Ander - Part 6: Subchapter 4
4
This hollow construction was different from what it had been a few minutes ago. The sunshine had been strangled down to slits, slowly creeping along the floor in thin white lines, barely able to shine through the cloth coverings, and the candles paradoxically only seemed to be making everything darker, like it was the middle of the night instead of early morning. The false sense of safety that had permeated the very walls had faded away, replaced by a grim kind of quiet following Sorrin's account.
Nilia had retreated to the farthest, darkest corner of the room, away from the candles, away from the Fox with the black bag that made her eyes water every time she got a whiff of whatever concoctions were rattling around inside, and most of all, away from Ander and the vixen clinging to his arm. She had thought she would be happy to see him again, and she was, she was happier than she'd been in a long, long time, and yet... it felt like there was something pushing her away, repelling her the way a leaf floating down a stream would bend with the current to avoid any boulders breaking the surface. But maybe that was putting it too elegantly. She wasn't being pushed, she was being pulled, and she was the one doing all the pulling - pulling herself away from everyone and everything.
It was just easier that way.
Or at least, it used to be.
Ander looked dizzy and disoriented, like he had just taken one hell of a blow to the head and the tiniest nudge would just knock him right over. He had to lean against the wall just to keep standing. It came as no surprise, really. They had just spilled two months' worth of bad news to him in just under ten minutes.
"My father is dead?" he asked, his voice shaking. "And Wardo took his place as Chieftain?" He covered his eyes. "I mean... I knew Father must have... When I saw the look on Hezzi's face I knew, but... It wasn't said. It was never said, so... I had hoped... I just..."
The Kiana vixen reached up and pulled his hand away from his face. I'm sorry, she mouthed, wrapped her arms around his middle, and rested her head against his shoulder. Ander pulled her in close and hugged her to his side.
Nilia looked away.
The Fox called Rufio was sitting by the window, sucking on some kind of wooden tube filled with a smouldering powder. Far be it from her to turn her nose at such a custom when he had welcomed them into his home without question, but whatever was in that thing smelt like burning doe droppings. Every once in a while he'd peek through the gap in the cloth, then pull back and shake his head. The one known as Bethany was still tending wounds, fine beads of sweat rolling down her temples as she finished stitching Sorrin's arm.
"I'm sorry you had to find out like this, Ander," he said, wincing as Bethany pulled the needle through, forcing his flesh back together. "Two months late... But there was no way to contact you. And, to be honest, everyone thought you were dead. Hezzi was just about the only one who believed you had survived the trial. And your father, of course. They never lost hope."
Bethany cut the last thread with a double-bladed device, crossed in the middle. "There you go, all done. Try not to move it too much, or the stitches will tear."
Mellah took Sorrin by the hand. "Thank you, Kai," she said. "We didn't know what to expect when we came through that mountain, only that this side couldn't be as bad as what we were leaving behind, but I had no idea we'd be helped so quickly. You have our deepest gratitude."
Bethany waved it off. "I've said it already, you don't have to thank me. It's only a few stitches."
"No, it's more than that. Back home, we didn't have anyone to turn to. Our friends and neighbours, the Wolves we had grown up with since birth, treated us like enemies. You're a perfect stranger, and yet you're showing us more kindness than - I'm sorry, I must seem a total mess. We ran all night long without any rest and I just... I guess it's all catching up... Just... thank you so much. Thank you for helping us."
Now that the immediate danger had passed, Mellah was reverting back to the pleasant little tent-wife, which was a big mistake in Nilia's opinion.
She wiped her eyes and Sorrin gave her an affectionate little squeeze. "Don't worry, Mellah," he said. "We made it through. Everyone is safe. You can breathe easy."
Nilia had to use every ounce of restraint not to point out that those words, comforting though they might be, were nothing more than a bald-faced lie. None of them were safe, and none of them could breathe easy, not by a long shot. She was only able to keep herself in check because Renna and Danado still needed help.
Mellah sniffed and nodded, clearly trying very hard not to burst into tears. It was painful to watch.
"W-Well then," Bethany said, almost on the verge of tears herself. "You are very welcome, Mellah. And now..." She turned to Danado. "Let's have a look at you."
"Thank you, Kai, but it's too late for me. Tend to the girl instead."
"I beg your pardon?"
"There is nothing anyone can do. Please move on to the girl. She's a brave one, but -"
"Give me those hands."
"But Renna -"
"I said give them to me!" Bethany seized Danado by the wrist and turned his hand over. She stared for a very long time, as did all of them. Even Nilia, who already knew the cruel method of his torture, couldn't pull her eyes away.
All his fingers were sloppily amputated at the first knuckle. The stubs had formed scar tissue over the bone, but there were still dark spots of raw flesh in the middle, some of them wet and bleeding.
"This is..." Bethany was at a loss for words. "How did this happen?"
It was a simple question, but Danado could not give the simple answer it required. He looked away instead, nervously chewing on his lip, his mutilated fingers curled up in his lap like the legs of a dead spider.
Nilia didn't beat about the bush or try to sugar-coat the truth. She simply came out and said it directly: "They dragged him into the woods and cut out his claws with a knife, and that's about it."
"But why!?" Bethany seemed as angry as she was shocked. "Why would they do such a thing!?"
"Because he helped Ander stay alive a few seconds longer. That's why."
Nilia didn't say that out of anger or bitterness, she was simply telling the truth, but the impact of those words was clearly noticeable on Ander's face. He grimaced and turned away, shutting his eyes as if he were suffering physical pain. Perhaps he felt responsible. Maybe he believed it was his fault Danado was sitting on that table, mutilated in more ways than just the physical.
Nilia regretted her thoughtless words, but it needed to be said, didn't it? They couldn't wrap every little remark in gossamer before letting it out, or they'd be sitting here for hours. Still, she would have liked to tell Ander not to feel that way. Dorin was the one who had cut out Danado's claws, not him. But she couldn't. He already had his vixen to do that, the one he had really fought and bled for, hanging onto him like a piece of moss growing on a log...
"I told you, just move on to the girl," Danado insisted. "Unlike me, she could actually use your help."
"At least let me bandage these up."
Danado finally relented and let Bethany treat his wounds. She doused his fingers and toes with a smelly brown liquid that stung the eyes and then wrapped them up in thick rolls of white cloth.
"I'm sorry I can't do more than this," she said. "I could prepare a tonic to numb the pain, maybe?"
"No, this isn't real pain. But I thank you for your help."
Bethany sighed, but somehow managed to put on a brave face for her next patient. "Hello, dear. Renna was it?"
She curled her tail around her body and nodded, looking so small Nilia wondered how on earth she had found the strength to get through that mountain pass. She was living proof that strength came in all shapes and sizes, and she wasn't being all emotional, thank the Cora.
"What happened to your face, Renna?"
"I fell out of a tree." Her answer was immediate, delivered with the care and deliberation of a well-practiced speech. "I was trying to reach a feather when I -"
"Her mother did it," Mellah cut her short. The look on her face said she was about ready to punch something.
"I thought you were her mother?"
"I wish I was. Then she wouldn't have been treated that way, and I wouldn't have had to watch on, feeling this heart-rotting guilt over not doing anything!"
"Calm down, Mellah," Sorrin said. "It's over now."
"We should have done something sooner," she whispered.
"I'm sorry..." Renna said, looking down and to the side. There was a terrible crescent shadow beneath her swollen cheek, shifting back and forth across her face with the candlelight.
"I don't want to hear those words coming out of your mouth, young missy," Bethany said. "None of this was your fault, you hear me?"
Renna nodded.
"Good. Now look up at the ceiling for me..."
Her wounds were minor, and only needed a bit of cleaning. Sometimes Renna would suck in a quick breath of air through her teeth and Bethany would whisper an apology, but other than that it was very quiet. Even the crowd gathering outside kept their murmurings low, and Nilia began to feel like she might be able to calm down a bit.
Until Ander decided to open his mouth, that was.
"You risked your life for me, Renna, jumping in like you did," he said, making Nilia groan on the inside. "Not only did you save my life, you saved my little brother, too."
No, please, Ander, no! she thought. Just leave it at that! We don't have time for all this soft nonsense!
But of course he didn't leave it at that. He just kept going, and once Ander got going with all the feelings, it was almost impossible to get him to stop. He addressed them all, his eyes roving from face to face. "I never got a chance to thank all of you for what you've done for me. If any one of you had acted differently, I wouldn't be alive today. I'm so sorry for everything you had to go through because of me. You shouldn't have been punished for being kind. I just wanted to let you know that I am truly grateful for -"
"By the Cora, shut up already!" Nilia said from her shadowy little corner, taking everyone by surprise, especially herself. Words came pouring out of her, and she was powerless to stop them, not that she wanted to. "I am so sick of you people! Everything today has either been 'I'm so sorry' or 'please forgive me' or 'thank you so much'. I'm just going to save everyone a whole lot of time and effort by saying that everyone is thankful for everything everyone in this room has done and that everyone is so sorry for all the bad things that have happened because of it. There! Everyone is sorry, everyone is thankful, the end! We've got much more important matters to worry about, and now that everyone has been doctored, I suggest we get on with it!"
Everyone stared at her, dumbfounded. Nilia shifted uncomfortably and brushed the hair out of her eyes, feeling strangely out of breath. "I know that sounded a bit crude," she admitted, "but it needed to be said. Every hour is precious."
Everyone was still staring.
Good going, Nilia, she berated herself. Everyone back home thought you were a total bitch, and now everyone over here will think the same thing.
But then, to her immense surprise, Rufio stamped his foot and said, "By the gods, miss Bearclaw's right! Normally I'm all for the touchy-feelies, but there's a time and a place for everything, and the time for that particular brand of nicety is when there isn't some shady Wolf over the mountain plotting our downfall. Now, Nilia, what do you suppose the odds are of this snake in the grass actually making a move against us?"
Nilia thought for a second, quickly regaining her composure after that unexpected (and dangerously close to embarrassing) outburst. "I'd say it's almost certain. Even if he has no lawful reason to go to war, he'll make one up, and my people will go along with it. It's just the way they are."
"His people."
"Pardon?"
"His_people." Rufio puffed on that thing between his lips, making the embers pulse. "_Your people are right here in this room, and one more sleeping down the hall. _Good_people, just like you."
"Oh." Nilia didn't quite know how to respond to that. "Right. Of course."
"So, what do you propose we do?"
She cleared her throat and got to business. "You need to gather a war council as soon as possible, preferably today."
"War council? I'm afraid we don't have such a thing."
"Just take me to your Chieftain. We need to gather all the warriors together so we can talk strategy and defence."
"We don't have any of those either."
"Don't have any of what?"
"Warriors or Chieftains. No strategy or defence either, come to think of it."
Now it was Nilia's turn to be dumbfounded. "No warriors?"
"Nope. Never had any need of them."
"No Chieftain?"
"Nope."
"But who rules over this place? Who makes the laws?" The way this Fox was simply shrugging off the things she had always believed to be the basic necessities for a functioning civilization was unfathomable.
"We don't really have any 'rulers' per say, but I suppose the closest thing would be the Elders. They're a trio of Foxes, each with his or her own area of expertise. They mediate the occasional squabble, or dole out the odd bit of advice to those who seek it, but mostly they just sit around acting important."
Not nearly good enough, but it's a start. "Where are these 'elders'?"
"The town hall, right next to the chapel. That's the big building with the pointy roof."
"All right, let's go."
"What, right now?"
"Yes, right now!" By the Cora, these Foxes were so relaxed it was driving her mad. "Ander and Sorrin, you come, too. Bethany-Kai, I can trust you to keep an eye on the others, right?"
"They're my patients, that goes without saying."
"That's good to know, but I should warn you to keep an extra watchful eye on Hezzi. He has a rather unfortunate habit of running into trouble, and I mean that quite literally."
"I sincerely doubt that boy will be 'running' anywhere in his condition."
"No, you're probably right. He's more of a sprinter, anyway."
Bethany-Kai raised her eyebrows, perhaps trying to figure out if she was joking or not.
She wasn't.
Nilia grabbed hold of the deadbolt and slid it back. "Let's go."
She pushed open the door and stepped out into the sunshine, not caring about the way dozens of curious Foxes jumped back in alarm, gasping and pointing, not even waiting to see if anyone was following her. She just wanted to get out of that stuffy wooden cube. She wanted to get away from all those strange Foxes and their alien smells. She wanted to keep moving, to stay strong, because that's what her friends needed the most right now. And most of all, she wanted to keep her distance from the one that could make her feel things that made her want to _stop_moving, that made her want to _stop_being strong.
She reached up and traced the curvature of her bear claw necklace, remembering the promise she had made all those years ago.
Be strong... no matter what...
Anything less is murder.
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