Leaving the Blessed Mother to eain the crowd, the n reached Southaven Base, an old military outpost from the early days of the quest. Once rge enough to house the three armies, nowadays it barely had enough space for a single ohe crawler opes main door, and thousands of legs thundered across the nding ramp, bringing out supplies, ons, armors, exging greetings with the Provincial Army’s soldiers, aing up sentry posts.

  “Wele to Houstad!” A soldier grasped Janine’s paw as she pushed ahead of Martyshkina, her eyes bzing, to secure the fi den for her pack. “You’ve made quite a spsh. Schalk Morrow, a humble sergeant at your service, warlord…”

  “Janine. No sed name.” She returhe handshake. The provincial army guard had skin as dark as coal and lush sideburns, but no mustache. His brown eyes, while keerayed more warmth than Jaie’s.

  “An honor!” The man pressed a fist over his heart. “The songs of your brave battle against Blood Graf…”

  “Schalk, you kiss the warlord’s ass ter,” Jaie snapped, stepping out of the vehicle. There was an undeniable resembn their facial features, even though Schalk’s nose had been broken and refed in the past and his hair was gray pared to the lieutenant’s pitch-bck. “uests are tired. Help them get stationed.”

  “By your will!” Schalk led Janine ihe base. “The structure is basic. The main armory is in the ter, but your power armors be stored in individual stes…”

  “Are you and Jaie reted?” Jaerrupted him.

  “Hail from the same homend! Pacified by the Sed, no less. The lieutenant was badly injured during it, but she is fully capable.” Schalk gnced around and lowered his voice. “Listen, I know my ander may seem grumpy at times, but she is pletely loyal and means well. But she also likes to do things by the book. I don’t know much of how the Third operates, fan of the Sed, you uand. If you o expedite a transfer or take any other a to bypass the official els, tact me and I’ll take care of it.”

  “Sure. Tell me which barracks are the best.” Janine ed her neck, hearing Alpha’s heavy footsteps. “Hurry.”

  Thanks to Schalk’s helpful advice, Janine had secured six barracks on the west side of the base, two for herself, one for Marty, and the rest for Predaig and Eled, making them the sole packs that didn’t have to enter another warlord’s territory to travel elsewhere. Alpha and Ashbringer gred and fumed but said nothing, respeg the right of the first pick.

  Cristobo oversaw the setting up of the aer a Dragena in charge before leaving to watch the crawler move to the airport. While the Normies drove tanks to the armory and reignited fres in the maintenance bay, the Alpha Pack restored firing ranges and worked tirelessly to rebuild training grounds. The task of helping the medics settle io Martyshkina.

  Janine gave her pae to marvel at the night city, and threw her pato the firing rao sharpen their instincts, which had been dulled by the rexing field trip. Her pack defeated Onyxia’s girls and immediately found themselves outmatched by Dragena’s troops. Janine gri the misfortune and whipped her pato an ignominious run around the base, leading them as work was in full swing around them and shardguns tio bark on the range.

  Soon evening came, and the first dominations began. Howls pierced the night sky, and warriors faced off against scouts trying to earn promotions. Immediately, the males yielded, and Bogdan secured a spot on a crate, meticulously ing the bloody mark a scout had left on his neck. As the woman faced off against Elzada for the rank of chief scout, Janine’s boy began loudly cheering her on, describing her virtues in exaggerated colors. When the annoyed woman got distracted for a sed, Elzada immediately elbowed her in the neck, sendio the ground puking while the chief scout was busy breaking her ribs.

  Jaopped the fight before it could get too far, but said nothing to Bogdan, who ted the tokens he won from his bet. The ability to keep her cool was essential for a scout. If anything, the loser should be grateful to her boy for the lesson.

  “Bitches. All of you,” Maxence said. The doctor stepped ihe sand circle and fired a tranquilizer gun into Zta’s back. The wolf hag fell face down on her oppo, a young scout who left half of her fa Zta’s cws. At the doctor’s and, his nurses quickly dragged them both away. “A day. Is it so much to ask?”

  “Yes,” Alpha answered him. She picked up the man under her arm and carried him away from the field.

  Eled and Predaig protected their ranks and spent the rest of the match praising their oppos. Anissa caught a scout on her cws and raised the twitg in agony Wolfkin over her head, basking in the cheers of her pack. Rather than casting the scout down, Anissa gently set her doatted her, sending the scout to the medic before taking on two more challengers at onot far from her, Elzada struggled to stand. Her back en, and the gleaming a bones of her spinal n were visible, but she smiled through the pain and accepted Ignacy’s help. An unscious wolf hag y on her legs, her tongue protruding. The meical leg kicked a deep dent in the woman’s ium, squeezing the eye out. It dangled from a string of nerves. Winner and loser were wheeled away to the medical field ter, and Jahought she heard Maxence’s roar in the distance.

  Two weeks of recovery, if not more. Janine sorrowfully wished her new scout good health and praised Elzada for her iy in adaptiyle so soon.

  Normies cheered the victors asped at the gruesome wounds inflicted on their champions. Schalk lost a small fortuo Keon, but that didn’t dampen his spirits, and the officer gesticuted wildly, telling the young man tales of the Sed’s heroiquests and occasionally asking about his homend.

  No one challenged Janine, and she, Martyshkina, and Ashbringer sat together. Ashbringer gnashed her fangs as she watched Kaisa sweep a scout off her feet and sm the woman face down in the dirt. Kaisa briefly bit her oppo’s ned stepped away, tauntingly inviting the challenger.

  “What’s wrong with you, Ash?” Martyshkina asked. A fist swung at her muzzle, but Martyshkina’s palms caught it, and an elbow was directed at her neck. “Rude. That’ll leave a bruise. Ash, no one sneak up on me.”

  “Spill the beans, Ashbringer,” Janine said. “You are on edge. If you feel unwell, visit a medic.”

  “Tch.” Ashbringer spat on the ground. “Sorry, Marty. Should’ve challenged you first. It happens again. No one challenges me.”

  “No one challenges Alpha either,” Martyshkina observed.

  “Or us,” Janine added.

  “Alpha is to, and you are too young,” Ashbringer panted, her cing on her knee. “Arruda is strong enough to try. It’s pin as day. Why is she not challenging me? I haven’t maimed anyone; why am I always singled out? What is there to be afraid of?”

  Forty paces away from them, Arruda desperately tried her best to save her skin from being brutally shredded by Sarkeesian’s drills. The rival wolf hag abruptly broke off the fight with her oppo a after the other woman, spreading her jaws wide and advang on all four limbs. She tried to bait the smaller Wolfkin into attag her, deliberately snapping her jaws in the air and exposing herself.

  Arruda wasn’t dumb. Her leg kicked, but Sarkeesian’s paws grasped the emptiness as Arruda halted her feint and pnted her leg firmly on the ground. She struck with the sed leg, sending the Alpha Pack’s wolf hag ba her feet and shutting her mouth. Two thrusts aimed at the neck followed the attack. Sarkeesian swiftly withdrew, avoiding the worst, but the thrusts sliced through her breasts. Her first adversary lu her from behind, sinking her fangs into the wolf hag’s neck, and Arruda quickly joined her.

  Sarkeesian grabbed the scout’s wrist and pulled the limb into her mouth. The drills sliced through skin and muscle to the bohe scout loosened her grip on the ned screamed, trying to jerk her arm free. Sarkeesian showed mercy, sparing the bone. She baded the scout away and faced an ining thrust to her forearm. A brutal elbow smmed Arruda against the , shattering two of her fangs.

  “Maybe she stays as your sed out of respect,” Janine suggested. She rose to her feet and hurried toward the fighters, ign the childish antics of the wolf hags. She picked up the mutited scout as gently as she could and hahe loser to the medics.

  “Then she is a fool,” Ashbringer growled upon her return. “You ot reach greatness without adversity. Failure is the best teacher oh tth. If my subordinates ck ambition, then I have failed them.”

  “Is Arruda’s potential future really what bothers you?” Martyshkina asked and leaned closer to Ashbringer, examining her snout.

  “That is all you will learn,” the warlord stated.

  “Warlords.” Anji bowed and approached them.

  “No one has challenged you?” Janine smiled and spped at the bench.

  “Yep,” Anji pouted. She joihem and began untying aying her braids. “My warlord disappeared, and everyone is having fun while I am being sideliypical.”

  “Don’t let it get you down, girl. Onyxia ’t hide forever,” Martyshkina said. “Oi, Alpha!” She shouted to the abaster figure overseeing matches. “No petitor, too? Join the Loser Club, not the worst pany…”

  A wave of fear swept through the group. Janine frowned, reliving the panic of her first litter, the nervousness of her trembling paws, and the intense desire to gnaw at her fingers again. Ashbringer flipped a middle fio Alpha, while Martyshkina coughed and wiped drool from her lips. Anji hahe tig best. The young woman closed and opened her eyes, refusing to bulge.

  There wasn’t a living soul iribe willing to challenge Alpha, and not because of the passive terror that surrouhe warlord. The woman never showed an ounce of restraint. Her cws tore through an oppo mercilessly, opening veins and ripping through bohe massive bulk of her body smmed an unfortunate soul to the ground, rupturing internal ans by sheer forpact. When a challenger could no longer move, the Alpha would methodically decw them, dev fangs and cws to teach them a lesson.

  The Alpha Pack was the stro unit in the Wolf Tribe, excelling at everything thanks to the iron discipline instilled by such a merciless teacher. But it couldn’t ge, because its members couldn’t hope to match their warlord. So as not to deprive the tribe of potential didates, Alpha occasionally kicked her wolf hags and scouts into the lesser packs, where they iably rose through the ranks.

  “Why are you irritating her?” Ashbringer asked.

  “I like to tickle her nerves. Alpha is sister, and it isn’t proper for her to be alone.” Martyshkina stretched. “No idea what their deal is, but everyone should live up a little.”

  With howls, blood, infighting, and struggle, the Wolf Tribe has settled into their new den, sting every inch of the pormies diligently reected upgraded aerminals to the maiwork and opened kits, serving Houstad food to the soldiers. An officers’ club opes doors, the fi beverages from Oaksters’ Vineyards, approved even by the high standards of the Ice Fangs. Schalk, pying the role of weling host in the absence of his superior, bought several rounds for each officer, and Janine found the drinks sweet.

  Those among the winners of the domination were ‘recruited’ to help the work teams by keeping the toilets , and Ashbringer ughed mogly as the realization of their task settled in Kaisa’s eyes.

  Warm clothing, including winter jackets, arrived at Chak’s request. The Ice Fangs quietly asked the Normies if their cousins had lost their marbles yet. Upon witnessing Anissa joyfully don three turtlenecks and a coat, Janine heard them clude that the Wolf Tribe had collectively gone insane and needed immediate psychiatric help. She let this insult go unchallenged.

  Janine had to physically drag Ignacy away from tinkering with the drones, so the boy could eat, visit Elzada in the infirmary, and sleep a little. After cheg on the wounded, Janine cracked her knuckles and marched to the prayer den. The tribe had a problem, just not the ohe ice boys were chatting about. Every problem had to be solved.

  *****

  Jaered a spacious, dark den that Lacerated One and the shamans had prepared for their spiritual needs. In accordah the traditions, the electric lights were turned off. Wolfkins used their eyes to orient themselves, and dles burned for the visitors. Five rough idols were erected from the sto over the faithful from a distant wall. Each idol represented one of the great Spirits. The shamans had poured their skill and passion into four of them, giving them the closest resembo the Blessed Mother. The idol dedicated to the Spirit e, a horrific creature with its mouth wide open, received the lightest toud ced farthest from the entrance.

  Two Ice Fangs sat in the dim light of the dles; one was Sword Saint Leonidas, and beside him was a smaller woman who had elegaallic prosthetics fs. Leonidas serenely surveyed the surroundings, while the young ressed her paws together in a humble prayer to the Spirit of Pride.

  Janine remained in the shadows until the two had fihen nodded in respect to the sword saint, who returhe gesture. As the Ice Fa, the shamainguished the dles and began ying wooden pnks oone floor, preparing the den for the ritual prayers.

  “ you imagihey said they believe in the Spirits!” A shaman whispered to Soulless One.

  “Oreats it as a joke, but another is serious.” Soulless One shook her head, wiping the floor . “What could it mean? I’ll pray for revetions.”

  “Five my intrusion, sisters.” Janine clumsily put her paws together. “May I speak to the supreme shaman?”

  “Here, Janine.” Lacerated One said it in an icy tone.

  She sat in the far er of the room, using her fio prepare bone idols. Fmes embraced the soldiers who died in Just Peachy, and Lacerated One molded their remains like cy, creating toys for cubs or making decorated prayer beads the fallen could watch over the living even from the Great Beyond. Uhe main idol, she gagged and blihe Spirit e on every image, safeguarding a faithful from the wrathful reaper’s attention. An open book y beside her, opeo a page of prayers for well-being and gratitude. The supreme shaman took off her armor and put s.

  “Excuse me for disturbing you at this te hour.” Janine bowed.

  “You visit us so rarely, Jahat you seem to have fotten much,” Lacerated One replied in the same indifferent tohe warlord cluded her retive was still pissed off over the loss of the skinwalker. “It is our duty to listen and sel. Blessed be, Janine. Be at ease and tell me your s.”

  “I want to have your support at the Gathering,” Jaold her bluntly, earning a look for the first time. Gatherings were meetings of the tribe, a time when all violence was forbidden, except for ritual duels. Males and females sat as equals, voig their ideas for the shamans and warlords to vote on.

  Iy, nothing was so simple. While some trifle ges, such as allowing treats for the cubs, happened actally, the most important ges went through the shamans first, who outnumbered the warlords by a lot. Alpha also cast her voi favor ious leaders, splitting the group even further. A tribe member who wao ge something had to first pay a visit to Lacerated One, or anh-ranking shaman, and prove the value of their suggestion.

  “For whatever cause, pray tell?” Lacerated One inquired.

  Janine bared her o the shaman’s cws, exposing her vulnerability in order to justify her iions. Lacerated One did not bite her, but she gave Janine a boalisman for Marco.

  “I’ve met with a Wolf Hag retly. The name’s Kaisa. A motherless cur, like me...”

  “I am aware.” Lacerated One frowned a a deep cut on her own nostril. “The iigation is cluded, firming the shaman’s undeniable guilt. Kaisa’s family is not at fault for their malnourishment. The shaman in charge of the vilge has already received her name back. Her penance is being discussed. No cub will ever suffer from being ighere. This was our… my failure,” the supreme shaman corrected herself. “But you don’t o ask for my support to expose it. Such a situation should never have arisen, not in the days of plenty. Being motherless is a fw, a sad event, but not a sin, aainly not something that deserves s and . We will e to everyone about rievous wrong.” A bone medallion cracked in the shaman’s paw, and Jaied the fool who had watched over Kaisa’s vilge. Shamahemselves to the highest standards, even in punishment.

  “I never inteo rub dirt in your faces.” Janine gulped, hating herself. Look at her—not even two hundred years old and already daring to think that she had the right to ge the tribe! No wonder her own mother had rejected her. “Warlords should be able to choose individual soldiers for themselves, regardless of kinship ties.” Lacerated One’s face hardened, and Janine hastily tinued. “Yes, family is important. Abyss… Five the profanity. I know it! But we ’t just shove potential aces into mismatched packs and hope it all works out. That bitch... Kaisa nearly drove her brother to death, believing that her family is holding her back.”

  “She is wrong.” Distraught, Lacerated One swept a paw over her head. “Females are given more, so they are expected to carry more on their shoulders. Duties e before bes, sister.”

  “Of course she is wrong; she is a stupid cub!” Janine inhaled and faced the unblinking eyes. “But you saw her, didn’t you? A potential warlord, brought low by her own hatred. Any sister would’ve snatched her from the pits for her own pack. She should have been in Alpha’s pack. Surrounded by respect, a subject of strict discipline, Kaisa would’ve never goray. Instead, we let her rot under iive leadership. It doesn’t help a solves nothing. Her family has suffered. Are we not all kin? If yes, why should we g to the outdated tradition, weakening ourselves?”

  “Ygestion could lead to an imban the packs, as the stro warlords would grow overly strong by depriving the rest of talented recruits.”

  “Thehe shamans oversee the situation, having the final say aing the distribution as needed, but always ensuring the best growth for the greenhorns,” Janine insisted. “Not every mentor sharpen a fwed tool into an impeccable bde. It is your duty to ehat no bde is wasted before it drink its fill of the Dynast’s enemies.”

  “You ask me to share power with the warlords,” Lacerated One mused.

  “I demand you to do what is best for the tribe.” Janine bared her fangs. “If this situation happened o means it had happened in the past and it will happen iure. Take the responsibility and act befitting the leader, Lacerated One. Correct the course.”

  She expected to meet aggression, a bite, or an assault, but the shaman fed more toys food five minutes, ign the warlord. Janine shifted her weight, uo sitting on her legs for so long. She wondered if Lacerated One was expeg something else—a promise of a favor, an oath of loyalty, or maybe a gift of respect? Dammit, this is the st time I ever get involved in the political life of my tribe! I am feeling like a dolt.

  “Idiots.” he remembered Terrific’s words as her mother dragged her and Martyshkina by the ear into a voting booth and forced them to read about a ballot measure that would give governors nearly the same authority as military captains. “Politics is always ied in you, and you ’t afford not to respond in kind. Now hurry and vote against it.”

  “But I kinda like that suggestion,” Martyshkina argued back then. “Captains ’t possibly know everything that goes on itlements.”

  “Yep, yep.” Young Janine nodded. “It is logical to let the locals decide on the improvements. I’ll vote in favor of it!”

  “Yeah, I’ll vote for it too!”

  “Then you are not just idiots; you are full-on brain dead.” Terrifiarled. “Give civilians any authority, and one day they’ll forbid us to eat human flesh! These soft skins are cowards, incapable of seeing…”

  Bones and figurines, both finished and unfinished, rained into an iron bucket, rattling and g, and Jauro the present.

  “Janine,” Lacerated One said, “when was the st time we fought each other? To tell the truth, I don’t recall us ever g.”

  “A perfect occasion to remedy the mistake then, sister.” Janine nodded eagerly, catg on to the game. “You and I, ahe Spirits decide.”

  “Indeed, sister, indeed.” The Supreme Shaman smiled amiably. “I challenge you to a domination match. e, let our blood unite.”