Chapter 106: Chapter 98: Sly and Yuki are in trouble

"There it is, my lady!" Jeki, clad in a power armor with no sharp curvatures, fell on one knee before Jekaterina. Her long black cloak flapped on the wing, the cowl fell from her round helmet.

The Soultaker saw her own reflection in Jeki’s helmet, the figure was dressed in clumsy-looking power armor of pristine blue color, with a cloak of the same color flowing from her shoulders, nearly reaching the ground. Unlike the power armors of the Young Guard, Jekaterina’s power armor was almost rectangle shaped around her arms and legs, her helmet was stylized after a great helm, with twin bright blue lenses looking at the world. Already tall, the armor made Jekaterina taller by a head.

Everything, from the clumsily and richly made power armor, to the armor’s height, was made with one goal in mind. To make Jekaterina the preferable target in any ambush and thus reveal enemies’ positions.

Right now, Jeki was standing next to a gigantic axe, stuck in the ground. Jonathan Redhorn stepped forward, grabbing the axe by its handle and letting out a groan, trying to pull it out. He was the only soldier in Jekaterina's unit who didn't wear a helmet, and the wind was hitting him across the head, washing over his messy beard. Jekaterina overheard how some soldiers wondered why he wasn’t going blind in this storm. Glawish let her friend keep his secret.

The soultakers arrived to take Bonafell’s garrison and most supplies out of the town, taking them further north, leaving just the bare minimum for people and patients to endure until the foe arrives.

Jekaterina wasn’t overly worried for the people of Bonafell. It was her responsibility to safeguard them, and she was leaving them behind the front line with a clear reason in mind. In her life as a mercenary, Jekaterina learned the value of taking down foes alive. Everyone slips eventually, and if your side had someone to trade you for, you wouldn't have to spend years in prison or hanging from gallows. 

There were some mad people in the Ravaged Lands who would outright kill or eat any prisoners. Cannibals and malformed mostly. And of course, that bitch Blaguna. Then again, no one ever expected to come back alive from them. As a result, such bands were treated less than kindly during battles. Meanwhile, her side and the reclaimers had a good working relationship when it came to exchanging prisoners. Heavy team members were exchanged for wolf hags and shamans, lower ranks for lower ranks.

Over the course of the war, one wolfkin warrior, some idiot named Blaze, had been captured and exchanged three times. Last time, she waltzed into her former cell, asking if dinner was still served around the same time and addressing guards by name as if the military prison were a hotel. Later, she and the other prisoners were found playing cards with prisoners from the traitors’ ranks. The guards were still puzzled as to which hole exactly Blaze used to sneak in the cards. The warden admitted to Jekaterina that she wanted to shoot the wolfkin out of the cannon for this insolence.

The point was, Jekaterina knew what to expect from her foes. The Reclaimers will not kill the population, thus there was no need to evacuate people and stretch the already precious resources of her kingdom. Instead of letting their sons and daughters die in disadvantaged positions, Jekaterina will retreat, taking only what they need, and her people will endure, waiting for the day their children come back to liberate them.

This axe, however, changed everything. It was the Taleteller, Janine’s axe. Glawish rarely forgot people who put up an actual fight against her. But Janine was dead. Everyone confirmed this. So why is this thing here? Could the foe have struck this early, even before the sandstorm’s start? If so, was anyone alive in her town? Jericho was responsible for this region, along with Huntsman. If this axe is here, does this mean that they are gone? Or maybe they defeated the foe and are now unable to… No, this is foolish. They are gone.

She stepped forward, hearing how stones were shattering against her armor, how her cape was flapping on the wind. The soultaker grabbed the axe with one arm, easily tearing it from stone, and placed it over her shoulder. Redhorn stepped away, shrugging his shoulders.

"Form up," Jekaterina said, her lenses finally cutting through the sandstorm and noticing the ruined turret on the ground. "The enemies are in Bonafell. Retake our town, get our vehicles back. If there is a warlord over here, she is to be pinpointed and left for me to deal with."

"Yes, my lady!" Jeki eagerly shouted, jumping on her feet. The soultaker looked at her with pity. The Young Guard were her creation, something that should have helped her shape the future and help in the unification…

And now they were dying, being captured, or going missing in action. Sure, some of the Young Guard have already proven themselves in combat. Jericho rose in the ranks to become an officer, and Jeki had already killed people, tainting her swords with the blood of her foes. Unlike Jekaterina, the teen appears to have been unconcerned about taking the lives of other human beings. The Soultaker had half a mind to leave Jeki in the back, maddened killers had no place in her elite unit. And then she saw Jeki throw herself in the line of fire, saving an ally. There was potential in her.

Everything was crumbling down. The kingdom of safety that Jekaterina struggled to build for so long was under threat of disappearing. Betrayal, no doubt, but whose? Jeki? Redhorn?

No matter. Jekaterina thought, looking at the backs of her troops. She pressed a button on her belt, making a medicine pill fall into her mouth, quenching her paranoia. Unlike their enemies, the Soultakers will enter the town via the secret route. We will endure. The center will hold. I will give my people the life they need.

Jekaterina moved toward Bonafell, giving taps against the stone with the end of her scythe and intending to clear the walls of any foe. She felt good for once, throwing away the fears and wariness of the passing days. Planning the retreat, assigning the officers, negotiating with foes, overseeing the supply routes, giving speeches to inspire her people… She was just another fellow warrior, merely the leader of a small unit. Just like back in the good old days. It was time to reclaim her lands from the reclaimers.

****

"So, what’s your plan for after the war?" Sly asked Yuki, heading to a toilet cabin and feeling his stomach rebel.

Shortly after the enemy surrendered, Aranea became busy negotiating the surrender with the mayor, with Alpha always by her side like a ghost. People in the safehouses freaked out at the sight of "mutants," as they called the wolfkins, but soon calmed down upon promises that no one would be eaten and upon seeing that the captured soultakers were herded into a separate wing of each safehouse and kept under surveillance.

There were howls and curses, of course. The pack killed some of their loved ones and friends. While citizens listened to the mayor’s words and surrendered, Sly and others caught glances of pure hatred from some of them, while other people simply sat on the benches in the main halls, sobbing and crying. Sly found no heart to blame or judge any of them for this, enduring all.War or not, he knew full well the horror of losing a dear person.

Geldi joined the medics in saving the lives of the wounded. The hospitals were announced to be a neutral zone, safe from all conflicts. Wounded from both sides were treated there. Even now, Geldi and the doctors were busy operating on one of the wounded wolfkins.

Once the sandstorm passes, the regular forces will arrive, allowing the pack to move on. Sly admitted to himself that he will miss tinkering with the crusher. This machine was fun!

The pack was split into three units, each was supposed to guard their own safehouses until the sandstorm ended, which was expected in twenty hours or so. The safehouses were massive bunkers, large enough to allow hundreds of people to walk through the main halls without being bothered, with sleeping quarters, a few kitchens, and, of course, toilets. The generators provided the place with light and oxygen and allowed electric stoves to work.

The last part proved to be the most horrible. Kate, Yuki, Sly, and Kaleb were assigned to safehouse C, as Aranea named this place. And Kate decided to throw a small party to celebrate their survival. She bought some spices from a trader, an elderly woman who came to this town to wait out the sandstorm. And then Kate made something she called a "curry", an incredible, pleasant-smelling pot of food, that made Sly remember why they had never, ever allowed her to cook before. Kate enjoyed spicy food. All others? Not so much, at least not with the amount that Kate always poured on food. Feeling his belly set on fire, Sly almost flew to the toilets, racing past the ones that had mentions of "MALE", "FEMALE", and stopping before a corridor with a tentacle-looking monstrosity painted on a sign with "MUTANTS" written below it.

The place was actually not that bad. Despite how the Soultakers were treating the mutants, the place was clean. It looked a bit weird for a toilet, that with a large bath and a shower at the end. There were several mirrors and instructions to save water.

"Marrying you," Through Yuki’s cameras, Sly saw her taking off her helmet and looking in the mirror, checking her face for any trace of food. She too followed after him, vomiting away her dinner. His power armor, without the helmet, stood next to the door. "Having the time of our lives."

"I meant beside paradise," Sly joked. The power armors were able to absorb and recycle the liquids, including sweat and urine, allowing the warriors to stay in the field for longer. But right now, Sly cared for none of that. His stomach was threatening to rebel if he didn’t liberate his bowels. "Yuki… our cubs will need to go to school."

"Of course, they will!" Yuki turned to his cabin, and Sly’s heart skipped a beat from happiness. He was expecting a fight with her over this. "Listen, I’ve been meaning to talk with you about it," Ignoring the sounds coming from the cabin, Yuki lifted her left paw, "First, since villages are no longer moving, we will build a house. You know, like the one owned by Dragena’s family. A proper house. Second, we need to figure out a way to keep our cubs away from the pits…"

"Way…" Sly grabbed his poor belly, cursing Kaleb and himself. He knew that Kate likes spicy food! Damn him and his scientific curiosity, he will never again eat this burning abyss that Kate calls food! There is a reason why males are meant to cook food! "…Ahead of you." He fell silent.

"Sly? You are alive out there?"

"Yeah, sorry. I was jus…" Sly thought for a moment and decided to be honest. "I thought that you would laugh at me for deciding against cubs and all…"

"Sly…" Yuki shook her head, leaning against the sink. "Is this how you think of me?"

"No! I mean, yeah, you were an asshole. But then, so was I. It just… Lucendra was laughing her ass off after she saw the schematics for my upgrade for the rail cannon."

"Want me to beat her up?"

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"Please don’t!" Sly fired quickly, forgetting about the pain. He himself asked Lucendra to help him out, and she was right in pointing out that yes, the upgrades will work. The downside was that Aranea would be engulfed in a plasma fire afterwards. "We just get her to loosen up and banter with us."

"Oh? Do I have a rival then?"

"Nothing of sorts. You are the only one to ever hold that place in my heart. Anyway," Sly continued, seeing through the cameras how adorably Yuki rubbed her eyes, "Lucendra, Gin, me, and Kaleb had a bit of a brainstorm about the pits. We spend all of our nights reading the laws, and nothing prevents us from exiling our cubs and having them reapply to the tribe at a later date. If Virginia could do it, then…"

Sly felt something. It was… like a scorpion's tail punctured his left buttock. Jumping off the toilet in panic, he saw a black line rising in the air from the toilet. It twisted, moving like an animal, while having a trembling form of smog.

"Sound the alar…" Sly shouted and stopped in worry.

The rope turned into a figure clad in an infiltrator type of power armor, standing with one leg on the toilet, arms on the swords’ pommels. The invader's solid black armor turned white, matching the color of the cabin and walls. Her long black cloak followed suit, making the invader almost invisible to the naked eye.

Almost. The remains of Sly’s bowels were sliding down across the surface of the invader’s helmet and all along the cloak, painting everything brown.

"This is disgusting! The hell are you even here, mutant!" The attacker shouted with a youthful voice, indicating she was female.

"Taking a shit…" A kick in the chest sent Sly crashing through the door, slamming him into mirrors and breaking them.

Yuki leaped into the cabin, saying nothing. Her fist almost connected to the smooth helmet, crashing into the wall instead. The figure turned into a rope of darkness, allowing Yuki’s body to fly past her. The rope darted to the ceiling, turning back into the figure. The attacker pointed her right wrist at Yuki, and a net was fired from between the armor’s joints. It wrapped tightly around the warrior, arresting her movements. The edges of this net had weird, needle-like things that got buried in the floor.

Yuki growled, trying to break free. Her growl turned to a groan of pain when the energy ran against the steel net that held her in place, messing with the inner systems of her power armor and hitting the wolfkin’s nerves again and again, not allowing her to concentrate. A paralysis net. Sly recognized who the assailant was right away. The Soultakers’ Old Guard sometimes used paralysis nets to capture prisoners.

He started standing up, reaching for a remote on his belt. The soultaker jumped from the ceiling, landing before him. A low kick brought him to one knee. He made a swing with his right paw, releasing the claws, and blocked a blade aimed for his throat more by accident than by intent. Right after this, the figure followed up with a heavy kick against his jaw, throwing him on his back. The soldier frowned from pain, crushing the white tiles on the floor with his helmet. His opponent was a new breed. The mere kick left a dent in his helmet due to its speed and strength.

The blades scissored against his neck, pinning him to the floor. Sly dared not to move, feeling the cold steel against his flesh, his paw raised over the remote.

"What did you do to our people!? How many of your kind are here?" The woman demanded to know, her voice nervous, "Who is the commander? Is a warlord here?"

"Help my comrade, and we will surrender peacefully." Sly forced himself to be calm, ignoring Yuki’s groans of pain. These nets were made to affect shamans. Yuki had little chance against them.

"Her life is under no threat. You, on the other hand, are less fortunate, mutie," The blades bit into his skin, drawing blood. "Tell me what I want, doggie, or I will make you." The woman’s voice changed from being worried to being cold and calculated.

Sly gulped, feigning fear. He looked desperately at the helmet’s smooth surface, waiting for… A chunk of his poo slid down, falling on the lenses, blurring the soultaker’s vision. Sly’s paw pressed the remote, and his power armor moved.

This was not an upgrade that he was proud of. The remote control of any power armor was meaningless, the suit lacked proper speed and accuracy without a user. Sly only made it for one thing. Yuki sometimes had really bad nightmares. Sometimes Sly even struggled to keep her pinned. After he got a few black eyes, he contacted Till and made the proper change in his power armor, allowing it to move. And fire.

The sleeve of power armor moved, aiming at the woman’s back. Sensing a threat, she turned around, placing the armored heel on Sly’s throat. She moved at this moment, grabbing her by the right foot and twisting it. Wrapping his legs around her left leg, holding the soultaker in place. She panicked for a moment, hesitating between the decision to kill the unarmed foe and trying to break free.

The armor fired. Armor-piercing darts filled with fast-working somnifuge shredded the soultaker’s cape, pierced her side, and got stuck between her ribs, no doubt breaking a few in the process. These darts were meant for Yuki, even without armor, her new skin was just as tough as iron itself. The woman gasped, transforming into black rope and escaping Sly's grasp, rising to the ceiling before reverting to human form and crashing down in the bath, breaking it under her weight.

Sly rushed to her, ignoring her mad gasps filled with pain and weak attempts to push him away. He grabbed her arm, looking over the armor until his eye found a device for turning off the net.

"He…H… eart… H… urt…" The soultaker breathed twice before falling silent.

"You stink," Sly threw to her, turning on the shower and letting water soak her, washing away the filth. Yuki already tore through the depowered net, coming from the cabin, looking embarrassed and limping on one leg. "Yuki, how are you?"

"I am fine," She sat on the floor, calling Kate and reporting to her, "Wheh. Is she dead?"

"That or having a stroke from the somnifuge. I overdid a dose by a large margin."

"Shit," Yuki stood up, limping toward the soultaker, and dragged her out of the bath, placing a woman on the floor. Her paws tore into the chest plate, opening it up like a tin can. She saw the form of a pale-skinned young woman dressed in black underarmor. Yuki tore away the darts. The woman was breathing heavily, slurping air like water, struggling for every breath. Yuki looked over the soultaker’s injured side and cursed slightly, seeing blood on the woman’s lips. "Pick up a clean piece of her cloak and bandage the wound before she bleeds to death! Three of her ribs are broken, and her lung is pierced. I will have to restart the bitch’s heart, she is about to croak."

"Sweety, she threatened to kill me…"

"Yes, and this is why I will see her in prison. There's no way I'm letting her off the hook; she'll live and see herself under the Dynast's rule," Yuki snarled, removing her armored gauntlets, reaching out, and finding a wire in her left wrist. The warrior bit the wire, allowing the hiss of electricity to fill the room. "Time to see if Geldi’s lessons are any good…" She said darkly, her gaze fixed on the trembling body.

Yuki was about to touch the woman with the wire when the entire building shook. The ears of both wolfkins moved, hearing a thundering roar of rage. It was impossible, this safehouse was meant to endure and weather even the strongest of sandstorms. No sound from the outside was meant to come in here. But hearing this roar, both of them felt goosebumps of terror running down their spines.

"Hostis humani generis is in the town. All fighting is to cease immediately. K… A skinwalker is here. All forces are to protect civilians, do not, I repeat, do not point the weapons at this skinwalker. Warlord Alpha’s orders." Aranea’s voice was heard over the communications.

"All soldiers are to immediately stop engaging the foes and join forces with the reclaimers," A cold voice said from the ruined remains of the soultaker’s armor, "We have detected a skinwalker, the ceasefire is in effect until the beast is…" Static devoured the rest of the words.

"Great, now we have no choice but to try and save her." Sly spat on the floor, tearing the cloak apart.

He wanted to disassemble it later and figure out how it works!

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