Chapter 43: Chapter 37

"Scout Leila," Ivar said, unbothered to look at either Aranea or Leila. His unblinking eyes were looking at the gates leading to the palace like it was the most important thing in the entire world, "We got ourselves some prisoners from the ranks of Soultakers. You will remove the imprints from them, but be..."

"Not going to blame me for those who died today? What, not even going to mention that the warlord’s wound is my fault?" Leila cut him off with an anger in her voice, and Ivar's ear twitched in irritation. His long tail moved, slicing through the air with the sound of a cracking wind.

With his tail, he pointed at the remains of the dead bodies around the square: "Cause and effect. Chort lived, and thus he took the lives of others. There is a lesson about failure for both of us here, one that we must learn. Judging by your anger, you found the answer for yourself. Moving on to the next topic at hand, judging by the accuracy of your shots today, something is wrong with you. Are you injured?"

"I am fine." Leila stubbornly said, and Ivar’s tail hit the ground next to her, cracking the ground and causing all three women to jump up slightly.

"Don’t you dare threaten my soldier," Aranea calmly said, hearing how the stone pebbles were drumming against her armor, "Sir." She added, after a momentary consideration.

"Then drill into your soldiers a basic respect to their superior, wolf hag, or I will be the one to do it. This time I will show leniency, for we are all very tired, but if any of your soldiers dares to show familiarity without permission in front of me ever again, they will be punished by the book. At ease, both of you," The wyrm turned around with the elegance of flowing water, laying on his belly before the duo. With dispassionate eyes, Ivar looked at Leila, pressing his own head to the ground. Even in this position, he had to look down on his daughter, "Scout, every moment that you are stubbornly playing in a wounded pride instead of working is a moment that a potential prisoner might die. Answer the question, what is the problem?"

"I came into contact with the Numbers, sir. Something from the brain of one of them looked back at me and transferred the pain into my mind. I am sorry, but I can’t explain it better." Leila straightened up, giving a salute to her superior with one arm.

"The command was "at ease", scout. Remove your helmet," Ivar commanded, and Leila obeyed with some minor hesitation, revealing her bloodshot eyes. The corner of her left eye was fully covered in red. The blue wyrm moved his massive head closer, turning his head to the side to look at the half-wyrm. Light left his eyes, enlarging Leila’s pupils for a short while, before Ivar turned away from her, standing up and looking at the palace, "All done. You had a…" Ivar lifted one arm, pointing the claw at the end of his tail to his temple, "… bump of sorts in your psyche. Had you bothered to hone your power over the mind, you would have known what it is and how to deal with it."

"I am not as keen as you on dominating the minds of others, sir," Leila responded, putting back her helmet, "Thank you for the help. I guess this means that I owe you one."

"We are even. Carry on the work," The blue wyrm waited for the half-wyrm to leave and finally addressed Aranea, "Wolf hag, as for…"

"You knew, right bastard?" Aranea snapped at him, feeling glad that her weapons were left behind. Right now, she was ready to do something stupid, "You made Annie to keep the information about the venom away from us, you set up the warlord, and all your idiotic schemes crumbled around you now!" Ivar looked at her and Aranea refused to bow to him. She had already died once, saved only by a miracle. The wolf hag was done with fear.

"The situation with poison was fully under control. I needed to know what sort of character Annie was, and now I know and can incorporate her better into my plans. Just like I now know more about you," Ivar said slowly, "The warlord Martyshkina had her own purpose, one which she fulfilled to the utmost excellence and praise. As for the rest, everything is well within my plans. King was recorded to be a coward, and Chort exposed himself, in no small part thanks to you. Be content and be ready to play your part. Endure for the state."

My part? Aranea wondered at his words, while the blue wyrm looked down on Javenika. The inspector stood silently, not saying a single word. She merely observed the palace like a ghost.

"Inspector. You are to keep Aranea’s presence a secret from your entourage. Am I understood?" Ivar addressed her.

"Your military plans do not look good from where I am standing." Javenika told him.

"We took over the city with combined forces that numbered less than a full division, all in less than five days. I can hardly call this a failure by any metrics."

"You lost the warlord." Javenika accused him.

"The warlord is not lost, merely indisposed for a time. Her injury is a result of your failure to arrive on time, a mistake in my calculations that I will rectify shortly."

"Failure to arrive on time?" Aranea hissed, uncaring if Ivar would punish her. She will not stand by and allow her savior to be insulted, "She saved my life, you dolt! Had you arrived in time, Yasen would have been dead!"

"The survival of Yasen was a calculated risk that was integrated into my plans. The false hero won’t kill a single servant of the state anymore. This I swear on my life. Now, both of you be silent, our guests are here."

Aranea heard how the doors leading to the palace flung open and put both arms behind her back, trying to look respectable and calm. Her heart skipped a beat when she saw just who was walking from the brightly lit corridor of the palace.

Lord Steward was still dressed in the same clothes as the last time, not a single drop of sweat was on his brow. He walked forward with a casual smile on his face, spreading his arms wide in a welcoming gesture. Aranea could see nervous and scared civilians in the wide hall behind him, but not a single guard of the regulators was in sight.

Just what is he doing here… Her thoughts were caught short when she received a report from a drone. A group of enlistees armed with SMGs tried to approach them while moving across the nearby ruins. Before the wolf hag could even try to give the order, this group made of five enlistees was reported to be apprehended by Robet Hilingson and his men and were now escorted here. Aranea frowned. They could certainly pick up another route to lead the prisoners back to their rear. What game is the blue wyrm playing?

Lord Steward walked toward the blue wyrm, and the captain bowed to him, lowering his neck deeply, unbothered and unafraid of a possible attack.

"Greetings, your excellency. The Reclaimers are always welcome to a visit from the guests of your state. However, as I am sure you are aware, we are still in the process of reclaiming this place and some dangers might…"

"I am fully aware and thank you for your concern, host dearest," Lord Steward gracefully bowed to all of them. Aranea mimicked the bow, struggling to remember the time from her childhood. Her supposedly elegant bow ended up being crude, when a flash of pain hit her across the back, causing the wolf hag to frown. Javenika simply nodded in response, "Alas, danger or no, I must stay awhile. The good citizens of this noble and beautiful city choose me as the intermediary who will oversee the integration of this place into the Reclamation Army."

"You have the official writ?" Ivar asked, and Lord Steward produced a rolled paper, taking it from a pocket of his jacket. A pocket that Aranea could have sworn did not exist a second ago.

A blue line appeared next to the palace’s gate, making Aranea duck and release her claws in fear that King had returned. Instead of a dark portal, a full oval ring appeared in the air, showing the insides of a spacious cabinet filled with an antique collection of items. A long wooden table made of redwood. A world map on a wall. Two enormous looking windows behind the table lit the room with a soft light. And in front of the table stood five figures on a round circle with the image of a sprawling tree on it.

Three figures were the infamous shadows, the elite forces of the Iterna. Their metal shells were made after human bodies encased in armor. Crimson light burned in their eye sockets while their arms were folded behind their back. In front of them stood a figure in white power armor, with crimson markings "noncombatant" painted all around her body. Her helmet had a visor that allowed everyone to see the face of an elderly woman behind it, her short white hair reached her ears. The face was covered by wrinkles, but there was a keen intellect and calmness in her black eyes.

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And the last person made Aranea swallow her drool in fear. She was dressed in light power armor that looked more like a skintight leather suit, rather than a material made of steel. She was tall, easily matching Martyshkina’s height. She had a helmet that had a visor showing the smiling face of a blonde woman with deep blue eyes, but Aranea knew full well that at any moment this helmet could become fully closed, leaving just two blue lenses on the face. A symbol of Iterna was on her chest, a sprawling thousand-year-old oak. Her long blue cape, made of the same nanomachines that composed her armor, flowed from her back. The long blonde hair of the woman was coming free from the back of her helmet, covering her entire back like a secondary cape.

Eugenia Mylli. Known also as the Redeemer, she was a member of the Elites, the strongest trio of superhumans produced and maintained by Iterna. The one who fought against Ravager the most, bringing countless victories to Iterna in the days of the past. The terror who could open a portal both to the enemy base, allowing an entire army to pour in, and to outer space, throwing the opponent into eternal darkness. She had no known kills to her name, for in their inanity, the Elites of Iterna refused to kill their opponent. But the number of opponents she defeated and criminals she rehabilitated was truly astounding. Every child, every person in the state, one way or the other, heard about Eugenia, she was both a prominent political activist in Iterna and a warrior with few equals. The undeniable strongest Elite of Iterna, a person even greater than Lord Steward and Wyrm Lord combined, stepped through the portal, escorting the woman along with three other guards.

"President Kaia Mcgee, what an unexpected yet pleasant honor," The blue wyrm turned away from Lord Steward, bowing low to the newcomer, "I expected a member of your cabinet, not you in person."

"I had to see in person what I had allowed to come to pass," The woman responded bluntly and walked forward, shaking hands with Lord Steward, "Greetings to you, sword and shield of the Oath. What business do you have in this place?"

"A pleasure to meet you as well, little Kaia!" Lord Steward hugged the president, lifted her in the air, and took her in a spin, "My, how you grow! It’s been sixty years since we last met in person! But what is with your…"

"I decided to spend the rest of my days as a human," The president gestured to the people behind her that everything was fine and Lord Steward put her back on the ground with respect, "You didn’t answer my question."

"Ah, came to pick up a long-lost friend, that’s all." Lord Steward said, and the leather on his right shoulder went bubbling. The leather stretched, changing both color and shape, forming the head of the troll that looked at the people with eyes filled with pain.

"Apologies for my appearance, ladies and gentlemen," Brogard, Aranea remembered the name that Lord Steward used, said in a calm and deep voice, "The Number is currently in my… Hnghhh… LS, please, let me sleep, it hurts so much." The troll asked without once raising his voice, and Lord Steward allowed the man's face to move back into his shoulder.

"Numbers, here!?" Eugenia asked, looking around while the shadows formed a circle around the president.

"Yes, they attacked the hospital, killing and injuring many people within…"

"Iterna will provide for the injured from both sides." The president spoke sternly, and Ivar raised his head in surprise. With his tail, he reached for the communicator on his ear and tapped a button. Aranea had no idea what sort of a command he had sent, but the captured enlistees nearby were disarmed and released, instead of being hanged for daring to start a fight in peacetime.

What in the abyss was this about?! Aranea felt her head going into a spin. She was hungry, tired, her back was hurting and there was still so much to do. She felt out of place standing here and wanted to go back to her duties. There were wounded among her soldiers. Aranea also needed to take care of the deceased, and Kate wanted to speak about something personal with her.

"Where are the Numbers!" Eugenia demanded to know, "Do they have hostages? If yes, I offer help in rescuing…"

"They are gone, in no small part thanks to our allies!" Lord Steward pointed at the Reclaimers, and the president turned to them.

"I know captain Ivar and you, captain Javenika…"

"Inspector Javenika." The officer of the Second Army corrected the president with a sharpness in her voice, making the blue wyrm hiss in quiet anger.

"Of course, my apologies," Kaia Mcgee nodded amiably to her, turning to Aranea, "And you are?"

"Wolf hag Aranea, a representative of the Wolf Tribe." Ivar quickly introduced Aranea.

"And also the lady who nearly gave up her life to save people from the Numbers!" Lord Steward eagerly added.

"That’s not how…" Aranea was tied to say when the ruler cut her off once more.

"And she risked her life to save the civilians hiding in the palace. I can vouch for her."

"She will be the one to give the interview tomorrow," Ivar said to Kaia, "Now if you want, I can show you around the city. There is also something we need to discuss, since you mentioned the wounded, a matter of…"

"Wait! Wait!" Aranea was still all too shocked, giving her paw to be shaken first by the president and second by the Elite. The shock made the wolf hag forget that she was shaking paws with someone who beat the shit out of Janine once. Her head was going into a spin. Interview? But… What if the Ice Fang Order learns about... She shook her head, banishing the fears and concentrating on one thought that she could control. Aranea jerked her paw free from Eugenia’s embrace and pointed accusatorily at Lord Steward, "I don’t want to be vouched for by a sexual harasser!"

It took Aranea a second to understand just what exactly she said, when everyone, save for the shadows who still kept watch, looked at Lord Steward.

"What did you do to the state’s soldiers, sir?" Ivar quietly asked.

"Lord Steward!" The president tapped on the ground, "I thought this disgusting behavior was over years ago!"

"I can explain everything! It wasn’t.. It was a mistake!" Lord Steward raised his hands, taking a step back.

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