Marco rose to his full height, biding his time as he she air. Jached with pride as his eyes sed the battlefield, measuring the width of the crevioting unstable rocks and the position of his prey. He twirled the knives, exhaled, and waited for the critters above to pass a bit further, so one of the risky stones would be over the st one. Panic washed out of his eyes, repced by a deep, unsatiated hunger.

  He leaped forward, unbothered to ceal the sound. Jailted her head, fully focused on being ready to e to his aid. The cws on her legs dug into the ground, dragging up rocky parts. Five could be a tad difficult for the first hunt, even though the entire family had trained Mar their own unique ways.

  The droopped iracks, turning to face the source of the sound. Marco’s feet crashed into the opposite wall, causing another loud boom and dislodging the unstable stone. In a somersault, he nded ahead of the fused drones, burying his knives uhe head of the front one, right into the joint where the chitin armor left a slit to permit the neck’s mobility. Twisting his ons, the Wolfkin severed nerves and tore them out, retreating just in time to evade scything blows. One fell.

  Stones ah thundered from above, smashing against the carapace. The drones halted their attack, believing they were utack from more than one foe, and a knife flew from Marco’s paw, nding directly in the round, bck cluster of ahe ioid let out a shriek as it tried to reach for the jammed on, and Marco closed the distance, kig at the hao send it even deeper. He grabbed the handle of the kh his toes and dove to the left, falling so that the stabs aimed at him would pierce the stone. His quient wrehe knife from the dying drone.

  Stone and dust unleashed briefly hid Marco, but Janine’s hearing helped her to visualize what happened in this chaos. Two drones tio lurk behind, searg for the ent assaint. Meanwhile, the st droried to spear Mard then mount him, misinterpreting his fall as a mistake. However, it missed its first attad three of its legs smmed into the wall above the boy’s head. Marco punched with his free arm, lifting the drone before the long mandibles could close on his snout.

  Clever. Janine wao cp but held herself back. Her son didn’t paniot evehe sharp debris hit him or when the drone pushed him to the ground. All too often, little ones would mindlessly sh out in situations like this a bogged down in their inability to pierce the chitin armor. But in throwing his oppo off himself, he not only gave himself enough time to pick up the knife from his leg, but also exposed the vulnerable underbelly.

  Both bdes slipped between the armor joints, and Marco pushed his arms further, rupturing the ans. Ripping his ons free, he stabbed again and again, throwing the vulsing body onto its back, mercilessly sshing and rending the ioid, cutting off its legs until the thing was dead. He raised his head, alerted by the tapping of needles against the ground, and rushed away, esg the ining stabs that pierced the veil of sand.

  What a wonderful boy. Janine admired his pnned retreat as he led his pursuers to the wall best suited for sg up. Thirty seds, three dead bodies. Sure, most girls would have sughtered a dozen by now, but only Bogdan and Ignacy had surpassed Marco’s record, and his older brothers had cheated by abusing their right to bear arms. The two idiots had brought a crate of explosives to the training session, cratering the field and ughing like maniacs.

  “Correct, Marco,” Janine quietly praised him for not getting disoriented. Marco had pnned his escape to achieve more than one goal. Even now, the drones had moved away from the Normies. Marco gaihe distance, sheathed his knives, and climbed up, groaning from the pain in his knees.

  The drones followed. Tiny, barely visible sticky hairs covered their stalk-like legs, allowing the creatures to traverse up evehe ft surface. The crevice’s uneven surface was child’s game for them, and soon they gained on Marco, their bck clusters fixated on his legs. The mandibles opeo bite him…

  Marcboarded off the wall, screaming from the pain that shot through his knees while simultaneously ughing, pleased to be in trol of the situation. In free fall, he flew past the first bug and mouhe sed, nding his knives in its eyes and killing it instantly. The drone above him jumped down and crashed into the falling bodies of its rade and Marco, who blocked two slices aimed at his neck. The three bodies hit the ground with a thud and Marco rolled to the side, preparing for the onsught of the charging drone.

  His leg buckled, his knee no longer could support him despite the medication and relief provided by the meical exoskeleton. Marco ched his teeth, realizing he couldn’t evade the stab targeting his right eye.

  The ground exploded beh the warlord as she sprang to the fighters, taking the blow to her own wrist. The sharp bdes didn’t everate her hide, and Marco terattacked, cutting the drone’s neck. Janine calmly stood aside, waiting for her joyously shouting boy to circle around the wounded bug. He stantly pestered the thing with feints, and when the droried to retreat bato the tunnels, he cut one of its long legs. The wounded creature made o attack but missed, and the knives es life in a violent rain of stabs.

  “Mom, I’ve made it!” Marco gasped, breathing hard from excitement.

  “Of course you did. You are a desdant of the Blessed Mother, a son of the Wolf Tribe. Murder is in your blood. The thought of you failing has never crossed my mind. Five at the cost of an eye is rather good for the first time.” Janine picked up the most intact corpse. “Tell me, what were your mistakes?”

  “I fot that they could leap off the walls, fot how heavy they are, and overestimated my limits,” Marco replied, and Janine broke a corpse over his head in two, sh her son in a white ichor. Her son opened his arms and basked iers of acceptance, a smile never leaving his lips. Then he whined a little and tried to massage his legs through the artificial fiber muscles.

  Janine k down to help. They pushed aside the tight bundles of fibers to reveal his swollen skin, thankfully devoid of any cracks. Jaore off a piece of the ioid and gave it to Marco to feed on, using the gel Maxence had giveo ease the cramps and reduce the swelling.

  “I feel weird.” Marco blinked away tears and grabbed his sides. “As if I am about to pop.”

  “It is normal.” Janine pressed two fingers against his neck, sensing his expanding carotid artery. “Ravager’s gift has been activated in you, son. The power has rewarded you, and your body is undergoing a bit of restru, growing stronger and tougher. It’s scary the first time, but don’t resist it; the doctors will check you up ter.”

  Doctors… Jaasted the idea in her mouth. Wolfkins didn’t like to ask the medical staff for help, but didn’t the doctors cure Janine’s dition? Surely, there must be an abundanedical i Houstad. If ed limbs and even rudimentary geihas are now avaible for the wealthy, there had to be a cure for Marco’s underdeveloped dition. But what will the shamans say?

  Who gives a crap? Her inner voice replied in a mog Terrifie. Not like they’ll kill me or Marco. Clearly, the Spirits themselves put the idea into the shit pot you call the head. Ad repent ter, idiot.

  “Well done. gratutions on passing your initialization, Maro, hold back your howl,” she told him. “Let’s go meet the people. Keep yht eye closed for a day to remember the mistake.”

  She gave Marco a little more time to rest his knees while he ed his ons to prevent rust from settling in. Ohe deed was dohe family climbed from the crevice together and for the ridge, where they came face to face with a group of scared Normies.

  They looked unusual by the standards of the Outer Lands. Two men and a woman, dressed in simple white linen shirts, pants, and bright jackets that simply screamed for the attention of predators, set up a camera set and filmed the passing crawler and the ns of the Third Army. They all wore yellow armbands identifying them as press, and one man held a microphone. Upon spotting the Wolfkins, the people instinctively froze iheir noses wrinkling in respoo Marco’s odor.

  “Peace.” Janine raised her paws, showing that she meant no harm. “What are you doing here at such a te hour?”

  “We’re from the Sights Unseen!” The man showed Janine a press pass with a trembling hand. “We came here to report about the army’s movement. You guys...”

  “I’m female…” Jaerrupted.

  “Figure of speech, dy, sorry,” the man said. “You people made quite a spsh! Won a war! Saved a settlement on the way to vacation! Care for a private interview?”

  “Sights Unseen?” Marco stood on his toes, looking curiously at the people, fetting the pain in his knees. “What’s that?”

  “Press. Journalists. Very evil people who want to make the Blessed Mother and us look bad. These psychos risk their lives to film things, and then they lie and twist the truth for views. They also have strange morals, like that Iternian who rides in our crawler. Don’t talk to them, or they’ll portray you as a monster in a news report,” Janine cautioned him, positioning herself in front of her son to shield him from the camera. “You should’ve been more careful. There were ioids in the cracks leading up to this hill.”

  “Iternian?” The man blinked. “I take it he is a reporter too? you ask him…”

  “She is lying!” The woman snapped angrily.

  “Ask for a dialog, Lizzy,” another man said, lig his lips nervously.

  “But she is bullshitting him! Kid, we have no iion of harming your image or anything else. We bring the truth to the people.” The woman smiled kindly. “If it won’t be too much, would you answer a few…”

  “Truth es in many forms.” Janine snorted. “Wolfkins are kidnapping people in the middle of the ritual for unknown reasons. Locals fear the worst,” she recited a headline from one of the most humiliating episodes in her career.

  Janine was young and foolish then, and she had no idea how wicked the reporters could be. So she had revealed herself and chatted with the strange people who were filming the aftermath of Wolfkin’s escort of the freed prisoo safety. The polid army units then took a to peacefully subdue the cultists, pleting the two-stage operation. A few days ter, the neer spread far and wide, suggesting ibalism on the wolf hag’s part. Martyshkina and even Terrifiever let her live this one down, and she had worked twice as hard to vihe locals that she didn’t take civilians away to devour. It had been harder back then, since she had regurly enjoyed a healthy diet of torn raiders’ limbs.

  “That…” The woman bit her lip. “Okay, fair. But Sights Unseen issued an official apology for the misleading article and fired the asses of the bastards responsible for it. You ’t hold it against us forever...”

  “Try me,” Janine said.

  “It was decades ago! I wasn’t even in a project back then! Woman, what is your problem... Wait, what was it about the ioids?” The reporter stuttered. “You are joking, right? Here, of all pces?”

  “I am afraid they are not!” A cheerful voice spoke. “You check the crack; the corpses are still warm.”

  Two men came up the hill. One was tall and muscur, a clear New Breed from his height alohe business suit and bulletproof vest underh didn’t restrict his movement at all, and his face was scarless. He had rough features, as if someone had carved him out of a sb of stone, but he kept his gaze fixed on Janine, dedug her as the main threat. A bodyguard. She rexed, respeg his for his employer.

  The other man was a head shorter than his panion; he carried an archaic ser shotgun slung over his leather jacket. He was dressed for the weather, in thick pants and a turtleneck. His keen, gray eyes looked over Janine, and the warlord returhe gesture. She had seen this person before, but where? Because of her long life, her memory sometimes pyed tricks on her, and now it was doubly annoying. The stooped posture, a head slightly forward... A traveling mert, perhaps?

  “Sir…” The journalist choked on her words, while her colleagues quickly turhe camera to film the man. “D… D…”

  “o be official. Just call me Daniel.” The man waved his hand, and his bodyguard put a hand over the camera lens, c a distance of thirty paces in a single movement. His legs did not tear the grass; the man had precision and excellent speed. No, a traveling mert could hardly afford such a quality servant. “I… somewhat own property in these parts and came to meet a friend tonight when my bodyguards warned about an intrusion. We wao settle it like in the miserable old days, but thank the P, you’ve already do.” He bowed to Janine, and she rexed. There wasn’t even a hint of aggression emanating from the man’s st.

  “Marco did it, not I.” Janine her son, never oting her gaze leave the man. “Have you been to the Outer Lands retly, by any ce, sir?”

  “My line of work carries me everywhere. But for the past few decades, I have regrettably remained in the Core Lands.” Daniel g the wall. “How bad is it there?”

  “Could be worse.” Janine shrugged. “Life improves, step by step. A bakery has opened. At least we blood sacrifices are no longer such a nuisance.” She wao pin the female reporter to the ground with a hard stare, but the woman ignored her, trating fully on Daniel.

  Probably a famous farm owner or has some kind of criminal es. Janine decided.

  “Sir, we better clear the area.” The bodyguard spoke for the first time. “We are exposed here.”

  “Exposed? Where else we be safer than in the presence of a warlord?”

  “Know about the tribe, I gather?” Janine asked.

  “Duty demands no less of me.” Daniel put a hand to his chest and addressed Marco. “I know nearby farmers if you want to take a shower. And have them check your eye.”

  “No he eyes are fine, and this is an honor.” Mariled and spped a soaked white paw across his chest. “I became a real man tonight, mister!”

  “A smelly man.” The farm owner pitched his nose, but then fshed a smile and came closer, bowing gracefully to the boy. “gratutions, Maray you see many joyful years!” He turned his head to look at the crawler. The massive mae moved steadily on the widest road, reserved specifically for military transport. Its many projectors created pilrs of light amidst the dark clouds overhead. “It’s a beautiful sight, isn’t it? Soldiers are ing home, and ons are moving to rest. A glimpse of the future to e.”

  “Worth dying for,” Janine said.

  “Worth fighting and living for, Janine,” Daniel corrected her.

  “I don’t remember giving you my name, sir.” Janine narrowed her eyes. That she khis man but couldn’t remember him infuriated her to no end. A former enemy who had ged his ways? An allied merary?

  “Oh, but you did. Several times, in fact.” Daniel shook her wrist. “I wish you pead happiness, Warlord Janine. Wele to the Core Lands, I hope you will like it here.”

  “Thank you… Daniel,” Janine forced herself to say his name. Her instincts were running wild inside her body. She sensed no threat from the man; instead, she saw him as a long-lost tribal member who had stopped by to say hello. At the same time, something inside her urged her to remain professional with him. Leaving the questions for ter, she pced her hand on Marco’s shoulder. “Everyone is safe. Howl to your heart’s tent.”

  And so he did. With his fiercest howl yet, Marco threw his head up, filling the skies with a sound of happiness, gratitude for acceptance, and a promise to proted serve. His voice trembled a little, but Janine roud of him. Females alracticed their howls i; that was why they sounded so bombastic when they passed the test. There is beauty in hoy. And she gave birth to this hoy.

  A bone-chilling howl erupted from seemingly everywhere around them, causing the journalists to fall to their knees and cover their ears. The bodyguard jumped in front of Daniel, suspiciously sing the pins and hills. Janine’s ears heard the stomping of two dozen more legs closing in on the hill. More bodyguards fast approached from afar.

  Marco’s howl sounded like a trickle of water, whereas the newer’s howl was an avanche, a wrath of nature personified, so terrible and divihat it shook the nearby trees, bending them uhe force of the unleashed air. Before the camera could fly away and hit the rocks, Janine caught it.

  Blessed, truly. The Blessed Mother accepted Mar person. Janine did not know why Ravager wasn’t in the crawler, and she didn’t care. She hugged her son, thanking the Spirits for this gift. Wheood up, she saw that a part of her white ichor and gore had been licked off Marco’s shoulder, a drool covered his bck fur in its pce. And on the ground behind him were fantic footprints.