VOICES:
-Aniu: Young Glenn Close
-Tundra: Jeff Bridges
-Ataneq: Jack Nicholson
-Tally: Ana Faris
Tundra (in bold font)
Aniu (in normal font)
I was speechless. I looked down at my two pups, ones I never knew I had, not sure whether to be happy or shocked. I looked up at my mate Aniu, who was beaming at me. I was still wonderfully surprised that she had found me. She traveled all this way with two pups, and her territory couldn’t be that close either. And I also knew she wanted me to go back to her home with her.
“Will you come home with us?” Aniu pleaded.
“Aniu, I told you before… I have to take care of my family…”
Aniu’s smile melted and she looked at the ground. As serious I tried to pretend to be, a smile cracked my face.
“That’s you guys now”
Aniu leapt forward and tackled me, licking my face. Balto and Buck, unsure of what was happening, attacked me for real, their tiny puppy teeth nipping my feet. I pulled myself out from under Aniu and shook the dirt off. Aniu whirled around and started to bound away, but I stopped, as if some invisible chain was holding me back. I glanced back at the barn I had known for almost all of my life.
“Are you coming?” Aniu called.
“Just let me say goodbye to Tally” I replied quietly. This was going to be hard…
Aniu sat down and nodded, fully understanding. I made my way slowly to the barn and pushed the door open with my nose. Two blue eyes met my brown and blue ones. Tally was already awake.
“Tally, I-”
“I know, you’re leaving”
“I’m really sorry but I’ve-.”
“-got a family now, I know” she finished. “I’m really going to miss you” she said, nuzzling me.
“We’re all going to miss you”
A single tear ran down my cheek, but I still smiled.
“Well they’re going to have to deal with you now, you’re going to be the new lead dog”
“Just stay out of trouble” she whispered, eyes getting misty.
With a final nuzzle, I exited the barn and joined Aniu and my pups. Aniu did a play bow, then scampered off with the pups a step behind. I chased after them but stopped at the edge of the property and took a mental picture. Then I threw back my head and howled, something I’d never done before, but felt fun to do anyway.
Aniu was waiting for me. I ran to catch up but she easily cleared a thicket and disappeared from view. Not wanting to be left behind, I jumped after her and came face to face with the biggest wolf I’d ever seen before. I dodged around this huge wolf and stood between it and my family, snarling fiercely. The wolf’s eyes opened in surprise, but didn’t show his teeth or anything. Aniu walked right past me toward the wolf. Was she crazy?!
“Tundra, this is my father, Ataneq”
“Oh, okay” I said, sheepishly hiding my teeth and tucking my ears back. “Uh, nice to meet you sir”
Ataneq didn’t say a word, just stared at me with glowing golden eyes. I averted my eyes and turned back to Aniu awkwardly.
“Which way is home?” I asked.
Aniu smiled and happily started down a familiar old trail I remembered as the one I had taken almost half a year ago on the way to the race. I peered over my shoulder, Ataneq was still watching me.
Tundra was disappointingly quiet for the first part of the way home. So was my father, but he was more shocked then anything else. Tundra must have been the first thing to not be afraid of him in a long time. Tundra had passed the first test with flying colors and there was only one more to go.
“So………… when were they born?” Tundra mumbled, trying to make conversation.
“About two months ago” I replied happily.
Buck looked from me to Tundra, eyes lighting up. Balto looked between Buck and Tundra, catching on to what Buck was.
“You’re our dad?!”
“Yep!” Tundra smiled and licked Buck’s forehead. I could tell he liked the sound of dad.
Buck yipped excitedly and jumped at Tundra. Balto did a little buck and ran circles around us. Tundra smiled and gently tackled Balto. Buck growled playfully and tried to ‘save’ his brother. I smiled as I watched my family play. Could this get any better?
“He’s a good father” my father said as he watched.
My chest puffed up with pride.
“I know!”
It took us a few days to get back and every time we passed a city, Tundra excitedly named it for us. The trip was a lot easier then Tundra or I had remembered, since the last time we had been through this way was during the brutal winter. It took us a little longer once we started to travel through enemy pack’s territories. My father lead the way; Tundra and I each carried a pup in our mouths, jumping at every twig snapping and rustling in the grass. But with a final jump, we broke through the tall grass and took in the vastness of the green valley.
“This is your new home” I declared proudly to Tundra.
Tundra’s eyes opened wide and he gently place Buck on the ground. He stepped forward and took in the twin mountains, the shimmering silver creek and blue green spruces. I inhaled and let the feeling of home set in.
“Wow” Tundra breathed.
Then, before my head could make sense of what had happened, two white wolves tackled Tundra to the ground right in front of us. I dove immediately for Balto and Buck, but stopped. I knew those wolves… they were from my pack!”
“Isn’t that Cikuq? And Kanut?! Dad! Tell them to stop!”
But one look confirmed what I thought my father was doing. This was the last part of the test. My father wouldn’t let someone into the pack who would just way us down. He didn’t even know Tundra wasn’t a wolf until he saw him.
The two wolves had Tundra pinned quickly, but Tundra struggled and slipped away. He growled fiercely at the two wolves and bristled. But Cikuq and Kanut worked like a team and dodged to either side of Tundra and pulled his feet out from under him. Kanut continued to attack Tundra and Cikuq backed up, accidentally stepping on Buck’s paw in the process. Buck yelped and Tundra jolted into high gear. Knowing that his pup was being “attacked”, he knocked Kanut off of his feet and pulled him away by the scruff of his neck. Then ha leapt over Kanut and landed squarely on Cikuq, snarling so close to Cikuq’s face that their noses touched.
“Cikuq, Kanut go back to the pack, he’s with us” my father rumbled, having seen enough.
The two brothers pulled themselves to their feet, rubbing and licking the bruises that were going to develop. Tundra looked at my father like he was crazy.
“If they were with you then why didn’t you just tell them to stop?!” he gasped.
I couldn’t help but to smile.
“Well what would have been the fun in that?” my father shot back with a half smile.
Ataneq gave Tundra one more look, then turned and followed the two brothers back towards the den. Tundra’s look trailed after him as the alpha left, still dumbfounded. I wagged my tail happily and trotted down the hill to be with my still confused mate, Balto and Buck close behind. Buck shot past me, tripped and tumbled down the hill to his father like a furry cannon. Tundra snapped out of his trance just in time to stop Buck from barreling into him. Buck shook his head and looked up at his father, tail wagging furiously.
“Wow dad! You kicked their butts!” he yipped.
“Yea, do it again!” Balto barked, trying to jump up and lick Tundra’s face.
Tundra pulled himself up and shook the slobber and dirt from his coat. His sledding collar fell to the ground, broken some time during the attack. He hesitated and sniffed it for a moment, but kicked it away. He shook off again, but this time to get rid of the memories. I licked his nose and he grinned.
“Let’s just get back before your father decides to send more wolves to attack us” he joked.
* * *
It didn’t take as long as I thought it would to get used to wolf life. We stayed for the rest of the short summer and when the fall frosts arrived, the deer I had learned to hunt started to move. Ataneq announced to the pack that we’d be following them, mostly for me since the rest of the pack looked like they had heard this before. Aniu told my pups and I to get a good night’s sleep and I curled up with all three. Aniu and the pups fell asleep quickly, but I stayed awake longer. The wind blew colder and Aniu shivered beside me. I nudged her closer to me and laid my head over hers. In her sleep, she smiled and sighed. I was glad she was this happy.
The next morning came way too quickly and with the pups already strong enough to travel, the pack moved quickly, covering almost fifty miles a day, nothing I couldn’t handle. But the trip crossed plains and dangerous territories occupied by vicious packs that Aniu said were always fighting. So by the end of the trip on the fourth day, I was exhausted. As soon as Ataneq found our place, I plopped right down on the ground and fell asleep. Aniu put a paw on my head and licked my forehead. My sons burrowed into my and fell asleep as fast as I did.
The next morning, we caught a deer early before the frost had thawed. By the time it did, the pack was energized and excited. They even let me join in a little game of tag. Up until now, the whole pack besides Ataneq, Sage and my family, hadn’t really liked me. But before I could really join in, a little black blur fired into my side. Balto followed his brother not a step behind and tried to tackle me too. I laughed and let them knock me onto my back. Then something caught my eye. I stood up and squinted. There was a city in the distance! I hadn’t seen people for almost four months. I wanted Aniu to see what a town looked like. Meanwhile, Balto chomped on my leg with his puppy teeth while Buck had an ear in his mouth and was determined to pull it off my head.
“Easy, easy! I still need that ear you know!” I laughed, gently shaking Buck off. “Same goes for that leg pup!” I said lifting my paw out of Balto’s reach.
“Go get your grandfather you guys!” I said, pointing a paw at Ataneq.
Balto and Buck charged forward and I went to find Aniu; I was going to show her a town tonight!
“I don’t know…..what if someone sees us?” Aniu said nervously, shuffling her feet.
“I’m sure they see wolves all the time” I said. With Ataneq’s permission, we were now heading into the town, named
“What about hunters?” Aniu said, voice shaking.
“We’ll be to close to town to shoot” I answered, only half listening.
We walked down the main street and looked around. I wasn’t surprised that it was empty: it was night so everyone was asleep. Aniu stuck to my side and jumped at every little thing. I showed her the butcher’s, which I found by smell and we shared a slab of some kind of meat I had never tasted before. There wasn’t much more to look at, but I did find what looked like markings for a dogsled race. We exited the town without an excitement and made our way back to our claim.
“Now was that so bad”
“No, I guess not” Aniu admitted.
As we walked, I looked out over what I thought was another frozen plain, and realized it was a giant mass of water. I had never seen so much water in one place! And some huge human thing loomed as if frozen in place right before the water began! I wanted to investigate but I could tell Aniu wanted to be back with the pups. Aniu started to pick up the pace and I followed; paws hurting at the hardness of the frozen dirt. Like a flash, the human’s town disappeared as we entered the woods. We traveled in silence for a while but being herself, Aniu just couldn’t be content keeping calm. Suddenly she stopped and sprang on me, plowing me into the dirt. With a puppyish giggle, she bounded away. I grinned and chased after her. Two breaths of frigid air and I caught up to Aniu and tripped her. In a tangle of legs, we tumbled onto the ground and collapsed in a heap with her on top of me. We laughed together then a feeling came over me. A bad one.
I scrambled to my feet and strained my ears, searching the tree line. The smell I smelt right now was one I had never smelt before and I didn’t like it one bit.
“What’s wrong?”
I didn’t answer. It was another wolf I was sure, and I didn’t know this one.
“We should get moving” I started but a cold voice cut me off.
“Hey girlie! Remember us?”
Three familiar wolves came out from behind pine trunks and started to circle. They ignored Tundra as if he was just another tree. The two grays went behind me but I kept my eyes on the big black one his siblings had called “boss”.
“Who are they?” Tundra growled.
“You don’t want to know. They tried to kill me” I mumbled.
“We told you not to run away. Where’s your daddy now?” Boss sneered.
Tundra growled louder and ran over to stand next to me.
“Who are you? Some dog?” the skimpy grey cackled.
The wolves turned their attention to Tundra and momentarily forgot about me.
“Dogs don’t win fights against wolves you know” Boss said, tightening his circle so that they almost touched and Tundra had to spin to keep his eye on him. My heart sank and fear gripped me. Dogs never won fights against wolves even if Tundra had gotten lucky in his first fight. It wasn’t hard to tell he wasn’t confident in himself either. Boss’s ugly face split into a crooked sneer. I tilted back my head and howled for all I was worth, calling for help. Boss frowned for a second then rushed his two younger brothers.
Poor Tundra never saw the big grey wolf jump from behind him. With a yelp, he tumbled to the ground and hit it hard. But he scrambled back to his feet almost instantly. The two grays started to corner him into a tree, separating him from me. Boss watched happily, then turned to me and strutted over.
“Last chance” he crooned. “Wanna be my mate?”
“Tundra!”
“Oh well” Boss sighed, broad siding me and pinning me. “See you in the afterlife”
Boss almost had his teeth on my throat when we heard a the sound of body hitting a tree and a loud yelp. But it didn’t sound like Tundra. Suddenly, Boss was ripped right off of me and Tundra nudged me up, licking my face. Then he whipped around, snarling. The big grey wolf was rubbing his head, wimpering and the little one was knocked out cold. Boss looked furious. He snarled and ran at Tundra, teeth aiming for Tundra’s head. Tundra ran forward too, snarling just ass fierce. It was silent until the two hit each other, snapping and slashing. I watched, frightened for my mate’s life. Grey mixed with black and for a second I thought Tundra had lost. Then Boss made a move toward me. Summoning the last of his strength, Tundra threw himself at Boss, knocking him over and had his jaws on Boss’s neck. He still growled softly. Boss’s pleading voice almost made me laugh.
“Please- please don’t hurt me”
His tail curled between his legs. Tundra didn’t look like he wanted to let go.
“Let him go Tundra” my father commanded.
“Dad!” I cried, never so happy to see him.
Tundra let Boss go and Boss slunk away, very low to the ground. But Tundra just wanted to make his point. He knocked Boss on his back one more time and growled something into his ear. It was too low for me to hear but it must have scared him. Boss took off, tail still between his legs. His brothers stared at Tundra in shook. Tundra took one step toward them and they ran off after their brother.
Tundra made sure they were gone before he turned back to us, tongue lolling out the side of his mouth. I flew over to him and nuzzled under his chin. I had never been so happy to see him! He nuzzled me back. Ataneq came down the hill to us. Tundra looked at Ataneq, respect filling his eyes.
“Taking on three wolves that could have killed you was foolish” he started. “But brave. Tundra, I want you and Aniu to be the new leaders. You’re braver then me and just as strong”
Tundra’s mouth opened in shock. My father walked back up the hill, and nuzzled his own mate.
It had now been a month since I became alpha. Balto and Buck were each five months old and everything was as it should be. I wasn’t even that bad of a leader. It was just like being in charge of sled team… just with bigger and more dogs…
Winter had started to set in. Balto and Buck pounced and attacked the snowflakes that floated down and started to cover the ground. This was their first snow and they loved it just as much as their father did! I watched happily and Aniu joined me.
“You’ve come a long way” she smiled. “It seemed like only yesterday a sled dog named Tundra arrived and couldn’t even catch a rabbit if his life depended on it”
She leaned her head on my shoulder and I licked her nose.
“Hey lovebirds”
I looked up to see Ataneq approaching, Sage not far behind.
“We should probably head back home before winter kicks in”
I nodded, eager to soak up any advice the experienced wolf had to offer.
“I know the way back” Aniu offered.
“Then we’ll leave tomorrow morning”
The snow continued through the night and into the morning. It blocked out my vision but it also covered up our tracks. We passed through other territories without any trouble and moved faster when we started to get close to the town. The snow started to let up and I was just starting to think this was a good trip when I got a feeling… Ataneq must have noticed it too. Everything was dead silent. No birds chirped. No squirrels chattered. Even the pack was quiet. Then: BANG!
The sound of the gunshot crashed and echoed, sending the pack into a panic.
“Go into the woods!” I thundered.
I waited until my family ran past, then brought up the rear. Suddenly, another gunshot rang out and Buck tumbled with a small cry. I skit to a stop and watched in horror as a dark figure moved toward my oldest son who was trying to run with a back leg held above then ground. I started to run to Buck but a white flash beat me.
“Aniu! No! Go back!”
As fast as I could run, motherly instinct made Aniu faster.
“Aniu! Please no!” I yelled desperately.
Everything moved in slow motion. Aniu reached Buck and shoved him forward. The human raised his gun, took aim and pulled the trigger. They started to run and for a moment it looked like they were going to be okay. With another bang, Aniu crumpled to the ground.
“No! Aniu!”
Buck stopped and looked back. Aniu started to get up, but pain clouded her usually vivid eyes. My voice trembled when I spoke.
“Take Buck back to the pack now. I’ll hold them off”
“If you stay behind… they’d kill you for sure”
I looked away and didn’t respond. The human was coming back.
“Go now!” I thundered, shoving Aniu aggressively.
Aniu glared at me angrily, eyes brimming with tears of hurt and anger that I’d do something like that.
“Go!” I repeated, growling fiercely.
Aniu picked herself up and clumsily ambled to the woods with Buck limping at her side. She had to be hurt really bad. The hunter ignored me, and aimed at Aniu again.
Over my dead body I thought. I hurled myself at the human, trying to wrench the gun out of his grasp despite the bitter taste of the black powder coating it. I heard the click of another gun behind me and I knew it was all over…
I wasn’t going to last much longer. I escorted Buck back to the pack and whirled around. I heard my father, mother and Buck cry for me to come back but living without Tundra wasn’t an option. Everything was quiet. Then a solitary gunshot sounded out, ringing through my ears and tearing my heart. I knew I was too late even before I found Tundra in the diminishing flakes. If you didn’t see his back, it would have looked like he was sleeping. I got on my stomach and crawled as close as I could to Tundra.
“Tundra? Tundra? Please wake up! Please…”
I nestled next to him. He was still warm.
“Don’t die…” I whispered, even though I knew he was gone.
“Remember when we first met?” I said, licking his face. “I thought you hated me… but then your rope broke… we had pups… you were the best leader ever”
Breathing was getting really hard now. But I still kept on talking, not letting myself believe he was never going to answer ever again. If only I could hear his voice one more time…
“We still need you…” I wheezed. “I’ll always love you”
I rested my heavy head on Tundra’s, and burrowed into his fur. He couldn’t live with me gone and neither could I.
“I’ll see you soon…” I said, inhaling his once sweet scent one last time…
Aniu and Balto (c) Universal
Boss (c) Tadie