Chapter 6 – The Descent
As the morning sun rose, Humphrey had just started his descent down the mountain after saying his farewell to Logan. The weather was calm for the time being, giving Humphrey a clear view of his pathway down, back into the forestry below.
Humphrey looked over his shoulder towards the storm clouds to the Far East, knowing that he had to get clear of the peak of the mountain before they arrived.
"Well that doesn't exactly look fun, there's no way I'm going to get caught in that storm again"
Humphrey was slowly making his way down the steep sided cliff, being careful not to slip or make a silly error and fall. He lightly treaded, zigzagging down the mountain, walking from one side to the other, reducing his chances of falling.
"Well this is boring, why can't I just run straight down in a line, it would be much quicker"
However, saying that, a thought popped into Humphreys head, and he looked around in hopes of finding a log.
"I don't have to run down the mountain, I can log sled all the way down, after all I am Jasper's number one log sled racer, although I haven't actually been in a race, just in a team, however a race wouldn't be a bad idea." Thought Humphrey.
"Yeah, if me and the guys all had four separate logs, small enough to fit In, then we could race all the way down the hill. That's genius Humphrey, why didn't you think of that before"
However Humphrey quickly came to the realisation that he was never going to see his friends again, which in turn dampened his mood.
"I guess I'll just have to log sled race on my own then" frowned Humphrey, "it can't be that hard, I suppose I could just imagine that I was racing against the guys, after all I do remember everything about them, they can't be that hard to visualise" Humphrey chuckled.
As Humphrey was deep in thought about his ideas for log racing and how he thinks it should be a wider known event in Canada, he was unaware of the progress he had made down the mountain, making it almost half way down.
"Woah, look at that, I'm half way, maybe I should think of other ideas for games, I mean, it will help pass the time. Let's see, berry ball, I bet if we had a bigger berry we could kick it around with our paws. Yeah that could work, and have some sort of team system, let's say, 6 wolves on each team, and the objective is to get the bigger berry into a zone of some sorts." Humphrey chuckled.
"This isn't actually a bad idea, maybe I can pitch it to the next wolves I meet, see what they think. It would have to be omegas of course; I really doubt alphas would want to play".
With all the time Humphrey was spending thinking of his new games to play with his imaginary friends, he was unaware that as the day had passed over, so had the storm. It had reached the mountain and Humphrey realised as the wind began to pick up, blowing his fur around, as well as nearby trees and bushes.
"Well, thought time is over, I guess I'm going to have to log sled down here after all"
With that said, Humphrey ran to the closest set of tress in hopes of finding a log, however found nothing. He kept searching around, but as he spent more time looking, the storm was getting worse, as the wind picked up, and visibility had gotten worse.
"Ughhhhh common, there's got to be a log around here somewhere"
Humphrey persisted in looking for a log sled when he saw a blown down tree sticking out of the ground. "Perfect".
He ran over to it; however it was still stuck in the ground, so Humphrey grabbed the sled with his paws and tried to lift it out of the ground; however it was too heavy for Humphrey to lift.
"Dammit, I have to try and flip this log or I'm gonna get stuck on this mountain, again"
Humphrey began to think as well as look around when he saw a large rock next to the log and a log piece of wood, and instantly got an idea. He grabbed the Long Branch and placed it under the log, and on top of the rock, so it was at a diagonal length.
"Perfect, now all I have to do is push down"
As Humphrey was trying to flip this log, the storm was getting worse, however Humphrey was confident in his plan and began to push down on the branch. As he pushed down the opposite side came up and flipped the log over so it was upright.
"Oh yes" shouted Humphrey, "point omega, I'd like to see Garth think of doing that"
Humphrey ran over to the log and aligned it right to the mountain so he would slide straight down. He mounted the log and began to push, as he slowly began to pick up speed on his way down the mountain.
Humphrey squinted his eyes as the visibility had gotten bad, and was struggling to see what was in front of him; however he was able to react quick enough to dodge obstacles on his fast descent.
"Left… right… more right… straight… left again… oh boy I'm good at this"
Humphrey now flew down the mountain at top speeds dodging every obstacle in his path, and had broken out of the storm, so visibility became much better and could once again see.
"Wooooooooo" Humphrey cheered, "I'm the best, and there's no one better than me at log sledding, I'd definitely get that medal if log sledding was a race."
Humphrey saw that he was coming close to the bottom of the mountain and began to dig his back foot into the ground behind the sled to slow it down. As he approached the bottom of the mountain he looked over his shoulder to look back at the mountain he had just came down.
"That was so much easier than walking, why didn't I just…"
As Humphrey returned his gaze to the front of the sled, and looked towards where he was going he was cut off mid-sentence as he didn't realise there was a huge rock just before the bottom of the mountain. He instantly tried to pull the sled to the right and avoid it; however the side of the log hit the rock and flipped the log.
Humphrey yelled as he was thrown into the air away from the log, which came crashing down back onto the ground and broke into multiple pieces. Humphrey flew back down to the floor, but was not as lucky as he hit a tree with his torso on the way down and ricochets off it and hit the floor with a loud thud. He slid across the floor a couple of meters before coming to a stop.
Humphrey lay at the bottom of the mountain, as blood began to pour from his mouth, he was unable to move or speak as he was in too much pain. Humphrey's vision began to blur as he slowly blacked out.
His lifeless state lay motionless at the bottom of the mountain.
-Kate-
Just before the morning sun rose, Kate awoke from her slumber, where she had slept the previous night, in the same dug out hole, Humphrey had slept in. The sun had yet to reach the peak of the mountains as it was still early dawn. Kate was used to waking up early, as that is part of her duties in being an alpha.
As she woke she jumped out of the hole in the ground gracefully and stretched off her cold muscles, arching her back, and stretching her legs out in front of her.
"Another early morning"
Kate walked over, out of the forestry, and over towards the bottom of the mountain, ready to begin her ascent up the mountain.
"Did you really climb the mountain Humphrey?"
Kate began to sniff the air once again, getting Humphreys scent, once more to follow.
"Huh? I guess you really did climb up the mountain, I'm impressed"
With that said Kate began her ascent up the mountain, with ease. She learned to pace herself up the mountain so she didn't waste energy or lose focus, and made much greater progress up than Humphrey did.
"That's it, easy does it" Kate said as she jumped from different rocks on the mountain, making her climb much quicker.
As Kate started to reach the top of the mountain, a storm quickly began to encompass the mountain, and visibility quickly dropped. The wind speed picked up and the temperature dropped, Kate was engulfed in a blizzard.
She could not see where she was going as the snowfall made it near impossible to see. She squinted her eyes and held her paw over her head, in hopes of getting a better view. She looked around only to see the downpour of snow which the storm had brought.
Kate slowly began to make her way upwards, following Humphreys scent, although she instantly caught the scent of another.
"Who's that? It's another wolf, and I don't smell blood, so they couldn't have harmed Humphrey… hopefully they haven't".
Kate continued moving forward, eager to find out who the other scent belonged to, although as she reached the top of the mountain, onto a small plain, she did not see anyone.
"Humphrey…" Kate yelled, "Where are you…".
However there was no answer. Kate once again looked around to analyse her surroundings, and in the storm, noticed a figure standing away from her.
Eager to find out who it was, she closed the distance between her and this figure.
"Humphrey, is that you?"
As Kate walked closer to the figure, it became more visible, and Kate could see that it was a white wolf.
The white wolf closed the rest of the distance, running up to Kate so they were stood mere fractions away from each other.
"Who's this? Is he friendly" Kate thought
"What are you doing out here? Follow me to shelter" the white wolf shouted.
He turned tail and began to make his way back to his cave, in which would protect them from the storm. Kate followed the white wolf, and as they approached his cave, she could make out the entrance in the storm, and darted inside, out of the cold weather.
The white wolf followed her in and shook off his coat, ridding himself of the fallen snow.
"Thank you" said Kate, "I appreciate the help"
"Don't worry about it, wouldn't be decent to leave you out there to freeze" replied the white wolf
Kate walked further into the den where it was warmer, also shaking off the snow which caught onto her fur
"What's your name" asked Kate.
"My names Logan" replied the white wolf, "huh? You'd think the other guy would have asked me that straight away" Logan mumbled under his breath.
With the mention of "another guy" Kate's ears perked up and was instantly intrigued about who this other guy was, hoping it would be Humphrey.
"Woah, wait, what? What other guy?"
"A grey wolf, an omega from the looks of him" replied Logan.
"When? When was this?" Kate asked astonished.
"He came up here yesterday, slept the night in my cave, and left this morning"
"Oh my god, I'm so close, I've almost found him" Kate said with joy.
"Wait a minute" said Logan, whilst looking strongly towards Kate. "Blonde fur, alpha status, brown eyes… you're Kate aren't you"
"Yes I am, how did you know?" replied Kate.
"Humphrey spoke of you, whilst he was here"
"He was here" Kate said with joy, "I'm so close, I've got to go"
Kate began running towards the entrance of the den, before being stopped by logans voice.
"Wait" yelled Logan, "you can't go out in that, you'll freeze to death if you do"
Kate turned around at the entrance of the den, to protest against Logan.
"I have to find my friend, I did a bad thing and I need to find him, and make things right"
Logan approached Kate and pushed her back inside the den, preventing her from going out.
"I know what you did, and yeah, Humphrey told me all about it, I'm not gonna comment because it's not my place. However, if you go out there, and you die, or get lost, that's not gonna do you, or Humphrey any favours."
Kate sighed as she looked at the floor, knowing that Logan was right, and that going outside would be a fatal error.
"But I'm so close, I just wanna make things right… I love him" sobbed Kate as a tear rolled down her cheek.
"Stay here, wait for the storm to blow over, then go find him, you'll have a better chance doing that"
"But what if I lose him again, and can't pick up his scent?" asked Kate.
"Are you kidding, he's an omega, he'll be slow, and I don't think he's going to be overly concerned about covering his tracks" chuckled Logan.
Kate smiled at this thought. The thought of her Humphrey being so clumsy, and unaware of problems, how he always see's the good side, and not the bad.
"Ok" replied Kate, "I guess your right!"
Kate laid down to rest her tired legs, curling up into a ball, to keep warm, all whilst looking out the cave entrance, thinking of Humphrey…
Unaware of his poor state.