“Iing!” a voice screeched from above. “So your irresponsible kind uand the value of precious equipment and the hardships it takes to repce it. Almost had me fooled.”

  Fifteen pairs of legs, tapping loudly, brought doerson from a roof beside Jahe chief quartermaster had the dubious honor of hailing from the Malformed, a group of New Breeds famous for their nomadic lifestyle that involved ibalizing humans around their caves and hunting down women for procreation. Even among the Malformed, the people afflicted with various mutations, Chak ecial case.

  His body was six meters long, protected by segmented chitin shields of various sizes. Hairy antehat could detect molecur vibrations protruded from the ptes’ joints. His sunken, four-pitch bck eye-panels focused on Janine, betraying no readable expression. The toxiaths, the fangs underh his maw, ked with annoyahe chief quartermaster coiled around Janine, and his legs touched her back, l the jacket.

  “Typical,” Chak grumbled, speaking in the perfectly on. His legs rummaged nimbly in the bag at his tail, finding gsses and a medical kit. Janine’s nose caught the disgusting smell of aic hissing over the damaged impnt, and the Malformed cwed legs tinkered with the exposed pieetal.

  “No need for coddling,” Janine said at a painkiller’s prick.

  “I’ll be the one deg it, barbarian,” the chief quartermaster said haughtily. “How are you even using your arm? It should’ve affected the shoulder bde.”

  “Wolfkins are built differently,” Jaold him.

  To her knowledge, Chak was never involved in any human hunts. Shortly before the Wolfkins dominated his tribe, his parents debated whether or not to cull the stra. As a way of showing his gratitude for his salvation, Chak joihe military after leaving the orphanage, quickly taking a liking to maintaining logistics s and rising through the ranks. After decades of exempry service, the and promoted him to the rank of chief quartermaster, a person responsible for the equipment of the entire Wolf Tribe, much to his and Wolfkins’ chagrin.

  “There. Not even my da could’ve patched it better.” Chak spped Janine behind the ears, f her to stay still as he quickly applied a sterile bandage. “Should st a few hours. Then off to the cyber crafters.”

  “Thanks…”

  “The armor that was so graciously given to you by lorious nation, Warlord Janine, costs more than three battle tanks.” Chak leaned over her head, looking into her eyes. “In what dition did you return the poor thing to me?”

  “Trashed.” Janine shrugged.

  “Hot the word! Trashed!” Chak’s toxiaths rattled in indignation. When arguing with the Wolfkins, the logistics offiever showed any . Be it a warrior, a male, or even a warlord, he demanded, getting in their faces, a respect for the precious equipment. A few scouts and a wolf hag even challenged him for the supposed disobedience… His venom introduced them to a world of pain. “One hundred man hours just to fix it! You think I have time to spare personnel for it? Our factories are overwhelmed, repairing the damaged vehicles and produg ammunition; the work crews suffer from a ck of sleep…” He paused, listening to a report from a uniounted on an antenna near a small square hole in the carapace where his natural ear was. A long sigh left his mandibles. “Great. A transpot damaged.”

  “What about the civilians?” Thoughts raced feverishly through Janine’s head. A possibility of a raider’s attack was cast aside. A sand reaper, perhaps? No, these beasts don’t travel here. A rogue meism? A bioo loose? “My pack is ready to march.” They quered this city; the safety of the new citizens was their sacred duty.

  “The thing was empty.” Chak’s mandibles drummed a note of disappoi on his carapace. “and cims it was a training i. And one of my workers just broke a leg transp supplies from a factory.”

  “I uand your frustration, Chak.” Jaold him holy. They could not stay here. The pn was to relocate the popution to the Outer Lands. Then, in thirty years or so, the terraf teams would restore life in this region to a suitable level, and a new geion of humans could settle in.

  “Do you?” The Malformed blinked, stubbornly removing his gsses despite his poor eyesight. “I don’t think you do, Janine. My workers, admittedly with some help from Ignad other initiative boys and girls, have worked miracles to keep our equipment in top shape. Uand that we only have a single crawler’s resources to maintain produ for aire army. Fifty thousand people rely on us to have their needs met! This ’t go on. Our army is slowly grinding to a halt uhe weight of disrepair. I have had to fiscate materials from the local factories like a on looter! Speak to the ander. Make her see the reason! We need a camp so we recuperate, get fresh supplies, replenish our medical supplies, start produ, get proper food, and not use half-broken battle suits…”

  “She won’t listen.” Janine raised a paw to silence his outburst. Ravager refused to listen to anyone, f her army to be stantly on the move, felliire tries in weeks. Janine herself was too low on the and totem pole, not even a first- or sed-geion Wolfkin. She beloo the eighth geion, strong enough to bee a warlord, but not iial enough to have Ravager’s ear. “We stay and argue all day, but this won’t solve anything. How I help you?”

  “I need more hands. Since we are abandoning the city, we must requisitiohing we befer whips the army into another march. I ’t send regur soldiers into the factories; those pces are literal hellholes of toxic hazards, the Ice Fangs have their paws full esc refugees, and the worker teams are tired to the point of making mistakes and risking slipping into the sludge like a on grunt.”

  “Hire the locals?” Janine offered.

  “I did! Two hundred people have enlisted, and three hundred more are being interviewed, but Janine, I ’t in good sce send them in there unless I want the medics at my upper segment. These people have skin ditions, falling ans, and only the Spirits know what else. In short, they’ll need months of healing. The Wolfkins are sturdy enough to gather the supplies without risking their lungs. But right now, I ’t get any because your people are gathered on the main square for the m ceremony that refuses to end!” Chak’s legs twitched. The Malformed cked facial features to show emotions, but he had long since learned how to imitate easy-to-uand signs through body movements.

  “I’ll solve the problem,” Janine promised him.

  Chak bowed and hurried to the top of the building, shouting orders into the unicator. The warlord touched a bandage over the wou by the ander’s otig several wet spots. No cause for arm. Ravager’s mercy had healed the lung-threatening damage, and the rest will soon follow. She squared her shoulders ao the site of the farewell’s ceremony.

  Despite the early hour and the ret traces of battle, streets crowded with life. Legs shattered barricaded apartment doors, and firm arms escorted those who refused to heed the publiouhundering from every dynamie locals shed out, but what good is a knife against metal armor desigo withstand gunfire? Soldiers simply ighe outbursts, disarmed citizens, put rebreathers in their mouths, and dressed them in hazmat suits. Members of the Iigation Bureau listed items left behind so that the Recmation Army could either trahem ter or reimburse lost goods to its new people. Army units escorted crowds of people onto trucks. g children, distraught wives, shocked husbands… And wounded—so many wouhe Tribe’s assault shattered any illusion of resistance, and here and there, fuards helped the evacuation process.

  The former mayor and several of her officials dangled in the wind from the headless statue of Teo-Queen. The fools themselves had admitted their role iiating trade deals with svers and raiders, trading their own people for advanced chips, terminals, and unavaible resources, proving their guilt. A swift judicial process resulted in their hanging. A new ag mayor was elected from the ranks of the royal guard, a sad-eyed woman who had quehe despair of her mutited so iower. She made speeches, ving fuards to cooperate, and traveled over the city, persuading civilians to leave their homes peacefully. Her words vinced over a hundred families to reveal their hiding p the sewers, and the fuards escorted them to the exit before returning to check for anyone else.

  Ultimately, some bastards who aided in throttling life from this region will escape the righteous punishment. The Iigation Bureau didn’t have enough time to read through every ledger and o separate the guilty from the ignorant. Such was life. If the bastards turned over a new leaf, Janine was willing to let bygones be bygones. Should they return to their old ways, their fate would be sealed.

  Not everythi smoothly. Some soldiers tried to partake in local women or men, g them as ‘spoils of war’. These were mostly fools from the Core Lands, youngsters who had joined retly. Dragena ordered them hanged o the former mayor. Other soldiers were caught looting. These fools endured fifty shes in the open, toxic air and received orders to preserve the very items they attempted to steal. Should any item go missing, so would the hand of the one assigo guard it. Janine sidered this an overly le punishment. Any of her soldiers caught looting would have her skin skinned, and any female who acted on her sexual impulse would soon find herself drow the bottom of the poisonous river.

  “Order is best upheld through a bination of fear, example, and respect.” Janine remembered Terrific’s words. “See, there was a story the Blessed Mother told me. A general was ordered to present his army to a petunt emperor, yet because of nature, a river…”

  “What is a river?” Martyshkina asked then, pressing her paws together, her eyes burning from excitement. She’s ever enjoyed learning about the Old World and its miracles.

  “It is a rge body of water flowing in the lierrific jumped from the pile of dying, partially skinned raiders, ign their pleadings. “Imagine! A cold water, winding around high and green hills, bridges thrown across it, cars rag along its sides, honking at the spshing cubs! It is also wide! So wide that even a tank drown in it…”

  “Bullshit!” the young Janine fired. “Ain’t no way such a thing could exist. There isn’t that much water in the whole world! And why would anyone swim in the cold…”

  The world spun. Terrific kicked, cartwheeling Jao the rocky wall. The warlord’s cws ripped open gashes on the girl’s ned jaw, but the warlord wasn’t do. She caught the falling girl on her cws. The warlord treated the cubs given to her pack with merot a single cw damaged a vital an, and she shook the wouo the ground for the rest to lick her wounds.

  “False.” Terrific fshed a smile, stretg the word. “There were such marvels everywhere in the Old World, and you, bitches, will see them yet, should you listen to the teacher and learn. Back to the story. A flood barred the general’s army, and an official arrived, announg that the emperor had sentehe general, his family, and his entire army to death for such failure. The general asked what the price of treason was, and upon hearing that it was also death, he beheaded the official. Ihan a month, the nation had a new empire. Now, wretches, what is the lesson here?”

  “That the general is a traitor?” a male suggested hesitantly.

  “How is he a traitor?” Martyshkina argued. “A leader is responsible for those under his and. Yeah, the dude made a mistake and should’ve paid for it. But his troops and family were bmeless! Rather thaing them die, he rose and rihe injustice through his might. He is awesome! Had more people done so, the Old World would’ve never died.”

  “No ban punishment,” Janine said stubbornly, embarrassed by the humiliation. “If you punish everything by death without restraint, of course you’ll have a rebellion on your paws. Like, why nht? If yoing to die, you might as well go out swinging.” When Terrific’s shadow covered her, she looked around for support and shrank.

  They were in a ge Terrific had chosen after her pack had found and hunted down a rge raiding party responsible for pilging vilges outside the Recmation Army’s border. The warlord made a deal with the elders: she’d take care of the danger, and they would joiion. Janine, Martyshkina, and the other youngsters did not participate in this glorious battle, it from afar under a shaman’s guidance.

  Terrific broke every bone in the legs and arms of the enemy leaders and brought them here, ing the rest of the raiders to the ge’s stone walls and hiding them in the blessed shade, f huo witness how their proud leaders slowly broke down, enduring the burning touch of the sun during the day and the warlord’s caresses at night. The members of the Terrific Pack sat in the circle while their leader imparted her immacute interrogation skills on them.

  Jaruggled at first, wanting to speak out against the torture, but a boy beat her to it by standing up to Terrific. This humiliation was too much to bear, and she leapt by his side, ready to guard the buffoon. A sed ter, Martyshkina was at her side, calling her a fool but also standing her ground.

  The whole pack burst into ughter, silenced by a raised paw. Terrific did not punish them, a rare occurrence even on her best days. Instead, she forced the vilins to fess. They sang tales of burying people up to their necks and leaving them out in the burning sun. They spoke of murder, torture, and how they forced sves to fight is for fun, promising freedom to the victor, only to take that hope aity vanished from Janine’s heart as she listeo the stories of what they had doo the young women and men.

  They didn’t deserve hope or a future. Three days—that’s how long it took to reduce the arrogant moo a whimpering mess.

  “Not correct, and not fully wroher!” Terrific tossed Jao the air and caught her, kissing the girl on the forehead. She seated Janine in the crook of her arm and poi the enemy leaders. “A proper bance, ain’t that the truth? Bance is essential ihioo mud you get fat. Eat too little, and your body won’t be able to fight. Too much terror, and a broken person bee a berserker. See, if you kill a foe ly and leave dignity to a bastard, yeah, another moron might try the same. Because everyone dies, so what’s the big deal? But if you set an example by taking away every shred of honor and bathing the bastards in indignity and their own feces for everyoo see, shattering their personalities, it’ll serve as an excellent lesson in what not to do. No one wants their legacy to be sullied by songs that tell how they cried like a cub at the end. Listen well, young and old!” Terrific spun, raising a paw. “Everything has different gradations, death included. Every cruelty must have a reason.” She strode to the closest ed raider and raised his head. “You won’t be a problem anymore, will you, boy?”

  “N-no…” the weeping teenager whimpered. “Never! I’ll never raid another vilge again! Please, a swift death, please…”

  “Then gratutions, citizen!” Terrific let go of Janine and snapped her fingers. Her pack broke the s and brought water to the fused prisoners. “The sentence for your crimes is life. Found a new mining vilge. Ten years of bor and ho lives are what you owe to us. Preferably a happy offspring too, but that I ’t enforce.” She grabbed a bleeding, mindless raider from the pile of corpses in the sun and stopped, examining the woman’s swollen limbs. “Ja is your birthday. Do the honors; pie for yourself; the treat is on me. I suggest the fattest one.”

  “Happy birthday, Jahe rest of the youngsters cheered, and the pack joined in. “Pick the fatty, pick the fatty!”

  Before leaving this pce, the raiders learhat the Wolf Tribe never let anything go to waste. Not a single captured raider returo banditry for years to e, and many ter joihe army after serving their sentehe vilge they founded soon grew into a city famous for its safety and the Wolfkins’ reverence, much to the Wolf Tribe’s awkwardness.

  The Wolf Tribe acted as monsters so the Dynast could build a just society where cruelty was no longer needed. Why would anyone praise them for such as?

  Did the raiders maintain order out of fear, or did they abandon their evil ways after entering civilization aablishing a set of ws that could create a prosperous future and protect them and their children? Janine wasn’t sure. As the decades passed, she gradually shed the belief that torture could lead to any positive oute. It wasn’t a path for her. But she took the lesson to heart, showing wisdom wheed out the punishment.

  Restraint was a virtue that was important in building a better future. And so were examples and sequences.