“Mom, Mr. Fiddler!” Jaepped aside to make space for an escorted family. A cub cried after dropping a wooden toy, while his mother dragged him away. “Mom, I dropped Mr. Fiddler! Please, Mom, let me…” The cub, a skinny boy wearing a hazmat suit too big for him, broke free and darted after the toy that was about to fall through a gap in the grating. He crashed into Janine’s leg and stepped back, hyperventiting from terror.

  “Morro!” His mother’s arms ed around him. The woman bowed, trying to cover the scared boy. “It’s my fault, master. Please don’t hurt my son; he is a good boy…”

  Janine gave her a par, sensing rough scars through the rubber prote of the suit. She picked up the toy, a crude soldier pying on a drum, and ha to the cub, trying to be as gentle as possible. “Peace, citizen. There are no more masters. Keep your strength; a brighter future awaits you and your son.”

  “Mom…” the cub gasped. “Mom, it’s a woman! The doggie is female!” his mother closed the boy’s mouth and nervously thahe warlord.

  “We are called Wolfkins,” Jaold the boy. “From here on now and as long as we live, we are the shield and swuarding you.”

  “Shield?” The boy pushed the mother’s hand aside. “Why did you kill Karl’s ma, then? And Mira’s cries still—one of you moore her dad’s arm right off! What kind of shield does this?”

  “He does not mean anything bad, mistress…” Janine raised a finger, sileng his mother.

  “I am not angry. Little one, your former ruler made a terrible choice. A choice that brought war ah to your home. Hate us if you wish, but help your friends recover and be a brave male for your family’s sake.” Jaepped away and nodded for the guards to lead the family away.

  It was hard speaking with Normies. How do you expin to someohat you murdered their family or friends for their own sake? You ’t; the very idea of it rang hollow in her soul, and so she distanced herself from the Normies. She would gdly weather the storm of their insults if this helped the shocked people make it through another day.

  Her boys did not share her views. Ignacy, Bogdan, and a group of males often drank and partied alongside the regur soldiers, and sometimes Anissa joihem. Shamans grumbled about it, thinking it would make the Wolfkins soft, but personally, Jani nothing but pride. When the world reuhe Wolf Tribe will have to not only cohabit but also undergo a plete transformatioing go of the savagery and embrag civilization. To see tangible proof that such a thing ossible was heartwarming.

  Plus, it was also hirious to see the Normies try to adopt the Wolf Tribe’s style of unication, awkwardly mimig ges in posture, words, and even asking for the st marks of their favorite packs. Some units even took on names like the Ashbringers, Alpha Team, and Shadow Unit.

  “Spirits, have mer these souls,” Janine murmured, pressing her paws together. She passed through the stream of evacuees. Half of her mind refused to believe that some of these young, malnourished, but otherwise sturdy-looking people will die in a few years from the poison that soaked eveones in this pce. The Wolfkins could shrug off radiation poisoning rather easily; why couldn’t the Normies? Ravager told the warlords how the Normies created the Wolf tribe. How e their immune system is so miserably weak? The tyrant fell; why ’t they live long and be happy?

  There was no point in anguishing about it. The Recmation Army improved day by day. Perhaps a new medical program developed by the blue and bck wyrms could save more lives.

  Shamans and wolf hags worked together to clear a square in the ter of the city from rubble for the farewell ceremony. The t pilr of the unicatioer blocked out the m light, keeping the pce shrouded in darkness. Shamans had collected the dead Wolfkins, stripped them of armor, and tore down several ruined buildings, creating crude sbs of rock. Each fallen ced on an individual sb of stone and ed in a cloth soaked in fmmable liquid. Wet lines led to a small dais in the ter of the square, which held a bowl of the same liquid.

  Packs gathered on the square, m the deceased in their own way. The Alpha and Dragena packs stood still like statues, one paw over their hearts. The Ygrite, Ashbringer, and Predaig packs assembled at the edges, hungrily examining the corpses, unsure why not honor their rades through a good, old-fashioned feast. Janine’s and Martyshkina’s packs mingled in the ranks, retelling legends and stories about the fallen and embrag those who had lost their soulmates. Differences in the warlords’ characters created unique idiosyncrasies in each pack.

  “From blood we e screaming and raging,” Soulless One ted a prayer, walking around the dead. “By honing our skills, we leave our mark upon this violent era. Through our deeds, we preserve life. And in the end, we return to nothingness, knowing that we gave our all for the tribe and humanity. From blood we are born shouting. Ih, we disappear in silence, watg over those who will e after us.”

  The shaman paused, patiently awaiting Alpha’s arrival. As per traditioher Ravager or Alpha should have cluded the ceremony by lighting the fmes and liberating the souls from their mortal shells. But the stro warlord had yet to appear. Soulless One nodded and resumed her prayer, calling for the warlord to step forward and do what is right. Civilian rulers and war leaders united in body and soul, saying goodbyes to their kin. Unity even in the most somber moments. Such was the way of the tribe. Together, we stand. Divided, we fall.

  Janine moved through the ranks and approached the dais. She raised her axe to the sky, bellowing a single howl in honor of those who had died to end tyranny. Behihe Wolfkins joiheir voices to hers, unleashing hundreds of howls that merged into a single cry of pain, anger, despair, and joy. Be happy. We miss you. I am sorry. Save me a spot at the Great Fire! Jaepped into the pool and brought the axe down, creating a spark that set off a rea, igniting a pilr of fme around her and the lines leading to the corpses.

  The fmes ed her clothes and the bare flesh of her wounds tingled as the unpleasant touch of fire licked her body. Janine embraced it, ign the heat in her eyes and the warmth in her fur. The smell of burnt flesh filled the air, and the warlord remained unmoved, serving as a guiding pilr through which souls asd to the Great Beyond. Soulless Oood by her side, praying for the happy afterlife of her lost kin.

  They stood in such a way for several minutes, relieving memories of those whom they had lost, remembering how she met the fallen soldiers of her own pack, their smiles, mistakes, insolence, loyalty, dedication, everything. A normal fire was not enough to devour a Normie’s body, let alone a Wolfkin’s. But the raging bonfire in the square burned bright enough to melt a wall of steel, and the bodies slowly colpsed in upon themselves, their flesh turo ash, and the shamans will soohe gleaming boo create sacred totems.

  “There is no shame in dying, for this moment es to us all,” Jaeadily said ritual words, breathing freely in this hell. So many talents, so many potential warlords and shamans have died in the past wars, never given an opportunity to mature in full… “You have given us your all, and that is all we could have ever asked from you. Be at peace at the start of your new journey. One day, we will all meet again.”

  “One day, we will meet again!” The tribe repeated after her, and a surge of fear came over Janine, pushing the grief away.

  An abaster figure emerged from the fire wall, looking down at Janine. Lakes of purple tained amber orbs that scrutihe smaller warlord, a torch of crimson, silken hair gathered in a tight topknot that hung high from the stro warlord’s head. Dozens of neckces, loose bracelets, and talismans ked against a pristine whiteness of perfect skin that barely cealed the great ropes of muscles. Three-fingered paws clicked.

  “Wish to usurp my position?” Alpha asked, veying both ess and rage.

  “No,” Janine replied holy, “not after the loss I have brought to the tribe.”

  Alpha’s gaze bored into Janine, demanding an expnation.

  “The Blessed Mother is indisposed, and we must use the time of peace wisely, Alpha. The ceremony had to end; our forces are needed elsewhere.”

  “Ever the coward, Janine. Let yourself fly already.” Alpha’s snout drew close. “Submit.”

  Jahrew her head up, and twis of fangs bit her neck. Alpha wasn’t gentle; her fangs pierced the skin, narrowly missing arteries and scratg at bone. Alpha easily lifted Janine off the ground, holding her like a chew toy. Janine released the st of submission a limp, accepting the punishment.

  It didn’t st long. A siwist of the ossed Janine off the ptform, and the younger warlhed, accepting the merormally, Alpha used her sharpest cws to open up those who annoyed her. A relish washed over Janine’s strained muscles, soaking deep into her skin. Done. Her duties are done. She go to her sons and daughter, check her pad ter have a nap to recuperate.

  “The farewell ceremony is over!” Alpha roared, throwing a gnce of annoya Janine.

  “All packs, your task is to assist the engineering crews!” Janine snapped an uessing the hint. “Chak’s orders are to be obeyed to the letter, or you shall meet my knuckles!”

  The Wolfkins baheir fists on their chests and turo the desding Chak, who immediately began assigning the soldiers to various factories and arsenals.

  “And don’t dare mess around, or yuts are mine,” Alpha added, notig a disappointed frown on the face of a tall, white-haired Wolfkin and a wolf hag who had tried to stir trouble by beating a c male. Both stopped their foolishness at once, and Alpha dropped off the dais. “Ravager is suffering the worst headaches. Even the Dynast advised her to take a nap, but you know how she is.” Jahought she saw a fsh of yellow on the exposed side of the tower, but it disappeared too fast for her to be sure. “Fortunately, your howl pierced the madness’ shroud, and she had permitted my leave. Ravager and Zero are keeping the maimed alive. Till Ingo should arrive any hour now.”

  “Does this mean we will leave soon?” Janine asked.

  “Abyss take me, if I knht now, the Dynast is whining about the strain on the resources to save the cripples. And Ingo is his usual self: ‘Let’s turn them into cybs’. Fool,” Alpha spat after imitating the man’s void gesturing for her pack t her crimson trench coat. “You look like shit, Jan. Enjoy the peace, I’ll say…”

  “Warlord Janine?” A bareheaded young Ice Fang’s knight, who wore a short yelloe, approached them. He k before the warlords and id his on on the ground. “My dolences for the loss of your kin and apologies for the interruption. Sword Sairuda demands your immediate preseo settle the matter of the insulted honor.” His expression ged at the sight of Janine’s wounds. “If you wish, dy, I try to persuade the sword saint to postpohe duel. I am sure she…”

  “Don’t bother, cousin,” Janine said.

  Steam escaped her lips. She wao rip and tear, but maintained a cold visage that would make even their distant kin proud. She dares? Disgust at the betrayal washed over Jarategically, Bertruda had picked a perfeent. Janine wasn’t in a sound mind or body. Her sons had suffered, and her soldiers had sustained wounds. The injuries and exhaustion threateo impair her thinking. And a refusal in front of everyone will tarnish her hard-earitle, bringing shame to the pack. An ideal bination of factors to earn an easy win and a perfect masterstroke to secure it.

  But she thought better of Bertruda. She thought that she had found a friend, a sister among the ice-blooded… No mrets. This whore dares distract Jah an insignifit duel? Is glory all she think of? So much for the Ice Boys being the more enlightened New Breeds. Fine, everything is fine; she’ll oblige this idiocy.

  The Wolfkins on the square caught her st and bared their lips, agitated by their superior’s anger. Janine shook off the cold fury and pulled the bowed knight up, hugging him to set an example for the packs.

  No infighting. Shamans had warhe Wolfkins against fraternizing with their cousins, but the betrayal of one does not taint the rest. There is no curse on the Ice Fangs and no dao the tribe, no matter what Lacerated Ohought. The Ice Fangs pyed an instrumental role in saving lives.

  “Alpha, lend me your coat,” Janine asked.

  “You dare challenge me, sister?”

  “I’m naked, and you know how our cousins are. What if Bertruda faints before I cave in her snout?”

  Alpha let out a brutish chuckle and threw her coat over Janine’s shoulders. The white shoulder tackled Janine, reminding the lower ranks of the hierarchy, and the soldiers of the Alpha pack closed in to help Jaton the coat.

  “Go get her, Bull-Syer. I expeothing short of victory.” Alpha put a wrist on Janine’s shoulder, keeping the deadly cws away. “Make sure there are no irrepceable casualties. We ’t afford to lose a sword saint. Or a warlord.”

  “Alpha. About Terrific...” the pressure on her shoulder made Janine’s heels crack the crete.

  “Our sister is in the past. You are the future,” Alpha interrupted her. “Live and thrive, Jaerrific would’ve wanted nothing less.”

  “I’ll do my best.” Janine found Soulless One rubbing her ned shoulders. “Soulless One. Martyshkina’s pack is without a shaman. Aid them for a day.”