FSE

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170

There was a lot to take in in a very short amount of time. Nilia kept her eyes trained on Banno, a hulking shadow. There was something unnerving about the way he moved. Maybe because his fur was also black, it was difficult to tell where he ended and the darkness began, making him look even bigger than he actually was, but also more liquid, flowing through the shadows like a bloodstain through water.

She risked a quick glance over her shoulder, gleaning as much information as she could before snapping back to Banno.

It wasn't good.

There were two Fox girls tied to the wall at her back: Kiana and a child she didn't recognise. Kiana was a bit banged up, but should be fine. Ander was the one she was worried about. He was clearly in no condition to fight. His face was a mangled ruin, his eye a mask of gore, his arm was practically shredded and his foot had been severed. Actually, forget about fighting, he would be lucky to survive past the hour. All of that came down to one thing: escape was not an option. Even if she could somehow free Kiana and the child, she doubted they'd be able to carry him all by themselves.

No. She had no choice but to end it. Right here, right now.

Banno moved left and right, going from the wall to the railing and back to the wall, looking her up and down, sizing her up. His tongue would occasionally unfurl and lick at the air as if he were a snake, trying to taste her from a distance. That was fine by Nilia, though. If he was taking his time, so would she.

Her eyes darted across his body, rapidly absorbing every bit of useful information from head to toe.

Burn marks on his face, several days old, healing poorly. Various cuts, bruises, broken teeth. Signs of infection.

A missing eye. He would have reduced vision on his right side, but might be extra wary of attacks coming from that angle.

Several arrows sticking out of his back, probably from all the Foxes who had lost their lives in the pass, possibly hampering his movement.

A mangled right shoulder, multiple bite wounds overlapping each other, still fresh and bleeding, so deep she could actually see his collarbone in places, pushing against the muscle as he moved.

A strange bump on his right side, most likely a broken rib.

A bleeding slit in his left hand, pierced all the way through, probably with a knife or some other bladed tool. The likelihood of compromised grip strength was high.

And last, but not least, a severed foot. Somehow he was actually walking around on that thing, and the bone sticking out of his stump was making a nauseating tapping sound with every step. A decrease in his maximum speed was a given, but relying on that could be a fatal mistake.

Nilia took one last look over her shoulder, knowing she wouldn't get another chance once the fight started. Ander was lying in a pool of blood, somehow still conscious, slowly inching his way towards Kiana.

You fought well, Ander. It is because of you I might stand a chance.

Banno suddenly lunged out of the dark, moving fast, much faster than any Wolf should be able to with such injuries, but she had watched hundreds of his sparring matches and knew how deceptively quick he could be for his size.

She ducked out of the way just as his claws swiped over her head, close enough to make the wind ripple her hair.

She took a step back, breathing quickly, her heart thudding in her chest. Every instinct in her body was telling her to back up further, to make some space, but she couldn't, lest she expose Ander and the Foxes to Banno's savagery.

This was going to be the hardest fight of her life.

Banno swiped at her again, swinging his arm like a bear in a huge overhanded arc. She just barely jumped aside, kicked off the wall to gain that little boost of extra height, and brought her knee up beneath his chin, smashing into him with all her weight.

He staggered backwards, his head pointed straight up, blood gushing from his mouth and nose in a fountain.

Nilia immediately fell back into her fighting stance, arms up, legs apart, lightly balanced, ready for Banno to come charging at her again, jaws snapping furiously. What she did not expect, however, was the slow, gurgling giggle, growing louder and louder, gathering momentum like a snowball rolling downhill.

His head snapped back down as if on a hinge, and now he was laughing outright. Blood bubbles burst from his nostrils and flowed over his teeth with every guffaw. "That's right! Come to think of it, I've never fought you before!" he exclaimed, absolutely delighted.

"Perhaps because, unlike you, I've never felt the need to prove my worth by picking fights with every two-bit brute and hollow-headed thug."

"HA!!" Banno spat a red glob of phlegm. "You think I fought Garten and all those other fools because I was trying to prove something? Why would I need to do that? That would be like trying to prove myself to a bunch of rocks. Oh, Nilia, you sweet, innocent little child... You have no idea what you've gotten yourself into, do you? But that's all right. I'll be more than happy to show you why I fight. Even better. I'll make you feel why I fight. If you're even capable of feeling anything at all, that is."

What?

Banno charged at her, blood dripping from his open mouth. He swung a meaty forearm and she danced out of the way. He tried again from the other side, swinging wildly, but this time she dodged forward, ducking underneath his blow, closing the distance between them.

There!

She struck him a quick blow, aiming for the odd bulge in his ribcage. The moment her fist connected she felt something move in there, hard but loose. She even heard the muffled crack. If he didn't have a broken rib before, he certainly had one now. If she was lucky it might even be poking at his lung-

Banno spun around, actually twisting his upper body against the break. Nilia actually saw the rib bulging against his side as if straining to break free. It was the only warning she received, and it almost came too late.

She just barely managed to get her arms up in time, not that it made much of a difference. Banno smashed into her guard with ridiculous force, knocking her off her feet and sending her skidding across the floor. She rolled through and sprung back up, adopting her fighting stance once again, but her arms felt numb and tingly and wouldn't stop shaking. There was an uncomfortable stretching sensation in her skin, telling her that the point of impact was already starting to bruise and swell.

All that from one clumsy backhanded swipe? That by itself would have been cause for serious alarm, but there was something else that bothered her even more.

Banno had spun around with a broken rib. Right now that thing must be tearing into his insides, cutting just as surely as any knife of iron. Any Wolf in his position would be down on the ground, writhing in agony (if not stone cold dead), and yet he was still standing. He wasn't even showing any signs of discomfort. On the contrary, he looked happy, like he was having the time of his life.

Either Banno was an absolute master of hiding his pain, or there was something very, _very_wrong going on here.

"Damn, girl, you're a fast one," Banno said, licking the blood from his chops. "Not quite fast enough, though."

Don't converse with him. He likes to play mind games, get inside his opponent's head. Just focus on the fight. Strengths and weaknesses versus strengths and weaknesses. Banno is already heavily injured. You have the advantage going in. All you need to do is last long enough and he'll eventually burn himself out.

"Aw, don't feel like talking?" Banno pouted, but with his mouth all cut up it turned into a hideously lopsided sneer. "That's no fun. But maybe I can make you scream instead? I've always wondered what your scream would sound like. You act all tough, but I bet it'll be nice and high, perhaps even feminine, like a scared little girl's."

Nilia did not react. Words were just another form of attack, and ignoring them was like a parry.

Strengths and weaknesses.

"Or maybe you're a moaner? Or maybe you let your pain out in soft little gasps? That'll be fine, too. That'll be just..." He licked his lips, running his tongue from one corner of his mouth to the other. "Delicious."

Go ahead and talk some more, you pervert. Run down the seconds until you bleed out. I've got all night.

But did Ander?

That was the other element of this fight. The longer it dragged out, the greater her chance of victory, but the lower the chance of Ander's survival.

If only she had some help!

Banno charged at her again, but just as Nilia began to move out of the way, he stopped dead in his tracks, pivoted on his good foot, and changed course, all in the blink of an eye.

A feint!

Nilia knew she wouldn't be able to avoid or even block this one. His arm was already coming down straight from above, directly at her head. She dipped down and forward, and instead of smashing into the back of her head, possibly knocking her out cold and ending this fight for good, his blow connected with her shoulder blades, and instead of fighting force against force (hers was no match for Banno's) she moved with the force, going down low to minimise the impact. Still, even with all her expertise, she crashed to the floor at considerable speed, rapping her chin a good one against the hard, wooden planks.

Strengths and weaknesses, Nilia.

Knowing she was completely exposed like this, she pushed off the ground and swung her leg around, catching Banno just above his stump. The bloody strips of meat and jutting bone provided almost no traction at all and flew out from under him with absurd ease and he came crashing down beside her, his eye widened in shock.

Now!

She grabbed his arm, hugging it between her breasts, flipped her legs over his throat and fell back, cinching the hold tight

Banno turned his head to the side, rubbing his bloody chin across her calf. There was a frown on his face, but not an angry one. He seemed more curious than anything else. "Hey, whatcha doin'?"

Nilia raised her hips, pushing herself off the ground and levering Banno's arm backwards, against the joint, hyperextending the elbow.

Banno's eye went wide, but once again, it wasn't out of pain or anger. He actually seemed impressed. "Oh, I see! That's pretty clever! Where'd you learn to do that?"

Nilia ignored him. She knew this had to hurt, even if he wasn't showing it. She knew this had to be damaging him, taking away one of his weapons, and she wasn't about to stop for anything.

"As much as I appreciate the ingenuity of this little move, it's a bit boring," Banno said, speaking as if they were lounging outside in the sunshine like a pair of old grey-furs, discussing the finer points of life. "There's no blood or guts or anything. Would you mind easing up so we can get back to some real fighting?"

Nilia arched her back, pulling harder and harder until her biceps screamed in protest.

"No, seriously, Nilia. This is boring. Let me up."

His tendons were beginning to stretch and creak. His shoulder joint was grinding in its socket. The bite marks Ander had left behind were pulling wide, spewing foul-smelling blood all over her legs.

"All right, that's it, I'm getting up."

You're never getting out of this, you monster. I'll never let go!

But, horror upon horrors, Banno was doing just that. He was sitting up like someone who had just awoken from a pleasant little afternoon nap, and Nilia, still holding onto his arm, found herself slowly being turned onto her side.

"No! Stay down!" She wrenched his arm against her chest, pulling back with all her might, but it was like trying to fell a tree by pulling on a single branch. Banno simply did not care.

He stood up with ease, and Nilia found herself hanging upside down, clinging onto his arm for dear life and her legs crossed over his throat like a pair of creeper vines.

She was genuinely speechless. According to all her years of training and sparring and general knowledge of how arms were supposed to bend, this was something that simply shouldn't be possible.

Banno began to walk.

Nilia's hair dragged along the dusty floor and the blood rushed to her head, but still she refused to relinquish her hold. To let go now would be to fall to the ground, and falling would only result in a quick (and probably messy) death.

Stop! she screamed in her head. What is wrong with you!? Not even madness accounts for this!

Banno walked right up to the railing, and then, in utter disregard for what should and should not be possible, he lifted his arm (and, by extension, her entire body) like a club.

"Let go, you little tick," he said and slammed her down, right on top of the railing.

A straight line of pain seared its way across the small of her back and she screamed, nearly releasing her hold.

"There it is!" Banno cackled. "I knew I could make you scream!"

Don't let go, Nilia! she told herself, even as Banno raised her up for a second whack. Whatever you do, don't let -

He slammed her down again, and this time the impact was accompanied by a muffled crack. Nilia gasped in pain, wondering if that crack had come from the railing or her own back.

"Oooh! What unexpectedly cute sounds you make, Nilia!" Banno gloated, licking his lips. "Let's see if we can get another. Up you go!"

He raised her high into the air while she pulled on his arm as hard as she could, refusing to believe that all her efforts could be for naught. She had tested this move several times before, and no Wolf had ever lasted longer than six seconds before turning into a blubbering heap, begging for mercy.

"And down again!"

The wind rushed past her face and her hair streamed before her eyes as her back smashed into the railing yet again. The crack was even louder the third time around, and now she could feel the sharp teeth of splinters as well as the edge of the railing biting into her back, drawing blood.

"Again! Again!" Banno shouted, full of glee. He started to pull her back up, and that's when Nilia knew what to do.

It might just be her only hope.

Taking a calculated risk, she grabbed one of the railing's supports and started to pull herself over the edge.

"Hey, what are you -" That was as far as Banno got before her weight dragged him up against the railing, too. "Hey!" He planted his good foot against the supports, probably thinking she intended to pull the both of them down, which couldn't be further from what she had in mind.

Nilia craned her neck and looked straight down. The lantern's glow didn't reach the ground level from its current location, and everything down there was just a sea of empty, black shadows. Falling straight down from this angle would likely result in a broken neck. And even if she didn't fall on her head, Banno would come crashing down right on top of her.

But that's not what she was trying to accomplish. All she wanted was more leverage.

A _lot_of leverage.

She bent her knees, pushing Banno's face down below the edge of the railing, all while arcing her back, pulling herself along by the supports.

"Niliaaah!" Banno cried out, groping at the railing with his free hand, trying to push himself off to no avail. "What are you doing!?"

Putting you out of commission. For good.

Nilia closed her hand over the bottom piece of the support, as low as she could go, the absolute limit, and began to pull, using all of her strength and weight to bend Banno's arm in a direction it was never meant to go.

"Gaaargh!" Banno grunted in frustration as his shoulder blade was forced against the top of the railing. Blood seeped from his open wounds and began to trickle down the ornate supports in shining, red lines, but Nilia refused to ease up. Even when his blood dripped down onto her face, she only pulled harder and harder, one hand hugging Banno's wrist to her chest, the other pulling on the support, harder and harder, until the tendons stood out in her neck, until it felt like her muscles would tear, until it felt like she would grind her own teeth to dust with the effort, and then -

A wet, popping noise. It was a sound she had heard innumerable times before. It was the sound of a plump, roasted deer leg being ripped loose from the body, the sound of bones parting company from their socket, and suddenly the resistance was just gone.

She had dislocated Banno's shoulder.

"Damn you!!" Banno roared, slapping at the railing in anger. "I'll kill you for that, you bitch!"

Nilia couldn't afford to let go. Banno might actually be even more dangerous now, so she kept going, pulling as hard as she could, forcing herself as close to the supports as possible. It was surprisingly easily, actually. Now that the bone was no longer locked in place, she could bend it as far as she wanted.

"Nilia! I swear, if you don't let go right now..."

She did not. Banno might not respond normally to pain, but even he couldn't hurt anyone if he wasn't physically able to move his arms.

This was the only way.

She arced her back, biting down on her tongue against the pain, bending backwards so far she could actually see the dusty underside of the ring Banno was standing on.

"Nilia!" Banno was trying to turn his hand around so he could claw at her face, and with only one hand of her own to keep his in check, it was a losing battle.

Come on... just a little bit further!

Banno's arm suddenly twisted around - It was like trying to hold onto a writhing serpent! - and now Nilia was the one in a disadvantageous position, with five razor-sharp claws mere inches from her neck.

"Got you now, bitch!" Banno said, pushing himself against the railing, trying everything in his power to close his fingers around her throat.

Nilia didn't know what to do. Although Banno's shoulder was dislocated, he was still moving his arm, and without any leverage, she had no way to stop him. Bending the arm in this position would only be going with the joint, and wouldn't accomplish anything.

Twist it back! she screamed at herself. You have to twist it back! Now!

Nilia worked her thumb underneath his wrist, but just as she started to twist it around, Banno sunk all five claws deep into her flesh just below her neckline, five tiny daggers slowly pushing their way into her body.

Nilia choked back a scream, sucking in air through her teeth and holding it, not trusting herself to exhale without crying out in pain. Banno was actually closing his fist, forcing his claws closer to each other as well as deeper, slowly tearing through her skin. It felt like he was trying to grab her collarbones from the inside.

I can't hold on... the thought slipped through her mind. I'm not strong enough...

One of Banno fingers caught her necklace and pulled taught against the string. The bear claw slipped out and tapped her on the nose, unexpectedly cold.

This will help you keep your promise. Every time you feel like it's all too much, you can look at it, and remember that you are strong.

Mother...

Nilia tightened her grip around Banno's wrist, and with a furious scream she wrenched it around, ripping his claws free of her flesh in a shower of blood.

Banno's eye went wide, and Nilia took no small amount of satisfaction from it, the certainty that he knew what was about to happen to him.

"Nilia, wait -" he began, but she didn't allow even this.

"This is for everyone you've ever hurt!" she screamed and simultaneously arced her back, lifted her hips, and pulled back his arm in one violent motion.

There was a meaty cracking sound, altogether different form the hollow pop of his shoulder (this sounded more like someone stepping through a frozen puddle) and a red sliver of bone suddenly burst from the crook of his elbow, appearing as if by some dark miracle, cleaving his flesh open like a knife from the inside.

Hot, steaming blood poured down his arm and all over Nilia's face in a disgusting red shower. She pursed her lips together and closed her eyes, horrified by the idea that it might get inside and infect her with whatever had driven him to such depths of madness.

She held on tight, waiting for something to happen. The blood kept dripping onto her face in a steady pitter patter, but there was no screaming, no flailing, not even any cursing.

Tentatively, she opened her eyes, and what she saw made the bottom drop out of her stomach.

Banno's face was completely different from before. There was no glee anymore. No childlike playfulness. No smug superiority. Instead he was looking at the sliver of bone sticking through his arm with something akin to fascination, slowly degrading into horror.

His remaining eye was wide open, but because he no longer had an eyelid to cover his empty socket, that half of his face seemed to be even more shocked; just a red and gaping hole, somehow taking it all in, every gruesome detail. His mouth, normally a hideous parody of a smile, had distorted into something she could barely even comprehend. Her eyes kept trying to tell her it was a sneer, but her heart knew better. Nilia remembered a time, not too long ago, when Shekka had gone into her tent to pray to the Cora, and hadn't come out for close to three days. When she finally did come out, she was half-crazy with thirst and exhaustion, ranting and raving about blasphemy. She had stumbled in random directions, feeling her way through the village until she caught the scent of some poor Wolf who had strayed too close in his curiosity. She had grabbed him and started shaking him, screaming about all the terrible, unforgivable sins he had committed, all the blasphemies, all the transgressions, all the sacrileges, all the profane acts and all the punishments owed to her god to make it right, all while her body rocked and heaved and convulsed and a fine skim of white foam formed in the corners of her mouth. Nilia had been the one to break it up in the end, but she never forgot the look on Shekka's face; that look of pure, furious madness, with her blind eyes rolling in their sockets and her fur standing up and her teeth gnashing at the empty air, raving in the Old Tongue.

The look on Banno's face right now was dangerously close to that of the witch doctor's, that look of unstoppable rage and madness coalescing together, feeding off of each other, growing stronger by the second.

"You..." he whispered, staring at his broken arm. "You..."

Nilia almost let go of him, so great was her desire to hold her mother's bear claw necklace, to feel that reassuring coolness against the palm of her aching hand. Staring into Banno's face as he was now made her feel like a child; a scared, weak little child.

"YOU BITCH!!" he thundered, loud enough to put the wind itself to shame. "I"LL KILL YOU!! YOU DIRTY, UGLY BITCH!!"

For one insane moment she almost thought about apologising. The shape of the words had already formed on her lips when she realized how absurd it was. She pulled on the support, arcing her body further, and the sliver of bone sticking out of Banno's arm slowly started to move forwards, pushing his flesh out of the way, widening the wound. And instead of an apology, what came out of her mouth was her own damnation. "I invite you to try, you maniac!"

And try he did.

He lifted his good leg and kicked the support she was holding onto. It broke free with a crunch and suddenly she was swinging loosely from his broken arm alone, a jagged wooden support clutched in her hand.

"RAAAARRGH!!"

Nilia kept thinking it was impossible, even as it was happening. She knew Banno was capable of seemingly impossible things, but this went far beyond what even he should be able to pull off. She thought these things even as he started to swing her up and around. She thought these things even as she went through the full rotation, even as the world flipped the right side up for the first time in what felt like an age, even as she went sailing by his body in a spray of blood, even as she was flung through the air at an incredible speed, even as the wall came flying at her face, she thought to herself that this was impossible, that this couldn't be happening. But it was.

And it did.

Nilia crashed headlong into the wall and fell to the floor in a crumpled heap. There was an odd ringing in her ears, and when she opened her eyes all she saw were red and black lines streaked across her vision in a tangled cobweb. She blinked, and when she went to wipe the hair out of her face, her hand came back bloody. Even more blood kept dripping to the floor from her face and neck, creating little red spots in the dust. She tried to pick herself up, but her arms wouldn't stop shaking and they simply gave out under her weight. She took another spill, feeling lightheaded and dizzy. The whole world was spinning all around her, and her bear claw necklace was at the centre of it all, lying just a few palms ahead of her nose, covered in blood, spinning and spinning, distorting the walls and floors and the sticky, spiralling locks of her own bloody hair...

Pull yourself together, Nilia.

The whistle in her ears was slowly fading away, and now she could hear something else. It was a loud, rhythmic banging. Was that her own heartbeat? No... this was... harder, sharper. Although fleshy, it wasn't an inside noise. It sounded more like someone trying to bash a rabbit's skull in with a rock.

Nilia turned her head and squinted into the dark, trying to see where that noise was coming from. It took a while for eyes to focus, but when they did, the true depths of Banno's insanity began to dawn on her.

We have to get out of here...

Banno was smashing his dislocated shoulder against the wall, again and again. There was already a huge red splatter at the point of impact, streaked in wavy lines of gore.

"Come on, damn you!" he screamed and smashed his shoulder again, putting all his weight into it. When that didn't work, he seized his shoulder with his good hand and wrenched it back and forth, alternately pushing and pulling until the joint finally popped back into its socket with a jarring thock! sound.

As horrified as Nilia was by this display, she couldn't look away. It was oddly captivating. But forcing a dislocated shoulder back into place paled in comparison to what he tried next.

He grabbed the sliver of bone protruding from his elbow and began to push it back in.

Get up, Nilia. Get up right now.

She heard that voice in her head. She fully agreed with it. There was nothing she would rather do than get up, grab Ander and the Foxes and get the hell out of this damn pointy building. But she couldn't.

"Come on!" Blood splurted from the wound, soaking his fingers. "Come on!" With a grunt of effort, he shoved the bone back inside the spongy, shredded hole it had popped out of, probably doing more harm than good. He rotated his shoulder and the sound it made was like chewing on stones, but evidently he didn't care about that, just as long as it worked. He tested his elbow next, but Nilia already knew this was not a problem you could fix by mindless bashing. A break was not the same as a dislocation, and when he tried to bend his arm, it just flopped against his side, swinging back and forth and smearing blood all over his hip in a messy arc.

His solitary, pitch black eye fixed on Nilia's emerald green ones. "What have you done?" he asked. "What have you done!?"

Nilia tried to lift herself off the ground, but her hand slipped and she flopped into a spreading puddle of her own blood. What was wrong with her!? She made to wipe the hair out of her eyes again, and that's when she felt it; a gaping cut in her forehead right above her left eye, warm and wet, with something hard poking out of the centre. She yanked it out and stared at it in disbelief; a large wooden splinter almost as big as her pinky finger.

She must have crashed into that wall a hell of a lot harder than she thought...

Banno was coming, stomping towards her, limping profusely. His footfalls alternated between the thud of his functional foot and the meaty slap of his stump. Blood sprayed from his lips with every laboured exhale.

Nilia tried to get up yet again, fighting a wave of dizziness and nausea. She managed to get up one knee before Banno reached her, but by then it was already too late.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!!?" he shrieked and lifted his leg. Nilia got one glimpse at the cross section of his stump, the loose flaps of decaying, rotting flesh, discoloured by dirt and snow, and the single piece of jagged bone sticking out of this mess like a diseased sapling growing out of blighted earth, before it was thrust into her face. It struck her high on the cheek, slicing her open and knocking her back down again.

She blinked, thinking to herself: Did he just kick me with his stump? and then it happened again. He kicked her with all his considerable rage and an explosion of pain ripped through her head, starting beneath her chin and spreading outwards from there. Her vision faded to a dull grey and all her muscles went limp. She barely even felt the impact of her body hitting the floor.

There were sounds. Voices. Someone screaming at her, asking her what she had done. Truth be told, she wasn't sure herself. A few minutes ago, she might have answered that question by saying she had fought a Wolf. An unusually big Wolf, to be sure. Ridiculously strong? Of course, even for his size. A crazy Wolf? Without a doubt. But still a Wolf, despite his madness, despite his ability to shrug off pain like it was nothing, despite his overwhelming brute physical strength. Still a Wolf.

But now? Now she wasn't so sure.

She had no idea what she was fighting anymore.

Nilia blinked the grey out of her eyes, willing the fog to go away. She couldn't afford to die here, not when she had finally found a place where she might actually learn to be happy.

She had a promise to keep. A real promise, and she wouldn't allow this animal to break it.

The world slowly came back into focus, a sunburst of orange light that stung her eyes. It was the candle in its little box, shining its light on Ander's body. One limp, outstretched hand was resting on the rope binding Kiana's ankles together. He had passed out trying to untie her.

Or perhaps he was dead.

No. Nilia blinked the blood out of her eyes and shook her head, denying her own treacherous thoughts outright. Ander wasn't dead, he was merely unconscious.

All that blood. If he isn't dead already, he soon will be.

No. She had thought him dead once before, and she had been wrong. This time she wouldn't lose her faith. They were in this together.

"Come on, Ander..." she whispered, tasting blood on her tongue. "I know you're not dead, you sentimental over-sensitive over-thinking emotional piece of crap, so you'd better get moving. I'm working my ass off here. The least you could do is finish untying that stupid little knot!"

His ear twitched. Then his finger. He opened one bleary, blood-caked eye, and for a moment he seemed to look at her. Not see her, though. His eye was glassy and unfocussed, like someone on their deathbed. He had already pushed himself way beyond his limits, and was trying to go even further.

Ander...

He curled his bloody fingers around the knot and began to fumble at it, pulling on the frayed ends with all the strength and coordination of a sick cripple. But, to be honest, Nilia wasn't sure she would have been able to do any better were she in his position.

"HEY!" Banno's voice came shooting out of the darkness. "What do you think you're doing over there!?"

Something heavy pressed down into the small of her back, right where the hard edge of the railing had cut into her flesh, awakening the pain all over again.

She sucked in a quick breath of air through her teeth and held it, scraping her claws against the floor in an attempt to keep from crying out as the weight grinded back and forth.

Banno had stepped on her, and his blood was slowly dripping onto her back.

"Ander! Not yet, you overzealous freak!" He bent down, one foot still firmly planted on Nilia's back, keeping her down, and grabbed Ander by the wrist.

Nilia reached out, too. Her fingers brushed the softness of his fur, and then he was wrenched away. Banno simply tossed him aside like a half-eaten carcass and he went crashing into the broken section of the railing. For a second it looked like he would be able to hold on. He reached for Kiana, half his face hidden behind a mask of drying blood, and then simply fell backwards into the darkness.

"Ander!!" Nilia and Kiana shouted at the exact same time, nearly drowning out the sound of his body crashing onto the ground level.

"And you stay down there until I need you!" Banno shouted, then turned his attention to Kiana. He caressed her cheek and she turned her face away in disgust, not that he seemed to mind, though. "And you, my little eggshell. You just keep doing what you've been doing. Make sure to keep the yolk nice and warm for me, okay?"

"Go to hell!"

"And while you're doing that, I'll deal with this rude little interloper here." He grinded his foot into Nilia's back, and this time she couldn't quite keep herself from crying out. The line of pain widened, growing hot and wet. She suspected she was bleeding back there, probably quite badly.

I broke his damn arm... how am I losing!?

"Come on, Nilia. Up you get!" He grabbed her by the back of the neck, jerked her to her feet and slammed her into the wall, right next to Kiana.

Nilia struggled, but even with just one hand, his grip was too strong for her to break. It was like being held in place by a choker of iron around her throat.

"You know, Nilia, when you showed up I was actually happy. I thought you might be that little bit of extra spice needed for a really good meal, but clearly I was wrong. You're nothing more than an annoying, filthy little fly, come to contaminate everything with your dirty little feet."

A flash of memory, of rain tapping against their tent, of shadows playing across her parents' faces, the smell of decay, and a single fly crawling out from between her mother's dead lips...

Promise me you'll be strong...

Nilia blew the blood-soggy hair out of her eyes and gritted her teeth. "There's something wrong with your head, Banno."

"Or maybe there's something wrong with everyone else's heads, did you ever think of that?"

"You don't even realize it," she whispered as blood seeped down her face, some of it her own, some of it Banno's. "You can't feel it, but you're dying."

"Oh really? Tell me more."

"It's true. There's no future for you. Even if you succeed in whatever twisted fantasy is playing out in your sick head, you won't make it through the night. Even if you surrender right now, even if you come peacefully, not even Bethany-Kai can save you anymore, and she's thrice the healer Shekka ever was. You're going to die, Banno. You're going to die alone and confused, unable to comprehend why you can't stand up anymore, why you can't take another breath, or why your heart keeps beating slower and slower. And maybe then you'll know, for the first time in your demented life, what pain actually feels like."

"Speaking of Shekka, I believe her teachings of 'An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth' are quite relevant to our current situation," Banno said, shrugging off everything she had tried to tell him. "You see, Nilia, you have committed a terrible sin against me." He held his arm up for her to see. It hung at a crooked angle, swivelling ever so slightly as he moved. The wound gaped wide open like an eye, constantly weeping a steady stream of blood. Not only that, but judging by the way it was bulging and swelling, he hadn't slotted the bone back in its proper position.

Looks like he just jammed it back in there until it was out of sight, she thought, wrinkling her nose at the stench wafting off of him. It was too much like the smell that had slapped her in the face on that dark and terrible day, only stronger.

"Now, what do you propose we do to make this right?"

"I can cut it off for you, if that's what you want."

Banno smirked. "Oh, I bet you'd like that, wouldn't you? Make the world even less than it already is. I know you 'things' are not really real, but your lack of understanding still scares me, how hard you fight to undo yourselves and everything around you. But I guess that's just part of the challenge, isn't it? To overcome what has been set in my path."

"What?"

His smirk turned into a chuckle. "The funny thing is that I put them there! Every single one! All these obstacles are of my own making, even you! Of course you are. You wouldn't even be 'alive' if I wasn't."

"You're crazy."

"And you're about to get as good as you gave. Let's see, one broken arm. If I break yours, that should put us close to even, right?"

"I'd like to see you try with just one hand."

"Ah, you're right." Banno regarded his useless arm with something resembling sadness. "I don't suppose you'd be kind enough to put your arm in my mouth, would you?"

"How's about I put my fist in your mouth?"

"That would be fine, actually. I'll just work my way up." His teeth parted, connected by stretchy red ropes of drool, and Nilia knew Banno wasn't joking. When he said he would break her arm by chewing on it from the bottom up, he meant every word of it.

She drove her knee deep into his stomach, but the only noticeable effect was a quick burst of putrid breath rushing out from between his teeth, making the drool vibrate. He didn't even grunt or cry out.

His smile grew wider.

"You bastard!" She kneed him again and again, striking the same spot with deadly precision, but he didn't even blink. That sole eye was fixed squarely on her hands, staring at them is if they were a pair of plump, juicy quails.

"You know, Nilia," he whispered, blasting her in the face with his rotting stench. "You act like you're strong, but I bet on the inside, where it counts... you are so very, very soft... and wet... and red..."

He's really going to do it. He's going to try and chew my arm off.

And, given enough time, he will surely succeed.

The thought of Banno biting into her flesh until she finally passed out from screaming drove her to action. Since pain didn't affect him in any way, the only thing that would work even marginally was removing the function of his body, and knees to the stomach just wouldn't cut it.

He opened his mouth fully and she saw his tongue in there, swimming around in a pool of blood like a skinless snake.

She wouldn't allow him to touch her with that tongue. She wouldn't allow him to taste her.

She clawed at the hand around her throat, worming her fingers underneath his.

He leaned closer, breathing deeply through his bleeding nose, perhaps smelling her desperation and finding it exquisite.

She worked her grip around Banno's index finger and pulled, snapping it against the back of his hand. It was a cheap move, but right now she didn't give a damn about sportsmanship.

She tried to worm her way loose, but one finger wasn't enough. In fact, he was pressing against her neck even harder now, pushing against her windpipe with the palm of his hand.

Go for the thumb!

It was already too late for that.

He lunged at her hands like an animal diving after a mouse, his teeth bared.

What happened next was an unfortunate act of instinct, but she probably wouldn't have been able to stop it from happening no matter what. At least this way she got in one last good hit.

She punched him right in the jaw. For just a moment she felt the slick, disgusting texture of his gums sliding across her fist. After that all she felt was his teeth slamming shut on her hand, cracking her knuckles and snapping her fingers like kindling.

She couldn't even scream because of the shock. Seeing her own hand burst open like that, feeling her own blood splatter against her face, watching Banno's teeth sinking into her flesh, the sensation of her bones crumbling beneath the pressure, it caused a kind of sensory blackout in her mind, as if someone had cut that moment out of her life as it was happening.

Only then, in the moment directly after the fact, did the pain come rushing in. It burst through her hand like a knot exploding in fire, brilliant and blinding. It froze her heart and set it hammering against her ribcage to compensate. All the strength ran out of her legs and she would have slid down right there had Banno not been propping her up against the wall.

Banno opened his mouth and his teeth reluctantly pulled free of her mangled flesh, revealing the extent of the damage; the cloven skin and the glimmer of shiny bone beneath, then immediately clamped down on her wrist. She could feel his teeth sliding between all the tiny little bones in there, pushing them apart, making it feel like her hand was being stretched out like an old piece of rope, splurting blood from every fibre.

Finally finding her voice again, Nilia screamed in anger as well as pain. She pulled back her free hand and punched him in the head, swinging wildly, bashing every part of him she could reach: his ear, his temple, his jaw, his empty eye socket.

Banno didn't care. He opened his mouth and slammed it shut again. He was halfway up her forearm now, grinding his teeth against the bone, growling against her bloody flesh.

Nilia kept fighting with every bit of her waning strength, smashing her fist against his head again and again. Every impact sent a shockwave through his teeth and into her arm, flaring up the pain, and she wondered if she might be hurting herself even worse than Banno.

He clamped his teeth into the crook of her elbow, locking his fangs on either side, top and bottom. He looked at her from down low, his bloodshot eye gleaming in the dim candlelight, and smiled.

Nilia had just enough time to think about all those wounds on Ander's body, all those bite-marks, the way they were stretched and torn and the method that could have caused it, but no more. All rational thought ceased after that.

Banno shook his head from side to side like an animal, wrenching her arm, tearing into her flesh, ripping the wounds wider and wider with every furious lurch. Her arm flailed between his jaws like a loose piece of meat, spraying blood and clumps of fur in every direction.

She tried to pull back, but it was no use. His teeth were locked in. She punched him, she kneed him in the stomach, she stomped on his foot, but none of it did any good.

She screamed, but she couldn't even hear her own voice over the wet, animalistic roars issuing from deep inside Banno's throat.

And then there was a sound. A new sound. Hard and fast. It was the same sound she had heard when she broke Banno's arm, that quick, cracking sound of a foot plunging through a thinly iced puddle in winter time, and suddenly her elbow was bent the wrong way.

All the pain before that, all the bite marks left in her arm by Banno's teeth, paled in comparison. This throbbing locus of agony turned all those little holes into a mere shell surrounding the real pain.

She screamed. She screamed until her throat went raw and her vision began to fade around the edges, to pulse in and out in shades of grey.

Banno extricated his fangs, twisting his head and shredding her muscles one last time as he did so, and her arm simply dropped to the side and smacked against the wall in another burst of pain, completely useless. "Well then," he said, panting for breath, blood dribbling from his teeth. "That almost makes us even, wouldn't you agree?"

Nilia found it very hard to breathe. She couldn't stop shaking.

I'm going into shock... she thought, fighting just to keep her eyes focussed.

"Well, Nilia, it's been fun, and as much as I'd like to savour your death, I still have lots to do, and I need to get them done before Ander expires on me. Soooo... Goodbye." Banno lunged forward, his crimson maw opened wide like the pits of hell, ringed with jagged, broken teeth. He wasn't aiming for her hands or her arms. He was going straight for her throat.

We might go on a little... hunting trip, maybe? Only if you want, of course.

Nilia reached deep inside herself, into the primal, animalistic instincts inherent in all Wolves, another part of her she had locked away with the rest of her heart until a certain abrasive young Fox came along and tore her defences down. She plunged headlong into that murky abyss, discarding all her years of rigorous training, all her techniques, all her experience, all her tactics, all in favour of one last desperate attempt at survival, not for the sake of living, but for the promise she had made.

What I mean is, let us both not die_, and then we see what happens after that, okay?_

She lowered her head and intercepted Banno's bite with one of her own, locking their mouths together in the most painful, violent, and bloody kiss ever conceived.

"Grk!" Banno grunted in surprise as Nilia bit down on his bottom jaw. His surprise only lasted a moment, though, and he immediately returned the favour by biting down on her upper jaw, sinking his fangs deep into the bridge of her muzzle.

Every explosive exhale of breath washed over her nose in sickly warm torrents, reeking of the smell of her own blood, but the tongue flopping around inside her mouth was even worse. It kept sliding against her own and tapping against the roof of her mouth like a living thing, trying to get out.

I won't let go!

Nilia increased the pressure, biting down harder and harder. Their teeth scraped against each other, her tops against his bottoms, and the grinding sound they made vibrated inside her skull, driving her mad, but the important thing was that he could not tear her throat out from this position, and she intended to keep it that way for as long as was needed.

Banno began to chuckle and noxious torrents of blood bubbled into her mouth, making her gag. He clamped down hard, and now it felt like his fangs were trying to reunite through the roof of her mouth. She could feel them sliding deeper and deeper until they reached the bone, and still he would not let up. The pressure built in the bridge of her muzzle, making it feel like it would snap right down the middle like a hollow gourd.

Nilia matched his attack, keeping pace as best she could, but the harder she bit down, the harder it felt like she was driving Banno's teeth into her own mouth as well. He was just too big. His fangs were longer than hers. His jaws were much wider and stronger.

There was no way she could win this battle. The best she could hope for was to delay the inevitable.

No!

Banno smiled. She could actually feel his lips pulling tight against hers, could feel his putrid air rushing down her throat with every chortle, invading her body. The movement of his tongue began to change, going from the panicky flailing of a creature in distress to the slower, more methodical caresses of a lover. It went from one cheek to the other, slid over and under her tongue, played against the tip and finally stretched out as far as he could reach, almost all the way to the back of her throat, coating her mouth in a layer of blood.

Unable to control her gag reflex any longer, she coughed a glurt of blood directly into his mouth, and that's when she felt his grip tighten around her throat, shutting her windpipe.

She clawed at his hand, trying desperately to find purchase, but the both of them were slicked with blood and her fingers kept sliding off.

Don't stop biting, she thought to herself, over and over, as if the thought alone could somehow help her. If you stop biting now, if he gets loose, you'll...

You'll break your promise.

His fingers began to sink into the delicate meat of her neck, four sharp needles, minus the one she had broken, slowly pushing their way into her body.

Her lungs ached. She didn't notice right away because the pain in her arm and mouth was so overpowering, but this steady throbbing in her chest was getting worse and worse, slowly eclipsing the sharper pain of her flesh. Her instincts were telling her to open her mouth and gasp for air, and although she knew that would result in instant death, the urge was almost overwhelming. Even her lips were going tingly and numb.

The greyish tones were turning darker, going from the steely shades of an overcast sky to the deep, endless depths of midnight, broken only by the faintest light of a single star, so very far away, flickering like a candle about to go out.

She couldn't keep going anymore. She couldn't keep fighting. She just... she just couldn't.

She lost her grip and her arm simply slid down to the side, completely limp. The strength of her jaws lasted a tiny bit longer, but only because their teeth were already so deeply embedded in each other's muzzles. They were practically stitched together.

Banno ripped himself free, tearing his own mouth as well as Nilia's. Blood gushed form between his teeth in dozens of tiny red waterfalls.

He's smiling... she thought, struggling to see through the fog. He's smiling...

His smile grew. His lips parted and kept parting, blooming open like a crimson rose, every petal lined with teeth, rows upon rows of them, overlapping each other in impossible patterns, all teeth, everywhere, long and curved, dripping blood, a spiral of death, coming closer, devouring everything in its path, even the darkness. It was on her, folding in, closing over her throat, all those hundreds of thousands of teeth coming together, biting into her very life... tasting her death...

A strange cracking noise split the air like a bolt of lightning, and then there was blood everywhere. It didn't just burst or flow or trickle, it exploded like a grape over an open flame, showering her with blood. It...

It didn't hurt...

Banno shrieked like a demon and suddenly the pressure around her throat was gone. She sucked in huge lungfuls of air, not caring how much her throat stung, just grateful for the icy cold air flowing back into her body. Every breath restored her vision a little more, until the blackish haze finally lifted. But what she saw made her doubt if she had fully regained her senses, because it simply didn't make any sense.

Banno had his hands clasped over the side of his head, his face contorted in fury, snarling and growling, but she couldn't understand why. The problem was, his face was already drenched in so much blood she didn't immediately notice what had changed. She didn't notice the fresh new torrent streaming between his fingers. But when she did, and she saw what he was trying to cover up, his anger made all the sense in the world.

His right ear was gone. It wasn't just cut or torn, it was gone. All that remained was a loose flap of cartilage at the base, spewing blood. But what happened? Where did it go?

Still gasping for air, still struggling to stave off unconsciousness, Nilia turned her head to the right and the answer practically slapped her in the face.

Banno's ear was pinned to the wall by a very short, very stubby arrow with a metallic head and wooden fletchings. It cast a disproportionately long shadow, as if in direct counterpoint to the thin line of blood slowly dripping along the planks.

Nilia straightened up, pushing herself up along the wall, clutching her broken arm, and craned her neck, peering over the railing and into the darkness below.

The door to the mill was open, and a figure was dimly silhouetted against the snow. It was a figure she recognised immediately, and although her heart felt a momentary spark of joy at his arrival, it was quickly replaced by a sensation of overwhelming dread.

No, you idiot! What are you doing here!?

He stepped forward, his crossbow held firmly in his hands, the catch still spinning. His cloak, scorched and blackened, billowed in the wind as crisp, clean flakes of snow blew around his feet. He lowered his hood, revealing the rolls upon rolls of bandages still wrapped around his head, clouded with blood.

It was Mateo.

He raised his head, pointed an accusatory finger at Banno, and shouted: "You get the hell away from her, you ugly, ugly son of a BITCH!!"

---

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