As it turned out, the cold could actually be a hindrance to a Wolfkin. Coughing and sneezing in the morning, Janine put on the gifted sweater, a new stylish coat and two pairs of pants, and wrapped herself in a warm blanket. She was still shivering and called Maxence, wondering about possible poisoning.
It was a novel experience. Her skin shivered, demanding warmth, and she held a paw over a radiator, chanting prayers to the Spirits. Janine was ever a morning bird, waking ahead of her pack to survey the defenses and taking pride in hearing gossip praising her diligence. She couldn’t do it today and called Melina, assigning the traditional task to the wolf hag. The doctor arrived soon, checking her mouth and helping her replace bandages. From him, Janine learned that her condition wasn’t unusual; a total of one hundred and fifteen soldiers, Normies and Wolfkin, had what was known as the common cold, a typical illness resulting from acclimatization to the new temperature.
Janine ignored pleas to stay and recuperate, gulping down insipid medical pills. She swam through the toxic wastes; she endured the poisonous stings of the insectoids; she traversed zones filled with enough radiation to kill a Normie; a damned common cold will not bring her low!
Her bravado could only last so long, as Janine soon learned. Her legs were shaking! She survived the bout against Lacerated One and lived to tell the tale; her whole body itched as the wounds, bones, and muscles healed, and yet the reason she had trouble moving around was because of a simple illness!
Okay, Janine, calm down; there is no reason to be upset. Lacerated One is stuck in the praying den after feasting on the frozen food. You are not alone in your misery. The thought of the Supreme Shaman lying in bed like a little cub, sneezing and coughing, had lifted her spirit a bit. She herself had spent yesterday sleeping off the damage to her body, with her Wolf Hags taking turns bringing her food and water. Eventually, she chased them away and waited for Kalaisa to show up for the scheduled morning lecture, but she never did. Out of curiosity, Janine called Ygrite and received the answer that Kalaisa and Anji were lost in reading and studying Houstad’s map. What in the Abyss could that ball of rage be reading?
Oh, well, one less problem on my paws. Janine looked sourly at the approaching Soulless One.
“A soup?” She raised her eyebrows, noticing a plate in her friend’s paws.
“There is a bit of chicken in there, the doctors said…”
“Shaman, my body is literally devouring itself to heal my wounds, and you bring me water to nourish me?” Janine interjected, her stomach rumbling. “Fine, give it here. And make sure no one ever again eats frozen food…”
“About that.” Soulless One scratched behind her ear. “Our cousins introduced us yesterday to a treat known as ice cream. It is cold itself, but the soldiers seem to like it. I tried it myself!” she said quickly under Janine’s heavy gaze. “It is a degeneration of pleasure, but quite nutritious and has caused no illnesses so far.”
“Great,” Janine grumbled, drinking the soup in one gulp like milk, “so I am the only one cold-sensitive here. Are there any ice cream cones in these gifts?”
“There are, but you are not permitted to taste it until your recovery, warlord,” Soulless One said sternly.
Janine nodded, dismissing the shaman to her duties and concentrating on the training field. The workers constructed a small dais and put armchairs for the sword saints and warlords alike to use. The positive news was that this seat easily supported their weight. But its softness threatened to swallow her whole. Janine didn’t mind the pleasant, enveloping warmth of this strange luxury, but as a leader, she had a duty to be brutish and presentable.
Four packs practiced on the training grounds. Wolfkins from Ygrite’s and Janine’s packs were busy with the rescue training. Carrying shardguns, loaded with paint-filled dud rounds, in their paws, they stormed a special set of buildings and mowed down Normies and New Breeds from the ranks of the Provincial Army and police, who graciously, even eagerly, agreed to play the roles of slavers and raiders.
The ‘slaver’ camp was set up in the center of the mound’s rubble walls, and scouts sneaked inside the cracks, mapping routes and the locations of the mines the enemy had planted. Elzada’s leaderless pack flew silent drones over the camp, pinpointing targets for elimination and patrol routes. Optical camouflage turned the drones invisible to the naked eye from afar, as their coating mimicked the sky color.
Then Anissa struck from the south and Kalaisa advanced from the north, taking only scouts in this initial assault. Silently, like splattered shadows flowing over the stones, the Wolfkins crept around the rubble, bypassing the defenses, and started the ‘carnage’. Four points for the sneaky approach. One point for incorporating the unknown equipment into their strategy.
Claws touched temples, and strong paws grabbed necks briefly, simulating mortal wounds. Obeying the rules, the defenders immediately went limp, and the Wolfkins hid the ‘bodies’, before climbing the outer towers and eliminating the remaining opposition. Four points for efficiency. Next came the signal, and the main force charged, led by Melina. Like a storm of darkness, the two packs converged on their prey simultaneously, sweeping from floor to floor, giving the opposition no chance to breathe and rescuing the hostages. One point for a well-timed and well-executed assault.
Janine tapped on the terminal next to her, observing the packs’ performance inside the building. To spice things up, the interior had been made to look like a ramshackle copy of a mall in the Inner Core Lands, in the hopes of sowing confusion in the attackers’ ranks. To her delight, Kirk and Bogdan came up with the solution, offering the Wolf Hag maps downloaded from the Net. Constant drills were the reason for this laudable efficiency in handling the unexpected trials, and every member of the pack had performed to the best of their abilities so far.
So far. Shardguns were by no means precise weapons, but rather butcher’s tools used to shock and overcome the opposition, and many defenders would need to take a shower afterwards. But now the packs would have to prove their mettle as the ‘raiders’ crammed into the command post and their leader grabbed a designated ‘sex slave’ by the throat to use as a human shield.
More ‘slavers’ tried to push hostages in front of them, and Bogdan fired, painting the shoulder of one ‘raider’ and the face of the man behind him yellow. In a real field, he would have maimed and killed his victims. Janine meticulously deducted two points, since there was plenty of time to fire before the ‘victim’ could be grabbed. She added one point for saving a life and left a note for Anissa to take her brothers through the additional shooting drills.
Kalaisa entered the room after the males and approached the enemy leader, loudly demanding a surrender. Janine narrowed her eyes, ready to give the packs more demerits for wasting their time, when the wall and ceiling above the slavers erupted, unleashing a rain of wolfkins on the enemy. Spinning and firing at point-blank range, they gutted the remaining opposition, and Kirk wrestled the weapon’s barrel away from the hostage's neck. His opponent was a police sergeant, a large Orais who elbowed the Wolfkin to the ground, determined to play his part to the last. Jaws closed on his ankle, and Kirk’s brother dragged the Orais off his feet, throwing him off balance long enough for Kirk’s younger sister to shoot the policeman in the head.
Clever stunt. Janine grinned and added a point for quick thinking. A standard protocol in this situation was either to speed up and spear the enemy’s eye with a claw, rupturing the brain, or to shoot at the legs, causing both people to fall. Implants were cheap, and hesitation meant more potential deaths.
Kirk and Kalaisa advanced, painting the opposition yellow. To the boy’s credit, he had little trouble watching and working with his sister during the battle. Only his breathing was slightly elevated. Perhaps the helmet helped him tolerate his abuser. He kicked one of the ‘raiders’ away and accidentally discharged his weapon into the ground. So not only his breathing. Janine chastised herself for not noticing that the boy’s finger was on the trigger all along. As the person overseeing the operation, it was partly her duty to contact the group and prevent this very behavior. Minus one point for her error. Minus two points for Kirk’s error.
The exercise ended shortly: the ‘slaves’ were freed and the ‘raiders’ surrendered. The packs stormed outside, laughing and joking, no longer bothering with strict formation or discipline. They helped the downed Normies to their feet, throwing a few over their heads in celebration of the mission’s success. Anissa had to slap a few fools around before the rest of them dropped the cubbish behavior, but she permitted friendly spars against the Orais involved in the operation, who were itching to even the score.
Around them, the army’s regulars were already hard at work, constructing new buildings and various hazards for the packs to overcome. Even Janine wasn’t privy to the building’s inner workings; under Cristobo’s command, the packs would have to master the art of subduing and rescuing in shopping malls, movie theaters, hospitals, and power grids. Once that was done, more exciting urban warfare awaited them outside the walls of the base. A thunderous roar from the opposite base showed that the other two packs had also passed their training course.
“My bad,” Kirk said quietly, taking off his helmet. “I’ve made a mess.”
“Eh, relax,” Ignacy yawned, coming closer. “Bogdan was the first one to make a mistake.”
“Yeah, and you could’ve kept your mouth shut about it!”
“And miss the chance to rub it in your face? Nah.” Ignacy dodged his brother’s friendly slap and retreated to Elzada, who was only supervising today’s training but could not take part because of her injury.
“Asshole!” Bogdan laughed and put a paw on Kirk’s shoulder. “Stop fretting about it. We are here to learn, and so we learn, even from mistakes. A few toilets to clean aren’t that big a price to pay for survival on a battlefield. Besides, you are not even close to being the biggest screw-up around here; trust me, Kirk.” Bogdan gave Kalaisa a sideways glance and retreated to Anissa’s side. The wolf hag snapped her fingers, calling Ignacy to her, and bowed her head, whispering something.
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Janine’s finger lingered over a button when she noticed Kalaisa approaching her brother. Hissing angrily, Janine prepared to call Ashbringer, who oversaw camp discipline today. It pained the warlord to admit it, but she was too weak to beat the youngster into the ground right now.
“We’ve been over it, Kirk! Want to fire, finger on the trigger, don’t want to shoot, off the trigger,” Kalaisa told her brother, hesitating at the last moment when she saw him trembling. “Tch, come on, you’re way better than this. Fine, scout, explain to the buffoon how it’s done again,” she threw to her sister and approached the greenhorns of her pack, correcting their mistakes. Without hitting anyone.
Who bit her? Janine tilted her head, removing her finger from the call button. Should I call security and report a potential spy in our ranks?
“Hey!” Kalaisa turned to look at Anissa, who had climbed atop the ruined wall. “Are you up to the challenge? Want to have a fun trial?”
“That depends.” The corner of Kalaisa’s lips twitched. “What can a weakling like you do to give me even the slightest challenge?”
Ah, still the same bitch. Janine eased a little.
“Wait, sorry, let me rephrase that.” Kalaisa raised a finger. “Sure, A… Wolf Hag Anissa, I would like to have some fun. What are the rules?”
What in the name of the lightless Abyss’ bowels is going on!? Janine tensed. Should she call the medics? Ygrite? Dammit, what happened yesterday to this woman?
“The rules are simple. You.” Anissa pointed at Kalaisa with two fingers. “Come at me and try to knock me off the wall while Bogdan and the others are taking shots at you. Loser pays for tonight’s drinks…”
Kalaisa bellowed her fiercest roar, silencing Anissa’s words. Lowering herself on all fours, the wolf hag had not exactly charged but fired herself from place, soaring over her brother and leaving her helmet behind, seeking to close in on the smaller wolf hag in three leaps. Her power armor was offline, becoming a dead weight like Anissa’s.
And this didn’t hinder the woman one bit. Janine nodded in respect as she watched the bloodthirsty Kalaisa easily spot Bogdan emerging from a ruined stone. Using only her fingertips, the wolf hag sidestepped to the right, deliberately letting the balls of paint fly close to her to show off. Two more Wolfkins jumped out of hiding and fired at Kalaisa, driving her further to the right to avoid the shots.
She was driven straight into the wall of debris. Janine continued to watch through the cameras, resting her head on a paw. Anissa had put her head into this plan. A mine filled with paint was hidden among the stones, a suitable trap for a wild beast. Wolf hags would sometimes take their soldiers into the wilderness, playing the role of mindless beasts for their soldiers to overcome with modern methods. Such games were used to build confidence and bonds.
A clever ploy, but one that ultimately did not matter in the slightest here. Anissa hadn’t stated in the rules that Kalaisa had to act like a rabid animal here. Despite her roar and rapid movements on the four limbs, the wolf hag had merely pretended to be lost in the heat of battle.
Her eyes tracked everything in her path, spotting a mine just in time. Normally, Wolfkins would run on all fours, using all their paws and feet to slam into the stone. Kalaisa had followed in the footsteps of the late Terrific, crossing the field on her fingers. Aside from the obviously perfect training to turn her fingers into a truly terrifying weapon even without claws, this gave Kalaisa an excellent range of motion. Without a hint of hesitation or a moment of stalling, the wolf hag’s fingers have grabbed a stuck piece of stone, stopping a millimeter away from entering the mine’s activation zone.
And then she hurled herself at Anissa without destroying the stone or activating the mine. Her body spun in the air, dodging shots with almost disgusting ease, her paws clenched into fists as Anissa hastily put on her helmet and a drone buzzed in the air behind her back.
“The booze is mine!” Kalaisa laughed.
A burst of sound from the drone silenced her laughter. The intense frequency moved pebbles, and even through the microphones, Janine grimaced at the high-pitched sound that drummed in her ears. Kalaisa squirmed and pressed her paws to her ears; her armor rang, and Anissa took advantage of the weakness. She stepped up to the flying wolf hag, grabbed her by the throat, and threw her off the rubble wall. The wolf hag splattered on the stone, still convulsing from the sound, and was mercilessly ‘gunned down’ by the soldiers, raising a paw in surrender after a fifteen-shot round landed between her eyes. She lay still for a while, then laughed and joined in the soldiers’ celebration.
“I thought shamans were not supposed to use weapons!” Kalaisa complained to Anissa, trying in vain to wipe the paint off her snout. “What in the Spirits’ names was that?”
“Technically, I didn’t use any weapons; it was all Ignacy,” Anissa beamed and gave Kalaisa a paw. Kalaisa looked at the outstretched limb, stunned. Slowly, she took the paw and Anissa lifted her, massaging the younger woman’s ears. “And shamans are allowed a bit of trickery when needed. Packs hunt as one, always using the strengths of each other. Breathe slowly, yes, like that. In and out. I have experienced it tonight. The effect will wear off soon.”
“This is the sound beam emitter!” Ignacy explained, coming closer with the drone drifting behind him. “You know how disruption fields work, right? It vibrates sound to such a level that it breaks molecular boundaries, cutting through everything in its path. Well, this beauty operates,” Ignacy took off his helmet and lovingly patted the drone, “by emitting a thin, narrowly focused stream of sound. It is too weak to kill a New Breed, but when it enters your eardrums, it causes a mild shock to your sensory system, resulting in temporary disorientation. It is still very much in the testing phase, but once perfected, perhaps one day it can be mounted on a mech suit to serve as a mobile disruption cannon…”
“Magic. Got it.” Kalaisa replied sourly.
“It isn’t magic, it is…”
“Witchcraft. Black sorcery. You deserve to be burned at a stake,” Kalaisa accused him. “But since we don’t do it, I’m going to bathe you in cold water to drive out the evil spirit that possesses you.”
“I am not the one needing a shower.” Ignacy smirked.
Kalaisa only shook her shoulders, disappearing from sight in a blur. Janine stood up, worried that the wolf hag might strike her son, when Kalaisa kicked the rubble near the wall. The mine went off, splashing yellow paint on everyone nearby. Anissa looked like she was going to let her claws do the talking, then she wrapped her arms around herself and fell back, laughing.
“Oopsie-daisy, it seems like you do now.” Kalaisa grabbed Ignacy with one paw and tucked him under her shoulder. “Off to the shower you go, and I assure you, it’s going to be freezing.” She looked down, distracted by a kick to her hip. Elzada stood beside her, panting, and Kalaisa had to grab her shoulder to help the newly promoted wolf hag stand. “Elzada, I disrespect you and all, but you can barely walk! No need to make it easier for me, ‘kay? I was just fooling around. We already have one stupid piss-head here.” She tossed Ignacy into Bogdan, stumbling them both. “No need for you to turn into one. Come on, let’s get you to the medics. Don’t growl and I’ll let you bite me, deal?”
A tingle of fear announced Alpha’s approach. The dais shook when Alpha slammed a steel chair next to Janine and seated herself. She wore a red coat provided by the city, and her red hair rose above her head like a bonfire. She had no eyebrows or fur—just the pure whiteness of her enormous body. Not a single vein was visible beneath the skin. Her gigantic claws could operate no machinery, so the woman motioned for a scout from her pack to approach and show her a terminal.
“The packs performed adequately,” Janine said, seeing the overall score of Onyxia’s and Alpha’s packs. Alpha mercilessly subtracted twenty points from their score because they failed to silently approach their target.
“Adequate,” Alpha snapped angrily. “For Normies, perhaps. Woe to us that we don’t have such numbers to allow our soldiers to die in vain. We need better infiltrators.”
“And more firing drills.” Janine showed her own terminal, pointing out the mistakes.
“Free hugs!” Kalaisa’s roar on the field distracted them as the woman ran towards Anji. “Hey, didn’t ya promise me one not too long ago?”
“I retract my offer for the time being,” Anji chuckled, stepping back to avoid the painted paws.
“Too late! It’s hugging time! Come ‘ere!” Kalaisa cheered and jumped at Anji. The white-haired woman barely dodged the hug and backed away, holding back a giggle and trying desperately to stay clean.
“Cubs,” Janine sighed. “We are dealing with cubs here.”
“They merely take the lead after their leaders,” Alpha replied dryly. She turned her head, and cold sweat broke out beneath Janine’s fur.
The memories of her mother abandoning her came back; she remembered the cold look in her mother’s eyes years later, when Janine had found her. No daughter of mine can be such a worthless freak. This was the response to the question. The fear of seeing an insectoid chewing on her leg, the fear of losing her cubs, the pure horror of seeing her firstborn die... It all came back, threatening to still her heart. She tried to breathe and felt as if an iron hand gripped her windpipe, denying her any access to oxygen.
“What is the deal between you and Lacerated One?” Alpha growled, wielding fear like a needle and jabbing it straight into Janine’s brain, intensifying the horrible waves.
“I plan to make a proposal at the Gathering,” Janine gasped, and the fear vanished as a reward for her cooperation. “The shamans test a family pack and send all the members to a pack based on an average score. I want the shamans to give us that privilege so we can choose people for our packs based on merit, even if it means breaking up an individual family between villages.”
“You want them to give up the power.”
“It will be their decision to make.”
“Our decision. A stupid, pointless change, Janine.” Alpha grabbed her by the neck and closed their heads. “Ponder about potential flaws. Most of the time, the warlords are in the field. Do you expect us to leave and go to each village to select a single soldier to join us? What kind of lunacy is this?”
“You…” Janine stopped, thinking about her sister’s words. “You are right. It won’t work. But we can’t continue the…”
“I agree.” Alpha removed her paw, leaning back in the chair. “The idea behind the change is sound. You just haven’t thought it through. Let all—shamans, wolf hags, and us—select troops based on individual merit rather than family ties. If a warlord is present, she chooses. If she can’t attend, she can send a wolf hag in her place. Or she can let the shamans choose, or they can choose if a warlord can’t be reached. There, five seconds, already a better plan.” Alpha glanced at Janine. “When you bring change to a society, you must always consider the negatives. Lives are at stake, sister. Were you planning to ask for my support?”
“No,” Janine replied honestly. “I can’t endure a round against you.”
“Coward. Moron,” Alpha said. “Think, Janine! Ravager’s command binds us while we are in the city. What better time to ask, if not now? Ask everyone, be open to ideas, and share your fears with your sisters already! Stop acting behind our backs like a shaman. Even if we don’t agree, we can listen, and we’re here for you.”
“Is that why you opened Ashbringer’s belly fifty years ago?” Janine asked plainly, ignoring the rage burning in her named sister’s eyes. “Alpha, you are wise. But you respond to every suggestion from your sister with the utmost cruelty, pushing us away. How can you be there for us if we can’t hope to approach you without losing body parts?”
“Simply, just get stronger and rein me in.” Alpha crossed her arms and snorted. “Fair. There is a touch of fighter in you, Janine. But then Ashbringer brought the punishment upon herself. Her offer would not be accepted, and she tried to force my paw. I act in ancient ways, sister, but my ear is opened to every mouth.”
“Then answer me this. Am I a mutant?” Janine asked, holding her breath.
“If you are a mutant, then what am I, sister?” Alpha opened her jaws to reveal a double row of fangs. “You are a Wolfkin, Janine; the blood of a Ravager runs through your veins. So what if you are deformed? Not every cub is worthy of her parent, and not every parent deserves a litter. Forget and move on.”
“I will,” Janine said earnestly and sneezed.
Never again will she be involved in the tribe's politics. Alpha was right; Janine’s first proposal was abysmal and pure stupidity. She must be better and know her place.