Ander - Part 1: Subchapter 31
31
Hezzi burst out into the open, his lungs screaming for air. The thunderous river, which normally would have grabbed his attention and held him fascinated, didn't so much as register in his panicked mind. He looked around, trying to figure out where those screams had come from, his heart racing in his chest.
He finally spotted them further downstream, lying on the ground. Ander and the Fox! He started towards them, fearing that they might be hurt somehow, but something was definitely wrong. What were they doing so close to the edge? And why was Ander holding up an arrow like that? And what was that black thing in the -
Hezzi froze, the true horror of what he was seeing slamming into him all at once. He could do nothing but stare in disbelief as Ander -
*
- brought the arrow down with all the force he could muster, driving it through Banno's right eye, the tip bursting it open like a ripe grape, drenching his fist in a shower of blood and gore, disgustingly hot. It flowed from the socket in a red torrent.
He's crying blood! Ander thought hysterically, thinking back to the stag they had killed together an eternity ago, thinking about how the blood had dripped from its eyes in its final moments, how the earth itself wanted to drink of their kill. He's crying blood!
Banno screamed, a sound filled with so much pain, so much anger, it tore through Ander's soul just as it tore through the night. And he knew... he knew he would be hearing that scream in his nightmares for the rest of his life, echoing on and on for the rest of his days.
And still... still Banno was trying to pull them into the water, still he was trying to end their lives, still he was trying to taste of their deaths even if it came at the cost of his own.
"I'm sorry, Banno," Ander said, tears streaming from his eyes, as he pushed the arrow even deeper inside his brother's skull, until he heard the most sickening, wet crack.
Banno suddenly froze, every muscle in his body stiff and rigid, his one remaining eye fixed squarely onto his.
"Ander?" he said, no longer crazed with bloodlust, just sad and confused, as if he didn't understand what was happening.
"Banno!?" No. Ander couldn't accept this. Not this! Not now! A monster he could kill. That alone was the only way he was able to bring himself to do what needed to be done, by convincing himself that he wasn't really killing his brother, but a demon! But now, in the final moments, when it was too late to do anything, too late to take it back, that demon was gone. This was his brother!
This was his blood!
Banno reached up, carefully, tentatively, and lightly touched the arrow sticking out of his eye socket. He looked at Ander, and what Ander saw in that eye was something he had never seen in his brother's eyes before: it was a look of pure incredulity.
Banno opened his mouth, and with his final breath he said, "Not so different... after all..."
"Banno? Banno!?" Ander's brother wasn't there anymore. His eye was no longer looking at him, but through him, staring off into whatever we see when the time has come to leave this world.
The fingers that had been digging into Ander's flesh loosened, now devoid of strength, and the river pulled Banno away.
"No! Banno!" Ander screamed, making a mad grab for his brother's arm. He would have plummeted into the water himself if Kiana wasn't there to hold him back. "Let me go, Kiana!"
"I won't!" she said. "Your brother is gone, Ander! He's gone!"
"No..." Ander could do nothing but watch as the current swept Banno's lifeless form downstream, heaving him up and down with the swell, battering him against the rocks. There was a black stream trailing behind him, as if death itself was pointing an accusatory finger Ander's way.
It was Banno's blood, mixing with the muddy river water.
And then... he was gone.
Ander slowly got back to his feet, Kiana still clinging to his side, and looked down at his hands. They were absolutely soaked with blood, practically black with it. Just like -
"Ander?"
There was no mistaking that voice. Ander looked up, knowing full well what he would see, but praying that he would be wrong. He prayed that, on top of everything else, fate would not be so cruel as to allow this.
His prayers went unanswered.
It was Hezzi, just standing there, staring in disbelief. Lightning flashed, transforming him into a grim spectre.
"Hezzi? I..." Ander didn't know what to say. What could he say? What sequence of words could there possibly be that would excuse him? What could he do to make his little brother stop staring at him like that? Like a monster. "I didn't..."
Hezzi took a frightened step back, shaking his head.
"Hezzi, please... Y- You don't understand..."
"You killed him? You killed Banno!?"
Ander couldn't answer him. He couldn't lie, but neither could he admit to what he had done. How was he supposed to explain that he had no choice? How was he supposed to make him see? "Hezzi? Banno... he... he wasn't right in the head -"
"You killed him!?"
"He was the one that killed Vallah! He tried to kill Kiana and me! He threatened to kill you, Hezzi!"
"No! You're a liar!"
"I had no choice! I did what I had to do!"
"You're a liar and a murderer, Ander! A murderer!"
"Hezzi, no..."
"Murderer! Murderer!" Hezzi tore off into the woods, blindly crashing through the vegetation, screaming that single word over and over, driving it into Ander's mind like a brand: murderer...
"Hezzi, wait!" Ander tried to go after him, but he was simply too weak. His legs gave out from under him and he sank down to his knees, unable to get back up.
He looked down at his hands, still black with his brother's blood. "No..." he said, shaking his head. The rain wasn't doing anything to wash it off!
Ander started to scratch and claw at his hands and arms, desperate to get it off, to just get it off! "No! Nooo!"
"Ander, stop it!" Kiana said, grabbing at his hands in alarm.
"NO!!" Without thinking, too distraught to realize what he was doing...
Ander lashed out.
Sorry for the late update, everybody. I was attacked by a rabid ostrich, but not to worry. I'm okay, the mad ostrich has been placated with four sacrificial gooseberry tarts, and it's not yet midnight down here, so technically I'm still on time! :)
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