Ander - Part 3: Subchapter 42
42
- anaaaaaaah!!"
"What!? What is it, Devin!?"
"This is stupid!"
"_You're_stupid!" Kiana snapped back. Not the cleverest of comebacks, but she was far too fretful to think up anything more original. She hacked away at the thick underbrush, her father's knife smeared green with the blood of countless vines and thorny creepers, ignoring the tired ache in her calves and shoulders. She had been walking non-stop through the night (even running on occasion, despite the lingering pain in her ankle) and she did not have the time nor the patience to be listening to Devin's childish whining.
"I cannot believe you actually snuck out of your parents' house for a second time. Wouldn't surprise me if they put a padlock on your window the size of a gem squash by the time we get back. That's_if_ we get back."
"Nobody asked you to come along, you know," Layla puffed, lugging a heavy black bag in her hands. "If you knew you were going to bitch and moan the entire way, then you should've just stayed in Grovenglen!"
"Have to agree with the lass on this 'un," Bartholomew said, amiably slapping a big hand down on Devin's shoulder, hard enough to make his knees buckle.
"Aye, couldn't agree more m'self!" Nicholas added and mirrored his twin, merrily clapping Devin on the other side, much to the grumpy Fox's chagrin.
Bartholomew and Nicholas, more commonly known as Bart and Nick, and even _more_commonly known as Lonin's Boys, were always willing to help a lovely vixen in distress, even more so when the vixen in question was accompanied by an equally lovely little sister in an equally distressing amount of distress. These were the same Foxes that had helped Kiana load Ander into a vegetable cart after he got shot by Mateo, and she was incredibly lucky to have crossed their path on the way out of Grovenglen.
Devin on the other hand... not so much.
"Do I actually have to explain to you people just how crazy this all is? Because I could, you know. I could give you a whole list!"
"By all means, friend!" Bart said, taking a swig from his water pouch (which Kiana suspected only contained as much water as was found in the average bottle of wine).
"Aye! Impart to us your worldly wisdom, oh great sage of Grovenglen!" Nick added with a dramatic flourish of the hand. "This humble Fox awaits with bated breath."
"First of all," Devin started, either completely misinterpreting their sarcasm or just blundering ahead because he would have his say no matter what, "we are completely and totally lost."
"We are not lost!" Kiana said over her shoulder, struggling through a rough patch of ferns. "I know exactly where I'm going! I've been there once before, after all."
"Okay, maybe I need to refresh your memory." Devin cleared his throat, took a deep breath, and said: "You were unconscious when that Wolf abducted you!!"
"Yes, well... that doesn't matter. I saw the way when Ander -"
"Piggy-backed you through the woods, in the dead of night, in the middle of a thunderstorm! Also, in case you hadn't noticed, it's foggier than all of Limbo out here! We can't even see where we're going!"
Kiana growled softly. Not very lady-like, but it was either that or punch him in the snout.
"So, to reiterate, we are completely and totally lost. That was reason the first. Oh, but wait! It gets even better! Reason the second: this is Wolf territory! You know, big giant Fox-like monsters all just as big as Ander, but a thousand times meaner and more likely to bite our heads off than give a friendly howdy-doo? Yes, those Wolves! For all we know, we could be surrounded this very moment, and we wouldn't even know until we're all dead!"
"All the more reason for you to shut your trap, don't you think?"
"Reason the third!" Devin barrelled on. "Let's assume we don't get killed within the next five minutes, and let's assume we actually find this tribe of killer Wolves out here in the middle of nowhere through sheer blind luck! What, pray tell, do you intend to do? Politely ask them to return your precious fluffy wittle Anderkins? Pwetty please with sugar on top? And how do you even know he's not dead already? I mean, he could very well be -"
Kiana spun around. "Because he said he doesn't intend to die! That's how I know!"
"Oh well excuuuse me, then! He said so, did he? That's a load off my mind. You see, for a minute there I forgot he was one of the gods and could make things happen just by his say-so. How foolish of me, to think that anything could possibly happen to the contrary, because he said so. That makes everything hunky-dory, doesn't it? Right as rain, dapper as a dandelion, chipper as a - Hey, watch what you're doing with that thing!"
Kiana didn't even realise she had brandished the knife at him. One moment she was still waist-high in dew dappled ferns, the next she was right in his face, pointing a plant-sticky blade at him with shaking hands. "Ander is alive. I know it. So... So just please, don't say that he isn't, okay? I don't want to hear that."
"Okay, okay," Devin said, backing up with his hands raised. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean..."
"Here girl," Bart said, holding out his water pouch. "Looks to me like you could use a nip."
Kiana took it gratefully and, after only the slightest hesitation, took a small sip. She was right about it not being filled with water, but wrong about the wine. What Bart had in here was one hundred percent pure Rockshatter brandy. She grimaced as the bitter heat travelled down her throat and bloomed inside her belly, but it did make her feel a little bit better.
"I really don't mean to sound like a jerk here," Devin ventured cautiously, "but seriously, what are you going to do?"
Kiana bit her lip and looked down at Bart's water pouch. It made little sloshing noises in her hand, and smelled strongly of the vineyard he and his brother called home. She wondered if Ander had ever tasted grapes before...
"Kiana?"
She had locked herself in her room after Ander had left and thrown herself onto her bed, crying into her pillowcase for over an hour, feeling completely useless, powerless, hopeless, every kind of 'less' you could imagine. After that she just sort of... floated around, walking from one corner of her room to the other like a ghost, not knowing what she was supposed to do. She couldn't stop thinking about tomorrow, and the day after that, and the day after that, all exactly the same. All empty. What was she supposed to do if Ander wasn't around anymore? Oh, she'd leave her room eventually, Mother would see to that. But she'd still be floating, walking from one spot to the next, not knowing what to do. She'd literally be haunting whatever place she happened to find herself in, a ghost who hasn't had the good fortune of dying yet.
And then Sarah came by with the most infuriatingly vague, ecstatically hopeful message she had ever heard.
Ander asked me to tell you, 'I do not intend to die'. Those exact words.
It had taken her all of one second to make up her mind. That night, she snuck out of her room and down the stairs, just like last time, and also just like last time, Layla was lying in wait for her, but not to see her off. She had a little travelling bag all packed and ready to go, determined to come along. Kiana would hear none of it, but after Layla threatened to scream her lungs out and wake half the village she soon realized she didn't have much choice in the matter.
So together they took the road out of Grovenglen, moving like two thieves in the night (which wasn't all that far off, considering how many things they stole out of their parents' room before they left, creeping about on tippy toes while Mother and Father took turns snoring just a few feet away).
On the outskirts of town they ran into Bart and Nick, who had just returned from Othello's to celebrate an occasion neither of them could quite remember.
Uncle Ben's birthday, in't it?
Uncle Ben's been dead for nigh on ten years, Nicky.
Still got a birthday, don't he?
They had offered to walk them home, but it soon became clear they had no intention of going home, and rather than make up hasty excuses which would only get them caught, Kiana decided to ask for their help instead (possibly batting her eyelashes a little as she did so).
Two dainty damsels on a treacherous quest into the unknown heart of evil, all alone!?
This will not stand, brother!
Nay, 'twill not, brother!
We insist to accompany you on this perilous journey!
We shall face the peril!
No perilous peril shall dare perillify our path!
You're drunk, Nicky.
No I'm isn't!
All had gone rather well until they stumbled upon Devin smack-bang in the middle of the road. He wouldn't tell them what he was doing out there so late at night, but he made it all too clear how he intended to tell Bethany exactly how her daughters were out wandering the streets in the middle of the night, drunk as skunks, getting up to all kinds of mischief with a pair of boys.
Lucky for them, Bart and Nick stood up in their defence.
For your information, these lovely ladies are not drunk.
Can't say the same for us, though. Ha!
Too right. Anyways... What was I saying? Oh, yes! We four are off on a quest!
A daring quest!
A daring quest of daring-do!
Kiana and Layla both tried to get them to shut up, but once Lonin's Boys got going, it was impossible to get them to stop.
A rescue mission, it is!
To go beyond yonder mountain and retrieve the gigantic latest addition to our fair citizenry!
To save him from the clutches of evil!
From the belly of the beast!
The jaws of death!
The claws of danger!
The teeth of woe!
The navel of misfortune!
The - The what?
Kiana was certain it would all end right there. They would have to knock Devin out cold and tie him up somewhere, but then, for reasons she still couldn't fathom, he asked to come along.
"Kiana, I asked you a question."
"I'm thinking, all right!?"
"Shouldn't you have done your thinking before you stormed off in the middle of the night? Just saying."
Kiana sighed. He was right, of course, no sense in arguing that. Any kind of plan, even a half-baked one, would be better than no plan at all. But here they were, traipsing through the woods with nothing to guide them but her own backwards memories. Even worse, her friends (and one acquaintance) had no idea how dangerous the Wolves really were. Even Devin, spouting his premonitions of doom and gloom, hadn't the slightest inkling of the savagery within those walls. She saw it with her own eyes. She heard them chant for her death with her own ears. She felt the pain of their hatred on her own skin. She understood the risks all too well, but did they?
Was she being incredibly selfish, pulling them along like this? She didn't want to involve anyone else. She wanted to go alone. But first Layla and then the twins and even Devin... They just piled on, like children stealing a ride on the back of a donkey kart, with no idea where it might be headed.
Kiana stopped so suddenly Layla almost bumped into her from behind.
"Sis?"
"I don't have a plan," Kiana admitted, squeezing down on the handle of her father's blade so hard she could clearly feel each letter of his name carved into the grip. "You four should turn back. Right now."
"Like hell!" Layla said, stomping her foot and planting her hands on her hips, just like Mother.
"I concur with lil' Layla here," Bart said. "Why, if we left you all alone in this Wolf-infested forest, what manner of Fox would that make us? Cowards, is what! Isn't that right, Nicky?"
"Too right! Snivelling yellow bellies!"
"Scampering milksops!"
"Namby-pamby wu-"
"Can't you two shut up for just one second!?" Kiana screamed, startling a small flock of sparrows into flight. "You want to know why I couldn't come up with a plan, even though I sat in my room for better part of a day just waiting for the sun to go down? It's because there can't be any plan! You think we can reason with those things? You think we can negotiate? Well we can't! You think we can sneak in and free Ander before they have a chance to do whatever it is they plan on doing, like he did for me? We can't! You haven't seen what it's like in there, but I have! It's just this big bitter burning ball of hatred and anger and it just feeds off itself getting worse and worse and they all love it! That's what's so horrible! They absolutely love being that way!"
"But if all that's true," Devin said, "then are you telling us you're... what, planning to commit suicide by Wolf? Is that it?"
"I have_to find him, don't you understand that!? I don't know what will happen if I find them, or what I can possibly do other than beg for Ander's life, but I _have to go, even it means getting myself killed! You guys have no obligation like that, so please, just let me do this alone."
"I have half a mind to slap you right now, sis," Layla said, her voice shaking. "You think you're the only one who cares for Ander? You think he's the only one who cares for you? Well I've got news for you, Kiana. I care about him, too! And I care about you! So if you think you're just going to walk off never to be seen again, like the main character in some crappy love story, then you've got another thing coming!"
"I don't want to get you killed, Layla! I never should have let you come along in the first place!"
"Well too bad, 'cause I'm here and I'm not going anywhere, so I guess that means you're stuck with me."
"Layla, please..."
"I mean it! Now stop this nonsense before I really do slap you!"
Bart cleared his throat loudly. "Now, I only met this Ander fellow once -"
"He was unconscious at the time, though," Nick added.
"Be that as it may, if he's got two lovely vixens such as yourselves literally crossing mountains to get him back, then he must be one hell of a good bloke, so I'm in all the way, come or hell or high water."
"And I'm pretty much stuck with my brother here," Nick said and jammed a thumb Bart's way, "so if he's in, then so am I."
"You guys..." Kiana was finding it difficult to keep her voice steady, and the last thing she wanted to do was break down in front of everybody like some hormonal vixen.
"An' what about you, Devvie?" Bart said. "Still got those cold feet? Still want to run along home? You've done nothing but whinge the entire time, so if you want to back out, now's yer chance."
"Don't call me Devvie," Devin said indignantly. "And no. Going back all alone would be a very bad idea. So... So I guess I'm in, too."
"What's this!?" Bart said, ruffling Devin's hair. "Could it be that Devvie actually has a heart buried somewhere beneath that hard, cynical exterior?"
Nick bent down, pressed his ear against Devin's chest and let out a huge, dramatic gasp, his eyes wide as saucers. "By the gods, brother! I can hear it beating in there! He really does have a heart!"
"Hey, stop that!" Devin tried to squirm away, but the twins grabbed hold of him in an energetic double bear hug, easily lifting him a few inches off the ground in their exuberance.
"Oy! Stop that! Put me down! I'm serious! Don't make me hurt you!"
"Aww, he really does care!" Bart said, completely unconcerned with Devin's threats of bodily harm.
"This is beautiful, this is," Nick added.
"Aye, a real moment."
"I shall tell my grandchildren of this day..."
"I hate you two so much right now, I swear to the gods!"
Layla put a hand in front of her mouth to stifle a bout of girlish giggles, and Kiana didn't know how much longer she'd be able to keep from following suit.
She knew what the twins were trying to do (maybe even Devin, to some extent), and she was very grateful for that. This was the first time she had smiled since she spent that wonderful night in Ander's arms, and it made her feel like maybe there was still hope left in this world.
"Thank you, everyone," she said. "I really appreciate what you're doing for me."
"Don't mention it," Devin said, his voice slightly croaky because Bart's hug had somehow transmogrified into a wrestling hold. "Now if you don't mind, could we please continue our suicidal march so that these two savages can let go of me?"
"Did you hear that, Nicky? Savages he called us!"
"Stung me deep just now, he did."
"And after we've been so nice!"
"So considerate!"
"Such a hurtful rejection!"
"You know what I think? I think little Devvie here jus' doesn't want us to know he actually likes being manhandled. Isn't that right, Devvie?"
"Okay guys, that's enough," Kiana said. "Time to let him go."
"I'll release the hostage once you return my libations," Bart said, indicating the 'water' pouch Kiana still held in her hand. She took one last quick sip and tossed it back to its owner, who, true to his word, released Devin with much spluttering and heaving and clutching of the throat.
Kiana turned back to the path she had been hacking through the underbrush, a newfound resolution blazing in her heart. She had almost let her emotions get the better of her, but now it was time to get serious again. Ander was alive. She knew it. She could feel it in her very bones. She still didn't know how they would save him, but with the best little sister in the world and a loyal (albeit odd) assortment of friends at her back, she felt that anything was possible.
She hacked and slashed at the encroaching creeper vines with one hand, while bundling the extra folds of her dress in the other to keep it from getting tangled in the bushes. It definitely wasn't the best attire for the job, but she couldn't remember this part of the wood being so overgrown. And all this mist was just atrocious...
Oh, be honest, girl. This is not the same path Ander carried you through, and you know it.
True, but there was nothing she could do about that other than soldier on and hope for the best. A giant settlement of Wolves couldn't be that hard to find, could it? Even in thick mist such as this. Maybe they'd hear something, or spot smoke, or...
She pushed two particularly large fern leaves out of her face, and then stopped dead in her tracks.
For a moment it felt as if she had stepped into another world. Maybe the 'Limbo' Devin had mentioned, the fabled land between life and death. The trees on either side had simply fallen away to nothingness, and what was previously a fuzzy series of vertical gray stripes was now a solid expanse of white.
"Blue blazes, feels like I just stepped into a cloud," Nick said, making her jump. "You recognize any of this?"
Kiana shook her head. "No, I don't think so."
It was eerie, to say the least. She could still see the ground at her feet, covered in long blades of shiny grass and dead leaves, but it only stretched on for twenty lengths or so and then vanished. It was a ridiculous thought, of course. She knew the earth was still there, just covered by the mist. But still, her imagination insisted that the earth itself had simply dropped away, and that they were now staring at the end of the world.
She slowly started to move forward, terrified of what might be lurking inside this white nothingness. It reminded her of that witch's eyes, the one who had wanted to burn her in sacrifice. It all just seemed so... empty.
"Stay together everybody. You get lost in this mist, you'll stay lost," Devin said. His voice had an odd, echoey aspect to it, distorted by all the moisture in the air.
The sun would probably burn it all away in an hour or so, but right now it was barely more than a silver coin in the sky, so weak Kiana could look at it directly without even stinging her eyes.
And it was getting cold, too. Very cold. So cold she couldn't keep from shivering. She rubbed her elbows and watched her breath plume out in front of her like miniature ghosts.
"What's that?" Layla said, pointing into the distance.
At first Kiana couldn't see anything but more swirling whiteness, but then a hazy image started to emerge, huge and gray, towering into the sky, growing wider at the top. It loomed out of the mist like a monster in a fairytale. "I think it's just a big tree," she said.
"No, I mean at the bottom. What is that?"
Kiana squinted. If it was indeed a tree, then those shapes at the bottom had to be roots, right? She was just about to say this out loud when something caught her eye, something strange about the silhouettes, as if they didn't quite fit together, as if there was something in there that shouldn't be. But...
Kiana broke out into a full run, her mind caught in a frantic struggle between hope and panic.
"Ey, wait up, girl!"
Kiana didn't know if that was Bart or Nick, and she didn't care. She just kept running straight ahead, the visible circle of earth beneath her feet keeping pace, moving with her, cutting through the mist.
She hoped with all her heart her eyes weren't just playing tricks on her. She hoped that the strange shape underneath that tree was indeed what she thought it was, and not a cruel illusion. She hoped, she hoped, she hoped.
But at the same time she hoped for the exact opposite. She hoped it was just a weirdly shaped clump of roots sticking out of the earth. She hoped it was just her imagination getting the better of her. Because if it wasn't... if that motionless shape, lying so still... if that really was... if it...
She couldn't even think about it without feeling like her mind would tear itself right down the middle, each half screaming for two opposite outcomes, while still yearning for the same.
The tree was becoming clearer, more solid, more_real_. It bounced slightly as Kiana ran and ran, her lungs burning in her chest, her ankle screaming for her to stop, but she ignored all of it until she finally reached the massive trunk. There, looking down at the shape that had materialized out of the mist, with the branches whispering above her head and the ghostly sun trying fruitlessly to pierce the white darkness, it all caught up with her, all at once.
She could hear footsteps coming up behind her, could hear someone asking her what she was thinking, sprinting off on her own like that, but it was far away, in a different world, maybe.
She had found him. She had found Ander. She...
Kiana reached up, grabbed fistfuls of her hair and sank down to her knees. She looked straight up at the roof of leaves, at the shifting pinpricks of phantom light, and she screamed.
She screamed and screamed and screamed...
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