Chapter 6: A New Trust

Humphrey returned to the den in the morning. "Humphrey where have you been all night?" Garth asked as he saw Humphrey walk into the den. Humphrey just ignored Garth and walk to the back of the den where his pups slept and just lay down beside them. "I guess you're not ready to talk about it," Garth said quietly as he worried about Humphrey and wondering if he will be the same ever again "Anyways we need to keep moving forward so we are heading after we have breakfast." "Linus can you come with me, " "Sure". After walking for 5 minutes Garth started thinking. "Hey Linus can you talk to Humphrey?" "Sure but why me?" "Well you have more connection with Humphrey than I do, you understand what it feels like to lose a loved one" "Well okay I will talk to Humphrey when we get back" "Okay thanks"

Meanwhile Kate and Lilly were finishing the caribou leg. Kate heard a wolf approach the cave they were being held in. "Stand aside." he said. Lilly and Kate turned their heads to the entrance of the cave. It was the wolf who brought them the food. "What do you want?" asked Kate. " I need to speak with you." Lilly tried to stand up. "Privately." he brought Kate deep into the cave beyond earshot of the guards. "What do you want and who are you?" "Listen to me, my name is Cloud. I'm a Delta. I know who you are. I know why Miko chose you and I can tell you why he chose your sister, but for right now I'm telling you that I'm planning on helping you escape." "Why?" "Because I can't stand how Miko the pack leader is treating everyone and to kidnapped his own daughter is just not right." "Wait how did you know that I was Miko's daughter." "I heard you arguing with Miko and wanted to help you escape" "Well thanks but..." "Can you help me after we escape" Cloud interrupted. "Sure anything" "Can I stay you and your pack because Idont want to stay with Miko anymore." "Definitely you can absolutely stay with us. But Miko's pack is huge how are we going to pull this off." "Okay thanks so here is the plan, wait until nightfall, if you can get passed the 2 guards at the entrance to the cave, meet me at the food pile. I'll deal with the rest. Can you do that?" "Yes, but..." I have to leave now or they will think something is up. I wish and hope the best." Cloud left the den and Kate got back to Lilly and told her the escape plan.

While Garth and Linus returning to the den with a dead caribou, The pups were still sleeping and Humphrey was still crying. Just then Lance woke up "Dad, why are you crying?" "Hey Lance can you wake everybody else up, I need to tell them something... " Humphrey said ashamed. "Sure thing " Lance answered as he sensed that something was wrong. "Hey dad what's wrong?" asked River and Ghost at the same time. "Something happened last night..." "What happened, lance did you wake up Nova?" asked Shadow. "Something happened and Nova..." "NOOOOVVVVAAAAAA!" his own scream echoed in his head reminding him of the pain and making him cry again. "What happened dad? Where's Nova?" asked the youngest of his pups and his only daughter left, River. "Nova is..." "NOVA..." Garth shouted as he entered the temporary den. "Has gone back to Jasper to help grandma and grandpa." "She's always worrying about someone else. I envy that girl so much." River said. Humphrey walked out of the den crying. Garth walked over to Humphrey and asked "What's wrong?" "What are you doing? They are going to find out that Nova isn't in Jasper. She's at the bottom of the river." "They don't need to know right now I will tell them when it's ok..." "The sooner the better." said Humphrey turning around. Garth walked over to Linus and said "Nows a good time for you and Humphrey to have that talk." Linus nodded and walked over to Humphrey and said "Humphrey?" Humphrey barely turned his head to look at the fox. "Humphrey I know how you feel right now," Linus began. "HOW DO YOU KNOW HOW I FEEL, YOU NEVER LOST ANYBODY CLOSE TO YOU BEFORE," "Yes I have Humphrey I lost my wife remember I told you when we were back in Absaroka-bear tooth wilderness" Linus said calmly as he know the feeling of guilt of losing a loved one and know that Humphrey is blaming himself for Nova's death. "I'm so sorry Linus, I'm just really angry with myself," Humphrey said as he realized what he just said to one of his best friends "I'm sorry if I am taking my anger out on you guys, I just can't believe it that my daughter is really gone" "I know Humphrey but try focusing on why we are out here in the first place" "You're right we are here to rescue Kate and Lilly from the Northern pack, thanks Linus for talking to me" "No problems now lets keep moving forward" Humphrey entered to den and explained what they are going to do. They left the den and walked for a few hours and decided to take a break in a wide open space. "Garth I want you to teach my pups self defense and how to hunt while myself and Linus goes and find lunch." "Okay I'll get started," "Kids listen to Uncle Garth and do what he says," "Okay," they all said in unison.

Meanwhile Lilly is sleeping to conserve her energy for the big escape tonight and Kate is wondering what is Humphrey doing right now and how much she miss him. Just then Cloud entered the cave with a caribou leg. "This is to keep your energy up for the escape tonight," "Thanks" Cloud left the cave. Kate head over to Lilly and nudge her. "Lilly wake up," "I'm up, I'm up, is there something wrong" "No nothing is wrong, I am just waking you up so you can eat" "Oh okay thanks sister" "Are you ready for tonight?" "Yeah I'm ready"

Humphrey and Linus return to the pups and Garth with one dead caribou and 2 rabbits. "This should be enough so how are they doing Garth," "Pretty well actually I guess they have Kate's hunting skills however it will probably take a lot more training to become hunters" "Okay but remember that we have not much time," "Okay kids take a break, lunch is here." The pups rush to the food and started eating as fast as they can. "I guess they have been training really hard" Humphrey said proudly admiring how dedicated they are to training. "If we keep this up I say we will be successful in the rescue but also we should not underestimate the Northern pack next to our united pack it's the biggest in Jasper " "After lunch we are going to be training again for another hour" Garth said.

Night came and Kate and Lilly were getting ready for the escape. "Are you ready Lilly?" Kate asked as she saw the 2 wolves guarding the cave on the edge of sleeping. "Ready, lets do it," "Okay follow my lead and try to keep up" Kate silently take out the two guards and started headed to the food pile. She saw Cloud waiting for her and Lilly. "Okay Cloud now what?" "Wait where is Lilly" "I thought she was behind me." Then they heard a scream. "Lilly" they said both together. They ran towards the scream only to see Lilly was being cornered by a group of wolves. "Lilly," Kate shouted as she jumped in front of Lilly. "Go with Cloud and run away from here, I will hold them off" "But what about you," "I will be fine just go now." As Lilly ran to Cloud, Kate covered Lilly's back so no wolves could harm her. Lilly reached Cloud and told him to run into the forest. As they ran into the forest Kate was attack by the wolves. As Lilly was running away she looked back to see how Kate was holding up. As she turned around she saw that Kate was putting up a good fight but eventually got overwhelmed by the wolves. Lilly cried as she ran away hoping that Kate was still alive. They finally stopped and found some shelter to sleep under. Cloud was trying to comfort Lilly but Lilly would not stop crying. "Why would she do that? Why her? Why not me?" "Because your her little sister and she wanted to protect you" "But Miko wants her more. If it were just me he'd probably just let me starve but Kate, god only knows what he'll do to her..." Lilly cried. "She's a big girl she'll pull through, she always does... OOPS!" said Cloud "What did you say?" asked Lilly looking at Cloud with a vision blurred by her own tears. "Nothing, she'll be fine." Cloud said hugging Lilly so she had a shoulder to cry on for the rest of the night Lilly cried at what just happened.