Janine predicted serious purges against the bandits in the ing weeks. ander Devourer was, undeniably, the most soft-hearted and civilized of the Dynast’s champions. But wheuation called for it, he could easily surpass even Ravager in sheer, urained age. Then again, no one would cry over scum being flushed down the drain.

  Her ear caught muffled voices. She moved away from the rubble that she was excavating and pulled a rge steel pte out of another building, opening a cealed hatch leading into the basement. Sinking her cws into the hatch’s edges, she tore it up, blinking in surprise as a shot from the darkness ricocheted off her armor.

  A family of eight people and their neighbors hiding inside reized their mistake and immediately started apologizing, as the chug and joyful warlord helped them outside. Alive! More survivors.

  The ridiculousness of the situation was maddening to her. Thanks? Some settlers even hugged the Wolfkins, stiffening them. Why? Why did they thank them? The Wolf Tribe had failed them; they had let the people die; they had failed the Oath again… And the people were still happy to see them, praising them as if… as if they were heroes. I o visit Lacerated One and fess my sins. Janine decided, hoping to receive a proper punishment.

  A scream from the settlement’s ter jolted her from her thoughts. A group of settlers verging on a woman wearing a tattered officer’s coat was the source of the otion. Two Wolfkins stood beside the assailed officer, clearly preventing a lyng, as one had to grab a rifle from an enraged settler. Sword Saint Camelia, still wearing Ygrite’s pte, arrived ahead of Ja waited for the warlord out of respect.

  “The bitch helped them!” Kit shouted, pointing at the officer. Kit survived the fight, but the smack against a wall left several fractures in her skull. Despite all the shod pain that she had suffered, as well as her heavily bandaged head, the girl fiercely tried to help anywhere she could, bandaging the injured, calming cubs, and refusing to leave for medical treatment in the crawler. Janine had the thought that perhaps she was seeing a future mayor. “I saw a soldier ask her to wait so the others could get into the bunker, and the bitch just shot him in the leg and smmed the door in his face before anyone could get in! And when the raiders broke inside, she bargained for her safety in exge for telling where our folks were hiding!”

  “This is a lie! She is lying to you! No, you are all lying; this is… I had no choice!” The traitorous officer shrank uhe heavy gaze of Jahe woman licked her lips and tinued in a trembling voice. “This… this was the only way I could’ve kept the people ihe bunker safe!”

  “And when you saw them killing cubs—infants, as you call them—did you grab your on and try to protect them as your duty demands?” Janine asked emotionlessly, her grip on the shaft tightening and tightening until her skin finally cracked and a trickle of blood ran dowaleteller.

  Betrayal. It sent a searing fire through her veins. No one raised a fuss if an elder or simple settler gave in to the raiders’ demands uhreat of violence. Such cooperation has often saved lives. Help could not get everywhere in time, and material goods were always pensated, with no punishment befalling the one making such a choice. However, for a soldier to a such a manner, and, even worse, to disregard their duty to protect the vulnerable, was another matter entirely. Both the Blessed Mother and the blue wyrm showed no mercy to such bastards.

  I am fog on the wrong ahe situation cleared up a little. How could a small group of raiders attack such a rge settlement in such a way that no signal for help was sent? How did the raiders know which parts to strike first? If this filth… The warlord inhaled. Nothing was clear yet. The betrayal could be premeditated or sporadic; there was no point in jumping to clusio.

  “I… You don’t uand, if you had seen what those animals did to Lieutenant Veronika…” The officer tried to take a step back, and Janine shoved her snout closer, illuminating the frightened face with the light of her amber eyes.

  “I am giving you a choice. We send you to the Torment.”

  “T-torment?!”

  “Torment.” Jaook pleasure in the sheer terror of the traitor. The Torment. The state’s maximum security prison was notorious for its inhumareatment of prisoners. Those fortunate enough to leave its walls alive resembled pale shadows of their former selves, forever scarred both mentally and physically. “Or you tell the Iigation Bureau everything you know, without lying even oonight. fess your sins and you will be sent tur prison for life. Break the agreement and you will be burned alive.”

  The traitor nodded fearfully, but the warlord kept t over her until that idiot uttered the words of agreement. She paid no attention to the daggers in Camellia’s eyes and the furious and still not realizing what had just happened citizens. An Iigation Bureau agent took over the betrayer from Janine’s paws, and as she po have a talk with the sword saint, another situation demaheir utmost attention.

  From the wall came the howling that sounded like a living furnace taining the fmmable liquid. Janine, Camelia, and Kit hurried there and came upon a strange picture. Predaig arrived first and pinned down a body, frowning at dozens of tentacles spping her armor, leavis and scratches. A soldier nearby poio a dug-up, ruireet and expihat they had dragged the thing from uhe debris, thinking it was a dead body.

  There was no fault in their judgment. The creature cked a lower body; its exposed ribs rattled against the pavement; an eye was missing; and there were a series of deep wounds on the chest. One arm e an elboredaig held the other with the ft of her double bde. The protruding jaws clicked jittery, and the creature inhaled loudly, howling anew and attempting to escape.

  “Not sure whuest is,” Predaig said, keeping an eye on the body. “Keep civilians away, Janine. Once freed, it chewed on the corpses, and I am pretty sure it is regeing.”

  Janine wasn’t sure what her named sister was talking about, but then she heard a loud pop, and a fleshy, somewhat oily lump ushed from ihe skull into the empty socket. A new set of veins spread out, seg the lump in pce, and ripples passed through its surface, slowing down but undeniably f a fresh eye.

  She restrained Kit as the girl squealed, half-choking, half-happily, and tried to jump to this strange being.

  “Don’t hurt him! It’s my lo… It’s ?ime ?tefan?i?!” she screamed. “He is a soldier serving here!”

  “Malformed, really?” Predaig tilted her head. “Eh, don’t listen to the old hag. You do you, girl. Just remember that some of their cubs eat their way to freedom…”

  “?ime is not a Malformed!” Kit stamped her foot furiously. “He is a human! He used his power and transformed himself…” She touched Janine by vambrace. “Will ?ime be okay?”

  “He is a regeht? Should be.” Janine poi the leathery sacs pulsating underh the ribs. “I only specute, but based on Predaig’s words, it seems to me that ?ime’s power has grown a rudimentary stomach to digest calories and use for body rebuilding. Stay clear of him; he is not himself yet. Predaig…”

  “Yeah, did before,” her named sister responded, extending an arm to nearby soldiers.

  They guessed her iions and started tossing ration batons to her. She caught some and dropped them into the g jaws. ?ime ate them hungrily and arched his back, his bones scraping the ground as a slithering spinal n jutted out, covered in a thin yer of protective membrane. His howling subsided, and he trated on stuffing himself, gng at Kit, and Janine could swear that there was a glimmer of humanity there, wounded and in pain.

  “Not sure if I should be jealous or freaking out,” Predaig mused. “Tell Till Ingo to stop tinkering with the dead metal a his ass over here! We need his biased expertise.”

  Jated Kit on the shoulder a her in the pany of two soldiers, them to keep the girl away from ?ime. There were tragedies aplenty, no need for her to get injured by a sudden bite. She heard Camelia’s footsteps following her on a road to the excavation site.

  “Warlord,” Camelia said in an icy tone.

  “My deepest thanks for saving Ignacy’s life, Sword Saint,” Janine said holy. “Had it not been for you, the losses would have beeer. It was an honor to fight by your side.”

  “I know what you did.” Camelia raised a finger, and Janine obliged the request. Their helmets closed around their heads, allowing them to speak in a secure el without prying ears. “You trapped that traitor. This isn’t just. You indulge in revenge, not upholding justice. A stroke of a sword…”

  “Will deny us any information she knows, Camelia. And you are wrong. This is justice, a retribution for the crimes itted,” Jaerrupted her. “Justice is blind.”

  “But we are not; you’re not an impartial judge either!” Camelia insisted. “Janine, you may have the right to o such a fate, but revenge s an individual.”

  “If it weren’t for you, Camelia, I would have fotten her by now. How is her death going to affect me?”

  “Then think about how your lie might affect the future, and what sting seque may cause to iations? Would arust us if we trap unsuspeg people like that?” warned Camelia.

  “How will anyone know? Not like we’re going to tell anyone.” Janine shrugged. “When people hear her screams, they will naturally think that she lied again.”

  “Cruelty inflicted does not excuse cruelty iurn! There is a reason why the Twins preached mercy toward the worst scum!”

  And where are they now? Janine shut her mouth. Some truths are best left unspoken.

  “Warlord! Sword Saint!” she snarled as the figure of the intrusive Iternian appeared from a bend ahead. Three h cameras orbited the man like satellites around a p, filming the surroundiru. Two soldiers apahe Iternian, his nanomae armor. “A word, if you please! Your daring rescue tonight saved hundreds of lives and brought victory to the Recmation Army. What you tell the public about this savage raid?”

  “No ent…” Camelia started.

  “Victory?” The cameras soundlessly broke from filming dead and injured people, fog on Janine’s snout as the helmet left her face. She spread her arms, as if trying to embrace the tragedy. “Is that what Iterna siders a victory? People died, cu… childrehis is not a victory, but a bloody day, a sorrowful day, and a stark reminder of the dangers lurking in our beautiful world. Iterna, Recimers, Oathtakers—it doesn’t matter. We must remain vigint and never y down our arms. The wildness must be tamed.” She hesitated, recalling Iterna’s extravagah, and an idea sprang into her mind. “The civilians have suffered greatly, Jacob. Any assistance your homend provide to the victims of sujust and unprovoked aggression will be greatly appreciated.”

  “You heard it firsthand, people; even the a warriors weep for the fallen ahe living,” Jacob said as the cameras focused on him. “Do we have any excuse to do otherwise? I say no! taayor and demand that help be sent immediately. Tom, back to you…”

  Janine excused herself and hurried aausing as she uood the optics of letting a fer film a se of a living person burning alive.

  “Agents?” Janine tacted the Iigation Bureau. “About the traitor. ge of pns. As soon as you have everything you need, seo work in the most remote prison mine for the rest of her life.”

  “You made the right choice, Janine,” Camelia said. “Mercy is good for a soul.”

  “Believe whatever delusions you want. We have work to do,” Jaold her wearily, and stomped away. Mercy. A life senten the mines, where seeing sunlight was rare. It wasn’t a merot by a long shot.

  ****

  There was no sound. No noisy grinding of gears, no sizzling of liquids passing through many tubes, no beeping of obsolete sensors warning of her body’s dition, nhtening rustling of packets of artificial lungs receiving oxygen, and no hissing of sparkling wires burning her from inside. She swallowed, enjoying the pure, non-acrid drool, and opened her eyes, ign her anism’s urges to have a long sleep. She slumber to her heart’s tent ter. For now, she had enough rest.

  Soulless One woke up to a dim, gentle light that didn’t irritate her eyes. She was still strapped to a sb of metal that was ed of blood and pus, and there were sheets and pillows at her back. Stitches covered her body, but to her pleasure, the wounds were already healing.

  “Water,” she asked, and a hand pced the end of a hose in her mouth. A stream of fresh, cool water ran dowhroat, and she gulped, enjoying it to the st.

  “Better?” asked Baaking the hose away. The mutant was dressed in a field uniform and had a tired appearance.

  “Better.” Soulless One charged against her bindings, to no avail. “I am fine. You remove the restraints.”

  “Uh-huh, dream on, granny,” Banshee yawned. She picked up a tray full of food and began feeding the shaman. “You are here for two more days, no ifs or buts. There is still a problem with a deformed nasal al that o be fixed.”

  “What ged?” Soulless One asked. “What was taken from me this time?”

  “Nothing anic, so rex,” Banshee yawned. Soulless O her gaze fixed on the woman, and she relented. “Every single inal impnt has been removed. You’ll feel heavier; your chest now houses the test model of mae lungs. When you’re free, touch the back of your ned you’ll find two roual objeer than s. They inhale and exhale air if something clogs your throat. A new digestive tract has repced the old one. No more rubber tubes; it is made of self-ing materials to minimize the risk of iion. You don’t want to know what we pulled out of your iines. Your poor kidney shriveled and resembled a dot. Father and I had half a mind to remove it, but after runnis, the diagnostic system firmed that it will recover. The geor for your impnts is now in your womb; it is a psma type, so steer clear of being shot by anything serious, or the ensuing bst will ie everything within a teer radius. It is an experimental model capable of running for fifty years without a need for recharging.”

  “Mijn handen... my arms feel lighter.” The shaman ched her fist aed eadividual finger.

  “Because they are! The damaged tissue of your muscles was crudely grafted onto titanium fiber before, but now new syic muscle overys your natural muscles, w in harmony and more effitly. The increased muscle density and removal of the titanium fiber has created space for the damaged exoskeleton trow partially. Your immune system is rec rather nicely, so sleep well and don’t bother your roommate. I’ll bring you something to read once we deal with the shitshow.” Banshee yawned again. Her mouth opened so wide that her scalp touched the space between her shoulder bdes. Notig the surprised look, the young woman blushed and sneaked away, shutting the door.

  Roommate?

  Soulless One ed her o see another Wolfkin lying on a small bed nearby. She was an Ice Fang, dressed in a bck tot, and e lines on the cloth formed a flowing river of her house’s heraldry. The Ice Fang was engrossed in reading, and she remained uraihe shaman uood that the Ice Fang had nothing below her waist, and loic tubes stretched out from the ruined part of her body, bringing in medication, aiding in blood circution, and removing waste.

  “Hey,” the shaman said. “Name Soulless One. Resting until recovery. You?”

  “Malerata Summerspring, at your service, dy.” The Ice Fa aside her terminal and reached out her paw to make a respectful and elegant fist bump with the bound shaman. The woman’s white fur was even paler than usual. “I’m waiting for a scheduled surgery to install meical legs.”

  “Did something happen while I was unscious?” Soulless One asked.

  “No idea,” Malerata said. “They kept me here for several days before they brought you in. Banshee refuses to share the test rumors, and my grandfather tells me not to worry. He wanted me to wait until the Core Lands for a proper ing rept, but I refuse to be away from my unit any longer.”

  “Admirable,” Soulless One praised her. Her thin-blooded cousied duty seriously.

  So the Ice Fang received no rumors. Unusual. Something did happen, she was willing to bet her life on it. She must tact Janine as soon as possible and find out what has transpired in her absence.

  “Will I be cursed?” Malerata asked, and Soulless One raised an eyebrow. The knight poio her missing legs. “The meical prosthetics. Will the Spirits deny me a meeting with the Twins ierlife?”

  “Don’t be ridiculous.” Bristled Soulless One. Morons, appropriating a faith that was never meant for them. Belief in the P suited the Ice Fang Order far better. “No one serving faithfully is abandoned by the Spirits.”

  “But I have heard how many of you reject augmentation. If not for fear of angering the gods, why?”

  “Because it is the mutition of the soul,” Soulless One answered bluntly. “By repg the natural perfe given to us by the Spirits, we diminish our e to them. Uand, young ohat the Spirits are not omnipotent, nor are they eternal. There will e a time when no soul will remember them. They are a guiding for existence, helping us move from one corporeal form to another and advising us on every earthly matter. They test us so that we bee stronger. When our souls are thinned, we cut ourselves off from their grace; they ot reach us, and it takes them a long time to heal a ruined soul after death. Imagine spendiuries healing instead of immediately meeting your friends in the Great Beyond. But no, you are not cursed, Malerata. I don’t think the Spirits curse anyone; even skinwalkers are a blessing in disguise.”

  “es describe faith in the Spirits differently,” Malerata said.

  “Then they should stop meddling in affairs they do not uand,” Soulless One replied.

  “Could you expin it to me?” Malerata asked. “Since we are both stu here. The religion resolving around the Blessed Mother. And why the name Soulless One?”

  The shaman wao refuse, but the Ice Fang was right. Talking is one of the best ways to pass the time. What harm could they do by sharing the knowledge of her religion?

  “When we bee shamans, we take a er reatest vice, so we never fet about it and work oering ourselves,” Soulless One sighed and made herself fortable. Damn, was it really necessary to secure her neck with a restraint? If not, she could have gnawed on the rings that held her arms. “I was initially supposed to be known as Sour One…”