Ander - Part 6: Subchapter 76
76
Just like Nilia, Banno appeared to be at a standstill, but in reality he was concentrating incredibly hard. His focus, however, was not aimed at the Wolves or the Foxes (he couldn't care less about what might be going on in whatever passed for a mind inside their fake heads), but at everything else. The mountain, the pass running through it like a birth canal, the snow beneath his feet, and, most importantly, the wall they had built to block his way. There was something off about it, something vaguely unsettling, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. Something about this whole setup was just wrong.
But what?
Was it the things Dorin had said? About them being blocked off on three sides? About the Foxes having the high ground? About them being at an extreme disadvantage? No. None of those things bothered him in the slightest. They made sense. They followed the rules. They simply were the way they were. No... there was something else here, something that didn't make any sense whatsoever. It jagged on his brain like a sharp piece of metal, but what was it!?
A lot of the Foxes kept stealing glances at the sky, filled with darkness as well as clouds, giving birth to millions upon millions of snowflakes drifting down like ash. Or maybe it was the mountain they were looking at, looming over them all like the 'god' Mother loved so much.
Banno's eye scanned the sheer cliff faces, but it was impossible to see anything. The only light came from the dinky little torches lining the wall and the signal fire halfway up the mountain, and even that only illuminated a bunch of snow-covered rocks for a dozen strides or so.
It's not the mountain. The mountain makes sense. There's something else here, something that shouldn't be, something not right, something wrong...
Banno's eye kept coming back to the wall. Not the Wolves or the Foxes lining the wall, but the wall itself. It was practically identical to the one back home, so why did it bother him so much?
It's wrong, somehow. Something about it shouldn't be the way it is. Something about it doesn't make sense.
Banno frowned. The ache in his head was coming back in rhythmic pulses, speeding up as his anger and frustration grew. He kept looking for something that made this wall different from the one back home, something that stood out, but he couldn't find it. There was only that infuriating knowledge that something about it was wrong. It was like an itch in his mind that he simply could not reach, and it was driving him mad!
And then he saw it. All at once, the answer came to him in a flash of insight. He couldn't find anything different about this wall because there was no difference, and that's what was wrong with it! The wall back home encircled their tribe, and that made perfect sense. This wall, however, was supposed to block off the pass, and yet it also had a curve to it, like a slice taken out of a circle. This also made sense, at first glance, because a curve made for a longer wall, and that meant more archers could line the top, but it was all wrong! All wrong! Such a curve was supposed to bulge out of the pass, so that each archer could have a clear line of view of the entire killing field. This curve, however, was bulging into the pass, severely limiting the effective angles each archer could shoot at.
But why? If Ander built this (and Banno could only assume he did) then how could he make such a stupid, impractical mistake?
Why would he build a wall curving inwards? Why would he build a wall that crippled any offensive power they might have had otherwise?
Why?
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