“Sisters, brothers, we all know that the ice boys fucked us over,” Bogdan said to the small group of Wolfkins from various packs before himself. “And that Bertruda’s whore keeps pestering Warlord Janine! This insult cannot stand!”
“We can’t fight them,” Anissa yawned, leaning against the wall. The Wolf Hag released her claws, allowing the dim light of lamps from above to fall on them. “If we as much as touch them with a finger, Warlord Alpha will tear out that finger. No, thanks.”
“Sis, you only see a problem when finding a solution is so much funnier!” Ignacy said it enthusiastically. The boy rummaged through his backpack and placed a small map on the dusty floor. “The crawler’s schematics.”
“Where in the Spirits’ names did you get those?” Anissa raised her brow.
“Who do you think helps with repairs?” Ignacy smugly looked at her and pointed at the intricate web of pipes beneath the compartments owned by the Ice Fangs. “Our crawler is far from being the stunning beauty she once was…”
“He,” Elzada said. “Our crawler is a boy. Everyone knows it.”
“Trust me, when you hear the gears working and the groans of the wondrous circuits, gears, engines, and pipes, you will agree that this is she.” Ignacy looked at the ceiling dreamily.
“Maybe you can show me sometimes, Ignacy.” The scout leaned against him. “Just you and me, exploring this whole machine world of yours.”
“Sure, we can go tonight if you want to,” the Wolfkin said, and Elzada clenched her fist in triumph. “Anyway, see these pipes beneath their restrooms? They are living on fumes, and by this, I mean that they should’ve exploded a month ago. So, if something were to happen to them, in ten minutes the automatic systems would flush out the filth in both directions, resulting in their precious dens being filled with a thick layer of their own piss and shit.”
“Won’t we be punished?” Kirk asked. The always nervous-looking Wolfkin licked his lips, glancing around in fear that Kalaisa might descend from the ceiling and beat her brother up once again. In the past few days, his wounds had healed a bit, and after Kalaisa left him alone, he even regrow some of the lost hair. But a look of horror rarely left his amber eyes.
“Planning to scurry away?” Anissa smirked.
“No way.” The youngster stubbornly shook his head, grabbing his left paw to stop it from trembling. “They called my pack a bunch of dirty barbarians…”
“Truth be told, they are not wrong,” his sister giggled, receiving a light elbow kick from Elzada. “We are dirty. And barbarians.”
“They could’ve been less of an ass about delivering that line!”
“It is settled then!” Bogdan jumped to his feet. “This is our chance to get even with the bastards! We…”
“And why should I not send you straight to the shamans for a punishment?” Janine’s voice boomed from the dynamics within the corridor. “I thought Alpha had made herself clear. No infighting outside of the arena.”
With a cup of this peculiar beverage, coffee, resting on a desk, Janine sat inside the observation center, a small space designed for one person and surrounded by displays on all sides. A short moment of unity after a recent battle did not last for long. Hundreds of Wolfkins from both groups had begged to be allowed to go with Onyxia on her recon mission, but at the end, Onyxia picked up First to go with her, claiming that he could reign her in if she went overboard in her questioning and, if rumors were true, also at Alpha’s behest.
This left thousands of able-bodied Wolfkins locked in the crawler for weeks ahead. For someone who used to live in the open field, the claustrophobic corridors of the giant machine felt like torture. Ravager herself was often seen at the hull, breathing the air madly, along with a few Warlords and dozens of lower ranks. But fears could be overcome. What was harder to deal with was boredom.
No Warlord worth her rank would let her subordinate fool around for long. From sending them on a recon to helping locals or staging a simple training, Wolfkins always had to be doing something; otherwise, inevitable fights for dominance started to happen between packs. And now, when all packs shared the same den, with dominations banned for the time being, the soldiers were dying of boredom from having nothing to do, eagerly latching on to any possibility of helping the crew.
Lacerated One happily reported that twenty new females were bearing life, with newly formed soulmates already eagerly mating in every corner of the crawler, leaving Janine only grabbing her head in desperation. She had already received permission from both Cristobo and Ravager to send future mothers back into the villages, unwilling to allow anyone to repeat her mistakes and give birth to malnourished cubs. Ashbringer grumbled at having their packs reduced because of this, claiming the situation was pointless. In a sense, she was right; very rarely have any cubs from the first litter survived lifegivings, but Dragena and Alpha supported Janine’s initiative.
This left the Ice Fangs. Fights, or duels, as these idiots called them, kept happening because both sides kept pushing each other at every possibility. To remedy this, Dragena proposed the creation of an arena in the maintenance bay where leaders from both sides could oversee the struggle between two combatants and prevent any crippling injury or death. Anissa had won against a knight-captain before being literally pin-down by a sage, Impatient One had won against two sages, only to be utterly crushed by a male sage, and now she spent hours begging the Spirits for forgiveness. For a while, this satisfied everyone, until the fights started happening anew in the corridors. Savagery was in the Wolf Tribe’s very blood, yet no one expected that their cousins would be just as pissed off about their losses in the arena.
This led to the implementation of some drastic measures. The Warlords took turns in the observation rooms, looking at the corridors through cameras, to stop the packs from fooling around, and the Sword Saints had done the same. Once troublemakers were found, a group of shamans or sages was ready to be sent to deal with them at a moment’s notice.
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“Warlord!” Bogdan straightened up, looking around for the hidden camera. “Ma’am, we are merely planning to fix the drainage system! Just imagine how this will irk these proud ice boys when we solve their problem!”
“Is that so? And you haven’t had a thought of disrupting it and flooding them with the contents of their bowels?” Janine asked skeptically.
“Of course not, ma’am!” Bogdan faked terror. “Your orders were very pristine in this regard.” The others voiced their approval, and Janine laughed.
“Fine, fine. If that’s the case, go for it. I expect a full report of your spending success within an hour. And after you’ve done that, you will do the same for every other drainage system in our crawler. We can’t have them breaking down on us, right?” Janine smiled and turned off the display.
Ah, the wonders of being young and reckless. If Bogdan were a female, she’d have prompted him to try his paw at becoming a scout. Weak as he may be, the boy had a knack for gathering a small crowd for his mischiefs. Still smiling, Janine pressed a button, looking through the corridor.
Janine kept finding her thoughts tracing back to the attack on the settlement. Was she truly right in rejecting Ravager’s aid at the start? With the Blessed Mother, they would have suffered no additional losses… But no. She reminded herself of how Ravager almost slaughtered the surrendered foes just because she was caught in a moment. Surrounded by the corpses of the civilians… There was no telling what she would’ve done. Just another sin Janine had to live with. She shook her head and kept observing the situation.
White-furred and black-furred Wolfkins worked side by side, cleaning the floor in the medical bay. Aside from friendly banter, all seemed in order here. She switched screens. A wolf hag asked a knight captain to let her try his sword gun. Weird, but it seems harmless enough. Next. Lacerated One is leading a prayer, with several white-furred cousins present. No harm in this either. Next screen.
“I don’t get it,” an image of Kalaisa’s sour face showed on the screen as she trailed back and forth before Anji. “Why did you feel down that night, Bootlicker?”
Kalaisa still wore a tight bandage around her head, but the torn bones had already disappeared beneath the skin, and her walk was as confident as ever. The broken shoulder blade was almost fully healed, leaving just an occasional trembling in the woman’s arm as a reminder of her loss.
“I hate seeing people under our protection die,” Anji said easily.
“We’re killers. It’s all what we see all the time,” Kalaisa insisted. She let out a claw and painted something in the air, struggling to find words. “Like… You’re older than me. Surely you have been involved in a few conquests by now. People die. Get used to it. We’ll all die sometime.”
“Thanks, Kalaisa.” Anji smiled at the bristling woman. “I mean it. Thanks for worrying about me. It just… My Dad and Mom always took me and the brothers to help in a nearby settlement owned by normies. You know, to help with watching over cusacks, dealing with insectoids, and stuff like that?”
“I don’t know. Throughout my childhood, I had to work to keep my worthless siblings alive. And fight. And beg for food.” Kalaisa clenched her fists before easing a bit. “Tch. Mother, father, brothers… A princess to the core. Bet they tug your blanket too.”
“Yes. As a matter of fact, they still try to do it when I come back home.” Anji laughed, ignoring the growl. “Had a hard life, I take it? Say you want to do something fun for a change? Me and Marco are busy with something in our spare time; care to join in?”
“What’s the catch?” Kalaisa asked suspiciously and shuddered when Anji wrapped her paws around her shoulders.
“No catch. Let’s loosen up a little, shall we? It’s not like we can do much else on this nanny ship, anyway. You can always opt out if you are unhappy.”
Janine looked at the other display, turning off the sound recording out of respect for privacy. Kalaisa looked a bit more stable than usual… But she remembered the look on her brother’s face and the way that foolish child had treated her family. Janine tapped her seat with a claw before calling Marco to her.
“M… Warlord!” Marco saluted her.
“At ease,” Janine said, placing a small remote device in his paw. “Marco, should any sister try to dominate you or try to use her claws against you, press this button. And I will come, no matter what.”
“I don’t need protection,” Marco said, looking down. “I’ve survived the pits just fine.”
Janine lowered herself to one knee, taking her son by the shoulders. All traditions and rules demanded that she punish him with claws for daring to speak back to her. But she simply pressed him to her chest.
“We both know it isn’t true, Marco,” she said. “Marco, the reason your knees hurt is because of me. It is my fault for ruining your future.” She pressed a finger to his lips, stopping the protests. “Dad asked me to watch over all of you if I could. Allow me this one weakness. If the situation gets scary, call me at once."
“I am not weak!” Marco clenched the remote. “It’s always the same with everyone! ‘Oh, poor Marco, how are your knees? Do you need help to carry this crate?’ No, I don’t! I may be weak and useless sometimes; I may be a loser, but I am just like you and Ani and Y…” He gurgled, gasping for air, when Janine’s paw grabbed him by the throat.
She stood up, easily lifting her boy to her eye level, and allowed a low growl to cause a spark of fear in his eyes. Marco clenched the remote and even tried to bare his neck in submission when Janine closed her snout toward him, showing fangs.
“You are not like me or your sisters,” Janine said mercilessly. It hurt her heart, but the boy must learn. Either he accepts the cruel reality or makes the right choice and becomes exiled. Janine released her grip a bit, allowing her son to breathe. “No male in our tribe will ever be equal to a female. Such is the will of the Spirits. Do you think we are caring for you because you are weak? Is that it? Because we are pitying you? Sit.” She dropped him and called Martyshkina.
Marco obeyed Janine, sitting warily in the corner and massaging his neck, while Janine herself kept observing the packs, sparing him no more glances. Is that what he thought? Did he truly believe that his siblings stood by him just because he was defective? Spirits, no wonder he thought it; she took him out of the pits! No, Janine had enough mistakes. She will fix this problem tonight.
“Called?” Martyshkina showed up, pressing two fingers to her temple in a mocking salute. When Janine turned in the chair to meet her, the Warlord raised her brows. “Jani, why are our boys and girls standing in shit?”
“By the Spirits, it’s everywhere! What the fuck are they even eating!?” Janine heard Anissa’s disgusted screams. “Ignacy, you bastard, you’ve told us that the pipe will hold!”
“How was I supposed to know that they are in this state of disrepair? The ice bastards claimed they are still holding in the latest report!” Ignacy tried to defend himself.
“Well, clearly they were wrong,” Kirk said.
“Okay, people, we have an actual shitstorm at our paws. Gotta work fast before the system starts flushing the pipes! We can’t afford to look bad in the Ice Fang’s eyes,” Bogdan said.
“Not sure about the looks, but we sure as shit are smelling like… shit,” Elzada giggled.
“Just performing the emergency repairs,” Janine said quickly, standing up and picking Marco. “Listen, could you take over? I’ll owe you one. I have an emergency on my paws, too.”
“No problem here.” Martyshkina gracefully jumped over Janine, landing in the seat and putting both paws behind her head, looking at the screens with barely contained laughter. “For such a show, I am willing to do it for free.”