Ander - Part 6: Subchapter 46
46
A lot happened in the moments following Wardo's 'verdict', and Dorin saw it all. He saw Ivio, Aisa, and Denko looking at each other, each of them feeling the same fear, the same despair, the same hopelessness. He saw his people - the Wolves he had grown up with, trained with, hunted with, shared fires with - first widen their eyes in shock, and then break into wide smiles, every bit as hideous as their Chieftain's.
He saw Wardo, but he didn't have a face anymore. It was just a giant set of jaws, all teeth, rising up from a bloody stump that was the creature's neck, writhing and undulating, meshing with the fangs growing out of the roof of its mouth. The teeth stretched all the way to the back of its throat, slimy yellow spikes swaying back and forth like tall grass in a breeze. Whenever the mouth slammed shut and the fangs came together, he saw the bloody handprint across its monstrous face, and behind it...
The gates stayed shut.
The gates.
Stayed.
Shut.
That snapped him out of it. They had to get out of here!
Dorin had no sooner gotten to his feet than his people fell upon them like a swarm of ants upon a crippled butterfly and there was nothing he could do to stop it.
They went after Denko first, probably because he was the least capable of defending himself. He brandished his cane at the screaming hordes, trying desperately to keep them at bay, but it was no use. They knocked it out of his hands on the first swing and then they were on him, dozens and dozens of them, pushing and shoving just to get a piece of the action. They kicked and stomped at every bit of exposed flesh they could reach, roaring like animals. Dorin could just barely see him through the tangle of limbs, rolling around in the snow, desperately trying to protect his mangled knee.
"Denko!!" Ivio shot up like jackrabbit. Dorin had no idea how he could stand on those feet, let alone sprint, but he charged into that throng like a red streak, screeching like a demon, snarling and slobbering and gnashing his jaws. He jumped onto Volu's back and went completely wild, clawing and scratching, ripping into the unfortunate Wolf's shoulder with his teeth. Volu screamed and raked his claws across Ivio's muzzle, but to no avail. The ivvy Wolf just bit down even harder, until torrents of blood squirted from between his teeth. It took four Wolves to finally tear Ivio down to the ground, and when they did, he was no better off than Denko; just a powerless insect squirming in the snow with his legs in the air, trying his very best to bite at the feet stomping down on him in disgust.
All of this happened in the span of a few seconds.
"No! Let go of me!"
"Shut up, bitch!"
A Wolf had grabbed Aisa by the hair and was roughly jerking her head back, forcing her to look up at the sky. Dorin watched him raise his free hand and curl it into a fist.
He wouldn't allow it to go any further.
Without thinking, he shot forward and punched the bastard right in the face, mashing his lips against his teeth and sending him sprawling across the snow. The impact sent an unbearable flash of pain through his wrist, but he couldn't be bothered with that right now.
"Aisa, get up!" he shouted and grabbed her arm. "We have to -"
It came from the right. Dorin saw it only as a big, black object, rough and jagged, slicing through the air, and then -
There was no pain, at first. Just a sensation of sudden movement and pressure as the whole world took a jarring leap to the right. Or was it his head that had suddenly moved to the left? He wasn't sure. Everything was so slow. He felt like he was trapped in a nightmare, deep underwater, drowning, moving as if his body was far heavier than it should be. On some lower level of consciousness he knew he must have taken one hell of a blow to the head, and that the pain was sure to come at any moment, but all that was secondary to the amazing tilt of earth and sky, dragging him down and down and...
The thump of his head connecting with the ground was muffled by the snow. It made an odd sound in his ear, like a heartbeat.
A heartbeat... but too slow...
Dorin blinked. There was a time, not too long ago (mere moments, actually), when he knew the difference between reality and illusion. Despite his eyes, he had known that the blood he had knelt in wasn't really there. He had known that the bleeding heart he had thrown in Wardo's face was no more than a ball of snow. He had known that the maw growing out of his neck was just his normal (albeit hideous) grin.
But now... All this blood, flowing from his temple, running down the bridge of his muzzle, dripping into the snow... was that real? And the snow itself? It was so red... not just the area around his body, but all of it, as far as he could see, from his limp, bandaged hand to the mush beneath the stomping feet of his brethren all the way across to the wall on the opposite side of the village. The snow that had accumulated on the topmost branches of the trees were red... Even the Cora had turned into a black and red growth erupting out of the earth, a sickening mass of bleeding scar tissue... Everywhere he looked, the colour of white had simply vanished.
Was all of it his blood? No... no, it couldn't be. This wasn't right. Blood was supposed to melt snow, but this... it was as if the snow itself was made out of blood, a collection of blood crystals frozen by cold hatred. Was it someone else's blood? Was it Lana's blood? Or...
Was it everyone's blood?
Now the pain was finally beginning to filter through as an ache in the side of his head, deep, piercing, throbbing, making his vision blur in and out, and with the pain came sounds, just as muffled and confusing as everything else. Was that... screaming? Cheering? Both?
Dorin tried to get up, to prop himself up on his elbow, but it still felt like he was trapped underwater, like there was something holding him down. Was it this shadow? This thick, wide shadow? Could shadows have weight?
There was blood in his eyes, but he thought it was Torjo standing over him, screaming into his face. His words were hard to understand because they kept coming in slow. It was like trying to decipher a storm cloud by the sound of its thunder.
Something jumped onto Torjo's back, a furious, snarling ball of teeth and claws, moving so fast its arms were no more than a blur, punching, shredding, slicing, slobber flying through the air.
"Ivio, you crazy bastard! Get off me! Get - Somebody get this damn thing off me!"
A black object fell into the red snow with a splash. It was a club, streaked with gore. Dorin couldn't tell if the blood running down the head was real, but the matted tuft of fur swaying in the breeze probably was.
So that's where the pain came from...
How many moments had passed since that club made contact with his face? One? Two? None?
I have to get up... I have to help them...
Another scream ripped through the sludge of meaningless noise, a scream he had heard before.
No... no... this isn't right...
Two Wolves had grabbed Denko, pinning him down, and a third was biting into his knee. A nauseating torrent of blood, animal grease, and drool was flowing down the shredded bindings, staining the snow an even darker red. His cane lay to the side, snapped in two.
Dorin shook his head in a desperate attempt to clear his muddled thoughts, but even the slightest movement sent a jolt of pain tearing through his face. He pushed off the crimson snow, leaving a red handprint behind, slowly filling with blood.
Not real... not real... not...
Screams, more and more screams.
Another Wolf had grabbed Aisa and was dragging her deeper into the crowd, all while the others kicked and punched at every bit of exposed flesh they could reach. She was screaming, crying, begging them to let her go.
"Ais -"
Something slammed into the back of his head and suddenly he felt himself falling yet again, but before the ground could rush up to meet him, something else slammed into him from the other side, pushing and shoving, raining blows upon his battered body. He tried to blink the blood out of his eyes, but it was flowing faster than he could clean it off. The whole world had degenerated into a mess of blacks and reds. The air was filled with nothing but the scent of blood and the sound of screams.
"You can't stop us, Dorin!"
A flash of pain against his jaw.
"I looked up to you!"
An explosion of pain across his temple.
"What happened to you? Why did you become like this!?"
A strong pair of hands, holding him in place, then roughly shoving him into the grip of another.
"We're Wolves, Dorin! Wolves!!"
Dorin felt the blows connecting with his face, whipping him from side to side. He felt his lip tear. He felt the blood squirt onto his tongue. He tasted his own pain.
It was bitter.
"No..." he said. "You're not Wolves... you're animals..." He could already feel the swelling in his jaw, making his voice sound slurred and sleepy. He didn't have any strength left in his legs, but someone was holding him up in the exact same way he had held Ander a hundred years ago, preventing him from fighting back.
Oh... How far we have come, only to end up in the exact same place...
Dorin looked up, blood dripping from his forehead, his nose, his mouth. He blinked, and what he saw was what Lana must have seen the moment she drew her knife, the faces of the ones who had destroyed everything she loved.
Snarling teeth and bloodred eyes, mangy fur and drool dripping from open mouths, anger and hatred given form.
Animals.
I was one of them... not so long ago...
"But I'm not anymore..."
"What?" The animal came closer, scrutinizing him with those red, piercing eyes.
"And you don't have to be... either..."
"Tch!"
It reared back and, for an unknown length of time, that fist was the only thing Dorin could see. After that it was only pain and darkness, and between the gaps, flashes that were far too terrifying to be real.
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