Ander - Part 6: Subchapter 48
48 "No..." It was all Dorin could think to say. From this angle, the Pit was no more than a crumbling hole in the ground, bordered by dozens upon dozens of frosted chains feeding into the blackness like a metallic spider's web, but he knew what was...
Ander - Part 6: Subchapter 47
47 "Line them up. Just like that, yeah." "Are we really going to...?" "What?" "Nothing." Dorin's face felt hot on the inside, but freezing cold on the outside. He was wet and shivering. He didn't understand what was going on. Why was everything...
Ander - Part 6: Subchapter 46
46 A lot happened in the moments following Wardo's 'verdict', and Dorin saw it all. He saw Ivio, Aisa, and Denko looking at each other, each of them feeling the same fear, the same despair, the same hopelessness. He saw his people - the Wolves he had...
Ander - Part 6: Subchapter 45
45 The silence was deafening. Everyone's gaze kept switching back and forth between Dorin, standing tall, his challenge hanging in the air, and Wardo, blood slowly dripping down his chin. The Chieftain reached up and wiped the gore away, leaving a...
Ander - Part 6: Subchapter 44
44 Dorin felt like a huge weight was slowly melting off his shoulders. He was never one for fancy speeches, but... he thought that one went okay. Maybe a bit long, especially after he said there wouldn't be any more speeches, but... okay. _The choice...
Ander - Part 6: Subchapter 43
43 "A few days ago, in the woods," Dorin began, feeling his heartbeat speed up inside his chest, thudding against his open palm. "I tried to kill myself." Even Wardo was taken aback by that little revelation, his furious scowl momentarily dissolving...
Ander - Part 6: Subchapter 42
42 For a moment, there was silence. Then the jeering began. Wolves scoffed and made rude hand gestures, yelling curses and foul insults. "Not this again!?" "We've waited long enough!" "If you're too scared to fight, you can go home and curl up with...
Ander - Part 6: Subchapter 41
41 Dorin wasn't ready for this, but time had run out. There would be no more stalling, no more planning, and no more hesitating. Wardo was in one of the northern watchtowers. From high up there he could look down on everyone, and force everyone down...
Ander - Part 6: Subchapter 40
40 There was chaos all around him, terrible and familiar, a gut-wrenching return to that awful night that started it all - the night of Ander's trial. There was no bonfire this time, but everything else was the same: the jostling crowds of ecstatic...
Ander - Part 6: Subchapter 39
39 "You expect me to drink this clean? You poured half a bottle in here!" "Half a bottle fer a half-dead idjit, makes perfect sense to me. Now swallow the damn thing 'fore you pass out again!" James regarded the amber liquid sloshing around inside...
Ander - Part 6: Subchapter 38
38 "Father? You awake? Helloooo? Cooey?" Jon dug his face deeper into the pillow and pretended to be asleep. "I know you're awake, Father. Sleeping Foxes don't try so hard to appear to be sleeping." "Eeeeeergh... warrayawanna?" he mumbled. There...
Ander - Part 6: Subchapter 37
37 The sun hadn't come up yet, but the eastern horizon already had a reddish tinge to it, like blood mixed with tears. Ander could feel all that time dripping through his fingers, gone forever. He paced the wall, lantern in hand, occasionally...