VOICES:
- Aniu: Young Glenn Close
-Tundra: Jeff Bridges
-Ataneq: Jack Nicholson
-Sage: Julie Andrews
“Here you go leader” one of my pack mates mumbled, dropping a piece of meat and avoiding eye contact.
“I’m not the leader!” I almost shrieked. “And I’m capable of getting my own food thank you!”
I stormed back into our den. Why did everybody treat me like this! It was so frustrating! Everybody in my pack didn’t talk to me, let me do anything on my own or let me go anywhere on my own! The only thing that separated me from them was the fact that I was the only survivor of four sisters…
“Aniu?!”
“I’m right here dad and I don’t think I’m going anywhere! Even if you let me!”
My father Ataneq, glided into the den. My mother Sage was right behind him.
“Aniu, please try to understand” my mother said nuzzling my head. She glanced over my shoulder and gave my father a look.
“What was that supposed to mean?”
Sage glared at my father and whispered something in his ear. He shook his head furiously.
“Not now, when she’s older!”
With that he exited the cave, leaving me very puzzled and twice as curious. Sage gave me a sympathetic look and followed my father.
“Well at least this will only last until I’m seven months old” I sighed, dropping to the den floor.
Four months later, I found I was wrong. The day of my seven- month birthday I woke excited that I would be able to use skills I had honed in secret and that I could finally be important. My father called the pack together in a howl and I rushed forward, howling the loudest. Immediately, my father stopped and gave me a curious look.
“What?”
“What are you doing?”
I felt a sinking feeling in my stomach and laid back my ears.
“Going hunting for the first time since I’m seven months old”
“It’s far to dangerous for you to hunt”
My mother objected but I had reached my breaking point. I could understand the caution, the surrounding wolf packs were dangerous and constantly at war; but not being able to hunt!
“What good am I to the pack if I can’t do anything and everything is too dangerous!”
My father opened his mouth to say something but I wasn’t done yet.
“I’ve been hidden away since I’ve been born and I haven’t traveled farther then the North Border! I haven’t had time on my own since mother left! I think my sisters are better off dead then the treatment I’m getting”
The look on my father’s face was twisted. I whirled around and took off toward the west border. My father’s worried voice commanded some wolves to fetch me back. But I was surprisingly too fast. The snow that had settled on the ground the previous night was giving away my trail so when I found a creek, I made sure my scent was washed away and crossed to the other side. I laid flat in the snow and watched as the wolves sent to catch me scurried around trying to find me. They glanced across the creek for a brief second and I held my breath. Then they took off down the side of the creek.
I stood up and shook the caked snow off of me and took in my surroundings. Tall pine trees closed in around me from every side except the one closest to the creek. This couldn’t be our territory… but I wasn’t ready to go back to mine yet. I set off deeper into the woods, the trail getting darker and creepier. Suddenly:
“Where are you goin’ in such a hurry?”
A scrappy grey wolf jumped out. I almost yipped but this wolf looked about the same size but skinnier. I could win in a fight against him.
“You better watch out! My father’s going to be back any minute with our huge pack! They’ll tear you to shreds!” I lied.
He paused for a second, but another larger grey wolf came behind him. He grinned with confidence and started towards me.
“The area’s clear. No one’s within hearing distance”
I gulped and bared my teeth. I was positive I couldn’t win against this bigger wolf. I started to back up very slowly.
“You’re Aniu right? Daddy’s little golden girl?”
“I’m warning you! What do you want with me any-“
The scrappy wolf lunged at me, just barely missing me. I growled at him. Then I made a shocked face and pretended to see something behind them. Both turned whipped around to see what I was looking at. I whipped around and took off. They both looked slow and clumsy. I flew the woods and didn’t slow down until the crashing behind me disappeared. Then I dived under a tree and waited for the two to run past. The galloped by, not even noticing me. I relaxed and waited. I was brimming with self confidence with my new talent of hiding until a set of jaws locked around my back leg and whipped me out. Unable to control myself, I let out a little yip.
Yet another wolf, a black one with hatred filled yellow eyes snarled at me. He howled and the two wolves from before scrambled back and skit to a stop in front of the black wolf.
“How could you guys be so stupid!? She was under a tree!” he snarled.
I pulled myself to my feet and felt my hackles rise. All three turned to look at me. The scrappy wolf lunged again, but I was ready. I sidestepped and grabbed him by the scruff of his neck. He yelped as I tried to throw him back. He was a lot heavier then he looked. The bigger wolves circled me. The sense of dread grew inside of me and my growl dwindled to almost a whisper. What had I gotten myself into? This was the farthest thing from proving I could take care of myself.
“We don’t want to kill ya” ,chimed the black wolf, moving behind me.
“Yea, yea, we won’t kill ya if you just come with us” the big gray repeated stupidly.
I didn’t trust them. The black wolf, behind me, crouched down. He tried to jump at me, but I ducked and ran again. My feet flew but the wolves were organized with their leader now. The bigger gray wolf jumped at me from the right. I dodged left but the scrappy wolf was there. I ran as fast as I could only to have my feet thrown out from under me. I fell hard and tumbled. The black wolf pinned me down easily.
“Gotcha”, he whispered while the other two chuckled.
“Sorry” I almost whispered. “What do you want from me?”
“I want you to be my mate!” he cackled, trying to flip me over.
“No!” I managed, kicking him in the stomach with my hind legs.
“Alright then I’ll hafta kill ya” he laughed. He wrapped his jaws around my throat and the two grey wolves laughed hysterically.
“Let go of my daughter!” my father thundered.
The three wolves stopped laughing and the black wolf let me go. I scurried to my feet and turned to my father. He didn’t look very happy. I trotted up to my pack and nuzzled my mother, who seemed more scared then angry. Meanwhile, part of the pack surrounded the three wolves.
“Get out of here. This is our territory!” my father thundered.
My three attackers didn’t waste any time getting away and scrambled away with their tails tucked between their legs. I smiled but when my father turned to me, the joy melted away. He was furious with me.
“That was irresponsible and foolish! Didn’t I tell you the world was too dangerous for you”
I lowered my head and tail in shame. With the pack gathered around, it was getting hotter with every word that dropped out of Ataneq’s mouth. Not to mention that it was embarrassing.
“I never thought you’d do something like this!” he continued. “I’m disappointed in you”
I looked at the ground and shuffled my feet in the dusty snow. My father turned around and headed back to the den.
“From now on, you’re never going to come out of that cave again until we’ve found a suitable mate for you”
I opened my mouth to object and Ataneq raised his eyebrows, ready to knock down whatever I threw at him. Instead, I jammed my mouth shut and stormed back to the den. Two wolves caught up with me and stayed on either side. This was ridiculous! But I already had a plan blooming in my head… and I was going to go through with it tonight!
It had to be midnight when I put my plan into action. Because of what had happened today, I was confident I was quiet and sneaky enough. One of my two bodyguards was asleep. The other was watching outside the den. I carefully stepped over the first bodyguard, taking extra caution not to wake him. I crept behind the second bodyguard and stopped behind him. For a second, I hesitated. If I did this now, there was no turning back. But Ataneq’s words vibrated in my head and I was sure I wanted to do this. With all the force my light body could muster, I fired myself at the bodyguard. His head conked against the den’s rock wall and with a short gasp, he slid to the ground, unconscious. I sniffed him to make sure he was okay, looked both ways and flew out of the den. I was free!
* * *
I had now been on my own for over half a year. My small, thin body was now muscular and well built. I was still very quiet and sneaky, which helped me to avoid anyone I didn’t want to mess with. I wasn’t much of a fighter anyway.
My travels brought me out of the wilderness and near a large town filled with curious creatures that walked upright. They were so strange, yet so interesting. I was able to hunt small animals and even go through the town and pick up some of their garbage. I hadn’t been there for more then three days when the creatures started to make a huge commotion. Groups of them came on my turf, causing me to hide in the woods. I watched as they set up huge banners and different kinds of buildings that were smaller. Then something even stranger happened. Smaller and leaner wolves arrived, pulling what looked like trees behind them. And then they were tied to the ground! I watched several groups of them come in, but one group caught my eye. The lead wolf looked happier then any other wolf I had seen yet. He was grey- brown like the color of a mouse and I had to admit even for what he was, he was pretty good looking…
As soon as night fell, I decided to survey the camp. I padded between the buildings and stopped at the first group of sleeping wolves. The wolves didn’t smell or look like wolves, and they had to sleep heavier to not hear me. Suddenly I stopped. One of the wolves was awake and to my delight, it was the one from earlier. I started thinking about mates; I was old enough to have one. But who’d want me for a mate? I told myself, trying to keep my hopes from going up. He put his head back down and I went a little closer, thinking he went back to sleep. My heart melted when I saw him curled up with another black and grey wolf. Told you I told myself. He already has a mate. I walked over, passed the wolf and sniffed his mate. Then I heard a growl. I froze.
“Get away from my sister”
The sister woke up to her brother’s voice. She made a small noise and didn’t take her eyes off me. I stepped back stammering to apologize. He looked me over.
“What kind of dog are you and what business do you have with us?”
“I’m not a dog!” I spat back. “Is that what you are? I’m a wolf” I added proudly.
The dog relaxed but his team started to wake up and bark. Now I was outnumbered. I retreated quickly but stayed in the trees nearby. The dog was watching where I had disappeared, but so was his pack.
The next morning, when I had woken up, the dogs and their two-leggeds had already left. It wasn’t really that hard to follow though. They left trails in the deep snow that might as well have been arrows. By the time the sun started to set, I could see the first group of dogs. I kept traveling, passing one group after another until I found the one I was looking for. I put my nose to the ground and one scent caught my attention, the one I had thought about all day. I followed it and looked up into the blue and brown eyes of the dog it belonged too. I stood still, waiting to see what he would do and to my surprise and delight, he started to wag his tail. I walked over, carefully. He crawled as far as he could and rolled onto his back. That surprised me a little but I wasn’t as afraid now.
“Are you still mad at me?” It was the only thing I could think of saying. For the first time, I felt a little shy.
“Well you said you weren’t going to hurt her” ,he shrugged. “Do wolves have names?”
What a stupid question that was, I thought.
“Of course we do. Mine’s Aniu”
“I’m Tundra”
I asked Tundra about everything. Why was he here? What was he doing? We talked for a long time, longer then I expected. It seemed like no time at all when I heard the human, John in his tent.
“I should go…”
“I’ll see you tomorrow night?”, he asked.
I smiled and nodded.
I retired to the woods and curled up to sleep. I was sure that they wouldn’t be hard to find again.
I slept late again, rested and ready. Once again, I followed the trail until I could see the team. When the dogs were all asleep, I went into the camp, unafraid. I found Tundra right away. He did a play bow and I jumped over to him and swatted him playfully. We didn’t even play for five minutes before he dropped down. He fell asleep within seconds. I smiled and lay down next to him and curled up. It was nice to have someone to keep you warm…I closed my eyes, inhaled Tundra’s scent and sighed. I feel into a light sleep and before Tundra woke up, I heard John and took off, wishing I could have said goodbye to Tundra.
Since I had slept at night instead of day, I decided to follow Tundra’s team. I darted through the trees, pretending I was the lead dog of another team. I jumped over the trail and flew back into the other side of the woods, creating my own sound affects. I know it was stupid, but I was love sick. Excited barking and angry voices echoed behind me and I turned in time to see Tundra try to follow me. I smiled and laughed when Tundra was scolded. They passed another team a few minutes later ad I cheered Tundra from the tree line.
I was tired of waiting when the team finally stopped. But only more waiting greeted me. John took an extra long time handing out food and then I had to wait for everyone to fall asleep. I walked slowly over to Tundra, expecting him to be happy. Instead, he was chewing feverishly at his leash.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, feeling a sudden dread.
“I’m leaving tomorrow. John said we’d cross the finish line tomorrow”
“Then come live with me and my family!” I blurted.
I didn’t want him to leave. I knew he could never do that. But he was the first person I ever looked forward to seeing.
“You know I couldn’t do that. I can’t just leave them. I’m their leader! They need me!”
Before I could stop myself, I licked his cheek. He stopped chewing but restarted, only chewing harder. I sighed and lay down, resting my head on his back. There had to be another way out of this. He couldn’t leave…
“I broke it”
Tundra’s voice jolted me out of my thoughts.
“What?”
“I broke my rope”
He leapt up and playfully attacked me before I had time to process what he’d just said. But I wasn’t about to let him get away with that! I jumped on him, knocking him down and ran further into the woods, not knowing what I was getting myself into. I ducked behind a tree, but Tundra was having a hard time following me. I stepped out to where he could see me and he ran to me as soon as his eyes latched onto mine…
The next morning, I was woken up by Tundra in a panic. I opened my eyes to see him pacing. He glanced at me and even though he was in a panic, he had enough time to lick my forehead. It filled me up with a warm, glowing feeling inside.
“I have to go back! I’m going to miss the finish!”
I just wanted to close my eyes and go back to sleep. There was still a crust of frost covering the snow and getting up before it melted was too early. But my new mate needed some common sense. I stretched out, stepped lightly over to him and licked his cheek. He stopped and smiled for a second.
“Go then” I smiled.
He started to leave but paused for a second and came back to nuzzle me.
“I love you. Good luck”
The he took off. I felt all warm inside despite the cold temperature. I looked for the sun but it was still too dark and the moon lit up the clearing instead. I shivered and started to feel hollow inside. Was I ever going to see Tundra again?
During the next few weeks, I started to feel funny. At random times, it felt like my insides were starting to shift. The first few times it happened, I gasped but it would go as quickly as it had come. Then I felt heavier and lost all my endurance, almost to the point where the only things I could catch were injured birds, mice and the occasional fish, which used to keep me full until now. Other mornings I would wake up feeling like I’d never want to eat again…
But overall, I felt like I was starving… the winter was at its coldest and spring was right around the corner but I couldn’t make it on my own anymore. Trying to find Tundra would be foolish; I’d freeze or starve for sure. There was only one place left for me to go… home.
First, I found where I had left Tundra, and then I started to trace my steps back. I traveled the race trail backwards, catching stale smells of Tundra and his team. I passed by the town called Nenana and started my trek into the mountains. Winter seemed determined to not let me through: snow, although not heavy, was whipped by the wind so that they became tiny crystals shooting by. The wind itself kicked up the snow that had already fallen and created drifts that were near impossible to get through. But through all of it, I discovered a very familiar trail that ushered me onto the main path leading to the den. No one was around, so I assumed that my father was fighting some other wolves somewhere… but someone was always guarding the den. No scouts stopped me, nor did there seem to be any around, but that only encouraged me. I bounded clumsily up the trail and reached the cave. I hesitated for a moment; my father was going to be VERY angry when he found I was back. I ducked into the cave and stepped out of the storm.
“Hello? Is anyone here?”
“Aniu!? Aniu! I never thought I’d see you again!”
My mother rushed from the back of the cave and nuzzled me. I was so happy to see her! She stepped back for a second and looked at me.
“Since when did you have a mate?!”
“How did you know?!” I replied, equally as shocked.
“You’re pregnant!” my mother glowered.
The word pregnant dropped like a rock but I found that I liked it. I was going to have Tundra’s pups! Not being able to contain myself, I blurted out the whole story between me and Tundra, who was unknowingly going to be a father… which reminded me…
“Where’s dad?”
My mother rolled her eyes.
“Fighting a pack off of our territory. We never get peace anymore. But he should be back soon anyway”
I plopped down on the cold, stone floor and waited at the mouth of the den. My mother squeezed next to me and groomed me like she did when I was a pup. Soon, a large white silhouette loomed out of the snow followed by the rest of the weary pack. I felt my ears lay back and I lowered myself as low as I could. Ataneq greeted mother but did a double take when he saw me. I prepared for the worst…
“Aniu!” he rushed forward and nuzzled me, sniffing me all over to make sure I was okay.
“Are you having pups?!”
“Is it that obvious?” I replied sheepishly, wagging my tail.
Ataneq smiled, but his expression changed to serious.
“You need to stay in the den though- not because it’s dangerous for you, but for the pups…” he added quickly.
I nodded, noting the sense in that. After my journey, I was ready for a rest anyway.
In the next month, I expanded until I felt like I was as big as a moose. I continually ordered pack members to catch various animals, some of which were very difficult to find. But as the snow started to melt a little and the month came to a close, I could tell my pups were about to be born. It happened on a chilly night when the moon had reached the middle of the sky…
I felt stressed and tried to scratch up and reorganize the nest that had been built originally for my mother. The stress built up until the point where I felt like I had actually passed out. My mother helped me as best as she could but by the time my pups were born, I had fallen into a deep sleep. My mother ended up having to clean the pups, but by the time the sun lit the earth, I had two strong, dry, male pups.
The older pup was black but had a white chest. The younger one was the same mousy color as Tundra but had more wolfish markings. I wanted both of these pups to be named after Tundra. The first name that popped into my head was a city Tundra had traveled through called Buckland. That was going to be the black pups name, I smiled. The second pup was harder to name since I couldn’t remember what other places Tundra had talked about. Tundra had talked about a two legged who had been a friend of John’s named Samuel Balto that Tundra said was very kind to him… that was going to be the pup’s name! Balto!
Having the pups should have made me happy… but it didn’t. As soon as I was sure the pups were safe enough to leave, I always stood at the edge of the cliff, staring off into the inky, star filled sky, wondering what my mate was doing at this second. One night, as I sat, my father sat down next to me.
“I may not be your mother, but you weren’t this sad even before you ran away” he said quietly.
I tried to smile but it probably looked as fake as it felt.
“You miss him don’t you”
I sighed and nodded, never taking my eyes away from the sky.
“Then I guess we’re just going to have to bring him here” he said casually, turning away.
My jaw dropped and I whipped around t see if he was serious. His smile said he was. Typical of my dad to drop something this big like that.
“Oh dad!” I breathed nuzzling him. “I’m going to tell the pups!” I said, bounding to the den.
“They’re coming too!?”
“You can’t expect me to just leave them here! It’s almost summer anyway so they won’t freeze. And both can walk and run too!”
My father could see that fighting me was pointless and sighed, giving me a sloppy smile.
The next day, we made arrangements for our beta, Talon who was only a little older then I was, to watch and control the pack until we had gotten back. I woke the pups and we started our long journey east. We didn’t get very far before both pups were pooped, so we ended up each carrying a pup in our mouths and when our mouths were sore, our backs. The sun rose and set four times before we had found the town of
“I have an idea!”
“What?” my father replied, trying to entertain Buck and Balto.
“I just need to go into town and ask somebody! Someone’s bound to know”
My father’s head snapped up.
“No way!”
“Dad you have to trust me!”
He lowered his eyes to the ground.
“Fine… just please be careful and if you’re not out soon, I’m going in to get you”
I smiled and took off towards Nenana. I didn’t have to wait since it was dark, but I still took caution. I wandered around aimlessly, but eventually, I heard barking and came upon an open door with heat escaping from it. I pushed the door open with my nose and saw two huskies and a bigger kind of dog I’d never seen before.
“Um, excuse me?” I asked.
The two huskies took one look at me, screamed and dived under a blanket. The bigger dog was wiser.
“What do you need miss?” he replied kindly.
“Do you know how to get to
The dog shook his brown and white head.
“But there is a team of mail dogs heading out that way tomorrow morning. You could follow them”
“Thank you! What does the team look like?”
“It’s led by a big red, male husky and has five other huskies on it’s team.
“Thank you!” I repeated graciously again.
“My pleasure” the big dog said warmly.
I dashed back to my waiting father and pups.
“All we have to do is follow the dog tem that heads out tomorrow morning!” I panted excitedly.
The next morning, the mail dog team started out just like the big dog had said. With the pups running close behind, we followed the team the surprisingly short distance to another town and reached it just as the sun started to set. I looked around and in the distance, I could see a farm.
“That has to be it!” I exclaimed excitedly.
I scooped up Buck in my mouth and broke into a run. My father picked up Balto and followed after me. But he wasn’t going to catch me! I picked up Tundra’s familiar scent and ran faster then I had ever run before. The old, brown barn loomed closer and closer and my heart beat faster and faster. I stopped just short of the barn and dropped Buck in a thicket of grass.
“Stay here and wait for your grandfather, I’ll be right back”
I slowly, very slowly, made my way to the barn, soaking up the feeling of the moment. It seemed all too good to be true, but it was real. I was had just reached the barn door and started to push it open when another cold nose touched mine.
“Aniu?!” came Tundra’s voice.