Ander - Chapter 1, Subchapter 1
Ander By Contrast For Kestral, who gave me the courage to try something a little different. Chapter 1 The Bonds of Blood 1 He could smell it coming, bounding through the woods. He could smell its fear. Even worse, he could smell the...
Ander - Part 4: Subchapter 1
Chapter 4 Dark Nights 1 ... down... down... down into the freezing darkness. He couldn't see it, but he could certainly hear it roaring inside his ears, impossibly loud, but also muffled, like the death gargles of a giant choking on its own...
Ander - Part 4: Subchapter 7
7 "How's the cut?" Kadai asked, eyeing the long brown line of animal grease across his son's midsection. "What cut?" Hezzi replied, the smile on his face forced, but _there_. It was the only piece of good news Kadai has gotten all morning. His drisa...
Ander - Part 4: Subchapter 6
6 Valery... her name was Valery... Why did he think she had said Vallah? The names were similar, but... Banno pushed the thought away and stuffed the last piece of meat into his mouth. He reached for the pot of water by his side, almost knocked it...
Ander - Part 4: Subchapter 5
5 "Food? I don't want food!" Banno said, not sure if any of his words were even breaking through the haze. It felt like he was underwater again, but _dirty_ water, stagnant water that's been left to breed mosquitoes in some shady corner of the forest,...
Ander - Part 4: Subchapter 2
2 - gasped for breath, his remaining eye open and staring. His first instinct was to get up, to get moving, to lash out, but he felt... tired... so tired... like he could barely move his arms. Banno closed his eye and took a long, slow breath,...
Ander - Part 3: Subchapter 40
40 He'd see it occasionally, leaping through the mist, running through the underbrush, weaving its way between the trees. Sometimes it would stop and wait for him before darting on again. The scratches on its back were completely gone now. They...
Ander - Part 3: Subchapter 34
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,...
Ander - Part 3: Subchapter 36
36 Ander thought he would surely black out again, but he didn't. Maybe he was in too much pain to black out, if that even made sense. Lying on the ground, he knew the wound in his chest was bleeding again. The blood was warm, but the morning air was...
Ander - Part 3: Subchapter 35
35 ...go." Kadai sucked in air between his clenched teeth, this wretched feeling inside caught somewhere between outright anger and irrepressible sorrow. He couldn't tell whether he wanted to embrace his son or punch him in the face. He looked up at...
Ander - Part 3: Subchapter 41
41 _Enka_. _It wasn't enough. It wasn't nearly enough. There was something missing, something vitally important, but I couldn't figure out what..._ That's what Father had said back in his tent. Before... before everything. Looking at it now, Ander...
Ander - Part 3: Subchapter 39
39 It felt like Ander had been walking for hours. He didn't know this path, but he could see the tip of the Cora through the gaps in the canopy, a hazy grey tooth pointed at the sun, shining down through the mist like a white hole in the sky. There...