Ander - Part 1: Subchapter 16
16
Everything stopped making sense then. Ander could feel the rain pelting his fur, cold and unrelenting. He could hear the cheers from the Wolves around him. He could feel the mud beneath his feet and the icy wind in his face. He was aware of all these things, but it was as if it wasn't happening to him at all. It felt like it was happening to someone else, someone who just happened to occupy the same space as him. He felt detached from everything around him, except for those two words, repeating themselves over and over in his mind: burn her... burn her... burn her...
*
... burn her?
This... this thing with the dead eyes can't possibly be serious?
Kiana refused to believe it. Even as the Wolves cheered and jumped and punched the air she refused to believe it. Even as the chieftain nodded his approval she refused to believe it. Even as the brown Wolf, who had tried to save her, lowered his head in defeat she refused to believe it.
She thought of every Summer-end festival she had ever attended back home, where they would butcher the fattest hog and roast it over a massive fire in the middle of the town square. She remembered moving as close as she possibly could one year, covering her face with her sleeve to keep the heat away. She remembered how its skin darkened and broiled, how tiny cracks erupted all over its leathery hide and curled up at the edges. She remembered how the fat had dripped into the fire, hissing like a snake. The smell of it...
Surely... surely they don't intend to do that to her? Surely, they cannot intend to do that to her?
"Then it's settled," the one who called himself the chieftain said, addressing the crowd. "Two for life, three for death. The answer is clear now."
"Let me do it, Father!" the black Wolf said, the one who had thrown the rock at her leg. "I want to taste -"
"No!" the blind hag of a Wolf said, pointing one gnarled finger at her son. "This is no time for your childish indulgences, boy!"
A brief flicker of hope flared up in Kiana's heart.
"But Mother!"
"No! Don't you see what this is? Don't you see what is happening before your very eyes?" The hag threw her arms wide and lifted her face to the rain. "This is a sign from the Cora!"
The cora? What on earth is a cora? Some of the Wolves turned to face the mountain at these words, while others shot fearful glances at the statue behind her cage. Kiana has avoided looking at that thing up until now, looming over her like some nightmare, but she couldn't hold it off any longer. She craned her head back and, bit by bit, came to see what the Cora really was.
It was a giant wooden carving, at least seven Foxes tall. It appeared to be of a Wolf, but not any kind Kiana has ever seen or heard of. Its arms were incredibly long, held out to either side, just like the hag was doing. Instead of fingers, it had sharpened rocks sticking out of slits in its wooden hands. Even its jaws were lined with rocks for teeth. Its eyes were stained dark red with what Kiana hoped was berry juice. All five of them.
Yes, it had an extra eye in its forehead, and one more in each open palm.
It suddenly dawned on her that she was staring onto the face of a heathen god; a god of unquestionable evil.
And hunger.
"This Fox! This unholy agent of filth and corruption has been sent as a test of our faith and our undying devotion! There is only one way to deal with this, my children! Only one way! We must sacrifice her to theProtectorMountain! Her flesh will burn as a glorious tribute to the immortal Cora and we will be blessed beyond measure!" The hag's arms were beginning to shake as she worked herself into a frenzy, spittle flying from her mouth. "As soon as the rains stop and the clouds clear from the eyes of the Cora, we will erect a pyre and set her down upon it! The smoke from her burning fur will rise up to the mountain, and the Cora will breathe of it like incense! Her screams will rise up to the mountain, and the Cora will listen to it like music!"
Kiana slowly shook her head, the reality of the situation slowly starting to creep in. This thing was being dead serious. It really planned for her to burn alive, to die screaming...
Now everyone was getting into it. She could feel her cage tremble as the Wolves jumped up and down, screaming and howling like beasts. All except for two, the brown and the grey, standing off to one side.
The chieftain raised his arms and the noise gradually died down. "Is this what you want?" he asked.
"YES!" everyone thundered back, except for the brown and the grey.
"Do you want to see her burn?"
"YES!" All except for the brown and the grey.
"Then it's settled. After the last drop of rain has fallen from the sky, we shall sacrifice this Fox to the Cora!"
"YES! YES! YES!"
Over and over, that single word repeated until it felt like her head would split open, a gleeful summation of all the cruelty Kiana never would have thought existed in this world.
She looked to the sky, reduced to a solid slab of grey broken into shafts by the bars of her cage, and prayed an impossible prayer: that the rain would never stop. Because if it did...
*
... she would die.
The Cora would have its meal and there would be one less Fox in the world.
Ander looked down at his little brother. The young Wolf was uneasy, just standing there by his side while his fellows danced and cheered. He didn't like sticking out, but in the end, Hezzi chose to stand by him, and for that, he was proud.
Ander placed his hand on Hezzi's head and gave it a bit of a ruffle, just to let him know he was appreciated.
Hezzi looked up and gave Ander the saddest smile he had ever seen.
"Ha! And what are you two sad-saps doing all the way over there?" Banno said. He made his way over to them, stomping every puddle as if he meant to kill the water itself. "A pity I won't be able to taste her death for myself, but it's been such a long time since we've had a good sacrifice. Hey, remember the time we burned that doe last winter? Remember the way its eyes popped in the heat? Think that will happen again, Ander? Eh?" He leaned in close, his ears pricked, smiling his vicious smile, perhaps hoping Ander would strike him again, hoping for an excuse to resume their little 'scuffle'.
"I don't know, Banno."
"Bah! You're no fun." Then he turned his attention on Hezzi. "I'd be careful if I were you, pup. If I didn't know any better, I'd say Ander was starting to rub off on you. Wouldn't want that, would we?"
"Er..."
Banno laughed and clapped Hezzi on the shoulder hard enough to buckle his knees. "I'm just messing with you, you silly little Wolf! Now come on, Mother and Father are going to need some help preparing the sacrifice. No telling when this rain will stop..." Banno shot in irritated glance at the sky, as if the weather was doing this on purpose just to delay the fun.
"All right," Hezzi said, started after his brother, but then turned back to Ander.
"Go on, Hezzi," Ander said. "I think I'll... I'll be with you in a little while."
"Pfft, no he won't," Banno grumbled and started to make his way back to their parents, standing by the Vixen's cage, talking about the upcoming sacrifice, no doubt.
Hezzi spared Ander one last glance, then shot after Banno, moving with an effortless agility known only to him. "And by the way, I'm not so little anymore, Banno!"
"I'll believe it once you can touch the top of my head without jumping, pup."
Ander watched them go, watched the crowd slowly break up and return to their tents, one by one, but he just stood there, thinking. Even after every Wolf had left and he was all alone save for the tower-guards and the Vixen in her cage, he stood there, in the rain, thinking.
Finally, his mind made up, he returned to his own tent, one thought a constant.
This night, before the moon reached its unseen apex beyond the thunderclouds, he would know her name.
He would ask her himself.
This has been the sixteenth subchapter in my serial novel, "Ander". If you enjoyed it, please help keep my face un-mauled by irritable ostriches by dropping me a donation. Thank you! ^_^
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