“You! You! Yoooooou!” The hulking mass roared, his lerained on her.. “You took everything from me!”

  “And you are?” Janine asked coldly.

  Something was off. The five-meter-tall freak, a suit of dark steel, stepped towards her, shaking the ground as four ocurs spread evenly around the rou, fring. A get cealed thick wires running into the helmet; arms and legs had too many mobile joints, and the chest swayed, turning easily. Two sharp toes, easily mistaken for bdes, adorned each leg. The suit cked edges; every curve was smooth and round, so that ining blows would graze the ptes rather thahem.

  Power armors of the world shared a on design choice, a backpack st the geor on their backs. It wasn’t much of a vulnerability, as the ptes helped a user to dominate regur battlefields, ploughing through oppos. Iterna’s models had no geors and received their energy via wireless transmission directly from their many satellites. But that try never sold such advanced equipment, and no one was able to reverse-eheir encrypted systems.

  There was no backpa the man’s suit. Janine’s ears caught the hum of a w geor in the chest cavity of the approag brute. But... this was madness. Where would a pilot be? Had they sent a dwarf against her? She examined further, paying closer attention to the wires, artificial fiber muscles, and cables that gave the appearance of blood vessels and sinews. Gears shifted below them. Too thick to tain a person.

  A remote-trolled robot? Or was there a Malformed or a mutant of an unusual shape inside?

  “I’m... I’m Mehmed, I think.”

  “Doesn’t ring a bell.”

  “You took my arm. You robbed me of my senses, my body, and even my breath!” Mehmed screamed, his synthesized voice sounding inhuman. The suit stopped, and a burst of noise imitating sug poured out of the dynamics. “Give it back. Pleaaase… A single breath. I beg you. Give me my feelings back,” he said longingly.

  “You are crazy, boy,” Janine said softly. The Tribe tolerated true lunatics, deeming it unworthy to hate the poor souls no matter what they did. In the worst cases, they killed them swiftly. Soothsayers, or therapists as Normies called them, cimed that certain insanities could be treated. Janine didn’t believe that.

  “Don’t…” Mehmed chuckled, and a shiver ran through his body. “Don’t you know that when you kill someone, you have to do it properly? And not make wrecks?”

  “I don’t even know you. Whatever your beef is with me, know that the mutant bastard up there is using you…”

  “Let me feel again!” Mehmed charged.

  A metal arm thrust, filling the air with a scream as rending cws sliced through an afterimage left by Janine’s evasion. The limb smmed into the ground, splintering both pnks and the crete floor. The warlrabbed Mehmed’s elbow and drove the trophy spear into the joint of his torso and waist. Her attack barely cut a single protective fiber, and the spear itself bent and exploded as its miniature geor fractured.

  Undaunted, she tensed her muscles and tightened her grip, hearing the whine of the crumpling vambrace. He baded her with a lower arm, reopening the wounds on her side, and then there was a click. Jaopped twisting his wrist on instinct, and it had saved her hide as his upper arms suddenly sed pces with the lower as the arms swung in wide arcs, his cwed fiearing at the ground.

  Inhuman movements. The sets of arms switched positions again, but she was already charging at the ter of his mass, retively safe from the swipes. She caught his kick between her palms, and the warlord jerked Mehmed off his feet, raising a paw to smash through his facepte. Fmes spat from his back, setting fire to the surrounding wood, and he headbutted Janine, flying up. His arms fixed their positions, and a double blow threw her backward.

  Janine deliberately didn’t resist the impact, letting herself be cartwheeled away. A hiddepack. Enough strength to match me. Indignities were irrelevant, but the information she gained could save her life. She nded on her feet, grabbing two swords belonging to the dead hordemen, and dodged as Mehmed brought his four arms about, unleashing a flurry of stabs. At first, his moves betrayed uainty and inexperiehe man was uo fighting using bare hands; she could bet her life on that. No lohe more he fought, the better he adapted, eschewing wide swipes and smoothly flowing his missing stabs into attempts to hook her skin.

  Faced against the maddening desperation, Janine waited calmly for Mehmed to expose himself and sshed at the unprotected cords on his wrists. The Horde’s swords, capable of pierg the state’s armor, shattered in her paws, turning into useless hahat were hurled at the bzing lenses in vain. Ja the hrusts with her own cws, sinking them into the unusually resilient wires.

  “Please.” Mehmed baded her away. “Let me feel anything. I’ll do anything, anything you want. Eveh is okay. Return what you took!” He raised his lower arm, looked at the cables spitting hissing sparks, then fixed his ocurs on her, g his arm into a fist. A finger moved a little slower. “Sparks? Where is my blood? D-damn you. Just… why couldn’t you simply kill me?! Why this?! Why?!”

  Her paws and his upper hands closed against each other, fingers iwined, cws deeply cerating flesh and shreddial. Groaning from the exertion, she began pushing him away.

  “Die, die, die, die, die, DIE!” His lower arms smmed into her sides, dropping Jao a knee. “I won’t let you turn anyone else into this!”

  “I am doertaining this madness!” roared Janine and rushed at him, kig Mehmed aing his chest pte. Their lock broken, she sshed at him, scraping the smooth metal surfad carving small grooves. A pain forced her back as his lower hands stabbed her iomach. Her abdominal muscles saved her from the worst, preventing the bdes from reag her insides.

  It wasn’t a losing battle. Mehmed possessed the advahanks to his extra arms; their strength was evenly matched, and the fatigue dulling her bat instincts was negligible. The damage she had suffered, in addition to the inability to breathe through her nose and the diminished field of vision, threateo weigh her down. She had to end it soon.

  He kicked with the ft of his foot, uo having cwed feet. Jaook the blow to her wrists and stepped back, feeling the reverberation in her bones. It was all right; she had him where she needed him. The leg slipped ahead, and she grabbed the ahrew Mehmed over herself with enough for him face-first into the ground, a at his back. Right into the stream of fme.

  It was futile trying to break his leg. Even an idiot would remember the bdes on his . Mehmed was encased in a rigid shell, but there was a way to get to the vulnerable parts. Janine po break through the extended jetpack, and her pn paid off. Her skin withstood the intense heat, and she was almost ready to plunge her paw into the device when a light fshed at the baehmed’s head. Another camera.

  His upper body swung around and wo elbows on her forearm, raised in defense. His blows numbed her fist, bulging the skin inward, but the warlord ed her legs around his, gripping his arms and attempting to break them. Mehmed tried to cw at her, but the impact rolled them across the floor, throwing his aim off. She heard the metal give way, the lenses of the suit dimmed, aopped moving; the hum of his geor was no longer audible, and the pilr of fire no longer spewed from his back. Janine ighis, still trying to break his limbs when a foot crashed into her side, throwing her off the tin- man.

  “Enough fun for one night,” Brood Lord said, and Drozna pushed her face down, and more hands joined in, tying her up.

  “Coward,” Janine said, loud enough for everyoo hear. “Are you so afraid of a wounded and lone Wolfkin? Have you no faith in your champions? Face me if they ’t give me a det challenge!” Drozna punched her, almost breaking a fang.

  “Janine, don’t get so angry. You won; be happy!” Brood Lord jumped nimbly from the wall. “As a reward, I shall spare your people. For today.” He smiled, fshing his needle teeth. “Fret not; decades of miracles await you. Return the prisoo their cells! Sing and drink, friends! We have a nation to quer; let’s lift our spirits with the spoils of our victory!”

  ****

  Janine desired to murder any invader who touched her, but unfortunately, Drozna took oask irying to gnaw at his bone-covered limbs ointless, so she wisely rexed, using the brief respite to allow her wounds to close.

  Brood Lord was a fool. Decades, was it? Soon, very soon, the Blessed Mother would stir from her slumber. Devourer was no doubt already on his way back, and the dreaded Outsider would not stand aside when dahreateheir homend. The Horde was fihey were dead men walking to their sughter. She had half a thought to remain the prisoo enjoy firsthand the realization and panic settling in Brood Lord’s eyes as every ounce of trol was taken from him. But it was an unworthy thought. She was responsible fnacy’s well-being and the other captives. She had to get them out and sacrifiough io pcate Bogdan’s soul.

  Janine groaned slightly as Drozna shoved her into the cell, keeping her limbs pinned while his minions were busy seg them with the oversized shackles and durable s. Ign them, Janine surveyed the pce. Previously, this area had served as cold ste; she could smell the st of cusacks in the air even through the metal in her nose. Anything of value had already been taken by the invaders, who had ter set up several cages here. One held Normies, another Wolfkins, and Janine was i cage. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Ignacy ed to the iron bars. Ignacy blinked several times at irregur intervals.

  I am well. He said it with silent speech, bowing his head in a sign of acceptand grief. Ied and implemented by the bined efforts ena and Alpha, this form of unication closely mimicked a state of fusion and distress in captured Wolfkins, often fooling their captors.

  Your brother. My fault. Janine blinked back several times and spat at Drozna, earning herself a hit. She spat at the cretin’s shoulder in response, frowning from a heavy blow to her stomach.

  Fool. Stop messing around. Love you. Ignacy bit his lip several times, f the message. The st part of the wordless dialogue meant an admission of love between two soulmates, but Ignacy deliberately wounded his lower lip to show that he meant the blood ties.

  They didn’t dare speak to each other out loud. Not after what had happeo Bogdan. It was a cruel lesson, but ohat Janine’s cubs had known since birth. Never reveal family ties or a friend in captivity, for they could be used against you. A lesson she had lear the cost of the lives of four of her children. And a lesson she had failed to keep.

  Bogdan. I am sorry. So sorry.

  “Keep an eye on her, boys,” Drozna hiccuped, stepping aside. The man reeked of drink. He gave the s a quick tug to see if they would hold, then stomped for the exit.

  “You won’t be staying with us, Drozna?” asked a hordeman.

  Drozna moved and smashed the hordeman’s head against a wall.

  “Drozna? Drozna? I am no Malformed, no stray for you to call by name. Brood Lord made me an officer! The one who calls me by my name is gonen alive!” He gred at the terrified guards, then smiled and helped the wounded hordeman to his feet. “I met a real cutie tonight. He and I are going to spend a night iskirts, enjoying stars.”

  “But… the woman, Brood Lord said…” the wounded man wiped blood from his ears.

  “The big bitch is beaten and broken. She ain’t running. Stay away from her. As for the rest, have fun…” Drozna walked out of the room, and several guards hurried after him, begging the giant to resider.

  “Warlord?” said a Normie, pressing his face against the bars. Uhe Wolfkins, the guardsmen were not tied to their cage. “You saved us. We owe you our lives.”

  “You owe your lives to the state, soldier,” Janine replied. “For its eternal glory, I will see you survive and put them to good use.” She smirked through sorrow. “If you want to repay me personally, name one of your cubs Bogdan.”

  She tested her owraints, drawing a cw over them. A rare alloy of some kind, ohat resisted her attempts to leave a mark. But… She turned her paw around, calg the size of the shackle’s hole. Yes, it ossible. If she broke her paw, she could pull it free. It’ll hurt more than a little, but the boructure will iably recover after a period of recuperation, so she’ll be in fighting shape…

  “Cousin,” said the Ice Fang knight, bowing her head. The woman’s hair was evenly colored in bd yellow, and her eyes were dimmer than usual. “I am sorry about your…”

  “Shut up, bitch,” Jaold her, letting out the boiling rage inside her. “Take your fake dolences and shove them up your ass. Your treaasters brought this upon us. Call me ‘kin’ or ‘cousin’ again and I will murder you, Ice Fang. Name’s Janine, warlord of the Wolf Tribe. I am no kin to the horaitors.”

  “C… Warlord,” the Ice Fang corrected herself. “What has happened was horrible, but I…”

  “I, I, I, it’s always the same with you, parrots, always I and your damn honor. Stop making everything about yourself. Let me think.” Janine bared her fangs and deadened her ears to the words of the white-furred traitor.

  Beside the knight was Sword Saint Macarius. s bound him to the iron bars as his arms and legs were missing. Bandages covered the stumps, but her nose caught the smell of pus ing from the blood-soaked cloth. Her eye stopped briefly at the swellings on his shoulders and near his waist.

  Iion. He would be a dead weight in the war, and she doubted they would be able to wake the bastard up and keep him scious long enough to open a portal to his mansion. Annoying. But it was her duty to save his life, sihe state’s medical services save his life. If she get the traitor out fast enough.

  If. Too many ifs. Could she pull it off? It oio doubt. The Recmation Army ’t afford to lose more sword saints or warlords. Her tribe he lives of her soldiers. That and… Janine admitted she wao see Bogdan’s cubs, apologize for failing their father, ahem grow up. So. What I work with?

  Drozna is out tonight. Brood Lord is one of their major khans; he will have to join the front. How long he afford to stay? The Horde did not seem like ay proo staying stationary. Does that mean he pns to take them along? Not necessary; with this Phaser fellow, he could return and torture her at his leisure.

  Janine began to t the seds, ign the knight’s words. Eventually, one of her soldiers advised the Ice Fang to be silent. we afford to stay and wait for a more favorable time to escape? No, Macarius might die. He ranks above me in martial prowess and possesses a power. ces are his cubs will share the talent. Just because he is an idiot does not devalue him iate’s eyes. Foolishness is curable. Death is not. Janine pared the shackles and s that bound the soldiers to her own. At a gheirs appeared to be ordinary steel. It made sense; an alloy impervious to her cws must be incredibly rare. Her fangs would do the job.

  So, what were the options? Dokholkhu and the raiders she had spared? Too risky; Janine couldn’t be sure of their assistahe best-case sario was to wait an hour and break her paws. How long would she be uo stand and roperly? If she’d been in her prime, Janine could have recovered in an hour. Now she wasn’t sure, but two hours sounded abht before some mobility returned. Could she face the guards as a cripple? Yes.

  Her saliva had sted Drozna, allowio sniff it from kilometers away. Another potential asset in their escape. Where to run? Not to Houstad, with the two armies battling nearby, they wouldn’t be able to cover the ground aer the city. Not south, Macarius needed urgent medical attention. That left her with a single choice.

  The Oathtakers. The ers of her mouth twisted. Janine had experiehe displeasure of meeting them in battle, losing some and winning more. She had even been captured ond exged for a New Breed of equal value. Still, it was a viable option. Perhaps Lyudochka would vouch for her.

  Their rivals were nothing like the Horde. Respectful of their prisoners and not known for excessive sughter, unless some unfortunate soul happeo run into Crawler. The worst thing she could think of them was that accursed Oath, that heinous, unnatural curse borne from a power.

  It was an invisible binding, linking the New Breeds ted it. The Oathtakers’ founder had created it, and based oa and theories of the researchers, the Oath subtly influenced people, prompting them to abandon thoughts of corruption and lessening their aggression towards their fellows, drastically redug the number of acts caused by drunken brawls. Abusive parents who swore by it ged for the better, alternative paths in life opened up for former ruthless murderers and scumbags of all kinds. In moderation, it was a healthy medie, though Janine never expressed this opinion to anyone.

  For the Oath robbed people of their free will, vioting the most sacred thing. No nation had the right to rule with such a tempting crutch as mind trol. In time, it would be ied and altered to serve the upper csses, corrupting those above and below. The Dynast tolerated shady practices for the sake of unification, but this was a step too far, even for him.

  Regardless, their nations were at peace, and the Oathtakers had helped in Houstad. With any luck, she might be able to persuade them to let her go so she could join the war effort, as they keep former prisoners as ‘huests’. It was clear that the Oathtakers would use it to advaheir agenda, but any gains would be political.

  Half an hour passed. A sm of the door distracted Janine from her pnning as she waited for her wounds to heal. Dokholkhu and two guards approached.

  “Leave us,” the Malformed demanded haughtily, approag Janine. Keeping a safe distance, he nded a heavy kito her stomach, causio twit rage at this betrayal. “She and I have a score to settle.”

  “Dokholkhu, just because Brood Lord…”

  Dokholkhu turned around, standing high on his hind legs. His front closed around the hordeman’s neck, tightening up enough for him tle to breathe. His rade reached for his on, and the Malformed pointed his own pistol at the man.

  “Either let me take my vengean the butcher, or I will extract a pound of flesh from you to quench my thirst. Which will it be?” Dokholkhu asked calmly. The hordemen blinked nervously and nodded.

  The Malformed turned his ba them, holstering his gun and taking out kwo of them struck her shoulder, slig through the skin as the guards closed the door. Jaried to bite the bastard and received a kick to the jaw, apanied by a chuckle.

  “So much for not wanting to be here,” Janine spat in his face, marking him and preparing to break her paws.

  “I have spoken to the soldiers I rescued,” Dokholkhu’s arrogant and hateful voice ged to a calm and shy tone. “Is it true that your state accepts Malformed?”

  “Yes,” Janine responded, catg on to the game. “The Recmation Army accepts pretty muyone who wants to live peacefully.”

  “Even those who have done something truly cruel?” Dokholkhu asked cautiously.

  “If you are tired, rest. If you have sinned, repent. As long as you are alive, there are all kinds of opportunities.” Jaried t and failed because of s. The kid removed his knives from her shoulder. “How old are you anyway, Dokholkhu?”

  She felt stupid. Someone like Ygrite or Zero could build a rapport with even the worst scum ahem to fess without lifting a cw. Janine herself had trouble with small talk, but she had to try to emute them. What was most important? To dissuade a prisoner of the idea that they were beyond redemption. The aim was to offer a little leeway iurn for better cooperation.

  “I lived for two thousand ay-eight days.” The Malformed spped his chest.

  “You’re joking,” Janine looked him over, horrified, reizing the childlike gleam in his brown eyes. “Five years old?”

  “We grow up really fast,” the kid sighed. “Die fast too.”

  “A cub? I killed children?” Janine whispered, remembering the Malformed she had executed in Houstad. Damn it. How old was she? War was the Abyss, but the Wolf Tribe held itself to a higher standard. The standards she had broken. I will turn myself in ter. Helping him is the priority. “Listen to me, Dokholkhu. Drop everything. Literally drop everything you are doing a. Right now. Find a Wolfkin, any Wolfkin, and surrender. You are a clever boy; you know on; it should not be difficult. No one will hurt you if what you say about ye is true. Fet any crimes you may have itted; none of them matter. You ’t stay here. Your fucker of a father will kill you. But there are people out there who help you. You have no idea how many. If you’re afraid of Recimers, find people known as Oathtakers, or better yet, Iternians; they won’t hurt any cubs either.”

  “And if you set us free, that’ll t as a bonus,” Ignacy said.

  “How do I know you’re not lying and won’t rip my head off the moment I do it?” Dokholkhu asked.

  “Do we look suicidal to you?” Ignacy pressed his snout against the bar. “I have a lot to live for.”

  “You… don’t,” the boy admitted, pointing at Janine. “But she does. I saw her leap into fmes! Not even to save anyone. Who does that?”

  Son of a whore!

  “She does it a lot,” Ignacy said. “I struggle to my head around it.”

  Don’t you dare take his side!

  “I don’t io die in here,” Janine assured the cub. “You said that you didn’t want to be here.”

  “’t bme the kid o; it is horrible here,” the Ice Fang said.

  “Shut up already, traitor,” Jaold her. “This is your ce, Dokholkhu. A ce to be free and happy and away from the shadow of your cruel parent. If you just reach out and do what’s right, it’s yours.”

  “I am sorry.” The Malformed took a step back. “But it’s not that simple. Give me… time. We will speak again.”

  “Boy…” Jaarted, but he was already at the door, calling for the guards. When they came, she pyed her part, spitting drool and cursing him, vowing to fy him alive ahe remains.

  Cubs. Spirits, five me; I didn’t know! Never, I will never bee aerrific.

  I am Janine. And this is my way of doing things.