Ander - Part 4: Subchapter 19
19
The morning air was cool and felt good on Kadai's bruised face. He considered staying in his tent all day long, but such action was not befitting a Chieftain. He always walked through the village this time of day, and everyone knew it. Straying from that routine would be seen as cowardly, and after everything that had happened, that was the one thing he could not afford. Also...
He had made a promise.
He saw Fona up ahead, watching over her cub as he idly drew a bunch of circles in the dirt with his finger.
"Good morning to you, Fona," Kadai said.
Fona snatched up her child and retreated into her tent without a word, leaving Kadai standing outside with his arm raised in greeting to no one. Things have been like this ever since the night Ander was Thrown To The Wolves. Everyone was on edge, some more so than others. If Garten hadn't died, Kadai suspected he would have made a challenge for the Chieftaincy, and given the state of things, it would have been deemed lawful by the masses without hesitation. The vast majority of Wolves believed that Ander's punishment was not a clear reflection of the Cora's will because there was so much outside interference, and therefore his life was still forfeit.
If he was still alive.
Kadai sighed and continued on his way, walking along the zigzagging footpaths on a steady course for Sorrin's tent. He looked up and saw the North gate in the distance, flanked by its two watchtowers. Those gates have always been a source of pride for him, a symbol of his ability to protect his people, a sigil of safety. But how has Ander seen those gates his entire life? A prison? Or even worse, a cage? He still did not know exactly what went on inside his dosa's head, but after hearing his story, Kadai thought he could understand his feelings, even if only a little. Ander was bleeding all over the place when he stepped through those big slabs of iron wood, barely able to stand. Was there any way at all he could have reached the safety of Grovenglen before his injuries became too much? And even if, by some miracle, he did manage to drag himself through the mountain pass, were the Foxes able to save him? Kadai could think of no fate crueller than forcing your dying body through the wilderness, only to die a mere hour after reaching your salvation, but it was a very real possibility, and there was no way for him to know for sure. That's what kept eating at him. He simply didn't know if Ander was lying dead in the woods somewhere or recovering in the arms of the vixen he loved so much. He'd probably never know.
And there, off to the side, were the remains of Ander's tent, no more than a blackened heap of ash and charred skins, with bits of his old inventions sticking out of the mess like the ribs of a half-rotted carcass. Nobody had bothered to clean it up, and Kadai was in no hurry to order the removal of the last trace of his dosa's presence within these walls.
Thoka was walking around the outer edges of the destruction, occasionally sweeping through the ash with his foot, a look of morbid curiosity on his face.
"Good morning, Thoka," Kadai said, raising his hand once again, but the large Wolf simply glared at him as he walked past, not moving a muscle.
Things were bad right now, but they might be even worse for the Wolves who had stepped up to defend Ander's life. Kadai quickened his pace, the promise he had made to his son resonating throughout his thoughts: As Chieftain of this tribe, I will keep them safe...
He rounded the corner and came face to face with what will prove to be only the first failure of the day, the first crack in his promise.
Sorrin and Mellah's tent was cut to pieces, with shredded tatters of canvas rippling in the breeze, hanging from long vertical gashes, each one practically screaming with the fury of whoever had made them.
"Sorrin? Mellah?" Kadai approached their ruined tent with a sinking heart, horrified not so much by the mindless destruction, but by the fact that no one had come to tell him of it.
Kadai saw something moving inside, striped by shadow and light from the cuts in the canvas. He froze in place, his muscles tense, wishing he had thought to bring along a weapon. The Wolf stuck its head out of the now defunct opening, and Kadai sighed in relief.
It was only Mellah.
She saw him and bowed her head. "Good morning, Chieftain."
"Mellah, what happened here?" he asked. "Where's Sorrin?"
"He went to barter for a new canvas," she said, her eyes flitting briefly over what remained of their tent. "I don't believe he'll have much luck, though."
"Who did this? I will see to it they be punished severely!"
Mellah shook her head. "It happened in the dead of night, Chieftain. We were awoken by the strangest sounds, like something tearing. I opened my eyes and saw blades all around me, sticking into our tent, some right above my head, it seemed. Sorrin wanted to go outside and confront them, but there were so many, and they were armed, so I stopped him. All we did was sit in the dark while those knives tore into our home. Sorrin was so angry, but I held him down. I just couldn't stop thinking about what would happen if I were to lose him, too. I still don't know if I did the right thing, but we're both still alive, and that's what counts."
Kadai nodded. "Don't worry Mellah, you did the right thing," he said, even though he actually believed they should have woken him right away. Although, with an unknown number of armed assailants prowling the village, he could understand her fear. "Do you know who did it? How many were there?"
"At least five. They took off just as quickly as they came. We never saw who did it." She hesitated, then added: "They were laughing, Chieftain."
Even though it was still morning, Kadai suddenly felt very tired. "Are you sure you're all right, though?"
"I am well. Sorrin and I were not hurt, and we can always rebuild."
Kadai looked at the shredded remains of their tent. He could see right through to the other side in some places. It might be just a simple case of vandalism today, but what of tomorrow? What if this was only the beginning? What if it gets worse? What if -
By the Cora, the others!
"Mellah, I have to go. You find Sorrin and do not leave his side from now on, no matter what. Understand?"
Mellah nodded sadly, understanding all too well what was going on, and Kadai sprinted down the path, the promise he had made echoing in his mind...
As Chieftain of this tribe, I will keep them safe...
*
Lana and Danado's tent was more like two tents fused together, making it one of the larger homes of the tribe. Kadai was expecting to see it in tatters just like Mellah and Sorin's, but it was still in one piece. That did nothing to set his mind at ease, though. Rather, seeing that large tent completely untouched only made him worry even more for its occupants.
"Lana? Danado? Are you in there?" Kadai flicked his fingers against the skins, making a flappy thud noise to announce his presence.
"We're in here, Chieftain," he heard Lana's voice from inside, the operative word being 'We're'.
So they're sticking together, he thought. Of course, these two are always together. Good, that's very good.
He opened the flap to their tent, started to ask "Are you two all r -", but the question died on his tongue as his eyes adjusted to the gloom.
They were not all right.
Danado was curled up in the corner, and Lana was kneeling by his side, tending to his wounds with a wet rag. His arms and legs were covered in scratches and bite marks, and his right cheek was so swollen it looked like he was trying to swallow a piece of meat far too large for his mouth.
And the worst thing by far: there was a red, gory patch of coagulated blood at the end of each finger and toe.
The bastards had cut out his nails and claws, one by one.
As Lana turned to look at him, Kadai noticed her eyes were red and puffy. "Good morning, Chieftain," she said, her tone indicating this morning was as far away from 'good' as it could possibly get.
"Lana? Danado? What in the Cora's name happened to you?"
"What do you think? They dragged him out to the woods in the middle of the night and they beat him to within an inch of his life! They mutilated his hands and feet! All of Banno and Garten's admirers, everyone with a grudge against _your_son. All it took was one Wolf to point the way and they happily complied, wagging their tails like a bunch of puppies. You know who I'm talking about."
"But..." Kadai couldn't understand this. It just didn't make sense. Things were moving so much quicker than he had anticipated. Ander's trial was only two nights ago!"Danado, who did this to you? As Chieftain of this tribe, I will make sure they be punished in kind. Eye for an eye, that is the law. We'll see how tough they are once we pry their claws from their hands!"
Danado shook his head, the swollen side of his face jiggling grotesquely. It filled Kadai with so much fury he didn't know what to do with it.
"Why!?" he screamed, wanting to reach out and throttle him. Didn't he understand he only wanted to make this village a peaceful place again? All he needed were names.
"They said..." Danado struggled, his voice thick and slurry. "...If I... tell..."
"No, Dan!" Lana said, wetting his forehead with the blood-stained rag. "Don't try to talk. It's okay, just go back to sleep. Dan, no! What are you doing?"
Danado laboriously forced himself up on one elbow and fixed Kadai with the most frightened, most haunted stare he had ever seen. "They said... if I tell anyone... then..."
"Dan, please don't."
"Then they'd... they'd do things to Lana..."
"Dan..."
"So I'll stay quiet. Even if they beat me. Even if they bite me. Because the things they said they'd do to my sister, Chieftain... They're so much worse!"
Danado couldn't keep it in anymore, and a huge, heaving sob broke out of him.
Lana sighed, then hugged her brother close. She rocked him gently, and she dabbed at his wounds with a rag that was already pink with his blood. "Dan, you stupid, stupid Wolf. Why did you have to get involved like that?"
"I'm sorry, Lana... I didn't mean to drag you into this..."
Kadai sat down heavily, feeling like the worst excuse for a Chieftain this tribe has ever seen. He wasn't able to protect his people, and he wasn't able to keep his promise. He knew Danado wouldn't answer his questions, but he felt he needed to ask regardless. "Danado, you have to tell me who did this. You can't just give up!"
"Don't bother, Chieftain," Lana said. "I've been trying to get him to tell me for hours."
"I couldn't see. It was dark."
"Liar."
Kadai couldn't allow crimes like these to go unpunished, but first things first. "Lana, you take Danado to Shekka. She'll take care of his wounds, and I'll go check on the others."
"We can't do that, Chieftain," she said.
"What? Why n-" Kadai suddenly understood her reasoning before he could even finish his own question. Of course they couldn't take him to Shekka. There's no way she'd help anyone who was even partially responsible for Ander's survival, and simply denying someone aid was far from the worst she could do once she got them strapped down on that table. "All right, all right, just..." By the Cora, he could feel such a huge headache coming on, throbbing just above his left eye. "Just stay here for now. I doubt anything will happen in broad daylight, but if it does, scream as loud as you can."
She fixed Kadai with a stare both icy cold and red hot at the same time, her eyes bloodshot, unwavering. "If anything happens, Chieftain," she said, pulling a long, saw-toothed dagger from her clothes. "I won't be the one screaming."
Seeing that wicked blade in her hands and the vengeful anger in her eyes didn't set Kadai's mind at ease. It felt like he was looking at a red thundercloud, pregnant not with rain, but with blood and tears. He could see the storm coming, but there was nothing he could do about it.
*
Kadai was so lost in thought, dreading what he might see when he reached little Renna's tent that he almost walked headlong into Nilia.
"Nilia, by the Cora, are you all right?"
"I am fine, Chieftian," she said, a slight frown on her face. "Are you all right?"
"Yes, I mean no, I mean..." He quickly checked for any eavesdroppers. "Did anything happen to you last night?"
"Nothing worth mentioning, no."
No, of course not. Wardo's lackeys were evidently as cowardly as they were ruthless. They had no qualms against shredding a tent in the night or kidnapping a harmless hunter and prising the claws from his fingers, but attack a Wolf actually capable of defending herself? No, they weren't bold enough. At least not yet.
"There have been some incidents, Nilia. With the Wolves that -"
"That helped Ander escape," she finished for him. "The whole village has been ablaze with rumours since first light. They speak of insurrection, Chieftain. They say your days leading this tribe are numbered, and I have no doubt the one responsible for all this slander is Wardo. He's been telling everyone willing to listen that you are no longer fit to lead this tribe, and believe me, there is a surprisingly large number of Wolves who are willing to do much more than just listen."
"That doesn't surprise me," Kadai admitted. What did surprise him was the fact that he didn't really care about losing the Chieftaincy. There were far more important things at stake here. "Nilia, I want you to keep an eye on Sorrin, Mellah, Danado and Lana. Make sure they don't get lynched. I'll deal with Wardo in due time, but first I have to check on Hezzi's little friend."
"Of course, Chieftain." She turned to carry out her orders, but Kadai stopped her.
"Nilia?"
"Yes, Chieftain?"
"You are as much a part of this as the rest of us. Please be careful."
"Always, Chieftain."
Kadai watched her run off down the path, and again he was struck to discover that he felt more worried for her safety than for his continued position as the Chieftain of this tribe. Things were changing so rapidly, he was barely able to keep up.
And all because of Ander...
Kadai gave his head a brief shake, then continued on his way, walking at a brisk pace.
*
"Hello? Aisa?" Kadai tapped his knuckles on an exposed piece of support frame.
"What!?"
"Is your daughter home?"
"Who wants to know?"
"The Chieftain."
Kadai heard a quick scramble from inside, and then her head popped out of the entrance. "What do you want with her?"
"I'd just like a quick word, that's all."
"She's not feeling well, please leave us in peace."
"Aisa, I want to speak with Renna. Now."
Her upper lip twitched ever so slightly, and it was with mild surprise that Kadai realized she was just barely keeping herself from growling at him. Him, the Chieftain. Just another small, but cumulative sign of all the changes taking place within these walls. She finally stepped back, holding open the tent's flap, and Kadai stepped inside.
At first he thought it was empty, but then he saw Renna sitting cross-legged right up against the farthest edge of the tent, with her tail curled around inside her lap and her head held low, as if she was trying to make herself as small as possible. She gripped her tail nervously, squeezing down on it as she regarded first her mother, then the tired old Wolf that had barged in without an invite.
Aisa closed the flap, bathing her daughter in a wash of shadows, but not before Kadai could see that her left eye was completely swollen shut, her cheeks and forehead were covered in scratches, and there was a nasty split in her bottom lip. The beating she took at Ander's execution couldn't have been responsible for all this. She looked even worse than she did at Garten's funeral. Her whole face was a mangled ruin.
"Good morning, Renna," Kadai said, trying to sound as kind as possible, something he wasn't used to.
"H-Hello, Chieftain," she returned his greeting, so softly he could barely hear her. Speaking must be torture.
"Can I sit down for a minute?"
He saw her open eye flicker to the she-wolf behind him. A moment later she nodded her head. "Okay."
Kadai sat down with a grunt, imitating her cross-legged posture - something that was getting harder and harder to do with each passing year. Her eye (the one he could actually see) was a lovely shade of blue, vibrant even in these dim confines.
"What happened to your eye, Renna?"
She looked down at the ground and squeezed her tail. "I fell."
"Renna. Tell me what happened to your eye."
"_I_happened to it!" Aisa said and sat down next to her daughter, who flinched at her presence. It was all too clear to Kadai, who barely even knew this child, that she wanted nothing more than to scoot away from her mother, but didn't dare do any such thing. It was in the way she leaned her body as far away as possible without looking conspicuous, the way she tried not to shiver, the way her ears flattened against her head, the way she wouldn't make eye contact. It was downright painful to watch.
"You did this, Aisa?" Kadai asked, hoping his voice wouldn't betray his anger.
"Of course I did," she said, sneering with condescension. "Without Rinno, it's my job to make sure she grows up right."
"So she's been growing up wrong, I take it?"
"Tell him, Renna." She prodded her daughter's shoulder. "Tell him why you had to be punished." She prodded her again, and Kadai could feel his blood begin to boil. Without Renna, his son would have died a mongrel's death, and to see her being punished for it seemed the worst kind of injustice.
"I was punished..." Renna began, but had to stop halfway to lick her lips before she could continue. "Because I..."
"Because?" Aisa urged her on.
Renna dropped her head even lower and said something that threatened to break Kadai's heart right there. "Because I'm a bad Wolf."
Aisa nudged her daughter again. "And why are you a bad Wolf?"
"Because I attacked Wardo, and I helped an enemy of the tribe."
"And?"
"And because I disrespected my mother."
"You see, Chieftain?" Aisa said, giving Kadai a knowing look. "You have to make them understand. It's the only way they'll learn."
Kadai nodded, but he could feel his anger begin to boil over. He couldn't keep it in any longer. "Far be it from me to tell someone how to raise their own child, but do you really think she deserved such a severe punishment?"
"I beg your pardon?"
"She was only doing what she believed was right. Does that really make her a bad Wolf?"
She flashed her fangs, her whole muzzle crinkling in anger. "Your own son was executed for murder not two nights ago, so don't you dare preach to me about being a good parent when your own skills are so severely lacking."
Never in all of Kadai's life had he ever been closer to striking a woman. He bit down on his tongue, hard, until he felt he could keep his anger under some kind of control. Aisa was far from done, though.
"Chieftain, please do not mistake my words for disrespect, but I think you do not fully understand the situation. Allow me to tell you the truth."
"Oh, by all means, please do."
Aisa sat up straight, squared her shoulders, and looked Kadai straight in the eye, every part of her practically screaming that she was ready for a verbal battle. "Right now, my daughter is hated almost as much as your killer of a son. I've seen the way they look at her. It's the same look they gave Ander, that look that says: 'You're not one of us.' If I don't punish her, and punish her severely, in a way that leaves clear marks for everyone to see, what do you think would happen? I'll tell you. The Wolves out there will gladly take it upon themselves to punish my daughter if they think I'm not doing a proper job of it, and the things they do will be far worse than anything you or I could dream of. I punish my daughter because I love her, and I don't care if you're the Chieftain of this tribe, if you come into my home and try to tell me otherwise, then I will ask you to leave."
"Peace, Aisa. I never accused you of not loving your child. I simply ask that you stay your hand. She's been punished enough."
Aisa snorted. "I don't want to hear that coming from you, Chieftain. How many times have I seen that Hezzi of yours walking around with a limp in his step and a cut on his face? How many times has my Renna snuck off to bring him scraps of food stolen from my larder because your son was too scared to go back home?"
She might as well have punched him in the gut with those words. "What did you say?"
"By the Cora, you don't even know! You are clearly in no position to judge me, Chieftain. Not when your own family is such a mess."
"Don't you dare insult my family."
"Doesn't feel so good, does it? Remember that next time you barge into someone's home and tell them how to raise their children."
Kadai curled his fingers into a fist, shaking with anger. He wanted nothing more than to punch this cold-hearted bitch right in the face (Renna was so right to call her that), but it was Ander who stopped him. Kadai could hear his voice as if he was right there, sitting beside them, an unseen fourth Wolf in this dark, dark place.
How can you expect her to stay her hand if you cannot stay yours?
Kadai slowly opened his hand and rested it on his knee. "I am sorry, Aisa," he said, but he wasn't looking at the she-wolf as he said it. He was looking at Renna: at her torn face, her bruised cheeks, her cut lip, and she was looking right back at him with her beautiful, lonely eye. "Bad things are about to happen in this tribe. I know you love your daughter, so what I ask of you now will not seem like a true request, but a given. I ask that you protect her, keep her safe, no matter what. Our sins will catch up to all of us one day, but she does not yet have any to answer for."
Aisa was taken aback by this sudden reversal. "Chieftain? What are you saying?"
"I have to go. There is still much I have to do." Kadai got up, wincing as he straightened out his knees. He spared Renna one last smile, turned around, then stepped out into the blinding sunshine.
He had walked only a few paces when Renna suddenly burst out after him. "Chieftain?"
"Yes, Renna?" By the Cora, she looked even worse in the daylight. Cuts and scratches he didn't notice in the gloom now stood out with terrible clarity.
She looked around nervously, as if any of the tents around them could suddenly spawn a monster to devour them both (maybe she wasn't that far off). She wound her fingers together, and Kadai noticed her claws were stubby.
She must bite them when no one's watching, he thought.
"Please don't tell Hezzi," she said. No... pleaded.
"What are you talking about, girl?"
"If he finds out about... H-He'll think it's all his fault. He thinks everything's his fault, but it's not! It's just..."
"Renna, get back in here!" Aisa shouted from inside their tent.
"I'm coming, Mother!"
"No wait!" Kadai said, his hand outstretched, but she had already turned tail and ducked back inside. Back inside with that cold-hearted mother of hers...
Kadai watched the flap to their tent sway for a while, the only evidence that she had even been there. And then it stood still.
His arm dropped back to his side. He sighed. He turned around. He saw the North gate, so big and powerful, so imposing. Things were changing too fast. Those gates no longer made him feel safe or proud. They made him feel trapped. They made him feel caged.
Just like Ander.
Things were changing too fast.
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