Ander - Part 5: Subchapter 60
60
"Look at this, Sai!" Denko said, poking around in the snow up ahead. He was the best tracker they had in this group, so he was leading the way. "Sai!"
"I'm coming!" Dorin hated this. He hated it so much. Several times he came so close to just waving off this demented pursuit and going home. The only thing that stopped him wasn't the wrath of their crazy new Chieftain and whatever punishments he was cooking up in that crazy brain of his, but the bloody visions that no doubt awaited him in his tent in the small hours of the night.
He knew they were visions, he knew they were fake, and he knew he was crazy for seeing such things, but that didn't make them any less terrifying. Better to be out here, in the cold and the snow, than back home, trying to get to sleep with a dead she-wolf whispering in his ear.
"What is it?"
"Look here!" Denko pointed out some divots in the snow. "These haven't been covered up completely yet. We're catching up."
What am I going to do? Am I going to do the same thing again, six times over? One ghost is bad enough...
"Sai?"
"Yeah, I heard you. I was just thinking." Dorin looked back at the small pack of Wolves surging through the darkness. Seffer, Hyker, Ivio, Vekka, Yanek, and bringing up the rear was Thoka, puffing and wheezing like a greyfur, lifting his legs high so he wouldn't get bogged down in the snow. "Listen up everyone. We're getting close, so be on the lookout, and whatever you do, do not underestimate our quarry. Yes, two of them are injured and three of them are women, but they've proven themselves time and time again. I fought Hezzi myself, so I know he can be dangerous when pushed too far, Sorrin could have easily become a great warrior if he hadn't decided to go for the peaceful family life, and Nilia could probably beat any of us in a one-on-one fight. As for the other three -"
"We already know that!" Hyker interrupted, snow swinging from his hair in tangled clumps. "Let's just find 'em, kill 'em, and go home! I'm freezing my tail off out here!"
"Yeah!" Ivio added his own sentiments. "That bitch Nilia almost killed me, so we gotta kill her!"
The others grumbled and nodded their heads in agreement, a bad sign. If Dorin lost control of them know, he'd never be able to reign them back in. "The Chieftain wants us to bring them back alive, so that's what we'll do," he said, hoping to borrow some much-needed authority from his 'superior'.
Thoka stepped forward. "He also said we can kill them if they give us trouble, and I can guarantee you they'll give trouble, so why beat about the bush? I say we rush in there, tear them apart, and if any of them just so happens to be breathing at the end of it, I'll call that a bonus."
"Yeah, that sounds good!"
"Just as long as I get to pay back that butch bitch, I'll be happy."
"We're wasting time!"
Dorin could feel a headache coming on, knocking around inside his skull. He knew what they were saying was true, but he also knew it was something he desperately didn't want to do, not after -
Animals. All of you.
Shut up!
How did it feel, pushing that dagger through my heart? Did it feel good?
Dorin rubbed his temples and tried not to let on that anything was wrong. "Their two best fighters right now are Nilia and Sorrin. When we catch up, make sure to target those two first. If they don't surrender right away, we'll probably have to kill them, but try not to hurt the others, especially the little girl, Renna. The Chieftain asked for her specifically, so we have to bring her back safe."
Safe? Safe!? What are you saying, Dorin? Do you have any idea what Wardo is going to do to her? Keeping her alive for an extra day isn't saving her, it's merely dragging out her murder. It would be kinder to kill her quickly and bury her body in the snow.
But what else am I supposed to do? What else can I do? I'm stuck!
Dorin turned back to Denko, who was still sniffing around in the snow. "Lead the way, but be careful. With the way the wind's blowing they must know we're close."
"Yes, Sai!" he sped off, his eyes glued to the ground, evidently eager to make up for his abysmal failure in the tower. Dorin and the rest followed, zig-zagging through the trees, keeping together in single file to more easily cut through the thick, white powder constantly piling up around them.
Dorin felt surrounded by layers and layers. His fur was all soggy and wet from the snow clinging to his body. In front and behind he could hear the ragged, excited breathing of his comrades, dreaming about the coming bloodshed. Beyond them were the trees, black creatures with reaching hooks for hands, staring down at him like demons sent by the Cora, their eyes like gaping sockets in the dark, filled with judgement and contempt, and beyond them was the smoking wreck his life had become, the unknown days stretching out before him. What was he going to do tomorrow? Probably watch a farce of a trial followed by a mass execution. What about the day after that? Probably sit in Wardo's tent and help him think up a bunch of crazy new laws. And what about the day after that and the day after that? Was this really what he had wanted? If felt like the Wolf he was two months ago was a completely different being to the one he was now, but did anything truly change? Here he was, trudging through the snow, about to do the exact same thing again, only much, much worse.
Going to add six more to the list, Dorin? One wasn't enough for you? No, of course not. One is never enough. Even if you somehow manage to keep all of them alive tonight, their blood will still be on your hands come tomorrow morning. You know all about bloody hands, don't you, Dorin? Your own hands are soaked with it, and that's no illusion. It's just like Lana said. You're just an animal.
He was so caught up in these thoughts he almost walked headlong into Denko. "Hey, why did you stop?"
"Look, Sai." He pointed at a dark smear in the snow. "Blood."
Dorin signalled for the others to stop, then knelt down beside Denko. The blood had sunk a fair way into the snow, creating an ugly red crater inside the white, almost like a wound itself. "This has to be either Hezzi or Danado."
"Oh, it's definitely Danado, Sai. See there?" He pointed further down the path. "All of the tracks continue northeast except for the bloody ones. Those veer off to the north. Not only that, the northeast tracks are a little deeper now, which means they're going faster. They must have abandoned Danado because he was slowing them down."
"Abandoned?" Dorin rubbed his numb lips. "No. I can't imagine them doing that to one of their own. Danado must have volunteered to stay behind."
"What difference does it make!?" Ivio suddenly shouted in his ear. "Dan is out there and he's hurt and he's all alone and it'll be easy! We gonna go after 'im, right? We gonna go get 'im, right, right?"
"Yes, Ivio!" Dorin pushed the overeager little psychopath away. "Just don't get ahead of yourself, and don't do anything without my say-so. Understand?"
Ivio pranced about on his tippy-toes, spun around, clapped his hands and went: "Eeeeeeeeeeeee!"
Taking that as a 'yes', Dorin stood up and addressed his team. "All right, everyone. We're going after Danado first. Once he's taken care of, we'll come back here and resume the hunt for the other five. Stay together, keep your eyes open, and don't let your guard down."
"You're being too cautious, Sai," Yannek said. "Danado's a wimp, never even been in a fight."
Dorin! You killed my sister! You killed her, you bastard! I'll kill you!
He remembered the look in those eyes: pure, mindless rage. It was like looking at his own death coming to meet him, knowing that there would be no excuses, no mercy, no pity. Even with a spear in hand, before those eyes he had felt like nothing more than a child with a twig. "If that 'wimp' had gotten his hands on me, he would have torn me apart, claws or no claws."
"Sai?"
"Just be careful." He nudged Denko with his foot. "Lead on, but don't get too far ahead."
"Aye!" Denko followed the northbound set of tracks, staying close to the ground, and Dorin and the rest followed close behind.
It became hypnotic after a while, the repetitive smooshy crunch of their feet sinking into the snow. Dorin tried not to think about the spots of blood present in every single footprint, but it was impossible. His own perfectly healthy feet were stinging with cold, so how bad must it be for Danado?
You're the one who did it. First you took his claws, then you took his sister.
The blood was thicker in some spots, indicating where he had stopped to take a rest. The further they went, the fresher the blood became. Dorin could smell it in every breath, exactly the same as that dark night two months ago. It was the same blood coming from the same wounds, and he was the one responsible. He - Wait...
Dorin stopped. The trees were thinner here, opening up into a little clearing in the forest. There were less bands of solid black and more empty expanses of white around them. The moon was shining high, bathing them in light. It was a world of black and white, and he didn't like it one bit. "Hey Denko, let's go around th-"
He heard it coming a split-second before it hit. It was a sound he knew well, heard dozens of times each day at the training grounds: the sound of an arrow slicing through the air. It appeared inside Denko's leg like an evil magic trick, going in through the front of his knee and out the back in an explosion of blood and bone, splattering the snow in a steaming red mess.
"Ah?" Denko looked confused for second, staring down at the fletching growing out of his knee in wonder, and then the pain hit all at once. He collapsed to the ground, holding his leg, writhing in agony, unable to stop screaming. "Aaaaargh! Aaaaaaaarrrgh! Aaaargh!" He'd use up all his breath, then suck in more and just continue anew. Every muscle in his face was pulled taut, even more telling than the blood pouring from his knee.
"Take cover!" Dorin shouted and dove behind a tree just in time to avoid the second arrow. He actually heard it sail past his floppy right ear (fwip!) and embed itself deep into the snow, so that only a tiny piece of eagle feather was still visible.
"Where's it coming from!?" Vekka asked from behind the next tree over. He had to shout just to be heard above Denko's screaming.
"I don't know!" Dorin pressed his back up against his own tree and folded his arms tightly against his chest in an attempt to make himself as thin as possible. It was probably just his imagination, but this tree at his back felt like the narrowest, skinniest little thing in the entire forest. "Is everyone all right?"
"I'm okay!"
"Yeah, we're good."
Besides Denko, everyone had made it to cover. They each stood with their backs to a tree, cautiously peeking around the edges.
"Denko, are you okay?"
"Nooohohoooo!!"
"He's not doing too good, Sai."
"You think!?" Dorin could hear the poor kid alternating between moaning and screaming. He risked a quick peek and saw him rolling around in the snow, clutching his knee to his chest. "Stop that, Denko! You're just making yourself an easy target!"
"I caahahaaan't!" he screamed. "It hurts, Sai! That bastard got me! He got me right in the leg! Oh Cora, save me!"
"Shut up and get to cover!"
"I can't!"
"Do it or you'll die!"
"I caaan't!"
"Oh for the love of -" Dorin banged the back of his head against the rough bark of the tree in frustration.
"Psst! Hey, Sai!" Vekka said. "We should retreat for now. Maybe circle around?"
"Are you mad!? We can't just leave Denko to die!"
"Why not?"
"Why? Are you serious!? Because - Oh, to hell with it!" Dorin dashed out from behind cover, moving in a zig-zag pattern until he reached the screaming puddle of blood and tears their tracker had become.
"Sai, what are -"
"Shut up!" He grabbed Denko's foot just as another arrow sailed by his head and stuck itself into a nearby tree. He dragged the screaming lout, carving a bloody trench through the snow, trying to dodge arrows he had no way of seeing or hearing until it was far too late. They simply appeared out of thin air, sprouting out of the snow like weeds roughly every five seconds.
With his chest burning and his breath issuing from his mouth in white clouds, he finally reached the safety of the trees. He slammed his back up against the wood while Denko dragged himself the last couple of inches, propping himself up against Dorin's knees, whimpering his thanks.
"You're _not_bloody welcome!" Dorin said, clutching his aching, burning wrist. He could feel the warmth of blood begin to seep underneath the wrappings, a rather nasty reminder of his scrap with Hezzi.
Somebody started clapping. Dorin turned his head and saw Hyker further down the treeline, a huge grin on his face. "I didn't take you for the heroic type, Sai," he said. "Well done."
"No thanks to any of you! Urgh, just - Hrngh." By the Cora, his wrist was killing him.
Down on the ground, Denko had grabbed the arrow sticking out of his knee and was making some very weird breathing noises. "Hee, hee, hoooo... Hee, hee, hooo..." He scrunched up his face and snapped the shaft in two, grunting in pain. "Aargh, that son of a bitch! How the hell can he even shoot with those mangled fingers!?"
"Believe me, Denko, if Danado could still shoot properly, we'd both be dead."
"What do we do, Sai? I don't think I can get up..."
"No, don't even try. You just sit tight and don't let any part of you stick out past this tree."
"Yes, Sai."
"Hey, you were shot dead centre in the knee, right?"
"Aaargh, yes. Very much so."
"And you were facing straight ahead?"
"Yes, Sai. I was fff-" He gritted his teeth against the pain, shaking like a leaf. Sitting for too long in the snow with a wound like that would do him no favours. "I was following the tracks, just like you ordered."
"And the tracks are going due north..." Dorin edged out from behind cover just enough for him to see the arrows sticking out of the snow. Some had landed right in the middle of the streak of blood marking Denko's painful rescue, almost like some grim warning, but all of them were pointing an accusatory finger back in the exact same direction, and that direction was north.
Dorin followed the tracks as far as he could with his eyes, but they seemed to disappear at a heap of snow nestled between the roots of a big, gnarly old tree in the middle of the clearing. Where the hell...?
And that's when it hit him. In a single burst of insight he knew exactly what had happened. "That sneaky bastard," he said, not without admiration.
"What is it, Sai? Did you find him?"
"He's at the base of that big tree up ahead. He's built walls of snow all around himself."
There was a moment of silence as everybody checked to see for themselves, and then, much to Dorin's surprise, they all burst out laughing.
"Seriously!?" Thoka said, wiping the tears from his eyes. "He's built himself a little snow fort like a pup! How stupid!"
"It's not stupid!" Dorin growled, suddenly furious. "We didn't see him at all, and Denko here paid the price with his knee! You're all underestimating him again, and that's exactly what you should not be doing! I saw the way he looked at me when I... when I killed his sister. Danado is crazy, but he's not stupid. You'd all do well to remember that."
Oh, sure. Danado's the crazy one. Just keep telling yourself that.
"Then what do we do, oh fearless leader?" Hyker inquired. "Build a fort of our own and have ourselves a little snowball fight?"
Thoka snickered at the witticism, but to hell with him. To hell with all of them.
Dorin thought long and hard, but he couldn't see this ending in any way other than a bloodbath. Unless Danado surrendered, that was. Unlikely, but there was no harm in trying. "I'm going to talk to him. Maybe I can make him see sense."
"Oh, this should be good."
Dorin cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled: "Hey, Danado! Is that you?" He waited, but received no response. "Come on! We know you're hiding in the snow! Show yourself so we can have a nice little chat!"
Still nothing.
"Any other bright ideas, oh fearless leader?" Hyker enquired, the snide bastard.
"Actually, yes." Dorin looked further down the line until he spotted Seffer, huddled near the ground, hugging his tree tight. "Hey, Seffer! Do you think you can hit that mound of snow? Let Danado know there's no point in trying to stay hidden."
Seffer poked his head around the edge, then quickly pulled back. "It'd be easier to hit the tree."
"No, hit the mound. I want to see if an arrow can go all the way through from here."
"Well... I'll try." Seffer slipped the bow from his back, nocked an arrow, aimed with most of his body still safely hidden behind the tree, and let loose. His arrow flew across the night sky, completely invisible, and then reappeared as a small black line sticking out of the wall of snow in the middle of the clearing. By the looks of things, it didn't even penetrate halfway.
"Still think his little fort is stupid, Thoka?"
The fat jerk crossed his arms and grumbled something, but gave no real answer. Of course not.
"Dannaaahdoooh!" Dorin tried again. "Did you see that? We know where you are, so stop pretending!" He waited, and this time, he did get a response.
"Is that you, Dorin?" His voice sounded strange, oddly dampened, but snow can do that sometimes.
"Yes, it's me! How are you doing?"
"I don't have anything to say to you!"
"Oh, come on! Don't be like that! I'm trying to be nice here!"
"All I want to hear from you is the sound of your death gargles!"
Well, so much for that approach. "Listen! We didn't come all the way out here just to kill you!"
"I sure did..." Ivio mumbled. He was constantly bouncing up and down, scratching at the bark in front of him. Dorin tried to ignore it, but there was something off about that hyperactive little ball of fur, something unsettling. It was in the way his tongue was hanging out, the way he kept peeking out from behind cover with his eyes bugging out of their sockets, even the way he was breathing; hard and fast. Bringing him on this mission might not have been the best idea, but it was too late to do anything about it now, except maybe pray to the Cora that the idiot wouldn't do something irredeemably stupid.
Dorin licked his chapped lips and kept going, hoping that Danado would do the smart thing. "Dan! The Chieftain ordered us to bring you back alive. If you toss the bow and surrender right now, this can still end peacefully."
"'Peacefully', my ass..." Denko moaned. He had cut his pants and tied a strip of leather around his thigh as a makeshift tourniquet. It didn't seem to be working very well, but it was better than nothing.
"Do you honestly think I care about making it out of these woods alive?" Danado shouted back. "All I want to do is kill as many of you sons of bitches as I can before you take me down! I don't care if it's all of you or just one! But you mark my words, Dorin, that 'one' will be you! I refuse to leave this world until I see you dead! You hear me!? Dead!"
"Wow, he sure knows how to hold a grudge, doesn't he?" Hyker whispered.
Dorin edged out from behind cover just enough for one eye to peek around the edge. He could see the tree, and propped up against the trunk he could just make out the outline of Danado's head peeking over the wall of snow, little more than a splotch of shadow with ears.
"We should just rush him, all of us at once!" Ivio said. He had scratched his tree so badly there was a big pile of bark at his feet. "Come on, we can do it! He can't possibly shoot all of us before we get to him!"
"Don't be stupid, Ivio. We've got five more Wolves to catch before the night is through. If he shoots even one of us, that'll be one too many."
"But I want 'im, Sai! I want 'im so bad! I woulda been the one to kill Ander! But he tripped me! That bastard over there tripped me and robbed me of my honour! I woulda done it! You know I woulda done it!"
"Of course you would have," Dorin tried to placate the overzealous little runt, although truthfully he believed Ander would have knocked his head off, "so just calm down a little, all right?"
"Nuh-uh! Nuh-uh!" Ivio shook his head violently, slobber flying from his flapping tongue. "I wanna get 'im! I wanna feel what it feels like! I wanna feel! I wanna get 'im! I wanna stomp his head! I wanna stab 'im and cut 'im and make him bleed! I wanna I wanna I wanna I wanna -"
"You don't want that! Trust me, Ivio! It doesn't feel like you think it does! It just- It eats you from the inside, like a giant ball of maggots! Just calm down!" Dorin screamed his warning, not caring about the strange looks he was getting from his peers, but it just went in one ear and out the other.
Ivio was holding onto the tree, jumping up and down. "I'm gonna go for it!" he yelled. "I can do it! I know I can do it! I'm gonna go! I'm gonna go!"
"Don't move, Ivio! That's an order!"
"But I wanna!"
"NO!"
Ivio stopped bouncing. His ears, tail and face all drooped at the same time, like a dejected pup denied his supper. But at least he wouldn't do anything stupid now, that was the important thing.
If only Thoka hadn't opened his big, fat mouth. "Go for it, Ivvy!" he yelled, pumping his fist in the air. "Go get your revenge!"
Dorin was speechless. He couldn't believe anyone could possibly be so profoundly stupid, but that was nothing compared to what happened next.
Everyone got in on it. Everyone.
"You can do it!"
"Go get him!"
"What are you waiting for!?"
"Go! Go! Go!"
"Stop it!" Dorin screamed. "Stop egging him on! Are trying to get him killed!?"
The look in their eyes. The smiles on their faces. They were exactly the same as the eyes that had stared at him as he fought Hezzi - those cold, gleeful eyes, shining with crazy ecstasy.
They wanted to see him get hurt. They wanted to see him bleed.
They wanted to see him die.
By the Cora... What is wrong with us?
Ivio smiled from ear to twitchy ear, exultant in all the unexpected praise and encouragement. "I'm gonna go! I'm gonna goooooo!!"
"Ivio, wait! The snow!" Dorin tried to make a grab for the crazy bastard, but he was too far away.
Ivio skirted through the trees and dashed out into the clearing, cackling like a loon while the others cheered him on, urging him to go faster.
Yeah, that wasn't happening. Ivio hadn't even made it a dozen strides before he sunk down to his knees in the freshly fallen powder. He tried to run through it anyway, lifting his legs high and swinging them around like a mallard.
"Get back here!" Dorin screamed, but it was no use. Ivio was caught in an animalistic thrall, unable to listen to reason. An arrow appeared to his right, kicking up a small puff of snow, and he responded by going left, running in that awkward duck's gait as fast as his legs could carry him.
"Look at him, go!" Yanek yelled. "Keep going, Ivvy! Take him out!"
"Yeah, you got this!"
Knowing it was beyond his control, all Dorin could do was watch as Ivio made a bee-line for Danado's tracks, counting the seconds until the next arrow would hit.
Three... four... five...
... Six? Dorin waited a few seconds more, but there was no puff of snow. Did he miss it, or did Dan not take the shot? If only it wasn't so damn dark...
Ivio made it to the tracks and suddenly he was off again, screaming the whole way. Now that the snow beneath his feet wasn't so thick, his speed had tripled. It was like running through a shallow trench. But... if he kept at it like that, then -
"Dammit, you're running in a straight line!" Dorin shouted, not even sure if that moron could hear him or not. "Weave! Duck! Do something!"
He felt so useless, standing here on the sidelines while Ivio, who was still basically just a kid, ran straight to his doom. Any second now, an arrow would appear in his face and he'd plough into the snow like a sack of offal. Any second now...
But it didn't happen. Ivio was almost halfway to the tree and Dan still hadn't fired. Did he run out of arrows already? Did he lose his nerve? What was going on?
It was just as Dorin started feeling a faint tingle of hope that his prediction came true, although not exactly as he had foreseen.
Ivio suddenly tripped on something, yelled "Yeee-" and fell down on all fours, his butt sticking straight up into the air.
Thoka, Hyker, and all the others laughed, but Dorin only stared at his kneeling form, perfectly still, a swath of colour in the snow.
Ivio sat up and raised his hands to the moon as if in prayer, his crimson hands, wet and dripping.
What the...?
Ivio screamed. It was the frightened, high-pitched sound of a child about to be murdered. He rolled over onto his back, writhing and squirming in the snow, shrieking to the sky.
That's when Dorin saw what had really happened, and he clapped a hand to his mouth to keep from throwing up.
There were dozens of arrowheads sticking out of his hands, his arms, his feet, his shins, slowly staining his fur dark red, the broken shafts pointing straight up into the sky. Ivio stared down at his limbs in silent horror, the wooden spikes rising up and down with every panicky twitch, making him look like a crippled hedgehog.
Terrified whimpers slowly travelled across the clearing to reach their ears, and then it all burst out of him in one gigantic scream.
"AAAaaaaarrgh!!"
Dorin pulled his head back and closed his eyes, but he couldn't shut out that scream. It just wouldn't stop.
"By the Cora..." Hyker whispered. "What happened?"
"You killed him, that's what happened!" Dorin yelled. He opened his eyes, ready to confront the Wolves that would goad a comrade into a hopeless suicide run just for their own perverted enjoyment, expecting to see looks of horror and regret, but that's not what he saw.
They were staring at Ivio as he screamed his lungs out, all alone in the white clearing, bathed in moonlight. They were staring not in horror, but wonder, their mouths slightly open, their eyes unblinking.
I used to be like that. I used to be exactly like that. But what happened? What went wrong? Why couldn't I have stayed like that!? It would have made everything so easy, so simple...
"Saaaaai!" Ivio screamed, writhing in the snow. "Saaaaaaai!" He pinched one of the shafts between his thumb and index fingers and slowly started to pull it out, his face wracked with pain.
"STOP THAT!" Dorin bellowed. "Don't pull them out or you'll bleed to death!"
"But it hurts!" he shouted back. "Oh, by the Cora, Sai, it hurts!"
"SHUT UP!! Just lie still and shut up! How can you expect me to think if you won't shut up!?"
Ivio's screams eventually died down to moans and sobs, but that actually sounded worse, like he was fading. Dorin would sporadically peek out from behind his tree, and every time he did, the circle of red around his body would be slightly bigger.
That Danado... he knew his own line of tracks was the only logical path through the clearing anyone could take without getting bogged down, so he planted some of his arrows in the ground and covered them up with a thin layer of snow. Such a simple trap, but if Ivio had ploughed through it facefirst...
What should I do? How did everything go so spectacularly wrong so fast!?
He was still contemplating that question when he heard it - the quick, soft whisper of an arrow slicing through the air, followed by the meaty thud of pierced flesh.
Ivio's screams resurfaced, even more pained than before.
"Dammit!" Dorin was risking his own head by sticking it past the safety of this tree, but he had to see what was happening. He had to know.
There was a new arrow sticking through Ivio's calf, not short and broken like the others, but long and whole.
Danado was shooting at him even as he lay there, helpless to defend himself.
"Ivio!" Dorin shouted. "Lie flat and pile up as much snow as you can! Make a wall!"
"I can't! It hurts!"
"Just do it!"
Ivio tried his damndest, but it was no use. There were at least three or four broken arrows sticking through his palms like extra fingers. They had pierced him all the way through as he attempted to break his fall.
Dorin was desperately trying to think up some kind of plan when another arrow materialized in Ivio's elbow. One moment there was nothing, the next it was simply there, appearing in a shower of blood.
Ivio screamed again, but it didn't have the same strength as before. He was fading. Maybe he was just passing out. Or maybe...
"Saaai...?" he moaned, barely audible. "Dorin-Saaai...? Where are you...?"
Dorin pulled his head back in disgust, unable to look any longer.
"Why doesn't Dan finish him off?" Thoka asked. "His aim can't be that bad."
"It's because Danado intends to pick us off as we try to rescue him," Dorin answered. All his emotion had drained away. He was just a tired Wolf out in the snow in the middle of the night, unable to go forward or back, too exhausted to stay awake, but too terrified to go to sleep, too much of an animal to back down, but not enough of one to go through with what must be done. "That's why he didn't fire any arrows at first. He knew Ivio was headed straight for that trap, and he knew a bunch of arrows in the ground wouldn't actually kill him. Now he's got the perfect lure, out in the open, nice and close, and all he has to do is wait for us to go in like moths to a flame."
"Tch, does he really think we're that stupid? No way we're gonna go out there just for Ivio. He can scream all he wants, I'm stayin' right here. And he won't get no sympathy from me neither, damn runt is lucky he pitched forward, otherwise those arrows'd be sticking out of his ass instead."
Dorin barely heard any of this. Ivio's pleas for help, although soft and muffled, were somehow drowning out everything else.
Danado had done that, but not the old, quiet, softspoken, shy Danado who used to live with his sister. This was a new Danado, a cold Danado, a Danado who simply didn't care about anything except vengeance.
You made him like that, Lana's voice whispered in his ear, so real he could almost feel the warmth of her breath. This is a monster of your own creation.
He peeked out from behind his tree and saw Danado peeking back over his wall of snow, just a dark shadow with ears, waiting... waiting...
It was like looking at a piece of himself - a dark piece he had tried to bring to the surface, thinking that it would somehow fill him up and get rid of the emptiness that had plagued him since childhood. But it was only after it got loose that he realised it was nothing but a monster, a wild beast in a cage, and that's exactly where he should have kept it, locked up deep inside. Somehow that creature, that animal, had moved from his own heart and into Danado's, and only he was to blame.
You made him like that, Lana whispered. You made him... You made him... You -
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Donation Progress $100 / $300 (Unlock Sunday update)
How and Why: The Story behind "Ander" (Journal): https://www.sofurry.com/view/517234
Special thanks go out to the following furs for helping me keep this project afloat with their generous donations. I couldn't do it without your support.
- Mystery fur
- PyrePup
- KmlRock
- Faan
- Sunny-Fox
- Mystery fur #2
- Sky Star
- Claybrook
Thank you! You guys are the best! ^_^