They met in one of the captured city’s back alleys. Soldiers had already evacuated the nearby streets, shut down a looming factory and allowed it to cool. Rainbow sludge clogged many of the pipes that had previously spewed pollution into the underground als. With the materials extracted, this pce turned into a perfect hangout for those who wished to avoid prying eyes.
The Wolfkins of several packs stepped into the dark cover of the alley, leaning against the walls, frowning and gng at the rge figures of the shamans who patiently waited for the talk to begin. Such assemblies were unusual, and doubly so without the presence of warriors or warlords. To talk about a warlord behind her back? To ihe wolf hags of the other packs and not inform their warlords? It reeked of intrigue, or worse, treachery, and even the older wolf hags didn’t seem to be at ease here.
“Thank you for ing, sisters.” Melina stepped from the darkness and tore a cowl from her head, raising her paws to the dim sunlight to signify her pure iions to the Spirits. “Sorrowful tidings had called…”
“Stop p,” dropped Sarkeesian, a wolf hag of the Alpha pack.
The woman was easily the size of a shaman. She alone wore a full uniform, a crimson jumpsuit. A tank shell had gouged her face, dev fur and leaving rough skin covered with yers of scar tissue in its pce. stant domination struggles had robbed her of her natural fangs, and the wolf hag had impitanium daggers, causing a loud g to apany her every utterahe rejuvenation procedures kept age from dulling the movements of the sed-highest-ranking wolf hag in Alpha’s pack, and she had lived for well over a tury, often joking that she had birthed a small army on her own.
“I shall speak pinly, then.” Melina spread her arms. “The Janine pack is left honorless. Others think us weak…”
“Bullshit!” spat Zta, a sy and balding wolf hag of the Martyshkina pack. The nation deemed her a valuable asset, and she had bathed in her first rejuvenation capsule a month ago, menting the o prolong her shame.
“Was it not you who told this in the face of our wolf hag?” Melina faced her.
“To rile up the bitd dominate her, yeah.” Zta nibbled at her forearm, noticed pieces of fur in her jaws, sighed, and reached for the medie. “There’s no way someone who has reached the rank of a warlord and given birth to su adorable pieeat…” she the silent Anissa. “… be weak. So your pack fell on hard times…”
“And this is the crux of the matter!” Melina raised her voice, ign the snarl of the offended wolf hag. “It’s been years since Jaook over, and she still hasn’t given a single honorable o her rank.”
“She has one, and an excellent o that,” Sarkeesian grumbled. “It was stolen.”
Some of the group released cws, but not in respoo the wolf hag’s statement. An Ice Fang approached, a male rger than any of the females present. Sword Saint Tancred Ironwill wore no armor, paiattoos visible through his short fur on his open arms and legs. He threw the end of his short robe over one shoulder and stood patiently.
“Stolen, lost, irrelevant,” Melina said, not even nodding to the infringing outsider. “The warlord no longer has a sed name, and the Blessed Mother herself has stripped us of our hard-earned glory.”
“So?” Zta rubbed medial gel over herself. “Fame isn’t food or water; it es and goes. Dedication remains, and the little Jani…” She swayed as Impatient One nded a heavy sp at the back of her head. The wolf hag growled, but she bared her throat in surrender. “Janine did good in culling the bandits. Help me here, Meli-girl. What exactly do you want?”
“I ask for your help,” Melina said.
“Choose your words very carefully, Melina,” Anissa said, pointing a cw at the smaller woman.
“Janine is worthy,” Melina stated. She stepped close to Anissa and pushed her paw against the cw, earning herself a ceration. “But it is my duty and our duty to worry about morale! The bance of packs is important; we are deliberately pushing the Ygrite pack forward for the sake of it! Are you seriously tellihat after years of watg our sisters and brothers suffer ridicule for serving under a nameless warlord, you will stand by and do nothing? What about no o behind?”
“Would you like me to trao your pad give Janine a few pointers on how to be a warlord?” Sarkeesian’s r ughter echoed from the empty buildings.
“Melina, it takes some time for a warlord to adjust to her rank. That’s why they work with the former ones for years. If you’re stressed about falling behind, sider that Martyshkina had the luxury of beiored by her former mistress and Alpha after she earned her rank,” said Arruda, a wounded wolf hag embarrassed at the o have two scouts attend to her. “Janine was ed. The tribe screwed up.”
“She must have an honorable name.” Melina offered her palm, and Anissa sliced her oressed it against Melina’s, merging her blood with hers. “I pn to challenge Janine. Yes, I know I’ll lose!” she stopped jokes and grinned. “Mighty is my leader. As I lose, I pn to push her. I will hurl insults at her, and I ask Soulless Oo remind Janine how Terrific earned her fad insist oimate punishment for disgrag the spirit of the duel. Janine has served uerrifiger than anyone else; she knows every siorture the woman has ever inflicted. As life will leave my screaming body…”
“No,” Soulless Oated. She opened her mouth to speak, and a strained rasp left the surprised shaman. She vulsed and grabbed the building, elbowing Impatient One’s worried paw away. “…” she forced a word out. “…Not for me. Fine. Melina, your devotion is pure, and this is the reason you breathe still. Anyone else suggesting such foulness would be expiring in my jaws. This… Impatient One!”
“Cheating is not our way.” Impatient Oook Melina by the shoulders. “Every warlord has her own way to rule. What you are suggesting will iably ge the warlord and may cause discord in our ranks.” Impatient One o Anissa and several scouts. “Yes, Melina. There are alphas, omegas, and intermediates within packs. All of them are different, and not all must be first. Abandon thoughts of premature death and serve holy and loyally, sister. Sacrifiot flory, but to save lives. Believe. Our kin’s is sturdier than that. Patience is a hunter’s virtue.”
Melina dropped to her knees and bowed her head, chastened by the shaman’s words. If she had expected to be met with pt, the jokes and gratutions had disappointed her. Wolf hags and scouts rehe oaths of friendship, binding the packs by exposing their necks ating the weaker oo bite them gently, before embrag and wishing each other long and prosperous lives.
“If a name is so important,” Tancred said, and the atmosphere of wele reunion vanished. Distrustful eyes watched him. Sarkeesian, Zta, and Anissa raised their paws, calling the lesser ranks into submission to prevent a brawl. Tancred tinued as if he had not noticed anything, a lone white figure against an agitated group of fangs. “Then perhaps I may offer a friendly sparring match? Janine and I are roughly on the same physical level, and there will be no gossip should she defeat me.”
“Should,” Impatient One said. “Curious choice of words.”
“It is merely a figure of speech…”
“Be quiet, cousin.” Soulless One spped herself on the chest several times. “This is a warriathering, and we won’t shoo you away. But your web of lies won’t catch a soul here.” She raised a finger, stopping him. “Warlord Janine carries wounds from battle, from the Blessed Mother, and those done by the betrayer. Do you take us for fools and think that we will help you vince her to accept another challeell the rest of your snowy kind this. Approach Ja your own peril. Packs stand united!”
“Packs stand united! Warlords for packs, packs for warlords!” barked Sarkeesian, and the rest of the group cheered in agreement.
“Is there anything else?” Impatient One asked when Tancred bowed.
“Yes.” Anissa scratched her bad. “My brother is fiddling with various teologies, and males often join him. Abyss, even I e to him for help in requesting a e back to the vilge through the . Is this against the w?”
“Self-education should never be opposed,” Tancred asserted.
“Our cousin speaks out of turn, but his words ring true,” Soulless One decred. “Ignad everyone else are permitted to learhe meics, and evehe unusual gifts in their spare time! Should they ighe warlord’s aihem. If they want to join the engineering corps, banish them, for we are all fighters. But learning new crafts to use in war is admirable.”
“There were times when we fought naked,” Arruda said. “Nowadays, we wear heavy armor and use ranged ons. I say the shaman’s decision is reasonable enough. No reason to pester Lacerated One about it.”
“What do you mean, there were times?” Zta’s suspicious look set off a series of ughs in the alley, and even Tancred joined in with a paw over his mouth.
Janine skulked away from the factory’s rooftop edge, disappearing into the darkness. Many, including Normies and Wolfkins, believed her to be clumsy and loud, and she did little to ge that perception. It was advantageous to be uimated. And w hard meant taking on more deadly tasks that were often dht dangerous for her pack. And their welfare was her responsibility.
She would’ve been a poor excuse for a warlord if she hadn’t caught a whiff of Melina’s call for the assembly. Perhaps the wolf hag thought herself to be crafty and sneaky, but her sudden request for immediate leave, coupled with the same situation throughout the city, was enough to tell a story in itself. Janine asked Soulless O to stop this meeting and to attend it, not as her representative or spy, Janine could do both very well herself, but as a judge of the warlord’s rulership.
Melina wasn’t an opportunistic upstart. Her pushing on Janine’s buttons was a way to push her leader ahead, and the stant self-doubt and the call for the trial of shame must’ve been grating for the woman. Lesson learned. No more w about being worthy, but about leadership. The pack must see her as a rock, a mountain shielding them from harm, not as a lost and inexperienced idiot.
She nded oreet opposite the alley, shaking the ground. The warlord hurried back to the camp, occasionally greeting the soldiers and esc civilians. Maxence was still in the field medical camp, supervising the loading of the wounded into the crawler.
“Maxence. How are you?” Janine asked instead of greeting.
“Had an hour’s sleep. Still tired.” He removed the hood of his protective suit and ied a shot of adrenalio his sweaty neck. “Nothing a lo and a proper meal won’t fix.”
“How is Soulless One?” Janine asked directly, leaning on the medical et.
“Not my secret to tell.” He tried to walk away, but she put a paw on his shoulder.
“Max, please,” the warlord pleaded. “I am her heartless nor blind. She twitches like a broken toy soldier. She smells of oil. If her life is at risk, I must fix it before she endahe lives of her rades.”
“Fix it,” Maxence chuckled. “A human anism is not a mae to be repaired, reassembled, and put back together. There is alsychology to sider. Do you know how many of my patients have died because they simply refused to accept modern, harmless impnts desigo save their lives?”
“And Soulless One is one of those people?” Janine asked, making sure his frustration wasn’t just a side effect of his overworked schedule.
"I have no idea what you are talking about, warlord." The doctor pushed her paw away from his shoulder. “Our patients’ medical records are their private business.”
"Thank you, Max." Ja the signal a.
She picked up several bottles of cheap moonshine from her own personal stash. Officers, Ice Fangs, and Wolfkins of the Third had access to more sophisticated beverages like wine, vodka, brandy, and even regur beer, but after spending so much time in the sparsely poputed wastends, where days and weeks could pass without entering another settlement, Janine had grown aced to these harmless mushroom-based drinks.
Soulless One has returo her tent. The Wolfkins lived in these otile houses, assembling them and hiding them is during a sandstorm, one of the few stoructures in the vilge. After a storm passed, the vilgers would leave the pits and start unburying hidden treasures and iros taining their belongings, while the little ones were busy setting up the tents anew and leading cusacks to pastures, pces of sughter where either harsh winds or hunters decimated ioid parties. When their presehihe wildlife too much, the Wolfkins would pack up and migrate to let nature replenish itself. Upon their return, they often found prayer dens and pits occupied by either bandits or predators, driving out the tter and leaving the former to a grisly fate uhey heeded a shaman’s suggestion and surrendered.
Such lifestyles led to different s and rules than those of the Normies, most of whom lived sedentary lives either in the dipidated ruins of the Old World or in built settlements. Knog on a tent was sidered a sign of bad manners, as it was easier to heal wounds than to procure sturdy cloth or leather hides to patch the damage. The Wolfkins stomped outside the entrance, announg their arrival if the host was asleep and couldn’t sehem.
The shaman wasn’t sleeping. But she hadn’t met Janiher, and the warlord banged her foot on the ground, lightly enough not to wake the soldiers in other dens and hard enough to create vibrations that said: A guest has arrived.
“Warlord?” Soulless One invited her in.
Up close, Janine heard an unnatural electrical hissing ing from the shaman’s ears, and the odor of oil and the sweet aroma of rotting flesh intensified. As the shaman sat cross-legged on the floor, an impnt that repced her lungs pushed into her ribs, parting the fur on her side. The woman’s skin ale, marked by yellow veins, but her eyes were clear and calm.
“How long do we know each other, shaman?” Janine uncorked the bottles.
“ting since you helped my mive her littler, or since I joihe pack?” Soulless One asked, pg stone cups on the ground.
“I assisted in your birth?” Janine poured alcohol into the cups. “I don’t remember.”
“Starstrue said you did.”
“Since we met in the pack, then.”
“Fifty years.” Soulless One she moonshine and drank it in one gulp. “Good stuff.”
Janine followed her example. The drink created heat in her body, and it spread to the rest of her body in a quick, f wave. The Wolf Tribe’s alcohol was strong enough to knock a Normie off her feet in one go, and a very first bottle of it caused males and warriors to experience visions. It had a different effe everyone; some went berserk, and some wept, imaginiing their lost retives as the drink bridged this world and that of the Spirits.
Upon growing in power or drinking more, such mushrooms were losing their punot even a hint of fusion clouded the warlord’s vision, and she tio enjoy the drink, weling its ho warmth and sav the woodsy, meaty fvor that reminded her of the times the scouts treated her to a bowl of chi soup.
“And so are you. Never have I pined about your serviever have I been afraid to show you my back or to defer to your judgment, and your punishments have ironed out my mischief and helped mold our pato a wonderful unit…”
“But?” Soulless One asked.
“Why do you want to die?” Ja aside her cup. She saw the shaman gazing at her own impnts and answered, “Not the same. The necrosis around the mines do not even threaten my nerves, let alone my ans. My body out-heals the harm done by them. You are different. The stench, cramping, pain in your eyes… I sider you my friend and family. Fifty years we served together. Will you insult me by lying?”
“No.” Soulless Oured for more moonshine. “Forty-five years. It’s been forty years since I saw this fsh and woke up with most of my ans repced. How do you think I feel having a blood pump in py heart, Janine?” She drank another cup and made a circle in the air with her finger. “Imagihis. I go into battle after battle, hoping to perish, always giving my all, as traditions demand. But there is e; medical miracles prevent me from aging, keeping me forever young. Death eludes me. I ’t just kill myself; it goes against my every belief in duty. Nor I ignore how hypocritical I sound when I ence young females to have cubs when my own dead womb ’t produce a soul. It is a perfect trap. But there is a way out. If my impnts wear me down, if I die naturally, I’ll be free.” Soulless O silent for a while. “Fifty years of my life. I’ve served enough, haven’t I?”
“Yes.” Janine ked cups with her. “Yet you gave in to despair.” Soulless Oensed. “Yes. We all have fws, and shamans are not an exception.”
“I never betrayed…”
“I do not speak of treason. Spirits, I would sooner betray that state than you! You are my guiding light, Soulless One, but even a pathfinder needs a paw now and then.” Janine’s eyes met the shaman’s eyes. “You grief about inability t life into this world, but have you thought how many lives you have saved with your own two paws? The Spirits may have taken the ability to give life away from you, but you have transded this limitation and helped keep my soldiers alive. Now it is my turn to do the same. Get your impnts fixed, Soulless One. Give the medics permission to upgrade the artificial ans. Live.”
“What if I am too tired for that?” the shaman asked.
“Then heal yourself a. Exile yourself from the tribe ahe world. There will always be a pce for you in my pack,” Janine promised her. “If you need rest, we’ll uand. But live you must. While you are under my and, you will live. Don’t make me dominate you into obedience.”
Soulless One’s arm moved, spshing moonlight over Janine’s eyes. The shaman charged faster than a bullet, opening her jaws to bite into the warlord’s neck. But the fangs closed oy air; Janine had already risen and ected рук ko the shaman’s jaw, knog the woman’s head back. She held back the blow, unwilling to potentially maim her old friend, unwilling to potentially maim her old friend, but the attack drew a stream of foam from Soulless One’s lips. With her eyes still blurry from the moonshine, Jaed on instind retreated, dodging the cws that sought to hook her uhe shoulder bdes.
She grabbed the shaman in a hold, as the cws missed their mark. This sudden burst of speed allowed her to pin the shaman’s paws to her chest, and Jaensed her muscles, log her oppo in an iron grip. Soulless Oried to break free, but Janine’s fangs closed around her neck, immobilizihe shaman closed her eyes and whined in surrender.
“Fix yourself, Soulless One.” Janine released her and stepped away.
“By your will, warlord,” submitted the shaman.
****
Three times. That is how many times Soulless One has visited the cyberic bay in the past forty-five years. Once she awoke here to find a world devoid of the lifegiving. Aime, she had e to find a rept for her faili. And the st time, she had e to pick up a restored soldier.
Today she came on her own volition, walking through the wide, quiet corridors, rge enough so even Ravager could e in freely. Instead of being a single hangar stretg for over a hundred meters, the cyberic bay now had over a dozen partments, each meant to aodate cases of varying severity. A strange woman who looked like a green-eyed white ghost led the shaman to a spot in the middle of this small byrinth and opened a door.
“Sorry for the mess; we are still ing up the pame’s Banshee, by the way; I am sort of a student here,” the woman said.
The room wasn’t rge. It had three operating tables at the end, each capable of staying in a horizontal or vertical positioh each table were a variety of meical attats. There were saws, drills, pliers, hands for holding blood transfusions, maniputors, and various other types of maery. The shaman didn’t uand the woman’s words about the mess. She could taste the pu smell of a ing solution permeating every millimeter of this pce.
“Now get undressed, lie down, rex, and don’t worry about a thing.” Banshee poi the operating table to the left. “I’ll secure you and i painkillers. Sure you don’t roper ahesia? You’ll just go to sleep and wake up to a whole new world of wonder!”
“I’d rather be awake,” Soulless One replied. The table wasn’t cold. There was a heater installed in it, and the surface soon warmed up, creating a fortable sensation. Irs slipped off the table, restraining her limbs, and another secured her neck. Meical arms holding syringes came into view, releasing painkillers into her bloodstream. “It isn’t necessary,” she mumbled. “If I so much as scream or twitch, everything I own is yours.”
“You don’t look rich, and yes, it is needed; you’re not the doctor here,” Banshee said. The mutant turned on a terminal on a wall as another meical appendage moved a ser over the Wolfkin. “Series two point one? Who evehese torture devices?! They were banned decades ago!”
“Me, apparently,” the shaman said drily. “I’ve never seen you before. Are you a recruit?”
“No, no, nothing like that; my parents won’t let me join the army yet,” Banshee replied. “I used to help my dad with cyberizatioions bae, and I volunteered to help since he is busy.”
Soulless One decided not to pry any further aurned her thoughts back to Janine. She was flicted about her friend. Dominations allowed for a wide range of ands, but as the tribe grew and matured, Lacerated One officially banned some things, such as body mutition or f another into copution via domination. What Janine made her to agree on was… No friend should’ve do.
But a warlord should. A leader who cared more about a valuable asset that she could use to preserve lives and win battles. Was Soulless One su asset to Janine? Could she ever five the betrayal of being denied a from a lifetime of duty? In the end, it wasn’t relevant. Warlord Jaed as a leader should, and she will respect this choid do everything in her power to use her new body for the betterment of the Recmation Army.
The painkillers he nagging ghost pain in her missing liver, and a tube ied into her mouth cleared her trachea of pus. Iions to her scalp eased the pulsating headache, but the annoying grinding turns of gears and hoarse sounds of air pushing in and out of her artificial lungs remained. It haunted her even in her sleep, poisoning her dreams and stantly reminding her of the things she had lost and the mae she had bee.
More metal appendages worked on her body, cutting off fur, removing it, and washing off her body. It was a humiliating experience, but the Normies were obsessive about treating their patients uerile ditions. The metal rings lifted her body over the table, keeping her perfectly level, and the overzealous nurse shaved the fur from the shaman’s back.
“Okay, the prep phase is plete; time for phase one!” Banshee sounded both excited aant. Soulless Oiced that the mutant’s mouth opened all the way to the ears, givihe eerie impression that the top of her head was about to slide off. “Holy, I have no idea how anyone could live with that irritating noise. I just met you, and this banging is threatening to drive me crazy. Don’t worry, the newer artificial ans will work peachy, pinky promise.”
The shaman furrowed her brows. No one else had said anything about the funing of her impnts, and mutants were inferior New Breeds pared to the Wolfkins. How could this nurse hear the maery?
“The cyberics team will be here in five to ten minutes, so we best start relieving you of some non-important stuff…” Banshee said, navigating automatic saws to Soulless One’s side. The woman trolled them through the terminal. The stench of pus and oil assaulted the shaman’s nose as the saws sliced into her side. “What the fuck!” Banshee screeched, and the shaman thought she felt someoting her and the room shaking.
Must be my imagination. She decided. The opped the saw, quickly ied the wound, grabbed her head, and reached for a terminal to call ahe video rec to a designated recipient.
“Dad! Daddy! Answer up, it’s an emergency!” the mutant cried desperately.
“I am not your father, student,” said a voice from the terminal. “What is it? I am in the middle of a delicate business.”
“I don’t know what it is! I made a standard incision; I’m not sure why she fountains like that! It’s like I popped up a balloon, only it’s a human!” Banshee paced the room, one hand on her head, the other filming the shaman. “Fuck! I… I… I never saw anything like this in my practice! Is this normal for a Wolfkin?!”
“Don’t swear, young dy. Swearing is a sign of a stupid person who cks the vocabury to properly expin a simple event. This is why you are not ready to live alohe voice said smugly. “You took a job to do a simple preparation that even a vilge idiot could do, and... What the hell is this? Why is she rotting? What garbage is installed in her? Hell skewer me, she’s even leaking oil. Why?”
“Aren’t you supposed to be a genius? You tell me, Dad!” Banshee yelled back. “And how about not swearing in the medical room?!”
At least this promises to be amusing. Soulless One chuckled and rexed, enjoying the spectacle.
