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22

"Banno!" Ander should have known it wouldn't be this easy. Of all the Wolves to come after them, it had to be him; the one Wolf who lived for no other reason than to kill, the one Wolf who could only feel alive by tasting the death of others.

The one Wolf who knew Ander better than any other.

"Hello, brother," Banno said. He looked down at Kiana, licked his chops, and started towards her.

Kiana gasped, and that sound, that frightened, hurt sound, cut through Ander's heart like a spear. She shouldn't sound like that. Not ever. He had made a promise.

Ander shot forward, putting himself between them. "You stay away from her!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Banno said, putting his hands up, but laughing as he did so. "What's gotten into you, Ander? I haven't seen you this riled up since... ever! Where have you been hiding this fire of yours?" He leaned to the side to sneak a quick peek at Kiana. "Or has the little bitch finally ignited your passions? How's the ankle, by the way?"

"Go to hell!" Kiana yelled, but that just made Banno bellow more laughter.

"Stay behind me," Ander whispered. "Don't talk to him. I'll handle this."

"It's not polite to whisper in front of company, Ander. So rude of you."

"What do you want, Banno?"

"What do I want?" Banno seemed surprised by the question. "Why, I thought that was obvious. And you're usually so sharp..."

"You can't have her."

"Her? You think this is about her!?"

Ander wasn't expecting this. "But, if you're not after her, then -"

"Oh, don't get me wrong," Banno interrupted, "I'd love to sink my teeth into her juicy little neck, and I will, once this is over. But that's not the only reason I came out here. You see, Ander, I knew you would try something tonight, so I hid myself near her cage, and I waited. And I was right, wasn't I? By the Cora, you can be so predictable sometimes!"

Ander listened to all this without showing any emotion whatsoever. As long as he kept his distance, Banno could spout all the insults he wanted. It was the reasoning_Ander was trying to unravel, the _purpose. He had a feeling Kiana's life might depend on it.

"I knew you would try to talk to her, maybe bring her some food, or even give her something to treat her cut. But then you did something even I never would have expected! Something so different, even for you!"

"I opened the cage."

"You opened the cage!" Banno clapped his hands together. "I could hardly believe my eyes. Ander, middle son of the Chieftain, cleverest of the Wolves, mechanizer extraordinaire! Blatantly flouting the laws of our tribe! Freeing the sacrifice promised to the Cora by our own mother!" Banno shook his head and clicked his tongue. "Oh, no. That would not do. That would not do at all..."

"So you raised the alarm?" It was bound to come out eventually. If only he had a chance to get Kiana across the river before -

"What!? Why would I do that!?" Banno shouted, suddenly angry. "You still don't get it, do you, Ander? You pride yourself on that wit of yours, but you stubbornly refuse to see things in any way other than what that fantasy world in your head dictates things should be! You refuse to see the world as it truly is!"

"And what is the truth? Please tell me."

"I didn't come here for the bitch. I came here for you!"

"Me? What do you want with me?"

"You're even blinder than Mother. You go around, talking about all these crazy ideas of yours, trying to change the way we see right and wrong. You're even starting to get inside Hezzi's head, the poor impressionable fool. Well, who are you to decide what is right and what is wrong!? Who are you to decide what can and cannot be done to safeguard our people!? The way we hunt is 'wrong'! The way we worship is 'wrong'! Even the way we live our lives; proud, strong Wolves! All 'wrong' in your eyes! Even though you've been smart enough not to say it in so many words, I can tell exactly what goes on in that head of yours. Sticking up for the Fox is just the latest in a long line of blasphemies! If you weren't my brother, if you weren't the son of a Chieftain, you would have been thrown out of the village years ago! You, with your different thoughts and your different views and your different ideals and your different life. Strutting around, thinking you know better than everyone else, thinking you are better than everyone else! Why do you always have to be so different, Ander!? Huh!? Why do you always have to be so damn different!?"

"Because," Ander said, "I just am."

"There you go again!" Banno shouted. "You always do that! You make it seem like it's normal for you, that it's just a part of who you are. But you've never been able to fool me, have you? I know exactly what you are, Ander. You're not better than us. You're a disease. Nothing more than a festering sore inside our tribe, spreading your weakness further and further with each passing day!"

Ander shook his head, never taking his eyes away from Banno's. "You're wrong, Banno. I've never put myself above the others. That's what you do best. I see life as a gift! Something precious, something to be cherished, to be loved! You see it as an amusement. Something to be snuffed out. Just another morsel to fuel your sick obsessions!"

"Ah, now it's your turn to be wrong, dear brother. You think I live to taste death? That is true, but there is something you don't understand, and you never will."

"And what would that be?"

"Not all deaths taste the same." Banno said this as if he was imparting some great truth, some marvellous revelation. "That's what I live for, Ander. There's a progression to these things, new heights to explore! Always! The death of a rat tastes better than the death of a fish, the death of a rabbit tastes better than the death of a rat, the death of an owl tastes better than the death of a rabbit!" Faster and faster now, bordering on the ramblings of the mad, his arms stretched out just like their mother during her wild sermons. "The death of a deer tastes better than the death of an owl, the death of a stag tastes better than the death of a deer, the death of a bear tastes better than the death of a stag! And... better than the taste of the death of a bear..." Banno looked to the sky and ran his tongue over his teeth, slowly, as if savouring the memory of some exotic delicacy, "...is the taste of the death... of a Wolf..."

Banno looked Ander straight in the eye, and a flash of lightning twisted his face into something not of this world, for even in the harsh, blinding light, there was only blackness, deeper and darker than anything had a right to be in a sane world, as if the light itself refused to shine there.

"No," Ander said, shaking his head. "No, I don't believe you."

Banno started towards them, slowly, still smiling, a far-off look in his eye. It was that strange look, even more so than Banno's words, that filled Ander with dread, but he couldn't understand why.

"Remember the time that poor Vallah girl went missing all those years ago?"

"Get up, Kiana," Ander said and pulled her to her feet. "Just lean on me."

"Do you remember how we went out in teams to search for her in the woods? Every day, every day... for weeks?"

Ander could feel Kiana shaking against him as they retreated, and he couldn't blame her in the least, because he finally recognized that odd look on Banno's face. He finally understood.

It was nostalgia.

"I found her on the third day," Banno said, joyfully reliving every blighted second. "You should have seen her, Ander. The way she smiled when she saw me... it was... beautiful... She told me all about how she had stepped into a rabbit hole and broken her ankle. She really was too young to be out hunting by herself. How old was she Ander? Eleven? Twelve?"

"She was thirteen," Ander said. He refused to believe where this was going. Simply refused. His brother was many things, but this? No. Not even him. Not even Banno would do something like this.

"Ah, she was so brave, Ander. So brave! You should have seen her! She tried to hobble her way back to the village, but she got lost after nightfall. For three days she just wandered around, trying to catch a glimpse of the smoke from the cooking fires, but we both know how thick the woods can be, don't we?"

Ander could hear the river roaring behind them. They wouldn't be able to back up much further.

"I picked her up, Ander. I fully intended to take her back to the village, but then..."

Banno closed his eyes, sucked in air through his teeth, and let it rush out again in a long, slow sigh of satisfaction. "The way she looked up at me... with her neck exposed... the tendons standing out... just waiting... waiting for me..."

Kiana buried her face against Ander's arm, and he could feel her tears seeping into his fur. Hot, even in the rain.

"Stop it, Banno!" he said. "Just stop it!"

It was as if he couldn't hear, as if he wasn't even really there, but back with Vallah, cradling her in his arms. "Oh, Ander, I wish I could explain it to you. The sounds she made when I bit into her. The way she tasted -"

"I said stop!"

"- the way I could feel her heartbeat in my mouth, slower and slower..."

Ander clenched his fists and dug his fingernails into his palms, opening the cuts that had barely scabbed over since last time. Their sting did absolutely nothing to detract from the horror he was listening to.

"When it was over, I looked into her eyes. Do you know what I saw there, brother? I saw peace. I saw serenity. I saw acceptance. I saw bliss. I saw gratitude. She was more beautiful in death than she ever was in life. And I knew why. It was because I had allowed her to fulfil her purpose. She was put on this earth just for me. She was a gift, Ander. I don't know whether it came from the Cora or something else, but she was a gift." Banno smiled. It was the same, evil smile Vallah must have seen in her last moments. "I guess that's at least one thing we can agree on, Ander. Life is a gift."

"You're a monster."

"I remember the look on her parents' faces when Father told them we still couldn't find her. The way her mother just... went to pieces. I could smell her tears... They were the same as her daughter's..."

"You're a monster, Banno!" Ander couldn't take this anymore. It felt like he couldn't breathe, like he was drowning.

"I have been waiting so long for another opportunity to feel it... to taste_it. It's not about the death, Ander. It never was. It's about the _life, and the power that comes with taking it!"

Ander's foot suddenly hovered over empty air, and he knew they wouldn't be able to retreat any further. In a way, Banno was much like the river behind them; its power unquestionable, but its muddy surface hiding depths darker than anyone could have imagined.

"There was interference last time," Banno said, coming closer. "But now? Out here? That won't be the case. And after that stunt you pulled, everyone will think you ran off with your little bitch. I'm going to enjoy this, Ander. I'm going to enjoy allowing you to fulfil your purpose! I am going to enjoy the taste of your death on my tongue!"

Banno suddenly rushed forward, slobber flying from his mouth, growling like an animal.

"Kiana!" Ander shoved her out of the way, sending her -