Chapter 27: A Noble End

Viggo, Humphrey, and Kate were calmly walking through the woods as the sun rose higher into the sky. Humphrey looked over at Kate.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“Yeah, I’m good,” she replied nervously.

“The symptoms won’t come on for another day or so,” Viggo said, overhearing them. “By the time we’ve concluded our business, Kate will have the antidote.”

Humphrey shot Viggo a dirty look.

“Oh, don’t be like that, Humphrey,” Viggo said. “What did I tell you about ruthlessness?”

“You killed my son and poisoned my wife, Viggo,” Humphrey replied angrily. “What’d you expect? What, do you think we’re gonna be best friends?”

“Kate will be perfectly fine. I promise.”

Kate, Humphrey, and Viggo arrived at the cave where Robert was hiding at around midday. He had elaborated on his plan to defeat Robert and the two wolves were very skeptical. However, with Kate’s life in the balance, they didn’t have any other choice. The three of them stayed a safe distance away, watching from the top of a small nearby hill. The entire area in front of the entrance was guarded by about two dozen men.

“Alright,” Viggo said, “what’s our plan, Humphrey?”

“You’re asking me?” Humphrey looked at Viggo, confused. “You’re always the man with a plan.”

“I want to see what you would do and try things your way,” he replied. “Besides, I’ve already come up with our plan for once we’ve gotten inside.”

Humphrey looked around for a moment before a smile formed across his face.

“Alright, I got a plan, but we need a distraction,” he said.

“Will this suffice?” Viggo asked, taking a grenade from behind his back.

“Where did you get that?” Kate asked, a bit nervously.

“From one of the bodies of the men who were trapped in the cave with me,” Viggo replied.

“Uh, yeah, that’ll work,” Humphrey said slowly. “How far can you throw?”

“Is that a rhetorical question?”

“Okay then. Now get that log,” Humphrey told Viggo, turning and looking at a shell of a rotten log.

“You can’t be serious,” Viggo said.

“Oh, he’s serious alright,” Kate replied, smiling.

“Hey, you wanted to do this my way,” Humphrey said to Viggo, smiling as well.

Viggo sighed a little and brought the log over to the edge of the hill. Kate and Humphrey jumped inside as Viggo pulled the pin on the grenade and threw it as hard as he could to the opposite side of the field. The grenade soared through the air and down into the clearing. It barely had time to hit the ground before it exploded. Sure enough, the explosion drew all of the men away from the entrance of the cave.

Viggo gave the logboard a hard shove down the hill before jumping in himself. The trio smoothly slid down the slope and came to a perfect stop at the cave opening, where they quickly entered.

The three of them immediately began heading down the various passages but ended up running into Robert and several more of his men, although they weren’t spotted as they had ducked behind a corner in time. Viggo turned to Humphrey.

“I want to give you my utmost gratitude for helping me get here, Humphrey,” he said.

“What are you talking about?” Humphrey asked.

Viggo suddenly punched Humphrey in the face and grabbed him in a chokehold. Kate started growling at him despite knowing it wouldn’t change anything. Viggo dragged Humphrey out from behind the corner and turned to face Robert.

“Viggo!” he said in shock. “You’re alive.”

Viggo looked back at Robert with a raised eyebrow.

“Please, accept my apologies for what happened back there.”

“There’s really no need, Robert,” Viggo said. “Had our roles been reversed, I would’ve done the same. I’m glad to see I’m finally wearing off on you.”

Viggo threw Humphrey over to Robert while some of the men grabbed Kate.

“What are you doing?” Humphrey asked. “We had a deal!”

Kate and Humphrey were put in a cage and Viggo slammed the door shut.

“I should’ve known,” Humphrey said. “I never should’ve trusted you.”

“No, you shouldn’t have,” Viggo replied.

“So tell me,” Robert said to Viggo, “how did you finally manage to catch him?”

“Oh, it was quite simple,” Viggo answered. “I just convinced him that I wanted to betray you and that I needed his help to do it.”

“Well let’s get this over with and kill them,” Robert said, heading toward the cage.

“Not quite yet,” Viggo replied. “First, there’s something very important I wish to speak with you about. In private.”

Robert nodded and the two of them walked away down one of the hallways. They entered a small room after having to pass through the armory so Viggo could grab Orion and then they began to talk.

“So,” Viggo said, “about what happened back there…I can see that I’ve taught you well and you took my lessons to heart.”

“Um, thanks,” Robert said, a bit suspiciously. “I just don’t understand why you wanted to tell me this before killing Humphrey? Why not finish your work and then congratulate me?”

“Because he’s leverage,” Viggo replied.

“Leverage for what?” Robert asked. “There’s nothing we can gain from holding them hostage. We already have what we want, so why do you really want him alive? He scarred your face, destroyed your life, and decimated our empire.”

The two of them stayed silent, a thought-filled look on Robert’s face.

“Not to mention, he humiliated you with defeat after defeat,” he finished, rushing Viggo and shoving him against the wall. “You joined with him.”

Suddenly, there was a strange metallic clicking sound.

“What was that?” Robert asked.

Viggo punched Robert in the gut, causing him to back up and allowing Viggo to take his hand out from behind his back, in which he was holding a flashbang he had subtly snatched from the armory. He threw it over to the other side of the room before ducking down and covering his eyes. The flashbang went off, disorienting Robert and allowing Viggo to rush out of the room. Meanwhile, Kate and Humphrey noticed the bright flash of light and loud boom from inside their cage.

“Alright, that’s our que,” Humphrey said, walking up to the door. “I really hope this works.”

He stuck his paw under a small gap between the bottom of the door and the cage and with some effort, managed to pop the door open. Luckily, Viggo had actually done as he had said and simply jammed the door shut instead of locking it.

It wasn’t long before Robert had recovered from the blast and issued a kill on sight order for Kate, Humphrey, and Viggo. As soon as Viggo had left the room, he headed straight in the direction he had told Kate and Humphrey to go, encountering some men along the way.

Viggo’s diversion had worked perfectly. All of the men guarding Kate and Humphrey had rushed in the direction of the blast, clearing the way for Kate and Humphrey to make their escape. Once they were out, they followed the directions Viggo had given them, running down the empty hallways until they saw a room with a big map on the back wall.

“That’s it,” Humphrey said.

They walked down the long, narrow entrance and came out into a large room with many tables and shelves in it.

“Alright, the antidote should be in here somewhere,” Humphrey continued. “Start looking.”

They split up and began walking around the room, looking for anything that looked like what Viggo had described. They searched for a couple of minutes until they heard someone panting behind them. They turned and looked toward the doorway to see Viggo leaning against the stone on one arm with the other one covering his stomach.

“Viggo,” Humphrey said, sounding a bit relieved, “there you are. Quick help us find the antidote.”

Viggo only started laughing. Kate and Humphrey looked at him in confusion.

“There isn’t one,” he said.

Humphrey’s face started to contort into anger again.

“You really have no idea what Wolfsbane is, do you, Humphrey?” Viggo asked, smiling. “Wolfsbane doesn’t even grow anywhere near Canada. I knew there was no other way to get you to help me. Kate was never in any danger. When Robert left me for dead, a family of wolves living in the cave saved me. They took pity on me, even though they knew full well who I was. They helped me move the boulders at the entrance of the cave so I could get out. I spent my whole life hunting wolves and killing them. But now I’ve come to respect them as equals. You taught me that, Humphrey.”

He began walking toward Humphrey but suddenly collapsed and caught himself on a nearby table. In doing so, he moved his hand away from his stomach, which Humphrey noticed was covered in blood.

“Viggo!” he shouted, rushing to help him in any way he could.

Viggo supported himself on Humphrey the best he could as they heard the distant sound of many men approaching.

“Go,” Viggo said, standing on his own and pulling out Orion. “I’ll hold them off until you’re out.”

“No,” Humphrey said. “We’re not leaving you behind.”

“No, Humphrey,” Viggo objected, holding up his hand. “Let me have this. I’ve never done anything right in my life. You must give me this.”

“But Viggo-“

“Humphrey, please,” Viggo insisted. “Dying is the easy part. The dead are at peace, the burdens of the world no longer there to trouble them. Real strength comes from those who have to keep on living. Now, you and I have never been friends, Humphrey. But we have grown to…tolerate one another, at the very least.”

Humphrey looked at Viggo and smiled a little.

“I want to thank you, for everything Humphrey,” Viggo continued. “In many ways, you’ve shown me how to care about others, even if I was too blinded by my hatred and vengeance to see it. You’ve taught me a valuable lesson. You’ve taught me the value of honor. And I cannot thank you enough. Kate is lucky to have a wolf like you in her life. It shocks me to say this, but we make an excellent team. It’s a shame our partnership must come to such a sudden end.”

Viggo had a point. As Humphrey thought about it, he realized just how well they did work together. He decided it was time to move on, from all of it. Viggo had proven to him that he had changed, despite Humphrey’s belief that such a thing was impossible. Humphrey thought about it. Did Viggo deserve his forgiveness? No, definitely not deserve. But should he get it anyway?

“Sometimes the only way to heal our wounds is to make peace with the demons who created them,” Viggo said, as if reading Humphrey’s mind. “Now I know you’ll never forgive me for what I’ve done, and I don’t expect you to.”

“I do,” Humphrey replied and Viggo stopped and looked at him with a faint hint of surprise on his face. “I forgive you, Viggo,” Humphrey said again, “for everything. In fact, I thank you. Without you, I never would’ve met Kate and I never would’ve had three beautiful pups.”

The two of them respectfully nodded at each other before Viggo turned and walked down the short hallway and exited the room. He turned to face the group of men who were there waiting for him. Kate and Humphrey rushed out behind him, turning in the opposite direction and rushing toward the entrance of the cave. Viggo turned for a moment and looked back at them as they made their escape.

“Farewell, Humphrey,” he said to himself before rushing into the crowd of people.

He bravely fought off Robert’s men as hard as he could, but his wound slowed him down. Viggo eventually made his way to the armory where Robert cornered him with over two dozen men. Robert pushed through his men and knocked Viggo down with a strong punch to the face. He then grabbed one of his men’s rifles and swung it down at Viggo, who raised Orion to block it. The rifle hit the sword hard and Robert swung again and again. But after thirty-two years, the blade was not as strong as it once was and eventually, it broke in half. Robert raised the rifle again, but Viggo threw what was left of Orion at him.

Robert brought the gun in front of his face to block the sword and Viggo took the chance to get up and started moving toward a box at the back of the armory. Unfortunately, one of the men standing next to Robert raised his gun and shot Viggo in the leg and then in the back, causing him to fall to the ground. Viggo slowly crawled toward the box and pulled himself up just enough to grab what was inside. As soon as he did, Robert ordered everyone to evacuate. Viggo pulled the pin on the grenade before dropping it back into the box and collapsing back onto the ground. After a couple of seconds, the grenade exploded, igniting everything else in the room, causing a massive explosion that spread throughout the entire cave system.

Kate and Humphrey just managed to get outside when the fireball exploded out of the cave, the force of it throwing them to the ground. The entire cliffside cracked before collapsing in an enormous pile of boulders that sat against the mountainside. Humphrey stood up and looked back at the collapsed cliffside, numerous thoughts rushing through his head. Viggo was dead, and so was everyone else who was with him. He had sacrificed himself for them, for everyone in the pack. It was over. It was all finally over.