Ander - Part 6: Subchapter 48
48
"No..." It was all Dorin could think to say. From this angle, the Pit was no more than a crumbling hole in the ground, bordered by dozens upon dozens of frosted chains feeding into the blackness like a metallic spider's web, but he knew what was down there: ice and death. A slow, agonizing, horrific, painful death.
Wardo was standing on the other side, sneering at them, a bloody handprint still clearly visible on his face, but whether it was really there or just a remnant of his insanity, Dorin couldn't tell.
"Did you really think you could get away with such an idiotic stunt, Dorin?" he scoffed. "After all that's happened, after everything you've done and been through, could you really be so naïve? Or do you just want to kill yourself that badly?"
They were surrounded on all sides. Wolves stared in at them, a solid sea of bodies. Some of them looked nervous and whispered to each other behind cupped hands. Others wore expressions of stone. Even the sky had closed them off, darkening to the colour of cold ashes, pinning them in.
And like some grim judicator, the statue watched over all, its five red eyes the only real specks of colour in all the sky.
"Why so quiet, Dorin?" Wardo asked. "We couldn't get you to shut up a minute ago."
Dorin gathered all the filth in his mouth and spat a bright red glob of blood into the snow. It didn't help much, but at least he could talk without dribbling all over himself. "Let them... go..." he croaked. It felt like someone had forced a handful of dry bark down his throat.
"Oooh? You mean poor little Aisa, Ivio and Denko?" Wardo raised his eyebrows in that infuriatingly patronising way of his, that look that always made Dorin want to -
Stab him.
A heavy ball of iron dropped into Dorin's stomach at the thought. He remembered now. The first two paths had failed, but there was still the third path, the last resort...
Is it still there? By the Cora, I was out for such a long time, what if it's not there anymore?
Dorin flexed his hand, pretending to grimace in pain while he was actually feeling for that stiffness against his wrist, that long, cold piece of metal strapped against his forearm.
It was still there. Thank goodness it was still there...
Dorin spat again. It felt like his mouth was filling with blood faster than he could get rid of it. It stuck to his tongue and the roof of his mouth, drowning him in the taste of iron. "It... It was me. I was the one who did this, so punish me."
"Oh, we'll punish you, all right. Don't worry about that."
"Let them go. They were only following after me. It's not their fault."
Wardo sucked in breath between his teeth. "Thssss... Ah, no, that's the problem right there, Dorin. You see, they chose to side with you. No one held a knife to their throats. That means they're just as guilty as you are. So dreadfully sorry."
Dorin smiled. It was the coldest, most hate-filled smile of his life. "No. You aren't."
Wardo seemed surprised, then cracked a smile of his own. "You're absolutely right, Dorin. I'm not sorry at all." A small chuckle oozed from between his teeth, and quickly grew into a murderous laugh, strong enough to make him double over. "You had me so worried for a minute!" he said, gasping for air. "But look at how beautifully everything turned out! The Pit will finally get its first taste of blood, and I have you to thank for it, Dorin! Of course, I would have preferred to let it lose its virginity by the blood of another virgin, but since you failed to bring me Renna, is it not fair that her mother should take her place?"
The whimpering to his left suddenly turned into a furious snarl. Aisa was getting back to her feet. "I won't let you hurt a single hair on her head!" she screamed through her blood and tears. "If saving her life is the only way to make up for all the times I've hurt her, then that's what I'll do! And I don't care how much I have to suffer to do it!"
Wardo simply nodded his head and a whole gang of Wolves stepped forward to restrain her. They grabbed her, tearing at her face and clothes, and when she tried to bite one of them, they acted as one, striking her down to the ground, pummelling her until she could no longer move. The sound of their fists striking her face was more than Dorin could bear, but he couldn't allow himself to interfere, not yet. He would only get one shot at this, one shot at -
Doing it again... going through it again... feeling it all again...
The blood dripped from Wardo's face, flowing past his sneering lips and into his laughing mouth, but the handprint was still there, crystal clear. It hadn't faded at all.
This is different. You have no choice.
Lana thought she didn't have a choice, either.
And she was right. Look at how things have turned out. If you'd only let her do what she had to, none of this would have happened. The task has fallen to you now.
I don't know if I can...
That doesn't matter. You have to.
But I...
Even if you can't, you have to. You have to. You have to!
Shekka was standing further back, clinging to the statue's ankle like a lost pup, caressing it, whispering to it. She knew there was something wrong, but she wanted to have her son back so badly that she was willing to risk his life and her own just to be able to hold him again. What did that mean? Was she guided by a love so strong Dorin was incapable of understanding it, or was all of it born from overwhelming selfishness? He didn't know for sure, but what he did know was that she wouldn't be any help whatsoever. For better or worse, she was 'Empty'.
"Gather 'round, everyone!" Wardo said, beckoning to his people. "Be sure to get a good spot! This is it! The Pit's glorious debut! Come watch her bleed with pleasure for us all!"
They edged closer, but reluctantly, like a group of frightened children approaching the carcass of some dangerous animal that may or may not be quite as dead as everyone had thought. Those at the back quickly scrambled up the watchtowers' ladders and circled around the walkways, trying to get a better view from up high. Dorin saw one of the drummers lift his hand, then lower it again, apparently thinking twice about the appropriateness of music at a time like this.
"So beautiful..." Wardo breathed, his eyes halflidded in pleasure, caught in some perverted fantasy. "Such wonderful creatures are the she-wolves of my tribe. So clean. That's why they bleed. It is a sign of their purity, their innocence. They bleed when they ripen, and they bleed during their first time. They only stop bleeding to pass their purity on to their daughters. But you, Aisa, you are neither pure nor innocent, are you? No, but that's all right. The Pit can fix all that. It doesn't matter how tainted you are, how diseased you are, how much you've reviled in sin. For when you surrender to the Pit, you will bleed just like a virgin. You will get a second chance to wash yourself clean, to become pure again. Isn't that beautiful?"
Aisa strained against the grip of her captors, baring her fangs. "You can go straight to hell, you sick bastard!"
"So beautiful. Throw her in."
They jerked her to her feet, and Dorin knew it was now or never.
"Stop!" he yelled at the top of his lungs. "Throw me in first!"
The brutes looked to Wardo for orders, but he simply waved his hand dismissively. "I'm getting tired of your theatrics, Dorin. You'll get your turn soon enough."
"Aren't you the Chieftain? Aren't you the ruler of this tribe? Is this not the Pit's first time? Do you really want these nobodies to claim her virginity right in front of you, while you watch like some pervert in the shadows? I thought you were done with hiding! I thought this was finally your time to take action! If you really are the Wolf you pretend to be, then come and throw me into this Pit yourself, with the strength of your own arms!"
Wardo's smile faltered for a second. "I am the Pit's father, Dorin. It wouldn't be right for me to... 'initiate' her."
"Don't give me that crock! You've been waiting for a moment like this your whole life, and now, when it's finally arrived, you're too much of a coward to grab hold!"
"And you're too much of a suicidal maniac to talk sense! If you want to die so badly, throw yourself in!"
"What kind of a father is scared of his own daughter? If that's really the way you see this blasphemous hole, come and give it some love, you sick freak!"
Gasps and whispers, but Dorin barely heard any of it. He was taking far too much pleasure in watching Wardo's smile deteriorate into a snarl of pure anger and hatred. It was such a petty thing, but he'd count that as a victory any day.
"Beat him to a pulp," Wardo hissed through clenched teeth. "Make it so he can barely lift a finger, but keep him conscious. I want him to be awake for the end. I want him to feel all of it."
Wardo's thugs dropped Aisa into the snow like a piece of garbage and advanced, cracking their knuckles. Dorin didn't even recognise them anymore. No matter how hard he tried to remember their faces, all he could see were the snarling muzzles and feral eyes of animals.
"Sai!" Denko was trying to get to his feet, but to no avail. His knee was simply too shredded.
And Ivio, even when kneeling in place, seemed to be a mess of movement. His eyes darted from place to place, his ears twitched back and forth, and he kept shifting his weight from side to side, as if on the verge of pouncing.
"Don't interfere!" Dorin whispered.
"But Sai, they're gonna stick you!" Ivio whispered back. "They're gonna toss you in the hole!"
"Just trust me, all right?"
Dorin didn't have enough time to see if they understood, because that was the moment he felt a strong hand grab his shoulder and jerk him onto his back. He stared up at their growling faces, feeling like prey.
One of them smacked his fist into his open palm and said: "You should have kept your mouth shut, Sai. Or should I say 'Dorin'?"
The other reared back and kicked him in the face, wrenching his head to the side. A spray of blood erupted form his mouth in a sickening cloud and splattered all over the snow.
"We would have been on our way by now, but you just had to go and poke a hole in everyone's fun, didn't you? Well, this is how you're gonna make up for it!"
Dorin opened his eyes and saw Aisa reaching out to him. Her lips were moving, but he couldn't hear her very well over the whistle in his ears.
They stomped into the soft meat of his stomach, one after the other, knocking all the wind out of him in a painful whoosh. He gasped for air, blood and drool dripping from his lips.
Don't fight back. If Wardo thinks you can still fight, he'll never come closer. He'll -
A third animal showed up without warning, jerking him upright, and suddenly a flurry of blows was raining down on his body. Dorin was so out of it he couldn't even tell where half of them were coming from anymore.
"Dorin!"
Was that Aisa's voice? "Stay back!" he shouted, blood dribbling form his mouth.
"They're killing you!"
"Stay back!"
A haymaker of a blow collided with his temple, sending a bright red flash of pain tearing through his skull. Dorin keeled over and fell, face first, into the snow, right on top of his injured arm. He gritted his teeth to keep from screaming and closed his eyes, pretending to be unconscious. They kicked him in the ribs and stomped down on the small of his back, but Dorin kept still. Lying on top of his arm like this was agony, but he couldn't risk letting one of them grab hold and feeling something that shouldn't be there.
"Is this good enough, Chieftain?"
Say yes... Say yes...
Dorin listened. At first there was only the high-pitched whistle in his ears, and then the voice of the Wolf he intended to murder this day.
"No, that's not nearly good enough. Keep going until he's nothing more than a barely conscious lump of blood and fur. I want to see him cough up his own ribcage by the end."
"With pleasure, Chieftain."
Two sets of razor sharp claws slammed into his shoulder blades and cleaved his flesh open all the way down his back. Unable to keep up the act any longer, Dorin screamed into the snow. He screamed until he had no breath left to scream with, and he wasn't the only one. Aisa's shrill voice filled the air, even louder than his own.
"Stop it! Just leave him alone! What the hell is wrong with you!?"
Dorin opened his eyes. They were holding her in place, making her watch. Every time she tried to look away or bite at her captors, they would seize her by the muzzle and forcefully turn her face back, their fingers digging into her cheeks. They whispered foul words into her ears, caressing her tears with the venom of their breath.
Dorin wanted to tell her not to cry for him. He wanted to let her know that it was all for the best, that this was the only path left open to them, but he couldn't. What right did he have to speak to her when it was his words that had condemned them all to die?
"Gimme that!"
"But isn't that a bit -"
"Chieftain's orders! Give it to me!"
Dorin saw his own breath plume out in front of him, gradually melting the ice crystals in front of his nose. There were so many voices, thousands of them... screaming and screaming... words overlapping with each other, not making any sense.
"I've yet -"
"This is what -"
"Justice!"
"- to kill a single -"
"For Hyker!"
"- you get -"
"You deserve!"
"- for being different!"
"Diseased!"
"Piece of filth!"
"For Banno!"
"- traitor today!"
"For Chieftain Kadai!"
"Betrayed us all!"
And over it all, the two constant notes that tied it all together; the whine in his ears, and Aisa's tortured screaming. But... there was a new sound, too... like the wind, but faster.
Something hard and heavy struck him in the side, sending a shockwave of pain throughout his entire body. He shoved his face into the snow and screamed as hard as he could, choking on the freezing white powder. His instincts screamed at him to roll over, to protect his injured ribs at all costs, but he couldn't afford to expose his bandaged arm. It was all he had left, his last, best chance to...
To do what? Take that monster with him? Would that really change anything?
He heard a loud grunt, saw a shadow rise over him in the burly shape of a Wolf. It was holding something over its head, long and rounded. Dorin had enough time to wonder if it was the same club that had torn his face open when a new explosion of pain erupted across his back, right between his shoulderblades. When he was a boy, he used to catch fish by the river and beat them to death against the rocks. The sound of wood smashing into his flesh was scarily similar, hard and wet, and it was with wonder that he realized the same thing was happening to him.
He was being beaten to death.
"Careful, Torjo. Chieftain wants to finish it himself. Don't go too far."
"I know too far, and this is not too far! This isn't even halfway! Now step back and let me do my job!"
The next blow struck him right below the first. Dorin opened his mouth to scream and a jet of crimson shot between his lips, melting the snow into a red slush.
"That's enough, Torjo! He's vomiting blood!"
"Almost there..."
The next was a glancing blow across his calf. The rough texture of the club's head sloughed the skin right off, leaving a bloody red patch across his leg the size of a fist. Dorin felt the shower of snow sprinkle across the wound as the club slammed into the ground. It was like being pricked by a thousand burning needles all at once.
Don't roll over... _ Dorin thought desperately, covering his head with his good arm. _Don't fight back. Don't let them know what you're up to. Don't fail... Don't -
Pain comes in many forms. Sometimes they strike one at a time, and sometimes they come all at once, layered on top of each other in a single moment.
Aisa screamed. It was a sound that tore through his heart as well as his ears, slicing like a sharp blade. That was the first layer of pain, striking on the inside. The second layer came from the club smashing against his arm, the same arm he had used to cover the back of his head.
After that, things became very confusing. He could still feel everything in the moment as all those layers came together, but he could no longer understand any of it.
There was a brilliant flash of white light and a searing blast of pain across the back of his head, accompanied by a muffled thud. He felt a surge of pressure, slamming his face deep into the snow, and heard a bizarre crackling as his nose broke against the frozen ground beneath. For a single moment, all those different layers of pain existed together, at the same time. His heart, his arm, his head, his face, all of it, screaming in unison, and then the cloying warmth of blood in his hair, flowing past his ears.
Is this real...?
Only darkness and cold, and the muffled sounds of screaming voices. He didn't know who they belonged to, whether they were alive or dead, whether they were yelling at him to curl up and die, or cheering him on, telling him it was okay. He had done all he could. Now was finally the time to lie down and go to sleep, to rest.
Forever...
Maybe it was all the same, in the end.
A rough hand seized him by the hair, pulled his face out of the snow, and suddenly the world came flooding back in a wash of colour, and all those colours, every single one of them, were red.
Aisa was red, struggling to break free, screaming and screaming, but no sound came out. There were tears on her face.
The tears were red, too.
All the Wolves, all the animals standing around to sniff at his pain, were doing so in absolute silence. Was it because there was something wrong with his ears, or were they too awestruck, too enraptured, to give voice to their pleasure? Or could it be they were too shocked, too horrified by their actions to do anything other than stare at what they were doing, at what they were becoming?
Dorin hoped... he hoped he was doing the right thing.
But... if he succeeded, if he fell down the last Path, if he crossed the line between animal and monster for a second time, what would they see? Would they understand where their path was leading them and shy away in horror, or would they gladly throw themselves into their own hunger, so as to consume themselves and be rid of it, once and for all?
He didn't know... He just... didn't... know...
Sounds... more sounds... bleeding into his ears... bits and pieces, fragments of conversation from another world.
"He's... yours, Chieft..."
"Thank... orjo. You've done... job. I'll show this... of his ways."
"As you... ain."
The gates... The gates were still shut. They were an impassable wall of flesh, with empty skulls staring at him from deep inside cratered wounds, their mouths yawning wide in silent screams. Puss leaked from their eyes in thick, yellow torrents.
No one is coming. The gates will stay shut, and there will be no salvation.
Dorin looked to the sky, knowing this would be the last time. The clouds were a pinkish colour, streaked with veins of crimson... or was that lightning? They were so similar... red lines of blood beneath the skin, or red lines of death tearing through the sky. Was it really a coincidence they had the exact same shape?
Maybe he was just crazy. But even so... he wished his last glimpse of the sky could have been on a clear day.
More hands, jostling him, gripping him, jerking and pulling, dragging him along the snow... frozen blood, covering the starving earth.
"This is what you wanted, Dorin," a voice said. "The very first Wolf to be cleansed by the teeth of our purest daughter. You should be honoured."
That face. That hideous, monstrous face. More teeth than anything else. It was all he could see, just teeth moving up and down, with even more teeth growing out of his neck, his cheeks, his head, even his eyes. They grew out of the sockets like demonic horns, swivelling around inside his skull to survey all that he owned.
By the Cora... I have to kill you...
The long, sharp piece of metal was still there, wrapped tightly against his forearm, all thanks to the wound Hezzi had given him so long ago.
This thing, this monster, was dragging him through the snow, pulling him towards that bleeding hole in the ground, another throat filled with teeth.
I have to do it... I have to...
Dorin grabbed hold of his wrist, working his fingers beneath the wrappings, but the moment he actually touched that wicked blade...
Is this really the right thing to do?
No, it's not. But it's the only thing you have left.
I don't want my people to turn into a pack of wild killers.
Then stop them!
How!? By killing the one ordering them to kill? What kind of a message is that? How will that solve anything?
Now is not the time for logic, Dorin. Whether you kill Wardo or not, you will die today. Most likely, your friends will follow close behind. Is it not better to take this creature down with you? At the very least, you can stop something like this from ever happening again.
No... No! That won't work! If I do this, if I end it all, it will be too late for anyone! They'll march on the Foxes anyway! Maybe they'll win and maybe they won't, but in the end, everyone will be dead. None of them will ever be the same. It'll be just like Lana predicted. They'll all turn into animals, and there will be no coming back from that.
Do it! Even Ander killed when he had no other choice! This is your last chance, Dorin! Your very last chance to finish what Lana started!
Dorin felt his blood trickle down his face and across his lips. It dripped onto the snow in a steady patter.
Do you really want it to end like this!? Dorin wasn't sure where that voice was coming from, if it was just him screaming at himself, or some other sign of creeping madness. Think about what you're doing! If you just roll over and die, then what was the point!? You should have just killed yourself when you had the chance! You should have killed yourself just like Mother did! Everything would have ended up exactly the same! But if you do this, Dorin, if you slay this evil, then maybe the deaths of your comrades won't be in vain! Maybe you can show these people what it really is they thirst for! Show them what it's really like! Show them!
I... I don't know if I can...
Show them!
I've killed before... I don't want to kill again!
You have to!
But...
Do it, Dorin! Do it!
The patter of blood across the snow suddenly vanished, but Dorin could still feel it flowing down his face, dripping from his chin. He looked down...
He was staring at a tunnel leading straight to hell. It was dark, pitch black, but he could see it perfectly. His blood was dripping down into the abyss, falling through the shadows without a sound. They splattered all over the innumerable teeth lining the bottom, shining in the dark, waiting so patiently, waiting for their next meal.
Yes. Their _next_meal.
Dorin wanted nothing more than to tear his eyes away from this freak show, but he was frozen in place.
The bottom of this pit was already filled to bursting with dead Wolves, staring up at him with their dead, bleeding eyes.
No... this can't be. I can't be seeing this. This isn't real. This isn't real!
Ander was down there, blood slowly leaking from his eyes, reaching for the small circle of light at the top of this narrow world. There was a spear sticking out from between his ribs.
Dorin tried to scream, but there was no air here, only a stinging, throbbing pain in his side, as if his very breath had turned into suffering.
Banno was down there, too. A biter had clamped down on his head, covering the left half of his face in a mask of glinting metal, but despite all this he didn't seem as sad as his brother. On the contrary, he was smiling broadly, licking the blood from his lips, lapping it up even as it flowed across his ruined face, and right next to him was Garten, trying desperately to imitate his idol, running his tongue across the gap in his teeth.
Make it stop... Please, make it stop!
Chieftain Kadai. He looked so confused, like a Wolf who had lived long enough to lose his mind and memories to the rotting hand of time. Such Wolves were a rarity, but Dorin had known a few of them over the years. They always wore that exact same expression, like they desperately wanted to call for help, but were unable to understand why or how.
That's not the real Chieftain. That's just a phantom. A ghost. He's not real!
By the Cora... there were more...
Hyker. There was a massive hole in his face, even bigger than the slit Dorin had spotted at his pyre. It was as if the entire top half of his head had simply caved in, but the bottom half was still alive, somehow. The jaws were moving up and down, whispering something...
It's all your fault...
No! No, it wasn't me! I didn't do it! I wasn't the one who killed you!
No... A new voice, whispering from the darkest corner. But you did kill me, didn't you, Dorin?
It was her, Lana, sitting up against the crumbling walls of earth, biters chewing on her legs, her arms, tearing chunks out of her like ravenous beasts. There was a knife sticking out of her chest, twitching in time to her heart beat.
You're not Lana. You're just some twisted monster who looks like her!
You can't deny it. You can't take it back. You killed me, Dorin, and now, when you get down here, I will return the favour. It's only fair.
If only it could have ended right there. If only he didn't have to see the last one...
It was his mother. Even surrounded by biters on all sides, even with their teeth of steel sinking into her flesh, even with blood slowly oozing along the putrid floor, she seemed to be sleeping so soundly...
She opened her eyes.
Mother? Are you all right? Does it still hurt? The words left his mind before he was even aware of it. His voice was not his own, but that of a small child, and it was with a heavy heart that he realised what was about to happen. He'd been through this so many times before, reliving these moments time and time again in his darkest nightmares. This was the last conversation he ever had with her, the last words he ever heard her say, and he knew each of them by heart. She was going to tell him to leave her alone, that she was tired, so very, very tired. She was going to ask him to leave her alone, so she could finally -
(Kill herself.)
- get some sleep.
But that's not what she said.
Come here, Dorin.
Dorin froze in place. If felt like he was being pulled in two different directions hard enough to tear him apart. On one side was overwhelming joy, on the other, crippling fear.
_Is there anything I can get you?_he asked, unable to control his own words. This really did feel like a dream, only... he was awake.
Wasn't he?
She reached out to him with both hands, smiling so beautifully. Can I get a hug? It feels like I haven't held you in such a long time. I miss you.
R-Really?
Yes. Come here. And if you find me, know that I... that I'm sorry, Dorin. I am so sorry...
Sorry for what?
Just come, Dorin. Let us sleep. We are both so tired. Just... tired.
Okay, Mother.
That's a good boy.
Dorin felt his body pitch forward. He felt the crusted snow crumble beneath his toes and fall down into the abyss. He felt the empty air growing beneath his feet.
There was something I had to do... something important...
Mother. She was waiting for him... waiting to hug him... Yes, that was what he was supposed to do. Because, if he disobeyed her, if he went to her even though she sent him away -
(But she didn't send me away. She asked to hug me. I would never disobey her.)
- maybe he could have made her feel better. Maybe she wouldn't have killed herself.
(She didn't kill herself. She's right there, waiting for me...)
"Goodbye, Dorin. You are my greatest disappointment."
Father? Is that you...?
A thunderclap boomed in the sky, shaking the very ground beneath his feet, followed by another and another - earsplitting cracks that seemed to attack the air rather than simply move through it. But there was no lightning, no flashes of light. The sounds were more like...
Knocking?
They came again, furious knocks hammered out by a giant fist, and it was coming from -
No, it was too late for that now. His mother was waiting for him. She's been waiting for such a long time... All he wanted to do was hug her and tell how sorry he was, sorry that he couldn't be there when she needed him the most...
The hands holding him up were gone. They had simply disappeared when the booming began, and now he was falling. He could see the red world tilting, rising, and the snow, disappearing. All that was left was the shadow, and if he could get through it, if he could brave the cold and the pain, she would be there, waiting for him with open arms...
"Doriiin!!"
A new set of hands appeared around his chest, jerking him back, away from the peaceful shadow. It felt... familiar... like this had happened before...
"You promised me, you bastard! You promised!"
Aisa?
"Sai!"
Denko?
"Sai, no!!"
Ivio?
More hands, grabbing hold, pulling him back. More voices, screaming and crying his name.
Dorin strained against their grip, fighting as hard as he could, but he didn't have any strength. He was just a kid... Why...
"... are you doing this...?" he whispered through a mouthful of blood, reaching for his mother.
"Don't you dare back out on our deal, Dorin! We made a pact, remember!? And I will not sit by and watch you break it!"
What were they talking about? Didn't they understand? It was late, his mother was calling him... he couldn't play anymore. He didn't want to play anymore. He just wanted to go home... he just...
Dorin looked down into the pit, but what he saw was not heaven. There was only one Wolf at the bottom, swimming in a lake of blood, and it was not his mother.
It was Banno, staring up at him with a single, unblinking eye, because the entire left half of his face was simply gone. Where there once was flesh, there was now only bone, doused in blood. Where there once was an eye there was now only an empty socket, boiling with centipedes, writhing in a furious orgy of legs and feelers. His smile wasn't half gone, though. Oh no. It was all there, a hideous double line of teeth spreading from one side to the other. It was as if his bone half was cutting a clean line in his remaining flesh, splitting it wide open. It reached for him with black and bloodied claws, sniggering even as its face was peeling away...
Dorin fell back against the biting snow, feeling the cold hard ground beneath his rump and a hundred hands fluttering across his body, dragging him back even further, touching his face, his arms, his chest.
"By the Cora, Dorin, are you all right? Speak to me, dammit! Hey!"
"Give him some room, Aisa!"
"But there's so much blood, by my oath, look at him, Denko! Look at what those monsters did to him! Oh my word his head!"
"I... I know, but, hey, what are you...?"
Something slapped him across the face.
"What the hell, Aisa!?"
"Snap out of it, you bastard!"
Something hit him again, drawing a clear line of pain across his cheek, quick and sharp.
"For crying out loud, Aisa, stop that!"
"I've hit him much harder than this, so you shut up!" The voice suddenly became much louder, like someone yelling in his ear. "You hear that, Dorin!? Pull yourself together or I'll hit you for real! Come on!"
Dorin blinked and the world slowly started to come back into focus. The red bled out of his eyes and he realized he was looking up at the Cora statue, its arms spread wide, its five eyes staring down at them all in judgement.
Was that what I saw? Was that the... the thing in the pit? The thing that looked like Banno?
Dorin took a huge, shuddering breath. Whatever it was, it couldn't have been Banno. The real Banno may have been scary as hell, but he was nowhere near as bad as that monster with half its face torn off.
Why am I still alive? The thought flashed through his mind just as suddenly as those thunderous knocks had flashed through the village. Why are we all still alive?
He looked around, feeling woozy and sluggish. Even the simple act of turning his head made him want to vomit. The first thing he saw was Aisa, lightly tapping him on the cheek, whispering frantically, telling him to please pull himself together. Ivio and Denko were there, too, looking over her shoulder. All three of them looked so concerned, but... everyone else...
What is going on here?
No one was looking at them anymore. After having thousands of eyes watching his every move for the better part of an hour, suddenly seeing nothing but the backs of their heads was disconcerting, to say the least. Even Wardo was just standing there with his back turned, his precious 'daughter' all but forgotten.
What are they all looking at?
As if in answer, another series of deafening knocks rumbled through the air. It sounded like someone was trying to break down the gate.
"Let me up..." Dorin said. His voice was nasally and slurred because of the broken nose.
"Dorin, I don't think -"
"Let me up!"
Together, they managed to pull Dorin to his feet. He almost stumbled a few times, but he barely noticed the pain tearing through his body. He had to see. He had to know...
Could it really be? Was such a thing even possible?
Had he really come to save them for a second time?
Something smashed into the gate hard enough to make the slabs of wood shudder. Even the skulls jumped with every impact, making their jaws clack in protest. Whatever was behind that gate, it was very big, and very strong.
There was a thick wooden bar keeping the gate locked, but it suddenly cracked right down the middle, spontaneously growing a sharp set of splinters.
Dorin could see a shape moving just beyond the gap, huge and hulking, a towering mass of shadow.
Ander?
A low growl filled the air, more felt than heard, a steady vibration that seemed to crawl over the skin, and then... well, that was the moment the world stopped making sense. That was the moment all hope literally exploded.
The gate shattered open with an earsplitting bang, sending up a cloud of splinters and snow dust. The remains of the door bar landed amidst the crowd, nothing more than two jagged pieces of cracked wood. Some Wolves screamed, and Dorin couldn't blame them in the least. Even Wardo looked like he was about to wet himself.
"Impossible..." he whispered.
The cloud of snow started to dissipate and the black shape became clearer and clearer, framed by the watchtowers on both sides. It was -
All the strength ran out of Dorin's legs. If Aisa hadn't been there to hold him up, he would have collapsed. He turned his head away and vomited a bright red glurt of blood into the snow, but so deep was everyone's grim fascination and mortal terror that none of them even noticed.
Impossible... Dorin thought, mimicking Wardo's words as he watched his own blood steaming in the snow. This isn't what I prayed for...
Did he really think Wardo was a monster before all this? Compared to the thing standing inside the ruined gate, he was but a snivelling child. All of them were.
Aisa was shaking like a leaf, holding onto his aching arm with painful tightness. "By the Cora..." she whimpered.
It was the creature from the Pit, the monster created from the illusions of his dying mind, come to consume them all. Except this was no illusion. It was real, so terrifyingly, monstrously real, and it was smiling... it was standing there and smiling! Something like that shouldn't even be alive, with its face split wide open, its bloody teeth exposed to the biting wind, bits and pieces of frozen blood dripping from its maw like crimson snowflakes...
It opened its shredded mouth, and in a voice just as dead and broken as its body, it said: "I'm home."
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