As it turned out, the cold could actually be a hindrao a Wolfkin. Coughing and sneezing in the m, Ja on the gifted sweater, a ylish coat and two pairs of pants, and ed herself in a warm b. She was still shivering and called Maxence, w about possible poisoning.

  It was a novel experience. Her skin shivered, demanding warmth, and she held a paw over a radiator, ting prayers to the Spirits. Janine was ever a m 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, cheg her mouth and helping her repce bandages. From him, Janine learhat her dition wasn’t unusual; a total of one hundred and fifteen soldiers, Normies and Wolfkin, had what was known as the on cold, a typical illness resulting from acclimatization to the emperature.

  Janine ignored pleas to stay and recuperate, gulping down insipid medical pills. She swam through the toxic wastes; she ehe poisonous stings of the ioids; she traversed zones filled with enough radiation to kill a Normie; a damned on cold will n her low!

  Her bravado could only st 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, ahe 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 stu 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 speerday 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 Kaisa to show up for the scheduled m lecture, but she never did. Out of curiosity, Janine called Ygrite and received the ahat Kaisa and Anji were lost in reading and studying Houstad’s map. What in the Abyss could that ball e be reading?

  Oh, well, one less problem on my paws. Janine looked sourly at the approag Soulless One.

  “A soup?” She raised her eyebrows, notig a pte in her friend’s paws.

  “There is a bit of chi in there, the doctors said…”

  “Shaman, my body is literally dev itself to heal my wounds, and y me water to nourish me?” Jaerjected, her stomach rumbling. “Fine, give it here. And make sure no one ever agais 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 degeion 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 es 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 trating oraining field. The workers structed 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 softhreateo 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 oraining 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 py the roles of svers and raiders.

  The ‘sver’ camp was set up in the ter of the mound’s rubble walls, and scouts sneaked ihe cracks, mapping routes and the locations of the mihe enemy had pnted. Elzada’s leaderless pack flew silent drones over the camp, pinpointing targets for elimination and patrol routes. Optical camoufge turhe drones invisible to the naked eye from afar, as their coating mimicked the sky color.

  Then Anissa struck from the south and Kaisa advanced from the north, taking only scouts in this initial assault. Silently, like spttered shadows flowing over the stohe Wolfkins crept around the rubble, bypassing the defenses, and started the ‘age’. Four points for the sneaky approach. One point for incorporating the unknown equipment into their strategy.

  Cws touched temples, and strong paws grabbed necks briefly, simuting 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 effiext came the signal, and the main force charged, led by Melina. Like a storm of darkness, the two packs verged on their prey simultaneously, sweeping from floor to fliving the opposition no ce to breathe and resg the hostages. One point for a well-timed and well-executed assault.

  Jaapped oerminal o her, the packs’ performanside 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 fusion iackers’ ranks. To her delight, Kirk and Bogdan came up with the solution, the Wolf Hag maps downloaded from the . stant drills were the reason for this udable effi handling the ued 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 ons, but rather butcher’s tools used to shod overe the opposition, and many defenders would o take a shower afterwards. But now the packs would have to prove their mettle as the ‘raiders’ crammed into the and post and their leader grabbed a designated ‘sex sve’ by the throat to use as a human shield.

  More ‘svers’ 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. Jaiculously deducted two points, sihere lenty of time to fire before the ‘victim’ could be grabbed. She added one point for saving a life a a note for Anissa to take her brothers through the additional shooting drills.

  Kaisa ehe 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 svers erupted, unleashing a rain of wolfkins on the enemy. Spinning and firing at point-bnk rahey gutted the remaining opposition, and Kirk wrestled the on’s barrel away from the hostage's neck. His oppo olice sergeant, a rge Orais who elbowed the Wolfkin to the ground, determio py his part to the st. Jaws closed on his ankle, and Kirk’s brother dragged the Orais off his feet, throwing him off bance long enough for Kirk’s younger sister to shoot the poli 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 cw, rupturing the brain, or to shoot at the legs, causing both people to fall. Impnts were cheap, aatio more potential deaths.

  Kirk and Kaisa advanced, painting the opposition yellow. To the boy’s credit, he had little trouble watg and w 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 actally discharged his on into the ground. So not only his breathing. Janine chastised herself for not notig that the boy’s finger was origger all along. As the person overseeing the operation, it artly her duty to tact 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 ‘sves’ were freed and the ‘raiders’ surrehe packs stormed outside, ughing and joking, no longer b with striation or disciplihey helped the downed Normies to their feet, throwing a few over their heads in celebration of the mission’s success. Anissa had to sp 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 itg to even the score.

  Around them, the army’s regurs were already hard at work, strug new buildings and various hazards for the packs to overe. Even Janine wasn’t privy to the building’s inner ws; under Cristobo’s and, the packs would have to master the art of subduing and resg in shopping malls, movie theaters, hospitals, and prids. Ohat was done, more exg 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, rex,” Ignacy yawned, ing closer. “Bogdan was the first oo make a mistake.”

  “Yeah, and you could’ve kept your mouth shut about it!”

  “And miss the ce to rub it in your faah.” Ignacy dodged his brother’s friendly sp areated to Elzada, who was only supervising today’s training but could not take part because of her injury.

  “Asshole!” Bogdan ughed 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 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 Kaisa a sideways gnd retreated to Anissa’s side. The wolf hag snapped her fingers, calling Ignacy to her, and bowed her head, whispering something.

  Janine’s finger lingered over a button wheiced Kaisa approag her brother. Hissing angrily, Janine prepared to call Ashbringer, who oversa disciplioday. It paihe warlord to admit it, but she was too weak to beat the youngster into the ground right now.

  “We’ve bee, Kirk! Want to fire, finger origger, don’t want to shoot, off the trigger,” Kaisa told her brother, hesitating at the st moment when she saw him trembling. “Tch, e on, you’re way better than this. Fine, scout, expin to the buffoon how it’s done again,” she threw to her sister and approached the greenhorns of her pack, correg their mistakes. Without hitting anyone.

  Who bit her? Jailted her head, removing her finger from the call button. Should I call security a a potential spy in our ranks?

  “Hey!” Kaisa turo 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 er of Kaisa’s lips twitched. “What 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.” Kaisa 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!? Jaensed. Should she call the medics? Ygrite? Dammit, what happened yesterday to this woman?

  “The rules are simple. You.” Anissa poi Kaisa with two fingers. “e 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…”

  Kaisa bellowed her fiercest roar, sileng Anissa’s words. L herself on all fours, the wolf hag had ly charged but fired herself from pce, s 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, being a dead weight like Anissa’s.

  And this didn’t hihe woma. Janine nodded in respect as she watched the bloodthirsty Kaisa easily spot Bogdan emerging from a ruione. Using only her fiips, 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 Kaisa, driving her further to the right to avoid the shots.

  She was driven straight into the wall of debris. Janine tio watch through the cameras, resting her head on a paw. Anissa had put her head into this pn. 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, pying the role of mindless beasts for their soldiers to overe with moderhods. Such games were used to build fidend bonds.

  A clever ploy, but ohat ultimately did not matter in the slightest here. Anissa hadn’t stated in the rules that Kaisa had to act like a rabid animal here. Despite her roar and rapid movements on the four limbs, the wolf hag had merely preteo 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 ao sm into the stone. Kaisa had followed in the footsteps of the te Terrific, crossing the field on her fingers. Aside from the obviously perfect training to turn her fingers into a truly terrifying on even without cws, this gave Kaisa 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 stoopping 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 ched into fists as Anissa hastily put on her helmet and a drone buzzed in the air behind her back.

  “The booze is mine!” Kaisa ughed.

  A burst of sound from the drone silenced her ughter. The intense frequency moved pebbles, and even through the microphones, Janine grimaced at the high-pitched sound that drummed in her ears. Kaisa squirmed and pressed her paws to her ears; her arm, 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 spttered ooill vulsing from the sound, and was mercilessly ‘gunned down’ by the soldiers, raising a paw in surrender after a fifteen-shot round nded between her eyes. She y still for a while, then ughed and joined in the soldiers’ celebration.

  “I thought shamans were not supposed to use ons!” Kaisa pio Anissa, trying in vain to wipe the paint off her snout. “What in the Spirits’ names was that?”

  “Teically, I didn’t use any ons; it was all Ignacy,” Anissa beamed and gave Kaisa a paw. Kaisa 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 experie tonight. The effect will wear off soon.”

  “This is the sound beam emitter!” Ignacy expined, ing closer with the drone drifting behind him. “You know how disruption fields work, right? It vibrates sound to such a level that it breaks molecur 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 mu the testing phase, but once perfected, perhaps one day it be mounted on a mech suit to serve as a mobile disruption on…”

  “Magic. Got it.” Kaisa replied sourly.

  “It isn’t magic, it is…”

  “Witchcraft. Bck sorcery. You deserve to be bur a stake,” Kaisa 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.

  Kaisa only shook her shoulders, disappearing from sight in a blur. Jaood up, worried that the wolf hag might strike her son, when Kaisa kicked the rubble he wall. The mi off, spshing yellow paint on everyone nearby. Anissa looked like she was going to let her cws do the talking, then she ed her arms around herself and fell back, ughing.

  “Oopsie-daisy, it seems like you do now.” Kaisa 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 Kaisa had to grab her shoulder to help the newly promoted wolf hag stand. “Elzada, I disrespect you and all, but you barely walk! o make it easier for me, ‘kay? I was just fooling around. We already have oupid piss-head here.” She tossed Ignato Bogdan, stumbling them both. “No need for you to turn into one. e o’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 smmed a steel chair o Janine aed 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 beh the skin. Her gigantic cws could operate no maery, so the woman motioned for a scout from her pack to approad 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 suumbers 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!” Kaisa’s roar on the field distracted them as the woman ran towards Anji. “Hey, didn’t ya promise me o too long ago?”

  “I retract my offer for the time being,” Anji chuckled, stepping back to avoid the painted paws.

  “Too te! It’s hugging time! e ‘ere!” Kaisa 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 .

  “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 beh Janine’s fur.

  The memories of her mother abandoning her came back; she remembered the cold look in her mother’s eyes years ter, when Janine had found her. No daughter of mine be such a worthless freak. This was the respoo the question. The fear of seeing an ioid 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 a 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 pn to make a proposal at the Gathering,” Janine gasped, and the fear vanished as a reward for her cooperation. “The shama a family pad send all the members to a pack based on an average score. I want the shamans to give us that privilege so we choose people for our packs based o, even if it means breaking up an individual family between vilges.”

  “You want them to give up the power.”

  “It will be their decision to make.”

  “Our decision. A stupid, pointless ge, Janine.” Alpha grabbed her by the ned closed their heads. “Ponder about potential fws. Most of the time, the warlords are in the field. Do you expect us to leave and go to each vilge to select a single soldier to join us? What kind of lunacy is this?”

  “You…” Jaopped, thinking about her sister’s words. “You are right. It won’t work. But we ’t tihe…”

  “I agree.” Alpha removed her paw, leaning ba the chair. “The idea behind the ge 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 ’t attend, she send a wolf hag in her pce. Or she let the shamans choose, or they choose if a warlord ’t be reached. There, five seds, already a better pn.” Alpha g Janine. “When y ge to a society, you must always sider the ives. Lives are at stake, sister. Were you pnning to ask for my support?”

  “No,” Janine replied holy. “I ’t endure a round against you.”

  “Coward. Moron,” Alpha said. “Think, Janine! Ravager’s and binds us while we are iy. What better time to ask, if not now? Ask everyone, be open to ideas, and share your fears with your sisters already! Stop ag behind our backs like a shaman. Even if we don’t agree, we listen, and we’re here for you.”

  “Is that why you opened Ashbringer’s belly fifty years ago?” Janine asked pinly, ign 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 you be there for us if we ’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 a a ways, sister, but my ear is opeo 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, Jahe 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. Fet and move on.”

  “I will,” Janine said early and sneezed.

  Never again will she be involved iribe's politics. Alpha was right; Janine’s first proposal was abysmal and pure stupidity. She must be better and know her pce.