VOICES:

-Ataneq: Jack Nicholson

-Buck: Mark Harmon (younger voice)

-Boss: Brian Blessed

-Kaya: Sasha Alexander

-Aniu: Glenn Close

“Buck?”

I opened my eyes but I wanted to sleep….to sleep forever. My grandfather, Ataneq, walked into the pack’s cave. I set my head down on the cold den floor.

“Buck, you have to eat something” Ataneq said earnestly.

I lazily lifted my head and gazed at the pile of dried meat that had built up since our return.

“I’m not hungry”, I mumbled.

I looked away and towards the back of the den that was once my family’s. Except it wasn’t my family’s anymore. Less then a week ago, both of my parents and younger brother had been killed, murdered by human hunters that wanted little more then or coats.

“Whenever you’re ready to talk the whole pack is here” Ataneq said, trying to be sympathetic. But that wasn’t enough for me.

 “Do you even care that your only daughter died? My dad? Balto?”

His eyes burned, at first and he started to move towards me. I tried to stand too but I was too weak. My legs shook and Ataneq’s eyes softened.

“Of course I do. But I have to be strong for the pack”

I plopped on the ground and jammed my eyes shut. Sleep never came easy anymore without the warm comfort of my parents or brother. The tears started to come again and I told myself to stop. This was all my fault and crying about it was never going to make what had happened undone. But I couldn’t keep one last sniffle from escaping before I started to dream again.

            The next morning, Ataneq thundered in. I wasn’t sure what had set him off, but he was really mad. As he swept in, snowflakes blew in along with a burst of cold air.

            “Get out of here now! We’ve all gone through enough! We don’t need to lose anyone else!”

I stood up boldly and walked out of the cave with my tail high in the air. I’d listen to him, but he wasn’t taking away my dignity. I stepped out into the snow and the air hit me like a brick wall. I gasped as the cold air filled my lungs. The pack, surrounding the opening to the cave, looked up, many of them still low spirited. Ataneq followed me back out of the cave.

            “We went through what you did and we don’t need you around to make things worse!”

If he had swatted me across the face, it would have stung less.

“Fine!” I screamed back at him. “You’ll never have to worry about me again!”

I whirled around, and took off. The snow falling down would cover my path and hide my scent. Even though I was weak from no food, I had the strength to cross the creek, leaping across the small ice floes onto the opposite bank. I was positive that this was not my territory, but I could have cared less. I knew very well that all of the other packs in the bordering territories were at a kind of war with us, but the only time I stopped was when a cramp stung my side. I stopped, panted and listened. Something was nearby. I panted a few more seconds, tongue hanging out of my mouth then broke into a run again. Meanwhile, the snow started to come down thicker and for the first time in my six month long life, I cursed it.

The snow coated my fur and was beginning to seep through; my breath started to freeze my whiskers. The flakes stung my eyes and I closed them for a few seconds. Bad idea. I crashed right into a tree and bounced back from it onto my back… wolves aren’t supposed to bounce back from trees.            

 “Hey! Hey! I think we got her Boss!”

In horror, I realized the tree was a wolf. It was a skimpy grey wolf, and I was a little more then half his size. I could probably take him. Then another grey, a bigger furrier wolf, formed in the snow. Going out on my own was looking like a bad idea now.

                        “That’s not her you idiots” came a cruel voice.

A third wolf, jet black and as big as the second grey, approached me, beady yellow eyes blazing. I hated him as soon as an ugly smile widened across his face. I tried to scoot backwards but the bigger grey picked me up by the scruff of my neck so that I was practically sitting up. I gritted my teeth and the black wolf got up in my face.

“I’m not afraid of you” I growled.

This made the black wolf frown. But something about me intrigued him. He took a whiff of me and his eyes lit up.

                        “Did you ever hear of wolf named Aniu?”

“She’s my mother” I spat irritably.

“Where’s your mommy and daddy?” he mocked.

“They’re dead”, I said through my teeth, anger rising.

No surprise, they all laughed.

            “Hey Boss! That guy can’t come after you if Aniu isn’t alive anymore!” the big grey yelled stupidly.

The black wolf stopped laughing. He attacked the big grey and the three started to argue. They started to argue and I dropped to the ground. I took off through the thick snow as fast as my feet would carry me.

                        “Knock it off brainless idiots! He got away!” Boss shrieked.

            “What about the girl?”

                        “Forget about her!”

I could hear them floundering after me in the snow. This time, I wasn’t running blindly: I found a cliff to run against. The sounds of the three stopped and I looked over my shoulder. As far as I could see, which wasn’t very far, and no one seemed to be there. I laughed to myself then smashed right into the cliff.

I saw dots, scrambled back to feet and shook my head. Stupid, I thought. Panic started to grip me as I examined what I ran into. The sheer rock wall boxed me in and it was too sheer to climb. How stupid could I get? I was out hearing distance of the pack, not in my territory and cornered in a blizzard. I dropped to my stomach and started to crawl. The snow might hide me.

                        “Alright kid we can smell you here. Now we’re gonna tell you what we told your mommy. If you run, we’ll catch you and kill you, if you come to us, well……at least you won’t die” Boss cackled.

Fury was building up in me. I needed to take my fury out on something. The bigger grey wolf passed within feet of me but didn’t see me. I lunged at him and sank my teeth into his back foot. He howled in pain and I took off again with a smirk on my face. I could see where the cliff ended and hope started to fill me. Suddenly, something gave me a glancing blow to the head. I tumbled and hit the ground hard. I stopped on my stomach and scrambled to my feet, not knowing where the blow had come from. I saw the paw coming the second time but it hit just as hard and I smashed down on the ground. One final time, I scrambled to my feet only to be hit in the head for the third time in the same place. This time I stayed lying down. My head was pounding and my left eye felt like it had closed on it’s own. I tasted blood where I had bitten the side of my cheek.

                        “You gonna try and get away again?! Cause this is kind of fun!” Boss sneered.

The other two laughed their heads off. I never had hated anyone so much as I did then.

“You don’t even know who I am! What do you want with me?!” I growled.

                        “Legend, power, heritage…” Boss stated. What was that supposed to mean?!

I backed up but the three followed me. Boss towered above me.

                        “Are you ready for this? If you’re good, this won’t hurt a bit!”

I snarled as fiercely as I could and the three wolves’ jaws dropped open. For a brief moment, I thought that they were afraid of me, but they stared right past me.

                        “You’re supposed to be……” Boss stuttered.

A resounding growl came from behind me. The three wolves yelped and ran with their tails tucked between their legs. I used the last of my strength to turn around. What I saw shocked me.

“Mom?”

The white figure moved toward me and Aniu’s welcome smile seemed to have a light of it’s own.

“Mom…. you’re alive?” I asked, dumbfounded.

            “Yes, in a way” she replied.

She walked away into the snow and I pulled myself to my feet to catch up with her.

“I really miss you” I said trying to nuzzle her chest. It was freezing cold.

“You can’t carry on like this, Buck” she replied. “You need to be strong for your pack”

“Ataneq said he doesn’t need me! And it’s not my pack”

            “The pack and Ataneq still love you and always will. And you it will be your pack”

“How do you know?”

            “It’s my job to know. And if you need to sort things out here, that’s fine. But there are others that need you more then you need me. Some a bit closer then you expected” she smiled.

I took a few seconds to ponder it and Aniu stopped and licked my forehead.

            “You’re destined for great things Buck” she said lovingly. She backed away and in two steps, she was whipped away by a quick burst of snow.

“Wait! Mom!” I called desperately, standing and searching for any sign of her.

She hadn’t leave any smell but a trail of well- defined paw prints led me to an abandoned hole, belonging to some small animal. I crawled in but kept my head out just in case Aniu came back before I fell asleep.

            By the time I had woken up, the snow had let up a little so that I could actually see where I was. As soon as I stood up, my head started to pound and I remembered what had happened the day before. I had to get back to the pack. My pack. I carefully stepped out of the hole and peered around. The three from yesterday were long gone. I shook the snow and dirt from my coat and started to head home. As the now gentle flakes floated down, I noticed something move from under the sweeping branched of an evergreen. It looked like a rabbit and my stomach grumbled, reminding me I hadn’t eaten in a few days. I dropped to my stomach, crawled and pounced, surprisingly catching it’s big tail…. surprisingly shaped like mine…

            “Oww!”

I dropped the tail immediately and sprang back into the soft snow.

            “Get away! I’ll… fight you!” a female’s voice rang out.

“I don’t think I could fight a rabbit and win if I had wanted too right now” I said, trying to convince her to come out.

The puppy poked her head through the snow covering her and glanced around, stopping to take me in. She jumped out from under the tree and shook off. She looked at me again, noticing the left side of my face, still a little swollen.

            “Geez what does the other guy look like?” she smirked.

“They ran away and I’m sure they look better then I do. But I got the grey one’s foot”

            “You mean the three wolves? A big black one and two grey ones?”

I nodded.

“You’ve seen them before?” I asked curiously.

           “Yeah, we’re good pals, the four of us”, she answered sarcastically. “So who are you?”

“Buck”

            “I’m Kaya”, she answered before I had even finished my name.

“Where’d you come from? I’ve never seen you before…”

            “I don’t want to talk about it” she mumbled, being quiet for the first time since I met her.

“Are you alone?”

            “What’s it to you?!” Kaya snapped.

“I was going to offer that you could stay with us, but like you said, what’s it to me?”

I turned and tried to find where I had run by yesterday. I could tell Kaya was trying to decide where to go and thankfully she ran to catch up to me.

            “I guess that wouldn’t be that bad” she mumbled.

We were quiet the rest of the way home. The snow almost completely stopped falling. The river had started to freeze over, but the ice was thin, so it was even harder to get across. But it did make it easier to catch the sluggish fish just below the surface, giving me a little energy. As soon as we reached the bank, I knew how to get home. I broke into a run, Kaya close behind. My wagging tail shook my whole body as I ran when I spotted the den.

“We’re home now”

            “Wow you have a big territory”, Kaya said looking over the valley as we dashed past it.

We reached the den and slid to a stop. I peeked my head in, hoping that my grandmother, Sage, was in there at least.

“Hello?! I’m home!” I shouted, voice vibrating off of the walls.

The cave was completely empty. It could only fit so many wolves, but usually someone was guarding it. With a sickening thought, my insides twisted with panic.

“We gotta go, fast”

            “Why? What’s the rush?” Kaya called after me. “We just got here!”

“No one’s here”

            “I can see that”

“The only reasons they wouldn’t be here are if someone took over our territory or if we were fighting another pack. But we usually have someone here. It’s gotta be a really big fight then”

I flew down the trail and followed my pack’s strong scent, making the cramp sting in my side again. The cold snow flew and we reached the packs in no time. It looked we had arrived just in time: the pack’s hadn’t fought yet, but it looked like they were about to. Ataneq had Boss pinned and their noses were touching. The two packs were glaring at each other, waiting for one excuse to tear each other apart.

                        “I’m telling the truth! I let him go! Aniu was scared us away before we even touched him!”

            “Aniu has been dead for a week you good for nothing pile of-”

“Grandpa! He is telling the truth” I panted.

                        “See”, said Boss, slipping away.

Ataneq’s head snapped up and he rushed over to me. He looked relieved until he saw my face, then his face was filled with anger.

            “Where have you been? And what on earth happened to you?!” he demanded.

“Him”, I said nodding to Boss. Boss ducked behind his alpha.

“Grandpa! Mom came back! She saved me from them! Balto’s alive too!”

Ataneq studied me unsure whether to believe me or not.

“She said she and dad are okay!”

            “I believe you” he smiled, nuzzling me.

Kaya trotted into the clearing.               “What’d I miss?”

“Oh yeah, I forgot. This is Kaya. I found her”

            Boss thundered back out and dived for Kaya. I jumped in front of her and the two packs scuffled for a few brief seconds until Boss was securely pinned by Talon, Kanut and Cikuq, three wolves from our pack. Boss stammered to explain.

                        “I have a reason for going after her! She stole our food and its winter! You can understand how hard food is to get!”

Ataneq nodded and turned, smiling at me.

            “Let’s go home. This pup isn’t ours and isn’t our business”

Kaya didn’t look surprised and neither did the pack: half had already started to go back to the den. But that sounded horrible to me! Maybe it was only because of the dog part of me, but it wasn’t right. Boss dived for Kaya, who was huddled on the ground. I jumped in front of Kaya again and snarled at Boss. The two packs clashed again, but Ataneq broke it up.

            “Buck! This isn’t our problem” he thundered.

“Well if they’re taking her they have to take me too. She doesn’t deserve them” I shot back.

Boss made a move toward Kaya. I growled and bared my teeth at him.

                        “He’s asking for it!” Boss snarled, looking at his alpha for permission to attack.

“She’s not part of their pack and she was probably starving” I said, pleading to Ataneq.

I watched the wolf Kaya called Two as he tried to sneak by my half closed, swollen left eye.

            “Buck, this is a war! Things like this happen every day! One more wolf can make a huge difference!”

“War’s never going to end unless someone stops first” I shot back.

Ataneq stared at me, Kaya and the two packs, weighing what I had just said against the risks. The other alpha nodded and ordered his pack to go back. Ataneq watched the other pack go and smiled at me.

            “She can come with us; I guess you need someone your age any way” Ataneq said, giving in. “But this isn’t something I’m going to do every day so don’t get used to it”

We started for home, Ataneq leading the way while Kaya and I trailed behind.

            “Thanks Buck”, Kaya said, licking me on the cheek and blushing.

“It was, uh, nothing”, I said, a little caught off- guard.

                                                            *          *          *

            Later on that night, I sat looking out over the valley at the edge of the cliff in front of the den. Ataneq came over and sat next to me.

            “Did you know your mother used to sit there?”, he said.

I glanced at Ataneq; he rarely talked about Aniu.

            “You did a good thing today Buck. Not many pups would do that”

“I’m not really a pup anymore”, I replied, shrugging off the compliment. “How can Mom came back?”

Ataneq sighed, creating a cloud as he exhaled.

            “She never really left. She isn’t mortal anymore. She had a golden soul”

“What’s a golden soul?”

            “There’s a long story behind it…” he mumbled. I stared at him eagerly, wanting to hear the story “But I guess you’re not going anywhere anyway”

I lay down and so did Ataneq.

            “First, you need to know that all of these packs weren’t always at war. We used to be peaceful, until the leading golden- souled wolf called Talus was killed. After that, any wolves rumored to have a golden soul were usually killed even before they had reached adulthood”

He sat up, and took a break, staring up at the stars.

            “A wolf with a golden soul will always be the strongest and knows the best thing to do. Alphas of other packs would look up to them. But many were jealous. They wanted the power and strength just like Boss wanted from your mother… There have only been a handful ever born and only two have done their job: Aniu and Talus. They are the only two that are in a way immortal. Not alive, but not dead. They influence everything we know, decide who lives and who dies and save those who are still needed”

“How do you know all of this?”

            “Tradition and stories like I’m telling you now”

“Oh. How do you know if someone has a golden soul?”

            “They are selfless, brave and kind. They don't kill unless there's a big, very good reason to. They aren’t immortal until they die, and I'm not even sure if they're immortal or not. Aniu never knew though… I never told her. I slipped up and told the pack but not her… I was afraid that if she knew, if anyone knew, she’d be killed for sure. If I ever had a chance to do it all over again, I’d never tell anyone…”

Ataneq sighed sadly and I yawned widely. Ataneq grinned.

            “I think it’s time for you to go to bed. You’ve been through a lot today”

I stood up, stretched and went back to the pack. Kaya was shivering by herself so I went over to her instead and curled up next to her. I started to close my eyes but felt like I was being watched. I opened my eyes and saw Ataneq staring at me in a kind of wonder.

“What?”

Ataneq opened his mouth, but shook his head”

            “Nothing”

I shrugged it off and covered my nose with my tail.

“Goodnight Kaya”

            “Goodnight Buck. Hope you look better tomorrow morning then you did this morning”

I smiled to myself and drifted off in a deep sleep.

 Buck, Kaya and Ataneq (c) me

Boss (c) Tadie

Aniu (c) Universal