not, which covered his fur with blood.
«Help me!» he said. «someone help me!» he looked for a moment at Balto and the rest of the pack, and then fell unconscious to the ground. all the wolves approached him to help him, except Kurat, who watched the scene without intervening.
«Let's take him to the cave.» said Aleu.
«But we can't! He's not part of the pack. And Aniu said we can't trust anyone!» a wolf said.
«She said that one of the pack will betray us, and he is not part of it.» said Balto, standing between the wolf and Fengen. «so there is nothing to fear.» At this point the pack took Fengen into the cave, where they let him rest.
That night Balto could not sleep: he wanted to know who that Husky was, who among all the wolves present had looked at him to ask him for help; so the following day he went into the cave to talk with him.
«Who are you?» asked Balto. Fengen, who was still sore from his wounds, looked at him in an astonished way; he seemed surprised that Balto himself had asked him something like that.
«Don't you remember me?» said the Husky looking at him with his shiny eyes.
«Should I?»
«I thought Aniu told you about me.»
«What does this have to do with Aniu?»
«Listen, Balto...» tried to say Fengen. «I know it must have been hard for you...» but Balto suddenly interrupted him.
«you know nothing about my past!»
«Trust me, I know more than you think.» Balto began to understand, but he didn't want to believe it.
«Who are you?» he asked.
«I'm your father.» Balto could not believe what he heard. he had never seen his father and now he was there in front of him, staring at him.
Balto was still shocked by Fengen's answer. He didn't want to believe it.
«If you really are my father» he said, «then tell me where have you been all these years!» Fengen noticed that on Balto's face a small tear was falling.
«Iwill tell you everything» said Fengen, «but you might not like what I'm goingto tell you». And he began to tell the story.
«When you were born, your mother and I lived in a cave in the middle of a forest» he said. «one day as we were walking through the forest, we heard some shots and realized They were hunters. so your mother told me to run home and keep you safe; and so I did. suddenly I heard a shot and then a terrible silence. I ran immediatelyoutside to see what had happened... and then I saw what I never wished to see:your mother was lying on the ground, hit by a bullet. I was angry and attacked the hunter, whoscreamed and made his companions understand where he was. At that moment, Irealized that I was unable to protect you; so I brought you to an old city, andleft you there» When Fengen finished telling the story, a deafening silence descended into the cave. For a moment, Balto remained in silence, but then spoke:
«Why didn't you come to see me?» his face was wet by tears.
«I had to run away» answered Fengen. «if I ever came to see you, the hunters would have seen me and killed both you and me». At that moment Tarkus entered inside the cave.
«I see you're feeling better, aren't you?» said to Fengen. Fengen smiled.
«And I have to thank you for having helped me» the two wolves smiled at each other. Tarkus then spoke to Balto.
«If it is not a problem for you, now I' d like to talk in private with our new friend» he said. Even if Balto wished to spend more time with his father, he did as Tarkus asked and left him and Fengen alone. When he went out, he saw that Aleu and Kodi were waiting for him.
«So?» asked Aleu. «Did you find out who he is?». Balto said nothing, but just looked at them; on his face a smile formed.
«Why are you smiling?» asked Kodi. Balto beckoned them to follow him and led them where other wolves could not possibly disturb them, then he spoke:
«You must promise me that you will not tell anyone» he said. Aleu and Kodi looked at each other: they were confused.
«why are you acting like this?» said Kodi, who was becoming annoyed.
«I always thought he was dead, and now I find him in the cave» said Balto.
«Who, Dad? Who?» asked Aleu. There was a moment of silence, but then the silence was interrupted by Balto's words:
«my father» he said. Aleu and Kodi were speechless.
«but... that can't be true!» said Kodi.
«It's true, Kodi» continued Balto. «He's my father».
«And did he tell you that?» said Aleu. «Dad, didn't you think that maybe he's just making it up?»
«Then tell me: how did he know about my past?» insisted Balto. «He knew exactly what happened when I was a pup»
«But maybe it didn't happen as you think, Balto» said a voice. When Aleu, Kodi and Balto turned around, they saw Kurat; the latter approached the trio.
«I may not have one of the nicest personalities, but I can immediately understand when someone is lying» he said.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
CHAPTER VI
«How?» asked Kodi. «Who do you know he's lying?».
«This is the gift I received from Aniu» Kurat answered.
«Why should we trust you?» said Balto. Kurat slowly approached him.
«You can also not do it» he said. «but it could cost everything to one of you. trust me, at least for this time: I know I haven't been nice and I apologize, but I know that our new host is lying, about something I don't know yet». Balto didn't understand the situation, and it upset him: thousands of questions were swirling in his mind: why would he lie? Who was he? how did he know who he was?, but most of all, what did he want from him?
«We should talk to Tarkus about this» said Aleu. Kodi said he agreed with her; Balto still had difficulty to believe Kurat's words, but in spite of this he decided to do as he said, so the group went to talk to Tarkus, who was still inside the cave with Fengen. When they arrived in front of the cave they called Tarkus, who seemed to be irritated by this fact, and Balto understood it.
«What do you want?» asked Tarkus. Kurat was the first to talk:
«We came to ask you if you found out more about the wolf» he said.
«I only found out that his name is Fengen. nothing else». Kurat frowned.
«is there something you're not telling us, Tarkus?» he said in a defiant tone. «you always said that you were able to know everything about everyone just by looking at them, but for some reason now you tell us that you only understood his name». Tarkus approached Kurat in a very menacing way.
«I am not trying to hide anything from you». he said. «Just because I can't understand very much about a wolf, it doesn't mean I want to hide something!».
«Then just tell us if he is lying» said Aleu in order to calm the situation. Tarkus looked at Aleu and then again at Kurat.
«I'll only do it as long as you promise me that you will never again accuse me of something I haven't done» said to Kurat, who smiled.
«I can't promise it, you know» said Kurat.
«I know» replied Tarkus. The wolf then closed his eyes and concentrated himself. everyone remained in silence and the only sound that was heard was the one of his breathing. Suddenly he opened his eyes, which were now as yellow as the sun. Balto looked at Aleu and saw that she was not surprised at all by the situation; on the contrary, he was fascinated: he would have liked to receive a unique power like the ones of Tarkus or Kurat.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
CHAPTER VII
Takus's eyes suddenly returned to their original color. His vision had just ended. The effort the wolf had just made was the most strenuous he had ever done: he felt as exhausted as if he had run for a whole day without a single rest.
«Are you okay?» asked Balto, as he approached him.
«Yes» he answered, still breathless.
«So, what have you discovered?» demanded Aleu. Tarkus first looked at Aleu, then at Balto.
«He was not lying,» he said, as he was looking at the latter. «What he has told you is true». Kurat, who had been standing aside until now, suddenly approached Tarkus. But it was not a quiet approach, but a threatening one.
«I know what I've seen,» he said. «if you're hiding something from us, you'd better tell us now».
Tarkus, exhausted by the effort he had made, could do almost nothing except to look at his old friend with sadness. his gaze focused on the wolf's eyes. they were full of sadness, anger, hatred. all these emotions had combined into a mixture that unfortunately led Kurat to be what he had become: a wolf who no longer trusted anyone and always kept himself aside.
«Enough!» said Aleu, as she interposed herself between the two. Kurat remained silent for a few moments, then spoke:
«You'd better not trust either Fengen.... or
| Previous Page | 1 2 3 4 5 6 | Next page |