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23

Ander knew Hezzi wouldn't be able to forgive him. Banno was more of a god to him than even the Cora. Slaying that god must have turned him into the foulest demon imaginable, fully deserving of all the pain and torture the tribe could deliver.

But still, watching his broken bow slice through the air in a lethal arc, wielded by a Wolf who was normally so happy and energetic, but now wore a mask of pure rage...

It frightened him more than anything else that could have happened this night. To see Hezzi completely consumed by anger only confirmed the one thing his heart so stubbornly refused to believe up until now.

This really was the end for him. He couldn't save Banno, and he couldn't save Hezzi, but at least Kiana and her family would be safe. If his death could buy that, then surely this would all have been worth it...

Ander was so sure of the unbearable pain he was about to experience that he didn't at first realize that Hezzi's swing was coming up short. The tip of the bow whooshed down less than a finger's breadth from his face. Ander was so stunned, he thought his eyes must be playing a trick on him. He was sure that the small fountain of blood splurting up onto his chin must belong to him, even though he couldn't feel any pain apart from his previous wounds. Yes, that was the only logical explanation. Hezzi had forgone a target as mundane as his eye and went straight for his throat instead. He could see Hezzi's fist, so close it was almost touching his nose. He was holding onto that broken piece of wood so tightly it was almost vibrating, and his fingers were covered in fresh blood.

That has to be mine, Ander thought incoherently. Hezzi punctured my throat and now I'm bleeding to death. Maybe I'm already dead. That must be why it doesn't hurt...

The truth only struck home when Garten let out a bloodcurdling scream right into Ander's ear, and Hezzi countered with a shout even louder. "You get the hell away from my brother_!!_"

Hezzi pushed out with both arms and suddenly the pressure around Ander's neck was gone. He twisted around just in time to see Garten fall flat on his back, the broken piece of bow sticking out of his spurting arm like a bizarre wooden claw, the other half dragging along the dirt by the string.

The crowd was even more stunned than Ander was, their enraptured chanting cut off midsentence.

But Ander had no time to think about any of this. Before he knew it, Hezzi had thrown himself into Ander's arms, crying like he hasn't done since he was a pup.

"I'm sorry, Ander!" Hezzi sobbed against his chest, his tears mingling with the drying blood in his fur. "This is all my fault! I should have listened!"

Ander returned his brother's embrace as best he could, but all he could manage was a clumsy one-armed hug (his bitten shoulder simply hurt too much to lift). "No, no, it's okay, Hezzi. None of this is your faul -"

"Yes it is!" he screamed, his shoulders heaving. Ander could feel every word against his chest in a hot rush of air. "If I had li- listened to you at the river, none of this would have ha- happened! I wouldn't have told anybody a- about Banno! Nobody would have f- found out what happened!"

"Hezzi..."

"But I ran away like a coward! Y- You're sitting here half-dead be- because of me!"

Garten was howling like a madwolf, holding his bleeding arm up to the sky, but that would not last. Ander had to think of something quick, or else Hezzi might end up even worse off, something the crowd was already making quite apparent.

"Booooo!"

"What on earth are you doing!?"

"He did that on purpose!"

"You want to join your brother in Hell, boy!?"

As much as Ander would have liked to hold on to the brother he thought he had lost forever, there was simply no time for any touching brotherly reunions. He gave Hezzi a quick squeeze, then gently pushed him to arm's length so they could speak properly. "I appreciate you not gouging out my eye with my own bow, Hezzi, but you just got yourself into a huge heap of trouble."

"I don't care!" Hezzi shouted, shaking his head so hard his ears flapped from side to side. "I am sick of having everyone tell me what to do! I am sick of listening to what everybody else says is right and wrong! I'm sick of relying on every other Wolf to make my decisions for me!"

"Hezzi?" Ander didn't really know what to make of this.

"Together, you and Banno always knew everything! You could always do anything! Compared to you two, I was always just a useless runt!"

"That's not -"

"That's why I never thought it was a big deal to look to my brothers for all the answers, because even if you were at completely opposite ends, both of you still managed to be right somehow! Always!"

Garten's screaming had stopped.

"Hezzi, we really don't have time for this!"

"But then I was all alone! And every decision I made was wrong because I never learned to think for myself! All I could do was listen to the rest of the tribe, talking about what a monster you were for killing Banno, and I agreed with them! I agreed because I hated you, Ander! I hated you!" Hezzi's shoulders slumped, and he covered his eyes with the crook of his elbow to hide his tears. "I hated you so much... all I could think about was getting revenge for Banno. It's exactly the opposite of what you've been trying to teach me over the years, but I couldn't help it. I thought you killed him because you hated this entire tribe and would do anything to get away from it, but that's not true. Because I couldn't think for myself, all I had to go on was what I saw that night - what I thought I saw - and the words of this tribe. There's so much hate here, Ander. Hate everywhere you look! But even when Banno tried to kill you, you didn't let it touch you. You didn't want to kill him. You were trying to _save_him! I believe you, Ander. I believe everything!"

Did Ander really think there wasn't enough time for this? Who was he trying to fool? It's not like there was anywhere for them to go, or anything they could do. No matter how he looked at it, he could end up dead at any minute, maybe even Hezzi, too.

He hugged his little brother one final time, ignoring the jeers from the crowd, and said, "But you're thinking for yourself now, aren't you? That's enough, Hezzi. That's more than enough. I'm just glad to know you don't hate me anymore."

Ander could feel Hezzi's arms tighten painfully around his neck and shoulders, but he didn't mind.

"I... I broke the carving you made for me..." Hezzi said in a small voice.

"That's okay, I'll make you a new one once this is all over."

"Promise?"

"I -"

You really shouldn't be making promises you can't keep... Banno's voice came floating out of his memory, a tormenting ghost that just won't stay dead.

"I promise," Ander said. "I'll definitely make you a new one."

"Okay."

"Now come on, we can't stay down here forever." Ander intended to pull Hezzi back to his feet, but it ended up the other way around, with Ander leaning on Hezzi for support. He's been lightheaded before, but this time it felt like his head was hovering way higher than it should be, somewhere above his body, and the ground was down lower, too. This made him feel like he was constantly on the verge of toppling over, and Hezzi had to struggle just to keep him steady.

Ander looked down and saw Hezzi's clean, grey fur already streaked with hazy smears of semi-dry blood.

Now that's_mine_, Ander thought. Just how much blood have I lost over the past... Wait, how long has it been anyway?

Ander glanced up at the moon again, but his sense of direction was all messed up. He couldn't tell which way was West, but the way things have been going lately, he wouldn't be surprised if the moon suddenly decided to float backwards.

"You little bastard..." Garten growled, getting back to his feet. He grabbed the broken bow and ripped it out of his arm in a furious jerk, sparing it only the briefest of glances before hurling it into the fire. The animal glue holding the strips of wood together quickly ignited, filling the air with a pungent smoke even Ander could smell through his broken, blood clogged nose.

Garten started to pluck splinters from his wound, roughly tweezing them out with his clumsy, shaking fingers, muttering "You little bastard," each time he extricated one of the tiny crimson spears from his flesh.

"Hezzi, get back to Father," Ander said, wondering, not for the first time, where his father had disappeared to. Shouldn't he have spoken up the moment Hezzi decided to attack Garten? Or even when Garten first issued that grisly order? Where the hell was he? Did something happen while he was knocked out?

Hezzi shook his head furiously. "No way!"

"Hezzi, please. Now is not the time to -"

"Look what happened the last time you sent me away! If they want to kill you, then they'll just have to kill me, too!"

"Run away, Hezzi! I mean it!"

"I ran away once before, but I won't do that again!"

Ander didn't think the crowd could possibly get any more irate than it already was, but this unexpected display of brotherhood in the middle of what was supposed to be an execution was pushing them far beyond the limits of normal anger and into the frenzied realms of insanity. The things they were screaming... it was as if Hezzi had taken all their hatred onto himself and increased it ten-fold.

"He's a traitor!"

"If he wants to stand by his brother, let him fall with his brother!"

"Cut off his head!"

"Aye! Put it on a pike and let the buzzards peck it clean!"

"Skin him alive, then cut off his head!"

The innermost line of Wolves slowly started to advance, making the already small circle shrink considerably with each step.

Ander backed away towards the fire, where they wouldn't have to worry about being attacked from behind. He kept Hezzi close by his side, trying to look everywhere all at once.

"The rest of you stay out of this!" Garten roared, swiping furiously at the Wolves encroaching on what he viewed as his territory. "They're mine, you hear me!? They're both mine! That little bastard will get what's coming to him! I swear to the Cora he'll regret ever raising his hand against me! You hear that, Hezzi, you little runt bastard!? You honestly think you can cut my arm and get away with it!? I'm coming for you, pup! I'm coming to rip you apart!"

Ander quickly stepped between Garten and Hezzi. His vision was still a bit fuzzy, but there wasn't anything he could do about that. What he could do was his duty as an older brother, and that duty was to keep his little brother safe, even if his own body was on the verge of failing. If he could buy enough time, maybe Father could come and put a stop to -

"Wait!"

That voice was familiar, but it didn't belong to Father. Ander didn't want to take his eyes off Garten, standing so close a single lunge would put him within striking distance, but what his ears told him simply didn't match up with what his brain knew to be true, so he had no choice but to turn his head slightly in order to confirm it.

Out of all the Wolves, the one who had spoken up was...

Danado.

"I mean..." He looked around nervously from Wolf to Wolf, all of them staring at him with their murderous gazes, perhaps realizing that he wasn't part of the crowd anymore, he was separate now, on his own, just like Ander and Hezzi in the middle of the circle. "What I mean is," Danado stammered on, apparently oblivious of his sister's fevered whispers to shut up, shut up, shut up! "Okay, so um... So what if Hezzi doesn't want to hurt his brother? I mean, isn't that what Ander's being punished for in the first place? And now you want him to do the same thing? That just sounds a little... I dunno. Silly, maybe? I think you all should just leave him alone - Mmff!"

Lana clapped a hand over her brother's suicidal mouth. "Please ignore my moronic little brother everyone!" she said, flashing her most winning smile. "He's being particularly _stupid_today! Isn't that right, Dan?"

It looked like Danado might have wanted to say something more, but a sharp poke to the ribs quickly turned any objections into a swift nod and a muffled "Uh-humph."

Well, so much for that sparkling ray of hope. If only there was something he could use, something to even the odds...

Wait! What happened to the spear? The one that was lying with its head in the fire? Ander was pretty out of it when he first saw it, so he couldn't remember exactly where it was, or even if it was just a figment of his rock-bashed imagination, but if he could get his hands on it, then maybe...

He quickly glanced down at his feet, as if wanting it badly enough could make it magically appear within reach. No such luck.

His eyes darted back to Garten, who was still inching ever closer, circling around slightly to the right, probably to keep from diving face first into the inferno in case his pounce failed, and then Ander's gaze went back to skirting along the coal speckled edge of the bonfire. There was nothing along the left curve, but to the right...

Dorin was standing there with a smug smile on his face and a long wooden shaft in his hand, one end resting on top of his shoulder, the other stuck in the fire. He noticed Ander watching him and actually gave him a cheeky wave just as Garten stepped between them, effectively killing any possibility for Ander to somehow make a grab for it.

"Don't be getting any dangerous ideas now," Garten said. "Hey, Dorin, how's it coming along?"

Dorin pulled the spear out of the fire in a small cascade of hot coals. The metallic head left a burning afterglow in the air as he flipped it around to inspect the bright red tip. He gave it a quick puff and the metal briefly turned a blinding yellow before fading back to its dull, throbbing red, a single golden spark still clinging to its surface, making it look like a demonic eye. "It's not going to get any hotter than this, Sai," he said.

"Good, good," Garten said and eagerly took the spear out of Dorin's hands.

Ander could see that the wooden shaft was black and charred where it attached to the head, which meant that the metal must be quite hot indeed. But how could this be allowed to happen? Those that were thrown to the Wolves were supposed to be punished by the Wolves, and only the Wolves, not the weapons wielded by them. It was supposed to be raw and animalistic, but there were still rules, rules that were now being broken.

What did this mean? Where the hell was Father!?

"I'll ask you not to use that, Garten," Nilia said, suddenly making her presence known with a single, authoritative step into the circle. The crude oval line drawn by the bodies of the Wolves was so well defined, it almost felt like she was trespassing.

"And I'll ask you to keep your filthy mouth shut, Nilia," Garten retorted, his eyes never leaving Ander's.

"The laws of this punishment are clear. It was a stretch even to allow that broken bow, but this is clearly going too far. If you have any respect for -"

"I have respect for many things, Nilia, but you are not one of them! Go on, spout your drivel about our laws all you want and see what happens. If you're not careful, you might end up the same as our beloved chieftain."

"What did you do to my father!?" Ander bellowed, suddenly furious.

"Oh, I didn't do anything," Garten said, grinning from ear to ear. "Truthfully, I have no idea who did. After I knocked you out (which felt damn good by the way), the Chieftain got it in his head that killing you while you were unable to defend yourself would be poor sport, so he fought his way over here to demand we give you enough time to recuperate. Not surprising what happened, considering the way he was pushing and shoving everyone out of his way."

"What?" Ander demanded. "What happened?"

"Isn't it obvious? He got knocked out! A sneaky punch came in from out of nowhere before he could even make it halfway through. Everybody is packed together so tightly it's rather hard to tell where one Wolf ends and the next begins, so nobody saw who did it. Bit of an eyesore really, seeing the chieftain being dragged away like that, but still better than watching him beg for your life. Amazing, how far he's fallen in the space of a single night, and it's all _your_doing."

No, that couldn't be true. No one would dare attack the Chieftain of the Wolves, and even if they did, Father was tough. It would take more than a single punch just to bring him down to his knees, much less knock him out completely. It would take a whole group of Wolves to do that, but even in such a worst case scenario, the warriors would have put a stop to it. They couldn't have lost so much respect for him that they would just watch him get pummelled, would they? They wouldn't...

They wouldn't have raised their own fists against him, right?

Ander looked down at Hezzi, but his face didn't paint a very reassuring picture. His ears lay flat, and his eyes were down on the ground. He must have seen what had happened, but why wasn't he saying anything?

Although more reserved than Hezzi, Nilia had a similar downcast look about her, and it was this that finally convinced Ander that Garten was telling the truth. Nilia could go through the saddest funerals or witness the most beautiful courtship ceremonies, all while wearing identical expressions of stone, as if she was completely untouched by the world around her. To see her with even a hint of sadness was the equivalent of a normal Wolf bursting into tears.

"I'd be more worried about myself if I were you, Ander," Garten said, staring at the glowing triangle in front of him as if mesmerised. He carefully touched the tip with his finger and jerked it back, testing its heat. He repeated this process a few times, his smile growing wider with each sting. "Hmm... that's good..." he said, ran his finger across his tongue, and then rubbed his thumb across the rapidly forming blister, massaging his saliva across the wound. "That's very good..."

"You're nowhere near as bad as Banno was," Ander said, "but you're still sick in the head, Garten!"

Garten paused, a frown slowly appearing across his brow. "That trick won't work on me twice, Ander."

"I'm not trying to play a trick on you. I'm just stating a fact. The rest of these Wolves might not have noticed, maybe because they're all just like you, but you're slowly going insane, and Banno's death only made it worse. Maybe everyone in this tribe is going - No, they have gone insane! All of you!" Ander wasn't just speaking to Garten anymore, but to all of them, all the Wolves. "There's not a shred of rationality to be found among you! Not a speck of common sense! Not an ounce of decency! I know there are a few rare exceptions among you, but if I were to thank them by name it would only cause them harm, all because of you! Still, I think they know who they are, and they know I speak of them, even if not directly. But the rest of you..."

Ander hasn't been speaking for long, but he was already starting to get dizzy again. It felt like his words were consuming his air faster than he could breathe it in. The whole world was swimming. He squeezed Hezzi's shoulder and carried on, because he had to finish this. He _had_to. "You call yourselves Wolves. Proud warriors, noble hunters, cunning trackers, but those are all lies. You're really nothing more than a pack of wild animals!"

Some Wolves booed, but most of them didn't seem to care at all.

"Was that supposed to be an insult, Ander?" Garten said, slowly waving the spear back and forth in front of his eyes, drawing glowing arcs through the air. "Because I would much rather be an insane animal than a snivelling coward, like that little brother of yours..."

"What did you call me!?" Hezzi shouted, baring his teeth. Ander squeezed his shoulder a little tighter, but if Hezzi lost his cool, there's no telling what he might do. Ander was thankful that Hezzi really was still Hezzi, the little brother who was always tagging along after him and Banno, but there were major differences now, things that couldn't be ignored. Before this debacle, Hezzi would have been sent reeling at the mere thought of an exalted warrior calling him a snivelling coward, but now he was grinding his teeth together in anger, a low growling coming from deep inside his throat. The fur along his neck was standing up in untidy spikes.

So it's touched him after all..._Ander thought sadly. _Banno's death, and the things I've said...

"You heard me, boy!" Garten snarled, showing his own teeth in return, which were a sickly yellow, and considerably larger than Hezzi's. "You were too afraid to save your brother while you still had the time! You were too afraid to avenge him immediately after that, even though the murderer was tired and wounded!"

"Don't listen to him, Hezzi," Ander whispered. "He's just trying to make you angry."

"A few minutes ago you were too afraid to do your duty! Eye for an eye, pup! Banno must be ashamed! And now? Now!? Now you hide behind this treacherous piece of filth, like a cub clinging to his mother's teat!"

The moment those words left Garten's gap-toothed maw, Ander knew what would happen. He could see it play out in front of him like a ghastly dream, a wicked premonition made even crueller by the infinitesimal gap between itself and reality, leaving him no time to do anything to change the outcome he could see flying towards him at an impossible speed.

Hezzi shrugged off Ander's grip and went straight for Garten, screaming, moving with the exceptional quickness he was named after.

Ander tried to grab him, to stop him, but as he reached out, a blinding pain tore through his injured shoulder and he only managed to grab empty air.

"Hezzi, no!" Ander screamed, but it was already too late.

What happened next was something Ander had hoped to never see again, but the whole world was slowing down in his eyes, as if a sadistic higher power wanted him to see every gut-wrenching detail.

Slobber was flying from Hezzi's teeth, streaming backwards as he foolishly sped towards the inevitable conclusion.

Garten calmly took his stance, waited for just the right moment, and then swept his spear across Hezzi's stomach. The glowing metal instantly charred the fur from his body as the tip cleaved open his skin, leaving a gushing red line from one side of his body to the other, steaming ever so slightly in the cold night air.

Somehow, Hezzi remained standing for a while, staring down at the torrent of blood flowing down his waist, staining his pants. He blinked a few times, as if he had just woken from a very long dream, and said: "I... "

That was all he could manage.

He fell backwards, kicking up a small cloud of dust as his back hit the ground and even more blood splurted from his wound, shooting straight up into the air like a backwards waterfall from hell.

He whimpered once, slowly curled his tail between his legs, brought his knees up to his chest...

... and lay still.

---

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