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34

"You get the hell away from him you monster bastard!"

For just a moment, Ander thought it was Kiana that had spoken just now, but that was clearly impossible. For one, Kiana was in Grovenglen, way on the other side of the mountain, for another, this voice was far too young. It sounded almost like... no, it couldn't be her, of all people.

"Somebody stop her!"

"The hell!?"

"Whoa!"

"Renna! You get back here this instant!"

Renna!?

Ander heard the familiar thump of two bodies colliding, followed by the most vicious snarls and growls, and suddenly the hard point of the spear on the back of his neck was gone.

"Ow! What the hell are you doing!? Get off me! Get - Aaaargh! She bit me! The little bitch actually bit me!"

What on earth was going on?

Ander turned his head as far as it would go, scraping his cheek against the ground (no easy task), but what he saw was so bizarre, he at first thought it must be a hallucination.

Renna was clinging to Wardo's back with her claws digging into his shoulders and the fur on her neck standing up in furious, spiky clumps. Wardo reached back and tore through the top of her head with his claws, ripping out long strands of her hair by the roots, but she just clung on even tighter, her small claws drawing blood of their own. He tried again, but this time Renna opened her mouth and bit down on his wrist, her muzzle crinkled back in anger, and Wardo howled: "Somebody get this crazy bitch off me!"

"I'll do it!" Nilia jumped to her feet, raced around to Wardo's back and wrapped her arms around Renna's middle. She started to tug and pull, but instead of wrenching Wardo's unwanted passenger from his back, she only succeeded in pulling him even further away from Ander's prone body. That's because she had a fistful of Wardo's vest.

"What are you doing!?" Wardo shouted, beside himself with anger.

"Her grip is crazy strong!" Nilia said and tugged him back even further. With her hands hidden between Renna and Wardo's bodies, Ander was probably the only one who could see what she was really doing from this low angle.

"Gaargh! We're running out of time!"

Ander risked a quick peek at the mountain, hardly daring to believe what he was seeing. There was a soft, golden glow edging just beyond the tallest peak. The sun would rise up above that giant tooth of stone any minute. If he could last just a little while longer, if his secret friends could help him just a little bit more...

Ander painfully turned his head back the way it was, and saw that Wardo had raised the spear above his shoulder, ready to throw.

"Die, Ander!" he screamed, his eyes blazing with madness and fury.

And then Sorrin stepped between them, blocking the view with his wide girth. "Don't worry, Wardo, I'll get her off."

"What - You - Get out of the way, you massive oaf!!"

"I got her," Sorrin said, cool as can be, and started to prise Renna's fingers loose, one at a time, but she would just put them right back once he moved on to the next.

"Get out of - Somebody kill that murderer before the sun rises! Anybody, quick!"

"Meeeee! I'll do it!" Ivio screamed, bursting out of the crowd with an axe in hand. He charged, screaming like a loon, raising the axe high. "Die, Andeeeeeerrr!!"

Danado stuck his leg out and Ivio went sprawling, still screaming, and ploughed into the dirt, face first, in a cloud of dust.

"Whoops, sorry!" Danado said. "Was I in your way?"

"Enough!" Wardo struck Sorrin right in the face with the blunt end of the spear and the big Wolf backed up, holding his bleeding nose. Next came a tearing sound as Wardo's vest tore down the back and Nilia fell down with Renna right on top of her.

Wardo ran, moving unexpectedly fast for a Wolf of his years, only to be blocked yet again, this time by Danado.

"Wait, Wardo!" he said, gesticulating wildly towards the mountain. "The sun! Look at the s-"

"Out of my way!" Wardo knocked him aside with a sweeping backhand blow, something he shouldn't have done, considering what happened next.

"Hey! Nobody smacks my stupid brother 'cept me!" Lana screamed. Ander didn't even know where she was until she leapt right over his head and punched Wardo full on the mouth.

He almost went down, but regained his balance just in time and skirted around her with an agility nobody knew he possessed, raising the spear into the air, ready to thrust it straight at Ander's head.

No! Not now! Not when I'm so close! Not after everything that's happened! Not after everything these Wolves have done for me!

Ander tried to move, to roll away, to raise his arm to defend, but nothing worked. His body had given up on him. He couldn't fight any longer. He just couldn't.

"Diiiieeee!" Wardo shrieked, blood flying from the fresh cut in his lip.

This was it. Ander tried to summon the face of Kiana in his imagination again, but things were moving too fast, it was too late, it was -

"STOP!!"

Ander knew that voice. There was no other like it.

Father?

It was becoming difficult to keep his eyes open, but he had to see. He had to know. Through the blurry haze of shapes and colours he could make out the tip of the spear, a diamond of the deepest black, just a scant few inches from his face. Beyond that, slowly working his way through the crowd, was his father, Kadai. He had a badly swollen cheek, but he walked with his head held high and his shoulders squared, just like always.

"You have no right to give me such an order, Sai," Wardo spat. "Your son was thrown to the Wolves, and by the Cora the Wolves shall have their vengeance, and neither your rank nor your bloodline can stop me!"

"If you kill him now, Wardo, then it won't be an execution. It will be murder, and you will be tried by our laws. Look..." Father pointed at the mountain, and all the Wolves looked up as one...

The sun shone so brightly over the craggy peak of the ProtectorMountain, a glorious crescent of gold in the early morning, dyeing the clouds with the most beautiful hues of red and orange.

This never-ending night was over. Dawn had broken. Ander could feel the warm rays shining on his face, his back, his mangled arms.

He had made it.

He had finally made it.

"No, this isn't how it ends!" Wardo screamed. "This is no climax! This is no climax at all!"

"Wardo, no!"

"Haaaaaargh!!"

The spear. That wicked, evil spear. It had tasted the heat of fire and grown hot. It had tasted the blood of Wolves and grown cold.

But it was yet to taste death.

Ander saw it plummet towards his face, driven by Wardo's murderous rage. It blotted out the sun's warm rays like a thundercloud, and then...

It stopped.

In that moment, what Ander saw briefly made him forget the extreme amount of pain he was in. In that single instant, he knew he had made the right decision by coming back here, not just for the Foxes of Grovenglen, but for the Wolves, too. They weren't all just a ravenous group of bloodthirsty monsters. There was goodness to be found here, all you had to do was look past all the overwhelming evil, and it would eventually reveal itself.

Father had grabbed the spear just in time, but he wasn't the only one. Sorrin had his arm wrapped firmly around Wardo's neck, and Nilia had grabbed him by the wrist so tightly her fingers were like shackles. Danado had jumped up and grabbed the shaft end of the spear just before the thrust could gain any real speed and even little Renna had one of Wardo's legs in a death grip, digging into his calf with her teeth and claws, growling like an animal.

The only one who didn't jump in was Lana, but she was never really the kind to get herself involved in matters that didn't concern her anyway. She kept throwing furtive glances down at her fist, still balled up after striking Wardo, and at the seething faces of all the Wolves gathered around this strange tableau of bodies, staring in at them with both hatred and sadness, as if they had to endure yet another betrayal by those who were once considered family.

Maybe Lana was the only one who immediately understood what a great risk they had taken to help him. Maybe she was the only one who really knew how much trouble they were in, and the potential consequences of their actions.

"Release me," Wardo snarled, his voice low, but burning with anger.

Father shook his head. "You let go first."

Wardo growled, but did as he was told. He opened his fingers and Father wrenched the spear out of his hands. He looked down at it in disdain, then with a bark of fury he snapped it over his knee and threw the pieces into the crumbling fire.

"Hey, Dan," Lana whispered, tugging on her brother's shoulder. "We have to get out of here."

"But -"

"Now, Dan."

Danado gave Ander one last look, his eyes filled with worry. Ander wanted to thank him somehow, but he couldn't even raise his arm. Still, the message must have gotten through, because Danado nodded his head as if he understood perfectly, then went after his sister.

The crowd parted for them, but reluctantly. As they passed through, many Wolves tried to trip them up just as Danado had tripped Ivio, his little stunt apparently not quite as clandestine as he had hoped. Others were less subtle, and openly pushed and shoved the siblings from one side to the other until they finally broke through into open space and quickly walked back to their tent, whispering furiously at each other.

"Release him," Father said. Sorrin and Nilia both nodded and backed away from Wardo, who seemed to be on the verge of exploding. "You too, Renna."

Renna wouldn't let go at first, and Ander marvelled at how this sweet, timid little girl, this lover of owls, could possibly have become so violent so quickly.

It's that violence that saved your life, Banno whispered. We all have beasts inside ourselves, Ander, and I'm yours. The quicker you come to realize that, the better it will be for the both of us. You like to think you're above all that, but you're not. Your own actions have proven it time and time again. The only reason you're alive right now is because you're an animal, and above all else, animals survive. They survive by killing, just as you have. You're an animal, Ander. You're a killer. You're a monster.

Ander didn't want to argue with that voice anymore. What would be the point? He was just so tired. He didn't even care if it was right or not. Let it prattle.

"Renna! You let go of him this instant!" That shrill voice could only belong to Renna's slap-happy mother, Aisa. She burst out of the crowd and marched over to her daughter, blowing through her nose like an angry bear. She grabbed Renna by the wrist and hauled her to her feet, tearing her teeth away from Wardo's leg, leaving tiny little crescent cuts in their absence.

Ander almost managed a weak chuckle. Those cuts looked like they were made by a miniature biter.

"I can't believe you would do such a thing! What were you thinking, attacking a grown Wolf like that!? A grown Wolf with a spear, no less! You could have been killed! And rightly so! I thought one beating would have been enough, but it looks like you want more!"

"But Mother! He was about to -"

"Execute a filthy murderer! But now it's too late, all because of you!"

"Mother, if you'll just -"

The slap was powerful enough to knock her down onto her rear, but Aisa still had her daughter by the wrist and jerked her right back up, only to slap her down again, the surface of her palm connecting with Renna's face again and again, making a sound like an unholy applause. The cut on top of her head now bled freely, and a single crimson line flowed right between her eyes, as if to accentuate the whole, horrible mess.

The Wolves watched on, their faces set and grim. One would nod occasionally, as if this discipline was long overdue.

But this was not discipline. This was a beating, plain and simple.

"Mother, please stop!" Renna cried, but her pleas and sobs fell on deaf ears.

"If your father were still with us, he'd skin you alive! He could always make you behave! Behave! Behave! Why won't you just behaaaave!?" Each scream was accompanied by another slap, and if Renna dared to try and block it with her free arm, Aisa would just knock it away and slap her twice more.

Why wasn't anyone putting a stop to this? Father? Sorrin? Nilia? Anyone? Why were they all just staring in silence?

"Why!?" Aisa screamed. "Why would you throw away your life for such a piece of filth! Whyyy!?"

Renna suddenly stood up, her eyes blazing with defiance. "Because that's Ander, and he's been a better parent to me than you or father ever were, just by always being there when I needed him! He's Hezzi's brother! And if Hezzi's willing to lay down his life for him, then that's good enough for me, you cold-hearted bitch!"

Aisa gasped, and Renna quickly clapped a hand to her mouth, unable to believe what she had just said.

"You..." Aisa said, barely loud enough to hear, her whole body shaking in anger.

"I'm sorry, Mother! That just slipped out! I -"

"You!!" She raised her hand, but instead of an open palm, her fingers curled into a fist.

"No, Motheeeeer!"

"Stop it..." Ander said. His voice was barely more than a croak, but it froze Aisa's fist in mid-air. She looked down at Ander with what could only be called pure, undiluted hatred.

"What did you say?"

"I said... stop it..." Ander's breathing was so shallow, he could barely string more than two words together at a time. "Just... leave her... alone..."

"I will punish my daughter as I see fit, and there's not a damn thing you can do about it, you monster! Renna is mine, and it's my duty to make sure she grows up right! If that means I have to beat her within an inch of her life, then so be it!"

Even if Ander was capable of speech, he was so angry at her words, so dumbfounded at the sheer amount of misdirected aggression she was aiming at her own daughter, he couldn't even think of anything to say. Luckily, he didn't have to. There was someone here who had a much deeper understanding of the situation than he did, someone who was practically invisible up until now, but could take no more.

"You really are a cold-hearted bitch," she said, emerging from the crowd.

It was Mellah.

"This doesn't concern you, or anyone else!" Aisa said, her fist still hovering in the air.

A deep frown creased Mella's brow, so out of place on a she-wolf that was normally so reserved. Her anger was subtle, but intense, quietly seething with such intensity it radiated out of her like heat. "I cannot believe you would say such things to your own daughter. Do you have any idea what I would give to get my Vallah back? Do you? I would trade every last day I have left on this earth, just to see her one more time, to hold her in my arms and stroke her hair and tell her how sorry I am for not being there to protect her! I would give everything just to be able to tell her I love her, something I didn't do nearly enough while she was still with us. You were blessed with such a beautiful little girl, and yet you treat her like trash! How dare you even call yourself a mother?"

Aisa bared her teeth, but quickly covered them again as Mellah let loose a growl that would have put even the toughest warriors to shame, made even more frightening by the stark contrast of the tears forming in the corners of her eyes. "I swear by the Cora," she snarled, "if you so much as lay a finger on that girl ever again, I will come over there and rip your throat out!"

They stared each other down for what felt like an age, until Aisa slowly lowered her fist, but this defeat only made her anger increase.

She sucked in air through her nose, snorting like a wild boar, and hawked a white glob of spit in Ander's direction. He felt it strike his shoulder, warm and runny. "You are a disease, Ander," Aisa said, not caring that the disease's father was standing right there. "You infect everything you touch, but I'll be damned if I let you infect my daughter. Come, Renna."

"But Mother -"

"Come!" Aisa hauled Renna along, practically jerking her off her feet with every step. As they cut through the crowd, Renna looked back over her shoulder, just as she had done for Hezzi, with tears streaming down her battered face. Tears were considered a sign of weakness among the Wolves; lowly, pathetic, shameful, the act of a pup. But to Ander they were proof of her courage.

Thank you... Ander said, both to her and Mellah. At least, he hoped he said it. It felt like his breath simply passed over his tongue and out his mouth without carrying any words at all.

And then she was gone, swallowed by the crowd.

Wardo had kept quiet while the little mother/daughter drama unfolded, but he couldn't keep it in any longer. "You did that purpose," he said, his fists balled up and his shoulders heaving. Blood trickled from his lip and flowed between his bare teeth in curved red lines. "You..." He pointed at Nilia. "And you..." He pointed at Sorrin. "Those cowards Danado and Lana, too! And that little bitch Renna! All of you! You all did it on purpose!"

"I was trying to help you, Wardo," Nilia said.

"Me too." Sorrin added, although his acting was nowhere near as good as Nilia's.

"Liars! The both of you! Do you think I'm blind!? Do you think they're blind!?" Wardo swept his arm over the crowd. "We know what you did, and you'll be sorry! You'll pay for this! Every last one of you!"

"Wardo," Father said.

"What!?"

Father let loose a lightning quick punch, aimed at exactly the same spot Lana had struck earlier. His fist collided with Wardo's face with a bone-rattling crack, and the old Wolf toppled over like a rotten tree, kicking up a cloud of dust that stung Ander's eyes.

"That was for trying to kill my son," Father said, flexing his fingers. "Now leave my sight before I really lose my temper."

Wardo slowly got back to his feet, staring daggers at the Chieftain of the Wolves, one hand pressed firmly against his lips to stem the flow of blood.

"You'll regret that, Chieftain," he said, speaking against his hand so that his voice sounded muffled and slightly wet. "I know things. Many things. Have you forgotten that?"

"There is nothing wrong with my memory, Wardo. In fact, I seem to recall what would happen if you prematurely use that knowledge. So go ahead. Do your worst out of spite. You'll get nothing for your efforts save a fleeting sense of revenge. After holding onto it for so many years, that would be such a waste, don't you think?"

Wardo growled behind his palm, and a thin rope of blood-stained drool slowly descended from his mouth.

"What are they talking about?" the Wolves asked each other.

"I don't know, but Wardo has business with everyone these days."

"I don't care about that. What are we supposed to do with Ander?"

"The law says we forgive him."

"To hell with that! I want him dead!"

"If you want him dead so much, then why didn't you jump in when you had the chance? You had all night to do it."

"I didn't see you make a move either, so shut up!"

"I don't blame either of you. There's something off about that Wolf. The way he burned Garten alive was not just luck. And then he says he'll kill us all? I nearly turned tail right there. Did you see his eyes when he said that? Those were the eyes of a devil. How else can you explain how he's still alive after all this?"

"Calm down, that's no devil. He's practically dead already. Probably won't last another hour."

Wardo glanced over all the Wolves, a slight frown on his face. You could almost hear him reassess the situation in his head. They were more interested in deciding Ander's fate than his vague spat with the Chieftain just now, so there was that to be grateful for. Realising he had just dodged a major error, Wardo lowered his hand and stepped back, absentmindedly licking the cut on his lip. "I hold grudges, Chieftain, and I hold them forever."

"That's fine. Just hold them somewhere else."

"Nilia! I'll get you back one day! You too, Sorrin! And maybe that cute mate of yours..."

Sorrin started forward, but Nilia stopped him with nothing more than a hand on his shoulder and a shake of the head. Sorrin glanced over at Mellah, standing on the border between the empty space inside the circle and the ring of Wolves surrounding it, her face still haggard from all the crying she had done for her lost daughter. He went to her, gave her a quick hug and said, "Let's go home. I'm tired."

Mellah nodded and allowed herself to be led away through the crowd. The Wolves glared at them with evil intent, but none were quite brave enough to make any moves. Sorrin wasn't a mean Wolf, but on the rare occasions he got angry, he was definitely not one to be trifled with. He had a lot of weight, and he knew how to use it.

"You all just wait..." Wardo mumbled, still backing up. "One day I'll get you back. Nilia, Sorrin, Mellah, Danado, Lana, Renna, I'll get all of you back. This was supposed to be my moment. It would have been perfect! I would've gotten the recognition I deserved! I would have been a hero! I would have-"

Perhaps realising he was pushing his luck by staying too long, he spun around on his heel and stormed into the crowd. He didn't wait for a path to open, he just ploughed his way through, shoving Wolves much bigger and stronger than himself out of the way in his mad rush.

Nilia suddenly kneeled down by Ander's head and plucked her dagger out of the earth. She made quite a show of slowly cleaning the blood and dirt from the blade, but out of the corner of her mouth she whispered, "How are you doing down there?"

Ander slowly took in as much air as he could without making it feel like he was stabbing himself from the inside out, fully intending to give some kind of intelligible answer, but what came out was: "Haah..."

"That bad?"

Ander nodded.

"Chieftain? What are your orders?"

"Help me turn him over. And be careful with his arms, that bastard did quite a number on them."

"Yes, Chieftain." With direct orders from Father to back her up, Nilia didn't have to pretend to hold back at all. Together, they carefully turned him over, being very careful not to let his arms move too much, but even so, Ander came very close to passing out when his broken left arm dangled in the air and he saw the sharp sliver of bone see-saw back and forth, like it was waving at him. Well hello there! Just thought I'd pop out and say hi!

"By the Cora," Father said, looking down at the bloody wound in his second-born's chest. "Did Wardo do this?"

"Yes, Chieftain. With the spear you threw in the fire. He would have stabbed me with it too, but Ander, he..."

"You don't need to say any more than that. It's obvious what happened here..."

It was strange, looking up at Father and Nilia's faces as they talked to each other. He couldn't really understand what they were saying all that well, but he could see their mouths moving. Father was so worried, and he wasn't even trying to hide it. Too much damage had already been done. This was his father, and yet, before today, Ander would never have expected him to sacrifice so much for his son. Maybe this was his way of making up for all those years of distance, and for not being able to save Banno from his own obsessions.

And Nilia, she had something dangling from her neck. What was that? A necklace? Did she always have that? How could he only notice it now? It looked like a bear claw; powerful, but possessing a different kind of beauty most would not recognize. It suited her well. It was hard to believe he had pressed a knife to her throat only a few minutes ago...

"Ander? Hey..."

The sky was there, always there, deep purple to the west, but light blue to the East. Two different colours, but they changed so gradually it was hard to tell where one ended and the other began. It was like...

"Hey!"

Was he still looking at the sky...

"Ander, snap out of it!"

... or at himself?

Somebody tapped him hard on the cheek. It was Father. "Don't look up there!" he yelled. "Look here! You're staying right here, you got that?"

"Hah..."

"Shekka! Shekka, where are you!? Shekkaaah!!"

The moon was still there, too. Up in the sky. It was morning now, but he could still see it. Pale and faded, its shape like that of a half-lidded eye. It looked like his hand would pass right through it if he could reach high enough. A ghost moon. A ghost eye. The eye of his mother.

"Shekka, finally! Thank the Cora! He's still alive, but you have to help him! He's lost a lot of blood and -"

"No."

Such a small word, such a simple word, such a powerful word. 'No'. The ultimate denial.

Ander forced his eyes down, already knowing what he would see. Shekka was standing in her own little private bubble of empty space, just like always, but she was looking at him with such blind fury that, if he wasn't already at death's door, he would have feared for his life.

"What do you mean, 'no'?" Father asked, incredulous. He either still didn't understand, or he refused to believe what was happening.

"I will not help him," Shekka answered plainly, not giving any further explanation.

"This is your son!!" Father bellowed. "He needs help!"

"Then help him yourself."

"Shekka, no wait! Shekka!"

Ander didn't know what was worse. Seeing the she-wolf that had raised him since birth turn her back on him, or the fact that he wasn't surprised at all.

No, that wasn't quite right. She hadn't raised him since birth. She only raised him since a few hours after his birth. Ander didn't know why, but that made him feel a little better.

"Shekka! You can't just leave him here to die! It is your duty as a mother and as the witchdoctor of this tribe! You have to help him!"

"I don't _have_to do anything. You can't force me."

"What in the Cora's name is wrong with you!?"

Without turning around, she said: "Do not use the Cora's name against me, Kadai. I know Him better than you. I know what He really wants."

"And what does the Cora want?"

"He wants Ander to die." And with that, she slowly started to walk back to her tent, engulfed by murmurs of agreement from the Wolves.

Ander forced himself to raise his head, forced the word out of his mouth like he would use force against the strain of a bow. "Hezzi...?"

"I stopped the bleeding," Shekka said curtly. "But I don't know how long he can last. If he doesn't make it, that's just another death you're responsible for."

No...

Ander let his head thump back down to the ground, the tiny sting of the impact nothing compared to the gaping hole in his heart. If he was indeed responsible for Hezzi's death...

No! That wasn't you! That was Garten!

Hezzi was standing up for you! That's why he got hurt!

Hezzi's not going to die! He's the fastest Wolf ever! He can run a lap around the entire village in less than two minutes! Someone with that much life can't possibly die, not from a tiny little scratch like that!

The ghost moon looked down at him with patronizing pity, as if to disagree, and Ander closed his eyes against it. He didn't want to look at that thing anymore. He didn't want to look at anything.

"Hey!" Father tapped him on the cheek again, harder than last time. "Now is not the time to go to sleep, Ander! You open your eyes right now!"

Sleep? When's the last time he had slept...? It was back in Grovenglen. He and Kiana had fallen asleep in each other's arms, whispering their love while the cool night breeze blew in through the open window, rippling the curtains. If he thought about it hard enough, all the pain just melted away, all the sorrow... Maybe he could just stay here, in this beautiful memory, forever...

Father rudely prised his eyelids open with his fingers, pulling him back into this horrible world. "You keep these eyes open or I swear I'll strut them up with twigs! All right?"

Ander nodded weakly.

"What should we do, Chieftain?" Nilia asked. "He'll die at this rate."

"I know, I know, just give me a moment to think..." Father bit down on the soft meat between his thumb and index finger, hard enough to draw blood. Finally, he raised his head and said, "Is there anyone here willing to help me?"

The Wolves only stepped back and shook their heads. No help would come from them.

"I'll help you, Chieftain." Nilia said.

"But you don't know how to doctor. Nobody does. Only Shekka can save him, but she... she... Aargh!!" Father slammed his bleeding fist down on the ground so hard Ander could actually feel the thump go through his body. "She really is 'empty'."

"Th..." Ander started, didn't quite succeed, tried again. "The Foxes..." Talking hurt, and it made blood rise in his throat, but he didn't even want to think about how badly it would hurt if he tried to cough any of it up.

"The Foxes?"

"They can help. Beth... she..."

"They're half a day away, at least. You need help now."

"It's... the only way..."

Father hesitated, but if he was weighing his options, he quickly came to the realization that there weren't any options left to weigh. It was either get his son to the other side of the mountain as fast as possible, or watch him die a slow, agonizing death. "Nilia, help me get him up."

"Yes, Chieftain."

They first tried to hoist him up like you would normally support someone who has lost the ability to stand by themselves; that is, for each of them to wrap an arm around their shoulders. They only had to take one look at the way his dislocated right shoulder swung around, however, to realize that that would not be a viable strategy. No way he'd be able to hang onto them for support, not like that.

"I may not be a doctor," Nilia said, "but I still know some tricks." Ander felt her fingers wrap around his dislocated arm, her grip like steel. "I'm sorry Ander. This will hurt a great deal, but you'll need the use of this arm. Are you ready?"

Ander blinked, not quite sure what she was saying, but she must have taken that for consent, because she suddenly pulled -

There was a sound like a dull crack, so deep he could feel it inside his body as well as his ears, and a blinding flash of pain that erased the whole world before his eyes, flinging him back in time to the middle of the night, except this time he didn't even have the moon to light his way.

Ander opened his eyes, and the early morning sunlight slowly started to seep back into the world. Did he black out for a while? His shoulder felt better now, but his legs felt strange, heavy, like there was a great weight pressing down on them. He blinked a few times and realized that he wasn't lying down anymore. He was standing up, and that immense weight on his legs was his own body... so much weight... was he always this heavy? He can't have been... It felt like his knees would give out any second.

He looked to his right and saw Nilia propping him up, his 'fixed' arm draped over her shoulders, and she furiously whispered in his ear: "Pull yourself together, Ander! I did not risk my life for a dead Wolf! Now you find your feet or I'll drop you on purpose!"

Ander managed a weak smile. "I'm not... dead yet..."

I made a promise...

"Good to hear. Now prove it."

Ander straightened out his knees, bit by bit, until he could feel the pressure all the way down to his feet. It was such an everyday sensation, but now it felt completely alien to him. He could feel Nilia and Father's hands against his body, keeping him steady, but the task of walking would fall to him alone.

His left arm was limp and dangling uselessly by his side, the slightest shift in movement enough to cause tearing bolts of pain to flame up inside. He could feel warm trickles of blood flow down to his fingers. There was a steady drip, drip, drip, as the crimson droplets fell from his claws and got sucked up by the thirsty earth.

"If I wasn't so damn old, I would've just carried you out myself," Father said, one hand pressed tightly against his side, keeping the cut sealed.

"No offense, Chieftain, but I think your son would die of embarrassment to have his father carry him around like a pup with a scraped knee. Isn't that right, Ander?"

If Nilia was trying to get his mind off the constant stabbing, grinding, throbbing pain, it was a valiant, but unsuccessful attempt. Still, there was no reason for him to let her know that. He nodded his head and twitched the corner of his mouth into something he hoped would pass for a smile.

"And what about you, Nilia?" Father said. "With those big, strong, manly arms of yours, I bet you could carry him over the mountain by noon."

"Maybe I'll use these manly arms to throw you over the mountain instead. Chieftain." She added that last word hastily, perhaps worried that she had forgotten her place and overstepped her bounds, but father just laughed it off. It was a nervous laugh, one that came far too easy in the face of what was happening all around them, more for himself than anyone else.

The longer they stood here making small talk, the harder this would become, so Ander carefully moved his right leg forward (feeling absurdly like a pup learning to walk for the first time), then his left. He repeated this process, taking small steps with Father and Nilia there for support. They guided him around Garten's corpse, and although Ander tried to keep himself from looking at it, he was moving far too slow for his willpower to hold out.

There were already flies buzzing around his mouth and nose. As he watched, one of them landed in the open wound in his face and started to move around in the manner of all flies; running and stopping, running and stopping, its bizarre little tongue tapping against the bloody meat at every pause. It was probably just his imagination, but he thought he could smell something coming from it, that invading stench of rotting meat. No, it had to be his imagination. Garten hasn't been dead that long.

But if Garten was already becoming like this, then what about Banno? What does his body look like right now? Was it still floating down the river, bumping against every rock and stump without a care in the world, something for the fish to nibble on as it drifted by? Maybe the biter got caught on something and anchored it to the bottom? Maybe, during the peak of summer, when the rains stop and the river dries up he'll show up again, a collection of bones sticking out of the cracked mud, reaching... reaching... Reaching for a helping hand that would never come.

Or maybe the body washed up somewhere, and was lying in the morning sun this very minute, crawling with maggots. As the heat builds up, gas will rise inside, making it bloat. If it got bad enough, it might even burst open.

Ander had to fight the urge to vomit, mostly because it might actually kill him at this point, but also because he didn't want to get any on Father and Nilia.

"Keep it together," she whispered. "You did what you had to do. Just don't look at it."

They finally managed to skirt around Garten's body, but now they faced an even greater obstacle.

The Wolves, a solid wall of hatred between them and the gates, the eggshell that kept everything inside.

"Make way," Father said, but they just crossed their arms, ignoring him completely.

"The Chieftain gave you a direct order," Nilia said. "Do as he says."

Farrow stepped up, the newly appointed voice of the people, apparently. "You should be ashamed, Nilia," he said. "We can understand why the Chieftain would help this traitor. It's his son. We can't condone it, but we can understand it. But you? I expected better from you. We all did. Why are you hanging onto him like that, putting your hands all over him, acting as his crutch when you should be striking him to the ground instead?"

"Ander survived being Thrown to the Wolves. The time of punishment is over. I am merely doing as my Chieftain commands, as should you."

Farrow and the others gave Father a dismissive glance, then went back to Nilia. "We accept that Ander has indeed made it to sunrise, therefore we shall harm him no more. However, there is nothing in the law that states we have to help him either. If he wants to leave this place so badly, then let him go. He can get back to the Foxes by himself."

"That is preposterous!" Father snarled. "Get out of my way right now or I'll -"

"It's all right... Father..." Ander said. He could hear a strange crackle inside his chest every time he inhaled, like autumn leaves being crushed underfoot.

"Don't be stupid, Ander! There's no way you can hike through the woods and over a mountain as you are now! You can barely stand!"

"I have to go, Father... And you... you have to stay here..."

"Do you have any idea what you're saying? You're asking me to kill you."

Ander slowly shook his head. "No... I'm asking you to stay here... with Hezzi. He needs your help... more than I do..."

"He's a tough boy, much tougher than he looks. Shekka may have abandoned you, but she'll never turn her back on Hezzi. She'll take good care of him, I promise, so don't worry."

"It's not just him..." Ander continued. Even though he was whispering so softly, every word still sapped him of strength. "Danado and Lana... Renna... Sorrin and Mellah... Nilia too... It's thanks to them I'm still alive... You have to protect them..."

"I have to protect you!"

"Father please! I - " He shouldn't have spoken so much. It felt like an insanely long needle suddenly stuck him in the chest, and a bright red line of blood suddenly flowed from his lips.

"Ander!"

"Father... I've already killed two Wolves... Please... I don't want to be responsible for the deaths of any more... It hurts... It_hurts_..." It pained Ander to see his father this way, absolutely torn between his duty as Chieftain, the love for his people, and his responsibility as a parent. Those three things have always been one and the same, but not anymore. "Please... let me...

---

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