Chapter 7: Battle for the Valley

The battle raged on, loup against wolf, with no end in sight. Kate and Humphrey were fighting together, making sure to never leave the other alone when Kate was suddenly pounced on par a Rouge Wolf. Humphrey rushed to her side and helped her to fight off the attacker. Kate had a minor cut on the side of her neck, but it wasn't too bad.

"Kate," Humphrey a dit to her, pausing to ward off another wolf. "I don't know how much longer we can go on."

"Well, what do toi propose we do?" Garth asked as he approached them.

"We need to take out their leader," Humphrey said, looking up at King who was commanding his pack from a sûr, sans danger distance.

"I'm going for it!" Humphrey shouted as he ran off towards their den.

"Humphrey, wait! We need to come up with a-" Kate began, but Humphrey was already gone. "Plan."

"He's gonna get himself killed," Garth said.

"What else is new?"

Humphrey fought his way through the onslaught of Rouges, forcing his way to his den. Upon reaching the top, he found King and one of his henchwolves standing on the precipice, seemingly unaware of his presence.

"Well, well," Humphrey said. King started as he was surprised that Humphrey was standing behind him. "What do we have here?"

"You have friends, I have friends. The difference is...I don't care if mine live ou die," King a dit as the rest of his loups attacked.

"Let me at that runt of his," the henchwolf said. "I'll make him suffer plus than he could possibly imagine."

Upon hearing this, King forgot all about Humphrey and suddenly turned on his henchwolf.

"NO!" he yelled, swiftly backing the loup up against the edge of the precipice. "No one hurts Runt. NO ONE! Except me." King backed off and let the loup step away from the precarious cliffside.

"Now go find one of those pups and bring them to me," King said, in a calmer tone of voice. He then turned to face Humphrey.

"This one's mine."

The henchwolf hurried off past Humphrey to obey his master's command as King and Humphrey began circling each other.

"Do toi see?" King said. "Look at what you've done."

"What I've done?" Humphrey said, laughing. "Ah, that's cute. You've only done this to yourself," Humphrey said, hoping to enrage King into recklessly attacking.

To sell the deception, of which conflict is always about, Humphrey made sure to limp on his bad leg, so as to lull King into a false sense of thinking that Humphrey was weak and didn't pose much threat while in reality, Humphrey's leg now felt perfectly fine apart from some minor discomfort, but he could ignore that easily.

"You're arrogant," Humphrey continued as the two slowly encircled each other with Humphrey limping the entire time.

"Besides, you're arrogant, reckless, deranged, and entirely overconfident. It's a wonder you're still pack leader."

Humphrey's plan had worked. He had provoked King, making him furious which caused him to not think clearly. King also had been deceived into believing that Humphrey was weak and that he could easily overpower him.

King growled in anger, baring his teeth and in less than a second, he leaped at Humphrey who immediately stopped his pretend limping and quick as lightning, he leaped out of the way. King fell to the ground and when he failed to get up, Humphrey took this chance to subdue him.

As King began to stand up, he was immediately tackled par Humphrey, who ran into him at full force, knocking him into the mur at the back of the den. As Humphrey leaped at him, King kicked him back outside, then ran out to continue the fight. Humphrey stood up and ran towards King. The two were now playing a game of "Chicken" with neither montrer any sign of backing down. Just as they were about to meet, King jumped into the air and Humphrey, who had been expecting this, immediately skidded to a stop and ducked down to the ground, sending King flying over him.

Humphrey turned around and got on haut, retour au début of King, biting down on his neck. King was snapping at Humphrey, trying to bite back, but Humphrey wouldn't let him. King kicked Humphrey in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him and causing him to let go of King's neck. He then kicked Humphrey in the stomach again with both legs, sending him hurtling back outside the den. Humphrey skidded to a halt just a few inches short of the cliffside.

It was then, that the henchwolf returned with Stinky hanging from his mouth. The loup dropped him on the ground and then held him down with one of his paws.

"Stinky!" Humphrey yelled, standing up.

"I managed to get this one," the loup said. "The other two got away."

"One is all we need," King said, leaving Humphrey and walking over to rejoindre his henchwolf's side.

"Now," King said. "If you'll excuse me, I think you'll be interested in a trade."

Humphrey lifted his gaze from Stinky and looked at King.

"Oh, come on, really?" King said. "You couldn't see this coming?"

"Let him go," Humphrey said.

"Why would I do that? Hello, I'm deranged. toi a dit it yourself."

As the stand-off continued atop the cliff, the battle immediately halted. Even King and Humphrey stopped to listen as the worst sound ever echoed throughout the valley. It was a sound all loups feared. The sound of trucks approaching Jasper. Lots and lots of trucks.