"Sorry," The claw of a half-wyrm was pressed against her long, pointy ear, "Big ears. Heard everything. 'Wyrm woman'." Leila laughed and jumped up, "It seems that I left a bad impression! Oh well, I will have to explain myself to her later. I should probably send a report to Ivar about this potential power hidden in the scout…" Aranea looked at the half-wyrm with worry. Murzaliev used others like pawns. What if he decides to take Kate away? "… But the old demon put me in charge of your pack, so your wellbeing is now my responsibility. I say screw him." Leila grabbed Aranea into an embrace, leading her to exit.
"Thank you." Aranea said honestly, and Leila only laughed in response.
They came out through the front doors of the hospital, right into the inner keep of Uglo fortress. Aranea blinked as she saw the light outside. The fortress was the main base of the Reclamation Army in the Ravaged Lands. The massive central spire, large enough to be considered a city, was nearly eighty meters tall. It was surrounded by a massive wall, a shield station and the main hospital were also built in this area. This was the inner part of the keep, where the high command and a few elite forces were located. Outside of the first set of walls was the outer keep, filled with countless factories, barracks, training grounds, radar stations, and smaller medical stations. Buildings filled almost all the surface of the outer fortress, except for a long strip of land in the north leading directly to the north gate. The ground in this place was covered with two massive steel gates. Underneath them was a demolition cannon, one of the most powerful weapons in the entire Reclamation Army. Built in the times before the Extinction, this cannon was capable of shooting down meteors in space. It was but the first such weapon, the rulers of old planned to put such weapons in many regions on the planet. But they had simply lacked time. When the state took control over this weapon, scientists found out that its terrifying power could potentially wipe out entire cities at range. Yet the Dynast had little need for genocide, and also, because of the treaty with Iterna and the Oathtakers, this weapon was never put to use.
Aranea could see numerous trenches and bunkers outside the fortress, as well as trembling air.Trembling air indicated the location where the protection of the shield station was ending. The wolf hag could observe state soldiers testing the latest mechanical suits outfitted with disruption weaponry in training areas. Black oval suits, standing roughly three meters tall, carried two large disruptors on their shoulders. When activated, these weapons released a set of strong vibrations forward, powerful enough to break molecular bonds in structure and reducing almost anything before them to dust. The range of these weapons was too short to put them on the tanks or other vehicles, so it was decided that these weapons would be wasted in the uneven terrain of the Ravaged Lands. More mobile platforms were required to operate in this harsh terrain, so mobile corps from the Core Lands reentered the fray in mechanical suits. Following the expansion of the mobile corps, some troopers from the Ravaged Lands were also studying how to operate these mechs.
Countless troops were busy training in the fields, even more followed armored columns, leaving the safety of the walls to fight in distant battles. As the state was flexing its muscles, the entire third army was ordered into action. In a few months, if the war would drag on, the legendary warlords of the Wolf Tribe would arrive. Aranea was not a religious person, but the sheer idea of having an opportunity to meet Zero and Alpha, two warlords who saw the birth of the Tribe, filled her with awe. Those two were the strongest and most ancient beings in the entire Tribe. Zero had no warriors under her command and was somewhat exiled from the Tribe after tracking down and killing the skinwalker who had destroyed her pack. Yet in the dark times of Tribe, according to shamans, Zero always showed up, her sniper rifle claiming the lives of her foes. In peacetime, Zero mostly annoyed shamans by trying to change the Tribe.
Leila led Aranea to one of the command centers of the Wolf Tribe warlords. It was mostly empty now, Valerye Foulsnout and Janine Ironjaw were both in the field. Martyshkina was still in the hospital. Most of the wolf hags were also at the front. Leila led Aranea to a massive room, explaining that Sonya would bring Aranea up to speed, using materials that were left from previous briefings. Several seats stood in front of the massive screen, and food and drink remnants littered the floor. The smell of food caused Aranea's belly to rumble. In one of the seats was the massive form of the shaman, the woman was sitting casually, reading some pamphlets. This one right here easily dwarfed Aranea in size, she was nearly as tall as the half-wyrm. Numerous totems hung from her shoulder pads, her ornate armor was covered with prayers. She was without a helmet, and Aranea saw that the shaman's skin was riddled with countless scars, one large scar running across her closed right eye. The skin of this shaman was so ruined that even fur could barely hide the sheer number of former wounds on her body. The shaman looked at Aranea and opened her right eye, revealing a red ocular in the eye socket. Against her will, Aranea blinked. Shamans were the ones who opposed augmetics the most. To see one willingly using an augmetic was... Strange.
"Wolf hag Aranea." The shaman stood up and extended her arm. Despite standing higher in the hierarchy of the Wolf Tribe, shamans themselves rarely led troops in battle. They were spiritual leaders and individual fighters, but usually had bad teamwork with other members of the pack. "I am temporarily assigned to your pack by the order of warlord Janine. Once your force is replenished, I will take my leave."
"Is this really okay?" asked Aranea, taking an extended paw to greet her fellow kin. "I am the bearer of cursed blood, you know," She pointed at her crimson eye, "I can taint you if you stay near me."
"If there is no possibility of redemption, then what is the point of the Spirits?" The shaman answered with a question. Her tone was serious but calm. "No, wolf hag. The Spirits are harsh but fair. Cursed children commit no crime by being born. The Spirits simply choose them to put them to the test, to see if such children are strong enough to stick to the truth. You strive to fulfill your duties, and that is all anyone can ask of you. Cursed or not, you are one of us now. Continue on this path, and you will come back to the den of the blessed mother after your earthly form perishes." With these words, the shaman sat back down on her seat, utterly ignoring Leila.
"I know that you dislike me, but you can at least pretend to be nice." The half-wyrm complained.
"I have no animosity toward you, lady," The shaman responded calmly, without looking at her. "Yet it is unnatural for us to follow anyone but a warlord. Your position in the pack is unclear. You have no blood ties to us, but the Wyrm Lord has granted you ownership of the wolf hag Aranea's pack. Ask me about the Spirits and I will tell you all I know, for outsiders also deserve to be blessed. I will tell you any tales that I know. But I will not pretend to be nice to the blue wyrm's follower."
"Well, honesty is good enough," Leila landed on seats near the shaman and reached for the recorder, "We stopped at the time when Zero left the Tribe. Can you tell me what happened next…"
Aranea heard steps, and Sonya came to stand before the massive screen. Her former armor was gone, she was dressed in the armor of a simple scout. Her shield was no longer on her shoulder. The helmet was dangling from her waist. From the looks of things, former wounds have healed by now. The scout nodded to Aranea.
"Please accept my apologies, wolf hag Aranea," Sonya stood at attention, exposing her neck in submission. "I took control of the pack in your absence and approved reinforcements for our depleted numbers. You are free to punish me as you see fit…"
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"Speak freely, Sonya," Aranea commanded, before smiling. "Damn, it is good to be back. You have my permission to carry on my duties for today and tomorrow, as the doctors told me that I will have to stay indoors. I will need some time to readjust. How is the pack? One of the warriors lost her leg. Is she fine?"
"She…" Before Sonya could explain, the shaman cut her off.
"The fool tried to refuse the augmetic leg. I challenged her and bit off her ear, now she has a metal ear and a brand-new metal leg."
Aranea turned to the shaman and locked gazes with her. She knew full well that she was weaker, but she still spread her fingers wide, preparing to unleash the claws: "Never dare to harm my pack ever again."
"You would prefer her to become Crippled?" The shaman raised a brow over her mechanical eye.
The Crippled were the wolfkins who decided against having a replacement for the lost limb. In not-so-distant times, they lived at the edge of the village, their main goal was to be a living shield in case someone attacked the village, and they were to give up their lives to warn the population. Their cubs were known as "Branded" and were shunned from joining the military ranks. It all changed when the warlords persuaded the shamans to give the Branded a chance to serve. At the last Gathering, the sacred time of peace among the Wolf Tribe, the shamans were presented with the results, and, after some scandal happened, they removed the segregation all together, allowing the Branded to freely join the military. Aranea knew little about it, but she heard that some Branded beat the shit out of the wolf hag with ease. The recording of the duel on TV was edited to keep the names of both fighters secret. Aranea could hazard a guess as to why this happened, the one who lost to the Branded was undoubtedly tainted with shame for the rest of her life.
"No," Aranea finally admitted. Even now, becoming Crippled is considered an unworthy fate. However, if anyone insults one in front of a shaman nowadays... Well, suffice to say, some skin would be lost. The wolf hag let go of the tension, "But never again dare to lay a claw on my soldiers."
"I never laid a claw on her. We bit each other, ma’am," The shaman replied with respect, "Judge me as you will, but it was stay with us or be sent back into the village situation." Aranea nodded to the shaman, showing that she understood.
"We live." Sonya glared at Leila, and the half-wyrm pleasantly smiled, "There were some problems between the new members, but our new "patron" helped me to solve them without violence. Warriors tried to fight for the right to become scouts, and I had to smack down a few of them when I was protecting Kate’s position," Sonya shook her head. "We still lack a few warriors to replace Yuki's pack, so I decided that it was wise to silently demote Yuki to stop the infighting. We have no information about her fate, for all we know, she could be alive," But Sonya's expression told Aranea that the former wolf hag did not believe this. "Sly is assisting the engineering team, and he has prepared a weapon worthy of you," Sonya shrugged, "I'd consider this a sacrilege, but the shaman approved it."
"Zero is a warlord, despite her choice of weapon," The shaman calmly replied, taking a moment to break away from telling Leila the story of the Tribe. "Ravager taught us to be flexible. All is good as long as it kills or protects. Even a weapon made by a male. "
"How is the war going?" Aranea asked. Sonya nodded to someone, and a servant came forward, moving the table with food before himself. He stopped by the seats, and Aranea thanked him, realizing for the first time just how hungry she was. She sat down and began to feast. The wolf hag tried to keep her manners but soon started to swallow large pieces of meat whole, barely chewing them. Her body demanded more and more.
"Barely began," Sonya walked up to the screen and pressed a button, revealing a large map behind her, "The resistance overplayed their hand, they attacked too soon," A large red dot appeared in the north. "This right here is the Gates of Destiny, as the Resistance called it. Now this place has been renamed Chokepoint A. This place is a mountain range with a single large road through it that leads to the inner lands of Resistance. This road is stable enough for a large part of the army to move through it. After the enemy attacked us, blue and black wyrms worked together to take over this place with help from Janine and Martyshkina, along with a sufficient number of troops. We have no idea why enemy forces were so slow to fortify this position, but with this choke point, we can now..." A red dots appeared to the south, showing a series of canyons that run to the west and then to plains in the north, "… to assemble a large number of forces to the south of Chokepoint A."
"Moving through canyons, our forces will arrive in Iadan, the main trading hub of the Regulators and the home base of Yasen Wolansky and his forces. Enemy forces stationed in the canyons were eliminated by the efforts of warlord Valerye, who is also currently taking over a tank factory south of the canyons. This factory was supposed to have serious protection, but the blue wyrm assured us that the enemy wouldn’t fight for it. So far, he was correct, our kin detected no presence of heavy vehicles in the area. The blue wyrm will lead forces near the canyons in person, heading toward Iadan city. Meanwhile, the black wyrm assembled his forces to the east," A new red dot appeared. "Sadly, we are not privy to his movements or plans. But the fortified enemy position of the Regulators near his location changed allegiance and joined us, after the black wyrm managed to convince them that it was Blaguna who destroyed the city."
Red question marks appeared in the north: "Both blue and black wyrms stated that an enemy attack is expected soon. Recon teams report that massive forces of the Soultakers and the Bento tribe are on the move. Unlike the regulators, they are serious bad news, they have both the numbers and equipment to be hard opponents. Nonetheless, most of our scout parties were wiped out before they could pinpoint the attack's target. Murzaliev assured Wyrm Lord that an attack on Chokepoint A would be suicide, thus, a possible choice for an enemy attack is either through the canyons in the west or the ash plains in the east. Most of our forces are amassed there. If the enemy held control over Chokepoint A, they could have easily attacked us in the back, but thanks to the quick actions of our army, this is no longer a threat," Sonya pressed another button, and the screen went dark.
"This is all that is going on. Some minor things happen, King claims that we are the ones responsible for the destruction of the city, and most of the Resistance believes him. Mostly, both sides point fingers at each other. The Wyrm Lord is currently busy speaking with the leaders of recently captured population centers, convincing them to be calm. The planning of the war was left in the hands of the blue and black. Chokepoint A is currently being changed into a proper fortress by the orders of the black wyrm."
Sonya walked away from the screen, taking a deep breath. It was unusual for her to explain things. The wolf hag’s mission was to lead, to be first in charge, and to strike first. Talking was something warlords usually did. The scout asked for permission and snatched some water from the table to eagerly drink. After this, Sonya lowered herself into one of the seats.
"I am glad you woke up, Aranea," She quietly said, "It was difficult to stick to your rules. Usually, I just slash whoever goes out of line," She looked at her claws, "Talking, finding other ways to keep order is... unnatural," Sonya looked up. "Anyway, your new armor is ready. Go and see Sly, just make sure to put your armor on before you test the new weapon. It is very important." Sonya's fingers twitched nervously during these words.
Aranea tried to ask what exactly Sonya meant by this, but the scout became evasive. Claiming that a duty calls her, Sonya quickly left, followed by the shaman. As the scout was leaving, she cracked her fingers, and Leila laughed quietly. The half-wyrm also refused to explain the situation, instead taking Aranea to the elevators leading to the outer keep. After going down, they headed to a small armory in the south of the fortress. The wolf hag observed how many soldiers casually greeted Leila, wolfkins, new breeds, and normies alike, and how almost everyone felt at ease in her presence. Many asked if the half wyrm would join them in the bar tonight.
"I like making friends." The weird woman cheerfully explained, after she noticed a surprised look from Aranea. "People here have so many stories. So many different traditions, customs... It is all so interesting!"
"And bar?" The wolf hag inquired.
"Ah, what better way to loosen tongues than to drink together?" Leila giggled as they came to the armory, "Can you imagine there is even a semi-official challenge to try and outdrink me?! Of course, none can win, wyrms are just built differently, but people do try to win from time to time."