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The Gift

Edward's Storyline, Chapter 1.3

copyright comidacomida 2018

It took a few seconds for that to settle in. It wasn't much of a leap of logic to realize what he was saying. "You and the Ancient One knew he was going to rape my mom?"

Treboada nodded after a moment. "Aye-- 'e did... an' 'e asked me if ah could 'elp make it so."

The statement was a slap in the face. Staring at the Wolf, I hauled back and punched right at Treboada's muzzle. Of course part of me knew that my fist wouldn't connect; he was a spirit and I was made of flesh and blood. It was all the more surprising then when I felt my knuckles impact the hard bone of his face. His head turned aside by the blow and the resounding 'crack' was almost enough to make me wince.

The Wolf realigned his face so he could look back at me, but he continued to avoid my gaze; I saw a small trickle of blood leak from his right nostril. "Yeh got a braw rite hook, there boy-o."

It was a compliment, I knew, but I wasn't really interested in hearing him be nice to me. "Fuck you!"

I followed up the first punch with another, catching him on the other side of his muzzle with my left. I felt a distinct crack with the impact and his head was knocked the other direction; a spray of red flew from his muzzle, but the blood didn't reach the ground since it dissolved in midair. He took a step back as he steadied himself, reaching up to wipe at the dribble coming from his split lip. "Akay then... feelin' betteh, Eddie?"

My first inclination was to strike again but, as I let out a breath and readied for another attack I finally felt the incredible pain in my left hand. "Ah! Fuck!"

I grabbed for my left hand, realizing that something wasn't right when I saw the very unpleasant-looking obvious bruise on my swollen knuckle. Kneeling down, I cradled my hand as I spouted profanities. Before I knew it, Treboada had crouched in front of me. "Lemme see, boy-o... looks like yeh may'a hurt yehself."

Standing up quickly, I backpedaled from the Wolf. "Get away from me! I don't--"

My objection came to a quick end as I stepped off the path and fell right on my ass. The encounter hadn't come even close to how I'd imagined it and even my attempt to teach Treboada the error of his ways with brute force had somehow failed to give me anything more than what could have been a broken bone or two. Despite my dismissal though, the Wolf followed after me and knelt down again. "Come on, Lad. Ah know yeh think ah'm a manky dug but th' baw's on the slates-- lemme hep yeh."

I lashed out again, swinging my uninjured arm with all the grace of using it as a club but, unlike the first two times, my fist passed right through him. Losing my balance, I fell over onto the grass. Even on the ground, I resisted. "FUCK YOU!"

Treboada sighed, taking a seat right on the edge of the path. "Ah cannae do naught 'bout yeh maw, Lad. Yeh may think ah'm a right scunner an', hell mend meh, ah know it, but yeh widnae wanna go all th' way back 'ome wi' a broke hand."

Returning to cradling my injured fingers I shook my head. "What do you care? You obviously don't give a shit about humans."

Although his words carried the hint of a growl I could tell that his anger wasn't directed in an aggressive direction at me. "Dinnae think jest cuz ah had'ta stand by while yeh da put yeh in yeh maw that ah dinnae care, Eddie, cuz that's makin' me think yeh bum's oot the windae. Ah didnae help yeh maw nae means ah dinnae care."

The pain at that point had spread up to my elbow; it hurt like hell. Even as I continued to argue with the Wolf I nevertheless unwrapped my hand from my injury, resting it on my thigh as I stared down at the grossly swollen middle and ring fingers. "You said you knew that my dad was gonna rape my mom and that The Ancient One asked you to help make sure it happened."

Treboada reached out and picked my hand up, holding it so gently it was almost impossible to tell he was even touching me. I found it strange to think that this supposed 'warrior' was capable of being so careful, but I was only half paying attention to what he was saying as I continued to fight my inner battle over whether I was going to punch him again. "Yeh ain't glaikit, boy-o... think fer a minute. Jest cuz 'e ASKED meh t'elp dinnae mean ah did."

He carefully turned my hand over, inspecting it with his glinting green eyes. I watched him like a hawk as he looked at my swollen fingers. Although I could have been wrong, I was almost sure I saw his claws gleaming with the same glow as his eyes, but I was more interested in answers than tricks of the light. "Did you?"

He let out a deep breath. "In a way... yeh maw 'ad th' Rhina an' th' berr. I dinnae thin they coulda done anythin' t'protect 'er, but ah was suppose'ta get them away once she got close t'where yer da was sittin' t'make sure 'e'd get 'is chance."

The accusation seemed suitable. "So you're an accessory to rape?"

Treboada closed his eyes, letting out a breath again as he whispered "Thoir dhomh e."

It was a command, that much I could tell, but I didn't understand it in the least. A loud, crumpling crack from my hand made me jump in surprise and I looked to my fingers, which were no longer a sickly purple. There was no pain. There was no injury. I was so surprised I pulled my hand back and, even though my fingers passed through his, Treboada winced and I could see that his ring finger and middle finger on his left paw were horribly swollen. "What in the hell did you do?"

He looked at me with an almost meek, embarrassed smile, ears back and sideways. "Ah... bought mahself some time t'explain?"

It was meant as a joke, that much I could tell, but it was as much truth as it was humor; he knew that his help wasn't going to make up for what he'd done in my eyes but he hoped it would earn enough good will that I'd let him say what he wanted to say. I was tempted to tell him to get lost but, as I clenched and unclenched my healed fingers there was just enough doubt in my mind about his reasoning that I couldn't leave it at that. "Five minutes."

Despite his accent, Treboada was actually really good at getting his point of view across. He readily acknowledged that what happened to my mom had been horrible and, if there was any way for him to get what he needed without it having happened to her he never would have sat idly by and let The Ancient One get involved. Unfortunately, as he attempted to explain, neither spirit would have been able to get what it was they wanted without that life-changing event. He left it vague enough that I had to ask "What was it you two wanted that bad?"

His eyes focused on me and only me; he extended an index finger in my direction, black claw pointing right at me. "Ah needed yeh maw t'ave yeh, Lad. Plain an' simple."

I had trouble wrapping my head around that and I felt the anger return. "So... you're saying the fact that you and the Ancient One wanted me-- it's MY fault my mom got raped?"

Treboada shook his head. "Nay, Eddie... If ah'd'a thought there'd'a been any otheh way fer yeh da t'get a baern ah'd'a done ANYTHIN' t'make it 'appen... but Th' Ancient One wasn't afteh a baern back then... 'e wanted yeh maw."

Adding another level of complexity didn't help me understand. "So... you're saying that he wanted her for something and to get her she had to be... raped?"

The Wolf looked as though he was about to say something, but he interrupted himself with a soured smile and he rubbed his uninjured paw over his face and back over his head and ears. "Ah dinnae ken, Lad... when ah CAN say fer true is that Th' Ancient One's not all full right up in 'is heid... ah'm sure yeh can see that... an' in order t'make yer ma inta a Seer 'e 'ad't find a way t'make 'er as damaged as 'e is, an' that started with that day."

I leveled my gaze at him. "So... you're saying it's all HIS fault?'

Treboada sighed. "Eddie, spirits nae be th'same as yeh mortals be. We dinnae look at life th'same an' we dinnae follow th' same set o' rules as yeh mortals. 'Fault' isn't so 'alf as a big deal as 'why'."

I slowly got back to my feet, clenching and unclenching my fist. Part of me wanted to punch Treboada again but most of me realized that it wouldn't solve anything. "I don't care about why."

The big lupine spirit remained where he stood. "If it's that important to yeh, why not jest point a fingeh at yeh da?"

Letting out a breath between my clenched teeth I was starting to think that the small part of me was going to win out and my hand turned into a fist again. "Because you just said that you and The Ancient One had a--"

Treboada licked the blood from his lip. "Eddie... if yeh dad'd been a betteh man then 'e wouldnae done what 'e did. Nothin' ah did an' nothin Th' Ancient One did changed that or made it 'appen."

That single statement finally made sense-- more than just about anything else he'd said up until that point. A small, unflinching and unrelenting part of me still forced me to press the issue. "But you benefitted from it, and you helped it happen."

The Wolf blinked and, for just a moment, I thought I saw a glimmer of purple comingled with the green of his softly glowing eyes. "Aye... that ah did."

I began walking back toward the car. "So is it that hard to understand that I'm angry?"

Remaining right where he was, Treboada called after me. "Ah knew it from th' start, Eddie... ah knew ye'd do yer dinger an' 'ave at me."

Stopping after a few steps I--