Chapter 25: Bonus chapter part 5, the final: Annie’s backstory.

The cubs crashed against each other with all their force, clawing and biting. Neither had the proper training for a fight, but Annie nodded with approval, seeing how the smaller girl dodged the bite of the larger one. This cub had the instincts to become a fine warrior one day. And yet, her opponent was simply built better. The fur of the smaller cub was of a paler black color and had stripes, while her opponent was pitch black. The two cubs had merely a week of difference in their age, yet the pitch-black furred cub had larger shoulders, was taller and moved around with extreme ease. Her mistakes in this combat, annoying as they were, meant naught, for when the smaller wolfkin tried to go on the counterattack, she found herself to be too slow. Two grappled against each other, and the larger wolfkin closed her jaws on the ear of the smaller wolfkin, overpowering her opponent with disgusting ease.

Annie looked around. None of the three shamans assigned to this arena of the pits cared to stop this battle. They only watched to ensure the safety of a single cub due to him not being a member of the Wolf Tribe. Aside from that, they only stepped in when a mortal danger was involved or when cubs were at risk of being maimed too much, like, for example, when they were at risk of losing their eyes. Aside from that, the forty-one wolfkin cubs were left to their own, occasionally being provoked verbally by the shamans to compete with each other and to dominate the weaker cubs.

"Enough." Annie said, jumping into a sand pit surrounded by an iron cage. The shamans frowned but allowed her to carry on.

This arena was just wide enough to give the cubs some breathing room while remaining tight enough to ensure that they will become too anxious or angry due to the lack of the space. By competing for food and milk, cubs learned how to fight, received their first rewards from their power, and found their place within the Tribe. The wolf hag could almost smell the broken dreams, fear, and pain in the arena. Although she was ashamed to admit it, Annie hated the pits with all her being, failing to understand why the Spirits forced such cruelty on the Tribe. Annie had to step carefully to avoid other cubs on her way to the fighters. She kicked with her foot, not to harm, but just to give a nudge, and the larger wolfkin let go of the smaller girl.

"She started it!" Lidya complained, backing down from Annie on all four limbs and baring her fangs at the smaller girl, "She wanted to dominate Weirdo!"

"I don’t care," Annie responded calmly, lowering on one knee to see the bite on the girl’s head. The smaller wolfkin charged out of her arms and darted away the moment a sound signal came, indicating the end of the pit’s time, "Learn from your sister and show some damn moderation when you respond with violence. You almost bit her bloody ear off."

The wolf hag stood up, feeling a slight pain in her fingers. At least her pee wasn't red anymore, or else Svetka would never let her out of the hospital. Her body was healing day by day, but it would be some time before she could return to training with her pack. Virginia tried to join the daily training and Svetka complained directly to Alpha. The warlord, who was under investigation due to the losses that Bel’s pack and normies had suffered at the hands of Hecktricktsen, was in no mood to play around. Alpha threatened to entomb Virginia in her room, if that idiot dared to cause any more trouble. Annie decided to act as an adult and wait for the full recovery. With some free time on her paws, she agreed to help Dragena in escorting the warlord’s cubs back to their home instead of allowing them to come back on their own like the rest of the children did. Normally, Dragena was in charge of this task, but with the time of Gathering approaching, when all warlords and most shamans gather to decide on the tribe's future, Dragena found her paws full.

"The wolf hag Annie is right," Jenny said. The serious looking girl came closer, leading a much bigger male wolfkin by his paw, "We should be an example to our lesser. That includes being more forgiving to them. And don’t call Hubert like that. It is denigrating him as a human being."

"But he is weird… Aw!" Lidya frowned, after receiving a smack on the head from her sister. Annie noticed that Jenny struck in the same moment that Lidya blinked, "What about the "being an example" part!"

"When it is you, I am still working on myself." Jenny humbly lowered her gaze.

"Hello, Annie." Hubert said in a shy voice. Unlike the other wolfkins, his speech sounded too childlike despite his impressive age and size.

"Greetings, little one." Annie gave him a pat on the head. Hubert was the son of Alsyn. After he received treatment in Iterna, Kassandra decided to adopt him. Although workers from child services still regularly showed up to see if his living conditions were up to standard, the agent herself did a pretty good job of raising him so far. He learned how to speak, was well fed and clean, and his body was strong and healthy as far as Annie could tell. Even the nightmares that bothered him for many months are now no longer an issue. And yet Hubert’s mind was that of a normie, he matured at a far slower rate mentally, while in a year or earlier he will be as tall as an adult normal human. Hubert never should have been in the pits. But most other cubs avoided him outside of the pits, thinking that he was making fun of them by acting as a cub. None of them believed that a wolfkin could not know how to fight or speak properly at his age. To "socialize" him, Kassandra asked the shamans to allow him into the pits and to keep him from all harm. The shamans obeyed this request, clearly unhappy at the fact that they had to watch over a "civilian", as they called him. Unlike others, Hubert did not have to fight for food or milk, the shamans kept him well fed and did not allow other cubs to bully him. Dragena thought Hubert should be raised with the normies' cubs, but Kassandra disagreed, claiming that it would be better for him to be raised among his people. The warlord disagreed but asked her own cubs to watch over Hubert, nonetheless. So far, only two people have willingly taken care of him. One person was Jenny, who took a liking to the boy, speaking with him and teaching him things. The other person was Scarred One, the shaman often tricked younger cubs into speaking with Hubert. Lidya mostly relied on Hubert to find brawls for herself, but she was friendly with him.

"Gather around, little ones, we are going home." Annie said, taking Hubert into her paws. It was safer that way, he tried to run off several times before, upon seeing something interesting along the way. Nothing could really threaten him in the village, the boy was well known to everyone by now, but Annie still felt tingles of pain upon running.

"Annie, I want to fight some more! I promise to be gentle!" Lidya whined, while her brothers came closer. This girl was always excited about coming to the pits. Dragena fed her cubs properly, yet each time Lidya charged toward the meat and milk like a starving cusack, pushing and beating all who tried to stop her. She never bothered to eat the food. Instead, the thrill of a fight was all she wanted from the race toward food. Once she was satisfied, Lidya allowed less fortunate wolfkins to feast, while she herself lay on the ground, breathing heavily and happily after a good brawl. There was no point in these battles, both girls of Dragena were larger and tougher than all the cubs in the pits, no amount of victories here would add to their strength.

"The wolf hag gave us the command. It is our duty to obey it." Jenny responded, putting both arms behind her back. While Lidya’s clothes were all torn up and dirty with sand and blood from others, Jenny’s clothes were almost fully clean, save for the sand on her boots. Unlike her sister, she rarely fought against the others, only responding to the challenges. She spent most of the time sitting in the corner of the pit and speaking with Hubert, without caring for food. Any cub who tried to subdue her often found herself laying on the ground, with Jenny sitting on her opponent, holding an opponent’s arm in a hold. Jenny prided herself on never using claws or fangs in the arena.

Lidya whined but obeyed. The sisters competed with each other, and right now Jenny was ahead. This would not last, in a few days, their roles will be reversed once more, but for now, Lidya had to obey the winner of the last scramble between them. Annie checked the boys to ensure that they were not injured. Slick's breathing was a bit heavy, and his eyes were closing from being tired, but aside from that, they were fine. They acted as most males in the tribe do, keeping away from the troubles. Besides, anyone who would dare to lay a claw on them had to go through Lidya or Jenny first.

The group came from the pits, a large den made of stone and wood in the middle of the village. Usually, after spending time in the pits, cubs run off to their homes, either to help their parents, or to clean up and change clothes, before running toward the yellow buses that carry them to schools. The Wolf Tribe never officially joined the state’s educational programs, and thus their cubs were not obligated to study in the public schools. The law that protected the traditions of the population within the state did not allowed Wyrm Lord to simply give an order for the wolfkins to send their young into the schools. Thus, their liege cheated. He gave orders to build brightly colored buildings that flashed lights near the villages, fully knowing how curious the young cubs are. Not all of the young wanted to return to the schools after a first lessons, yet all of those who entered the schools were forced to come and study by their parents, due to a strong belief in duty among the Tribe. If a wolfkin had once, knowingly or otherwise, taken a duty, then the wolfkin had to finish said duty. Some shamans were unhappy about the presence of the schools, while the majority of the shamans were not against them, being glad in secret that the cubs were somewhere safe, instead of trying to sneak into Iterna to steal some trash and boast to others.

Right now, however, it was summer and young cubs were left to their own devices. Some were busy helping herd cusacks, some were busy cleaning up the village, and some were busy doing chores in their tents. Jenny looked unhappily at the empty bus stop, clearly wishing to be at the school. The wolfkins matured at a much faster rate than normies, and according to Dragena, young Jenny liked losing herself in reading the books.

The village itself has changed, albeit only slightly, since Annie was a cub. The shamans approved the use of the lamp posts, and now, aside from the general store, a few more buildings have appeared in the village. The state paid engineers to maintain the lighting within the village. Originally, these people were also supposed to build paved roads within the village, but quickly gave up after the shamans stubbornly claimed this duty for themselves. Engineers had to be content with showing the locals how to build and maintain new roads. At an impressive distance from the village were built patrol posts, almost next to schools, where soldiers from the ranks of the normies ensured that no more accidents, like the tragedy that happened in Annie’s life, would ever happen to the families of the shock troopers of the Third Army. However, the cubs complained that the soldiers often turned them back, not allowing them to brave the wilderness as their parents used to do in their childhood. No one cared for their complaints, however.

Annie spied Hans, dressed in an anti-heat suit, with the corner of her eye. Several wolfkins called police officers the first time they saw him coming to the village due to the fact that he resembled way too much the ones who attacked Annie’s village. However, after the initial confusion and after apologies were made, Hans was allowed to work in the village. During the winter, he was driving one of the armored buses to the schools, during the summer, he was busy instructing the shamans about how to maintain an energy grid that supplied the lamps with electricity. His family, his wife and her parents, moved into a small town nearby, and once he even brought his cubs with him, asking the shamans to babysit them while he was working. Hans was one of the group of people hired by Wyrm Lord to help with the integration of the Wolf Tribe into the state. Once the curious shamans approached Wyrm Lord with a question as to why he sends so many people into the Wolf Tribe villages, the commander of the Third Army explained to them that he believes that by forcing the Wolf Tribe to interact with outsiders more, the wolfkins will stop being so distant from the population at large. The shamans took this as a challenge, stoically enduring the outsiders, while Annie simply was glad that more familiar faces were showing up around here. Maybe Wyrm Lord was right, and the villages will disappear one day, and the Wolf Tribe will move to the cities. Speaking the truth, Annie saw nothing bad about this.

"Stop walking on all four. Walk like a normal human being," Annie commanded to Lidya and the girl unhappily obeyed. She glanced at Slick, who was stumbling during his walk, "If you want to, I can carry you as well, Slick."

"I am fine." The young boy mumbled in response.

"Slick, walk normally, please. If you fall, your clothes will be all dirty again." Jenny said, holding her head high and her arms behind her back, imitating the walk of her mother. While her sister moved with the grace of a cusack, Jenny walked around like a trained dancer.

"I can carry you, if you want!" Lydia went down on all fours once more, "Hop in! I’ll ride you home like a cusack!"

"Or I can help you walk." Jenny quickly said, moving closer to her brother.

"I am fine! Leave me alone," Slick angrily responded, forcing his eyes to stay open, "I am not a weakling."

Slick was the smallest of Dragena’s cubs. His fur was of a regal black color but had stripes of grey. His mother's divinity felt the least in him, causing the boy to become anxious when anyone tried to help him.

"Lidya, your mother will be unhappy with how you treated Nikka today." Anni said, trying to change the sensitive subject.

"She is the one who started it," Lidya stubbornly replied, "If she doesn’t want to get hurt, she should behave better."

"Hurting others is bad." Hubert said, and Annie gave him an approving pat on the head.

"Lydia, I don't blame you for protecting Hubert. But there must be a proportional response, otherwise resentment toward others in Nikka will only grow bigger."

"Rese… What?" Lidya asked, standing back on two legs and putting a claw in her mouth.

"Resentment. It means being bitter or angry at someone for a perceived slight," Jenny said. Seeing the face of her sister, she sighted and rolled her eyes, "It means Nikka is salty because of something."

"Why in the Abyss would she be salty because of Weirdo? He never hurt anyone! No one even speaks to him aside from us!" Lidya asked and Jenny shrugged her shoulders. Lidya kicked the rock off the road, "She is weird. And stupid."

"Imagine being in her place," Annie asked her, Nikka and Jenny fought a lot, and Annie asked the shamans about the smaller girl. Nikka was the only survivor of her mother's litter, and her parents distanced themselves from her for some reason. Annie wanted to give them a piece of her mind, but had no idea where to find them, "Your mother and father are always away. You live in a lonely tent, with no brothers or sisters. You have to cook food, clean your own clothes, learn how to fix them, no one is reading to you at night, and you don’t have time to play. She thinks that her trials are making her strong, yet here you come, someone who lives in a beautiful big house, someone who has never had to work as hard as she and is already stronger than her. She is angry and seeks someone at whom she can direct her frustrations."

Lidya spread her arms, "Jen calls me a simple person…"

"The word that I used was "dumbass", but "simple" works too, I guess." Jenny mumbled.

"She touches my friend, she gets bitten. It’s not my fault that Nikka’s life is shit" Lidya finished, without looking at her sister.

"Oh, so now Hubert is your friend and not the Weirdo. Convenient." Jenny whispered again.

"It is no one’s fault," Annie agreed, "But put yourself in her hide. She can’t change her circumstances right now and is envious of others. Her anger boils inside her and she fears being weak and unneeded. Thus, her resentment grows bigger each time you injure her. One day, it might swallow her whole. In time, she will grow up and hopefully become a better person. But imagine if you maimed her for good. Imagine if you were her and you woke up each morning, already having a shitty life and seeing your ear missing to boot. How will you feel then?" With a surprise, Annie understood that she was projecting and fell silent, stroking Hubert’s neck. Life is not that simple, and she should not assume that she knows how others feel. Lidya put a claw back into her mouth, looking unusually thoughtful.

The group walked toward Dragena’s house. Instead of her old tent, the warlord now lived in the proper house. Dragena ordered the construction of this house prior to her pregnancy and even supervised the construction herself. This two-story tall building was made from stone and reinforced with steel plates. The windows were made from armored glass and were capable of withstanding even the hardest sandstorms. A mailbox was installed in a wall, almost always empty, for the postman rarely visited the Wolf Tribe’s villages. The house itself was once white, but after two years in the Wastes, it has turned a gray color. Dragena used to call cubs from the village to her tent, allowing them to watch cartoons and eat treats. Nowadays, she has her paws filled with her own cubs. Each of her children had their own room and personal toys. Two sets of consoles for gaming were in the living room, along with two TVs. The father of the family was on his duty, near the border with the Core Lands. Much to the disappointment of the cubs, he was only able to visit the family for five days, once every two months. There were no trees in the area around the village, and even from here, Annie could see the patrol post far away on the horizon.

Jenny stepped ahead of Annie, opening the front door for the wolf hag and everyone else, bowing down in respect. Lidya charged inside past her, giving a joking pat on the head to her sister, causing Jenny to growl. The girl quickly composed herself, stepping inside after Annie and closing the door.

"Don’t go running to the kitchen until you change your shoes!" Annie strictly said to Lidya, catching her by the nape of her neck with one paw before the girl could charge toward the sweet smell coming from the kitchen. Annie placed Hubert on the floor and delegated to Jenny the task of ensuring that all the cubs washed their paws while she walked directly to the kitchen. The air in the house was cooler thanks to the air conditioners installed inside. The warlord had very peculiar views on the temperature at which her cubs were supposed to grow.

Dragena has hardly changed in the last two years. The warlord was still a towering being of might and power. The only noticeable change was her choice of attire. Where before she would walk half naked or only in a shirt, nowadays she was dressed in strict trousers, a long white shirt, slippers, and a sleeveless vest. Dragena stood with her back to Annie, busy putting food on the plates. On the refrigerator, Owoger's "paintings" could be seen. From the kitchen’s door, Annie could see a family photo in the living room, Dragena herself, five cubs, and an unknown male wolfkin were posing against the walls of fort Uglo. Except for Dragena, the entire family was smiling in the picture, while the warlord herself looked emotionless as ever. Near the photo stood a toy that Dragena received from the troll years ago. A large terminal lay on the table behind Dragena.

"…they are still below average in action. However, I have consulted with Siri and with other wolf hags and concluded that potential is there. Tell Zero to count me in …" A strict voice could be heard from the terminal, accompanied by metal sounds.

"Greetings, Annie. How are your injuries today?" Dragena asked her regular question, turning off the terminal. Not once did she ask Annie how her children behaved. The warlord always trusted them to speak the truth to her.

"All is well, warlord." Annie bowed to Dragena. She was about to ask if Dragena still needed her for today when the cubs charged into the room.

"Food!" Tim was the first to jump on the chair, and Dragena put a plate before him.

"Ew. Veggies and ishes again." Lidya frowned her nose upon seeing the fish and vegetables on her plate, right next to a sizeable chunk of cusack’s meat.

"They are good for your growth. Eat them all, or you won’t get any treats," Dragena responded, putting food before the other cubs. She looked over at her daughter, "Your clothes are in tatters again."

"Oh, yeah!" Lidya slapped a palm against her snout, "I forgot. I broke your rules again and almost bit off Nikka’s ear today."

"No more video games for you for a week. And no cartoons either," Dragena icily responded, turning toward the shelf and reaching for the med kit, "Annie, how bad was Nikka’s injury?"

"Yeah, about it!" Lidya jumped in her chair, "Mom, can I invite Nikka over for a night or two?"

"Just how hard did you bite her?" Dragena turned back to her daughter.

"It’s not about that! If Nikka stays alone, she will grow resettlement toward me…"

"She meant to say resentment." Jenny said to her mother.

"Yeah, this word! And as a future wolf hag…"

"In your dreams, perhaps." Jenny smiled, picking up vegetables with a fork.

"… I must take care of my future pack." Lidya finished as if nothing had happened.

"Sure, bring her in," Dragena easily agreed, "But no video games for you in any case. You are punished."

"Great! Owoger, Tim, after me!" said Lidya, jumping off her chair.

"But why do you think that she will even go with you?" Owoger asked in confusion.

"Yeah, you gave her a beatdown. I would’ve avoided you, if I was her." Tim said, picking up the fish with a fork.

"Don’t worry, I have a plan," Seeing how her brothers groaned, Lidya quickly added, "A good one this time! You two will help me to help Nikka with the chores in her tent, then we will all come back and…"

"Finish your food, first," Dragena commanded, inviting Annie to sit with them, "Then you can go. Jenny, how was your day?"

"All nice… But I had to skip insectoid hunting to watch over Hubert," Jenny tried not to sound disappointed, "It’s not like he would cause problems, but he would be lonely with the shamans…"

"I will take you to the hunt later myself," Dragena looked at Slick, whose eyes were closing, and he nearly fell face down onto his plate of food, "And you, young man, will go straight to sleep. I will warm up your food later."

"I am not tired." Slick gritted his teeth, forcing himself to stay awake.

Dragena walked toward him, picking up Slick in her paws. The young cub screamed in protest, scaring Hubert and Jenny put a paw on the boy’s shoulder, calming him down. Dragena raised Slick, looking him in the eyes. For a second, Annie became afraid that Dragena might slap her son. She started to stand up when the warlord spoke:

"You are not weak, Slick. This is merely a phase in your life as you are growing up."

"You lie! I am always getting tired too fast, always want to fall asleep first!" Slick almost cried out in embarrassment, his eyes closing against his will.

"And yet you are already stronger and healthier than many other people in the world. Be content with what you have and work toward betterment, step by step," Dragena took her son into her arms, gently rocking him in her arms, "Don’t rush, focus on being happy instead. I will take you with us when we go hunting for insectoids."

"Promise?" Slick asked, while his eyes were closing.

"Promise. Now sleep." Dragena waited for her son to fall asleep and looked at the other children, before carrying him away to his room.

"No teasing him, you got it?" Annie whispered to the cubs.

Lydia zipped up an invisible zipper on her lips and threw away an imaginary key. The other cubs simply nodded, while Hubert looked surprised.

After the cubs finished feasting, Annie offered to help clean the plates, but Dragena refused to accept any help. Kassandra arrived to pick up Hubert, while Jenny went to her room to study, and Lidya charged away with her brothers. Dragena prepared a tea for herself and Annie.

"You heard the recent news?" Dragena asked.

"Pearl is unhappy with our "daring raid", I gather?"

"They are, and yet they will do nothing about it," The warlord drank from her cup, putting the terminal on the table, "Pearl is a complex nation. Numerous political parties struggle with each other for dominance there. Some are angry at us, some are secretly thankful to us for embarrassing their political rivals, and others are openly glad that at least some criminals will pay with their lives. The Dynast offered them the entire underground arena, and the incident is more or less over. No. What I am speaking off is…" She pressed the button on the terminal, "This."

The display in the terminal showed a massive figure clad in armor, standing before the reporters. The Reclaimers released a series of videos showing that Huntsman and Blaguna Nokto visited the arena in Pearl. The Dynast himself demanded that these two arrive to give evidence about the ongoing trial. King, the leader of the Resistance, was giving a press conference in response to recent claims of his involvement in the arena business in Pearl:

"…Dynast claims that his state intends to "reclaim" Ravaged Lands…" Despite his scary visage, King spoke with a deep, calm, and assured voice. His entire figure showed restrained strength, rather than violent fury, "Reclaiming usually means that someone owned something, lost it and now wants it back. To my knowledge, there is not a single person in our lands who was a slave to Dynast. To my knowledge, neither Dynast nor the Reclamation Army ever conquered the Ravaged Lands. Dynast does not own us, nor does he have any claims to our lands. Naturally, we refuse to give up our independence and will try to settle the dispute between us and Dynast…" Annie noticed how King was using Dynast’s name instead of addressing all Reclaimers. Clever trick, but he underestimates the loyalty of the people in the state if he hopes that anyone will go against the ruler, "…Through diplomacy. If any of our people want to leave for the greener pastures of the Reclamation Army, we will, of course, allow it. However! Despite our cooperation, we now see the full danger coming from the Reclamation Army. Recently, they carried out a military operation in the neutral state of Pearl. Who do they think they are, carrying on illegal military operations in a sovereign state? In light of this news, as well as the demands sent to us by Dynast, the Resistance is unfortunately forced to begin preparing for a possible defensive war. We understand that the Reclamation Army is a strong nation, and thus we humbly ask our neighbors for the assistance in negotiating a peace treaty that would satisfy both sides. We will also accept any help that other countries are willing to spare for us. Please understand, we do not intend to start aggression against our mighty neighbor, but we will defend our right to live as we see fit on our ancestral lands!"

"And if Dynast refuses to see reason?" One of the reporters asked and King looked at him, somehow conveying pity and determination through the posture of his armored body.

"Then may the Planet show mercy upon us all. Even if I stand alone, I will protect the people who trusted in me enough to put me in this position as long as my body is able to stand." The King's words were accompanied by thunderous applause from his bodyguards, and Dragena turned off the recording.

"Have you noticed something in his speech?" Dragena asked Annie.

"He is mentioning the Dynast. A lot. He is pinning whatever will happen next on him." Annie responded.

"True," The warlord nodded, "He is also not refuting the allegations of being involved in the arena business."

"Because he can’t! No doubt Hilda already spilled the beans under the power of Ivar or Wyrm Lord."

"That’s the crux of the issue," Dragena stopped Annie's enthusiasm, "Yes, I have little doubt that they already made her talk. Yet who will believe that the Dynast won’t be using wyrm’s power to get a go on the Ravaged Lands? We all know that our liege wants the region to join the state. No, to get a proper reason to invade, the Dynast needs irrefutable proof. And yet here King refuses to even talk about allegations, much less refute them, almost as if he is mocking the Dynast. While Iterna and Oathtakers keep their silence about the matter."

"What do you mean?" Annie was confused as to why Dragena was leading.

"A few years ago, we moved forces to the border of Oathtakers. However, the military campaign never started. The official reason was that we wanted to help our allies against Chosen Prince and his hordes… But it almost looks like some sort of a deal was made, the Dynast got something from Iterna and the Oathtakers to not start a massive war. Soon after, the Third Army began to be massively upgraded with fresh weapons, people, and equipment. And now King insults the Dynast, knowing full well how our liege treats challenges, while all three of the King’s potential allies are silent. I can understand why the Dynast wants the war, but why would King want a war that he couldn’t possibly win?"

"Why does it matter if we have irrefutable proof?" Annie scratched her, not understanding, "Resistance is just a bunch of raiders mixed with a few stable countries. Back in the old days Reclaimers…"

"Because we are no longer "back in the days", we are in now and here," Dragena looked Annie in the eyes, "Annie, times have changed. What was allowed before is no longer allowed now. The civilization... We have grown up. All of us, even Dynast himself. We play… now we are trying to act in accordance with the international rules to avoid coming in a direct conflict with Iterna. To avoid… becoming barbarians. For this reason, the state had to give concessions to Pearl in order to mitigate this scandal. If King just admits that someone from his organization was involved and he didn't know anything, heads will roll, but the Dynast would find his hands tied up and King will be free from suspicions. Now however…"

Dragena stopped speaking when she heard how someone slammed the entrance door. Annie turned up, seeing Lidya and the smaller wolfkin girl stepping inside the kitchen. Unlike Lidya, Nikka was walking barefoot.

"Lidya, show hospitality to the guest. Bring slippers, at once," Dragena commanded, looking at the smaller wolfkin, "You are Nikka." This was not a question.

"Yes, warlord. I apologize for causing problems for your guest, warlord," The cub bowed, showing her neck to Dragena. Annie noticed some dried-up blood around her ear. Dragena noticed it as well, picking up and dragging the scared girl toward herself with ease.

 "Annie, pass me the med kit." Dragena commanded, seating the girl on the knee.

"This is not needed, scars are the honorable marks and I am perfectly able to weather any injuries!" The cub squeaked, trembling and afraid to look up at the warlord. Dragena ignored her fear, opening the med kit and starting to clean up the blood from the ear, spreading the fur across the ear to see the injury.

"I believe you. There is no need to add to your scars, though," Dragena looked at Annie, "I am sorry, we will have to speak another time. There is a more important matter right now. Nikka, the flesh in your wound is still bleeding. If you can’t reach the wound or don’t know how to stitch the edges of the wound yet, just ask any shaman, any wolf hag, or even come to me to treat your wound next time," Dragena tilted her head, cleaning the blood from the wound and working to stop the bleeding. She looked up, seeing her daughter coming into the kitchen, "Lidya. Come here. You did this, now I am going to show you how to treat this. Watch and learn. Next time you hurt anyone, you will be responsible for their full recovery."

"I know how to treat wounds," Lidya jumped on a chair near her mother, standing up on her feet and trying to look over Dragena’s shoulder, "Slick taught me and Jenny when we…" She stopped.

"When "we" what?" Dragena asked calmly. She never raised her voice, looking at her daughter with bland eyes.

"Oh. You are not supposed to know. It’s our secret." The girl became shy all of a sudden.

"I see. Show me then how you would treat this injury."

"Please don’t use me as a training dummy," Nikka asked and forced the next words out of herself, "I am scared." Despite her fear, the girl didn’t move. From birth, the wolfkins are taught to obey warlords and shamans in everything and always speak the truth. In the past, such behavior caused some tragedies. During the time when the Tribe left the state to look for Ravager, one of the warlords used several cubs as a distraction to save a large part of the Tribe. Alpha skinned this warlord alive for this, condemning the woman to stay forever in the rank of the wolf hag.

"We don’t, you won’t even have a scar by the end of it. Everything is under control," Dragena looked at the girl on her knee for a moment, before adding, "Stay calm and you will get an entire chocolate bar once we are done. A large one. Work slowly and carefully, Lidya. We will talk about this secret of yours later."

Annie smiled and left the warlord, feeling better all of a sudden. 

****

The dreaded day has finally come. Annie felt trembling in her paws as she was washing herself in the shower. And yet her training finally came to bear fruit. She slept soundly that night, despite all her worries. Her wounds were healed, but the command insisted that all injured personnel take some additional days off. And if her wounds were healed, then so too were the wounds of…

She called Dragena, apologizing for being unable to pick up the cubs today. The warlord told her not to worry, stating that this was of no concern. She has already asked the shaman Hilda to escort the cubs.

Annie looked in the mirror and pressed her paws together, praying for help. The Spirits were silent, as usual, but the mere fact of intoning words of prayer in her mind allowed the young woman to calm down. She looked over herself, running her fingers over the scars that Virginia left on her face. She felt anger, mixed with bitterness. She touched the insides of her nostrils, remembering the humiliation that she felt, allowing hatred to burn away the fear, if just for a short while. Alas, her anger was not a satisfying feeling, for it was neither cold nor certain. She was angry at Svetka for being stupid. She was angry at herself for being unable to protect her sister. She felt anger at Virginia, for always appearing in her life and ruining everything. And finally, at the world, for never allowing things to go her way.

Ok, enough with this shit. Annie shook her head, storming out of the bathroom. Grabbing her things from the locker, she put on her clothes, taking deep breaths to calm herself. The first thing she did was to check if members of her pack were healthy. One of the Branded had a minor stomach pain, and Annie commanded him to show himself to the medics. She checked if every member of her pack was present, ran them through a training course to see how Kayleen was handling things in Annie’s absence. The results were more than satisfactory, Lucendra disarmed a dummy mine, allowing the pack to storm a training building and take down bots who played the role of enemies. Carty used her sniper rifle to assist her team in "taking down" mechs armed with heavy weaponry, while Kayleen and her team freed the "hostages" allowing Annie and other scouts to finish off the "heads" of the enemy force. The physical and morale of the pack were at adequate levels, even though their wolf hag and their scouts did not use physical force to motivate the members. Upon finishing the daily training and receiving a report from the medics that the sick soldier somehow managed to swallow a poison bug during the running exercise and will have to spend the night in the infirmary, Annie sent her pack to rest, briefly visiting the Branded to cheer him on.

She charged toward the training halls, jumping over the stairs. Her paws trembled again upon reaching the door’s handle, and Annie angrily bit her own tongue all the way to the blood. Be calm! Calm like a water stream. The woman angrily thought, opening the doors and stepping inside. Adults deal with the hand dealt to them by fate.

She was greeted by numerous faces. The entire Virginia’s pack, over a hundred people, were present here, sitting, pretending to be doing exercises, yet all of them looked curiously at the podium. Svetlana was already inside, making stretching exercises. Other wolfkins looked at her, the nurse was missing her badge of noncombatant, instincts to find out who was stronger were burning in them. And yet no one dared challenge Svetlana. No one was foolish enough to challenge a sparring partner who belonged to the wolf hag.

"Are you seriously going to do it?" Annie angrily asked Svetka, looking down on her.

"Yes," The stubborn fool replied, standing up. She cracked her knuckles, trying to look brave. Yet Annie could see nervousness in her posture, an occasional licking of lips, "I am going to prove to you, that you don’t need to protect me."

"You are going to get crushed," Annie put her paw on the shoulders of her sister, "Listen, don’t do it, ok? Let’s say that you already won over me, and you come back to the Core Lands safe and so…"

Svetlana stepped onto the sparring podium, shrugging off Annie's paws. She was smaller than Annie, her build was lean, and not a single scar covered her magnificent hide. This piqued the interest of all the wolfkins inside the room. Annie could practically read their thoughts. Who is she? Why is she without a mark on her? Is she that strong? Svetka walked to the center of the podium, her movements elegant, yet in every step, in every move of her arm, there was nervousness and uncertainty. Her steps were a bit too slow, as if she were a prisoner being escorted to a place of execution. She raised her arms in a combat stance, but that was the stance of a complete amateur. Her fist barely protected her head, and another arm would offer no help against an attack in her midsection.

Virginia stepped onto the podium, brimming with energy and looking healthy once more. She spread her arms wide, her wrists nearly as thick as Svetlana’s shoulders. The smile gave her a beautiful expression, despite her ruined body. Her scars looked like medals, her movements were confident and assured. She was wearing tight shorts and a t-shirt with long sleeves. Annie begrudgingly noticed that Virginia had finally learned how to treat and clean her clothes.

"Hey." A voice behind Annie said. She turned around and saw Carty. Behind her, Kayleen, Lucendra, and other members of Annie’s pack were streaming into the training hall, making the place crowded. One of the wolfkins from the Virginia pack wanted to snap at Lucendra, but the smaller warrior offered her fellow some chips. Two women sat side by side, looking at the podium, chewing food.

"What are you doing here?" Annie’s eyes narrowed. Right now, the pack has some free time, but they should still spend it training or reading. Or resting.

"Just dropping by wolf hag. In case of anything." Carty bowed to the wolf hag before turning to the podium.

Virginia walked toward her opponent, a mountain of muscle in front of a tiny hill. The wolf hag looked straight ahead, way above the head of her opponent. Svetlana’s posture dropped once the shadow of her opponent fell on her.

Just one or two hits. To give Svetka an idea of how dangerous it is here. Annie thought, coming closer to the podium and clenching her fists. Virginia raised her paw, looking at it, turning her paw up and down. OK, one hit, no more. Sveta will surely be afraid enough to run all the way back to the Core Lands. A claw slid from the finger of Virginia, looking thicker than the finger of her opponent. Ok, no hit, no hit at all!

The arm of Virginia shot forward, and so too did Annie, leaving footprints in the ground. She felt air hit across her fur, her vision became a tunnel, focused on the two fighters on the podium. Time slowed down to a crawl, and she found herself standing in front of Svetlana, ready to redirect a hit…

Ready to redirect a hit that never came. Virginia was sitting cross-legged before Svetlana, scratching her own back with a claw. Annie felt the feeling coming from the outside of the arena, entire pack of Virginia had frozen in anger, ready to charge in and support their wolf hag.

"So, I was thinking," Virginia said, utterly ignoring Annie and the tension outside of the ring. She gestured to Sveta, "You are smart, right? Finished this university or something..."

"Annie?" Svetlana briefly asked the back of her sister, before looking at Virginia, "Y… yes, I did."

"Cool! Can you help me finish the online school?" Annie could literally feel how the tense feeling was dissipating, the wolfkins outside of the arena were confused, even Carty raised her brow. Virginia smiled guilty, "I tried, honest! Three times! But each time teachers leave me for the second year due to my problems with understanding algebra… Artistry… Literature… Come to think of it, quite a lot of things," Virginia took herself by the chin, assuming a serious expression for a moment before smiling again, "So… care to help me out?"

"S…Sure, why not." Svetlana replied, looking around in uncertainty.

Annie looked first at her sister with disbelief, before turning back to Virginia, sizing her up. The wolf hag was sitting with both of her arms behind her back and smiling into the face of Annie.

"What in the name of the Abyss was this about?!" Annie shouted, both confused and relieved at the same time. But more so, she felt angry. So unbelievably, unbelievably angry. This idiot made a fool out of her once more. If a fool makes a fool out of you, then what does it say about you? She heard the teacher’s voice inside her head.

"Well, it is how it is…" Virginia scratched her head, "I was looking for help, so I asked for help," She jumped on her feet, wrapping her right arm around Svetlana’s shoulders and looking at the faces of both packs, "This is my teacher now. Any bitch or whoreson who wants to challenge her must first go through me. I, the wolf hag of Alpha’s pack, claim this as the rule for all packs. Anyone feeling fighsty, come on, we’ll settle it right here, right now!" No one was stupid enough to challenge the wolf hag, and Virginia let go of Svetlana, rocking her shoulders, and walking down from the podium.

"A moment," Annie asked, and the fellow wolf hag turned around, "About what I promise to you," Annie felt the eyes of Svetka on the back of her head and ignored it, feeling annoying humiliation spreading all around her body, "Name your reward."

The massive form of the rust-colored wolfkin stopped. She turned back, slowly, yet fluidly, the perfect example of holding back physical might. The wild and foolish smile was gone from the lips, now they were pressed in a thin line, while amber eyes sized up Annie.

"But you already know," Virginia said quietly, raising her fists in front of her face and keeping her shoulders down, "we both want the same thing."

Annie smiled back, reaching for Sveta and throwing her back, into the arms of Carty.

"Anyone who touches the nurse, we’ll be dealing with me!" Virginia and Annie shouted at the same time, looking surprised at each other before laughing out loud. Finally, they composed themselves, and Annie said, "Other than that, feel free to have fun. Alpha pack against Dragena pack. No permanent injuries or claws are allowed! Throw the fight rather than injure the opponent!"

"You heard the wolf hag! Put your pride on the line! Also, the loser pays for the dinner!" Virginia jumped in place, eager to begin, while other wolfkins climbed onto the podium, taking place beside their wolf hag.

Lucendra, the other Branded, a few wolfkins from Annie’s pack, and several wolfkins from Virginia’s pack decided to sit this one out. Annie bore them no animosity, but rather respected their decision. They knew that they couldn’t contribute to the brawl without risking serious injuries to themselves, thus they judged right and stepped away.

The training hall was split in two between two groups of wolfkins. Annie stood up, the right paw in front of her face in the form of a cup. The other arm, mimicking the gesture yet standing behind the back. There was no announcer to begin the sparring match, Virginia simply loudly howled and charged at Annie. Her pack followed after her like a raging stream of water out of a broken dam.

The wolf hag punched with her right arm, turning the punch into a thrust and aiming for Annie’s neck. Like a one-trick pony. Would it kill you to start more elegantly? Annie thought, remembering this movement from their first fight. Her right paw moved, gracefully covering the incoming strike and pushing it aside, over her shoulder. Her left arm moved, landing a cruel chop over the Virginia’s neck, right in the place where the neck connected to the shoulder. The force behind the blow caused the stone beneath Virginia’s legs to explode, and the wolf hag growled in appreciation of the hit. She responded with a kick. A simple kick of her left leg, timed to the same moment when Annie was retracting her left arm. This kick landed between the legs of Annie, sending her into the air.

Two wolfkins from Virginia’s pack jumped in the air, eager to make a follow-up attack in the name of their leader. Annie landed her paws against their eyes, weaving around their kicks. She did not use the living whip, but rather simple slaps instead. With her physicals, it was enough to make them weep against their will. She landed along with them, grabbing both confused wolfkins by their shoulders, their vision still murky from the tears in their eyes. In a single motion, she turned them to face her and landed an elbow strike in their solar plexuses, pushing them aside. For a few moments, they would have trouble gasping for air, but Annie pulled her punches against them, making sure not to hurt them too much. Loyalty must be rewarded.

Virginia threw two wolfkins aside from herself, splattering them against the walls. She came face to-face with Carty, spreading her arms wide and raising her fists over her own head. Carty ignored the posture of her opponent, landing a crushing blow with her right into Virginia’s chest. The wolf hag grumbled in admiration when her body moved back an inch, leaving footprints in the stone ground. The arms of Virginia moved, and Carty barely had the time to take on the incoming attack on her forearms. The force behind Virginia’s blow brought her to her knees.

Annie charged to help, starting a kick aimed at the back of Virginia’s head. A wolfkin appeared before her, her kick flawlessly landed on Annie’s knee, pushing the leg back onto the ground. Pardon, what? Annie blinked, stepping back when the wolfkin before her made two feints with her left leg, aiming for Annie’s snout. Annie’s opponent moved after the wolf hag using a well-timed jump of her right leg, her movements were economic and practical, so unlike the brutish examples of Virginia’s might. Her technique was good, but predictable. She should have kicked after the first feint, not allowing Annie to get used to her movements. Annie caught the kick aimed at her face, aimed to twitch the leg of her opponent. Instead of panicking, the wolfkin used Annie’s hold as a foothold and landed a brutal kick into Annie’s abdomen with her right leg. Ok, she is good! If this was a real fight, her claws would have shredded my intestines! Annie thought, feeling adoration. She did not consider herself a master of martial arts, she was far too green for this. But Annie could and did respect a well-trained and well-performed technique. Her opponent struck with fingers rather than with her whole foot, all too used to execute a well-crafted killing technique in a single way. Without a doubt, this was something to take down in Virginia. But right now, it barely caused a blood to appear on Annie’s lips. Holding her opponent with her left paw by the leg, Annie pulled her back, aiming her punch right at the belly of her opponent, not holding back as a sign of respect. Her opponent was a bit green, she was unused to the restraints in a fight, but she obeyed the rules flawlessly. She barely managed to take a blow on her forearms, slightly arresting the impact, before Annie pushed her arm forward, landing the punch in the belly and causing the woman to gasp in pain. In time, this youngster will become a great wolf hag. Annie decided that she would ask Carty to give this woman a few pointers after a fight, they have something to learn from each other. Annie spun her around and threw her opponent into Carty, sending them both away from Virginia. Let them sort it between themselves, while the wolf hag will take on the wolf hag.

Annie jumped, landing a kick across Virginia’s snout the moment she turned to the left, trying to face Annie. The smile on the wolf hag’s face quickly disappeared, when Virginia grabbed Annie by the sides, turned her face down and slammed her into the ground. Annie threw up, feeling the stone crashing beneath her body. Her legs moved, wrapping themselves around Virginia’s neck. A move from Olympiada, Virginia either allows herself to be choked or will allow herself to be thrown away. The wolf hag chose the latter, Annie threw her forward, jumping on both legs to face her opponent.

Annie raised both arms up, taking an overhead kick from Virginia onto the forearms. She pushed the kick to the right and, as the leg of Virginia touched the ground and the wolf hag turned to face Annie, quickly moved forward, striking with her left elbow into the stomach of the rust-colored wolfkin. Virginia gasped from pain, as the force behind the blow sent her backwards. Annie wanted to follow up with a thrusting attack using the palm of her right paw straight into the snout of her opponent, when the paws of Virginia grabbed her by the shoulders, making the thrust lose its mark, glancing at the cheek of the wolf hag instead. Annie ended up being pulled forward, right into the incoming knee of her opponent, and it was now Annie’s turn to gasp as a strong hit beat the air out of her lungs, sending her flying backward.

Dammit, dammit, dammit! Annie felt excitement taking over her. Virginia was strong. And despite her brutish appearance, there was a cunning to her, she adapted to every move of Annie's way too soon, always finding a way to break the chain of her follow-up attacks. All the better. It'll be extasy when you crawl in front of me. Wait, do I still want it? At least I must win! Annie let her arms become loose, allowing her body to let go of tension and fear of defeat. Nothing is set in stone. Virginia was stronger than her, grappling won’t do Annie any good. Redirection was also out of options, for all that it granted to Annie so far was a hit in exchange for being hit. In a battle of stamina, Virginia will win. The sound paw and the living whip are both too dangerous to use here, she wanted to win, not to kill or maim her friend. This left Annie with only one choice.

Her body moved forward, the world before her became a tunnel, in which only she and Virginia existed. She charged past her foe at a speed far greater than anything she could react to. Her elbow began to move prior to her movement, landing a brutal hit across the ribs of her foe, causing Virginia to spasm from pain and spit blood on the floor. I didn’t go too hard, right? Annie thought in a mild panic, ending her movement in a roll in order to stop safely. The precise and excellent flash step that she executed against Palatine was no more, no matter how she tried, she could not replicate the miracle that descended upon her in this fight.. It aggravated the wolf hag to no end, she tried to repeat the motions again and again, but could find no answer as to what she was lacking. She was simply too green. But botched or not, the flash step still turned her into a blur before Virginia’s eyes, even this idiot could not hope to beat something she could not possibly react to. Victory is mine by right! Annie thought, assuming the stance once more and charging forward the moment Virginia turned to face her. This time she aimed for…

Pain speared her, throwing her back away from Virginia. A dent appeared on her belly, and Annie vomited her dinner onto the floor, falling on her knees and allowing the force behind the blow to slide her body away from Virginia. The rust-colored wolf hag knelt, pressing a paw against her armpit and frowning in agony. Annie intended to slam a palm against Virginia’s temple, but her counterattack messed up Annie’s attack, and instead she landed a hit on the armpit.

"H… how?" Annie asked incredulously.

"You just charges in a stra… stra… forward," Virginia hiccupped with blood, "Even an idiot would learn to put an elbow in your path," She spat some more blood, standing up on her trembling legs, "Annie, you ok?"

"Gu… guess so, Virginia. Are you ok?" Annie responded, standing up as well, wondering why no one had bothered to attack them yet. Her abdomen hurt like crazy, but not a single vital organ was ruptured or damaged. At least, that's what she thought. So far so good.

"G…golden. Time to finish it."

"C… could not put it better myself."

They stood up, preparing for one last charge at each other. Annie was unsure of what exactly she could do to drop Virginia. Her experience screamed at her to go lethal, for she was physically weaker than her opponent. Virginia already no longer trembled, while Annie’s legs were still shaking. But breaking the rules first? Screw that. If I lose, then so be it. Annie thought with fake bravery, feeling desperation creeping in, messing with her focus. She did not enjoy this fight anymore. Win, she only wanted to win. To reclaim what was lost and move on with her life. And Virginia was smiling. Enjoys my misery, eh? Let’s see if I can wipe out this smirk.

"Enough." A voice said, and a wave of terror hit everyone inside the training hall, stopping everyone inside. Kayleen let go of her opponent, helping the woman back on her feet. Annie stopped mid charge, nearly falling and feeling like someone dropped a bucket with ice cold water onto her Virginia straightened herself up, standing at attention with a glint of fear in her eyes. The all-out fight within the hall stopped in an instant, no matter the bravado, no matter the fury, every single person within knew, on some deep instinct level, that they had to stop. Or they will be stopped by force.

Alpha stepped inside the room, dressed in a military coat, accompanied by Blaze, Ron, and Svetlana. Blaze was dressed in a strict black shirt reaching all the way to her ankles, a white shirt, black tie; and a green vest without sleeves. She gestured with one paw to everyone within the room, stopping instantly the moment Alpha glanced at her. Ron was dressed in black pants, a white shirt, and a green vest. He simply smiled, holding Sveta back by the shoulder, away from the field of fear that crept from Alpha in a wide arc inside the room.

After becoming the wolf hag, Annie became privy to the personal biographies of all warlords and learned about their medical conditions and powers. Of course, there were some gaps, such as the absence of Valerye and Zero's faces from the records, but Annie learned a lot overall. Alpha’s personal power was the passive ability to cause unnatural horror in others. Even the bravest people died or became mad in the wake of the full release of Alpha’s power. The passive powers were usually the powers that a new breed could not control. Some new breeds with passive powers were constantly on fire, others could see for a few seconds into the future. Through incredible concentration, Alpha gained a modicum of control over her power, storing the fear within herself and only releasing a paltry part in the direction that she wished it to be released, using it like a whip to motivate her soldiers or to gain their attention. Sometimes, however, she did slip in her control over the power, causing people around her to feel uncomfortable. But Alpha claimed with pride that her control over her passive power was nearly absolute, in all the centuries that she was alive, the victims of her power became dead or mad only because she wished so.

In accordance with state law, the users of dangerous passive powers, like Alpha, were meant to take the power suppression drug, special pills produced by Iterna. The pharmacy companies in Iterna started to produce them after an unfortunate incident when a newborn set a whole hospital on fire with his passive power. Granted, it was an Iternian hospital, so even though people received serious burns, nobody died, and everyone recovered. The newborn was placed in a special room, while scientists were busy trying to find a way to ensure that he will be able to live a normal life. Rho’s pharmacy company, Healthcare Universal, was the one that was able to produce a universal drug that could temporarily suppress powers. Surprisingly, many people around the world were ready to pay for having their personal powers reigned in and drug became widespread, even being included in the international treaty between three major countries. This drug was also used to ensure that criminals from the ranks of new breeds with powers wouldn’t escape confinement. Alpha refused to take the pills, claiming that she joined the military before such a law existed and thus had never agreed to it. She refused to listen even to the Dynast, going so far as to be willing to leave the force and the state should this law be enforced on her. Her reason for her refusal was that she was losing all her hair after consuming a power suppressant pill. No one knew what was causing this side effect in her case, and Alpha herself refused to visit Iterna in order to be investigated. The Rho's pharmacy company claimed that no other abnormal had ever experienced such a side effect, and they were also baffled as to why this was happening. Argus Rho personally offered a large sum of tokens to Alpha if she would just arrive for the examination in Iterna, yet the warlord refused this offer as well. Finally, the Dynast agreed to allow Alpha to stay exempt from the law, provided that she never permanently harms civilians and non-hostiles with her power. The state’s scientists developed a special "bed" for Alpha, made in the form of a box, where she could sleep safely without being worried that her powers will harm her allies or civilians, instead of leaving her to sleep in the wastelands as she had to do before.

Alpha made two steps inside, glancing at Lucendra and the others who were sitting on the sidelines.

"Sit and relax," Alpha commanded to them, "Continue eating. You are good cubs. I am missing for several days due to the internal investigation, and discipline appears to be deteriorating." she said to everyone else.

"We were merely involved in the hand-to-hand training course, warlord." Virginia quickly said.

"Is that so?" When Alpha appeared in front of Virginia, she moved more like a teleporter. To Annie's eyes, the warlord simply vanished from one location and reappeared in another. The warlord looked at the wolfkins around her critically and said, "Admirable if that is so. No badly torn skin, no lacerated wounds, no serious damage overall, just bruises here and there…" Alpha looked mildly and pleasantly surprised, moving across the wolfkins, her large snout before them, sniffing the people in front of her. She returned to Virginia after walking the length of the hall in silence.

"It was all thanks to the wise command of the wolf hag Annie. Everybody was willing to give up, rather than hurt each other, ma’am." Virginia nodded at the fellow wolf hag.

"My command only worked because Virginia and Kayleen trained their packs exemplarily!" Annie quickly said, "I became the wolf hag not too long ago and barely had any paw in commanding my new pack, ma’am!"

"How curious," Eyes of the Alpha sized up Annie for a moment, before looking back on Virginia, "Usually at this part, I punish the degradants. However, it really looks like this was just a friendly sparring match," Alpha blinked, and the fear disappeared, like fog before a hurricane, "Svetlana, you were right to call me here. However, nothing serious happened. Virginia, Annie, the construction of a terminal network is happening near the village. Your packs are volunteered to aid in the construction. Am I understood?"

"Yes, ma’am!" Annie and Virginia saluted at once.

"Additional rations to the ones who decided to sit out this "friendly brawl" aside. They are free to stay aside from this voluntary duty as well," Alpha silenced starting to talk Lucendra with a gesture, "Feel free to join if you wish, although I would rather have you spend time learning something useful."

"Uh, about that…" Svetlana said, and the gigantic being turned to her, "Can I speak with you for a moment, warlord?"

The warlord crossed the distance between her and the nurse in a flash, bending low and almost hiding Svetlana’s body with her bulk. The head of Alpha was as big as Svetlana’s torso, and now the warlord’s head was right next to Svetlana’s head: "Speak," The warlord commanded, and Annie looked with worry at how Svetlana was hushing something into the Alpha’s ear. The explosive temperament of Alpha was well known, the warlord had little tolerance when she felt that others were wasting her time. Alpha straightened up, turning toward the wolfkins, her eyes wide. Not in anger, however: "Raise a paw, all who never finished school," Alpha clicked her tongue, upon seeing a forest of arms. With a surprise, Annie noticed that Lucendra and others did not raise their paws, "You have a week to find a mentor, a person who will help you join and finish any online school in the state, and report to me. The cost of the mentor’s lessons will be paid by the state. If you can’t find a mentor or are too shy to find one, I will wait for you in my office later tonight or tomorrow. There will be no punishment for failure to find a mentor, I myself will ensure that you will learn enough to complete an education course. Volunteered help is hereby postponed but not cancelled. Dismissed, have your wounds treated by the medics at once."

"Dearest kin, Omega team is of course ready to help," Ron said, and Alpha glanced at him once, before leaving the room, "Please do not be shy, none of us bite. Wild Rabbit?"

"Suck it, Ron. Already found myself a teacher." Virginia wanted to slap Svetlana on her back, but instead just pointed at her with both index fingers.

"I for one, will gladly take this offer," Carty said, wiping out blood from the corner of her mouth. She bowed to Blaze, "Lady Blaze, are you willing to teach this dimwit?"

"Of course, lady Carty," Blaze said, gracefully bowing to the wolfkin in front of her, "it will be an honor. And maybe we will get our rematch out of the way as well, eh?"

"Sorry, but no. Claim a win if you want, but our fight ended two years ago," Carty said, shrugging her shoulders, "Fighting you now would be a bullying."

"Oh, how you tease me so, lady Carty." Blaze smiled wickedly. The wolfkin who kicked Annie also came to join the ones willing to ask Blaze for help.

Ron looked visibly hurt that no one was willing to ask him for help: "Come on, I'm not biting. Is this because I am a male?" He rolled his eyes, seeing the nods, "So what? This is not the battle, why do you care? Success is all what matters." Several warriors and several soldiers hesitantly moved towards him.

"If you want to, I can help you as well…" Svetka started to talk, but Annie glanced at the sister furiously.

"Didn’t ask to, didn’t need to," She stopped, feeling a pain in her guts. She forced an admission from her lips, "But I do need medical help."

"Yep, me too." Virginia wiped the blood from her lips.

After visiting the infirmary and allowing Svetlana to treat her wounds, Annie returned back to her own room, rummaging through her things. She found the golden pin, noticing with surprise that she somehow hadn’t lost it after all these years. She put it aside, deciding to send it to a museum for safeguarding. After rummaging some more, she found a metal card, gifted to her by Till Ingo. She took it into her paws, wondering if he would even remember her. Probably not, but a chance was a chance.

She left for the communication center and paid for a session, hastily inputting the numbers. To her surprise, instead of a typical connection, an encryption came back, taking control over all the cameras in the room. Something or someone was looking at her from all sides before patching her call to the Till. Finally, cameras came offline, a clear breach of protocol, and the display came to life, showing the face of Till Ingo, who was dressed in a jumpsuit:

"Annie, is that right?" He asked, his eyes moving and noticing her growth, "My, how you've grown. Ready to join the experiment by any chance? I came up with a new idea, injections of the nanomachines straight into the bloodstream. The test subjects showed an adequate increase in physical prowess and, aside from a few fashionably looking glowing veins…"

"No!" Annie almost shouted back, before bowing, "Greetings, mister Till. Sorry for the late call, but I am in need of your help," He prompted her to keep on speaking with his silver arm, "I need to finish school. It is probably bold of me to distract you from your work and…"

"Oh, please, I can concentrate on two things at once," Till frowned, and his forehead glowed a little. He pressed his hands together and nodded, "Yes, I do have a bit of free time. Prepare your daily schedule and send it to me," He frowned again, looking at something, "Are you seriously paying for this call right now?"

"Yes, but don’t worry!" Annie quickly responded, afraid that he might pull Camelia on her. While accepting tokens from the cousin was one thing, accepting tokens from an unknown person was beyond humiliating, "Warlord Alpha promised that the cost of the mentor’s lessons would be covered."

Till smiled, and his calm and assured smile caused worry in Annie. Something akin to happiness flashed in his eyes: "And here is my way in," He whispered softly and triumphally, before giving a quick nod, "I will contact Wyrm Lord myself. I am waiting for your working schedule pronto, we need to find out at which hours I can teach you. Also, please inform anyone else who is interested in learning that they are welcome to participate"

Contact Wyrm Lord? Annie’s felt how her thoughts started racing, trying to find the reason, any reason why this man would bother to contact her liege. Surely I didn’t do anything wrong, right?

****

Annie turned on the terminal and connected it to a wide display. The display blinked for a moment, before a black square flashed with colors, showing a brightly lit hospital palace. In a spacious room stood a single hospital bed, with soft white pillows and white sheets. On the other side of the room was a window, showing the bright day outside. Judging by the shadows falling from the window, Annie decided that a tree must partially block the sunlight. A small dresser stood near the entrance door. A bunch of purple balloons, with a golden script "Get well soon" on them, were tied to the bed. The pack of Ultis asked Annie to buy them for their leader, and Annie did so, asking hospital personnel to deliver the balloons to the patient.

Ultis herself sat on the floor, in a space between the bed and the window, hugging her own knees and swaying slightly back and forth, looking both small and vulnerable at the moment. A white hospital robe was on her, around her thick neck was a pristine white bandage. The scout tried to ensure that the shadow of the bed covered her constantly.

"Get well soon, Ultis," Annie said, looking into the scout's angry eyes, "How are you?"

She asked the doctors, of course. Wolfkins could heal almost any injury, but even they couldn’t regrow the lost organs. The insides of the scout still bore the marks from the time when she clawed out the bomb from her womb and her vocal cords were horribly damaged. The doctors admitted to Annie that it was a miracle that Ultis could even speak before. Several of her bones were deformed, either from harsh living during the Wolf Time or from her time as a slave. The operation was declared to be a success, but unlike with Annie, the damage to Ultis’ body was far from recent and needed proper care to heal properly. The doctors intended to keep her for at least half a month in the hospital to ensure that her body fully recovered. The scout was less than happy with this development, soon attempting to refuse to even leave her room for the recreation procedures. The doctors tried to contact Dragena, but instead it was Alpha who answered the call. In the absence of Dragena, Alpha was overseeing both packs. Ultis no longer dared to resist the doctors and obeyed them in everything after a single call from Alpha.

"Wolf hag," Ultis looked up and spoke in an unusually deep, calm, and assured voice, "How is my pack?"

"Training," Annie responded. Seeing the eyes of Ultis, she decided to speak the truth, "Tarco got his ear torn in a dispute with Uka. Nothing serious, Svetlana assured me that there would be no scar when it healed. I assigned Uka to clean up the toilets for a month to cool off her temper."

"Uka is too harsh on him," Ultis complained, "Boy is a bit slow, true, but he never falters in combat. I will have to remind Uka that mentoring others is not her duty upon coming back. Thanks for the balloons, by the way. Give my thanks to them as well. Permission to speak freely, wolf hag?" Ultis asked. She stopped swaying and looked at Annie, allowing anger to disappear from her eyes.

"Of course."

"I hate it, hate it, hate it…." Ultis mumbled quickly, resuming her swaying, "I am all alone here, these blasted ice boys continue to waltz in, trying to "socialize" with me as they say, the doctors keep taking me for checkups and I lie on a bed, while they poke me, study me, check all parts of my body even… I want out!" She almost screamed. "I want out before they put something inside of my body and rob me of my freedom again. Please, Annie, get me out of here, please, my body will heal on its own, please. I need…Everyone."

"Ultis, you spent nearly a month infiltrating Hilda’s arena. And you were fine…" Annie tried to reason with the scout.

"Who says that I was all right? I was scared shitless of making a mistake! All I wanted was to relax and calm down after the mission… And now I am all alone, with no one whom I trust to watch over my back when I sleep! And these "cousins" of ours… I am sure that some of them were in the nearby room on purpose!" Ultis replied, looking around with wild eyes, "Recovery, as if! At least one ice boy is there each time I want to use the training room. No coincidence, no coincidence at all!"

"Ultis, this hospital serves as a primary healing facility for the Ice Fang order. It’s a little wonder that some of them are here. You are an adult, please act like…" Annie tried to call for the dignity of her soldier.

"Screw you, I am an adult who is freaking out!" The scout replied bitterly, "I don’t like this place. It smells just like the place where I received a slave collar."

"All hospitals smell the same. Ultis, the Ice Fang order won’t harm you. If nothing else, because we, no… Because you saved one of them!"

"Oh yeah? Then why can’t they leave me alone?" The scout asked skeptically, "A freaking sword saint came to thank me for saving his great-granddaughter. I think that he was speaking of Ulrica. I told him to please leave me alone and the dude asked me what he did to insult me instead of leaving!"

"Ultis they are simply grateful. No one is plotting anything, stop acting paranoid."

The scout took a long breath and raised one finger, "Okay then. Let’s play your game, Annie. Name to me one good thing that came out for you after the interaction with the Ice Fang order."

"Well…" Annie started to think, desperately wishing to come up with something, "They paid the doctors to fix my back…" Ultis continued to burrow the wolf hag with her eyes, "Yes, I sorta got injured in the first place just because of them …" Ultis threw her arms up and Annie cursed to herself. She only told Carty, Kayleen, and Ultis about why she left Svetka’s home so early. The wolf hag never expected that this would come to bite her in the ass.

"Every time wolfkins of two tribes meet, it is us who get the short end of the stic…" Ultis fell silent, hearing the sound outside the door.

The door opened and a tall figure entered the room. Sword saint Camelia looked as gorgeous as ever, dressed in a pristine white business suit. A single purple sash was around her waist, as a gesture of respect, the sword saint left her weapon elsewhere upon coming into the room. Her every move was elegant and restrained, yet the sword saint looked at the scout with a calm determination on her face.

"Demon!" Ultis jumped in the air, landing on her feet and pressing her back against the wall. Her eyes glanced around the room, looking for a way out.

"I've had enough," Camelia calmly said, looking down at the smaller scout. She briefly looked at Annie, nodding to her in greeting, before turning to Ultis. The sword saint came close, but still stopped an arm’s reach away from the scout, "The doctor told me that you need help to get rid of constant stress. The Planet is my witness, we tried to be as gentle as we could. Time for a different approach. Get yourself dressed, Ultis."

"Why?" Ultis asked in a weak voice.

"We are going shopping. You, me and young Ulrica, we are all going to spend this day relaxing as ladies should."

"I am not wasting my tokens on this!" Ultis shrieked in panic, "My tokens are for buying a rejuvenation shot!"

"No one is asking you to pay for anything," Camelia looked down on the scout, standing at the respective distance, "All expenses will be covered by the Voidrunner household."

"Lies! I bet you want to trick me into choosing a bunch of stuff and then you will present me with a bill," Ultis blurted out the words quickly, still looking around and trying to look small, "Give me an official contract under which I will not be charged for any of the stuff we buy."

"Ultis, don’t make me come over there and strangle you." Annie growled, feeling embarrassed about the behavior of her subordinate before her cousins. She calmed down, upon remembering her own panic upon encountering the sword saint. She admitted to herself that the only reason she was not afraid of Camelia anymore was because they were speaking through the screen.

"It is fine, Annie. We are well aware of the peculiarities of lady Ultis’ character by now." Camelia briefly looked at her before producing a list of papers out of the pocket of her suit. She gave it to Ultis, and the scout spent several minutes, carefully reading what was written on the paper. Ultis took a deep breath, visibly relaxing, and ran a paw over her head.

"A moment," Ultis charged past the sword saint and produced a terminal from the bed. The scout checked something and finally nodded, "Copy was sent to the command, now you can’t weasel out. Good enough, give me a couple of minutes."

"Wait, that is all?!" Annie demanded to know.

"Always read the contract, Annie." Ultis waved her finger while Camelia left the room, "You never know what sort of trap you can get yourself into if you sign something without reading."

"The hell are you so calm all of a sudden? What about your fear?!" Annie looked at the scout in a mild shock.

"Eh, free stuff is free stuff. Fear can wait." Ultis shrugged her shoulders, walking to the dresser.

"I am going to strangle you," Annie promised, feeling how the vessels in her eyes were about to pop from pure anger. Her terminal gave a blip sound, indicating that a copy of the contract that the Voidrunner household made with Ultis had arrived. Annie felt how her whole body was slowly becoming red from embarrassment. She forced herself to be calm and smiled, "Have fun, Ultis. And… Sorry about forcing you to be stuck out there."

"I’ll live. Just… Call me from time to time, ok? It’s freaky all alone here, still." Ultis replied before ending the connection.

****

Alpha stood, dressed in full tribal garb, before the shamans. As Alpha's muscles bulged, Annie’s nostrils caught the pungent smell of insectoids’ blood coming from Alpha’s body. Attendants of Alpha draw countless words of prayers using the blood of insectoids upon the body of their leader, oversized skulls and bones hang from her neck and arms, hitting each other each time she moves her massive arms. Her hair was loose, covering her body like a cloak of crimson.

"Greetings sisters and greetings to all our kin and welcome to our guests." Alpha threw her arms up. For today’s Gathering, the entire pits were redecorated. Six pits were merged together, into one giant arena. Eighteen stones stood in the arena, one for each warlord. Seventeen figures stood on the stones, looking down on Alpha. Elegant and deadly Dragena, clad in her power armor, her head bare. Brutish Janine, carrying an axe over her shoulder, looking disinterested in her surroundings, her iron jaw covering her snout. Smiling Martyshkina, who suddenly sat at her stone, dangling her legs like a cub, her cloak thrown over her shoulders like a scarf. Valerye Foulsnout, standing at attention, her face hidden behind the helmet. Zero, clad in pitch-black power armor and a cloak. Ygrite, who stood yawning, toying with fangs coming from her arm. And all the others. The warlords have come together.

On the opposite side from them stood the shamans, sharing a single pedestal. Among them towered the form of Lacerated One, fully naked, save for a loincloth. Her wounds were flesh, her blood was painting the stone beneath her red. She stood with her arms crossed in a prayer. Only a few shamans joined this Gathering, most were busy protecting the villages across the Wastes and the Ravaged Lands. Yet even still, two dozen mighty forms surrounded Lacerated One. The chosen of the Spirits only moved to open her wounds from time to time, aside from that, she resembled a statue, standing in serenity and waiting for everyone to assemble. In days of old, it was Ravager who announced the Gathering and then stepped aside. With the blessed mother missing, the duty fell to Alpha.

The wolfkins assembled around the arena made of sand and stone, taking places on the wooden benches, placed on tribunes around the pit’s arena. Males sat side by side with wolf hags and no one baited an eye. The Gathering was a sacred time for the Wolf Tribe, all hostility was left behind on this day. Save for ritual challenges, no fighting was allowed during this time. On this day, both shamans and warlords could make proposals to each other, voting on how the Wolf Tribe should be changed. Several reporters were allowed inside, for the very first time in the history of the Wolf Tribe. Several honorable guests of the Tribe, Ieshua, Angoro, Kassandra, the massive black form of the captain Scorpio that took up one entire side of the building, were allowed as well. The captain brought several sets of documents with him, each filled with arguments and proposals. His first proposal was to ban pits, he even brought a research data that showed how negatively pits influence the younger generation... Upon hearing that he couldn’t make proposals, Scorpio simply fell into a half-sleep near one of the walls, watching over the Gathering through half-closed eyes. Captain Scorpio was somewhat of a welcome guest within the Tribe. Like the blue wyrm and the gold wyrm, Scorpio often abused his power of domination, but at least with the black wyrm, you knew for certain that he would leave your mind intact afterwards. That and Scorpio always helped warlords and shamans when they asked for aid, he was also a close friend of warlords Dragena and Valerye. The teacher was not here, despite the invitation given to him by Dragena. He went to give some lessons to the wolfkins of Janine’s pack. Hans and his family went for vacation in the Core Lands and will be missing for at least a month.

Annie noticed Virginia. The idiot actually came to her for help in preparation for the Gathering. Annie helped her to make sure that her crimson leather coat of the wolf hag was in pristine condition and that the rest of her clothes were up to par. Similar to the celebration of a New Year, two days before and after the Gathering all of the tribe try to act nice and friendly to each other. Dominations were forbidden during this time, and food was handed out aplenty to everyone. This was a time when old grievances were meant to be put to rest, at least temporarily, while the tribe contemplated what route they should take to the future. Thus, Annie tried her best to be friendly with everyone, even if it meant tolerating Virginia. A bronze medal was seen on Virginia’s chest. Virginia had other medals aplenty, but this simple medal, given to her for saving her first hostage from the clutches of raiders, was her true pride and joy, as Virginia admitted to Annie during the preparations for the Gathering. Annie herself was in a blue leather coat as well, underneath it she wore black trousers and a grey t-shirt. She decided against wearing any medals, instead she gave them all to the pack’s museum. Dragena saw no reason in showing off the trophies, and her wolf hags took after her.

Martyshkina noticed Kassandra with Hubert sitting nearby. The warlord jumped down and approached the couple, inviting the cub onto her arms. Kassandra allowed Hubert to approach the warlord, and Martyshkina threw him up in her arms, catching his laughing body with ease. She jumped back on the stone, sitting the cub on her knee and playing with him. Dragena glanced at her, and Martyshkina showed the tongue to the fellow warlord.

"Let the Gathering begin," Alpha threw a glance at Martyshkina but said nothing, "Warlords, shamans, let us hear your opinions about the future!" Alpha finished in a thunderous roar, jumping up on her stone and leaving the stone arena.

Ygrite jumped down and started walking to the center of the arena. Scarred One and Earless One jumped from the shaman’s side, joining behind the woman, clearly approving whatever she was going to say. Ygrite was dressed in a simple vest of a brown color and loose pants. The fabric of her clothes was pierced by the fangs in several places, the warlord took a few moments to gather air in her lungs and spread her arms, speaking in a hoarse voice: "Ya all know me and how much time I was knocked down and rise," Chuckles from the benches accompanied her words, and Ygrite smiled, "So ya gotta admit that I have seen a thing or two about the Tribe. And I’m telling ya, boys and girls, we are so spread out now! Our girls and boys are fighting whole countries away from their homes. Let’s face it, people, they need to have a way to speak with their families. I know, I know we are hardy people and all that, but who is here that doesn’t like to speak with her or his cubs?"

"Or with any cubs for that matter," Martyshkina said, throwing Hubert up and catching him up, "They are growing way too fast. Count me in. How much will it cost the Tribe?"

"Zero. No, not you, sis!" The wolfkins laughed at Ygrite’s joke, and Zero herself chuckled, "I mean that Wyrm Lord is ready to cover the expenses. Our liege just needs our permission to start building up the terminal stations in our villages. I say yay to that! Whadda ya say, dearest kin of mine?!"

You are reading story Duty, empty dreams and trying not to become a monster. at novel35.com

"We support this proposal." Scarred One and Earless One spoke in unison from behind Ygrite's back.

"Agreed. This is needed." Lacerated One said in a honeyed voice, slicing across her shoulder with a claw. Annie noticed that Ieshua cracked his fists at this gesture of self-mutilation. The troll had been looking at Lacerated One since the start of the Gathering.

The shamans voted as one, supporting Lacerated One. Alpha was the second warlord to support this decision. Zero voiced her support right after her. One by one all warlords agreed. The Net will be expanded over the lands of the Wolf Tribe. The moment Ygrite left the stage, Lacerated One jumped into the sand pit, spreading her blood around in an arc: "Dearest kin!" She almost singed, her body dancing across the sand pit. Annie heard how Ieshua was grinding his teeth upon seeing how one of the breasts of Lacerated was dangling on a thread of flesh. The face of the troll was calm as ever, despite his inner turmoil. Lacerated One stopped her ritual dance and addressed the crowd, "Bless you, one and all, kin and guests alike. Spirit of Loss demands that we reflect on our failures. And I learn of one recently. Our kin, this means you all, me included, are uneducated at large," She raised two claws up, silencing the grumbling of the crowd, "It is true! Few of us have school’s certificates. This must not stay. Wyrm Lord built schools around our villages, how about we send the young ones there mandatory?"

"But who will watch over the cusacks?" Martyshkina asked with worry.

"Bloody hell, I will fucking pay for the services of herders!" Scorpio raised his head, his long serpentine neck allowed him to tower over many wolfkins. His purple eyes looked at people before him, "Or better yet, I will ensure that the state will provide you with food. What is there even to think about here? It. Is. Free! Repeat after me, education is good, it offers new possibilities in life and on average prolongs the life."

"Dear guest, please be quiet." Alpha said strickly and Scorpio sighed deeply, resting his head on his arms.

"Dearest guest, work in the fields builds character," Lacerated One almost sang to the captain, before turning back to the wolfkins, "Kin of mine, how will you vote?"

"Against. Let the parents decide. Or the cubs. Imposing our will even in this will lead to tyranny." Martyshkina said and several warlords, along with the majority of the shamans, supported her. Only Alpha, Valerye, Zero, Janine, Scarred One, and Ygrite voted for this idea. Seeing that her idea was rejected, Lacerated One shrugged her shoulders, jumping back on the stone and assuming her praying position once more.

Zero jumped down next, asking to ban the pits. Her proposal was met with laughter, only Janine and Scarred One supported her idea. One after another, warlords and shamans were coming up with their ideas. 

The one-armed male came to the edge of the pit’s arena, raising his remaining arm. Annie noticed that Sonya, the wolf hag of Janine’s pack, looked at this man with clear interest. Prior to this, the wolf hag was sitting, looking bored at the Gathering. The male stood calmly, ready to wait as long as it took for either the warlords or the shamans to notice him. Non-warlords and non-shamans had the right to ask for various things from the leadership of the tribe, yet, without backing from either shamans or warlords, their proposals were often rejected. Lacerated One saw the male, granted him a calm smile, before gesturing for one of the shamans to wait a bit more before making her proposal.

"Bless you, kin," Lacerated One said, gesturing to the sand, "Do you need assistance in taking the stage?"

"No, thank you, shaman," The man nimbly jumped down, walking toward the center of the arena, and bowed to each warlord and shaman in turn. Lacerated One, Zero, and Ygrite greeted him back, while Alpha simply snarled at him, prompting him to get to the point faster. The male straightened himself and started talking, "I came to you all on behalf of all the Crippled. Since our villages now have stone roads, new buildings, and electric lamps… Is it possible to allow the Crippled to work around the villages, maintaining all this in exchange for tokens and food? I asked the normies who came to our lands, and they are willing to teach us how to do it."

"You do not have enough food?" Dragena asked calmly.

"We have enough to survive." The male responded quickly.

"But not enough to thrive," Zero finished for him, and the male nodded quickly. The warlord turned to others, "I support this idea. We should also ask our liege to provide for the less fortunate members of our Tribe."

"But this would be insulting!" One of the shamans exploded in anger, puffing her chest to look bigger, "The duties around the village must be performed by the shamans! It is our job!"

"And we should care about this why?" Alpha asked, looking at the shaman and the woman backed down, "Listen. You work for free. They want tokens for their job to buy sweets for cubs and other stuff. There's nothing wrong with that. Either you work for tokens and give them to the Crippled, or let them do the job."

"But what about others, less fortunate people across the Ravaged Lands?" The man protested Zero’s addition to his idea, "We don’t need pity help. Send it to the ones in true need. We just want the right to work and…"

"Beat it," Alpha yawned, "Take what is yours and be happy. Yep, I am supporting his and Zero’s idea."

The warlords voted for this idea, while the shamans were split in half about this topic. Finally, Lacerated One voted for this idea, putting an end to the dispute between the shamans. The majority of the shamans were unhappy, feeling that they were failing in their duties to watch over the villages, while the man climbed out of the arena with a smile on his snout. He nearly fell, and Sonya grabbed him, helping him to climb up safely.

Eventually Scarred One took the arena, coughing in nervousness. The shamans looked at their sister calmly, the warlords waited patiently as well. In order to avoid grievances in the future, all propositions, however mad and crazy, must be heard and must be given some thought.

"Bless you, kin," Scarred One bowed to the wolfkins. She straightened herself up, pointing at Hubert in the paws of Martyshkina, "We originally named this young one as a defective, and he was cast out from the tribe. Yet you can see that he is fine now. We allow him to stay and to play with our cubs, yet he is not one of us. Shouldn’t we give him the right to be called a member of the Wolf Tribe back?"

"You know the laws." Lacerated One said coolly.

"But look at him! He is healthy!" Scarred One pleaded, looking at the faces around her. Annie nodded to her, approving the intent, if not the end goal. Hubert will live far happier life being away from the tribe.

"His mind is underdeveloped and damaged. If he rejoins the tribe, his fate is known to you." Lacerated One continued speaking in an icy tone, extending one arm and pointing a claw at the boy. Annie saw how Kassandra became tense at these words. Her hand slid to something underneath her coat.

"Point the claw in some other way, sis," Martyshkina smiled, putting a paw on the revolver on her waist. Janine slammed her axe’s head on the stone, looking at Lacerated One, her intent was clear. Martyshkina’s smile widened at this support, "Or we may accidently remove your claw."

"Did I do something bad?" Hubert asked, sensing how people around him became tense.

"Peace, sisters," Lacerated One retracted her claw and raised her paws up to relieve the tension, "The cub is safe and with the good mother. All is well. But he is meant for a normal life," She looked at Hubert, for a moment, her ruined and bloody facial features became soft, and she spoke with a gentle and soothing voice, "All is okay, little one. You did nothing wrong, nothing at all. Have fun and live a long and happy life. If you ever need help, just call me, and I swear, I will come to your aid."

"Then we agree upon this." Janine said calmly, in a slightly metal voice. Martyshkina jumped from the stones, giving Hubert back to his mother, while the warlords rejected the idea of Scarred One. The shamans also refused to support this proposal, and Scarred One, her shoulders hung low, jumped back. Lacerated One threw a glance at her before pressing a bloody finger to the forehead of the fellow shaman, filling the body of Scarred One with energetic feeling. That too was a way of the Wolf Tribe during the Gathering. Aggression and depression must take a backseat on this day, everyone must try to work out their differences. Such was the will of the blessed mother.

Dragena took the stage last, jumping nimbly in the sand arena. With her arms behind her back, she walked across the arena, looking into the eyes of the wolfkins sitting on the benches. Annie felt how the emotionless eyes of her leader met her own eyes for a brief moment, before Dragena walked further. The warlord stopped before the shamans, bowing low to them.

"I want to remove the restrictions from the Crippled and their offspring." She simply said to them.

"That is unexpected," Lacerated One responded, looking down at her sister, "The cubs coming from the Crippled are less strong than…"

"Through the right upbringing, this is not the problem. The Branded who joined my pack received rewards. The Branded in other packs become just as strong as other soldiers." Dragena cut her off, looking directly in the eyes of the shaman.

"They come from tainted parents…"

"You came from the dead parents. Look where you stand now." Annie could feel how the shamans behind Lacerated Ones became angry. Their lips moved, baring their fangs. Growls came from their throats. Even Scarred One and Earless One were ready to defend the honor of the chosen.

"Show respect to our sister!" Alpha snarled, jumping down and landing near Dragena. The warlord paid her no mind, ignoring the jaws that snapped an inch from her snout.

"I was blessed by the Spirits, sister." Lacerated One kindly reminded the warlord.

"All of us are, Branded and Crippled included. You are simply a bit more blessed than the most," Dragena pointed her finger at Lucendra, then at the other Branded, then at the Branded from the Ygrite pack, and so on, pointing at them one after another. With a surprise, Annie understood that all the Branded who were involved in the "experiment" were present here, "Look at them and tell me that they are in any way worse than other soldiers. Tell me that we should have denied them the chance to serve and shine."

"I will not tell you this," Lacerated One confessed. However painful it may be for a shaman to admit her failures, all shamans would rather die than lie to themselves. Only in very rare occasions, like when trying to save someone’s life, the shamans were willing to lie. Lacerated One quickly composed herself, continuing in a honeyed voice, "The laws of our Tribe state that…"

"The laws were changed numerous times," Dragena once again cut off the shaman, acting with peak rudeness. Alpha slammed her claws into the ground before the warlord, yet Dragena spared her not even a glance, acting outright vulgar toward Lacerated One on this Gathering, "You said it, not me. The Spirit of Loss demands that we reflect on our failures. The Spirit of Pride demands that we excel. By denying our kin an opportunity to excel, we insult the Spirit of Pride. By refusing to remedy our mistake of making Branded in the first place, we insult the Spirit of Loss, for when given the chance to excel, the Branded can and will reach the same heights as the others. Thus, I say enough of this delusion. The Spirits send us signs. The Tribe has and will always have food, milk and medicine in aplenty from now on. Enough of segregation. It is wasteful." If Dragena was cruel and could smile, she would have undoubtedly smile now. The accusation of wastefulness was among the most grievous insults among the Tribe, due to how many people had died from hunger and thirst in the earlier days of the Tribe. To throw such an accusation at the shaman, the person responsible for distributing the food and milk, was unthinkable. Dragena put both hands on her back, standing unafraid of Alpha fuming with anger next to her.

Lacerated One raised her arm, stopping Alpha before the warlord could strike. She and Dragena looked at each other in silence, slight confusion was in the eyes of the shaman. Annie understood that the woman could not get what was driving the warlord. Dragena was a cold ice, she had no emotions. Yet she had goals and without emotions, it was hard for the shamans to read her opponent.

"Let us vote," Lacerated One finally said, putting both hands behind her back, mimicking the posture of Dragena, "I vote against this idea."

"Against." Alpha said, walking toward and stopping at the bottom of the stones, right below Lacerated One.

Several warlords jumped from their stones, walking toward Alpha, surrounding the shamans. Zero jumped off her stone, walking to stand behind Dragena.

"Valerye!" Zero called, "Stand with us!" Foulsnout shuddered and hurried to stay behind Alpha. Before she could sneak behind the large back of the warlord, Alpha raised her claws to stop her.

"Do as you wish." Alpha simply said to her. Valerye hesitated, and Alpha growled, spitting drool across the helmet of Foulsnout, "This is my command. Respect our traditions and choose as you feel." Foulsnout straightened herself, saluting to Alpha before walking to stand behind Dragena. Upon seeing it, Ygrite, who took her place behind Dragena, fell on her back, holding her belly and laughing out loud. Annie shook her head at this disrespectful behavior.

Lacerated One raised her head in surprise, when Scarred One jumped away from the shamans, taking place behind Dragena. After a short while, Earless One joined Scarred One, leaping all the way from the stone to gracefully land behind the opposite party. She looked at Lacerated One, and the shaman simply smiled at both women, indicating that they are free to choose as they see fit.

Martyshkina came to a halt when she noticed Janine taking up position behind Dragena. She blinked, asking with uncertainty: "Janny?"

"Sorry, Marty. Old ways are good in war, but some changes are needed." Janine shook her massive head, staying behind Dragena, close to Scarred One. Martyshkina walked away a bit more slowly, turning back once more, before taking her place behind Alpha.

Finally, the leaders of the tribe made their choice. Dragena had the majority of the warlords, counting her and Zero, eleven warlords stood with her. Alpha was one of only seven warlords who stood with Lacerated One. And the majority of the shamans stood with their sister, ready to reject the proposal. Lacerated One frowned, upon seeing how the numbers were split. She had the majority, yet the minority was not so small as to be ignored. Annie could guess what the woman was thinking. If she rejects this proposal, the animosity will remain, for a large part of the tribe wants this change. And the job of the shaman was to placate the people and work for their needs, even if the majority were against new ideas. If Lacerated One lets it go through, she will break the rules. In any case, a major struggle was in the making and Lacerated One looked for any way to end the dispute without harming either of the sides.

Annie understood that the woman was still left with a right to veto. She could choose a champion out of the number of warlords at her side and demand a ritual challenge between her champion and Dragena or Dragena's champion. With Alpha at her side, Lacerated One was unlikely to lose. However, the other side had both Zero and Valerye. Any direct battle between them would result in grievous wounds, for Alpha knew not how to hold back.

"Sister. You said that Branded could reach the same heights as everyone else, is that right?" The shaman asked, looking at Dragena.

"The same heights as the others. Yes, I said it and stand by my claim." Dragena corrected Lacerated One and nodded.

"Yet all the Branded who joined our ranks are still staying in the ranks of warriors," Lacerated One heard whispers from the benches and raised her eyes to look at the wolf hags and warriors, "I do not belittle the Branded who joined the experiment. Any of you who dare to mock them, because you may have misunderstood my words, will have a taste of my claws and fangs. They earned their place by right. Is that understood?" She asked with a steel in her voice and every single wolfkin nodded to her. The shaman smiled, returning her gaze to Dragena, her voice honeyed once more, "None of the Branded reached even the rank of a scout. If they were equal to others, surely at least one of them would have risen in the rank."

"The fault lies with me, not with them." Dragena responded simply, and Valerye, behind her, jumped. Dragena raised her paw, not allowing Foulsnout to speak, "Yes, it is my fault. It took me too long to prepare a proper plan for their training, despite all the help that others provided to me."

Alpha looked at Foulsnout. The warlord, who ranked third among all warlords in the tribe, looked scared for a moment. She only nodded at the accusation in Alpha’s eyes. Alpha blinked before smiling back, lifting her head up and putting both arms behind her back. Annie thought that Alpha actually looked glad, rather than being angry at whatever mischief Foulsnout caused.

"Eh, don’t drop guilt from the rest of us," Ygrite said, putting her arms behind her back, "I was in the dark for one month too long too," She looked at Alpha and smiled at her, "Gotta admit, you know yer craft." Alpha simply shrugged her shoulders at this praise.

"I am grateful for your efforts nonetheless," Lacerated One said, spreading her arms wide as if to embrace all the warlords who stood against her, "Yet without proof, I can’t accept your theory…"

"We have proof!" Zero said, stepping forward. Lacerated One nodded in greeting to the first of the warlords, "The Branded has become a wolf hag!" Annie saw confusion, mixed with anger, in the eyes of Alpha, Lacerated One frowned, looking around. The shamans knew every name of every living person within the Tribe. They knew what rank each person occupied within the tribe. And Lacerated One kept all this knowledge in her head. She looked at Zero, trying to understand, and the warlord pointed at the tribunes that surrounded the arena, "Virginia. Show us your mark!"

Virginia jerked as if in fear, standing up from her place, her eyes wildly moving in the eyesockets, looking at all the people around her. She licked her lips, looking down at Alpha almost with a plea. Alpha looked with sheer hatred at Zero, before looking back at Virginia and giving the slightest nod. With trembling paws, Virginia took off her military coat and moved part of her shirt aside, showing a patchwork of scar tissue on her shoulder. She tore it away, showing the wounds and a scar underneath. Scar in the form of the brand.

"What?" One of the shamans asked, "Alpha broke the law for this… this…" The woman was at a loss of words.

"But the records…" Another shaman said in confusion.

"Yes, I did," Alpha said as she turned toward the shamans, looking up into their eyes without a trace of guilt, "There was a potential in her. And I’ll be damned if the tribe will be deprived of the potential just because of some stupid rule."

"But she is nothing but a Branded!" The shamans shouted at Alpha. Lacerated One stood silent, trying to find some way out of the mess around her.

"And yet she became the wolf hag by right!" Annie shouted in fury, jumping on her legs. She was feeling angry. Not at the shamans no. Not at Virginia either. Everyone is privy to their secrets. Virginia had her own reasons, maybe even an order from Alpha to be silent. The shamans act as they believe is best for the tribe. No, the wolf hag was angry at herself. She lost… No, she was crushed by the Branded. By someone who received less food as a cub. What this was making Annie the wolf hag struggled to admit to herself, but she was sure of something else, "I lost to Virginia again and again and again! Like it or not, but she is better than me!"

"Actually it was just one time…" Virginia mumbled.

"Hush, Virginia! I am speaking for you!" Annie clenched her paws, allowing her humiliation and hatred to flow through her, tearing her own skin and feeling blood dripping down her paws, "Check the records! She defeated me twice! She saved my life in battle against the arena’s champion! In a recent brawl, she was winning against me! If not for Alpha, I would be the one on the ground!"

"Okay, enough of this, I refuse to a…" Virginia tried to say something, but Annie cut her off once more.

"Just shut your trap, Virginia! You think it is easy for me to admit the truth here!?" Annie screamed at the wolf hag in a fury, forcing herself to speak the truth and nothing but the truth. Svetlana looked strangely at her sister, and Annie ignored her. Let Svetka laugh all she wants. Yeah, I am a weakling, so what? Yes, I am not as successful as you. More stupid. I can live with that. No one knows how tomorrow will turn out, "Virginia earned her place in the Wolf Tribe by right! Her presence here, her accomplishments, and her very rank demonstrate that our perception of the branded is wrong! You… We all were wrong!"

"Thanks for the support, Annie." Virginia said in a quiet voice, scratching the back of her head, and Annie wanted to strangle her. She could feel the eyes of the others on her. Zero was looking at her. No doubt thinking how pathetic she is. But I will grow. I will show you all!

"Every rule has an exception." The shaman responded, while Lacerated One still looked confused.

"Maybe," A calm voice said, and Ron stood up. There was no smile on his face, just serenity. He took off his vest and shirt, spreading fur on his shoulder and showing the brand beneath, "How about two then? Am I too an exception?"

The shamans turned to him, their faces looking as if they were made of stone. The males were allowed to speak freely and without fear at the Gathering, even encouraged to do so. Each Gathering was made with the idea of improving the lives of all the people of the Wolf Tribe. But even so, it was hard for the shamans to accept that males like Ron served in the Omega team, that they were stronger than warriors. For the shamans, he was an aberration.

"You are not an exception," Lacerated One responded to Ron and Virginia, before looking down at Alpha and the warlord responded in kind, unashamed and unbothered by the breach of laws, "I understand why you did it, sister," Lacerated One said, closing her eyes and being lost in thoughts, "There will be no punishment." She growled, forcing the shouts of the shamans behind her to fall silent, "In times of need, to save lives and to ensure that the Wolf Tribe prospers, some liberties must be taken! No one was hurt, pride aside. In fact, a potential mistake was found, and a new brilliance was allowed to shine. In light of this new development, I would like to take a moment to rethink my vote."

Annie said back on her bench, closing her eyes to calm herself for a moment while the wolfkins all around hushed, speaking in worry as to how this could happen and how Alpha could keep this secret. And yet most of the wolfkins were seemingly unbothered by this development. When Annie opened her eyes, she saw that the Alpha team outright closed ranks around the Virginia and Ron, and Scorpio lifted his head, outright enjoying the show. He extended his arm, saying a single word "Return". Kassandra and Hubert disappeared from their seats, appearing in the center of the giant hand. The captain put them both on his back, away from the agitated crowd, just to be safe if something happened.

"Why didn't you ever tell me about this?" Annie overheard Blaze asking Ron.

"To be honest, I was kinda ashamed and afraid of you learning..." Ron replied.

"Idiot," Blaze angrily responded, "Would you drop me if my parents were Crippled?"

"Of course not, sweet of my life."

"Thank you for thinking so kindly about me then," Blaze sourly said, wrapping her arm around Ron’s shoulders, "Idiot." She repeated, less angry.

Everyone looked at the pit’s arena when Lacerated One slapped her paws against each other, calling for attention. The shaman kept her claws hidden, her lips tightly pressed against her fangs. She moved slowly, trying to avoid any sign that might be interpreted as a call for aggression toward anyone.

"We have decided," She said, unbothered if the rest of the shamans agreed with her or not. Lacerated One was the strongest of all the shamans, she was willing to face any opposition from her peers and knock them down if needed, "Virginia, please come down. Warlords, take your places."

"What are you planning to do with my soldier?" Alpha demanded to know.

"A ritual challenge to prove me wrong," Lacerated One gestured to Alpha, pleading with the warlord to be calm, "Alpha, place of Virginia is not at risk. Win or lose, she stays where she is. Put your mind at ease. A challenge is needed for me to decide. A wolf hag against a wolf hag. Two locked in combat, allowing the Spirits to have their say and direct me."

The corners of the Alpha’s lips moved up, and she nodded to Virginia, encouraging her to step forward. The warlord’s massive form jumped up without any sound, landing softly on her stone. The others followed her example, leaving an empty sand arena. Virginia jumped from the podium, her coat slid across the sand when she bent her knees upon landing. The wolf hag stood up, spread her arms before the crowd, and laughed.

"Friends! Who will it be? I promise to be gentle!" Virginia asked the crowd before her.

"You heard her!" Lacerated one stomped on the stone with her foot, "Who will test their skills against the Branded? Who will try and defend the current way of life?"

Annie sat in her place, calm and collected, looking at the scene below with mild interest. She only hoped that Virginia would be healthy enough for their sparring later. She was sure about Virginia’s might, few wolf hags could have hoped to beat her down with ease now. Even if Sonya steps forward, she will be knocked down. Annie threw a glance at the wolf hag. Yes, Sonya’s fur began turning white. Her movements are no longer as precise as they were before. Everything will be fine. And then she noticed that Dragena was looking at her with both arms behind her back. The warlord simply looked. There was no hidden command or gesture. Just… expectation.

You will know when the time comes. The decision will be yours and yours alone. Annie remembered the words of her warlord. A soldier has no need for honor or pride.

She felt cold. There was sense in this. Needs of the many, in this case the needs of the Branded and Crippled, outweighed the needs of the few, in this case her need to have pride. But Annie fought for so long, she tried so hard… She longed for, nay, she needed her pride back. A fair and square fight to win and…

"Fuck my life," Annie mumbled, standing up, "I will face Virginia! We have a score to settle." She walked forward, not really caring if Lacerated One approve her or not. Dragena will think of something.

"Annie…" The wolf hag stopped, looking in the pitch-black surface of the warlord’s helmet and turned to look at her, "You shouldn’t... You are too strong now…" Zero stopped talking, as if in worry.

Now? What does she… Annie felt how her pupils dilated from understanding and from the shock that came along with it. She can’t. No one would be this… The reason why Zero picked her. The normies who trained her instead of other wolfkins. The reason why Zero herself never trained her. Annie understood it all at last.

She jumped down, nearly numb to the approval of Lacerated One. Landing on her forelegs like an idiot, the wolf hag stood up, feeling too empty to react to a few chuckles from the audience. Annie tugged at the lapels of her blue coat, fixing its position. She barely felt the leather material underneath her fingers. Numbness spread across her body. Rage, pride, worry, fear… all emotions seeped away somewhere from her mind, leaving just a mighty form of Virginia before her.

Always you, bitch. Annie thought, feeling tired. Was this really the price that the Spirits extracted from her for her wish? Would she take away her oath to them, given the chance? No, never. Annie decided, finding Sveta with her eyes for a brief moment before assuming the combat stance, hunching low and putting both paws before herself. She felt the warmth of the sand beneath her feet. Felt the smell of dried-up blood. Virginia smiled warmly, saying something, before taking the combat stance before Annie. Five steps separated the wolf hags.

"Let the challenge begin!" Lacerated One commanded. Her voice sounded dull to Annie’s ears.

Virginia charged forward, striking with her right arm. Annie charged right at her, not trying to dodge, aiming to grab the neck of her foe. Virginia changed her punch into a thrust, like a piston, it slammed into the space between the right shoulder and neck of Annie, causing the wolfkin to scream in pain against her will. Virginia was strong. Even without her claws, her fingers pierced the skin, reaching all the way to muscle. Against her will, Annie used her footwork to back down in order to make the bloody fingers leave her skin. She raised her paws, taking a wild swing from Virginia’s left arm across her forearms. The leather of her coat was torn on her arms from the friction of the blow, sheer might behind the swing sent Annie backward. This punch hurt like hell, she could feel the bruises underneath her skin.

Does it matter? Duty calls. Annie thought, not feeling any excitement or fear. She only wished this mockery would be over already. Arresting the impact that tried to force her body backward, Annie leaned forward, right into the advancing Virginia. Putting her left leg forward, Annie made an attempt to get within the zone of Virginia, to grab her foe by the waist and try to throw her aside. A blur moved up, like a rising tide. Instead of weaving around it, Annie moved on, closing her eyes. The pain that she felt when the kick of Virginia connected with her face was… extreme. Her nerves screamed with pain, the cartilage of her nose was shattered and pieces were driven deep into her face. Her legs left the sand floor, making her body go cartwheel in the air, splashing blood all over the arena. She saw the cloth that covered the ceiling of the arena, people on the tribunes, walls, sand, walls again, people and ceiling… Four times did her body spin in the air, before the wolf hag lost the count. Annie half expected the follow-up attack across her spine, but, mercifully, no further hit came. Even now, Annie felt that she could have arrested her fall, to land on her feet and keep on fighting. But at the same time, she was just done with this fight. The wolf hag allowed herself to land on her belly, blinking away the tears from her eyes. My poor, poor nose. The bones of the maxilla were cracked, and a few fangs felt loose. One even fell out. Her lower jaw was in far better condition, having evaded the crushing kick. She heard hushes on the tribunes, wolf hags from distant packs were perplexed as to how she had been given the title of wolf hag with such meager abilities. And reporters were filming her shame.

It reminds me our first meeting. Annie raised her eyes up, looking at Virginia, who had stopped two steps away from her. Only it is far more shameful. And more painful. Spirits, please let her knock me out already.

"You dirty cheat!" Virginia shouted, stomping on the ground angrily, while Annie tried to stand up, feeling how her body was going to wobble.

"Shut up… and fight, useless hag." Annie whisper-shouted back, feeling a small sea of pain on her face.

"You are sandbagging! Why aren’t you using all that weird stuff from before!? Why had you allowed me to even hit you with a first strike!?" Virginia fummed with anger, clenching her paws.

"Shut up. Dumbass. I am giving my all. You are simply better," Annie said, wiping out the tears from her eyes and spitting out another fang. She caught it and looked at it, "Great. My favorite fang is gone," Annie was afraid to even touch her nose. Or what remained of it. She looked at her ruined coat, tainted with blood, "And I tried so hard to look clean. Ok. Time to finish it."

"Y…" Virginia growled in a strange voice, sounding like she was swallowing the word. She shook her head, looking with fury at her opponent, "Yes. I surrender!"

"Pardon you?" Annie stopped in shock, thinking that she must have misheard Virginia. Even Lacerated One raised her brows. Wolf hags of other packs jumped on their feet, looking confused. Annie could feel their anger, challenge was a sacred thing, and surrender without a fight was unthinkable. Lacerated One looked around with a worry, the shaman had done everything possible to mitigate the anger among the tribe, and now it was spreading anew. The wolf hags were angry because they thought that the rightful winner had been cheated out of victory. Janine’s fur on her neck stood up, her good paw gripped the shaft in an anger at the mockery beneath. Ygrite frowned with disgust. Annie coughed, banishing the pain and pushing through the fear. Don’t allow this idiot to speak. Don’t allow her to open her abyss-damned mouth! "Good joke," Annie said with a smile, her fangs bloodied, "Guess you're right." You won."

"Screw you, I am the one who is throwing up this fight!" Virginia snapped back.

"Dumbass, the fate of our people is on the line! Shut up and take the win!" Annie shouted back with anger.

"Don’t care! Fair is fair and you are cheating! Cheat! It’s not a win, unless it is earned fair and square!"

"Remember the duty!"

"Shove this duty up your ass!"

Alpha slammed her claws against each other, producing a thundering sound that caused everyone to look at her. The mighty being stood on the stone, raising her arms high, pointing with her claws at the ceiling.

"The Spirits had spoken!" She shouted at the top of her lungs, her voice loud enough to hit the eardrums of Annie like a grenade that exploded nearby, "The wolf hags made a peace. Rather than mutilating each other anymore, the two stop fighting, acting as an example for us during this Gathering."

Lacerated One nodded, eagerly catching on this idea: "Indeed, my sister. Rather than leaving this up to fate, both of them acted in accordance with their conscience. Can I refuse to follow up their example? Of course not," She pressed her paws together in a prayer, "The Spirits called for peace, thus the peace it will be. I am changing my vote. From this day on, the Branded are free to receive the same amount of food as everyone else and free to receive the same rights as everyone else."

"What does it mean for the Crippled?" The one-armed male asked.

"Don’t push it, you fool!" Sonya howled at him, turning to him in anger.

"Peace, sister!" Lacerated One put a paw forward, calling for Sonya to be calm. The shaman turned toward the male, "The Crippled are no longer confined to the edges of the villages. You are free to settle in the middle of the villages. We have decided about food and other things before, so the only restrictions that are still in place for the Crippled are the rights to attend any domination matches and to join the military, unless you are willing to receive augmetics, of course," The shaman gifted a sad smile to the male, "I am sorry. But unless your bodies are whole again, these restrictions will stay in place."

The man nodded, sitting on the bench next to an enraged Sonya, who began whispering something into his ear. Annie could see that both of them slightly resembled each other, but while Sonya always had a sour expression on her face, the one-armed man smiled a lot. Still feeling pain in her face, Annie glanced around the tribunes. The wolfkins sit on their places, Angoro looked at Annie with worry, and the wolf hag showed him a thumb up, indication that she was fine. Ieshua was nowhere to be seen. Annie could still see smirks on the faces of scouts and wolf hags, even warriors looked down on her arrogantly. Carty sat with an unreadable expression, while Lucendra smiled that the fight was over. And Svetka. Svetka looked horrified. Because of me. She thinks I am weak.

"The decision is final, right?" Annie asked Lacerated One, while breathing through her mouth and feeling how the blood was causing the fur on her snout to become wet. The shaman nodded, and Annie howled to the ceiling, letting out her frustration in a scream. She tore her coat by the lapels, tearing away the buttons and throwing the ruined cloth aside, "Perfect," Annie said, falling on all four limbs, looking at Virginia, "My duty is done," Her tongue moved, licking up the blood, while her fingers buried deep into the sound, "You and me. Until one falls. No holding back this time. No claws. I will rip out your very soul, Virginia."

"Wait, but the challenge is over!" Lacerated One said.

"Never had one," Virginia smiled back, "No cheating this time, I want to feel your blows!" Virginia responded happily, grabbing her own coat by the collar, tearing it away from her body.

 "There is no longer any need to fight! The Gathering is a time of peace!" The shaman stepped back when Alpha landed before her, leaping over the arena and the fighters with ease.

"The Gathering is the time when we let go of our negativity. Let them go all out and relax later. The medics will patch them up later." Alpha asked, and Lacerated One nodded, unhappy about this development.

Virginia and Annie charged at each other at the same time. Annie outsped Virginia this time, propelling herself forward with all four limbs. Since their last sparring match, Annie has had some thoughts as to why Virginia always turns her initial punch into a thrust. Hitting with fingers was painful, no matter the strength difference. She understood that this was because her opponent was all too used to wielding her claws in battle, punches, kicking and similar attacks came to her as secondary ideas. The instincts of Virginia called for one and only attack that she deemed reasonable. And Annie took advantage of Virginia’s instincts in this fight. She landed on two feet before her opponent, grabbing the opponent by her wrist and jerking aside Virginia’s right arm. Annie followed up her movement by landing a chopping hit across Virginia’s neck with the left arm. This did not stop the rust-colored wolfkin. In fact, this attack barely even slowed the opponent. The right knee of the wolf hag moved forward, aiming at Annie’s abdomen, forcing Annie to take incoming kick on both paws. Virginia slammed her right shoulder into Annie’s body with the force of the moving car behind her.

Easy, easy. She is stronger. Annie allowed the impact to throw her back, allowing the impact to spin her body around to diffuse the impact before it could seriously hurt her. Virginia charged after her opponent, and Annie dodged to the left, kicking across the back of the knee of Virginia. She clenched her teeth just for the moment when her kick connected to Virginia’s body, channeling her strength into the kick. So what if she is stronger? Virginia fell on one knee, and Annie slammed her elbow into the back of her head, throwing the wolf hag face down on the ground. You know how to counter her every move. Annie jumped up, evading the low kick. Virginia leaped right back onto her feet, punching with her left paw. Annie took the punch on the palms of both paws, putting one paw behind the other. The force behind the blow sent her back from her opponent. Your nose is broken, and you can’t breathe through it. Annie dodged the kick aimed at her face, landing on both feet. The right leg of Virginia passed an inch away from Annie’s face, tip of Virginia’s heel slid across Annie’s chest, tearing through both fur and flesh, leaving a small wound behind. Annie used this moment to quickly hit Virginia into her side with right fist. Flesh of her opponent felt like a solid block of stone, yet Virginia let out a grumble. But this is fine, this is a one-on-one fight, not an all-out brawl. You can last long enough. Annie felt sweat break out under her fur. She could barely control her breathing. To pull most of her strength behind her blows, to pull her very utmost into the blows, she had to clench her teeth. But this came at the cost of missing a breath. Her lungs were on fire, the cost of flowing around the blows of Virginia demanded some oxygen. The cost of counterattacks demanded oxygen as well. The oxygen that Annie just couldn't get through her broken nose. Annie was getting tired far faster than she should have.

Annie was thrown back to the wall after taking a series of blows from her opponent. It was inevitable, instead of risking being left without a breath, Annie had chosen to take on these blows on her forearms and sides of her body, quickly inhaling air and sorting out the turmoil in her head. Her body is damaged, true. Her beathing sucks, this is true as well. Yet there was something that she could still do. Virginia charged after Annie, her right leg moved for the kick. Annie kicked across the knee of Virginia, sending the leg back down. Her foe threw a punch, straight into Annie’s risen palm. The wolf hag allowed her palm to slide underneath the fist of her opponent, throwing it up at the very last moment, redirecting the blow right back into Virginia’s face, frowning from concentration. The wolf hag’s body trembled, surprised at the sudden hit, and Annie closed the distance between the two, grabbing Virginia by the shoulder and the hip. Using the brief moment of hesitation in her foe, Annie jerked Virginia off the ground, taking advantage of her attempt to back down and sending the wolf hag cartwheeling into the air. Now it was Virginia's turn to fall on the ground, and Annie took this respite to breathe in more air into her lungs. Air, sweet air! She never knew how great something so simple could taste.

Virginia spun around, slowing down at the last moment. She was standing up a bit more slowly, seemingly feeling the pain of the previous blows. Annie smiled at this, taking this as a sign that her opponent was wearing down. And she stuck with a straight right kick, right into the left side of Virginia’s body, aiming at the ribs. Her kick connected with the body of her opponent, and Annie felt surprised. It was as if the bones within Virginia’s body shifted, moving aside to allow the kick to go forward. Like water, Virginia flowed from Annie’s kick. In a panic, Annie made a chop against Virginia’s shoulder as a follow-up attack. Once more, all she felt was a soft mass, even bones themselves shifted their position in Virginia’s body, slowing down the chop just enough to evade the brunt of the damage. A hissing sound came from Annie’s lips, when Virginia hit with her left arm, striking down right beneath the left breast of Annie, throwing the wolf hag behind. Annie felt numbness in her left arm, she struggled to move it, but her arm fell like a rope, slamming against her body helplessly.

I know it! Annie thought, using the middle finger and index finger of her right arm to press a nerve on her side, regaining control over her left arm. Muscle control style. By going limp, Virginia allowed most of the attacks to dissipate harmlessly against her body. By knowing which nerve to press on the opponent’s body, Virginia could render the entire limb of her opponent helpless for a brief while. The teacher taught Annie a bit about this style. But Annie never expected that someone as impatient as this idiot could have ever mastered it to such level.

She paid for her foolishness now, when Virginia came to attack. A punch against the head threw Annie to the ground, she barely had enough time to follow up and throw her opponent off balance with a low kick during the follow-up attack. Struggling to catch a moment to breathe, Annie tried to stand up and received a blow to her belly that caused the entire world to black out for a moment. Virginia wasn't perfect, she could deflect incoming blows by going limp, but she lost striking power as a result and had to rely on nerve pressure hits. Yet now that Annie was aware of it, she would never fall for the same trick more. Virginia possessed a great defense, true. But there was one thing that Annie could use to turn the situation around.

Annie loudly inhaled air, stopping herself in one place and biting the kick across her knee. Her arms became swollen. The skin on her legs was cracked and blood was seeping from beneath the cracks. Thankfully, all the bones were still intact, and Annie dislocated the bones in her right arm, allowing it to become loose.

You are not the only one who knows this style. Annie smiled, feeling her hand turn into a rope of flesh once more, but this time according to her will. She put her right leg forward, facing the advance of her foe head on. And then she took a swing.

Only two things in her arsenal could punch through the defense of her foe. Sound paw, the potentially lethal technique was out of the question. No matter how great her hatred toward Virginia was, Annie was not going to use a move that could liquidate Virginia’s organs, not until she had mastered it to some degree. This left only the whip. Even a simple slap against the skin caused pain. The living whip could literally tear away the skin.

A normal person will die after receiving a certain amount of whip blows. Imagine, Annie. The pain is so great that your own body simply shuts down, choosing to die because the pain that you feel is that great. This much pain can be delivered by a living whip in a single blow! When used by an abnormal, you have to take care when using this technique. Annie remembered the words of her teacher while her arm was closing on Virginia’s body. Pain so intense that it can kill... No, I don’t want to win at such cost. She thought and jerked her arm back, ensuring that the swing will miss Virginia’s body.

Pain exploded in her body, and Annie was pushed back. Four claws pierced her flesh right below her belly button, coming into her body at full length. Annie looked with shock into Virginia’s eyes, feeling how blood started to flow from the corners of her mouth. She could feel the pristine white claws inside of her, trembling, almost in anticipation.

"Annie, I…" Virginia said, blinking in surprise, "I… Sorry… I saw the hit and… Instincts and…"

"Virginia! What is the meaning of this?!" Alpha shouted, silencing the voices from the tribunes, and Virginia shuddered, as if she had been hit.

"Scum," Annie said, pushing back Virginia, feeling how the claws left her body, scratching her intestines. Something ruptured inside of her, but Annie ignored the pain. All the comradery that she felt toward Virginia, all the cordial feelings were gone, "I was wrong," Annie spat blood on the ground, trying to maintain her balance through the cloud of rage and spite, "You are exactly the person I thought you were. You are not my friend. You are a better soldier than me." She saw Virginia for who she was right now. Unlike Annie, her opponent saw the weak point and struck without hesitation. A mark of true dedication. Feelings were secondary, desire to win was all. Annie admired such dedication.

"Annie, you are injured…" Virginia said, raising her trembling paws up.

"All out!" Annie saw Svetka on the tribune and raised her paws, grabbing her right shoulder with the left paw and the left shoulder with the right paw. She released her claws, slashing across her own body all the way to her sides, feeling the pain. So much pain. And yet, this damage kicked the surge of adrenaline in her, allowing Annie to remain on her feet. She felt anger like never before. Anger, mixed with betrayal, mixed with fear of defeat, confusion, pain… All these feelings created a wonderful tapestry of emotions within her body. Her wound was serious enough to threaten her life. Yet she was standing. Finally, at long last, Annie understood what Dragena meant. Emotions could push a living being beyond its natural limits. She spread her arms wide, bathing in the light coming from above. Friends would never harm each other so. Annie felt like a complete moron. Zero, Virginia… But that is okay. Feeling betrayed will sustain her just as well.

And she used this surge of energy to charge at Virginia, turning her right arm into the whip once more. This time she landed her hit against Virginia’s brand, tearing up both scar and flesh away and causing the wolf hag to scream in pain. Returning her arm back to the normal position, Annie wrapped her arms around Virginia’s waist.

"Annie you are injured! Stop! Stop before…" Virginia shouted in her face.

I am not strong enough to throw her. Annie understood, trying and failing to throw Virginia to the side. Who cares? Annie smiled, releasing her opponent. She made a sweep with her right leg, making Virginia lose her footing. Pushing her right arm against Virginia’s head, she threw the wolf hag on the ground and kicked with her leg. Virginia caught the blow on her forearms, sliding back.

"Fight back, damn you!" Annie snapped, charging after her. Virginia dodged the punch of Annie, hitting the opponent with an uppercut into the jaw. Annie smiled at the sound of her lower jaw cracking and at the pain, "Yes, much better! Claws, use your everything!" She grabbed Virginia by her shoulders, slamming headbutting her and throwing the opponent back, "I win!" She screamed from pain and joy, when Virginia kicked blindly, hitting Annie across the wound on her belly. Her body was getting cold, but the pain allowed her to move on, "This time I will definitely win! I am not weak!"

"Stop them! Someone, stop them before they kill each other, please I beg of you!" Svetka screamed somewhere, and Annie smiled.

Kill? I won’t kill Virginia. Neither will I die, I have promises to keep. I just want to win. Win, please, at least once, let me wi…

Zero landed between Virginia and Annie, and the last thing that Annie saw before everything went dark was a blur of something enormous that was closing in on her and Virginia’s necks.

****

Annie woke up to a numb feeling in her entire body. She struggled to open her eyes. Both of her eyelids were swollen and heavy. Finally, pushing them open, she saw a white medical room. She lay on a bed in a slightly upright position, several pillows were placed behind her. A tight bandage was wrapped around her neck, covering the wound. The lower part of her body was covered by a warm blanket, but Annie could feel the tight feeling around her waist, where a bandage was placed over a wound on her belly. She moved her legs and felt only the tip of her fingers obeying her. Something was pressed against her nose, pulling the ruining thing forward, but she could not exactly see what it was. Her body was wrapped in elastic bandages, hiding the scratches that she made on her own body. There was no pain, but the wolfkin felt herself just utterly empty and devoid of any and all strength. A large TV was placed across the room on a wall.

I lost. Annie understood numbly, trying to remember what had happened before.

"Finally woke up, huh? A familiar voice said nearby. It took Annie some effort, but she managed to turn her head to the left side. Virginia was laying in next bed, chained to her bed with a set of belts. Just like Annie, her body was covered by bandages, "Took you long enough," Virginia said, trying to sound cheerful. Annie turned away from her, "Listen, I… I have no idea what the fuck came onto me… I…"

"Shut up, hero. Enjoy your victory." Annie said simply, looking at the white ceiling.

"Annie, I am sorry. Just tell me how I can make up to you and…"

"Disappear from my life."

"Annie, please… I know that I fucked up… If you want to, you can spear me with your claws as well…" Virginia said pleadingly.

Annie turned her head to look at the wolf hag: "The loser must obey the winner, but I will never harm a fellow soldier just like that. Tell me what you want as a reward for victory."

"Annie, I didn’t win. We were knocked out, remember?" Virginia tried to smile with trembling lips.

"Liar." Annie responded in a half-dead voice, "Just tell me what you want or leave me alone."

"I want you to forgive me!" Virginia pushed against restraints, "I don’t know what came up to me, I swear that I will never ever do such thing again. Just let’s be friends as before, ok? Annie?"

"You are forgiven. "Now leave me alone," Annie said, relaxing on the pillows and looking up, "Unless a mission requires our assistance, never speak to me again."

"Annie… Just say how I can fix it. P… Please, I will do anything!" Virginia said in panic, mangling words and struggling against her restraints, "Annie, we are friends! Seriously, remember how well we worked together!"

You can’t erase my shame. You can’t give me back my pride. Annie ignored Virginia’s words, looking up. She trained so hard and all for naught. No matter. Just gotta train harder.

"Will you two shut up! Trying to relax here!" Someone said to the right of Annie. She turned her head, ignoring the pleadings of Virginia, and saw the warlord Ygrite laying on the bed, with her paws behind her back. A syringe driver was installed over her bed, several tubes ran into her arm, feeding some unknown substance to her through the needles.

And behind her was Lacerated One, laying on another bed. The shaman was chained to the bed through the numerous chains, that held her immobile. Her snout was strained from the efforts to break three, each slash and wound on her body was cleaned and bandaged, and she herself looked frustrated.

"Warlord. Shaman." Annie quickly said, trying to stand up. Ygritte waved her paw, showing her to relax.

"Lay down. I am just here receiving the first part of my…" She reached with a paw to tap at the tip of the claw coming from her eye, "So-called treatment. Soon enough, I will leave for the Core Lands via air. As for my sis over there, Ieshua shot her with a sedative dart after the Gathering."

"I will skin him alive." Lacerated One promised in a furious voice, trying to break through her restraints.

"Jokes on you, he'll simply regenerate from this," Ygrite winked to Annie, "Ieshua even got an official order from the Dynast no less. My poor sis can’t self-flagellate herself anymore and will have to pass therapy treatment, like a poor little cub." Ygrite showed her tongue to the furious shaman, clearly enjoying herself.

The door to the room opened and Zero, along with Dragena, stepped in. Zero was dressed in a long black tracksuit, her black cloak thrown over her shoulders. The pitch black helmet turned to face Annie, while the warlord herself approached and sat on a nearby chair.

"Annie, Virginia. Glad to see that you are awake," Zero said cheerfully to them both, "All is fine, I hope?"

"You have performed your duties to the letter, both of you. However, Virginia, you need to learn to control the bloodlust. Annie, you must learn when to surrender. We will iron out this flaw out of you later." Dragena said, walking to the window and looking outside.

"To the letter?" Annie asked in confusion, "I got lost in a bloodlust…"

"And I fucked up. Badly." Virginia mumbled.

"All true," Zero said, "Yet your ritual combat," Disgust could be heard in the words of the warlord, "Persuaded even the most stubborn that Branded are not so different from the rest of us."

"You should show more reverence, when you speak about traditions." Lacerated One frowned, and Zero simply waved her arm, pleading the shaman to let it go.

"Tell me the truth, warlord," Annie asked Zero, "The words that you have said to me… You were using me all along?"

Dragena briefly looked at Annie, while Zero looked down, putting her paws on her knees. Annie saw once more how elegant her fingers were, despite their size, Zero’s fingers looked almost like the fingers of normies, only covered by fur and larger. Even the entrances of her claws were invisible to the naked eyes, nothing ruined her perfect form. Annie had always wondered why someone as beautiful as Zero would bother hiding her body beneath all of these clothes, cloak, and helmet.

"Annie, how about we talk about this later…" Zero started talking.

"If you won’t tell her, I will." Dragena said, looking outside.

"So my hunch was right!" Lacerated One said, looking at Ygrite, Dragena, and Zero, "You were working together for a long while!"

"Hey, don’t lump me with them!" Ygrite waved her paw, "I only joined them recently cause I needed to ensure my Branded will excel."

"I wanted to use you," Zero said to Annie. She took a sigh and leaned back, carefully finding the words, "You see… For the Wolf Tribe to survive and thrive, we have to grow up. This stupid segregation, Crippled and Branded… It all had to go. Ravager would simply use her strength to impose her will on others. Alpha outright ignores laws she views as unjust. I wanted something different. I wanted a change through peace and understanding. So when Valerye came to me with her plan, I eagerly agreed. It took me and Dragena some time, but we ensured that some Branded cubs would be accepted into the army. We hoped that others would see and understand that the Branded are just like us."

"But you also had another plan." Annie accused Zero, "One that you have prepared yourself."

"Yes," Zero responded simply, "Before Valerye came to me with her plan, I had a far crueler plan. Alpha trusted me and I knew for a long time that she was taking in Branded cubs, erasing their records and raising them as regular wolfkins," She nodded at Virginia, "Virginia’s potential is simply outstanding. She have the potential to become a warlord one day. Thus, I took in someone…" Zero stopped, looking for words.

"Useless." Annie finished for her.

"Stop pitying yourself," Dragena commanded, and Annie looked at her, "Self-pity is naught but poison. You want praise? You saved lives. Fought side by side with comrades as an equal. Bled for a cause. What more recognition do you need? You are not useless. Just far less gifted in combat than Virginia, which is all. I am weaker than either Zero or Alpha. Do you consider me useless?"

"No, warlord," Annie whispered. She nodded to her leader in thanks, "Thank you."

"Annie… I have no idea what they are talking about. I was never part of any of what they are speaking of," Virginia said passionately, "You are not weaker than me… Annie do you believe me? Annie, we fought each other, we fought side by side, you should know that I am speaking the truth!"

"Virginia indeed had no idea," Zero continued her story, "Once Alpha told me that she had found someone so gifted I took you in. In my cruelty, I planned to use you, giving you the minimum amount of training. A wolf hag against a wolf hag, as my sister has said."

"Only the outcome would be rigged, right?" Lacerated One hissed, straining in her bindings, "How could you do this to our own kin!"

"I... couldn't," Zero finally admitted after a long pause. "I imagined Annie facing Virginia in the Gathering and losing badly, proving that the Branded are just as capable as other wolfkins, and then I would have paid the therapists to ensure Annie's mental scars faded, and then I would have given Annie the best life ever… This was my selfish plan. I couldn't go with this plan after I saw how lost you were after losing your father, how lost you were after losing to Virginia. You are not a toy, Annie, neither you are a tool for me to wield. I asked you what you wanted and ensured that you will join the one warlord who could help you chase your dream the best. After that, Dragena and I proceed with the plan of Valerye in order to win fair and square. I never intended to involve you anymore."

Annie lay back on the pillows, looking up, trying to understand it all. She closed her eyes: "Please don’t tell Svetka about it. Ok?"

"I swear." Zero responded. Dragena and others also voiced their agreement.

"This situation irks me to no end," Lacerated One growled, "I am half of the mind to just call the shaman council and rethink my decision… But that will only hurt our kin. Screw it, I swear as well. This time you got away, Zero."

"I do not regret my choice to lose to Virginia," Annie said to Dragena, opening her eyes. The warlord simply looked at her, neither praising, nor condemning, "The needs of the many must always be put ahead the needs of the few. Had I known about it all before the Gathering, I would still have made the same choice. But… Because I was meant to be a sacrificial lamb," Annie looked down at her ruined and injured body, "So many months… years even had been squandered by me," She whispered, "I will never be able to catch up now."

"Annie, it doesn’t matter," Virginia said, trying to break free of restraints, "You can kick my ass at any time! I won’t resist!"

"This is exactly the problem," Annie responded, feeling anger rising in her, "The only reason that I can hope to beat you, if you let me!" She forced her voice down, afraid that doctors outside could hear her, "I was just a spare wheel in a plan, unneeded and barely used. And for this, I was robbed even of the tiniest chance to be on par with you! Zero… I trusted you and you simply used me?! Have you ever even trusted me?"

"Annie, you were never a spare wheel to me," Zero said, "What I have planned was horrible, true. But we can still turn it all around…"

"Turn it around?!" Annie laughed at the sheer insanity of this, trying to think clearly, "How? You said it yourself, my potential is worse! Can you turn the time back perhaps?" Zero shook her head, "I heard that Valerye shows her face to the wolfkins who joins her pack. Can you do the same for me? Take off your helmet, look me in the eyes, and tell me that you at least trusted me."

Zero moved her arms up, her paws reaching for her helmet. Annie heard a soft hissing, as if something was about to come off… And then Zero left the helmet back on her head: "Sorry, Annie but not here," Zero looked at Virginia, "There are some things that others must not see. Come to me later, when you are healthy and…"

"Why? So you could have enough time to compose yourself and lie to me?!" The wolf hag laughed, feeling relieved at last. Finally, she knew what to think. She was nothing to Zero. Her life was just a coin for the warlord to spend on the way to the future. Dragena. Only Dragena never lied to her.

"Annie. I swear to you that I never had anything to…" Virginia started to say again.

"Please stop, Virginia," Annie said in a tired voice, "I believe you. In this, I absolutely believe you. You were just a tool for her, same as me." Annie nodded at Zero, while the warlord was looking calmly at her.

"Then…"

"Then nothing. Listen, do me a solid and don’t ever dare to lay a claw on your own pack, unless it is for a ranking match. Never dare to harm any prisoners, no matter how vile they may be." Annie added, remembering the words of Virginia during their infiltration of the arena, "And leave me alone. Please, just… Let’s go our ways, okay?"

She fell silent the moment the door opened. With a mild surprise, Annie saw Ieshua and Svetlana coming inside. Svetlana looked relieved the moment she saw Annie and the wolf hag felt shame. She really acted like a fool this time. What was she even thinking, hoping to take down Virginia in her condition?

"Svetlana," Annie nodded to her sister, "I am fine and sorry for worrying you…"

"You are not fine, you idiot!" Svetlana snapped at her, coming near the bed, "Do you have any idea how hard we had to work to stop your internal bleeding and make sure that your blasted nose will work in the future?!" She threw her arms up, before taking up the syringe, "Do me a favor and don’t act like these two," Svetlana nodded at Lacerated One and Virginia, "Spirits know, I have my paws full as it is, without the need to struggle with you. Just lie still, take the painkiller shot and let me change bandages."

"I am going to skin you alive." Lacerated One said to Ieshua, while the troll was busy checking her condition.

The man simply shrugged his shoulders, unbothered by the threat, "If it helps in your recovery, feel free. My skin will regrow before the evening." Ygrite laughed at these words.

Annie joined her laughter, feeling the pain in her broken ribs. Whatever happened, everything was behind now. Now it was time to move on and live.

****

"Just forgive her, okay?" Ron said to Annie.

The wolf hag waited for her pack to finish dismantling a training course. She ran her soldiers on it all night, ensuring that the movements of the pack's newest members became nearly automatic, forcing individualists like Carty to rely on weaker members of the pack to handle assigned tasks rather than trying to do everything themselves. When Dragena was around, such things were simple, the wolfkins followed her orders naturally. Annie, however, still struggled with it, yet thanks to the advice and guidance of Kayleen, her pack now resembled a proper combat-ready unit. No one was forgetting to reload shardguns anymore, the power armors of the entire pack was in top condition, in no small thanks to Lucendra’s care. The shamans grumbled about allowing the regular warrior to treat the gear of other wolfkins, yet Annie received permission from Dragena herself for Lucendra to continue her education as an engineer.

The wolf hag held a terminal in her paw, looking at Ron’s image on a display. Several months had passed since the Gathering and tensions between the Resistance and the Reclamation Army were growing with each passing day. The Dynast was losing patience, he made an outright ultimatum, demanding the presence of Huntsman and an explanation as to what sort of connections the Resistance had with the arena. King refused to even humor these accusations.

"She is already forgiven. I told her this much right away, after…," Annie hesitated, unsure if this was fine to reveal the information, "You know what happened, right?"

Some changes happened after the Gathering. The reporters had to blur the images of Lacerated One during the TV show due to just how horrible her wounds were to the naked eye. The commander had quite enough of her antics at this point, personally banning self-flagellation in the tribe at the behest of Ieshua. Wyrm Lord offered to take any challenges, yet all warlords were wise enough not to stand up to a being like him. Everyone expected that Wyrm Lord would continue pushing changes on the Wolf Tribe, yet their liege went quiet all of a sudden, reinforcing the views about his cowardly nature among some members.

Lacerated One temporarily stepped down as a shaman, unable to perform her duties without being able to spread her blessed blood around. The shamans also discovered her involvement with the Crippled, she was the one who listened to the plan of the male Crippled and promted him to ask for permission to work. Then she strongarmed other shamans to support this idea. With this, and with her handling of the situation with Alpha, the other shamans declared that Lacerated One was becoming too close to an actual tyrant. The shaman agreed. She took a name and left to help the Crippled change their homes around the villages. In her absence, the tribe was led by a younger generation of shamans who were far more obsessed with upholding the ancient laws and traditions and far less willing to compromise. Dragena told Annie and others not to worry. In time, they too will mellow out and become the proper leaders.

The cubs of the Crippled enlisted in the military in mass, and were sent off to serve in Ygrite’s pack. With the warlord still in the Core Lands, her pack became a reserve pack, one that was meant to guard the villages in the Wastes, perfectly suited to train so many newcomers.

Virginia was still a problem. She challenged Annie several times, each fight ending with them both being bruised. Both wolf hags were wise enough not to cause serious harm to each other, yet Svetka was still mad at both of them. Virginia tried to reason with Annie, but she left in silence after each sparring match, unwilling to share more than a few words with this traitor. Still, to calm her nerves, Annie asked Svetka to keep an eye on Virginia for her. Svetka applied for field duty as part of a new program, meant to provide trained medical personnel for the wolfkin packs in the field. Due to the strain on their physiques, the normies could hardly keep up with the wolfkins in the field, so a group of medics from the number of new breeds was in training. Annie begged first Dragena, then Scorpio himself, asking them to reject this request of her sister. Both refused her, but the captain told Annie that he will assign Svetka to the pack that will never challenge her for domination.

Zero tried to contact Annie, and, with permission from Dragena, Annie refused all calls from her former warlord. She wanted nothing to do with her anymore. Dragena rejoined the military, persuading her husband to take a paid leave and look after the cubs in her absence.

"Alpha spoke long and hard with Zero and shared information with us. Yes, I know," Ron nodded, "You also know what I mean. Annie, it wasn’t her fault. Alpha drills these reflexes into us. We are trained to respond with lethal force against a potentially lethal force. Because Wildling was used as a pawn by Zero because she was confused and afraid, her instincts took over mid-fight. I know it sounds ridiculous, but she did not mean to hurt you!"

"Ron, I seriously do not care. Friends don’t try to kill each other." Annie responded in a tired voice.

"Annie… She is constantly asking us how to apologize properly. She is started to walk on four legs again and is mangling words! It’s been two years since the last time that Rabbit ever was in such state!"

"Seems like, as her friends, you should take better care of Virginia instead of wasting time speaking with me." Annie noted, "You can start by calling her by her name. Just an advice."

"Annie. What if she makes some mistake because her mind is in turmoil? Could you live with this?" Ron asked with a serious face.

"Don’t ever try to pin this duty on me, Ron," Annie responded in an icy tone, feeling anger within, "She has the trust of Zero. She has her natural talent. She is the golden cub of the three warlords. For the sake of the Spirits, she has your support, support of Blaze, the support of the entire Omega team and her pack and Alpha team… Don’t you think it is enough for one golden girl? When will I… I refuse to lie to Virginia as Zero lied to me," Annie felt silent, clenching her fangs and feeling new ones that were growing to replace the ones that Virginia broke with her kick. Annie looked aside, briefly closing her eyes. She was envious of Virginia and angry at the fact that a person whom she had started to consider as a friend tried to kill her.

"Annie, you are being spiteful."

"Well, forgive me for being a spiteful bitch after surviving an assassination attempt," Annie said, forcing herself to admit the truth. She was being vengeful and spiteful. And envious. Virginia had better potential than Annie, Annie was meant to be a sacrificial lamb to prompt up Virginia. Virginia, Virginia, always Virginia. Never me. Annie blinked, forcing envy to go away. Yes, she was worse as a person and as a fighter. She can live with this. She had to, for the sake of her pack and her sister, "Listen, tell her that the fault lies with me too, ok? I don’t know why, but I just don’t trust her. Also, tell her the truth, tell her that I am jealous of her. Jealous of her power, of her talent, and... To be honest, she is a better person and leader than I. Her pack is stronger than mine. Maybe the truth will help Virginia to move on to better things than wasting time on me."

"Annie…"

"Later, Ron. I have work to do." Annie said and cut off communication.

She looked at the night sky briefly, before walking toward her pack. Nodding to Carty, who was busy checking that everyone was healthy, Annie decided that she had made plenty of mistakes. Upon slapping Ultis on the shoulder to stop her from taking apart the training drone, Annie understood that this no longer bothered her as hard as she was afraid it was. Helping Lucendra to put training dummies into the back of the truck, Annie understood that her focus, her drive to become stronger, was burning within her body. Giving command to Kayleen to assemble the pack, Annie decided to let go of her fear for a short while. She jumped on the truck, turning to face her entire pack and spreading her arms wide:

"All of you! I don’t care what sort of tricks you use, what sort of traps, cheap shots and clever moves. Train hard, be better and beat me up. That’s an order, surpass me, leave my bloody form in the dirt and fly, fly to the future that awaits you! I am above you all, but guess what, today is not tomorrow!" Annie allowed a smile to appear on her face while she was addressing her pack, "Better yourself and break me down! Make my pack your own pack! Male or female, I care not! By breaking each other and rising up again and again, we will become closer to perfection! By toughing through everything that life will throw at us, we will become the perfect protectors of order and peace!"

The pack cheered, and Annie jumped down, her arms still spread wide:

"And now, time for a motivation. One after another, at me!"

Annie still smiled, throwing Ultis aside, beating down Kayleen’s kick and slamming an elbow underneath Carty’s jaw. They timed their advance perfectly, but what good was it when they could not even react to her movements? Oh, well, gotta make them sweat. The life still goes on. Lying down won’t solve anything. The Spirits let her live for a reason. Who knows, maybe, just maybe, one day Annie will become as strong as Virginia.

Or as good as Svetlana.

You can find story with these keywords: Duty, empty dreams and trying not to become a monster., Read Duty, empty dreams and trying not to become a monster., Duty, empty dreams and trying not to become a monster. novel, Duty, empty dreams and trying not to become a monster. book, Duty, empty dreams and trying not to become a monster. story, Duty, empty dreams and trying not to become a monster. full, Duty, empty dreams and trying not to become a monster. Latest Chapter