The southwestern er of the Core Lands eculiar pce. Whatever few nds or hills existed in the area had been mercilessly fttened iimes of the Old World to create space for ever-expanding ung sites that spewed small-sized spacecraft into the orbit day and night. As such, it suffered the least during the Extin. onized satellites unleashed beams of such potency that the entire area had gained a phosphorous color. unication towers, trol spires, and spaceships had disappeared in the whirlwind of molteal. Not a trace was left of the natural life or humanity’s presence even before the satellites had crashed, bringing down the full weight of kilometers of man-made steel tubes propelled by proton engines.

  Decades passed, and the Recmation Army, led by ander Outsider, had brought back the iron order, sweeping away the det paces of Chem-King, an arrogant mutant who had ruled over the jagged wreckage. Town X-14, ter renamed Quatindor, had sprung from several mining plexes that had merged in the restoration's wake.

  Thick forests covered the area to the south, where experimental fuel testing facilities had oood. The chemical poison that had spawhe hideoushat was Chem-King had seeped into the soil itself, and not even terraformation could pletely remove it, at least not for hundreds of years. ed and ged, the local trees refused to be cut down, growing back over months, and the Recmation Army accepted this setback, turning the pto a resort area with vilges hidden along the roads.

  To the east of Quatindor ing crest-shaped chasm with two massive bridges built across it. House Sunbde owhe mining plex that spahe length of the chasm oher side. Rare alloys left over from pressed spaceships, a yet inprehensible engines, a a inprehensible engines, occasional untouched chambers taining the precious history that might’ve shed light orue nature of the Extin or intact terminals—the value of this extra couldn’t be overstated.

  Sihe southern route roblematic because of the stubborn forests, caravans moved through the northern bridge and then fifty kilometers across the farmnds to Houstad. The catastrophe hadn’t left this area untouched, and fields of white lilies dotted the entrao Quatindlowing pale at night. The town itself was famous for its love of six-legged cats, as one such spe was found—and ter ed—in a ruined underground spaceship, and statues of these mischievous creatures adorned bridges and stood in the middle of fountains, water spurting from their mouths. Cats were everywhere; they were bold, unafraid of tourists, and preyed on birds in the fields, occasionally ending up as food for these mutant raptors themselves.

  This was the area into which the Wolf Tribe stormed, quietly spreading out along the front lihe Gilded Horde had already entered Quatindor, and fmes were lig at the building, stripping the paint from the walls and revealing the a symbols “X-14” as a remihat savagery had returned. Houses Summerspring, Voidrunner, and Mountaintop were already iy, while forces of House Wintersong occupied a military base to the north.

  Warlord Alpha’s pn ure simplicity itself. The Gilded Horde’s vanguard alone had dwarfed the bined forces of the state, and many of the raiding parties slipped past the Ice Fangs. These became appetizers for the tribe, which sought to join Wintersong and bring down the northern bridge, f the Gilded Horde into a dilemma. Either take a detour through the north or fuhe army into the southern bridge. To facilitate the desired oute, packs of warlords Martyshkina, Janine, Predaig, and Eled swept away the feeble attempts to stop them and sought to join their cousins iy. Onited, a massive evacuation will be unched, creating an all too desirable aively vulnerable target.

  For the forests were anything but quiet. Forces of Warlords Alpha, Onyxia, and those auxiliary parts led by that disgusting upstart Kaisa were eagerly waiting for a ce to wele guests. fio an area where it was impossible to use their speed, faced with a situatioheir heavy artillery would g behind, the hordemen would bee targets ripe for a bloody harvest, and every kilometer to Houstad would be gai the cost of thousands of lives. Warlords, wolf hags, and shamans stood ready to cull enemy leadership, while Ashbringer and her forces set out to rejoin the bulk of the Ice Fangs in the pin.

  It was a simple pn, but very effective in its insidiousness. If the Horde chose the long route, the Dynast will arrive at Houstad, potentially with Outsider in tow. If they chose a faster route, theh itself waited for them, ready to stall the opposition while the civilians escaped safely to Houstad. No matter what, the state stood to gain.

  But the Ice Fangs did not respond. Not a single message came through, and Warlord Janine, worried by their silence, had sent a pack to rendezvous with the Wintersongs and force their excellent ranged support to howl.

  This is how Melina ended up in her current predit. The Wolf Hag had led her pack through the war-torn Quatindor’s outskirts, sneaking into homes and stopping the breath of marauders, be they invaders or her own citizens. Six scouts were at her and, and it took all of her restraint not to a Terrific’s ways.

  Warlord Janine was wrong. Their pack should have unleashed groups of torturers to skin the garbage sged from the ruins and fill the sky with their desperate screams as they skinned, broke, and crucified the invaders. cealed grenades would take their toll on the rescuers before the bined fire of dozens of shardguns would create a proper killing field. Angry, fused, and frightened prey roo making mistakes, and if they’d wao lure the idiots into the woods, there was er method.

  Instead, she obeyed, f herself to adopt new, ineffit, and alien ways. She had calmed frightened citizens and formed teams of the most capable among them to lead the rest to the first evacuation zone. She had snapped necks of unsuspeg fatties. Terrific’s influence—her legacy—was waning, disappearing, and Melina hated herself for letting it happen. The sour thoughts vanished when her pack ran into Arruda’s pack, sent on the same mission.

  A situatiohe bridge’s entrance had halted their advahe Gilded Horde troops were there, but that in itself wasn’t unusual; the bastards were everywhere today, but this situation was fishy. A single vehicle occupied the ter of the road. The mae had two drical spiked wheels, rge enough to break through walls, and a cage full of prisoners was attached to the back, with several more thrown on their knees in front of the lead wheel.

  They were being examined by a group of richly decorated hordemen, led by a giant of a man whose helmet was stylized into a tusked boar. A cloak of fyed skin fpped i wind, and Melina frowned, disgusted by such a tasteless and meanihing. The idiot had woven in cubs and women’s faces, rather than shaping it from the stro foes brought to despair. He even preserved the coat’s skin instead of letting it rot naturally to add an exquisite stench to the gruesome imagery. Amateur. They were dealing with the amateurs, proud of their cruelty but g the mastery to instill true fear. It will soon be ged.

  There was a woman beside the pighead. Where New Breeds of the Horde were takireme care to keep their battleptes polished and rich, this spe had a thick yer of dirt and blood c her power armor and rows of empty sockets staring out from her breastpte where encrusted gems and rubies had fallen off. Alone among her group, she stood bareheaded otlefield, her face greasy and her short bck hair tangled in dreadlocks, but the bde of her swleamed through the smoke. Dangerous, Melina decided. Like the fat piggy.

  The pigheaded bastard was ing two kids to the spiked wheel. Sharp hooks were pierg their skin, and the boys wept and cried, trying to keep their cool.

  “That was… Ah!” the ht, short boy yelled as the hook pierced his skin around the elbow. “The worst of your pns, Jay!”

  “Why did you stick around… No!... then, T?” The nky kid tried to wipe away his tears, but this simple movement stretched the skin over his arm in pces where the s held him.

  “Someoh a half of a brain had to be here!”

  Arruda and Melina exged ghere was no need for words as to guess why the hordemen were here. It wasn’t torture or an intimidation tactic. Battle raged in full swing iown. None of them seemed to guard the entrao the bridge, and their numbers were too few. It was bait, cruel, and quite effective. The hordemen gave the intruders a clear indication that ohe rest of the s were ihe wheel will turn, skinning the youngsters. So they offered a choice. Reveal yourself or lose. If they were the appetizers, then the main course was hiding in the houses up the street, waiting for the trap to be sprung.

  The most sensible decision was to tih the main mission and cut their losses here. Deaths happened in wars. But it was impossible to accuse the Wolf Tribe of being pletely rational, and there was ohing Janine and Terrific always agreed on.

  They had to try to save civilians, no matter what the situation. Soldiers alone could not build a brighter future.

  “I have cubs bae. Four boys. About the same size as them.” Melina the writhing kids.

  “Me too. Three. Adorable, but not smart,” Arruda admitted.

  “’t expect males to be. I’m doing it. You?” Melina asked.

  “It’s what I am paid for,” Arruda shrugged.

  “Zolushka, want to redeem your pathetic ass-defeat or are yuts caught cold again?” Melina ughed, summoning the iarking the soldiers of the two packs on her HUD.

  “Born ready,” growled the scout, and her paw twitched over the shardgun. “After the war, Wolf Hag.”

  “Perhaps,” Melina said thoughtfully, f teams. “Arruda and I will provide a distra. Take two warriors and sneak around; give the bastards as wide a berth as possible. When the fun starts, grab the kids and whoever else areat to the evac point. The rest of you head out to meet the Wintersongs. No matter what, do not turn back; the mission must not be promised. Is that clear?”

  “You are taking only males,” accused Zolushka.

  “Yes. We do.” Melina smiled, standing with her back to the woman. Strong, not pletely daft. A fine rept.

  “Fuck it, Melina, I don’t want to settle our score this way…” Zolushka’s cws scraped the surface of her helmet, carving lines. “Call the Wintersongs, ask them to rain down hell, then we strike during fusion and…”

  “’t. unications are jammed.” Melina’s paw closed around the scout’s neck, pushio the knees. Zolushka yielded, h her wolf hag rather thaing.

  “I obey, Wolf Hag Melina,” Zolushka called her by her full title for the first time ien years they had served together. It had always beeher Melina, old timer, or wolf hag. Melina didn’t want to admit it, but this demonstration of loyalty touched her.

  Janine ged the pack, softe. She insisted on redug corporal punishment, doting over them like a ed mother, sending the wouo the infirmary to heal. Terrific let the weak die and the strong survive so that the best blood could strehe tribe. Janine believed the opposite, and her cerous and false belief had ied Melina. Hope. That was why she was willing to give her life for the warlord’s dream, even if she never embraced such ideals.

  She reaso to be a natural course of things. A new warlord takes over, and a paevitably ges. Your pack, your rules, as decreed by the Blessed Mother. But it was a lie. Melina of the Wolf Tribe wao save these children. She would’ve liked to spend her retirement helping out at the orphanage, administering vaes, readiime stories, ing floors, g for orphans, petitioning the mayor to remove that ugly harpy from the entrance… She now dreaded the iability of the culling. Warlord Janine brought a desire to be more than a on to the pack, and for that Melina cursed and thanked her.

  Was it the will of the Spirits? Melina examined her shardgun, the scarred, trusted friend that had saved her more times than she could t. There had been a time wheribe had disregarded firearms. Were traditions mere safeguards to survive hardships? If so, was it to amend… A child’s scream interrupted her thoughts. There was no time to think. There was ime to think.

  The packs surged forward, Zolushka leading her smaller team to the west, avoiding the obvious ambush; the rgest group surged toward the st known position of Camelia Wintersong, and Arruda and Melina struck headlong. Given enough time, they could have e up with a better strategy, but the situation had dehem that luxury. Grenades flew into the broken windows, exploding, drawing roars of pain from within as acid found its way through their armor.

  “Svetaker! Widowmaker, they…” a burly hordeman roared, stepping out of the building into four shots.

  “The prey spoke in on,” Melina said into the unicator as the body jerked and stumbled back.

  Arruda caught a hordeman pushing from the window by his head and closed her fist, sinking the cws deep into his skull and pierg the steel with ease. She beamed with strength and awareness, standing on the precipice of being a warlord. A raider shot her in the back, and the wolf hag dodged the bullet as it left the barrel, not even using the shared vision link, operating on instinct alone. She spun, fired once, and the man’s visor exploded into shards of reinforced gss and bone. Another spin faced her in the previous dire, and Arruda’s wrist flicked, carving three deep lines into a man breaking through a wall.

  Melina was weaker and trated on crippling her oppos, trusting that the males would finish them off. The trap was closing, and her ears picked up the stomping of dozens of enemies verging on their positions from their hiding pces in the ruins. Zolushka’s team narrowly missed them; the area of their spread was wider than the scout had anticipated, but the woman adapted immediately.

  “e, then!” Melina roared and kicked, denting in the knee pad of a hordeman’s leg. “Meet an oppo capable of fighting back.” Her shardgun fired, stabbing shards into the pig-headed bastard’s armor.

  “Let’s make some widows!” Widowmaker rejoiced; her two-handed sword moved fast enough to bee a cloud before the woman.

  Shots fired by Arruda aeam were deflected or cut in half, and Widowmaker grasped a dirty, ornate gun on her belt. A broad smile of pleasure came upon her face as she leveled her on and fire. The sound of the shot caused the kids to yell in pain, and eveaker grunted in annoyance as the sound-amplifiers built into the on sang their mad tune while Widowmaker writhed in pleasure at the deafening noise. One male took a bullet meant for Arruda ao his knees, his partner dying a sed ter from the hordemen’s guhe st darted into the ruins to buy time and have a better ce of survival as Arruda and Widowmaker faced each other, firing at point-bnk range.

  The shots of both women speared through the afterimages, shaving slices of steel from their armor. The shardgun and the pistol were dropped simultaneously, and the long bde came down on the cwed pamaker speed was insane. Melina perceived a rain of sshes and stabs ing against Arruda’s head, but the wolf hag matched every move, weaving around the attacks and trying to force her oppo into a close fight. The hordewomahe full length of her bde, redireg her missed strikes into horizontal swipes to keep the wolf hag at bay, and sparks flew from the intense duel.

  “Are you married, Wolfkin?” Widowmaker shouted. “Ten thousand widows have I promised the Sky for my salvation from the sve dens. You’ll have the honor of being the five thousand and thirty-two! Tell me your wife’s name, and I promise to spare her for the amusement you have given me!”

  “Talk is cheap.” Arruda stabbed, and her cws took away a dreadlod cut the hordewoman’s face.

  “So is your life, woman!” Widowmaker spat at the wolf hag. She turned her stab into a horizontal ssh, opening Arruda’s wrist. “Such talent, and I ’t even add you to the tally! Waste! You are wasting my time!”

  Svetaker briefly hefted his own gun a a hole in a male’s chest as the soldier pushed Melina away. Two of her own shots had forced him to raise an arm as the lens of his helmet cracked and a shard nearly blinded his eye. Svetaker closed in ohudding heavily against the street, and picked up an oversized cleaver in both hands, swinging it with full force. Melina darted back, uo get the distance from her oppo, and had to use her cws to block the swing. To her shock, the bde passed through them with ease, and Svetaker didn’t bat an eye when she fired at him from point bnk range, widening the already-made cracks further.

  He let go of the bde and lu her, hitting her with his kh such force that it tore through the yer of exoskeletoh her skin. Svetaker’s hook nearly sent Melina spinning; her helmet broke, and Zolushka’s report of saving the children was repced by a hiss. Hands grabbed the wolf hag around the ankle and on her shoulder, and she was lifted up and hurled at full speed onto his knee.

  Melina screamed in agony as her backpack broke and her power armor went into emergency reserve mode. Her spine held up, but the agony of the blow reverberated through every an, and she barely noticed as Svetaker threw her face down on the road.

  She on her elbows in time to see the end of the duel between Widowmaker and Arruda. Throughout the duel, the two were evenly matched, and fresh cuts, like medals of honor for surviving so long, covered both of them equally. The wolf hag never once used her kicks, and when the hordewoman g the defeated Melina, she acted. A straight kick with her cws, aimed at the sor plexus, timed at the right moment to eviscerate and win.

  It should have been the end if Widowmaker had acted in the same manner. She didn’t. Like Arruda, she fed her oppohe false information, stig to horizontal stabs and upper body attacks. And when the kick came, an ining overhead ssh was transformed into a diagonal ssh that sliced through the knee joint and hacked off half the limb. Widowmaker wasn’t stupid. She had used the length of her bde to gauge the distand kept herself as far aossible, inviting this very move, and the hordewomaed her attack fwlessly.

  The sed ssh sheared off Arruda’s thumb at a knuckle in her clumsy attempt to block. The wolf hag bit the ining bde, stopping it briefly in a final act of defiance as Widowmaker twisted the hilt, breaking Arruda’s jaw, and ending the fight by severing half of Arruda’s head.

  Defeat. The word pounded in Melina’s head as a hand grabbed her by the throat and dragged her to the spiked wheel. She tried to pull the fingers away, but even that failed. She was weak, and the st males of their team threw their bodies at hordemen, dying in vain as the crowd cheered on their leaders.

  “Where are they?” Svetaker’s question apanied his exhation.

  The cheering stopped, and the crowd around the vehicle looked back, murmuring in surprise. A corpse with its throat slit hung from the roof; the s holding the children were cut unevenly, and even the cage holding the prisoners had been opened in the chaos of the battle.

  “I ordered you to watch over them,” Svetaker growled.

  “Mercy!” A hordeman dropped to his knees and crawled to the taller man. “I have served you loyally for three years, never making a mistake! Mercy, my Khan! My eyes have left them but for a moment, I swear!”

  “And only a moment you have left to live,” Svetaker responded.

  He grabbed the man by the colr of his armor and tossed him at the wheel’s spike. The man shrieked in pain as the sharp end pierced through his shoulder and wailed in horror as the wheel moved, grinding him against the ground. His legs disappeared underh the wheel that pulverized his bones, his body stretched, and the spike broke through his colrbone, but the release came too te, and his remains were dragged into the spinning wheel. Melina was .

  She was ready for the throw and grabbed the spikes, stopping the fatal spin even as her armave more vocal warnings, alertio the immense weight threatening to break it. Svetaker’s hand pinned her tightly to the metal, denying the wolf hag a retreat.

  “Take what you want from the dead and prepare to give chase,” he ordered.

  “The Khatun was right,” Melina heard Widowmaker’s chuckle. “I ’t believe these idiots decided not to cooperate. I expected your pn to fail.”

  What? A cold sweat broke out on Melina’s fur as she strained against the immense pressure of the engine pushing the wheel. It must be a ruse. Was there never any jamming? Had the Ice Fangs deliberately refused to aheir calls, as Dragena suspected?

  Did the bsted Ice Boys abandon their kin to die willingly? She wao howl, te against the iable. Traitors. The shamans were right. The Blessed Mother was right to keep them at bay. What fools we were!

  “Yet you joined in,” Svetaker said dryly.

  “What I say? I never pass an opportunity to murder someone,” Widowmaker said. “Though I never expected to fight by your side, old hound.”

  “It pleases me to see a sve prove her usefulness,” Svetaker said. “Keep it up, and I won’t have to brand you again.”

  Melina heard the angry murmurs and the noise of fingers closing on the firing studs. Those hordemen who served Widowmaker closed their ranks around the woman, leveling their ons at Svetaker’s servants. The sve trader ighem, tinuing to press the wolf hag against the wheel.

  “My friend, I enjoy the banter, but let’s keep it grounded iy, shall we? Otherwise a curious person might test your statements,” Widowmaker said in a honeyed voice. “Khatun’s favor is all that keeps you alive. You ask to have this favor retracted, so we settle our modest feud…”

  “Enough delusions, sve,” Svetaker grumbled. “Prepare to give chase; we have flesh to return…”

  “No,” aionless voice sounded from the cracks of Svetaker’s helmet. “Ighe irrelevant children. Form ranks and attack the Wintersongs’ fnk while they are ehe fools’ disharmony must be exploited.”

  “These children’s skins are mine. No one escapes Svetaker,” insisted the sve trader.

  “pints of our obsessive dog fellow aside. Khan, if we do as you say, Brood Lord’s dregs will treat themselves to the town,” Widowmaker observed. “Not that I care for it, but we bled for the mines.”

  “Let them,” said the cold voice. “We have a treasure in ht; if Brood Lord wants to spend his troops for the sake of scraps, more power to him. He is dug this war as a on thief, and as a thief he’ll die when his rabble is scattered. The Recimers want to force the southern route on us.”

  “How do you know that?” Svetaker demanded.

  “Because that’s what I would have do won’t happeroy the Wintersongs’ artillery, dispose of their sword saint, and I promise you rids to match what you lose today and sves in abundance. As for your persistent hobby, Svetaker… The children have only one pce to run. As long as you’re alive, you’ll get them eventually.”

  Melina’s legs s the ankles, and Svetaker let go of her. The cruel spikes rammed against her shoulders, log her face against the metal. I want to live. She thought as the sleeves of her armor, and then her arms, crumpled, bending her down and arg her spiil it almost snapped. Why? We always fought at the front lines; we gave our lives to preserve the Ice Fangs. Why now, wheried to live as you? Why did you ignore our calls for help? The question, and the memories of her cousins’ elegand nobility, infuriated Melina to no end. Even the pain in her body took a back seat. We were loyal to you; we thought of you as kin even after you… You… Stabbed Janine in the back. A pgue on your houses! I disavow you; I deny any kinship! What fools we… Traitors.

  Her spine broke, and Melina disappeared uhe spinning wheel, turning her body into a mess of broken bones, muscle, and steel.