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I advise against you reading if you do not like Balto or are looking for a yiffy story... I won't judge you if this doesn't interest you ;)

Balto 4

Chapter 1 - Captured

The cloudy sky hid the bright light of the sun from shining down upon the earth. Three figures stalked silently through the snow covered forest, their breaths coming out in steamy clouds in front of their faces. These three Native American men were on the hunt, checking their traps as well as keeping watch for any other potential prey.

All three had animal fur and skins wrapped around them. Even though it was day, the temperature was still well below freezing. Each of the men had a rifle, something they'd traded the white men for. They also had water, rope, and a lamp in case they were stuck out after dark. The lead man, designated by the two black marks he had under his eyes, pointed at the hill in front of him.

All three stopped to listen. Beyond the hill, the men could hear the pained cries of a wolf, which meant that their traps had indeed caught something. Wolf skins were highly valuable to the white men, and could bring a lot of much needed food to the native men's village. The leader crept over the hill as silently as possible, staring down into the small valley which led to a nearly frozen stream. Down there, a white wolf was stuck in the trap, its left foreleg caught in the device and its blood staining the snow around it.

The she-wolfs ears perked up, and her head whipped around, yellow eyes staring at the three men. She didn't show any fear, simply watching them as they moved closer. The three men fanned out into a line, because despite how laid back the wolf was acting, they knew that could change in seconds. One man approached the wolf with his rifle in front of him. She still didn't make any movements.

Then suddenly, she snapped. The man lashed out, the wooden stock of his rifle connecting with the side of the wolfs head, knocking her out cold. The other two men rushed forward, freeing her leg of the trap and then tying her legs tight. They also made sure to muzzle her, in case she woke on the way back to the village.

When this was accomplished, the three men held their prize in the air triumphantly. A white wolf would surely bring them a lot of compliments and prizes.

The side of her head hurt. She could smell the smoke from the fires scattered around the camp, as well as meat cooking over them. Aniu tentatively opened one yellow eye, then another. Her vision was blurred, partially because she'd had her eyes closed so long, but more likely because of the structure just in front of her nose. She raised her head slightly and glanced around. Surely enough, more of the thin bars surrounded her, encasing her in a small prison of sorts.

It was possible to see through the bars though. It looked like her cage was in a clearing, between several of the man-animal shelters. Quite a few of them were milling about, wearing what looked like bear fur? Although she'd never seen one until now, she'd heard a lot about them from fellow wolves. Mysterious looking creatures they were indeed.

Aniu shook her head, hoping to clear her vision, but all it did was make her dizzy and her head feel even worse. She tried to push herself up into a sitting position, which would have been rather difficult for anyone, injured leg or not.

As it were, she ended up crying out as a bolt of pain shot through her probably broken left foreleg. She also managed to attract one of the small man-animals, as it approached her slowly. Its mother noticed immediately and hurriedly pushed the small child away.

Deciding to stay lying down, Aniu shifted herself so she could have a look at her injury. The man-animals had done something to it; that much could be told from the cloth that was wrapped tightly around it. She considered trying to bite said cloth off, but decided not to for fear of messing something up.

What puzzled the white she-wolf the most though, was why she had not yet been killed. She knew that man-animals had fearsome weapons that were called bang-sticks. These were capable of felling any wolf with only a thunderous bang, hence their name.

The stories she'd heard from pack mates said that humans would capture or kill wolves for their fur, skinning them and then either keeping said fur as a prize, or trading it for something else of value. Aniu shuddered in fear at the thought of her fur being worn by one of the creatures around her.

She also wondered about her pack mates. What were they thinking? Were they worried about her? It was most likely they were. Aniu's father, Makota, was the alpha of a good sized pack of wolves, and he was very protective of her.

The reason for this was because his mate, her mother, had died just after she had turned two months old. He was a good father, but was prone to making her decisions for her, simply because he wanted to keep her safe and ensure her happiness. While Aniu didn't like this as she got older, she never protested.

That had changed three nights ago. Since Makota so desperately wanted to protect his daughter, he had also taken the liberty of choosing a male he thought would be a good suitor for Aniu. Since he was getting old, and Aniu had been the only pup of her father's, he had to appoint a replacement. So he'd chosen a wolf named Night. He was an extremely attractive wolf, having a coat of complete black, an exact opposite of hers.

Night also had green eyes that twinkled like stars, but most of all, he was a nice and respectful wolf. Aniu had also known him quite a long time, having been friends with him since she was three months old. If anything, she loved him more as a brother than as a mate. Not wanting to upset her father though, she had told Makota that she would think about it for a few days.

Since then three days had passed, but yesterday she had been caught in the trap, thus ending up here.

Suddenly a loud noise arose from somewhere in the camp, sounding like a young pups howl magnified a number of times. It hurt Aniu's ears, but thankfully it only lasted a few seconds.

After that, every man-animal in the camp it seemed, young and the old, females and males, surrounded her. Although they stayed a number of feet away, Aniu still felt horribly claustrophobic and quite afraid, but she did not let any of that show. Instead she gathered herself up, staring down any who dared get too close.

A big man, one of the same who had captured her, broke through the ring surrounding her. He pointed a stick at her.

"A wolf skin has always been valuable to the white man." He said, "They often trade foolishly for fur. Especially the fur of a white wolf. These are very rare, so we must keep this wolf in perfect condition. She is to be fed twice a day, and no one is to harm her. We have two white men coming to trade in seven days, and I know that one of them desires a wolf. We shall give him this one."

The crowd around Aniu cheered, and she felt her heart race even faster. Although she couldn't understand what they were saying, it probably wasn't good for her.

"If he likes this wolf, he has promised to give us plenty of supplies to last us the winter."

Again the crowd cheered. They were short on bullets for their guns, as well as fuel for the lanterns. But most of all, the natives desired alcohol. It was something the white men had in abundance, and would often trade it for fur. It was of similar value to the natives as the fur was to the white men.

After a few minutes, the crowd began to disperse, as night was almost upon them. Aniu was given some meat. She didn't want to take it at first, but she figured that if she was to die soon, she may as well die comfortably.

After finishing her meat, she got as comfortable as possible in the small confined space of her cage, watching the man-animals as they prepared for the night. They stoked up their fires, as the now clear sky promised a cold night. Aniu was fairly close to one of the fires, and she felt the heat radiating pleasantly onto her fur, and it wasn't long before she was lulled to sleep, her head resting peacefully on her paws.

............

The warmth of the fire radiated off his fur and its light shown in his sleepy eyes. It was on rare nights like these that he was allowed inside his master's small cabin, and Storm was grateful for the fact that he was his master's favorite dog. The temperature outside was below freezing, and Storm couldn't suppress a small smile at the thought of his teammates freezing their tails off outside.

Storm was a decent sized husky, just a little bigger than the average. He had dark grey fur on most of his body, so dark that when not well illuminated it looked almost black. On his underside he had lighter shade of grey, with strips of white fur running down the inside of each of his four legs. He had blue eyes as deep as the ocean and just as intriguing. And at three and a half years old was next in line to be the leader of his team.

Indy was the oldest member, at nearly seven years of age he was the most experienced dog, having been on a number of teams until finally being adopted by Jarrod Anderson, their master. Then there was Phoenix. He was a mysterious dog, and one you didn't want to mess with. He cared about all of his friends, and would die to protect them. He had a scar beneath his left eye, a remnant from his days as a hunting dog. He was pretty hard to annoy, but there was one thing that set him off, and that was a wolf. He hated them. Everyone knew that his scar had been given to him by a wolf, but no one knew why he hated wolves so, and nobody dared ask.

Malakai was a very outgoing dog, very talkative. He was often the one that annoyed Phoenix, and Indy often had to break up quarrels between the two. He was a strong dog though, a very important member on the team.

The last two dogs, Blaze and Sky, were brother and sister. They didn't talk a lot, usually only speaking to each other, but occasionally they would join in. Storm was pretty sure that Sky had a crush on him, but he didn't know for sure, nor did he care.

Since he was a young pup, Storm had always been craving an adventure, and had quite often gone running out on his own, earning him more than a few harsh talks from his parents. So after he'd finally learned, he had focused all of his energy on getting stronger, in hopes that a sled team would take him up. That was his dream, to become a star racing dog, and hopefully this job would get him there.

Currently he was working for a master that traded with other men that lived in strange huts and wore animal fur. They were a bit imposing, but it seemed that his master desired the animal furs as well, and would often trade quite a bit of goods in return for them. Last time they had gone, Storm knew that his master had requested a live wolf. What for, he didn't know.

Tomorrow they would be leaving for the village. The trip took anywhere from four to seven days, as it depended on the weather conditions. It was a tough trip though, as they had to cross many rivers and climb a lot of mountains. He was sure that most of the rivers were frozen by now, he hoped so anyway.

Storm yawned and blinked tiredly, and figured that it was time for him to get to sleep. He curled himself up as near to the fire as he could take, and drifted into a deep, dreamless sleep.

........

The next thing he felt was a tapping on his head. Storm sat up and blinked a few times, waking himself up. He glanced out a window, and saw that the sun was just barely rising. Jarrod Anderson was busy getting things together for his trip today, and had just woken his dog up.

"Gonna be a long trip today." He said from somewhere inside the cabin. Storm heard some shuffling around in one of the rooms, and a minute later Jarrod, a tall fairly tall man with short, cropped brown hair stepped out. He was wearing a green suit specially designed to keep him warm. He had thick gloves and a hat to pull down over his head.

He opened the door to the outside, and Storm could feel the cold even beside the fire. Jarrod led him outside. The two lived on the north side of a town called White Mountain. It had been named such since it was surrounded by mountains, which were usually white with snow. Not a very creative name, Storm thought.

They went around to a large and fairly well insulated shed that stood behind their cabin. That was where the others stayed. Jarrod pushed open the large door, and every one of his dogs were there to greet him. They knew it was almost time to run. It was also food time. Jarrod walked to the back of the shed, opening a heavy chest and giving each dog their share of food.

While they ate and digested their food, Jarrod pulled his sled outside and got to work loading everything he hoped to trade onto it, as well as the necessary supplies for the trip on it.

"You ready to run?" Malakai asked Phoenix, eliciting a growl, albeit a good natured one. He paid no heed.

Addressing the whole group then, he asked another question. "Does anyone think that Master actually is gonna trade them for a live wolf?"

"I hope not." Phoenix replied, "Because I might be tempted to kill it."

"Why? I mean I've heard stories and stuff-"

"Wolves are vile creatures. They'll kill you without a second thought."

"I disagree." Storm said, putting his two cents worth in. "I think they're creatures who are just trying to survive, and only kill us because we're threatening them. Because aren't dogs usually the ones that hunt them?"

Phoenix turned on Storm, his blazing green eyes boring holes into Storm. "They killed my brother simply because we were lost." Phoenix remembered that day. He and his brother had been young then, and they had thought it would be fun to run away from their home for a day. A snow storm had blown up quickly, and the two had gotten lost. They had found a shelter that, unbeknownst to them, belonged to a small group of wolves. Upon finding two scared husky pups in their den, the wolves had killed his brother as a punishment, and had let Phoenix go on his own. Since then, he had killed or helped to kill any wolf, male, female, or pup that had crossed his path when he was a hunting dog. Phoenix explained this all to them, finally giving up his secret as to why he hated the wolf so much.

"Dogs do the same to them." Storm retorted.

"Because they're evil! What are you now, a lobo lover?"

"No. I'm simply standing up for what I believe."

"Guys, we don't need to fight." Indy said, having let the argument go on long enough.

Phoenix glared at Storm for a few more seconds, the fire in his eyes dying.

"He's right," Phoenix conceded, "Friends?"

Storm nodded.

"And sorry, I know you're not a lobo lover. If you had my experience with wolves... you'd understand."

Although Storm was tempted to reply to that, he didn't. The last thing they needed during this trip was a fight.

Soon enough, Jarrod called them all over to the sled, which was now fully loaded with everything he needed. He hooked them up, Indy and Phoenix in front, Storm and Malakai in the middle, Blaze and Sky in the back. After that he checked his equipment one more time, all six dogs bouncing on their paws and ready to go.

It was a relief when the command to go was given, and the dogs took off at a fast pace. It didn't take too long to settle into a rhythm though. No one really spoke, the only talking was commands from Jarrod or Indy, ordering the dogs back into line or back to the pace, or warning them of any upcoming obstacles.

Jarrod would occasionally check a pocket watch he had on him. They were making good time. The trip was uneventful, and by the fourth day, they were within five miles of the village. They came to a wide river.

All of the rivers previous rivers were like streams compared to this one, which was why Jarrod stopped the dogs before they went to cross it. It looked like it was frozen, but everyone knew that it could be less than an inch thick.

Jarrod hopped off of the sled with a Winchester rifle in his grasp. He attached a long bayonet to the end of it, and led the dogs up to the bank of the river. He stabbed the weapon directly downward, and when it didn't penetrate the ice, he knew it was safe.

He led the dogs across, checking the ice every two feet to make sure it stayed thick enough to stay safe. Indy led the dogs expertly. They followed his lead on easing the sled down onto the ice, so as not to break or damage the sled or any of its cargo. Only when they were safely across did everyone let out the breaths that they'd been unconsciously holding in.

"Good job boy." Jarrod complimented, giving his lead dog a pat and a small treat of food. "Now let's go."

The final miles took less than thirty minutes, as everyone was running, excited to get to their destination. The natives greeted Jarrod warmly, which was quite the opposite of how any native dogs greeted them. Storm and his teammates were pretty much ignored. A couple said hi, not much else.

The natives helped Jarrod unload all of the supplies he had brought, which included plenty of their favorite drink. In return he got plenty of fur.

"We have something else for you too. But first let us accommodate you." A native led Jarrod to a large tent, where he left his sled and unchained his dogs. Most of them fell down to the ground, but not Storm. He wanted to see if that something else was the wolf he and his team had been thinking about during the whole trip.

Blaze and his sister curled themselves up, as well as Indy.

"My old joints can't do too much more of this." He commented, stretching his legs out and rolling his shoulders a few times.

Storm and Malakai winced at the several loud pops that accompanied Indy's stretching. Phoenix simply sat down. He wasn't sure if he wanted to know if they were going to get a wolf. He wondered how they would carry it, as you couldn't exactly put a wolf on a sled team.

"How would we carry a wolf?" Malakai asked, and for once, Phoenix was glad that he did.

"I don't know..." Storm said his brow furrowing as he thought. "I suppose Jarrod would have a way to carry it."

"Speaking of Jarrod..." Both noticed the man following another native off through the camp, and hurried after him. Phoenix, after some hesitation, followed too.

"Do you still desire a wolf?" The native asked.

"Actually, yes I do. I've had a lot of people come to me asking if I could catch them a live wolf." Jarrod answered.

"Good, as we have one here for you. She's is in excellent health, except for a fractured leg. She is healing well, though. I do not know what your customers want a wolf for, but we thought it would be best to keep her alive."

Jarrod nodded. "Yes, I had someone who wanted a live wolf."

He was led to the edge of camp, where a pure white she-wolf sat, chained to a stick that was embedded deeply in the ground.

Her ears perked and her gaze turned on him, her yellow eyes simply staring and looking in wonder at this new man that was so different than the natives that had cared for her lately.

Behind Jarrod, Storm and Malakai looked on as well.

"It is a wolf..." Malakai whispered.

Storm simply stared. He had never seen a wolf this close before, and he was awed at the beauty of her snow-white fur, as well as her sharp yellow eyes. Her gaze shifted from Jarrod to him, and Storm quickly averted his gaze. Behind him, Phoenix growled softly.

All three dogs sat and listened as the native asked the same question they had all been wondering.

"Do you have a way to get this wolf home?"

"I do, yes."

"Good. She is yours then." With that, the two left to get some food and join the party the natives were hosting, all of them grateful to Jarrod for bringing them what they wanted.

...

Aniu saw a new type of man-animal; he had a whiter color skin and shorter hair than the men who had been taking care of her recently. The native accompanying him pointed at her, and he nodded in approval. She knew they were talking about her, and began to grow worried.

Some of the dogs in the village had taunted her, saying that "As soon as the white man gets here, you'll be nothin' but a prize hanging above his fireplace." She wondered if this was the white man they had been talking about. Although she had pretty much resigned herself to dying, she still wasn't sure if she was ready for it.

Aniu noticed three dogs behind the two men, presumably belonging to the white man himself. One of them, with bright green eyes was glaring at her, and she could see the hate in his eyes even from the distance that separated them. Another, with brown eyes looked wary and maybe a little hateful as well, but the third, a grey-furred husky with enticing blue eyes was simply looking, a curiosity in his eyes. Aniu met his gaze, trying to read more about him, but he quickly looked away.

The men stood a few moments more, then turned and went off through the camp, probably going off to the gathering Aniu could hear going on in the center of the village. The three dogs stayed, and much to Aniu's surprise and pleasure, the grey furred one began to slowly approach her.

One of his friends, or whatever they were to him called out to him, "Haven't you heard the stories? Wolves as pretty as that always trick you. They lure you in, and then they kill you."

Aniu frowned at that, wondering what other crazy stories the dogs told about her kind. The husky ignored the comment, but he did stop. He met Aniu's gaze, and this time did not look away. She saw the same curiosity in his eyes, as if he wanted to speak to her, but was unsure of himself.

The one with green eyes stalked up to his friend and pushed him away from his position.

"Despicable." He growled in her direction.

Aniu met his hate filled stare, although it was probably not the smartest thing to do. He looked like he could kill her, even if she didn't have an injured leg and wasn't restrained by the chain.

He led the grey dog away, although he did manage to glance back at her one time. Aniu sighed and lay back down onto the ground. There went her hope for one potential ally in a world that seemed to hate her, or at very least distrust her.