Chapter 18: Waste Away

Vanos took several days to travel. It was apparently a long distance, as in nearly the other side of the continent, to get to the Tundric Desert, which had the entrance to Canida. The wolf kingdom nestled itself in a valley, between the icy mountains of the wasteland. During Summer, hot rays melted all the snow, revealing beautiful, sprawling green land. Vanos walked down a path, thick with firs, lined with dandelions.

For a winterland, he questioned the landscaping. After all, how could lilacs, poppies, and roses also grow in the same area? Gardening, probably.

Within the valley, cold air rushed past constantly. It may have been hot enough to melt snow, but not hot enough for decent survival. Vanos found himself shivering. Winds rustled in the trees, creating a whistling sound. It made him distracted.

For instance, he didn't notice the little red figure running around. He didn't notice her friend running around either.

Vanos carried the goblet in his mouth, safeguarding it. No one in Vytyl knew what it was. Despite that, gold's value initiated a wealthy connotation to the carrier. Anybody in these woods could ambush him.

Rhed stayed behind the trees. She pulled out her pocket knife, and scratched it against the wood. She kept low as she paced.

Blhu stalked on four feet. He scanned for Rhed's signal. She raised a finger. He ran out after Vanos, with two leaping slashes of his claws.

Vanos doubletaked and ducked the two slashes. Rhed came from behind, and he bucked at her with his back legs.

Blhu grabbed Vanos' foreleg, and straddled it, sitting on Vanos' back. Vanos run around on one leg, and Blhu wrapped his legs around to make Vanos' arm press against his back. Blhu's legs kept Vanos' arm stuck.

Rhed ran at Vanos' and drop kicked his ribs. He lost all his wind, while Blhu grabbed the opposite arm and flipped them over. Vanos collided on his shoulders, unable to move his arms, while Rhed went to his exposed goblet.

"This isn't anything personal," Rhed said as she reached her hand out for the goblet. A whip of water slapped her hand away.

Rhed growled and looked at the welt forming on her hand. "Who did that?" Her pupils turned to needle points.

A large blue wolf stood. Easily four feet tall, and almost 200 pounds of pure unadulterated pain. His dark blue fur made wavy patterns against white, and with him traveled several smaller wolves.

"My name is Wasting. You entered my territory. Unfortunately, we believe that's a capital crime, right?" He gave looks to the others. They all nodded.

Blhu said, "I think we're in Canida." He let go of Wasting. Rhed wrestled with the goblet, but Vanos kept a good bite on it.

Wasting conjured several whips of water from his body and wrapped them around Rhed. She struggled and he lifted her up and smashed her several times. Blhu grabbed Rhed and dragged her off. Wasting growled as they left.

Vanos struggled to get on two feet. Wasting walked to him, and sat down. "I don't think I recognize you either, interloper."

Vanos said, "I'm not here to cause any problems, I was told to come here and a friend will pick me up. I'll be out in a few days, I swear it."

The wolf chuckled. "You don't have to rush to get out. I barely even know you? You think that I'm going to harm you? That I'm such a bad guy?" His expression darkened. "Maybe I am." He placed his foot down near Vanos' head, revealing sharp claws.

One of the wolves came up to Vanos. "My name is Dyrian. I'm his best friend, and he's kinda having tough times. Wasting, don't mess with him."

Wasting shot Dyrian a look, making him cower with his tail tucked between his legs. "I'm the one who made you a mayor."

"And I can have you fired if I need to," Dyrian told him, trying to stand up for himself. "I can also do an investigation, and can find all your spices."

The other guards looked at each other. They all growled and cornered Dyrian, making him say, "I take it back."

Vanos said, "You guys all do illegal drugs? Seriously? I always joked that's what happened when they supposedly had to destroy them."

Wasting glanced at a cloud. "I mean, yeah, that's the official story. You have to destroy it to smoke it, and, well, that's how it works. All the cool cops are doing it. Right guys?"

They all nodded except Dyrian, causing a second round of growling to make sure he learned his lesson. Dyrian almost passed out.

"Anyway, how about I let you in?" Wasting looked a few hundred feet ahead, then tapped on a mechanical device around his chest. "Capital, this is Safeguard. We've got an Interloper. Friendly, probably coyote or something, over."

A buzzing came over, and a static said, "Safeguard, this is Capital. Confirmed. Opening the gate, over." Wasting grinned, and glanced at Vanos.

"Congratulations, you're now a citizen of the best country on this planet. And now you're a citizen of Canida too."

***

What did Vanos know about life at home now? Who searched for him, and did they know his fate now? Did Lhyna tell anyone, or had the Nightmare controlled, and in her reign of the mind, forgot to mention to anyone his location.

Wasting told Vanos to stay in a wooden building. This construct he called the guard outpost. Several citizens on benches beside or ahead of him.

The posters of criminals littered the wall. Sometimes guards walked past, did their job. Canida itself seemed always on the move with crime, and he heard they had almost a hundred cases a week. Kingsbirth wasn't a major town. Instead, it had a disproportionately high crime rate.

"That's why we have a lot of police," Wasting said. "We're the protectors of the realm. At least, that's what I've been told."

Vanos had been left by Wasting almost two hours now. Afternoon turned to darkness, as the sky turned orange with purple horizons.

At last moment, a door swung open. Wasting entered the room, lit with a single light bulb, and told Vanos, "There's not much I can do."

Vanos blinked. "I only need accommodations until my friend comes." Friend being a loose term. He didn't consider even the good Lhyna a friend. Or even much of a hero for that matter. "Which should be by the end of the month."

"That's kinda a problem. We're not a homeless shelter, Vanos," Wasting said. "I could help you out by giving you a few Drakold. I can't do anything beyond that."

Vanos grunted and said, "Can you at least put up a poster? That way they know where I'm at?"

Wasting said, "You're not a little kid. We're not expected to treat you like that. You're going to have to find your own residency."

"Is vagrancy illegal?" Vanos asked. He didn't have money to afford to rent anywhere, and if he found some, how could he kept fed?

Wasting told him, "If you need to, you can stay the night, but that's the best I can offer. Other than that, it's all you."

Vanos said, "I don't know if I feel like staying the night with criminals."

"I don't need you breaking the law to try and get a prison stay," Wasting said. "Mainly because we don't have prisons. We have flat out executions." Vanos flinched. "You can stay at my place for a day."

"That sounds alright," Vanos said. It didn't. Wasting intimidated him inside and out. Not only did Wasting have massive muscles, even for a police officer, Wasting also seemed like he hid something. Like something happened in his past. Something he never talked about.

Wasting led him out the station. Canida looked wonderful at night. The orange reflected off the shacks they lived in. It seemed unlike in Wysdom, where everyone lived most of their lives in their houses, in Canida houses were literally only there to sleep in.

The dirt roads remained thin, only clearings for carts and wagons. Mostly green grass spread around, over the hills. The natural scent of grass filled Vanos' nostrils. None of it was manicured or the perfectly trimmed grass required in Wysdom. All grass grew various lengths, wild, free, and with various weeds and flowers.

Vanos felt at home here in a weird way. Almost like he had missed out by going to Wysdom. "You know I'm a worker at an ice cream shop. Own it, too."

"Who would make ice cream? Dires can't eat that stuff without getting sick unless you get accustomed to it, man. It makes no sense to eat it."

Vanos hung his head low, and felt rejected again. "Anyhow, it seems like no one here's meant to live in their houses. You guys have shops, right?"

Wasting said, "Yes. The wealthier you are, the more in the center you are too. That's because it's home to the previous Canidan castle before it got destroyed by hyenas."

"You guys have problems with hyenas?" Vanos asked.

"Not entirely," Wasting said. "It's not like we have a problem with hyenas. It's more like in the past we had them help us in a civil war to take other's lands and then when we had to pay them, we all teamed up and beat them back. It was rather brutal. Kinda a bad action."

Vanos said, "That sucks." This paradise land turned a shade of dark gray in Vanos' mind. An otherwise perfect land, and it committed an atrocity to others.

Wasting sounded normal while saying it. Still, the language implied he understood the wrong parts. Didn't all lands commit some form of violent acts to exist? In that sense, Vanos thought it wasn't off to remain a patriot of Canida. Wasting learned to deal with it.

Vanos watched the houses become more prim and proper. Instead of wooden shacks, they turned slowly into painted, well proportioned buildings. More than nails fastened the wooden planks. Wood turned to brick.

Vanos saw Wasting's house and blinked. It had an upstairs, and a downstairs, and was easily a thousand square feet. A golden gate out front, and with big hedges. A clear backyard with a hole in the ground for swimming.

"Impressed?" Wasting asked.

Vanos asked, "Who needs all this?" Wasting did a double take, thinking it was a good show of affluence and status.

"It's my house, and it's all built up," Wasting said as he stared at Vanos. "I'm chief of police in this land. I did hard work."

Vanos said, "Do you have a wife and kids?"

"Well, no, and I don't need a garden, or a painted building. To make sure I look dominant, you have to have a good building."

Vanos shook his head again, and Wasting stared away. "You're one to talk about need. You clearly use some kind of strawberry shampoo on your fur."

Vanos said, "I have my vices. This is extraordinary for sake of showing off. You're trying to replace something you lost."

Wasting said, "Maybe not all of us are meant to toil in some stupid shop no one's going to buy from!" Vanos retreated from the snapping voice, and Wasting said, "Now how about you go in?"

***

Vanos stayed within his quarters. Wasting did know how to be a gracious host. He provided one of the three guest rooms, which all contained fresh bed sheets.

How? Did Wasting have lots of visitors? Vanos figured he was a good guy. To some extent. He was letting a complete stranger into his home, taking a risk. Vanos could have been an axe murderer, a thief, a door to door salesman. Vanos did know thousands of ways he could be dangerous.

What did he know? If these rooms stayed closed, no one entering, wouldn't they remain fresh? Well, it didn't bother Vanos. The room had windows, and Vanos shied away. He pulled the covers, not risking a boh or violat spotting him. The room remained still.

In that still darkness, Vanos heard the sounds of a blender. Who was blending? It was half past midnight, someone should be sleeping in.

Grumbling, Vanos pulled the pillow over his head, and screwed his eyes shut. The padding didn't offer proper comfort. He could still hear it. On one hand, confronting someone about their own house and how they lived sounded rude, on the other hand, it was rude to use a blender at night. This allowed Vanos to summon the courage within himself to confront Wasting. He went down the stairs, and into the kitchen. A vast land of white, except for the splashes of fruit.

Wasting had blended more than fruit into the blender. Instead he had a bottle of clear liquid, and poured a bit into the blender. Vanos read the label of "moonshine" and understood the problem.

Vanos sat down in a chair next to Wasting. He knew a sensitive approach was required. "Wasting, are you abusing alcohol and stuff?"

The gentle approach received a gentle brush off from Wasting. "Shouldn't you be in your room?" Wasting growled at Vanos, and Vanos backed up. "I didn't mean to snap." Wasting's expression softened. He lifted a concoction of pink and yellow. Considering the corpses of half open watermelons and butchered bananas, it implied Wasting's addiction extended to fruits as well. "Too bitter," Wasting said as Vanos glanced at that fruit. "That's why I mix in a little fruit with it. Helps take my mind off what I'm doing. You have to know which fruit tastes well with the others. Not that I know, I put one with the other, and take a guess. It's the best thing to do. I felt like my potassium was low, and you know, watermelon nutrients. I guess watermelon gives you water."

Vanos said, "This stuff will kill you." Wasting laughed, and Vanos blushed, knowing it obvious. Vanos looked away, and at the house, then realized something. "What are you hiding?"

Wasting said, "Maybe it's the liquor talking, but I'll tell you. Do you know how I afford this place, on a 20,000 Drakold salary? It's not enough, you have to take the bribes the rich offer. You can't do that, but you can if you're the chief of the station." Vanos got a look of disgust and Wasting gave a grim smile back.

Vanos said, "You're colluding with the rich. Why hasn't an internal affairs shut you down, or some higher power?"

"The higher power taught me to do this," Wasting said. "You're right, I am hiding. To even get to this station I betrayed my own little sister. Her name was Swillow."

Vanos' eyes widened in realization. "The Slaughterhound."

"Yes, and I think she's told the situation to you. If not, here it goes. I got her to commit a murder. Then I threw her out the kingdom."

Vanos growled at him. Wasting looked down, as guilt wracked his soul. With a nod, "It gets worse than that, I'm afraid. You don't enter the world of bribes and cheap entertainment without getting sucked in." Wasting stared out the dark window, wondering how the years went away. "You aren't the first I talked to about my problems, but the therapist ended up dealing drugs. You aren't dealing something wrong, right?"

Vanos said, "No, and you are drinking something wrong, that will kill you. What would your parents say if they saw this?"

Wasting took a swig of the drink, and pushed the cup to Vanos. "If you are as full of high and might, virtue as you think, you won't drink that. Think about the hardships, and about the pain, and the tribulations. Think about living fourteen years. With the fact you did wrong. With nightmares. Then you'll understand."

Vanos pushed the drink away. "My life is fine, but you make yours worse, not better. It's like you've lost your soul and are only trying to survive instead of thrive, Wasting."

"Yes, I am," Wasting said. Vanos receded, and Wasting slouched against the counter.

"Sometimes I regret each decision, and count each pathway. I think I flipped a coin wrong, chose heads instead of tails. Sometimes I think it's heads I lose, tails I lose too, Vanos."

Vanos put his paw on Wasting's back, as he understood Wasting was suffering, from a world of bad choices. Vanos never entered that position. Small business allowed him to keep his heart, his mind. Wasting went for the glass, and Vanos pushed it away. His vines glowed blue again.

"You're glowing," Wasting said.

Vanos said, "Yeah, I do that." Vanos remembered that no one else saw the glow unless they had it. Had his powers advanced? He'd have to ask Lhyna the full truth, if she'd admit it. A wave of light rushed past him and into Wasting. Wasting perked up.

Vanos tilted his head as Wasting threw the glass on the ground. "You can stay a bit longer. I think you helped me overcome my urge to drink today!"

Okay, Vanos' power was Willpower. He grinned as he realized his power had transformed. Gotten stronger. "I guess it isn't only my willpower, I increase others willpower too!" Wasting raised an eyebrow, thinking he sounded off putting, but Vanos wagged his tail.

"Now I have to uncover the other twos' powers," Vanos said. "Maybe they know their own powers get better. Anyway, thanks Wasting." Wasting gave an awkward thumbs up to him. "Too bad I will be stuck on this planet for the rest of the month."

Wasting said, "Slow down. I know you're excited. You stopped me from drinking one day, that's it. I drink a bit each day, not go slop down drunk each day. Still, I think I know something." Wasting stared out the window.

Wasting told him, "If you feel like it, there is something you can do. You could always talk to the riddlemaker and she might know something, but I'd have to take you in secret. You up for that?"

Vanos risked it all. He went back, his planet again had all three treasures. Lhyna could take the last back. He stayed, the violat and crimson duo would attack. He said, "Yes."

***

Wasting took him over a series of hillocks and over muddy waters. Canida had a small swamp about a couple miles. Vanos' legs killed him.

"I know you and I are getting close," Vanos said. "Still, I feel like I'm having problems keeping up. I need to stop eating all that ice cream, it's getting to me and my well being."

Wasting said, "You have the willpower to do it." Vanos mulled it over. Wasting levitated water around, as they walked the dense, steamy swamp.

"This place is harsh," Vanos said. It felt hot, despite the night. He saw the branches coming down, prepared to snap on prey like them. It creeped him out, not that he'd admit that to Wasting.

Wasting said, "This place creeps me out." Well someone would say it. "It's one of the more dangerous parts. I know they keep it around with heat magic. They take advantage of the divorcing river. That allows the lions to roam without fear."

Vanos said, "That makes sense, about the lions. As in lion, lions? Big, and large, and able to break someone in a slap right? Who kill others, right?"

Wasting told him, "The Riddlemaker is the largest lioness I know who hates males. That, and hyenas. Male hyenas must be hated by her, if you can think about it." Vanos grunted.

"I think we're fine if we can turn into females right now," Vanos said. "Problem is that I left my spellbook at home, and my estrogen tablets on my desk. Can you spot us a couple, Wasting?" Wasting laughed.

"I think you're overthinking this, Vanos. She kills anyone failing the riddles, instead of random losers. Besides, she's the smartest lion ascended." Vanos shook his head.

"Wasting, I'm only in this scrap because of an Ascended. I happen to have a lot of trust issues with Ascended."

"Then you better buckle up, because we're about to meet the goddess of riddles." He climbed up a tall hill. Vanos tried, but the mud kept him sliding down. He came up after a few minutes.

A lion stood in front of them, her coat completely bathed in golden coloring. She also had a blue mane and tail, contrasting the rest of the form. She grinned and unsheathed her claws.

"More players already?" she asked as she took a stretch, pointing her rear end to the air. "Ask for any knowledge you need, and I can tell you the risk. The greater the knowledge the worse the risk. It is a fair trade off."

Vanos thought back to the tree of knowledge, which tried killing him. He required a tool of divination, and she required a blood sacrifice it seemed. "I need to learn a way back to Sunnyvilla, Wysdom, Voto. Can you do it?"

The Riddlemaker grinned. "I can take you there myself." Vanos grinned and nodded. He figured that came free if he won it.

"You have to agree to the conditions." She put her paw underneath her maw and considered the options. "What would be equal to that? How about you put that trinket on it?" She reached out and put her paw on Vanos' goblet.

Wasting eyed the goblet, and Vanos said, "Better than dying. I can take any riddle you got." Her pupils dilated and he knew then that he said something bad.

"I've got a perfect riddle for you."

Vanos failed most riddles. Mosor had always solved riddles for him. Ahmond was better at riddles than him.

"There are four wolves, and One is the leader. He can run a mile in three minutes. Two can run a mile within five minutes. Three can run a mile in ten minutes. Four can run a mile in a day because his leg is shattered."

Vanos said, "Got that."

"Next facts, they are running from a pack of scavenging hyenas. They come to a mile long bridge but have fifteen minutes to cross. Three is the only one strong enough to lift four. How can One get the others across within the time frame limit?"

Vanos said, "That's it?" He thought it sounded easy, and had the obvious solution.

"One more thing, the bridge can only support one wolf walking, except three and four, or it will shatter and they all will fall. The hyenas are gaining."

She brought out a clock with fifteen minutes on it. She pressed a button. "You have two minutes to solve the problem."

Vanos said, "Okay, three and four means it takes ten minutes. We have five minutes left." It calculated out. "That leaves one who has no clear path." She had a glint of evil in her eyes, and Wasting offered no help.

Vanos remembered what she said. It was insidious, and like all riddles it made use of clever phrasing. The time almost ran out, and the lion leaned her face on her paw. Vanos nodded when he had his answer.

"I know what you say the answer is." He double guessed himself. Did he know the answer, himself? He spoke his idea, and Wasting nodded.