Chapter 131: Chapter 123: It’s time for mercy, Ivar!

"This concludes my report, captains." Aranea bowed down to the wyrms, standing on the Moon City’s inner wall.

"At ease, warlord," Scorpio almost purred to her, lying lazily against the wall and rolling a piece of rubble with a single claw. Ivar sat near him, looking with disapproval at the other captain, saying nothing, "Now tell us your real thoughts. Off the record."

Aranea straightened herself up, feeling another shot of pain in her broken arm. Her right arm was encased in plaster, keeping her shattered elbow in place and straightening the arm. Despite all of Geldi’s pleading, Aranea refused to take any medical leave. It was humiliating enough to ask for Keyl’s help during the breakfast.

With the help of her pack, she managed to put on a shirt and a jacket, throwing the warlord’s coat over her shoulders. Her knee still hurt, Jekaterina managed to hit Aranea with the shaft of her scythe in the middle of their combat, leaving a crack on her left kneecap. Deciding against wearing boots, Aranea simply put on regular khaki pants.

She hardly looked like a warlord now. She was beaten, felt battered, and was covered in cuts and scars. Medical healing patches decorated her long snout. The shattered elbow meant that the halfbreed was out of action for two or three weeks. Even despite the superior healing of wolfkins, Jekaterina simply liquidated most of the bones in her elbow, leaving veins, sinews, and muscles all torn up.

Aranea actually squirmed when the soldiers announced her as "The Conqueror", after they at first refused the warlord to go to the captains, thinking that this wolfkin was clowning around.

"You two surely fucked up the situation." Aranea told the wyrms, ignoring Ivar’s cold gaze. Scorpio simply chuckled.

Aside from her, there was only a small group of people here today. Several officers and captains stood at attention. Aranea found it weird that so many of the higher-ups showed up in one place for the simple report that they, without a doubt, knew full well by now. For the Spirits’ sake, Scorpio read my mind, why are you here? Aside from them, Katriana Vincent and several other military leaders of the former foe arrived too, eager to hear their new assignments.

The sun barely showed itself on the horizon, yet the early morning was unnaturally bright. Aranea could see hundreds of trucks and vehicles arriving at Moon City without stopping, bringing in new supplies to be distributed across the newly conquered land at a later date.

"Elaborate your rude assessment of our valiant efforts." Ivar looked down on Aranea.

"Sure. We have over twenty thousand prisoners," Aranea pointed at the not-so-small prison camp near the outer wall. Even all the way from here, she could hear the cries and wails of the families who came to visit the soldiers. Quite a substantial number of Jekaterina’s troops came from Moon City, "All of whom needed to be treated and properly secured. At the same time, the Soultakers’ capital is currently ravaged, leaving tens of thousands there in a state of civil war, fighting against each other in the narrow streets for scraps of food and water."

"This was never supposed to happen," Ivar calmly kept looking at Aranea, "Our informant in the King's palace confirmed that the militia's movements were indeed suppressed by their allies shortly before he disappeared."

"It is true," A soultaker confirmed, a tall man dressed in a uniform with the insignias of an officer sliced away. The man’s face was thickly bandaged, leaving just a single eye visible. He stood up with the help of a walking stick, "We never received anything about the rebels. Had we knew…"

"See? You cannot pin the blame for this debacle on our shoulders…"

"When you are in charge, everything is your fault, remember?" Aranea kept looking into his unblinking eyes, "The point is, we have a humanitarian crisis on our paws. The villages and hamlets of our new citizens depend on the main cities for food and water, now that one is gone, the other is under our control, how are we to provide for them all? They are now our responsibility."

"We have the necessary supplies." Scorpio murmured, crashing the stone beneath his claw.

"That we have, and where will you take people to deliver them? Captains, we have," She raised her left paw, lifting finger after finger, "One, a civil war in the enemy capital. We need to establish proper control over the place and protect the civilians there ASAP. Two, we have the entire prison town next to us, with some citizens angry at their relatives being captured or killed. We have to tread carefully to avoid a rebellion. Three, we have a duty to protect and care for all citizens of our new lands, meaning that we must spread our forces even thinner. Four, we still need to establish secure routes leading to the Core Lands, Pearl, and Iterna, in order to receive supplies for our new citizens. Five, we need to escort our prisoners back to the rear…" She looked at her right paw, "I run out of fingers and the problems are still piling up. We need factories to repair our gear, new hospitals, and to implement new laws, we must find out where the bio-troops came from…"

"We got your meaning." Ivar rocketed his shoulders gracefully.

"I don’t think that you do, sir… Ivar," Aranea corrected herself the moment his massive claw appeared before her nose. Off the record it is. "Janine Ironjaw started this war with twelve shamans and three full paws, which is over nine hundred wolfkins and four potential warlords. I currently have three hundred and forty-two combat-ready wolfkins under my command, which is a little more than a single paw. And this is with reinforcements! We have no shamans, sixty other soldiers in my pack are injured and require either an augment or several to return to the field. And no potential warlords to replace me."

"What about the wolf hag Leila?" Ivar asked immediately.

"No. Leila will become a warlord, no greater than any other warlord," She saw Ivar smile at these words. It looked weirdly ugly, his smile was nothing but handsome, the way the sun danced on his scales only added to the charm… But there was something off-putting about it. He looked like a venomous snake that, for some reason, got prideful about its offspring. Shaking her disgust, Aranea continued undaunted, "After her transformation is complete. She is an invaluable comrade and a good friend, but not really warlord material right now," And neither am I. "We are spent. I am left with a supplementary officer and just four wolf hags, one of whom is injured, and another one is temporarily busy solving a problem one of you created."

Scorpio calmly met her gaze. The two of them looked each other in the eye, earning them both Ivar’s attention. The blue wyrm hated not knowing something, but Aranea would rather be cursed than reveal anything to this asshole.

Aranea was willing to admit that the black wyrm had fulfilled her request. He just solved this in the most unusual way possible, resulting in a worried Rollo coming to the shamans to beg for a small loan to call his sister. Surprisingly, they gave him tokens just like that, claiming it was his rightful due. And after the call, Sonya came to Aranea, demanding an explanation.

Rollo was contacted by the Ice Fangs, who claimed to operate on Aranea’s behalf. They informed the man that his rejuvenation shot was scheduled in the nearby city and started talking things out with him about opening a shop. The shamans grumbled but accepted the idea, asking Kassandra to oversee the legal procedures from the Wolf Tribe side.

Truth be told, Aranea was glad about this surprise and about the fact that the shamans handled the situation so reasonably. The relationships between the Ice Fang order and her people were always strained, if they started to work together at least in this capacity, it would do wonders for building bridges between the two sides. The fact that white-furred wolfkins would deliver the goods to the store and shamans would be forced to protect them from any attempt at dominance was a miracle in and of itself. She just wished that Scorpio would talk with them instead of putting Rollo and his family under this much stress.

Aranea had no doubt that ice fangs actually had Rollo’s best interests in mind, at least in this specific situation. Blood ties aside, the Wastes was a civilized region, and the Ice Fang Order's entrepreneurs and craftsmen were moaning and bemoaning the fact that they had to stay away from this place due to a pact between two groups. Several rich mines, developing cities, still untapped underground bunkers, laboratories, and cities all over the place… Ice fangs were itching to fund and profit from the region, pestering their elders and sword saints to find some way for their tokens to find their way to the Wastes. Now, when the chance presented itself, the Wolf Tribe’s cousins will put their A game to try and persuade shamans and warlords to change the rule of non-engagement. In the end, if all works out, this will be a boon to everyone.

Right now, Sonya was always on the terminal with her brother, joining the four-way call while the family is talking out the specifics of this deal with their cousins, allowing Kassandra to listen and add some corrections. Lucendra and Ultis agreed to assist, reading through all papers carefully and slowly before advising Rollo on which to sign and which not to sign. Today both of the women were busy, joining in some "bonding hunting,", as Annie named it. Aranea gave this little thought. The new year was upon them, and all packs were busy with their own private ceremonies and traditions before the new year's Challenge.

Leila got herself badly injured, her stomach was utterly ruptured by one of Green’s clones. Geldi kept the half-wyrm on parenteral nutrition, never allowing the woman to exert herself or leave the hospital. This left Aranea with just two wolf hags. Both were of great help, Tiny barely had a lick of sleep coordinating the pack, but two wolf hags were simply not enough to oversee a group of three hundred wolfkins. Aranea had to leave the hospital early, taking some duties off of her subordinates. Unexpectedly, Ivar provided some help too, he sent a woman called Minerva to act as a substitute wolf hag in Leila’s place, equating out the load. Some wolfkins grumbled over being forced to accept an outsider as one of their leaders, but after Minerva physically introduced one of the scouts to a floor, the soldiers accepted this icy woman.

"I understand your concerns, Aranea," Ivar graciously nodded to her. "You believe that we got overly ambitious. There is merit to your words."

"Believe? Ivar, the situation is dire! You read reports, you know that some of the former soultakers are taking arms, planning to carve their own fiefs, now that they are freed," She looked at the soultakers, "No offense is implied. And on the other paw, we have the bentos, who are still at peak strength, with King ready to guide them toward us. We move to meet them, and the civilians will be torn apart in our absence. We move to secure our cities, and the bentos will recapture the city. And sitting put is unthinkable in a war, we want to bring these lands to prosperity, not rule over the wasteland. It’s a lose-lose situation."

"It is not," Scorpio responded back, "King is no longer with us. As we speak, the Bento tribe is either sending their envoys to speak with us, running, or confused about what to do. Our hands are free. And your pack will be taken care of."

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"King is dead?!" Aranea shook her head. Why do they always keep this sort of information secret… Wait! She felt a surge of panic rising in her chest. "What do you mean my pack will be taken care of?"

"We can’t confirm if King is dead or no," Ivar responded in an iron voice, "I will not believe in his demise unless I can see his corpse with my own two eyes. "Someone here," He looked at Scorpio, "Has already cost us far too much with his botched schemes."

"Pot meets kettle," Scorpio mused back, "As for your pack, worry not, Aranea. The regular army will take over the newly joined lands. You and your pack are going to Fort Uglo, along with Annie and Olesya. All of you earned a respite. Anyway, this brings us to a more morbid part of today’s meeting. The Dynast demands an example for the horrid act that Jekaterina tried to commit."

"You plan to execute someone of the soultakers?" Aranea asked with disbelief. Not that she cared too much, but this sounded wrong, "Ivar, Scorpio, this is insanity! Some of these people live here, it’s pretty damn clear that none of them had any idea about the extent of Jekaterina’s madness. What’s more, now is the time to build bridges, and show mercy," She saw Ivar’s long snout changing into a frown, "Yes, mercy, Ivar! This is prudent to calm the population, sow seeds of future stability, and keep ourselves decent human beings. These are our people now! Fellow citizens, just like you and me! Unless they commit an actual crime, the state has no right to harm any of them."

A cough stopped her speech. The green-haired woman with a strand of gray hair, Zose, walked forward, looking at the wyrms with sheer terror. One of her arms rested in a sling. Her eyes quickly shot toward Aranea before she looked back at the wyrms, bowing to both of them.

The woman licked her lips: "If you are looking to hang someone for Jekaterina’s crime, I am willing to take the blame."

"Out of the question." Vincent and Aranea spoke at the same time.

"You weren’t with the attack force, Zose." Scorpio told her.

"Think…." The woman looked around, clenching her good fist, "Please, think about it! Everyone thinks I'm a traitor or worse! Katriana’s men still think me a traitor, my own soldiers think me a coward, and the prisoners think that I sided with you now. It’s… I am not talented or important, but if my life can save my people, just take me instead of others! I'm clearly the most expendable!"

"Hanging in the Reclamation Army is vastly different from hanging in the Ravaged Lands," Ivar turned to face her, his eyes tinged with disgust, as if she were some strange pest. "The state makes a point of punishing others. Your neck will not snap, no, instead, you will feel a rope biting into your neck. Your skin will tear, the muscles will follow suit. You will find yourself unable to breathe, gasping for air, and thrashing madly in the restraints. If you are lucky, you will suffer a heart attack, ending the punishment prematurely. Otherwise…"  The captain left the rest unspoken.

Zose breathed hard, reaching out with one hand to touch her neck. Swallowing once, she looked up into the blue wyrm’s eyes with some sort of mad bravery: "It won’t last long, right? Just… five, ten minutes top, right? I can…"

"No, you can’t!" Aranea snapped at the woman, reaching her in three steps. She grabbed the woman by the lower jaw, forcing her to look at her, "You were assigned to the acting governor Katriana. By now, you already know how rash and unwise some of her decisions are. The people of these lands require someone to advise the governor and correct her in times of crisis. How dare you even think about abandoning such an important duty when the lives of others are on the line?"

"This isn’t fair…" The woman whispered.

"Few things are ever fair," Aranea let her go, patting Zose on the back, "But it's our duty to provide a better tomorrow for all new citizens. Otherwise, what was this all about? No, the easy way out is not for any of us. Live. Live and help build a better world. In time, no one will care about any gossip."

Aranea gave a brief nod to Katrina before shaking her hand.

"Thanks for the help. I guess this is goodbye for now," Vincent pulled Zose back into the ranks. The former soultaker was dressed in a black bodysuit and cape, a golden governor’s insignia adorned her left shoulder. Her nose looked a bit swollen, but there was a fire in her eyes, "Come to visit from time to time; friends are always welcome despite all the incoming rebuilding."

"Sure," Aranea replied warmly, "Just remember to keep your temper in check and think twice before acting, Cat. Or next time you raise a hand on a prisoner, I might just cave your face in."

The warlord still felt a bit conflicted about Katriana but decided to let her distrust go. Spirits know, Aranea was not a shining example of an uplifted individual. Shortly after waking up, she demanded contact with the blue, whom she captured during the last battle against Chort. The creature… No, the man now had no idea about new greenies or blues, working busily at renovating several farms alongside the former regulators. Scorpio was right in this regard, she had no right to decide the fate of any prisoner.

Katriana was an obvious choice for the new regional leader. The woman was well known and respected among the population. Even now, a grim-looking member of the investigation walked behind her like a second shadow, observing her every move. Years and years will pass before the state forgets about her stunt and lets her off the hook.

None of us is perfect. Let’s do the best we can. The halfbreed decided, walking toward the wyrms. Katrina saved their hides during the siege and helped greatly in Belaz.

"Your intentions are misguided," Ivar said sourly, "Mercy should never guide the hand of any state’s servant. Alas, I am forced to agree with you. Executions won’t do any good in this situation. I will personally explain the situation to our leader in order to maintain cohesion and our principles." Ivar looked like it physically hurt him to accept that Aranea was right.

"One last thing then," The warlord scratched behind her ear, "Where exactly will we take soldiers to bring the Bento tribe back to humanity? If you send three warlords back, send the regular army to another land, what sort of trick do you have to win this?"

"Me." A rich, calm, and assured voice filled the surroundings, reaching everyone present with ease.

Both wyrms immediately dropped to one knee, bowing their heads to the wall's edge. And from behind the wall, a golden pillar rose.

No. Aranea understood, seeing countless scales glittering brightly in the lights of a morning sun. A new star rose up above the Moon City, the being of titanic might revealed his presence, spreading his wings before the city. No shadow was cast from him, instead, everyone present was enveloped in pleasant, warming light, so unusual when compared to the cruel sunlight in these parts.

Wyrm Lord was here, standing on two legs. He was always here, listening, judging, hiding his own presence with his power over the mind. The moment the veil fell from Aranea’s mind, she realized she had seen the tip of his tail before reaching the top of the wall, but had paid no attention to it because some voice inside her mind had gently asked her not to pay attention. The brightness that was coming from the ground, the strange patrol routes that evaded coming close to the wall—everything became clear now.

The commander was not without his scars. The membrane of his wings was still torn in some places, and a few scales were missing here and there on his magnificent body. But finally, after weeks of absence, their champion has come.

"I will bring the Bento tribe back to humanity myself, Aranea." When Wyrm Lord looked at the warlord, the light in his eyes drew her inside his mind.

The champion wanted to speak in private.

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