Ander - Part 6: Subchapter 3
3
Kiana lightly tapped her knuckles against the door. "Mother? Do you need any help?"
"Kiana? Good timing, get in here."
She eased the door open and looked inside.
The little grey Wolf was lying on his stomach, and Mother was bent over him with a look of utmost concentration on her face, slowly stitching the claw marks on his forehead with a long, curved needle.
"Pass me those scissors, would you?"
Kiana stepped inside and her nose was practically assaulted by the thick, cloying smell of extra-strength whiskey. "Oh my word!"
"The poor thing kept waking up," Mother said. "I had to pour almost an entire bottle down his throat to keep him down."
Ander was sitting against the wall with that wild-looking Wolfess with the unkempt hair, his hands clasped together and his knee bouncing up and down. The Wolfess, on the other hand, seemed perfectly calm, almost bored, but the way she was staring at the bed without even blinking was slightly unnerving.
"The scissors, girl!" Mother said and snapped her fingers. Kiana passed them over and she snipped the thread, then immediately moved on to the next cut.
"What happened to him?" Kiana asked, looking down at his bloody body. There was another line of stitches in the small of his back, stained a dark brown by rubbing alcohol.
"Stab wound. It didn't hit any organs, thank the gods, but he really shouldn't have been moved in this condition."
"You don't understand," the Wolfess said. Her way of speaking was quiet and even, yet strangely intimidating at the same time. "If I hadn't moved him, he would have been killed. They had him locked in a cage. They were about to murder him in cold blood. I had to do something. I had to get him out of there! I had to-"
Ander put his hand on her shoulder, and that seemed to calm her down. "It's okay, Nilia. Bethany is a friend. A good friend. She's saved my life twice, and she'll save Hezzi's, I know it."
"I..." she lowered her eyes. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have yelled."
"Don't worry about it," Mother said, pushing the needle through Hezzi's flesh. Kiana hated the sound it always made, first that soft little pop as it pierced the skin and then the slick way it slid out at the other end, pulling the thread along with it, slowly building the black, criss-cross pattern like bars in a cage.
Locked away... Kiana wondered if it had been the same cage she had woken up in, so scared and confused, surrounded by bars of iron that cut the entire world into neat little squares? The things she had felt - the pain, the helplessness. It was a time she didn't like to think about, but it was still so fresh in her mind. She could still see the way the raindrops had stuck to the bars above her head, slowly growing fatter and fatter before falling into her upturned face. The sounds the rocks had made bouncing off the iron, thrown by screaming Wolves lusting after her blood.
And the one little gray Wolf, watching it all, almost close enough to reach in and touch her, holding her very life in his hands.
She wondered if it was connected somehow... if his decision back then had somehow led to him being locked in that same cage in return, perhaps to balance the scales. If so, whatever deity was in charge of those scales was nothing more than a rotten stinking fetcher.
The little Wolf was looking at her from between her mother's working fingers, staring at her with eyes like silver mist.
"Mother, he's awake!"
"Oh gods, not again. Just try to keep him distracted while I finish this."
"Um, okay..." She gave him a smile, and he smiled back, blinking at her in a bleary, drunken way that didn't suit a Wolf at all.
"I remember you..." he said, slurring quite badly. All that whiskey must have done quite a number on him.
"I remember you, too. Hezzi, right?"
"Sorry my people tried to burn you... that wasn't nice..."
"Aw, don't worry about it." She took his hand and gave it a warm squeeze. "It's all water under the bridge. Thanks for trying to save me."
Mother pulled the needle through his eyebrow and he winced in pain. The Wolf Ander had called 'Nilia' tensed up, like she was about to do something, but Ander calmed her down yet again, whispering something into her ear.
Hezzi eyes were comically out of synch, blinking on a half-second delay from each other and unable to focus properly. "You're pretty..." he said. "I understand why Ander tried so hard to get back here."
"Oh, thank you," Kiana said, flustered at the unexpected compliment.
Mother chuckled. "Quite popular among the Wolves, aren't you?"
Kiana rolled her eyes, but couldn't keep from smiling herself. If Mother was laughing, then the danger must be over. He was in the clear.
"There we go," she said and snipped the last thread. "All done."
Ander perked his ears. "Is he...?"
"He's lost a lot of blood, so he's going to feel awful for a while, but his life isn't in danger. What he needs now is rest and relaxa-"
"Bethany!" Ander jumped up and, before Mother could do anything to defend herself, he had swooped her up into a massive bear hug, lifting her right off her feet.
"Oh my! Ander! By the gods! Let me down!" She was trying to sound all grumpy, but her efforts were sabotaged by the way she kind of laughed as she said it.
"Thank you so much, Bethany. I don't know how I'll ever repay you. My debt just keeps growing and growing."
"You can start by putting me down! I still need to check on the others!"
"Oh right, right." He put her down, and while Mother was fixing her ruffled clothes, Kiana stole a glance in the Wolfess's direction.
She had stood up, but she was still in the exact same spot by the wall, looking at the interaction between Ander and Mother with the strangest little frown on her face, like she didn't understand what was going on.
Ander crouched down by the bed and took his brother's hand. "Hey, how you feeling?"
Hezzi swallowed. "Better. That medicine was really nasty, though..."
Ander laughed. "I'm sure it was."
"Fox-Kai?"
"Yes, deary?"
"Thank you..." Hezzi whispered. He was so tired he could barely keep his eyes open.
"You're very welcome, dear. Try to get some rest, okay?"
"Nuh... Not yet. I want to talk to Nilia."
Mother put on her patented 'I'm doing this against my better judgement' pose, with her hands on her hips and her brow furrowed. "Weeelll... all right. But just for a minute." She motioned for the Wolfess to come closer, but she stayed where she was, looking at them with utmost suspicion. Or at least, Kiana thought it was suspicion. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't quite get this 'Nilia' figured out. For some reason everything she did and said felt like it was being covered by a sheet, so that only the general shape could be discerned.
"Quickly, missy! Before he blacks out again."
She started forward, but stopped after only a single step. She reminded Kiana of a starving animal suspecting a trap - too hungry to stay away from the offer, but too scared to come closer.
Scared? No, that can't be. And yet... It was a ridiculous thought, yes, but she couldn't shake it. This monster of a woman that made Mother seem tiny by comparison, this Wolfess with the tangled hair and biceps the size of summer squashes... scared? Of what?
And then the answer came to her.
She's scared of us_..._
Kiana understood now. It was the same way she had felt when she saw her first Wolf, the one who had trapped her in that horrible contraption with the metal teeth. The sense that she had stumbled into a world completely different from everything she once knew and held dear. The feeling that she was surrounded by the unknown, that it would rise up like a dark tide and swallow her whole.
It was the same way Ander had felt his whole life, living among his own people. That certainty that he simply didn't belong.
But in this world, in the world of the Foxes, she was the one who was 'different'.
"Nilia?" Hezzi said, trying to look back. "Are you there?"
Nilia curled her fingers into fists, making the tendons in her wrists stand out like cables, and walked forward, keeping a sharp eye out, like she expected an ambush to suddenly come crashing through the ceiling. She stood next to Ander, her shoulders squared and her back as stiff as a rod. "I'm here, Hezzi."
He reached out to her, lightly touching her fist with his outstretched fingertips. "Thank you..." he whispered, smiling in the exact same way Ander sometimes did, the way that always touched her right in the heart like a patch of sunshine, warming her up from the inside out.
Nilia seemed taken aback. "Thank me? For what?"
"For getting me out. I would have died if it wasn't for you. Probably we all would have. The Wolves back home might hate you for what you've done, but to me, you're a hero." A pause. "And you're real pretty, too."
"Hezzi, this isn't like you at all."
Mother shrugged. "What soberness conceals, drunkenness reveals. He's got enough booze in him to knock out two Foxes for a full night. I wouldn't worry about it."
Nilia opened her fist and carefully took Hezzi's hand in hers. For a moment it seemed like she was about to smile, and Kiana was once again struck by the image of a sheet covering everything, like there was something going on behind those expressionless eyes, but intentionally covered up.
Hezzi closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep, and Nilia put his hand back on the bed. She stepped back and took a deep, shuddering breath, finally letting her guard down for the first time since she barged in through their front door.
She suddenly seemed a lot less intimidating.
"Nilia?" Ander said.
"Yes?"
Ander hugged her and she threw her hands up in defence, her eyes as wide as dinner plates. It was the most emotion she's shown all this time.
"I know you bring terrible tidings, but just for a minute I want to be happy that my brother is alive, and I want to be thankful to you for bringing him to me."
"T-That's all right, Ander, really. You don't have to-"
"Thank you, Nilia. From the bottom of my heart, thank you so much."
Nilia looked around the room as if searching for some kind of escape route. It was such a change of character, seeing this statuesque Wolfess all flustered, that Kiana couldn't help but smile.
Eventually she relented, folding her arms around Ander's shoulders and giving him an awkward pat on the back. Her movements were all clunky and hesitant, as if she'd never given a hug her entire life, but she was smiling. The sheet was lifting. It was just a tiny little bit at the corner, but already Kiana could see the difference.
He's doing it again, she thought, her hand unconsciously creeping to the tiny baby-bump in her belly. He's touching people in that special way only he can.
"It seems my patient has nodded off," Mother whispered. "I'll treat the others in the kitchen. Kiana, bring my bag."
"Yes, Mother."
Ander stepped back and Nilia brushed an errant lock of hair from her face, looking rather embarrassed, and what do you know? Hezzi was right. When she wasn't being all fierce, she actually was very pretty. Beautiful even, despite the mangy appearance.
They followed Mother back to the kitchen, where Father and the rest were talking in hushed voices. They all looked up when she came in, completely silent, their faces set and grim.
Mother planted her hands on her hips and said: "What are you all looking so worried for? Don't tell me you actually doubted me? That little Wolf is going to be perfectly fine, so stop moping."
Father sighed in relief and the Wolves looked on in silent awe. Except for the little girl. She stepped out from behind her mother's back, her fingers wound together so tightly they almost seemed to form knots. "Is he really okay?" she asked, her eyes swimming.
"Of course he is," Mother replied. "He's sleeping right now, so I'll have to treat the rest of you here, but that shouldn't -"
"Thank you, Kai..." Her voice trembled and a single tear ran down her swollen cheek. "We don't have anything to give, but..."
"Who said you needed to give anything? I'm happy to help, so you just stop your crying," she wiped away the tear with her thumb, "and go hop on the table. I'll have a look at you shortly."
The little girl nodded and climbed up on the table, using a chair for a step.
Mother turned to the big Wolf. "And you, put your friend down next to her."
He backed up towards the table and set the smaller Wolf down with a groan of relief. He rolled his shoulders and started to move back the way he came, but Mother stopped him.
"And where do you think you're going?"
The big Wolf stopped dead in his tracks, as if Mother had pointed a bow and arrow at his face. "Me? I was just... I'm not hurt."
"The giant gaping bite wound in your arm says otherwise!"
The big Wolf looked down at his arm. "Oh, right, I nearly forgot about this. It's nothing."
"'Nothing' my arse! Sit!" Mother practically shoved him onto the table, making it creak alarmingly beneath his weight. The big Wolf looked down at her like he had just been goosed, his eyes wide with shock. Seeing such a brawny individual bossed around by a vixen half his size was just too much, and Kiana had to bite her tongue to keep from laughing.
"I thought it was just Ander, but evidently all you Wolves ever do is bite and claw each other to pieces!" Mother ranted, waving her arms in the air. "Honestly, I've had more work these past few months than in my entire lifetime! Lacerations everywhere I look! Going through disinfectant like water! And why is it so godsdamned dark in here!? Rufio, open the curtains!"
"Er, I don't think that's such a good idea, hun."
"Why on earth not?"
"See for yourself." Father pulled back the curtains and revealed a massive crowd of Foxes, some of them with their noses pressed right up against the glass, fogging it up. One of the Lonin twins was jumping up and down, holding a sign above his head that read: 'Marry me Bear Claw'. Father let the curtains fall back without a word.
"Riiiight... Layla, be a lamb and light some candles, would you?"
"Yes, Mother."
"And as for you lot..." Mother turned back to the Wolves lined up on her kitchen table, from biggest to smallest. "I have a feeling something terrible has happened, so I think it's high time you told us what the hell is going on."
And they did.
They told everything.
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