Ander - Part 2: Subchapter 11
11
"How many were there?" Rufio asked. The whole family was gathered around the big table in the living room, each face telling the same story of fear and anxiety. Especially Layla. This was something that didn't fit into the perfect little story she was writing in her head.
"Two, maybe three," Ander said. The chairs were too small for him, so he had to stand. "They followed my trail through the mountain, so it's safe to assume at least one of them had to be a tracker. They're probably on their way back to the tribe right now to report my location. It will just be a matter of time before they send more than a mere scouting party after me."
"Are you sure?"
"Of course he's sure!" Bethany snapped. "I told you the very first night we should send him on his way the moment he wakes up, but you wouldn't listen! Now you and your damned sense of honour will get us all killed!"
"Don't say that, Beth. This isn't Ander's f -"
"Yes it is! It is his fault! And don't you dare try and tell me different!" She rounded on Ander, the anger on her face just barely masking the fear she felt for her family. "You said so yourself! You told us you should leave as fast as possible!"
"Kai, I -"
"You knew something like this was bound to happen! But you did nothing! You let my husband convince you with nothing but a weak speech because you were too much of a coward to face up to what you had done and now we're going to be the ones to pay for it!"
"Mother!" Kiana said, shocked.
"You hold your tongue, Kiana! If you had just gone through with the wedding, none of this would have happened! This is just as much your fault as his!"
Layla was on the verge of tears. Ander could see them gathering at the corners of her eyes, threatening to spill over.
"Kai, please let me speak," Ander said. He waited for Bethany's breathing to slow down, then began. "It is true. I knew they would come looking for me, and I knew they would eventually find me, but it was not fear that kept me from going back. It was love that kept me from leaving."
Bethany raised an eyebrow at this, but Rufio and Layla simply nodded for him to go on, as if they already understood perfectly what he was trying to say.
"I was fully prepared to die for what I had done. For saving your daughter, for murdering my own brother, I was prepared to die. But there was a reason for that. Dying means nothing if you're already dead, and I've been dead for a very, very long time. But after I met Kiana, and all of you... Bethany, Layla, Rufio... I... It was like I finally came alive. For the first time, I felt like I could live. I didn't want to lose that, so I convinced myself that somehow, things would work out, that I could forget about my past. All I wanted was a place where I could belong, where I didn't have to feel so damn different all the time. A place where I could know what it feels like to love and be loved. I should have known that was too much to ask for. I was a fool. And now, because of me, not only your family, but your whole village might be in danger..."
"Ander, please don't -" Kiana began, but Ander cut her off.
"No! Your mother is right! It is all my fault! Everything is my fault! But I can still fix this. I can -"
"Don't you dare say you'll go back to that wicked place!" Kiana threw her arms around him, the sheer force of her embrace so unexpected it nearly bowled Ander clean over. She clung to him, squeezing him tight. He could feel her tears against his chest, burning like fire. "Don't you remember what I told you by the river? Do you really think anything has changed since then?"
I won't let you go...
"Kiana..."
"No! We've been through this before, and I'll be damned if we go through it again! Your place is here! With m- with us!"
"Damn right!" Layla said, the legs of her chair scraping against the floor as she jumped out of her seat and rushed around the table, her tears flowing almost as freely as Kiana's.
Before Ander knew what was happening, he was suddenly being hugged by two crying vixens, both asking him to stay. They might as well be asking him to kill them all. Ander hugged them back, swaying slightly on the spot, knowing this might be the last time he would ever hold them. "Why do you have to make this so difficult?"
"Because you're being so stupid!" Kiana said, her voice muffled against his fur.
"Uh-huh..." Layla agreed.
Ander looked to their parents, not knowing what to say. Bethany had her arms crossed, a scowl on her face that plainly said she did not approve of this display of affection at all. Rufio, on the other hand, looked no different than he usually did, as if both his daughters crying and hugging a Wolf in his living room was an everyday occurrence.
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves here," he said, fishing his pipe out of his front pocket once again. "You're the only one who knows anything about the other Wolves, Ander. How much time would you say we have?"
"If they keep going all through the night without stopping to make camp, the scouts should get back to my father at sunrise tomorrow. It will take a day, at most, to prepare a plan of attack, then another half-day to reach Grovenglen. That makes two days."
Rufio tapped some powdered pipeweed into the bowl, then took his sweet time lighting it. He puffed twice, held the smoke inside his lungs, then blew it out in a thick, grey cloud. As it dispersed, breaking up into dozens of hazy tendrils, he leaned back in his chair and said, "Well now, that's plenty of time."
"It is not!" Bethany exclaimed. "Do you even realize we might be talking about the number of days we have left to live, Rufio!?"
"I do. And would you please stop yelling like that, Beth? You're upsetting the children even more than they already are."
"They're right to be upset, even though it seems to be for completely_the wrong reason! Unlike _you."
"I'm not panicking because there's no need to panic. At least not yet. Best thing to do with any problem is to look at it, and decide what to do first, then do it. In this case, first thing to do is to let the Elders know we might be getting some company in the next few days. I can go as soon as -"
"Oh no you don't!" Beth interjected. "I know you, Rufie. You'll play it down, pretend like it's not the disaster it really is. I'll go. Maybe a swift kick in the rear will convince those old grey-furs to actually do something for a change. You will have to listen to them, seeing as my opinion seems to count for nothing these days!"
Rufio held up both hands as if to say "Go right ahead, I'm not going to stop you," all the while still puffing away on his pipe.
Bethany huffed, jerked open the door and said, "Somebody has to clean up this mess!" and slammed it shut behind her hard enough to rattle it in its frame.
"And the second thing to do," Rufio continued, swivelling his pipe from one corner of his mouth to the other as if nothing had happened, his eyes fixed squarely on the Wolf hugging his two daughters, "is to convince you not to do what you're thinking of doing. Again."
"They won't have any reason to come here if I -"
"Listen to me, son. And listen well. There's only an hour or so of daylight left. That means it'll be dark by the time you reach Grovenglen's border. There's no point in climbing up and down the mountain and wandering through the woods in the middle of the night. Now, these friends of yours won't come for at least two days. You said so yourself. Now, if you insist on martyrising yourself for the village, at least do it tomorrow morning, after you've had a good night's sleep -"
"Father!" Kiana said.
"- and a chance to say goodbye to the ones you've come to love so much. Can you do that, at least?"
Kiana and Layla were squeezing him so hard it was almost becoming difficult to breathe, as if they feared he might disappear right before their very eyes. They didn't want him to leave, and that knowledge weighed heavily on Ander's heart, because it was the most painful happiness he has ever experienced. And now he could feel his own sadness threatening to overwhelm him, starting as a scratch in his throat, building to a sting in his eyes. Not trusting himself to speak, he simply nodded, and that was enough for Rufio. The old Fox nodded back, a thin tendril of smoke rising from his pipe.
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