"We live! Fucking yeah, we won!" Sly shouted outside, falling to the ground in exhaustion. His helmet slid down from his head, and he looked at the night sky with amber eyes. "I say we deserve…" he stopped as a massive form landed near him, slamming a foot on his neck.
Wolf hag Sonya towered above him. Even without armor, she was bigger than most wolfkins in the group. Her black and brown fur had a few gray strands here and there as her age was showing itself. She was dressed in a long leather military coat, with an insignia of her rank on the left lapel of her coat. Her leg was on Sly’s neck, forcing him to struggle for breath. Sonya dropped a large bag on the ground.
"You live. This much is true," Sonya said in a deadly calm voice, increasing the pressure in her leg. "It's not up to you to decide whether you won or lost," She growled, "It is not for you to decide what you deserve. You are not allowed to relax like a cub after the mission, not until your commander says so. Am I understood?" Sly frantically tried to nod his head, whining ever so slightly in a sign of submission. Sonya removed her leg, putting both her paws behind her back, "Form up!" She roared.
The pack gathered in front of their leader, standing with their helmets removed, while the wolf hag was looking at them critically.
The mission was a success, the nest was destroyed. Congratulations on your survival," She said as she turned to face Aranea. "You took heavy weapons on the mission. You knew about the presence of the queen?"
"Yes, ma’am." Aranea nodded, and Sonya slapped her across the face, drawing blood. The wolf hag held back her claws, yet even her palm was hardy enough to draw blood from the lips of the lesser wolfkin.
"Three points deducted for not informing your fellow soldiers," Aranea licked her lips, "plus six points for listening to the lessons and reading additional materials. Plus two points for waiting for an order to begin the mission. Ten points for saving the lives of the second team," Sonya sniffed the air, taking a moment to inhale new knowledge. She turned toward Kaleb and growled, advancing on him, "Explain your injury." Without a mistake, she grabbed the wounded paw of the wolfkin, looking at the crude bandage.
"This was because of I fa…" Kostya tried to say something, but the wolf hag turned toward him in a blur, punching him in the snout. He fell on one knee as blood ran down his face and into his armor.
"Minus one point for speaking out of turn. Minus another point for being such a weakling and falling on the knee," "Minus two points for the injury," Sonya said to Kaleb, her eyes widening as she noticed his weapon in Yuki's paws, "Minus three points for damaging the armor. Minus three points for losing your weapon," She looked at frightened Kaleb, towering above him, and said, "Minus one point for fear. You are a disgrace. I can see that punishment is needed to improve morale. " She raised her left paw, unleashing the claws. Kaleb swallowed in fear as the shadow cast by Sonya’s claws fell on his face.
Aranea forced herself to stand still. Sonya was still stronger than she was, even now after all these years. If she challenges the wolf hag while Aranea herself is still in armor and wins, no one will accept her as the new wolf hag. Her future will be locked away for a while. Aranea looked blindly in front of herself as Kaleb was about to receive new scars. Just endure it. You can make it up to him later. No one can solve all problems at once. Besides, this is his fault. She tried to convince herself, feeling burning shame at being at the mercy of someone’s will, One day, I will change it all. No more pits, no more infighting, no more… I will make you all grow up. Aranea promised herself. "Small sacrifices must be made for a good cause." The voice chuckled inside her head, and Aranea clenched her paws, ready to leap at Sonya.
"Permission to carry on punishment," Kate asked, stepping forward. In the Wolf Tribe, it was not unusual for scouts to punish warriors and warriors to punish males. It was never a wolf hag's job to deal with male problems, so Sonya simply nodded, stepping back as Kate leaped on Kaleb, biting his throat and throwing him down. She slammed the paw near his head as she clenched her jaws, biting his skin lightly and drawing blood, before releasing him, "If you ever dare to dishonor us like this again…" She slammed her leg into the ground near Kaleb’s ear as he shuddered from fear, "You will end up losing more than just a few drops of blood." The scout turned her back on him, returning to the line. Aranea clenched her paws. One day, she will make Kate pay for her bullying.
"Hey, everyone!" Aranea turned her head as she heard the voice of Olesya, carrying a large bag behind herself, similar to the one that Sonya put on the ground. Her pack was following her, while the wolf hag Siri was standing away in the distance. Siri moved her head, and Sonya nodded.
"You may socialize and feed," Sonya nodded at the bag. She glanced at Kaleb, "Keep your wounds clean, male. Despite your guilt, I grant you the right to eat as much as the other males on this night." With these words, she leaped in the air, grabbing the stones on the nearby mountain slope and climbing up, Siri followed after her. The wolf hags liked to consult in a remote place. And liked to compete with each other as well, both Sonya and Siri tried to out speed one another.
" Looks like you will win this round," Olesya said, coming nearby and taking off her helmet. Five long, deep scratches were across her face, torn wounds were still fresh, and the meat inside was bleeding. Aranea raised her brow at such fresh wounds, she was sure that Olesya had come unscratched from combat. The scout noticed this and giggled, licking the blood that was falling from her snout, "Siri was pissed about us starting early, so she showed her displeasure," Olesya put her helmet on her belt. Her fur was brown, meaning that she was unlikely to ever rise in rank above a warrior's rank. Yet, thanks to the intense beating of her fellow scouts and training from Siri, Olesya managed to become a scout, "Spirits, I can’t wait to finally own her. You know that I lost to her three times already? My ribs still hurt from the last beating. " The scout complained. Aranea put her paws on her shoulders and made her sit. Kate gave her leader a medical pack, and Aranea began cleaning Olesya's wounds.
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"Sonya beat me down five times by now, and you don’t see me whining about it. Stop frowning. We need to clean your wounds and stitch you up, or you will start bleeding pus once again." The scout chastised her fellow scout as their packs sat nearby, rummaging through bags. The wolf hags brought them the meat and milk of cusacks. The winners were supposed to take the larger share, but neither Olesya nor Aranea cared to count the exact amount right now, so they both shrugged and gave orders to share everything evenly.
"Not fair. Why can’t I heal just as well as you? Ow. Take it easy, girl." The scout complained as Aranea finished cleaning the wounds and started stitching them. The wolfkins healed far better than normies, but even their wounds could potentially get infected in rare cases. Aranea was somewhat of an exception in this situation, she never bothered to clean her wounds, nor was she ever ill afterwards. Sometimes her wounds would close with parasites and fleas still in them, and yet she was always fine afterwards.
"That’s because you are weaker than me." Aranea teased her.
"Weaker, huh? I should pound you for such insolence and add a bit more for not warning me about the queen’s presence."
"It's not my fault that you are dumb." The scout replied, faking a smug smile on her face, enjoying herself, and Olesya laughed, despite the pain.
"We’ll see if you are still this smug when I become the wolf hag way ahead of you."
"In your dreams, perhaps," Aranea finished stitching up the wounds of her fellow wolfkin and sat down, reaching for food, "I will drop Sonya way before you ever touch Siri."
Olesya was from the pack of warlord Martyshkina, while Aranea herself served under the leadership of warlord Janine Ironjaw. Both packs have been closely working together for a long time. They were stationed in an area near Fort Uglo and saw little action in recent years. The surroundings were tame, even calm. By the standards of the Ravaged Lands, of course. By the standards of the Core Lands, the Ravaged Lands were hell on earth. The normies had to wear special anti-heat suits here. Even during the night, heat could easily kill a normie. Food and water were scarce. And yet, despite all this, quite a number of people lived here. People who will one day be reclaimed by the state.
When Kaleb finished his portion of food, his stomach rumbled suddenly, and Kostya silently extended him part of his own portion. Seeing this, Kate growled, forcing the males to step away from each other before they could exchange food.
"If you're still hungry, go to your direct superior instead of begging for food from your pack members," Kate hissed at Kaleb before ripping a large piece of meat from her own portion and hurling it in Kaleb's face, ""And you!" She growled at Kostya, "Feed yourself well, old man, and next time actually prove your worth. "Can take just as much punishment as any female" my ass. Can’t even keep an eye on the other males. What good are you? Be better! If you can’t, I can always run you through the training courses as well, just ask!" The scout laughed bitterly, reaching for her beads and playing with them as Kostya nodded.
"Kate, that is enough." Aranea growled in irritation, "If you have such burning energy in you, then prostrate before me." Without saying a word, the lower-ranked scout instantly dropped her food in the sand and fell on her belly, hands extended toward Aranea. "Stay this way until I allow you to move."
"Please, I really did not want to cause any problems…" Kaleb started, but Aranea silenced him with a look.
"Eat." She simply said this and reached out, knocking Sly on the head. The wolfkin was too absorbed in entering some data into the terminal on his wrist. Aranea was sometimes worried about him. Sly could easily spend the entire day and night tinkering with weapons and gear, forgetting to eat and drink. It was the first duty of Kate, and now it is the duty of Aranea, although she was mostly putting this duty on Yuki, to drag him out of this weird state and make him take care of himself. Sly even filled out a request to be transported to the engineer corps, but it was of course rejected by the shamans. The wolfkins of the Wolf Tribe were made for war and nothing else. One should first leave the Tribe before pursuing a career anywhere else, and Sly was afraid of such a move.
Just one more stupid rule that I will remove. Aranea promised herself in her thoughts and looked at Yuki. "Ensure that Sly is eating his norm and that no one is stealing from him."
"Why must I always be the one to care for him?" Yuki rolled her eyes, but obeyed her order, moving closer to Sly, "Come on, swallow the food already. Not like this, you idiot, chew the meat first!"
After the pack members finished feasting, Aranea allowed Kate to hurriedly finish her food and stand up. She turned toward Olesya, while Kate was busy eating: "It is a bet then. The one who becomes a wolf hag a day early will win." She raised her paw, and Olesya gave her a fist bump.
"It will be me, as always!" Olesya laughed, standing up, "I was born to become a warlord. Just you see, I will run ahead of you yet!"
Siri and Sonya jumped from the stones above, each taking their pack to their own camp. Aranea looked at how Olesya was leaving and hoped that the stupid moron would keep herself safe. They met five years ago during the usual scramble between the members of two packs. Ever since, they have tried to one-up each other. Aranea was unsure why she was wasting her strength on something so childish, but her rivalry with the fellow scout helped her get through some of the darkest times in her life. One day she would make Olesya bow to her, but until that day she was content with their struggle.
"It was decided. You won this round. Siri ran her pack all the way into the negative score for missing the clues about the queen's presence and for disobedience." Sonya chuckled quietly, clearly in a good mood.
"This means the title is mine?" Aranea asked, feeling her heart beat a bit faster.
"Yep. You now officially have the honorable title of being the first among the scouts between two packs. Congratulations," Sonya said in a dry voice and gestured for the rest of pack to move ahead. As both of them were left alone, the wolf hag looked at Aranea with amber eyes and said, "You still want to go, girl?"
"Yes. But not tonight. When we fight next time, I will drop you down properly," Aranea saw no reason to lie. They both knew that moment was coming.
"Drop me…" Sonya thought for a moment, "Then you better hurry. Word just came in, Wyrm Lord declared that the warlords among the locals have three months to submit. Or they will be forced to bend the knee."
"War is coming?"
"Yes," Sonya bluntly responded, "From this day on, we will face proper challenges," She looked up, "You have half a year to try. After this, you will be promoted to my rank as per my will."
"Why is that?" Aranea asked in confusion.
"Old age, girl," Sonya pointed at her own hide, showing gray hair, "I am not rich enough to afford the rejuvenation shots, nor am I important enough for the leaders to give them to me for free, so I will get old like everyone else. The shamans had sent me word that I was to write my will and visit their tent in half a year. The Wolf Tribe has no need for old farts like me." The wolf hag turned and followed her own pack.