“Do we know who these bastards are? What exactly is this Gilded Horde?” Janine demao know.

  Her return to the base was less than graceful. Numbness still tried to imprison the right side of her body, from the eye to the lung. It oio try to hide it, and after she stumbled for the third time, Alpha had simply picked her up uhe armpit and carried her like a cub. Crimson with shame, Janine had still given the order to carry Tancred back to his mansion, ed in a cloak. Several injured knights had wao stay behind and search for their dead, but Janine had tolerated none of this. They had lost enough kin for one day.

  Janine hadn’t the fai idea ha had maintained her silearing calmly at her fellow warlord. There was scrutiny in those eyes, but not a single and was disputed, and the group had soon surfaced, fag police, doctors, and journalists. Eased by the sight of her family, Janine had given Kaisa the task of retrieving the bodies and had briefly tacted Dragena, tellio put Kirk in charge of public retions in her pce. Out of them all—safe fdan, but no one in their right mind would’ve assigned anything important to that mischievous cub—he was the closest to the Normies and had a proper head on his shoulders.

  “ive, Warlord,” Jaie responded, grimag from her wounds. The lieutenant and her closest officers were admitted into the Iable’s aer.

  Low humming and beeping from the terminals filled the room. Busy operators fed regional status updates to warlords and wolf hags throughout the city. Officers coordinated rescue efforts and oversaw military preparations. Encased in protective shells, terminals took a load off from their rebooting ‘kin’ iy.

  Jaie had a nasty gunshot wound, but she refused to abandon her duties or take painkillers. Dressed only in a t-shirt and pants, she expertly brought the order to several panicked divisions, approved evacuation protocols, and ighe field medic’s removal of shrapnel from her body. Zero, wearing a simple bck bodysuit a, had helped Alpha put otle suit.

  Lacerated O in the er, eyes closed, paws pressed together in a prayer. As always, the supreme shaman obeyed the primary rule: to obey the warlords ihing during a war. Ygrite crouched over aor, barking orders to her pa a raspy voice.

  Sage Frouke Ironwill, the chief sage to survive today’s culling, stood in his soiled battlepte, respectful and remorseful, accepting the warlords’ orders without a word. It was beginning to irk Jahe man had over six hundred soldiers under his and and now he was ag all guilty because he had suffered a setback through no fault of his own! Big deal; she too had trouble enduring Drozna’s rage. They had to work together instead of dwelling on imaginary mistakes. Frouke should have announced himself as a sword saint long ago aablished his authority over Household Ironwill long ago.

  But she quenched her bile, wary of the retionship between Frouke and Tahere was no pce for a blind revenge charge.

  “Report,” Janine said. “What’s the situation iy?”

  Eled threw one g Janine and easily pushed her into a seat. More medics rushed into the room in respoo a finger snap and began clearing acid from the eye and bandaging the warlord’s wounds. An iion of something cool into her optierve rexed Janine’s swollen eye.

  “The city was hit hard,” Schalk said ahead of his ander, reading from a terminal in his hand. “We lost Sword Saint Tancred; may the P show mer his soul. The chief of polid his deputy have been eliminated, and Zurkov has assumed the mantle of leadership for the time being. The Third has lost a total of one hundred and twenty Wolfkins, with sixty-eight more fio beds. Despite vehement protests from your people, the doctors refuse to allow them ba the ranks.”

  “Keep it that way.” Ygrite voiced her agreement, surprising everyone. “Sedate them. What about the burden?”

  “Civilians,” Eled growled, meeting Ygrite’s irritated gaze. “Address them with respect or not at all, sister.”

  The two warlords faced each other, snarling. Ygrite still bore the battering given to her by Alpha’s cws, but it did not seem to hinder her in any way. Her paw slipped bato the sleeve of her cloak while Eled rexed her fingers and rolled the muscles of her arms. Soldiers and teis w on the bridge tensed, nervous about a possible explosion of violehat would ruin the valuable systems.

  Finally, Alpha asserted her rank. She pushed betweewo sisters, not even looking at them, and both Eled and Ygrite dropped to their kheir throats exposed. Alpha merely gestured for them to return to their seats.

  “Acc to the test report, we have four thousand nine hundred a wounded, over six hundred of them children and teenagers. The numbers are stantly being updated,” Schalk tinued in aohe dead are still being ted, but at least seven hundred citizens have lost their lives. We found your missing soldier and tei, Keon. The Iigation Bureau has graced us enough to state they were killed before the attack.” He tossed the terminal at the table and addressed the lieutenant. “Ma’am, we o decre martial w. With all due respect to the mayor and the police, they are ill suited to hahe evacuation. This attack should not have happehe Bureau dropped the ball! Let our forces sweep in aablish trol; let us ie the polito our forces until this crisis is over!”

  “What is the mayor doing right noha inquired.

  “Mayor Jaquan is currently giving a speech about ning the attack, Warlord!” Schalk saluted her. “He has already procured aid from the private ics, appointed a new issioner, and authorized increased patrols and the use of power armor and heavy ons for the police force. On his orders, the police began recruiting volunteers, and the Third Army provided instructors to help train them.” The man nodded gratefully to Alpha. “He also called in the ambassadors of Iterna and the Oathtakers; no idea why.”

  “To request their aid, no doubt. Houstad is not just alement, Sergeant. Fners live here,” Janine grumbled, reading the reports and nodding in approval of Kirk’s speech. Kaisa support was weird, ued, but wholly wele. “Merary panies are enlisting in droves for peanuts.”

  “No woheir retives have been hurt, and they want to pay back.” Ygrite shrugged.

  “We’ll give them ample opportunities. Veterans of the past wars are stepping forward, ready to join the police.” Janine rubbed the bridge of her nose. “Based on what I see, the green guys held their own admirably. Assigerans as their instructors; that ought to keep them away from the front liaxi drivers offer their services for free; the wyrms’ panies are helping; even the criminal underworld is in full swing, throttling the life out of anyone suspected of cooperating with the enemies. Stop that.”

  “Already sent the order,” Dragena replied. “There will be no lyng on our watch.”

  “Goious authorities are holding mass prayers to aly the fears and to speak of unity. They request Lacerated One…” Her sister opened her eyes, and Janine sighed. “ we spare anyone? And Kirk has asked that our baubles be thrown into the prayer dens.”

  “A sister lost her arm. Let it be her st duty before she joins the ranks of the Crippled,” said Lacerated One. She removed the bone neckce from around her ned exami longingly. “All that is left of my parents. I don’t remember them. Such is the price of letting a male run his mouth unchecked.”

  “Want it back? Win,” Martyshkina advised. She hesitated and then hahe shaman a b fed out of the femur of her sed soulmate. “Kirk did alright.”

  Lacerated One embraced the warlord, showing that she held ne against her or Kirk. The Gilded Horde had made a lot of eoday. And Jaeo see Brood Lord and his ilk skinned for what they’d done.

  “Send distress calls to the Dynast…” Janine ged as Eled stitched her shoulder roughly, the medic’s fingers proving incapable of pierg her hide. She found herself missing Maxend his kind hands. “… the Sed, and the First! I don’t care if it makes us weak; the civilians’ safety is paramount.” Realizing what she had been saying all along, Janine sheepishly looked at Alpha. “Five me for speaking out of turn…”

  It wasn’t her role. Goosebumps crept up her spi the simple imagination of what those ruinous cws could do to her. The st warlord who had dared to speak in pce of Alpha’s pce, ning cubs to their deaths, had been fyed, excruciatingly slowly, before the eribe. It wasn’t easy to mutite a warlord when the skin was trying trow, but Alpha was thh. She broke the woman, f cries of pain from her, and then decwed her. By sheer force of will, the guilty didn’t die and was ter admitted into Pack Alpha as a nameless wolf hag, yearning to earn the impossible redemption.

  “Approved,” Alpha said calmly. “Lieutenant?”

  “No objes either. The mayor has everything under trol. hten people further fusion while we reahe and structure,” Jaie said, coughing out blood and wiping it out with a piece of cloth. She tried to wave away the medic, but the man ignored her.

  “Five me,” Frouke broke the silence, drawing attention to himself. “Knight-captai that vigintes and less unsavory elements have offered…”

  “We are aware. Accept their aid,” Janine said.

  “Is it wise? Some of these people were involved in the most grievous acts before.”

  “And they received a full pardon from the state after serving their sentences. As fintes, couldn’t care less right now.” Janine faced his eyes. “Frouke, Tancred’s duty falls to you.”

  “We will give our lives to uphold his legacy!” Frouke pressed a paw to his chest. “Send us forth; let us pay for the crime of abandoning our posts through our deaths!”

  “And leave citizens unprotected? No. We ck the Ironwills’ expertise in maintaining order and evacuation. But we kill, and so sughter we will. Stay and do your duty. Do not spurn our unlikely allies; whatever happened in the past, their families are here too.” Ja her paw on his shoulder, w if she was right. “Take the sword saint’s mantle and lead your pack.”

  “This… Lady Jahat’s not how it works in the order…” Frouke tried tue whe shadow was cast over him.

  Bareheaded and full gear, Alpha towered over everyone in the aer. Her marbled skin matched the white of the Ice Fangs armor perfectly, while her hungry, pierg eyes searched him, fishing for any weakness or fws. Frouke stood proudly, and a mighty cw, lohan the male’s head, rose.

  “First had offered me to share leadership,” Alpha said, her voice like grinding gears. “I take him up on the offer. On my authority as a warlord and kin to you, I decre you the ag sword saint. Should you feel unworthy, step down ter, but for now, hold!” Her cw blurred in an arc, carving deep into her thieck. Uurbed, she gathered blood into her palm and bathed the man’s snout in crimson.

  Alpha’s blood carried no divine gift like Ravager’s, Zero’s, or Lacerated One’s. When she was cut, she simply bled like any other member of the tribe. But such was her might and skill that a sight of her bleeding was a miraculous occasion. Tens of thousands had fallen to her cws or been ied in the wful heat of her psma. To see her, of all people, willingly wound herself rendered Frouke awestruck, and the ma, a nobleman knighted by a monster.

  “Stand tall, brother in rank and blood. Take the ons and armor of your fallen lord. Shield the people and his wife. Houstad is in the Ironwills’ care.” Alpha stepped aside, already losing i in the man. Only a faint hiss apanied her thundering footsteps as the horrible gash in her neck healed itself, emitting a thin crimson vapor.

  “And we shall not fail,” the newly promoted sword saint promised.

  “Where is Captain Cristobo?” Jaie asked.

  “Dead,” Dragena decred. Her dispassionate, almost dead eyes gred at the lieutenant. “The poison on the assassin’s bde had ended his life shortly after he was delivered to the private ic.”

  Martyshkina had to physically restrain Janine from standing up. She ighe cruel hook to the head that sent the whole world spinning, and the medic’s protests. Cristobo died? But… It was impossible! Cristobo was the sixth Normie to be personally accepted by the Blessed Mother. She trusted him to enter her den! Cristobo had loyally stood by Ravager’s side all these years, and... And there was something else about the situation that Janine could not put her finger on.

  The doors behind Drage in a frightened woman, her entire body covered in badly healed bruises and bandaged in pces under an oversized trench coat. Onyxia appeared . Her hair moved randomly, blinking in and out of view. Streaks of shadow seeped through the get of her armiving a false impression that the armor was all that held the warlord in the corporeal realm. The normally cold and distant warlord held her gaus on the woman’s shoulders, guiding her. Onyxia o everyone and scowled at Jaie.

  “We have news.” Dragena poi the woman. “Our sister and First have been busy eradig over thirty sver camps.”

  “Sounds like you had a war,” Ygrite ughed.

  “No oold me to stop.” Onyxia shrugged her shoulders. “First ain’t so bad, I must say. He kept pestering me about ‘human rights that, human rights this, no, you ’t just eat svers alive’. Bah, it was such a bother dragging their asses back to our borders! But, Ygri, you have to see him on a mission one day! Covered in blood and gore, sneaking after you with a ghost’s grace, ending lives at a touch… Ah, what a male! I’d jump into his pants right away if his heart didn’t belong to another!” Alpha stomped, and Onyxia dropped all pretense. “Back to business, yeah. First Sunbde has left to meet his fellow sword saints and inform them of Tancred’s demise. This right here is a princess…”

  “I am no princess,” the woman whispered tearfully. “A princess stays with her people. A princess would’ve protected her family…”

  “Yeah, yeah, heard that one already. Cheer up; the horrors are in the past; retribution eth.” Onyxia gently patted the woman on the back. “So, the princess over here beloo a try retly quered by the Gilded Horde…”

  “They butchered everyone who resisted,” the woman whimpered. “Brood Lrabbed my brother, a boy less than a year old, and dragged him out. He used him to distract my father and… and...”

  “How did you survive?” Janine asked softly, trying not thten the woman. Another debt owned by Brood Lord. He had incurred too many of them already.

  “I am not sure myself. One of Brood Lord’s whelps had let us run. At first I thought it was a cruel trid that they po hunt us down ter, but... we escaped. And ter, we ran into a sver party; the bastards came to poa our weakened home. I distracted them so my family could escape. Midy Onyxia and His Excellency First were the ones who rescued me ter. I have no idea how to repay them…”

  “Think nothing of it,” Onyxia told the young woman. “Live your life, get many cubs, eat and sleep plenty, be happy, and the debt is cleared, okay? Okay. Now tell us about the Gilded Horde.”

  After taking a deep breath, the trembling woman told her tale. Her homend had first heard of the Horde from the refugees, who had portrayed it as an unstoppable force that wrathfully hammered down upohing standing in their way, ensving aing the poputo submission. The king had been weighing whether or not to call in the Recmation Army or the Oathtakers for help, worried that the soldiers might stage a coup ohey arrived. There was a kernel of truth in these s, Janine admitted to herself. The Dynast and his rival Lord Steward had taken advantage of such situations before, though both nations had moved toward trustworthiness as the world ged.

  But the king never had the ce to choose. The Gilded Horde invaded far too soon; their minions sowed dissension in the capital, and their champions, warriors of impossible strength and incredible abilities, overran the tryside, cutting off unications to the and halting any attempts to call for aid. Drageiculously added everything the princess had said, including obvious exaggerations, and Martyshkina, Onyxia, and Ygrite narrowed their eyes at the news of a crazed preacher who mercilessly tortured humans using his trol over time. Such oppos were usually left to Alpha, but occasionally one of these three hahem.

  Drage asking questions about enemy numbers, but the princess was of little help. After the siege began, her father sent the girl to the inner chambers. She had heard from the servants how the purple fields around their city had turned yellow and glistened with steel as tless thousands of hardened killers arrived in full force.

  “Their emissaries asked us about God.” The woman wiped her eyes. “We told them about the water goddess, the wiy, and even about the wise stone master, even though his faithful were never many. But they merely ughed, insisting that they were looking for orue God pretender, whatever that means.”

  “Idiocy,” Ashbringer broke her silence, crossing her arms. A streak of fme left her fmethrower, heating her snout. “There is no true singur deity. Otherwise, only a single religion would’ve risen from the ruins, not a host.”

  “And now they are ing here,” the woman said mournfully.

  “This is their graveyard,” Janine promised her aured for a soldier to lead away the fn princess. Ohe crisis was over, the Dynast would probably reinstate her as ruler to secure new nds, but they had to survive until then.

  Janine remained silent as she studied the simirities in the Horde’s attack. Mysterious murders preceded the invasion. They had experie today. The implication of it was clear: the Wall had to be fortified. Their new enemies also used chemical warfare, unbound by iional rules.

  “The popution will need chemical prote,” Janine said finally.

  “I’d much prefer not to expose our citizens to shelling, but you are right, sister,” Dragena agreed icily. Janine ighe tone. Dragena was simply incapable of expressing herself otherwise; there was no implicit disrespe her words. “Ygrite. Half of your pack still hasn’t had their equipment repaired. Guard the little ones in hospitals.”

  “Figured out their methods, didn’t you?” Ygrite grinned. “Don’t worry, I’ll keep the pipsqueaks safe and sound until we evacuate them. If Brood Lord shows up, I’ll leave you a finger or two, dear sister.” She gred at Janine, opening her jaws wide. “Although, had someoaken an enemy alive, I could’ve prepared much better.”

  “She killed civilians, Ygrite,” Janine said coldly.

  “A she begged for mercy, Janine,” Ygrite responded. “I watched the rec of yagement. Are you a soldier or aioner? Even the Horde shows more mercy. Terrific would be proud of you.”

  “Imply it again and I’ll rip out your fangs.” Janine rose. Martyshkina was by her side immediately.

  “Enough.” Dragena stepped between them, paws behind her back, and Alpha loomed behind her like a shadow. “None of us is without sin, Ygrite. I, too, had murdered my opposition. Janine, mercy is never misguided. If not for the Dynast’s merone of us would be standing here. Show restraint iure. Let the courts do their jardless, we know enough now.”

  “Eborate,” Alpha demanded.

  “All members of the Ioid une share the same pitch-bpound eyes,” Dragena began expining. “Ice Fangs and our people have red and amber eyes, respectfully. Even Orais and Trolls look simir to their kin. Only the Malformed experience such a variety of ges in their bodies. Judging by how different Brood Lord’s offspring are from him and from each other, we safely assume that he is a mutated Malformed himself.”

  “Is this even a thing?” Martyshkina asked.

  “It is a rare geic occurrence, but it does happen. Mutants’ cubs often lose the biological characteristics of their parents. Researchers will have the final word, but judging that Brood Lord’s litter is smaller and less powerful than he is, I assume he shares the same anomaly. , the New Breeds of the Gilded Horde.” Dragena snapped her fingers, and a s desded from the ceiling, dispying the results of the autopsy. “Observe. The pt of the ans and the skeleton itself are simir to the Normies. They do not have subdermal armor like us, but their muscle fiber density is fifty times that of a well-trained Normie, and their fat serves as an excellent natural kiic disperser.

  “These people are clearly a tribe, like we are. Not only that, but there are Normies, meraries in their ranks in abundance, along with battle beasts.” Dragena faced the warlords. “Our foe is not some warband, but an expanding empire, hungry for quest, with leaders capable of matg us. Doubtless, all of them have their own styles and preferences for leading a war, too. Janine showed excellent fht in calling for reinforts.”

  Janine scratched the back of her head, struggling not to refute the praise. I am not that smart. I only wao preserve our people.

  “Yet this time they had gravely miscalcuted,” Dragena stated.

  “How?” Janine asked.

  “Houstad.” Martyshkina grinned.

  “Very good. Someone’s been listening,” Alpha snapped angrily, turning to Ashbringer, Onyxia, Eled, Zero, and Ygrite. “Janine is green blood; what is your excuse? Fools. What did the princess say?”

  “They sabotaged the capital, cutting it off prior to…” Zero clicked in uanding.

  “Very good, there are still marbles in that bucket of yours, Zero,” mocked Alpha.

  “Screw you, sis.” Zero chuckled good-naturedly. “The Gilded Horde uimated our scope. They think Houstad and we are the heart and the army, rather than a heart and an army.”

  “Warlord Dragena! The tact is restored!” aor shouted, and Dragena appeared beside the man with a loud thud as steel boots bounced off the ground.

  The warlord leaoward the dispy, its faint green light refleg off her facepte. With a snap of her fingers, the ining video feed was transmitted to the warlord’s terminals.

  The worst-case sario had happehe onassaible bastions to the southwest had been breached. Missiles flew over the Wall, nding at a road, burrowing into reinforced bunkers, crashing amidst artillery, and spewing out chemicals that immediately choked the defenders who had their armor fractured by the earlier bombardments.

  Numerous ons punched holes in the reinforced crete, reag the barracks within. Shells rained down on the auxiliary facilities in the rear, fttening additional radar reys and unications towers. Sniper positions withered under searing napalm, and burning figures toppled from the battlements.

  Hordemen marched through the burning sea of torched, rown greeo the openings in the wall, led by a gigantic, ughing figure of a woman in furs. She alone wore no armor, eagerly weling the defenders’ terfire as she sheathed her ons. Sniper fire was less than a mosquito bite to her; the explosions of the surviving artillery that tore the hordemen into pieces were no more than a m breeze. Then the s flickered as the soldier who filmed her had his neapped by a breacher.

  Entire levels cascaded down as the siege ons unleashed their wrath. Their missiles had sharp drills at the end, and upon striking the target, they burrowed tens of meters deep within and exploded in fshes of light, melting cameras and sending titanic shockwaves rog through the fortification. Rapidly advang automated maes quickly closed in on the Wall, unfolding into heavy on empts with turrets sprouting from their bowels. Bursts of armor-pierg fire ripped through the gaping hole in the bastions, preventing the defenders from denying the enemy entry.

  The Provincial Army fought tooth and nail, refusing to surrender any corridor or room without extrag a bloody tool. Turrets were removed from the top of the wall and pced at critical points; a sudden charge of super-heavy tanks from the hidderances in the advang wave caught the eager invaders off guard and bought a brief respite; the state’s New Breeds mowed down their foes one by one. Aic gifted with the ability to shrink items helped move dozens of oversized artillery ons into the corridors, and they sang a nasty surprise, leveling the passages and the attackers alike.

  Sacrifices of these brave souls had given the defenders enough time for orderly retreat, and many passing trucks forcibly grabbed gaping traders and civilians, taking them to safety. No audio files came along with the visual feed, but Janine uood the strategy. The officer in charge was trying to alert the smaller settlements so they could flee to Houstad. But as the state forces retreated from their borders for the first time in decades, the Gilded Horde revealed their hand.

  Bubbles formed over the se of the Wall, and it immediately ged in color. The paint washed over it in a cloud of dust, webs of cracks spread far and wide, and a massive rain of rusted steel and crumblial came casg down, paving the way for the invaders. Shining gold, green, and silver, thousands bypassed the Wall, spilling into the Core Lands.

  To murder, ensve, and quer.

  “Why haven’t we been informed? How did they get so close?” Jaie asked, already calliroops and the formation of cordons at Houstad’s entrances.

  “Find a way to establish a e with our allies. Warn the nearby settlements.” Dragena ordered the operator.

  “Impossible, ma’am!” the operator replied, typing furiously. “Something is jamming our unications! We see them, but we ot send or receive a word.”

  “tact Till Ingo. Request his assistance immediately.” Dragena’s helmet rapidly closed around her head. “First. Camelia. Voidrunner.” She paused, tapping the side of her helmet. “They’re not responding.”

  “Maybe their unications are jammed, too?” Janine guessed.

  “Impossible,” Dragena replied coldly. “Our encryption systems have proven to be superior to those of the Provincial Army, and our kin are spread far too widely for them all to be affected. Frouke just respoo me, and his supremacy had passed messages to the mayor before, so we are not the ones being blocked. No, these proud fools ignore us on purpose.”

  Dragena walked to the ter of the room, fag the warlords and reading their iions. Janine knew what she had found in them. Logically, the most reasohing to dht now was to stay here and dig iing traps, preparing defenses, and awaiting the Sed and First armies. The state was vast, and it would take time for its armies to arrive, but when that time came, the fate of the enemies would be sealed.

  But this wasn’t who they were. Not with their kin still in the field. Not with the civilians caught itlements in the Gilded Horde’s path. The Wolf Tribe swore an oath to be both the shield and the sword for the state that took them in and cared for them. They had ho before; they would do so again, even if it meant defying Ravager’s orders.

  “I uand, but disagree, sisters,” Dragena said calmly. “Lacerated Ohe enemy may attempt to use mental attacks once more. You are to stay behind to aid Ygrite and Frouke. If Drozna reappears, end him. You will use the test power armor.”

  “If that is your wish, Warlord.” The Supreme Shaman bowed, clearly unhappy about having to discard her a pte. “His anger is but an insulting joke against our devotion.”

  “Don’t push it. Even sages had troubles.” Dragena’s cold eyes found Zero. “Get the Blessed Mother.”

  “I don’t know where she is.” Zero gulped nervously.

  “Don’t py games, sister,” Dragena pressed. “Lives are at stake. Our sisters’ and brothers’. Do it. Please.”

  Zero’s trembling paws reached for her helmet. She pressed several buttons in sequence, and with a soft hiss, the helmet opehe lower part folding into the upper. A light that rivaled the Blessed Mother’s in iy illumihe entire and deck like a newborn sun. Ravager… Zero took off her helmet, ran a paw over her perfect hair, smiled, showiiful and elegant fangs, and gave thumbs up to Jaie and Schalk’s gasps.

  Jaruggled against the urge to bend her knees. It was not only a sign of weakness but also an ht insult to Zero, who wished to be treated as her own person. Ahere was a feeling ing from the woman—an unspoken and demanding absolute submission, every bit as strong as the Blessed Mother’s.

  Looking at her face here and now, evee knowing that Ravager wore no clothes and seeing the Blessed Mother up close, the sight still made Janine want to submit. At first gnce, when Zero wore her normal clothes, maintained her normal posture, and chatted with others with her helmet on, few would associate her with Ravager. Now, without her helmet, the resembnce was undeniable. Same-looking cheeks, same-shaped cheeks, same nose, identical eyes. It was as if someone had taken the Blessed Mother, shrunk her siderably, and forced her to wear clothes and walk like a real person.

  Ravager and Zero were one and the same, two lives born of the same material, but where the Blessed Mother asded to divinity, Zero chose not to, deliberately hindering her growth and refusing the gifts of her power. All who came frer bore the same gift. The strohe foe they defeated, the strohey grew. Each had their own individual ceiling, resulting from the iy of the gift c through their veins. But they could also stop that growth by refusing to accept the reward of their power. And Zero did just that, tent to be equal to mortals rather than standing equal among gods.

  Jaiced that only the provincial officers gasped. All warlords were initiated into Zero’s secret upon their elevation. But the and crew? Curious.

  Zero leaned bad studied the hat the ceiling. Her nostrils moved, pig up the st of her sister. And then she was gone, a ghost disappearing on her own hunt.

  “Rouse the packs,” Dragena aaking the Ravager’s seat on the dais. “The mission is t back our kin, save as many civilians as possible, and gather all avaible forces of the Provincial Army. Do not attack strongly, sisters. Five warlords are ier Lands, watg over our vilges, and every sister who bears life is to join them immediately, even those already in maternity hospitals. Better to have a few stillborn cubs than to lose everything.” Dragena took a moment of silence, waiting for any objes. No one spoke. “Alpha, is she…”

  “Ier Lands,” Alpha growled.

  “Good. Six warlords will survive if the worst happens.”

  “Five warlords. She is not our sister and never will be,” Alpha insisted, and Dragena paid no attention to her.

  “No matter the losses, our blood will live on. The Wolf Tribe and the Third Army will unch the operation immediately,” Dragena said.

  “I will go with them…” Jaie started.

  “You will rest and work with me, Lieutenant. No, Captain. Jaie, you are promoted to the rank of the te Cristobo. Schalk, you are promoted to the rank of Jaie. gratutions.” Dragena’s eyes betrayed ions.

  “Where is Predaig?” Onyxia asked as Janine accepted adrenaline and anti-toxin shots from the medic. “Don’t tell me she croaked too…”

  “No,” came a voice from the sliding doors.

  Predaig entered, her armor, aside from her helmet. Her mane and fur were wet, the light in her eyes shone brighter than ever, but the most signifit ge was the plete absence of the gray strands. Their sister was reborn, striding with the grace of a young scout and capable of the devastatioing a member of the first geion.

  “The Horde’s cruelty had incurred a blood debt. I wonder if they have enough lives to repay it,” Predaig said simply, as if that expined everything, moving her fingers as if to marvel at the returned agility.

  “Where are your scars?” Onyxia’s teasing nibble cleaved the air before any question could be asked. “Ah, I get. Met a boy…”

  “Shut up!” Predaig smmed one end of her on into the floor. “I don’t know! I opted for a rejuvenation procedure; it was not my fault that the bsting Iternian abused my trust.”

  “Ooh, Iternian, you say.” Grinned Onyxia and dodged a swing.

  ****

  Ja her pack outside of the crawler; Bogdan and Ignacy had just returned from the city and were now hurrying to her with the power armor. Marco was among them, proudly carrying a massive helmet in his paws. Janine o them, sparing no warm words today and spreading her arms iings of hundreds of her soldiers.

  “Sisters! Brothers! The Oath calls us!” she thundered as her sons encased her in the bat pte, shoving chords into the sockets of the impnts and filling her body with tingliricity. “Our walls have been breached, our y vioted, our patriots wounded or dead. Treachery has wormed its way into the heart of our defenses and taken the lives of our sisters and brothers. What answer will we give to those responsible for it?!”

  “Death! Death!” roared hundreds, their voices joined by every pack. Only Martyshkina joined in te, silently paying her respects to her fallen wolf hag.

  Sheer aggression. Sheer rage. This was the way of the Wolf Tribe. They did not care about numbers or odds. Only to fulfill their duty to the letter or die trying.

  And many will die; of this, Janine had little doubt. The packs will set out fully equipped and with the best ons possible. But in their advahey will have little ce to resupply and almost no ce to repair their gear. Every crack, every missed shot, every cut and bruise will slowly wither them dowhere was no fear. There will be no single desperate terattato the enemy’s charge. The bastards liked raids? The Wolf Tribe will give them raids, biting them from dozens of dires at oriking without honor, but with reason, precision, aermination.

  Our pure dition. Hunters unleashed from the leash.

  “Theh is what we will bring to the invaders! Many they are, but this only means more corpses to serve as fertilizer!” A booming ughter came back, and Jaurhe grin, the metal closing around her paws. She leaned forward, and Marouhe helmet that dulled her voice. “The inhabitants of the Core Lands. They are soft. Ale. Beautiful, and so full of potential. Cubs in need of prote.” Her armor hummed, a beast awakening, and the helmet opened so the sun could see her fangs. “The future is theirs, but the ing age is ours! Revel in the ing righteous sughter and rejoi the opportunity to live our orotect the weak and strahe tyrants!” Anissa hahe axe to Janine, and the warlord raised her on and took the ser rifle from Bogdan. “Let the hunt begin! Doom to the Horde!”

  The locks cmped, seg the ons to her back, and Janine leaped, denting the ramp. Flying over the troops, she nded on all fours and raced for the exit, her named sisters at her side, the packs joining her. In a river of bck-shelled bodies, they sallied forth through the emptying streets, the lenses of their helmets burning crimson. Bone-chilling howls filled the air, but the citizens waved at them instead of fleeing, and there was a look of hope on their faces. The troops of the Provincial Army and the poli pouheir fists on their chests in farewell.

  Hundreds of engines revved, and the New Breeds of the Third joihis march. The loss of their soldiers to treachery and Keon’s death spurred Chak and his staff to an unpreted level of effort, and they worked overtime to repair the remaining vehicles and armor. Wounded Wolfkins cast aside superstitious s and demanded artificial limbs, insisting on staying and fighting. The Third was wounded but was far from dead, and now the ered beast bristled, r a challenge.

  This time the army marched without the guidance of the Blessed Mother, and it was Dragena who coordiheir strategy and oversaw preparations for a siege. But there was no fear.

  Fear was what their oppos should have felt.