Ander - Part 5: Subchapter 20
20
The entire tribe was gathered in the centre of the village, beneath the shadow of the Cora statue. Even Danado was there, wearing thick leather gloves and footwraps, but he still needed his sister to support him. Hezzi couldn't even imagine what they must be going through right now.
"How are you doing, Dan?" Lana said, glaring daggers at anyone who strayed too close.
"I'm fine, Lana. And I can stand by myself for a while."
"I know you can, but just hang onto me anyway, okay?"
Hezzi worked his way to the front of the crowd, where he'd be able to see exactly what was going on, and although he would have preferred to make her keep her distance, Renna followed right behind him. Nothing he could do about that except pray she wouldn't try to stop him when the time came.
Wardo was standing in front of the Cora's right foot, grinning like a smug child, drinking in all the attention from the sea of faces before him. Mother was standing to the left, a ceremonial necklace in her hands. It was made with the teeth and claws of bears, the talons of owls and hawks, and the tusks of wild boars, and in Hezzi's humble opinion, it was gaudy as all hell.
"I can see why your father never wore that thing," Renna whispered.
"Yeah. I can bet Wardo will, though. And not just for special occasions. He'll wear it every day, just to remind everybody he's Chieftain now. And to rub it in all our faces."
Mother raised the necklace up into the air and the soft murmuring of the crowd quickly died down.
"It has been two months since Kadai left us, two full cycles of the moon," she said, speaking straight up into the air. Whether she was talking to the necklace or the statue or the sky itself was difficult to say. "Two months since he breathed his last breath, two months since we released his spirit to the all-powerful Cora. Kadai, mag yo siel vrede vind."
Wolves nodded their heads, and some even made to wipe away their tears, as if they weren't the ones who had cursed his name and spat in his face in the last days of his life. Hypocrites. Every last one of them. Hezzi loathed them with a passion, but he did not let himself become angry over it. Useless anger was the tool of a powerless pup, and he was most certainly not powerless. Not anymore.
He reached out and took Renna's hand, weaving their fingers together.
"How are you holding up?" she asked.
"I'm okay."
Mother shook the necklace above her head, making all the parts jingle and clatter like a rattlesnake. "The time for mourning is over, and the time to move on has come! As you all know, I love my last son very, very much, and so did Kadai. But Hezzi is too young and inexperienced to lead our tribe, and that is why Kadai wished for the burden to pass to an older, wiser Wolf, a Wolf who will be able to protect our tribe from danger and keep our village safe in these difficult times. And also..." The broken shadow of the necklace passed over her face in long, sharp gashes, creating a pattern not unlike the rattlesnake that had slithered through Hezzi's imagination mere moments ago. "...A Wolf who will crush our enemies beneath his heel without mercy, remorse, or pity."
Hezzi frowned. He's never witnessed this ceremony in his lifetime, but he was almost positive that last bit wasn't traditional. But then again, this situation wasn't exactly typical, and the crowd seemed to be liking it just fine.
Mother lowered her white gaze. "Wardo, come here."
Wardo obliged, his smile growing even wider, if that was possible.
"Kneel." He knelt at her feet and Mother stuck out her hand, reaching blindly for his head. After two or three missed tries, Wardo took her hand and guided it himself, placing it on top of his head.
"Wardo, do you swear on your honour to uphold the pride of our people as our new Chieftain?"
"I swear it."
"Do you swear on your blood to keep our families safe from harm?"
"I swear it."
"Do you swear on your life to keep and uphold our laws and traditions?"
"I swear it."
"Do you swear on your very soul to rip out the throats and bleed dry any who seek to do us wrong? Do you swear to gouge out their eyes and cut out their tongues? Do you swear to skin their children alive and hang their carcasses to rot as a symbol to all who would oppose us?"
Okay, that last bit was definitely not part of the traditional oath. Hezzi discreetly checked the crowd, but apart from some of the oldest Wolves who had their eyebrows raised, no one seemed to be making a big deal out of it.
"I swear it."
With foamy slobber dripping from the corner of her mouth, Shekka slipped the necklace over Wardo's head, finishing the oath. "Then rise now, Wardo, as our new Chieftain."
Wardo practically jumped to his feet and a tumultuous cheer rang up from the crowd, almost deafening. He pumped his fists in the air, making the necklace's teeth bounce up and down against the trio of scars running across his chest.
"Thank you!" he shouted. "Thank you so much!"
"Speech! Speech! Speech!" they chanted, clapping their hands in rhythm to their voices.
Hezzi closed his eyes and took a deep breath, calming himself for what he was about to do. He didn't know exactly when the right time would be, or how he should go about it, but he did know that the right to do it was his the moment that necklace touched Wardo's dirty neck.
"My people!" Wardo said, raising his hands in the air. "Thank you for giving me this huge honour! Or perhaps I should give most of my thanks to Kadai, our honoured Chieftain of so many years."
Anger flared up inside him at the mention of his father's name. How dare this charlatan speak the name of Kadai with that serpent's tongue? But now wasn't the time. Not yet. Hezzi wanted to know what this Wolf would say next.
"I was just as surprised as you to hear that Kadai had named me Chieftain. Although, looking back on it now, I shouldn't have been. After all that has happened, after all the terrible tragedies that have befallen us under his rule, truly, I am the only logical choice to lead us back to where we once were, out of the putrid hole he had dug in his last few weeks."
Now that the main ceremony was over, the other Wolves were starting to become more chatty amongst themselves, speaking about things of which they had no real understanding.
"Kadai was a good Chieftain overall, but he lost it completely near the end."
"Yeah, he went completely soft. Can't say I blame him, but a Wolf in his position can't afford such a luxury."
"Soft? Your words are too kind, Sethi. He went weak. No wonder the Cora struck him down. I am no fan of Wardo, but maybe now things will go back to normal."
Hezzi could feel the anger boiling up inside of him, making his ears feel hot and his chest tight. None of these Wolves knew what they were talking about. None of them understood the sacrifices his father had made on a daily basis, all for them. If his spirit really did dwell on the mountain tops like Mother said it did, then he was thankful this day was so cloudy. If he could see what his people thought of him right now, then surely it would break his heart. They were the most ungrateful, undeserving swarm of parasites to ever walk this earth. No, that was giving them too much credit. At least a parasite has the decency to numb your skin before it stings you...
"Hezzi?" Renna said, a pained expression on her face. "You're kind of hurting me a little..."
It was with mild surprise that Hezzi realized he had been squeezing her hand rather hard. "Sorry," he said and loosened his grip. Keeping calm might prove to be more difficult than he had expected.
Wardo was parading left and right now, going from one foot of the statue to the other, still giving his acceptance speech, occasionally dragging his fingers across the necklace to make it rattle. "I never thought the day would come when I, a humble tracker, would ascend to the top of this tribe, and I'm sure none of you expected it either, did you?" This was met with polite laughter, but Wardo didn't seem to be joking around. "No..." he said, sweeping an accusatory finger across the crowd. "You always looked down on me - short, hunched, snivelling little Wardo, tinkering with his traps and geegaws. Even after I killed that bear, it still wasn't enough for you. 'Oh look, there goes Scar-do! Why couldn't that bear have finished him off for us?' And now look where we stand. I'm the one looking down on all of you. I'm Chieftain now. With one word I can raise you to the highest heights, and with one word I can cut you down to the lowest lows, because my word is law. You'd all do well to remember that."
Wolves eyed each other left and right, silently asking the same thing: Is he serious?
Mother stepped in and grabbed him by the wrist, her white eyes furious, and said: "What do you think you are doing!?"
Something else happened just then, something most Wolves would have missed because of the commotion, but Hezzi saw it. Dorin stepped forward the moment Mother touched Wardo's arm, reaching for the dagger in his belt. It was only after Wardo gave an almost imperceptible shake of the head that he retreated again, melding back into the crowd.
It was something he'd have to watch out for.
"I am addressing my people," Wardo said matter-of-factly.
"No, you're ruining everything, that's what you're doing!" Mother chastised him like a child. "Pull yourself together! You're Chieftain now, so act like it! These people do not exist to serve you, you exist to serve them!"
The stared each other down, although 'stare' might be the wrong word considering Mother's eternally blank gaze, but that turned out to work in her favour this time.
Wardo pulled his hand free with a scowl and faced the crowd once again. "I apologise for that," he said, his face not in the least bit apologetic. "I may have gotten a bit carried away just now. But the point I was trying to make remains the same. With me in charge, things are going to change drastically. Today is not only the first day of my new reign, it is also the first day of the rest of your lives living under my rule, and it shall be glorious." He flashed that massive smile of his, the one that seemingly sent his lips peeling all the way to the back of his neck. "I swear it."
Now.
Hezzi worked his hand free of Renna's grasp -
"Hezzi?"
- and stepped forward, out of the crowd and into the Cora's shadow. All eyes were instantly on him, including Wardo's.
"What do _you_want, boy?"
"'Boy?'" Mother enquired, her nostrils flaring. "Which boy?"
"It's me, Mother."
"Hezzi! Get back in line! Now is not the time for... whatever it is you're doing!"
"No, Mother. I have something to say, and not you, Wardo, his goons, or any other Wolf is going to stop me."
He could feel everything pressing in on him in that moment; the excited whispers of the Wolves behind him, the sighing of the breeze through the village, the pale light unable to fully break through the thick cloud cover, the unseeing gaze of his mother and the Cora, and most of all, Renna's frantic plea.
"No, Hezzi... Please don't!"
All these things that normally had no weight at all suddenly felt like boulders tied to his back, pulling him down, trying to crush him.
"Well, boy?" Wardo scoffed. "You've got all our attention. What is so important you had to interrupt my inauguration, you damn brat!?"
Hezzi met Wardo's gaze head-on. "Wardo," he said, "by my right of succession as the last remaining son of Kadai, I hereby challenge you for the title of Chieftain of the Wolves."
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