Chapter 53: Chapter 47

Aranea flew backwards, cartwheeling in the air and smashing into the stone, feeling how the rock behind her cracked. She sensed the blood on her lips.

"I trusted you. I saved your life. You saved mine," Janine slowly said, advancing on her while the pack stood at attention, "I assumed that we had built a trust between ourselves."

"Warlord, I…" Aranea squeaked, when the flamecaster crashed into her throat, pressing her into the stone.

"Warlord, this is my fault!" Kate screamed.

"Yours?" Janine spared her a glance, "You are just a warrior, Kate, and one who did her duty excellent. From a warrior to a scout. From a scout to a wolf hag. From a wolf hag to… No, Kate, the link of trust is broken elsewhere," She turned to Aranea, her amber eyes threatening to swallow the wolf hag whole, "You knew and said nothing."

"I couldn’t let him take Kate away." Aranea pushed the words out of herself and felt how the flamecaster pushed her even deeper, threatening to dislocate her throat.

"You think I would’ve allowed him to take a pack member away?!" Janine’s jaws snapped right before Aranea’s nose.

"Yes, dammit!" Aranea whispered, feeling how darkness was coming over her, "You already allowed him to use us as bait, and as a result, Kostya and Yuki are…"

The world spun around, and the stone behind her shattered. She felt a kick against her chin, one that shattered the stone behind her and sent her flying to the side. The wolf hag landed hard, smashing the rocks with her head and rolling on the ground for some time before she managed to stop herself. Aranea checked the wound and understood that her left chin was sliced all the way to the bone.

"Yuki and Kostya were good soldiers, and their names are forever etched into my very soul. But sometimes, we have to give up our very lives and more for duty. My failure to save them will forever be with me, but I will not allow you to besmirch their noble sacrifice!" Janine swirled around, turning to face Kate, "Kate. You and Leila are to train your power together."

"Me?" Leila pointed at herself with a claw, saying the words in unison with Kate.

"Yes. I and Aranea will think of something to help you with this."

"Warlord," Aranea spat the blood on the ground, standing on wobbly legs and trying to stop the flow of blood from her sliced chin, "I am sorry. For my words."

"Your apologies are accepted, wolf hag, all is forgiven," Janine looked up, at the night sky, gripping her axe with all her might, "The medics… that bitch told me to keep my temper in check. Show yourself to the medics and get yourself sorted out, then I am waiting for you to prepare a training course for tomorrow. Oh, and Aranea," The warlord said, when the wolf hag tried to limp away. She looked at the massive back of her warlord, who still looked at the sky, "I remember you boasting that you will become a warlord one day. Now your friend is way ahead of you. Feel like chickening out yet?"

"Never," Aranea responded, straightening herself up, "I will become a warlord. And I will change the Tribe."

"Good," Janine smirked, "Get stronger and take my axe from me. The rest of you! Get me my power armor and dismissed!"

****

The Reclamation Army was positioned around Darkhold, surrounding the city from all sides and not allowing anyone to go in or out. In the days when the Blood Court still ruled over Belaz, this place served as a mining colony for the slaves. Shortly after taking over Belaz, young Yasen liberated the slaves. The thankful citizens put a statue on the mountain that overlooked the city, along with several photos embedded in the statue’s foundation, commemorating this fateful day. Ivar forbade anyone from destroying these historical objects, and Aranea found herself wondering how this cheerful and smiling man, who helped former slaves around him and carried a laughing child on his shoulder, turned out to be the monster. The wolf hag looked over the photos, seeing how Yasen worked bare chested in a soup kitchen, how the regulator was laughing, helping remove rubble from the ruins of the former mining colony. His eyes looked sincere and pure, nothing like the fake hero that she remembered him as. He looked… like an actual idol and a leader worthy to be followed.

And Yasen made the best of what he had. Darkhold now had nothing dark about itself. The mines were abandoned for now, people took refuge in the main town, but the reclaimers checked them, noticing that everything was up to modern standards, safe for bombardment, these tunnels would never go down in years.

The town itself stood on the main road leading from Iterna to Dresgen fortress, serving as one of the main trade hubs in the regulators’ lands. There were no skyscrapers nor oversized buildings, for the city was constructed after the Extinction. The massive walls, far thicker than those of Belaz, surrounded the city, filled with turrets and guard towers. Behind the walls were residential areas, where thousands of people lived, and thousands more escaped in, abandoning the nearby settlements in fear of the state’s arrival. According to the investigation bureau, there were so many people out there that even a single artillery shell would likely cause dozens of victims. According to the reports, the few bunkers in the city were overcrowded even before the refugees came.

Darkhold grew fat and mighty from the trade with Iterna, many of its defense systems gave away the Bento tribe’s craftsmanship. The city relied on Belaz for a source of water and food, providing technology and metals in exchange. Even with underground pipes being shut off and with caravans no longer passing through, the city is stocked with supplies, and should be able to endure months of siege.

Ivar forbade anyone to attack the city, seemingly intending to starve out the foe. The blue wyrm positioned himself on a mountain visible from the main gates leading to the city and created a circle of water around himself, leaving the communicator in the camp and bathing himself in the water that flowed from the rocks, evaporating before reaching the overheated surface. The enemy no doubt saw him, but no turrets attempted to shoot him.

Janine kept herself on the front lines. The warlord no longer shared meals with her pack, no longer slept in her tent and always kept her power armor on. She slept in her power armor, resting her hands on the lower end of the axe while the axe’s head rested on the ground. The warlord reverted back to the times of battle for Houstad, focusing solely on putting herself on the front line, acting as a fighter rather than a leader.

And other wolf hags blamed Aranea for it. Even Sonya looked at her wolf hag with something akin to resentment, but never allowed herself to say anything. When one of the wolf hags openly accused Aranea of damaging the warlord, Janine simply called the woman and slashed across her body, leaving her with future scars that would run from her ear to her hip. The warlord warned her entire pack that if anyone once more dares to insult Janine like this, the warlord will kill the next fool right on the spot. Tensions slightly died after this, but Aranea still caught disgust in the eyes of other wolf hags from her pack.

And to tell the truth, she felt like shit for speaking her mind. Janine was a hero, someone who served for centuries and saved far more lives than Aranea even saw. The warlord took a paw in raising most members of her pack, she saved the lives of almost every single member at least once. Like them, she equally bled and suffered. Yet, Aranea’s accusation weighed heavily on Janine’s shoulders.

Annie and Virginia ended up working together. Neither of them was in any shape to join either training, thus Alpha temporarily placed Virginia’s pack under the command of someone from the Omega team. Annie almost wanted for someone in her pack to challenge her, but all the other wolf hags looked up to her instead. In the absence of the warlord, and with the blue wyrm refusing to appoint another officer, the strongest was supposed to lead. On the first day, Annie swallowed her pride, asking for advice from Aranea, Olesya, and even Virginia. On the second day, Virginia worked side by side with Annie, positioning the troops and giving out assignments. Annie’s distaste for the rust-colored wolfkin was self-evident, and Aranea often wondered, just what had happened between them. But she could not deny that they made quite a good team, even if they kept growling and cursing at each other. Annie asked for Sly’s help to establish a secure channel with her scout in Iterna. Aranea gave her permission to do it in secret from Ivar.

Alpha and Zero stood with the main force for a while, before leaving to oversee the subjection of the local settlements. With all armed guards being pulled to Darkhold, there was a real chance that predators of the Ravaged Lands would make a quick job of the remaining population. Ivar allowed both warlords to leave, leaving him with just Janine and Valerye at his command.

Thankfully, Javenika and her guards were away, inspecting how the troops without the personal leadership of Ivar will treat the locals. Aranea thanked the Spirits for this small mercy.

****

On the morning of the third day that Aranea and the others arrived here, she was called by Janine. The wolf hag’s torn chin was already healed up, leaving her with just a scar that ran on the left side of her face. Quickly putting on her power armor and grabbing her weapons, Aranea charged toward the warlord, who still stood some distance away from the main gate.

"About Kate. He knew all along." Janine quietly said to Aranea, looking down at the wolf hag.

"How?!"

"When I came to inform him about Kate’s power, Ivar only glanced at me and told me that after your pack was rescued and one of the wyrms read your thoughts, only a fool would not being able to guess," Janine gritted her fangs and looked Aranea over, "Anyway, prepare yourself. You are to join him. Only you."

"Join? Where?"

"He said that you two will take over this city today," Janine gripped the shaft of her axe with all her might, "Aranea, he swore that you won’t be harmed. But if he dares to lie to me, if he does anything… I will kill him. I won’t allow members of my pack to be killed in vain while I am sitting behind the front lines."

"Janine, none of us…" Aranea started, but the warlord merely nodded toward the main gates of the city.

The blue wyrm flew down from the mountain, hovering above the mine field that surrounded the ground before the walls. And then he landed on all fours, shaking the ground and proudly looking at the gates. Not a single mine went off. Not a single explosion damaged his scales. And gates began to open, inviting the blue wyrm to come.

****

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"Tell me, wolf hag Aranea, do you ever hear how people trained horses in ancient times?" Ivar asked offhandedly, walking proudly down the main street, surrounded by a pathetic excuse for a guard. Just ten regulators, all of whom were scared to death of the people they were meant to escort.

"What sort of games do you play in, captain Ivar?" Aranea demanded to know. The city all around here bore signs of battle. Some buildings were recently on fire. She saw dead regulators in their uniforms, and the walls were riddled with bullets and bore the burnt marks of energy weapons. There were even some civilian corpses, "No," she grumbled as Ivar turned his serpentine neck toward her.

"It was quite an interesting process. Among nomadic tribes, it was common to pile weight after weight on stubborn horse and then force the animal to follow after them. Eventually, after the animal was nearly dead from exhaustion, they removed the weights. And the animal viewed them as saviors after it. You see, horses have a short memory."

"Sound like a good way to break the animal’s back and leave yourself with nothing," Aranea stopped, seeing the civilians on the main square near the palace. Most of them wore anti-heat suits, but a few that lacked the suits had sunken eyes, their skin looked like parchment, some of them were crying, but no tears were coming from their eyes. All of them begged the small detachment of the palace guards about something, "No." The wolf hag whispered, recognizing these symptoms.

"Why, such danger exists," Ivar waved his wings and water poured from the skies. But this was not the salt water that he used to kill others. No, it was clean, fresh, and cold water. And he bathed civilians into it. Some people stumbled for a second before ripping the hoods of their heat suits off their heads and drinking water hungrily. Some even gathered the water into their suits before running off to their homes. The palace guards and the escort looked at the growing pool of water with hesitation, "Feel free to join in," Ivar told them, "We can find our way in."

The guards needed no further invitation. Dropping their weapons, they rushed to the pool of water, drinking or gathering the water that spilled on overheated stones, while more and more came from the air above. People flowed from the streets, afraid at first, then with a desperate rush, trying to get to the source of water. Some civilians fell on their knees, extending their hands toward the blue wyrm, who proudly spread his wings, covering the gathering in the shadow.

"Citizens of Darkhold!" Ivar’s voice thundered across the streets, "The horror of the past days is behind. Once your leader signs the surrender, the water supply will be restored! Then peace will come, and prosperity will soon follow! Endure just awhile, the relief is almost here!"

The blue wyrm walked forward, joined by Aranea, going toward the open gates that were leading into the palace. This place was built to accommodate even the biggest cyborgs of the Bento tribe, the main entrance was just big enough for Ivar to be able to squeeze himself in. The captain pointed to Aranea to go first and followed her into a long corridor soon after. Not a single guard was in sight.

"You bastard…" Aranea whispered, "You cut off…"

"It's all about the right amount," Ivar explained, "If you put too much, the stallion will ignore you. Put more, and you lose the magnificent prize. But with just the right amount," His right arm moved forward, the claws of the index and thumb almost closing before Aranea’s face, "And you get the prize. Now, don’t look so down, the Resistance tried to use the trick first. We simply returned the favor, wolf hag, and with a far less dangerous substance. The Omega team arrived some days before the army and ensured that all water storage would be contaminated."

"How could you do it?" Aranea demanded to know, "Do you have any idea how many civilians…"

"Not right now, no," Ivar tapped across her shoulder, nearly knocking her to the ground, "I expect the numbers to be in the low hundreds. Far, far less, if we had stormed the place. Now be quiet, wolf hag. I owe you something. This will be the recompense."

They walked further toward the gates at the end of the corridor. Ivar snapped his fingers and the gates opened, allowing them to walk into the brightly lit hall. Two twisted stairways led to the second floor. Yasen, dressed in his power armor, his head bare, stood in the middle of the room. On his shoulders was a purple cloak. Behind him stood a large figure of Markus, dressed in similarly ornate power armor, with a purple cloak over his shoulders. Aranea felt confusion at first, before she looked at the face of the youth and compared him to Yasen’s. The similarity was undeniable. Behind Yasen stood several of his officers, and behind them, regulators armed with heavy energy weapons. Some of the soldiers raised their heads nervously. And on the second floor of the room stood soldiers of the Omega team, pointing their weapons down at the regulators.

"Ah, dearest Yasen, at last we are able to meet each other," Ivar pushes his bulk into the hall, standing on two legs and greeting everyone with his arms spread. The edges of the whole hall were covered with magnificent looking statues from the Old World and several newly made statues. Despite his massive size, the blue wyrm nimbly avoided throwing down even a single vase from the tables in the room or accidently scratching the beautifully made gilding that covered the walls, My dearest host, you are a hard man to find. But let bygones be bygones, I am so glad that we finally see each other eye to eye." Ivar sounded genuinely joyful and almost gentle, not a hint of his usual ruthlessness or coldness could be heard in his words.

"We, too, gladly welcome your arrival, lord Ivar," Yasen smiled broadly as he quickly bowed to the blue wyrm, "Without further ado, I am willing to switch sides and join the glorious Reclamation Army."

Aranea felt the cold run through her veins. No. He could get away after all he had done. She wanted to kill him for what he had done to her soldiers, or at the very least, to see him in prison. This was the man who murdered his own soldiers, tortured prisoners, and allowed civilians to be used as hostages... Aranea forced herself to stand still.

"Oh, yes, I would gladly accept your surrender," Ivar looked at the man with pity, sounding almost guilty, "However, you know that there is a price…"

"Of course, one that I will gladly pay." Yasen snapped his fingers and smiled.

The soldiers behind him took aim at the officers behind him. Marcus looked back in confusion before he felt the barrel of a laser pistol pressed to his temple. The pistol that was held by Yasen's hand.

"Father?" He asked in confusion.

"Sorry, son, but I can have other kids. Meanwhile, I only have one life," Yasen smiled at him in apology, and a shock appeared on Marcus’s face. Shock that changed to determination and then to horror, "I spiced your food with something from Iterna. You can’t use your power for a few days, son. You and the others are to be executed tomorrow. Nothing I can do," He looked at the guards, "I am afraid this includes you as well, my friends."

The omega team members jumped from the above, tearing away the weapons from the guards and throwing them on the ground. The soldiers started tying up the regulators while Yasen stepped away, putting his weapon back into a holster.

"Sir!" Aranea fell on her knees before the blue wyrm, "Marcus… or whatever his name is, helped us during the attack of the Numbers! You can’t let this vile scum…" She looked at Yasen and the regulator broadly smiled to her, "…get away with all that he has done and kill Marcus! Mercy, please!"

"Not much I can do," The blue wyrm signed with pain in his voice. He looked at the regulator and gestured for him to come closer. When the man stood in Ivar's shadow, the blue wyrm asked, "Yasen Wolansky, are you willing to become a subject of the state and its laws?"

"Yes!" Yasen stepped forward.

Ivar smiled. The Omega team laughed, putting the shocked guards back on their feet. They cut the restraints, going even so far as to give up the weapons back to the regulators and give them an excusing pat on the shoulder. Yasen looked around in confusion.

"Pay it no mind, Yasen, I decided to be merciful," The blue wyrm waved his massive hand, "You stand accused of torturing and being involved in the torture of prisoners of war," Ivar said, his voice changing, "How do you plead?"

"What is the meaning of this?!" Yasen shouted, his composure gone, "I gave you the city and you dare treat me like this?"

"In our country, there is no statute of limitations on some of the most heinous crimes. If you plead guilty, you will face… around sixty years in the Torment. Of course, you can deny your involvement, but… I have a witness right here." Ivar smiled with a predator smile, pointing at Aranea.

"You… Kill them!" Yasen shouted, turning to his guards. The men looked at him, and as one, raised their weapons, taking aim at their former leader. Even Marcus simply sat on the floor, still in deep shock at the situation.

Yasen roared, releasing a kinetic wave from his hands, throwing his own guards and some members of the Omega team against the walls. He threw his fist up, releasing another wave that made a hole in the ceiling. The ground beneath him exploded when the waves of force that were coming from his feet propelled him upwards.

Aranea reached for her rail gun, feeling Ivar’s eyes on her back. She lifted her weapon, tracking the moving regulator with casual ease. Before, she often missed her shots, the fear of the destructive power that her weapon could unleash was too great even for her. The wolf hag briefly thought about taking out the enemy’s limbs first, to make him feel every inch that Kaleb and Kate felt.

She pressed the trigger, spearing Yasen’s head with a clean shot instead. The man never even had a chance to feel what just killed him, the plasma ball licked away his head and the upper part of his chest, setting his cloak on fire and leaving him crashing down on the stone stairs and slowly rolling down on the first floor, spreading blood.

One down. Aranea thought. She expected to feel joy or fulfilment. But instead, all she could think of was that she had put down a rabid animal. The wolf hag felt nothing about Yasen. In the end, he was no one to her.

"Now then, Marcus Wolansky," Ivar’s long serpentine neck carried his head down, until he could look into the eyes of the trembling regulator, "For the sake of your city and for the sake of your people. Do you join the state?"

The young man stood up, looking right into Ivar’s eyes. And finally, he gave a bow: "We surrender."

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