Ander - Part 4: Subchapter 16
16
"Danado! Dan, where are you!?" Lana half-screamed. She couldn't find her stupid little brother anywhere, but neither did she want to wake the whole village looking for him.
Or give away her position to whoever might be lurking around in the night...
Oh... how she wished she could convince herself she was being stupid to think that, but she knew better. Of course she did. She always knew better. Everyone around here was dumb as rocks, but not her.
She quietly walked among the tents, using the narrower, less travelled footpaths where she was less likely to be spotted - her eyes, ears and nose all on full alert.
She could hear the wind in the trees, the chirping crickets, and above all those, the snores. Snores, snores, snores, all of them belonging to thick bastards sleeping oh so peacefully without a care in the world. So many of these Cora-damned people snored. It was one of Dan's few good qualities, actually. He never snored. He'd chew with his mouth open sometimes, and that was kind of gross, but he never... wait...
Lana turned her head a little to catch the wind. It was carrying a faint whiff of blood, but not Wolf's blood, thankfully. This was more feathery.
Oh for crying out loud, don't tell me that idiot took so long just to find something. Better be more than just a scrawny pigeon, because I am starving...
She thought these things, but wasn't able to fool herself even a tiny bit. She was relieved to catch that scent, because she knew no other Wolves would be out hunting at such a weird time, so it had to be -
She rounded the corner, coming out into the open area between the Cora statue and the northern gate, but Danado wasn't there to greet her. Instead, lying on the ground, with its neck twisted around and its feathers flapping in the breeze, was a dead pheasant.
And that was all.
Dread settled in the pit of her stomach like a boulder, making her feel heavy, unable to move, but move she must.
She carefully approached the dead bird, keeping a sharp lookout for anything that might jump out from the shadows.
It was a plump bird, with beautiful feathers of red and brown, certainly not something to be left unattended in a village filled with ravenous carnivores. She bent down and sniffed its legs, the place where you would normally carry a dead bird, and the smell that greeted her nostrils was unmistakable. It was the first thing she smelled when she woke up each morning and the last thing she smelled before she drifted off to sleep each night.
Danado.
She picked it up, not sure what to do. If his catch was here, then where was Dan? She gave the ground a few cursory sniffs, but that didn't tell her anything useful. Every Wolf of the tribe crisscrossed this area every day, so the whole thing was just a cacophony of different scents all mixed together. Was he even still in the village? Was he outside somewhere? Should she go ask for help, or try to track him herself? He must have come in through the gate at some point, so that would be the place to start...
She heard it coming up from behind, the soft thump of footpads against the dirt. She spun around on her heel, drawing a knife from her hip all in one smooth motion. If she was any more tense than she already was, or if the shadow was even just a single step closer, she would have stabbed it without hesitation.
But she did hesitate, just for an instant, but that instant was all the time her mind needed to catch up with her body and realize what she was looking at, and what was looking back at her.
She dropped the knife to the ground and her hand crept up to her mouth to stifle the scream building up inside of her.
It was Dan. Even in the pale moonlight she recognised him easily. But...
He lurched forward, one foot dragging limply against the ground, leaving a crimson line in its wake, pitch black in the night.
They took his nails... she thought in horror, struggling to breathe. They took his nails, by the Cora, they took his nails...
"I'm sorry, sister..." he mumbled, his voice coming out in a slurry mush because his mouth was so badly swollen. "I know it was right here... but I lost it..."
At first she couldn't understand what he was talking about, but then she realized he must be talking about the pheasant. "Don't worry, Dan, I got it right here, see?" She held it up by the ankles, trying to smile, but failing horribly.
"Oh... that's good. That's great. You can... you can pluck it... and I'll make the fiiirr..."
His knees gave way and he slowly started to pitch forward, still trying to finish his sentence. Lana dropped the pheasant and grabbed him by the shoulders, but he was much too heavy for her and they both slid down to the ground.
"Dan?" He was like a bag of rocks, a total dead weight, limp and unresponsive. "Dan!?" She gave him a brief shake and his big stupid head lolled around like a big stupid... stupid... "Oh, Dan, what did you get yourself into!?" She hugged him to her chest, horrified by how wet and sticky he was. She could feel his blood already seeping into her fur. He was absolutely covered in cuts and scratches, and there were odd lumps sticking out all over his arms and legs, like he had been beaten by stones. "Help us! Somebody hel-!"
He reached up lightning quick and curled his fingers around her muzzle, cutting her off mid-cry. She looked down and found him staring up at her, his eyes blazing, reflecting the silver moon. He looked absolutely crazy.
"Don't yell. Be quiet. Don't make any noise... just be quiet... please..."
His fingers squeezed down even harder, and warm lines suddenly started to flow down across her lips. It was with revulsion and horror that she realized they had taken his claws, too.
She pried his fingers loose, disgusted by how slick they were, and yelled: "Who did this to you, Dan!? Who!?"
"Please, Lana... be quiet... please... they'll hear you..."
She's never been so terrified and so angry in all her life. Dan was a stupid little brother, but he was her stupid little brother. "Did Wardo do this? It was him, wasn't it?" She sniffed her little brother's hands, his neck, his forehead, trying to find a clue, but the smell of his blood completely overpowered everything else. What should she do? Take him to the witch doctor? No, that was out of the question. Shekka was even crazier than Wardo, and that was before Banno died. Now she's hanging on to her sanity by a hair. No telling what that bitch might do...
Lana looked around, hoping that their salvation might somehow just appear out of nowhere, but the reality was far too apparent. Ever since Ander's trial, she and her brother have been singled out, and now they were stuck out here in the open, in the dead of night, completely vulnerable. "Come on, Dan, get up. We can't stay here. I'll take you to the Chieftain. Right now."
"No..."
"It's okay, Dan, I'll help you up. I've got you, come on."
"No! You can't go to the Chieftain!"
"Why not?"
He clung to her clothes with his bloody, clawless fingers, and looked up at her face with eyes she had never seen so haunted. Was this really Dan? What did they do to him!?
She was suddenly transported to a memory of decades ago, holding her baby brother for the first time, promising Mother and Father that she wouldn't drop him, no matter what. He had clung to her in the exact same way back then, but his eyes were completely innocent of the horror she could see swimming around inside them in this dark, present moment.
"Don't go to the Chieftain..." he begged, tears streaming from his eyes. "He can't help us... They... They..."
"Sshh, Dan. It's okay, I understand."
"They'll take you, Lana!" he screamed, his voice muffled against her chest. "They'll... do things to you. They'll hurt you. They..." Dan couldn't bring himself to say any more. He broke down completely and cried in her arms, shaking like a leaf in the icy wind.
"Dan... you're so stupid... Don't you see?" Lana said, hugging her little brother close, unable to stop her own tears from spilling down her face. "If they've done this much to you, then they've already hurt me far worse than any tooth or claw could ever manage." She groped around in the dark until her fingers closed around the handle of her knife. "They've hurt me through you, but I'll be damned if I let them hurt you through me." She held the blade up to her eyes, glinting in the -
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