The Inevitable dominated the center of the airport, a palace of steel, tracks, turrets, sensor arrays, missile launchers, and bristly cannons. Its ammunition fully replenished, the centerpiece of the Third stood ready to aid the packs in any way it could, and to rain Abyss down on anyone approaching Houstad.
As they hurried inside, Bertruda flinched, noticing obvious aggression in the air. Usually rowdy, the packs stood unmoved, fully armored including helmets, watching with unblinking lenses at the Ice Fangs standing opposite of them. The Order's host outnumbered the Tribe's three to one, an unnecessary testament to the consequences of betrayal and who had paid the price.
Gone was the usual banter, and a low growl passed through the tense packs as a Sunblade knight-captain gave the command, and the knights raised their banners, hailing the return of the warlords and welcoming Bertruda. A mistake. It would be better for the Order to let the wound heal rather than cutting it wide open with their fake pretense of caring. And the situation will worsen even more when the news of the Ice Fangs' failure to protect Marco and their refusal to pay the blood debt becomes public.
Janine had considered banning this revelation, but she couldn't find it in her heart to do so, knowing full well that someone would tell the truth and then she would have to murder the disobedient soldier. She did not want to see another Wolfkin die because of the Order's either direct or indirect treacherous actions ever again.
No Wolfkin clumsily offered a place at a bonfire and food to the defenders or knights. Hunters and scouts did not sneak into the ranks of another group to tease them. Shamans didn't explain the faith in the Spirits to curious souls, and the sages refrained from educating warriors and males. If the reports spoke true, for the first time since the two groups had united under Ravager, several shamans had banned the ice boys from attending prayers. Lacerated One punished the shamans responsible, but the fact remained.
When they had left this place, a unity had chained them. Now, the threat of violence hung in the air, and any wrong move could spark the irrecoverable. Without the Blessed Mother, the alliance of the Tribe and the Order was falling apart.
"Anissa!" She heard a screeching voice, and the long, segmented body crashed into the wolf hag as she and her companion stepped onto the ramp of the mobile fortress, bringing a flush to Janine's cheeks. "You're alive! Oh honey, I was so worried sick upon hearing about Janine's capture! Let me just check if everything is fine real quick…"
"We are tougher than this…" Anissa giggled, hearing the melody drummed by the toxicognaths on her helmet. Lyudochka raised a finger and stopped, but then Chak whispered words to Anissa, earned a kiss, and slithered off her, pursuing the company.
"And you!" Chak's coils neared the group; his black eyes faced Janine's. "Where is my armor, barbarian!"
His outburst drew a couple of chuckles from the rows of soldiers, and Alpha nodded in approval of his game.
"My armor," Janine corrected him. "It broke like a rotten egg under Mad Hatter's fingers."
"My crew maintained and repaired that marvel, you ignorant, savage pest! I spent sleepless nights polishing it, replacing damaged servomotors, bundling fiber muscles, and keeping it clean of dirt!" The black clusters of his eyes shifted. "Your armor? A brute such as yourself wouldn't know how or when to recharge its generator! Your armor. Bah! You piss and drool on it and claim to possess and know these things. Ridiculous. Lost my armor, lost my rifle, but kept that useless axe. Whatever." He sighed, falling in line. "What's done is done. It's good to see you all alive. Visit me at the maintenance bay, Council. We'll see what we can do to ensure that you'll stay alive. It will be unseemly if my wife's mother is not present at our wedding."
Calmness. Janine bit her tongue at the mocking laughter of Alpha and the congratulations for Martyshkina and Bertruda. Peace and tranquility. You are a whiff of sand carried by a storm, relaxed and unbothered. Her paws clenched, the fingers pressing hard against the palms. You can't murder your daughter's soulmate even if she's completely wrong about choosing this insect!
As they approached the Inevitable's ramp, Alpha lightly elbowed her sisters and nodded at Jacob, who followed after Lyudochka. Janine didn't understand the meaning of that at first, but then she looked at the ground. Chak's sharp legs had cracked the stone during his intense stampede, scattering pebbles. One such pebble disappeared… Wrong. It had been stepped on and crushed to dust without so much as a crack.
An invisibility field, advanced enough to suppress noises of anything that touched it.
Iterna brought more than just the Problemsolvers. Their deadliest servants, the Shadows, lurked here. A clear violation of the signed treaties, but Alpha didn't raise a fuss. What in the Abyss is going on here?
The group entered the crawler, reached the elevator, and it carried them to the bridge doors, where Lacerated One rose from the floor, bowed low, and then remained at the entrance alongside Impatient One, ready to lay down their lives to protect the war council from any unexpected intrusion.
Calm discipline prevailed on the bridge. Dragena, her arms folded behind her back, listened to the officers report on the preparations, occasionally ordering relocations as she studied the holographic map of the city. The operators, stationed in the cavities on either side of the main bridge leading to Ravager's throne, finished gathering information on the supplies. Jacomie, dressed for battle, sat in Cristobo's seat, coordinating the regiments of the provincial forces. Zurkov used a walking stick to traverse around and faced the mayor.
"This isn't over, Jaquan," he hissed into the mayor's face. "The Dynast will hear of it."
"Please, Commissioner, none of them died, and we evacuated them to safety as per agreement…" Jaquan spread his hands, smiling sweetly.
"Don't play coy with me. Six of them have burns on their necks!" Zurkov slammed his cane against the table, and Jaquan had to catch him before the man could fall when his leg gave way. "At attention!" he yelled, spotting the Wolfkins entering.
Anji leaped from her seat, closing the distance and placing a paw on Kalaisa's shoulder. The two women touched foreheads momentarily, saying nothing as Janine took her place beside Alpha, her back to the viewing screens and the lower deck where the operators worked, while Bertruda flanked First, sheathing the exposed edge of Elegance and pointing it down.
"Janine." Dragena broke from the map and embraced her. There was no warmth in her voice or passion in the gesture, but Janine appreciated this ritual nonetheless. "Are you capable of fighting?"
"I can murder, Dragena," the warlord growled. "You are not keeping me from the battlefield."
"Wouldn't dream of it," the woman answered coldly. "Bertruda. Your arm?"
"Working, Warlord," Bertruda replied. "Scars already formed."
"Sorry for not being there, sister." Janine blinked in surprise, finding herself in the iron hug of Ashbringer. Her named sister spoke without spite or the usual mockery, lowering her voice but not dropping it to a whisper and ignoring that the Sword Saints heard it. "I should've returned to the convoy, been at your side."
"Ashbringer. It isn't your fault," Janine reassured her, embracing the woman, their differences forgotten, and she no longer cared about one-upping the arrogant and prideful soldier.
"He'll be fine," Ashbringer said intensely. "My boys and girls, I have tokens. We'll find a way to fix him, don't worry." She lifted her head, looked at Kalaisa, and nodded.
"You were a fool to take him out of the pits," Alpha stated bluntly.
"Yes." Janine blinked away tears. It was selfish. So many of her soldiers had died. Bogdan hadn't been avenged, and her soul wailed, torturing her heart over what had happened to Marco. But she couldn't help it. "Yes, I was," she agreed wholeheartedly.
She brought him here. She trusted him to the Ice Fangs and doubted the wisdom of tradition. Brood Lord took the limbs, but it was her hubris that permitted it to happen to begin with.
Ashbringer broke away from Janine and stepped up to Alpha, releasing the claws.
"Shut it."
"Are you challenging me, little sister?" Alpha asked and grinned. A touch of fear spreading from her caused people to shudder.
"I am telling you to shut up."
"Kneel, sister." The smirk changed into a scowl, and fangs flashed in the lamplight. Muscles bulged at the white neck. "Or be shamed."
"There is no shame in protecting kin, sister." Ashbringer stepped close to Alpha, and their bodies touched. It wasn't just brazen courage. At that close a distance, the taller warlord would have struggled to land the first blow with her longer arms.
Not that it mattered. Not against Alpha.