Ander - Part 2: Subchapter 10
10
"Oh, for the love of -!" Kiana said, pulling on her hair in exasperation.
Mateo hadn't noticed them yet. He was looking down at his feet, absentmindedly kicking pebbles out of his way as he shuffled along the road, a basket of eggs held in the crook of his elbow.
Kiana looked left, then right, her hair flying about her head.
"There's nowhere to hide, Kiana," Ander said. "Unless you plan on digging a hole where you stand."
Mateo chose that exact moment to look up and he froze midstep, a small cloud of dust still billowing around his feet. The basket of eggs slowly slipped down his arm and fell to the ground. The eggs that didn't immediately shatter and spill their yellow blood in the dirt quickly rolled down the hill in curved zig-zag lines, leaking yolk as their shells cracked with every bump and bounce. The smell of raw eggs mixed with dust soon filled the air, not entirely unpleasant, but thick and cloying.
Mateo started to reach for his crossbow, and Ander quickly estimated the distance between them. If he so much as touched that thing, it wouldn't be like last time. For one, Ander now knew that Mateo wouldn't hurt Kiana (at least not on purpose), so he didn't have to worry about shielding her. But the most critical difference would be the crossbow itself. Ander could see it from here. Unlike last time, it wasn't loaded. He would charge the Fox down before he could draw a single bolt.
Mateo hesitated, perhaps thinking the same thing. His hand slowly moved away from his weapon, and Ander felt the tension in his muscles start to ebb away, but he didn't let his guard down. He had the feeling that doing something like that would be very unwise.
"Oh, this is going to be horrible," Kiana said as Mateo started to make his way down the hill, carefully avoiding the slippery patches of egg yolk.
"For you and me both," Ander said, never taking his eyes off Mateo's hands.
"Just let me do the talking," Kiana said. "I know how to handle him."
"Kiana," Mateo said as he reached the bottom.
"Mateo," she responded.
"I need to speak with you."
"So speak."
Mateo shot a suspicious glance Ander's way. "I need to speak with you alone."
"There's nothing you need to say to me you can't say in front of Ander. Now what is it?"
"'Ander'?" Mateo said, incredulous. "What, now you're on a first name basis with this thing?"
"He's not a 'thing'!"
"Oh, of course not. Growling is just its way of saying hello, isn't it?"
Ander didn't even realize he was growling until Mateo pointed it out. This just made him want to growl even louder, but he suppressed this urge for Kiana's sake. The last thing he wanted to do was embarrass her after she defended him.
"I don't like repeating myself, Mateo. What. Do You. Want?"
Mateo shot another glance Ander's way, and Ander couldn't help but notice how his right hand kept closing into a fist, as if he was just itching to grab his crossbow. Finally, he looked Kiana in the eye and said, "I want to set a new date."
"A new d- A new wedding date!?"
"Seeing as how you completely ruined the last one, yes."
"You've got some nerve, Mateo. Asking that after you almost killed me."
"I was trying to kill that!" Mateo pointed at Ander. "How was I supposed to know you'd go jumping in front of it like some crazy Fox!?"
"Um, maybe because I was shouting for you to wait, you jerk!"
"Oh, that's just grand. Call me a jerk; the one who crossed this entire valley up and down and side to side a hundred times looking for you! You ungrateful girl!"
"Ungrateful? All you've ever done for me is almost kill my good friend here! So what, exactly, am I being ungrateful towards?"
"The dowry, for one!"
"Oh, don't get me started on that stupid -"
"A dozen chickens!"
" - archaic excuse for a -"
"Three cows!"
" - strong-arm contract! Might as well be -"
"A whole chestful of fine linens!"
" - blackmailing us!"
"And a horse! Wait, did you just say blackmail!? How is that blackmail!?"
"You're basically forcing my family into agreeing with this stupid marriage! You're taking advantage of a difficult time in our -"
"Whoa! Hold it! Stop right there! There is so much wrong with what you're saying I don't even know where to begin! First of all, the only way this could even remotely be considered blackmail was if you had to pay me to marry you! It's the other way around! Second, your parents agreed to this! Nobody was holding a dagger to their necks!"
"And yet nobody asked if I agreed! Nobody asked how I felt! Why do you think I ran away!? It was to get away from you and your family!"
"Well, now you're just being snippy."
"Uargh!"
Ander bent down a little and whispered, "This is what you call 'handling him'?"
"You stay out of this!" Mateo shouted. "This has nothing to do with you!"
Ander took a step forward. "Kiana and her family took me in. That means that when you hassle one of them, you hassle me."
"Oh, I see. I get it now. Is this the game you're playing at, Kiana? Training this Wolf to be your own personal bodyguard?" Mateo turned back to Ander. "I've got news for you, Wolf. Kiana doesn't need protecting, least of all from me. I am her fiancée! She might have skipped over our wedding day but that much hasn't changed!"
"She doesn't want to marry you!"
"Well that's too bad, because I paid for her! I own her! She's mine!"
Ander saw red. Referring to Kiana as an object to be bought and sold was something he shouldn't have done. He advanced on the pompous Fox, closing the distance between them in a single stride.
"Ander, wait!" Kiana said in alarm.
"Hey! Hey!" Mateo said, backing up, his eyes growing huge as he realized for the first time just how much of a size difference there was between them.
Ander didn't know what he would have done if he had actually gotten his hands on the little bastard, but perhaps it's best he never had to find out.
"Mateo? What on earth have you done to my eggs?" A voice came floating down from the top of the hill, soft and not the least bit angry.
Ander looked up and saw a middle-aged vixen with brownish fur pick up Mateo's basket. She carefully checked it for any eggs that were still whole, clicking her tongue in disapproval.
"Stay away, Mother!" Mateo shouted. "Go home and barricade the door!"
"Barricade the door?" she said, brushing dust off one of the few eggs that survived the fall. "Why on earth would I -" That's when she looked up and noticed Ander standing at the foot of the hill.
Her reaction started out just about the same as all the other Foxes he had passed on the way to the mill. Her eyes grew wide, her trembling hand went to her mouth to stifle a gasp. But unlike all the other Foxes, it didn't stop there.
She slowly started to shake her head, as if rejecting what she saw before her, her whole body trembling as she fought to convince herself that she wasn't really seeing what she thought she was seeing.
Ander could see the corners of her mouth beyond her fingers, saying the same word over and over: "No... no, no, no, no no no no..."
Was she... Was she crying?
"Mother?" Mateo said, apparently just as confused as Ander was.
The egg fell from her hand and cracked open on the hard surface of the road.
Its yolk was blood red.
The vixen swayed on the spot, then crumpled to the ground in a dead faint.
"Mother!" Mateo rushed up the hill, not sparing Kiana or Ander a second thought.
"Well, that was definitely the strongest reaction you've gotten so far," Kiana said matter-of-factly.
"You think?" Ander started to make his way up the hill, but Kiana grabbed a fistful of his vest.
"Hey, whoa! Where are you going?"
"Up there, obviously," Ander said and gestured towards the top of the hill, where Mateo was already kneeling by his unconscious mother, lightly tapping her face to try and wake her up. "I think I might have... knocked her out cold." Ander didn't care for this thought at all. He already had enough guilt to weigh down his heart for a lifetime without going around causing old vixens to pass out. This was exactly the kind of thing he didn't need right now.
"So what makes you think it would be a good idea to go up there? If one look from such a distance was enough to knock her out, what do you think would happen if she suddenly woke up and saw you standing over her? There's nothing you can do, except maybe make things even worse."
"I can't just do nothing. Now, please let go or I will have to carry you up the hill with me."
"Jeez, Ander..." Kiana sighed, but she let go of his vest. "If you end up giving her a heart attack, that's all on you!"
"Noted." Ander started to make his way up the hill, with Kiana clickety-clacking after.
*
"You stay the hell away from her!" Mateo shouted, brandishing his (still unloaded) crossbow. Seeing his mother take a dive like that must have temporarily robbed him of some of the finer points of archery.
Ander raised his hands even though he could see the bow wasn't loaded. "I just want to know if she's okay, that's all."
"Okay? Okay!? Does she look 'okay' to you!? You've got some gall, Wolf! This is all your fault! One look at your ugly face nearly killed her, you bastard!"
"My_fault!?" Ander said, suddenly getting angry all over again. "You told her I was some kind of monster, didn't you? If anything, this is all _your fault for making me out to be something I'm not!"
"I didn't need to make you out to be anything! You make yourself out just by standing there! Look at you! No wonder she fainted! Seeing something like you advance on her only son! Shame on you!"
"Maybe I wouldn't have advanced if you hadn't been talking about Kiana that way!"
"Why do you care, anyway!? I've said it before! This has absolutely nothing to do with you! Why don't you just go back where you came from!? Or do they hate your guts over there, as well?"
"You!"
"Will the both of you just give it a rest already!?" Kiana said as she finally crested the hill, her face flushed from the climb. "By the gods, you're acting like a pair of pups!"
"He started it!" Mateo said indignantly.
"Trust me, Mateo. If Ander really did start anything, you wouldn't be sitting there bitching about it. Now, did your mother hit her head on the way down? Any blood at all?"
"I... I don't think so..." Mateo gingerly examined his mother's head for any sign of injury.
"That's good, but we should take her to my house, just in case. Mother can give her a proper check-up."
"I can carry her," Ander said.
"NO!" Mateo practically exploded. It was actually kind of fascinating, watching this Fox become so angry so quickly. "No! I will not have you touch her! You hear me!? You get the hell away from her! You've done enough already! Just back up! Back up now, or I swear to all the gods I will kill you where you stand! Bastard! I should've -"
"Ngh..."
"Mother!?" Mateo leaned in closer, his head tilted to listen for the faintest noise, his outburst completely forgotten.
The vixen started to stir, slowly moving her arms and legs, moaning as if in the grips of a horrible dream. "N... uh..."
"Mother, are you all right? Are you okay?"
"K... ay..."
"Ah, thank the gods, she's okay!" Mateo said and sighed with relief.
Ander went down on one knee to get closer to her, his brow creased as he listened to her soft mumblings. For just a second there...
"Hey, I told you to get away from her!"
... it almost sounded...
"You're going to scare her again, you giant idiot!"
... no. He must have imagined it. Surely he couldn't have heard what he thought he did.
The vixen's eyes fluttered, then flew open all at once. The first thing she saw must have been her son, looking down at her, because her face took on a look of pure relief, the nightmare finally left behind. That look of bliss lasted all of two seconds before she turned her head slightly and looked Ander right in the eye.
She started to scream. A terrible, bloodcurdling scream unlike any Ander has heard before. He stumbled back, startled, but the vixen just kept on screaming, a single, high pitched note that warbled on and on.
"I told you to get away!" Mateo shouted. Ander could barely hear him over the shrieking of his mother.
Kiana tried to calm her down, but to no avail. She kept looking at Ander as though he were a demon straight out of hell. She scrambled back to her feet, and as she pushed herself off the ground, something happened that sent a freezing chill through Ander's heart. He hasn't felt a chill like that since the time he saw Kiana's tears stain the fur around her eyes to the colour of blood.
This was an omen, and a wicked omen at that. As she got back to her feet, her hand pressed down upon the bloody egg yolk lying in the sun, and left behind a handprint streaked with red.
Ander couldn't take his eyes off that handprint, the way the red lines slowly drifted along the fingers and swirled together in the palm, the whole thing a gory mess that smelled of iron and eggshell.
"No! It's impossible! It's impossible!" she screamed, backing up and crying all at once, bloody yolk dripping from her fingertips. "You can't be here!"
"Mother, please..." Mateo said, gently taking her by the shoulders. "Let's get you home, all right? We can make a nice fire and warm up some milk for you. You'd like that, won't you?" He slowly led her down the hill, never looking back, his mother's sobs the only sounds to be heard throughout the otherwise peaceful countryside.
Ander was a fool to believe he could ever fit in in a place like this. He looked down at the bloody handprint on the ground, slowly seeping into the dirt. He balled his own hands into fists and the wound where Mateo had shot him flared up like the sun, driving burning bolts of pain through his palm. He didn't care. The pain made him feel less like a monster.
Less like a murderer.
"Ander?" Kiana said, gently touching his arm. "That wasn't your fault."
"I know."
"Come on, let's go home. I think we could both use some rest."
"Yeah..." Ander said, but he couldn't move from that spot, even when Kiana lightly tugged on his arm.
"Ander?"
It was that handprint. That bloody handprint. He couldn't shake the feeling that it somehow meant something. Something very important. Egg... blood... hand...
The smell of it... mixing with -
The winds shifted, and suddenly a new scent invaded Ander's nostrils, horrifically familiar.
He turned to face the Cora, squinting into the shadows that drenched the trees in their murky darkness at the other end of the valley.
"Ander?" Kiana asked again, alarmed. "What's wrong?"
A flash of movement, a stirring shadow that didn't belong to any tree or bush swaying in the breeze.
The shadow of a Wolf.
Ander looked down at Kiana, at her enquiring eyes. He knew this day would come, but he was too selfish to do anything about it, and now it was too late.
"They've found me..."
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