"One thousand ninety-eight, one thousand ninety-nine, two thousand!" Annie shouted, feeling how sweat was running down her head. She was standing on two fingers of her left arm before the graves of her parents, doing pushups. Night had long since fallen on the ground, yet light was still visible across the main street of the village.
"I did it." Annie said smugly, jumping in the air and landing on her two feet. She did not expect that locals would like her innovation. And yet the shamans approved her construction, even allocated funds to expand and maintain her lighting system. It caused Annie’s life to become even busier, but she was glad for the new challenge. Anything to be distracted. Anything to move on.
Besides, there were some perks. Locals now often come to help her maintain her now lonely tent and help her with cleaning. Someone was even bringing pies, actual pies, to her "door" every Saturday. No matter how hard Annie tried to catch this good soul and thank him or her, she always failed. Pies, on the other hand, were so sweet and tasty that they always made her smile. And the taste of the pies also prompted her to learn how to cook. Although her results have been disappointing thus far, as she discovered after Zero tried her cooking.
"Practice makes everything better!" From the closed doors of the toilet to miserable Annie, Zero weakly said. Weak words of encouragement were accompanied by sounds of violent vomiting, "You have nothing to be sorry about, you made me lose my shit! A few poisons can do this! Keep it up and you will become a great hunt… Oh, Planet, here it goes again…" Annie wanted to cry from these words. All she wanted to do was to bake a perfect cake. Not to become a poisoner.
"Sorry for not coming during the day, mom, dad," Annie bowed to the makeshift crosses. The bodies of both her mother and father were burned to the ashes, along with all the pain and all the sin. Annie still buried the ashes of her father in the same place where her mom lay, resting from her harsh life. She hoped they were happy now, with Sveta in the sky above. One day, she will join them, and they will all laugh together. But for now, she has to live on. For no other reason than to find a reason to live, at the very least. The world was huge! Surely she can find some reason to move on, "Anyway, I am still here. And I am getting better, honest. Look how strong I have become. " She showed her arms to the graves, clenching her paws and pushing her muscles to the limit. Sveta would be so jealous of her.
She grabbed the stone the size of her head from the ground and collapsed it into dust between her paws with ease. The wolf hag smiled at this. Maybe Zero will never bother to train her, but she can at least follow online courses. Sure, they were made for normies, but all Annie had to do was to increase the number of repetitions in training moves several times in order for them to be effective for her as well. She will become strong, one way or another.
She grasped her paws together, quietly repeating her own prayer over and over:
"Spirits, take my life, give Sveta back. Spirits, take my life, give Sveta back." She was writing to the investigation bureau of Reclaimers, to the intelligence bureau of Iterna, and even to the Search and Destroy bureau of Oathtakers, pleading with them to share any information about the location of Sveta. She described her sister in great detail, sending letter after letter. It was a fool's errand and yet, to her surprise, all three bureaus answered, although Oathtakers answered her first. They were empty promises to try and look for a missing person, yet even such a hope was better than nothing.
"Spirits, take my life, give Sveta back. Spirits, take my life, give Sveta back." She continued to speak as the night went on. Sleeping was overrated anyway. Today she will have to show tourists around the village, the blasted normies arrive to look at life in the village. Gritting her teeth in desperation, Annie prepared to finish her task with excellence. It was a wish of Zero after all. But it will be later. For now, she can pray.
****
"I am bored with this pointless waste of time," Virginia, a wild-looking wolfkin with rust-colored fur, lazily yawned, stretching her arms above her. Scars covered her from head to toes, fresh marks of bites and slashes were visible even despite her fur. The tip of one ear was missing, her shoulders were covered by thick scar tissue as if someone had torn the chunk of flesh out of her, "She is dead. This means I am taking her place. What’s the bother?"
Forty-nine eyes looked at Virginia in indignation. Annie herself felt her blood boiling in her veins. Gathering of the wolf hags were rare, as few of them died during peace time. Yet when one of the wolf hags died during peace time, a gathering was called. The council of all nearby wolf hags was called for the sole purpose of adjusting the hierarchy. At today’s gathering, even wolf hags from Martyshkina and Janine packs arrived, despite the distance. The least Virginia could do is to respect the rules of gathering.
"We are here to state where you stand. The position is yours, no one will deny Alpha's will," Sonya, the wolf hag of Janine's pack, said with a barely held back threat, "Yet we must know how strong our new sister is. Power ranking is but a relative, but we must know whom to give the former number three that belonged to your dead mentor and what number we should assign to you."
"This is what it is about?" Virginia mocked in response, laughing without a hint of fear in her voice, "Come on then! Send your strongest and I will give you a show! " She looked at the one-eyed wolf hag with anticipation. The former warlord calmly glared back, not saying a single word.
Growls came from the throats of the assembled wolf hags. Anger was rising in their hearts at this blatant disregard of tradition. An upstart dares to call on the strongest of the strong? Instead of climbing from the bottom, like everyone else?
"Know your place," Annie stepped forward, releasing her claws, "If you want to be the prime, then you will have to earn this right by climbing from the bottom, the same way as everyone."
"We have a volunteer then. Time to dance." Virginia almost sang, turning toward Annie. Her smile widened as she took a step toward her fellow wolf hag.
This was the first real fight for Annie outside of the pits. And on this day, as she was crushed by her opponent, she learned just how hard real warriors can fight.
As soon as the fight was over, Annie pressed her paw to her snout, covering her bloody wounds. Her blood was flowing freely from her torn nostrils, her head was scarred with four long slashes. Virginia was also breathing heavily, but she was smiling, despite the small scratches that covered her body. That was all that Annie managed to do to her before she was stomped into the ground.
"Bitch. I will get you for this," Annie growled, running with her fingers across the edges of the slashes on her skull. Damn girl! She sliced Annie’s skull all the way to the bone. This will surely leave a mark, "I swear on my pride, I will…"
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
"You are so sweet, honey!" Annie opened her mouth in surprise as Virginia wrapped her paws around her body, licking wounds with her long tongue, "Who raised you into such a softie? You don't hold back hits, bites, and slashes in trial by combat, stupid! If you had told me we'd be playing by cubs rules, I would never have gone so hard on you!" Virginia paused, looking into Annie's eyes with a guilty expression.
Annie could only tremble helplessly in rage. She lost, fair and square, and the winner could do whatever she wanted with her. Never before had Annie expected such fury, such rage from losing a simple duel. Virginia laughed softly, gently licking the blood from Annie's snout. Drool of the wolfkins had some ability to help in the healing process, and most members of the Wolf Tribe were durable enough to recover from even the most grievous wounds. And yet it was so humiliating to be taken care of by an opponent!
"Wolf hag Annie, know your place." Sonya said with dead calm, stepping forward, "Your presence here is merely honorable, as you control no pack, and you have no victories to your name. We will overlook your intervention this time, but in the future, stay away from challenges. Now, it's time to show the greenhorn what a true wolf hag can do. Call medics in advance, both our sisters are in need of them."
Virginia allowed an embarrassed Annie to lurk back into the crowd and turned to face Sonya. A smile was playing on the lips of the rust-colored wolfkin.
She was still smiling, when Sonya sent her flying into a nearby wall. The wolf hag of Janine’s pack ended the fight in under a minute. As soon as the beatdown was over, Virginia was so badly wounded that medics had to take her away for almost a month. The ribs on her left side were visible as skin was torn away clear, the fingers on one hand were all crashed, the right foot was broken.
As per orders of Zero, Annie and Virginia were placed in the same room in a military hospital. While Virginia was unconscious during the first day, everything was fine. Annie was relaxing and answering calls on her portable communicator for Zero. She only felt anxious when nurses were coming to change bandages and give medicine. Then, during the morning of the second day, Virginia finally woke up. Right after the nurse finished feeding the stupid idiot, the wolf hag of Alpha’s pack ended up causing guards to be posted outside of the hospital room. At midday, the number of guards was doubled, after Virginia tried to escape for the first time.
The idiot simply stood up, ignoring her wounds and broken bones, and walked out of the hospital room. The guards tried to stop her by grabbing her. Virginia simply dragged them after her as she walked out… And then the guards in power armor knocked her out with electric shock batons.
"Hey, that brawl with Sonya and you was pretty awesome, huh!" Virginia said, looking at Annie, while she was laying strapped to her bed. Annie lay on a nearby bed, also strapped to it with a thick layer of ropes. It was all Virginia’s fault, really. She was the one who tried to run away twice. Well, maybe Annie did try to leave with Virginia during the second attempt, because both of them were bored… But it was not her fault, as she tried to explain to members of the military police as they were busy tying up both patients. It was all the bad influence of Virginia. Her fluke failed, and Annie ended up being tied up as well. It took all her control in order not to bite the guards as they touched her. Yes, they were part of the state as she was. But they were not of the Tribe, and she knew full well how wicked normies were.
"What do you mean? You beat me up and you got crushed afterwards. Also, look at us right now! There is zero "awesome" in any of this, you idiot!" Annie angrily snapped back.
"Moron," Virginia spread the word for as long as her lungs allowed her, "We lay on actual beds. Beds, you understand! With pillows and blankets and stuff! Like queens! And you also miss the whole other point. You saw how strong Sonya was? Imagine how strong we can become with training? Ain’t that cool?" Seeing as Annie was silent, Virginia asked, "Hey, how are you a wolf hag, yet have no victories or warriors?"
"I am just… I am just a toy of warlord Zero." Annie decided to be honest.
"Huh?" Virginia lifted her pointy ears in surprise, "But I heard that Zero has no warriors underneath her."
"That’s the point. She made me into a community manager, whatever this is. I just speak with people and post stuff online. I mostly train alone. She never even trains me. My rank is merely her hubris. Laugh, I know I am a joke." Annie was the loser in their fight. The loser had to be fair and obey the winner. It may hurt her, but she will speak honestly.
"Well, I think that you are cool." Virginia fell back on the pillows, smiling with pleasure at softness of her bed, "You get to speak with people and have self-trained yourself to such a level that you made me work out to beat ya. Sorry about your nose, by the way."
"Can I ask you something?" Annie decided to question something that was bothering her, "If I am allowed, of course…"
"Oh, just shoot it already. For the time being, we are both just token wolf hags, no one has won or lost." Virginia managed to pull her arm free and waved her paw dismissively. Seeing this, five members of the military police, all dressed in power armors, entered the room and put the wolf hag back to sleep. This time they used chains.
"You said that I should not have hold back against you… Why are you then suddenly started to hit weaker mid fight?" Annie asked, as normies left the room.
"I assumed that you were sick or something. It’s not fair to bully weak people, so I'm slowing myself down a bit. Okay, I am sick of this place, I wanna train. I have a score to settle and others to dominate." Virginia gnawed at the chains, trying to break free once again. The guard on the other side of the door pointed at the Virginia with disbelief, gesturing to his comrades. As the wolf hag bit at the titanium chain with no success, one of the guards grabbed his head in obvious desperation. Annie saw how they prepared electric shock batons once again.
"Just fucking kill me already, will ya? I am dying from cringe here." Annie mumbled to the nurse who was coming in to give Virginia a sedative before the wolf hag broke her fangs.
Eventually, Alpha was summoned by guards. The doctors loudly protested, but Alpha ignored them as she made a single movement with her paw, leaving three deep cuts on Virginia’s chest for daring to disobey guards and doctors. It was not a slash, Alpha merely touched the wolf hag with her claws as a punishment. Annie shuddered in primal fear as Alpha shook away blood from her claws, while Virginia simply smiled like an idiot as her superior chastised her with words. One of the doctors threw himself before the wolf hag, warning the warlord that she would have to kill him before he will ever allow her to hurt a patient again. As the warlord looked at the man, sweat ran down his collar, but he refused to back down, and Alpha nodded in agreement.
"Then I will accept your superiority here and bow to your rule here, good man. Please accept my sincere apologies," The walking monstrosity actually bowed to the tiny man before her, showing her own neck, which was one of the greatest signs of trust and respect that a warlord could show to an outsider of the Tribe, "I will use a civilized method to ensure order. Virginia, should the guards call me again, should you cause any trouble for them, the doctors or your roommate, I will recommend you for another pack. I have a little one to watch over and you distract me from raising her properly." The eyes of Alpha burrowed into the skull of the suddenly scared rust-colored wolfkin. Annie never thought anything could scare this idiot, but this simple threat banished the smile off the face of the wolf hag as she swallowed in fear, looking at her own shoulder all of the sudden.
Alpha was the chief trainer in the Tribe. Her pack was the largest, but she also often sent members of her pack into the packs of other warlords when she felt that they could no longer grow under her own leadership. To be recommended by Alpha was a sign of honor, it meant that a wolfkin still had the way to grow, only on her own now. Some of the former wolf hags of Alpha even rose to the ranks of warlords in other packs. Annie was unsure why the stupid idiot was suddenly afraid of it.
After that, Virginia finally agreed to lie in her bed and relax, allowing the doctors to do their work. The chains and ropes were soon removed and neither wolf hag tried to escape anymore. Unfortunately for Annie, Virginia was only shaken for barely an hour before she began babbling on about everything once again.