Chapter 2 - Fighting To Belong

Stone slowly opened his eyes. All he could think of was that he wasn't here before…

He slowly got to his feet, staggering slightly and slowly padded towards the entrance of the cave. He shivered and stumbled backwards with shock. The rush of cold air against his nose was almost unbearable pain. Now he remembered…the clan…

He was on his own now, he knew it. Not mother, nor father, nor any wolf had survived the massacre - just himself.

But he only survived by being a coward. He wondered whether he'd rather not be a Hero but decided to direct his thoughts to more serious matters.

Sniffing the air and looking around, he noticed a smell quite unlike any other. He had smelt it before…but only faintly. It was kind of like a half wolf, half dog smell.

“Husky…” he muttered to himself

Little white paws padding once again to the front of the cave, he looked around desperately for the owner of the smell. Then he found it.

A small, bouncing, grey and white sledge dog puppy began to approach him. He had never made much social interaction with members of another species but Stone was willing to make conversation if it meant him getting out of this place.

“You're a wolf, aren't you?” the dog squeaked

Stone nodded, “What am I doing here?” he asked

“My owner brought you here on the back of our sled. He said you'd die if you were left alone out there. He found some dead wolves and figured you'd be next so we saved you,”

Stone blinked.

“Those wolves were my family…”

The puppy cocked his head.

“I'm sorry…are you all right?”

Stone shrugged. “How do I get out of here?”



“And that's how I ended up here, Kipper found me and brought me here; with you guys.” Stone finished.

“Wow, you had quite a background there, young Stone,” said Grunt, an older, fat Husky dog.

“Yep, I still remember it like it was yesterday,” Stone said, a slight uneasiness in his voice.

“I think you were very brave,” said Rain, a beautiful red Husky.

“Well, maybe just not brave enough; the humans will never let me be a sled-dog. It's not in my blood. They think I will hurt them.”

“I don't believe that,” protested Rain.

A voice spoke up from the shadows: “But, all the same; you said it yourself; you will never be a sled-“dog”. The day you're a “dog” then I'll be a cat,”

“Stop it, Rex, it's not his fault they won't let him run,” Rain said, sticking up for Stone.

“Oh, but you're wrong; it is his fault. Don't you see?”

A large, black and white Husky with strong back legs stepped out slowly from the shadows, smiling.

Stone bared his teeth slightly.

“Don't you all see that the reason they won't let him race is because he's a savage. He's a wolf; not a snow-dog,”

Stone felt slightly hurt that Rex was comparing him with the bloodthirsty pack that had slaughtered his family. He accepted that he wasn't a dog, but he would never accept to being anything like them.

“I just want to help,” he said simply

He stood up and walked out of the shed, into the open village of Kirksmeade, where he had lived practically his whole life. He recalled to himself the horror of the massacre his family had endured. Flinching, Stone wished he had not been so foolish as to run away from his mother, he missed her so.

He trotted unhappily to his second favourite spot in the whole world; to the top of a large hill that overlooked the village to the North and, to the South, the forestry that was his home 2 years ago.

He lay down and looked out to the vastness of the Alaskan land. The horizon seemed is if it were the end of the world, the Polar Ice Caps finishing it off. It really was a beautiful sight and he so wished he could be free to run as far and fast as he could. Down the valley, around the world and back again. That's what he wanted; to run. To run with the sled dogs was such a privilege that he knew it was impossible. He put his head on his paws and felt a familiar brush against his fur. He quickly lifted his head up, thinking it was his mother again but found it was only Rain coming to lie beside him.

She looked at what Stone was looking at.

“You miss your family, don't you?”

“What? No. It's been too long, I hardly knew them,”

“But you felt equal with them, didn't you?”

She was right. The thing Stone really missed the most was to feel at home. To feel welcomed and to feel equal.

All he ever got here was comments about him being different. In the wild, everyone was the same.

Nevertheless, he did like Rain's company a lot.

He was about to reply when-

“Rain, its time for the next race; the semi-finals. We don't want to be late,”

The two turned their heads to see Rex standing behind them, looking bemused.

“Err, see you around?” Rain said softly to Stone

“Yea…see ya…” he replied slowly

Rain got up and went with Rex for the Dog Race. Stone sat, thinking to himself.

Kipper padded over to him.

“Do you want to go watch? It's only a small race; around the village. We could cheer Rain on,” He offered, hopefully.

“No, Kipper. I'm not watching it; I'm running it,”

Stone stood up and walked over to where Rain and Rex were heading.

“Running it? Are you crazy? They'll kill you! You're a wolf!”

“The Humans don't scare me,” Stone replied, determined.

Kipper stopped walking after Stone.

“Oh boy…” he muttered.

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