Chapter 3: King of the Rogues (written from October 14th to October 18th, 2022)
A line of Alphas stood shoulder to shoulder. Garth paced back and forth near the stone ramp, studying his assembly of troops. Also pacing back and forth was Wintson who was in the cave with Eve, Lilly, and Tony.
"Kate and Humphrey... They're always doing things their way."
"Don't they realize how dangerous the Rogues can be?!" Tony thundered.
"I know what the Rogues are planning," said Lilly.
"What is it, my smart Omega?" said Eve.
"They want us to send most of our Alphas to find Runt and get trapped by the winter. Then they'll have another force... outflank us... who will attack... and destroy our home. The Omegas... the Betas..."
"Well, let 'em try it!" Tony challenged. His Western counterpart sighed.
"We'll have to go with a smaller contingent. Leave some Alphas here... just in case."
Tony nodded reluctantly. His son then approached.
"Everyone's ready to go at daybreak."
"We can only bring half of them. I'll explain later," Winston told him.
"I'm coming too," Lilly informed. The pack leader blocked her from exiting.
"No. No, Lilly. This is an Alpha affair."
"No... This is a family affair," she corrected.
"I'll stay here... with them," said Eve, gesturing to the remaining pups who were asleep.
It was settled. At the crack of dawn, Winston, Tony, Garth, Lilly, and half of the assembled company would begin their search for the King Pack. The journey to Banff took roughly a day and a half. That meant Runt had to endure at least one night with the Rogue leader. The thought greatly disturbed the Grand Pack wolves. They needed to save Runt quickly since this was only King at his most reasonable. Unlike Winston, Tony, or Garth, King didn't fear bloodshed. He was a warmonger, and the possibility of him changing his mind and killing Runt at the earliest convenience couldn't be ignored. One of the reasons why Humphrey and Kate's stealth operation carried great risk, Winston believed, was that it could be exactly what King wanted. In his eyes, Humphrey and Kate's marriage was blasphemous, an abhorrent desecration of the natural order. If the Rogues captured the couple... The old wolf couldn't bring himself to consider the events that would follow. He prayed he wouldn't have to save his daughter and son-in-law on top of Runt. He also hoped he could somehow reach Banff before Humphrey and Kate did even though it was very unlikely. He and the rest of the family needed a good night's sleep before committing to not just a long walk but a potential battle, one against brutes at that.
"Let's all get some rest," he suggested.
One after the other, the adult wolves joined the pups and slipped into the quietude of the night. Little did they know that the pups had their own plans...
December 16th, 2012
Exactly twenty-four hours later, the Rogues who kidnapped Runt arrived at the King Pack. Their names were Shaun, Blader, and Smith, and it was Blader who brought Runt to the edge of one of the Rogues' outposts called Killers' Hill. Normally, pups at Runt's age were too big to be carried by the scruff, but Runt's size, as his name suggested, was below average. In contrast, the Rogue leader was huge. A pack of pups could fit in his shadow. He was the most muscular wolf Runt had ever seen—and the most scarred. The Alpha was predominantly black. Shades of dark grey stained his face and underbelly, and a snake-like pattern of grey banded his legs. His fur was bristly but not so dense to conceal a life of unimaginable violence.
After taking a bow for his supreme ruler, the wolf with the baggy eyes named Blader carelessly dropped Runt. The pup plopped into the ground.
"Oof! Nice..."
"This small wolf is Winston's grandpup?!" King asked rhetorically. "Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha! The great Alpha of the Western Region is producing runts!"
"You gotta problem with that?!" yelled Runt. The Rogue leader expressed vindication.
"See what happens when you let your Alpha daughter marry an Omega!"
"And you are?" Runt asked. The Rogue leader gasped. He had hoped the pup already knew.
"King," he answered menacingly. At that moment, a dull bronze she-wolf stepped to his left side. Unlike him or the other Rogues, her body was scarless.
"Hm. Original," Runt replied. "And let me guess... you're Princess?"
"Yes," the female answered, in a much softer tone than King.
"Well, King, don't blame me... if you were rejected by my great uncle."
The remark induced King to snarl in Runt's face, forcing the pup to cower.
"Father! Let me handle him." Princess interjected. The she-wolf grabbed the pup and took him away.
King confronted the three males.
"This is all you brought me?! What about the other two?!"
"Hey, it got complicated," Shaun replied. "We had to fight off bears, and this guy was in a tree!"
"Excuses! I sent all three of you for a reason! Elgin told me you guys were the best at stealing!"
"We won't fail you again, sir," said Smith.
"You're right, otherwise you'll have to answer to my daughter, and she isn't as merciful as I am. My beloved Princess has more skulls to her name than I do, so a mission to take out Elgin won't be extraordinary for her. His underperformance displeases me. I hereby strip him of his status as second-in-command!"
"But, boss," said Blader, "you know he won't like that. Once he returns from the campaign in Yoho, he may—"
"DO WHAT?!" King snapped. "Has he forgotten who made him who he is?! Oh, I'll be sure to remind him in the message I'll send. If he wants the title back, he has to earn it. Let's have him conquer the elusive wolves of the Breeze!"
"But, sir, conquering the Breeze is impossible. They're too fast! I mean no disrespect, but this is just like your goal of conquering the Valley. It's fantasy!"
Suddenly, King pounced on Shaun and choked him.
"WE ARE ROGUES! Nothing is impossible! I will rid Jasper of those revolting Omegas, and I won't hesitate to kill every Rogue that makes it difficult for me! Understand, you inbred coyote?!"
Meanwhile, at the top of Killers' Hill, Princess dropped Runt inside a small crater in the rock.
"My, what large teeth you have," he commented timidly. King's snarl was that of a tsunami that washed his courage away. He shivered intensely, however, it was not out of fear.
"You look cold," said Princess.
"No, I'm just, well... Okay, I'm freezing," he admitted. The pup struggled to adjust to the climate of Banff.
"And probably hungry," she added before digging up a cache.
"I uh... I'm a picky eater. Just warning you." The she-wolf then tossed him a piece of her ration. The pup immediately salivated. "But... I can be flexible."
Princess studied him as he devoured the caribou muscle. Despite being a few years old, Runt happened to be the first pup she had ever seen. There was never young in the King Pack as every Rogue was a male recruit except for her. She found his proportions bizarre. He was a chubby little thing equipped with four stubby legs and a head half the size of his trunk. "Mmm, yummy!" he said before burping. Only half his meal was eaten. To her surprise, he tossed back the remainder.
"Why aren't you eating the rest?!" Her question brimmed with seriousness. "Don't you know how scarce meat is?"
"I was leaving the other half for you. You know, like sharing. I guess it's an Omega thing."
Princess turned around and exposed her glaring face to the moon.
"When we have a kill, those who eat... are those who fight for it."
"And I'm sure pups do really well under that scenario," he replied, raising an eyebrow.
The Alpha swung back. Her frightening growl made the pup shrink and retreat to a small patch of grass.
"The Alpha pups do... Sleep there. It'll be warmer."
Later...
Princess stood in charge of the Rogues watching Runt. As the night dragged on, temperatures plunged until the bed of grass became insufficient. The jaws of coldness denied the pup his sleep. He shivered relentlessly and developed a terrible cough, the onset of hypothermia. Because there were still plenty of hours left until the first rays of morning, the realization that the pup may freeze to death came to Princess. It gave her an idea. She would alter the plan to help secure the main objective.
"You see, he is weak!" her father spat. "If he were pure Alpha, he wouldn't be cold!" Suddenly, Princess walked forward and laid her body on top of their captive. "What are you doing?" King asked.
"Making sure our bait stays alive," she retorted. "Father, I ask that you let me stay behind. If this pup is allowed to live, I can continue to distract the rescue brigade while your force attacks the Grand Pack territory."
"Why you? I can stay behind," said Shaun.
"No," Princess asserted. "The rescue brigade will have Kate and Garth, and they will certainly end you. I will engage them because I have the skill to win, and with Kate and Garth dead, the rest of the Grand Pack will collapse."
"Sir, we need Princess for the assault on the Valley," Shaun argued. "We can let the runt die. With Princess on the assault, it'll be easier to gain a foothold, and together, we can defeat their best Alphas."
"If you would've brought more bait, we wouldn't be having this discussion!" King snapped. "My daughter will soon be Queen. She's never failed me or our cause, so what my daughter says goes!"
Meanwhile...
Near the southern fringe of the Valley, Humphrey and Kate raced through a raging thunderstorm.
"Are you sure this is a shortcut to Banff?"
"Positive. The Omegas used to logboard here," Humphrey replied. "All we gotta do is get over the stream."
But the stream they found was less creek and more ravine. Floodwaters clawed the land, uprooting trees and rocks wherever they flowed. Erosion was more extreme closer to the Rockies where water tumbled faster due to steeper slopes.
"Uh, I thought you said this was a stream!" said Kate
"Okay... Wrong season."
"How are we gonna get across this? Hmm."
A familiar thing then caught the Alpha's eye. She grinned, much to Humphrey's dismay. He knew what she was thinking of, and he didn't like it.
"No, Kate! No vines!"
"But we did it last time!"
"I was young, impulsive!" But the Omega had already lost the battle. The next minute, he dangled on a vine in his jaws, the turbulent river directly below, and between him and the threat of drowning was Kate. Like before, she locked her teeth onto his tail. "And now I'm old and impulsive... Kate, wiggle around. Wiggle!" he directed through clenched teeth.
"I'm trying! Whoa! Whoa!" The erratic winds of the storm made a controlled swing arduous.
"I don't know if I can hold you!"
"Well, you held me last time!"
"Yeah, well, that was a few years ago!"
"Are you implying that I've gained weight?!"
"Are we really doing this right now? Please, Kate... come on. Wiggle!"
As done before, they swung from one side of the ravine to the other, but unlike before when Humphrey used the technique for rescuing, they were using it to cross the stream, so they had to drop on a particular side. Fortunately, since this was not their first experience on a vine, they both knew what they needed to do. Barring the difficult wind, they made it to the south side with relative ease.
"Good job, Omega!"
"It's all in the tail," said Humphrey. "You know, what's left of it..."
They resumed their walk. An ocean of rain began to batter them, but Kate couldn't bring herself to find shelter with Runt's well-being on her mind.
"We need to move on."
Just then, a bolt of lightning severed a tree limb. It landed directly in the couple's path as if a sign from a higher power. The Omega certainly read it as such.
"Kate, we have to wait this out." A den was in sight, shabby but vacant. Humphrey led her to it. "Come on. Over here."
