Ander - Part 1: Subchapter 29
29
This was turning into quite a shlog of a night for Hezzi. After all the trouble he went through to help out, Ander simply told him to get back to the village (ordered was more like it), but when he finally got back there, the next guard shift had already begun. He couldn't just walk up to the gates, not without having some serious explaining to do.
What was I doing outside the walls just now, you ask? Oh, nothing. Couldn't sleep, so I decided to sneak out and have myself a little midnight walk in the rain. Nothing to worry about, my good friend.
Thinking back now, flying over the underbrush and ducking underneath low-hanging branches, Hezzi supposed he could have just waited two hours for the next shift change. But, then again, waiting has never been one of his strong suites. If there's something that absolutely must be waited for, he'd much rather go and do something else while he waited for it, rather than sit around and do nothing. Saves time. Time to do things. It's the doing he's always believed himself to be rather good at, even though his brothers and Father didn't always notice.
Take this here for example. Instead of waiting around like an idiot for two hours doing nothing, he'd go and check out the river real quick. It occurred to him that after all this rain it'll probably be flowing much stronger than usual, so that's a plus. If Ander and the Fox (What was her name? Kanaya? Nayaka? Yakana?) were still there, trying to cross, he might be able to help out after all! That'd show his big brother he wasn't just some pup anymore. He didn't even care if it was just some useless busy-job he'd end up getting either, like holding onto a piece of rope or something. The point was being there, doing something. Being useful.
But on the other paw, Ander was ridiculously clever. Seriously, sometimes the stuff he dreamed up made Hezzi wonder what on earth goes on in that skull of his, and why whatever was in there goes on the way it does. So, there's a very real possibility that Ander already figured out some ingenious way to cross the river (if just wading across was out of the question). But even so, it was still worth checking out just for the assurance that Ander did indeed manage to cross over safely and whisk Nayaki (or whatever her name was) to safety.
And speaking of whisking damsels in distress across rivers, Hezzi thought he might be hearing said river right now, rumbling somewhere ahead.
"Wow, that's loud!" he said, running full tilt. If that noise was anything to go by, growing louder and louder by the second like it was, then the river must be just about ready to burst its banks! Even if Ander and Yanaki were long gone, he might stay around for a few minutes, lob branches into the river and watch them race along the surface and bounce off the boulders. Maybe check and see which ones moved the fastest. Ander was always checking stuff like that. Of course, he was usually able to come up with reasons for why stuff tended to happen the way that they did, something that Hezzi still had trouble with, but maybe if he -
What was that?
Hezzi froze in mid-stride, his ears pricked. He listened for a while, but all he could come up with was the soft patter of rain and the much louder roar of the river. He was just about to get going when he heard it again. It sounded like... growling? It was difficult to make out because of its similarity to the sound of the river, but that was definitely growling. Loudest damn growling he had ever heard.
Hezzi hesitated, not sure what to do, but then there came a new sound, unmistakable. It was screaming, and it sounded like the Fox!
Without giving it a second thought, Hezzi tore through the forest, running faster than he had ever run, weaving through the trees with barely any conscious effort, praying to the Cora that he would reach them in time...
This has been the 29th subchapter in my serial novel, "Ander". If you enjoyed it, please help keep my face un-mauled by irritable ostriches by dropping me a donation. Thank you! ^_^
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