Togo's Blood

Loki's Story

Lead Dogs:

Winter

Loki

Swing Dogs:

Mist

Kodiak

Team Dogs:

Shadow

Apollo

Comet

Aspen

Fox

Hunter

Dakota

Gunner

Everest

Shila

Wheel Dogs:

Kiska

Scout

PROLOGUE

Loki's lungs burned. His heart was beating so fast, he was half-afraid it would give out. But he knew it wouldn't—it couldn't, not now!

His paws pounded the snow mercilessly. Each flying stride made his pads sting as they struck the icy ground, despite the protective blue booties he wore. But he hardly felt it.

He charged forward, never slowing, never stopping. His pink tongue lolled, parched and battered from the wind. He could almost taste the cold water he'd get at the finish line.

The finish line...he turned his attention to the packed snow ahead of him, forming a path that lead up to a sturdy wooden arch. The end of his race—and the start of his fame.

He was the youngest dog competing in this year's Iditarod—and maybe even in the Iditarod's entire history—and at a mere one year old, many people had expected Loki to drop out. After all, he was no more than a pup—and a thousand miles is a lot of ground for any dog to run, let alone one as young as him. And to lead the team? To plow through the snow at the very head of the group? It was unheard of.

And yet Loki kept going. His musher—Luke Jones—was rather fond of claiming that Loki was the best lead dog he'd ever seen...and after seeing his performance over the past 8 and a half days, people were starting to believe it!
No, not just people—his team, too. Although Loki was young, he was like a role model for his fellow sled dogs. Skilled and amiable, he'd become a dog that his team could look up to. Thinking of the other dogs made Loki wince with pain—there were only ten of them crossing the finish line with him today of the sixteen that had started out.

As was the sad truth of things, throughout the grueling journey, at checkpoints and resting places, people had deemed some racers unfit to continue for a multitude of reasons. Sometimes a dog was injured, weak, or dehydrated. But all too often, they were just too exausted to run another step.

Loki had been bracing for that to happen—dogs dropped out all the time. There'd been no teams in all of Iditarod history that had made it across the finish line completely intact.

In fact, ten dogs was actually pretty good—most mushers finished with only six or seven of their dogs left in harness. Loki had started out with another lead dog—a veteran husky of the trail named Bear.

Now the dog who was harnessed at his side, running at his left flank, was his only remaining swing dog, Kodiak. Kodiak was young, too—only two years old. Most, if not all, of his remaining team were rookies, Loki reflected. He was proud of them. They'd stuck the race through, despite their youth.