? I killed Boris!" he yelled.
Balto's mouth dropped wide open. "Are you serious?"
Steele collapsed in the snow and looked up sadly at Balto. "Yes," he said, his voice cracking.
Balto gently laid down beside Steele in the snow and put his paw on his back. "Steele," he said. Steele looked at him. "You can't change the past. You can't change what you've done. But you can apologize."
Steele found it hard to believe that Balto wasn't more upset about losing his best friend. "Aren't you mad at me?"
Balto looked up at the stars. "Kinda. I know now that you've changed. Right?"
"Oh, absolutely, Balto! I'll never do anything like that again!"
Balto looked down at Steele and smiled. "That's good to hear. Now, where was he when you first left him?"
"About 2 miles south from the cabin."
"Okay. That shouldn't take too much time if we run," Balto said, with a determined look as he turned his head towards the southerly direction.
"Balto, are you crazy? It'll take forever to get there and back to find Aleu."
"Steele... one friend leads to another."
Steele didn't get what he meant. Balto took off running south. Steele had no choice but to follow him.
Chapter 9 - Crossing Paths
"Balto!" Steele shouted after him. "Where are you going? Have you gone mad?"
"No," he said, slowing his pace a little and turning his head towards Steele, still running. "I know where we're going, trust me."
"HOW do you know where you're going? Give me one way."
"Just follow me. Don't you trust me?"
"Of course I do. I just don't want to end up lost incase you DON'T know where you're going after all."
It was then that Balto stopped running and sniffed the air.
"Hey, Steele? Do you smell something?" Balto asked suspiciously, pawing at the snow gently.
"No. Why, do you?"
"Yeah... yeah, I do."
"Well, what does it smell like?" Steele asked. He was beginning to think that Balto had lost his mind.
"I'm not too sure... it smells like... wolf," Balto said, looking around sharply and quickly.
"No... please no!" Steele yelled as he saw four sets of beady eyes coming towards them. They both stood their ground and waited for the fight to begin.
Meanwhile, while Aleu struggled through the buffeting snowstorm, without knowing, she had turned around. She was heading south; the same direction as her father and his ex-foe.
All of a sudden, she began to lose faith with every step she took. She dropped in the snow and laid there for who knows how long before she smelled a different sort of smell... one she had never smelled before. Her ears pricked up, and she thought she saw a small shadow before her. She slowly raised her head and the hair on the back of her neck rose up and her teeth bared. But the strange creature did not move a muscle.
Suddenly, the snow started to calm down a bit and she could see clearly now. The creature was one that she had never seen before... it was plump, and it had spiraling horns on the top of its head. Then, it spoke to her.
"Hello. I am Aries the ram. I have come to show you the right direction."
Aleu's teeth bared even more and she backed up a bit. Aries still did not move. All that did move were his black, knowing eyes.
"Aleu. Please try to understand. I am here to help you."
"H-H-How do you know my name?" Aleu asked, now beginning to get worried.
"I see and know everything."
Aleu furrowed her brow slightly. "H-How?"
"Never mind that. Now," he said, turning around to face the southerly direction, and backing up behind Aleu ever so slightly, "You must go that way to find your destination."
"How do you know my destination? Why should I trust you? Who are you?"
She looked around, but the wise ram was nowhere to be found.
"Aries? Aries?" she shouted, looking around frantically. She continued to call out his name, but there was no reply. She sat in the snow and thought.
Who was that? she thought. How did he know so much about me? How did he know where I was heading? The thoughts circled around her head like leaves blowing on an autumn breeze. She finally decided on what she was going to do. She was going to follow his advice. She didn't care anymore about what was going to happen. She would rather die than to never see her mother or Saint again. She would rather die a happy life, in front of a warm fire, with a few small puppies by her side, not out here in cold, hard, menacing snow.
She would rather die than to never see her father again. As much as she hated to admit it, she could never live on without her father. She would never live a full life without her father. And she would never feel safer with anyone but her father.
It was this thought that kept Aleu trudging on through the snow, in the way Aries had told her to go. She was willing to accept his wise words; she had a feeling deep inside of her that in some odd way, some strange, awkward way, she somehow knew him.
"Who are you?" Balto asked, the leading wolf's figure blocked by the blinding snow.
"Why do you care? You're on our territory. Get out while you still can," the leader yelled. Balto scowled and stood his ground, while Steele growled and snarled at the others.
"I'm only passing through to find two animals that are very close to me. Please... let me through."
"If you want through, you have to go through all of us," one wolf said, coming up behind the leader.
"Bring it on!" Steele yelled. Then the goon wolf jumped up onto Steele's back and clawed and bit at him. Steele yelped in pain; he was helpless. Balto growled and his teeth bared as he took the goon wolf by the leg and swung him off of Steele's back and into the snow with a loud thud a few feet away. He laid motionless.
"Thanks, buddy!" Steele said as another wolf approached them. Oblivious to Balto and Steele, he was merely just a distraction as another wolf came up behind Steele and sank his teeth into the back of his neck. Steele started to breathe heavily and he dropped into the snow, motionless, the wound in his neck bleeding heavily. He could not get up... he was paralyzed for a brief moment. Now it was Balto's battle.
As soon as he saw Steele lying down on the ground in horrid pain, he switched to complete battle mode. He sprang up onto the wolf who attacked Steele and his fury and young spirit came flooding back to him. He was nothing but strength, fury, and anger now.
With one blow, he had the wolf down on the ground, also paralyzed for a moment or two. He was now out of this battle. Two down, two to go... then came the leader.
Another wolf, this one brown with black spots and huge, mighty paws with piercing claws, rounded Balto, trying to intimidate him. Balto stood his ground and showed no fear. At this, the wolf backed down a bit and then sprang. Balto ducked and the wolf sailed right over his head into a rock, breaking it in half with his head. He instantly stopped breathing and stopped moving. His head began to bleed terribly and Balto looked away.
Three down, one to go... then came the leader.
The next challenger had piercing red eyes that shone with fury and many battle experiences. He was much taller than Balto... but his muscle tone was weak, meaning that he had clearly no experience. This one was going to be easy.
The brown wolf jumped up in the air and hit Balto in the face with his hind legs, sending a scratch from Balto's right eye all the way down to his shoulder. It hurt badly, but Balto ignored the pain and charged towards his foe. He couldn't give up now.
He slashed the wolf two or three times and he fell down onto the ground. Balto pounced on top of him and bit his ear mercilessly. The wolf yelped in pain and stopped fighting.
Four down... now came the leader.
Chapter 10
Balto and the lead wolf began to circle round and round until one of them was ready to spring to begin the battle. It was Balto that made the first move. He jumped up into the air towards the leader, his teeth bared and his growl deep and menacing. The lead wolf showed no fear and no intimidation towards Balto as he moved out of the way smoothly, sending Balto sailing over to the edge of the cliff.
Now, hanging on to the edge of the cliff with nothing but his sharp claws, Balto saw his life flash before him. He had no chance of living now; it would take a miracle.
And a miracle it was. Suddenly, a familiar half-wolf snuck up behind the leader, clawing and biting at his back mercilessly and intimidatingly, showing no fear of him. The leader rolled over onto his back, but it did nothing to the half-wolf except startle her.
Now the two circled and circled each other as Steele wobbled over to Balto to help him up with all of his strength. Balto recognized the half-breed immediately and smiled a huge smile.
"Aleu! Be careful!" he shouted to his life-saving daughter, whom had just sprung onto the lead wolf. Now they were rolling over and over towards the cliff... but once again, the lead wolf had his enemy hanging over the edge of the cliff.
Balto thought for the only spare seconds he had of to what he should do, because it was clear that this was a battle that Aleu could not fight by herself. He finished thinking and ran over to the two, headstrong and confident.
Balto charged at the leader's backside and sent him sailing over the cliff. He then pulled Aleu up slowly as Steele ran over to help him lift her up.
Once they were all safe and quite a few feet away from the cliff, they each caught their breath and Aleu pounced on her father, smiling and crying tears of joy. Balto matched his daughter's expression.
"Papa... I thought I would never find you!" Aleu shouted, licking Balto nonstop.
Balto smiled and said, "Well... it looks like you thought wrong."
Aleu looked up at her father, smiling. "Dad... I hope you know that you just saved my life."
"You saved mine... it was the least I could do," he replied jokingly. Aleu laughed and then nuzzled Balto again.
"Hey, Papa... why is HE here?" Aleu asked, a somewhat frightened expression on her face as she looked at Steele and bared her teeth slightly.
"Yeah... I need to explain that to you, dear. You see, Steele here has turned over a new leaf," Balto said, walking over to sit beside Steele.
Aleu looked at the two confusedly. "And you believe him WHY?" she asked. Steele frowned.
"Honey... I just do."
"HOW many times has he played tricks and jokes on you? HOW many times has he called you names and tortured you to death?" she asked. Steele just looked down at the snow sadly.
Aleu paid him no mind. She just looked at her father, her eyebrows raised, awaiting her answer.
Balto sighed and said, "Aleu, dear... it's a long story."
With that, Aleu plopped her butt in the snow with a thud and said, "I've got time."
Balto sighed and laid down in the snow along with Steele and he began telling her what had happened while she was gone.