Fifty soldiers exited through the stone gates of Voska. They shielded their eyes from the glaring suns reflecting in the stained snow that clung to the battlements. They all wore the thick fur coats and heavy gloves the winter demanded. A short-haired woman with a dozen swords fastened to her back led them. Another female officer flanked Kattla, a massive dog by her side. The canine was armored in metal plates that rattled with every step. And to the right, a grim-looking man with a mustache and beard carrying two warhammers strapped to his belt.
The line of soldiers, led by the three Blessed, made for the east. The rumbling artillery was now uncomfortably close to the stone walls of Voska.
They cut through the dug trenches, drawing eyes from the emaciated soldiers in soot-stained gear.
“I didn’t think the outside defenses were in this bad of a condition,” Kattla said, glaring at a group of shivering infantrymen around a boiler.
Above the trench, a shell slammed into the ground, sending a spray of dirt across the line of fresh men. Dalynja turned to her armored hound, soothing it with a hushed whisper before speaking up. “I’m a mere Fireling. If we’ve finally decided to send out the handful of Blazes at our command, things must be desperate.”
The man carrying warhammers looked over his shoulder at the long line of soldiers moving behind them. “As an Ember, I’ve been in the trenches for months already. The Gulschaks are expending a great deal to take us down. No matter the outcome here in Voska, Nov Yanosk will be safe. For some time at least.”
Kattla responded with, “Tssk. Unfortunately, Dalynja and Conrad, you are both wrong. Something is coming from the east, something that will truly test us. And I’m not the first Blaze to be sent to simply hold the line... we are on our way to take the place of our youngest Blaze.”
“A new Blaze?” Conrad said, drumming his fingers against the warhammers. “Finally, some good news after the loss of Sasha. Who is this warrior?”
They took a right, dodging under a beam. Kattla’s gaze stopped on two beady eyes above. In the snow, lay a creature, a single rat, watching them. It scurried off at the sight of her glare.
“The last of the General’s dogs. A monster I’ve deemed too dangerous to live,” Kattla said, raising a hand to signal the line to a halt. “But upper command doesn’t share my view.”
Beyond them lay a sloped area of blasted craters and abandoned trenches, stretching for a mile. Further to the east, warmachines still burned and artillery shells slammed against demolished defenses with a series of tremors. It left one thing entirely clear. This place had drawn the full fiery ire of the enemy. Still, spread around the destroyed grounds, crosses were plunged into the frozen mud, each strapped with a corpse at the top, bodies thawing in the rays of the sun. A mockery of the enemy’s strength.
The three Blessed stared for a moment at the utter destruction before them.
“You’re telling me one man is holding this section alone?” Conrad said.
Kattla frowned. “He’s no man.”
She turned, yelling orders to the unblessed. They were to reinforce this section first, then expand forward. A few minutes later, the trio pushed deeper, accompanied only by the massive dog of Dalynja.
Dalynja stared at a corpse nailed to a cross just above the lip of the trench they were walking through. “Why the defilement? Taunts to keep the enemy away?”
Kattla pulled her coat around her, pouches and layers of gear rattling beneath. “No, likely it's to draw things in…”
Conrad and Dalynja glanced at their superior.
Their boots left marks in the fresh snow. At first, the trenches looked to be completely abandoned. But soon, imprints in the snow grew more apparent. Trails of scurrying claws. All leading deeper into the blasted land.
“This creature you speak of,” Dalynja said. “They don't happen to be former hunters, do they?”
“That’s classified,” Kattla replied coldly.
A whistle grew louder, and the trio looked up. Through the cold air and toxic haze, a shell barreled towards them.
“Step closer,” Kattla ordered, a hand reaching beneath her coat. From within, she pulled a crest shimmering with hues of blue and silver.
The others didn't object. Kattla threw the item into the air, and her eyes lit with fire. The shell roared towards them. The medallion froze in the air. A semi-transparent liquid flew from it, forming a shield from a material that resembled that of a soap bubble.
The shell cracked against it. Sparks and fire flew wide, a roar shaking the sky above. The medallion, charred and burned, fell back towards the ground. Kattla caught it with a twitch of her hand. “Let's go.”
Dalynja, her dog, and Kattla walked deeper, leaving Conrad staring wide-eyed at the display. He blinked and hurried after them.
The tracks of claws grew more numerous, along with frozen figures lying slumped in the dirt by the dozen. The trio's boots crunched against the snow, sending furred bodies back and forth before them.
“Rats…” Conrad whispered. “So many. And the smell, burned meat and rotten eggs.”
The others didn’t answer. The deeper they went into the blasted land, the more the rats grew in number. Growing so numerous as to turn the shadows into moving patches of dark fur. All around, squeaks and the noise of digging claws grew.
They turned a corner and stopped. Before them, something sat perfectly still, staring at them. It was no rat, at least not any longer. The creature was as large as a cat, with its front legs elongated, paws marked by crooked fingers and claws.
The thing growled like a hound and scurried deeper, then stopped and turned towards them once more.
“That thing, it looks somewhat like a slaughter-hound from the base of the Scar Spines,” Dalynja said. “It’s leading us deeper.”
They took a turn, coming upon a hollow in the ground. The structure must have been a bunker once, but now the entrance was half-collapsed, and a thick darkness nestled within. The oversized rat slunk inside.
“Come, I order you not to fear him,” Kattla said, even though a crease grew on her brow.
They stepped down into the darkness. And though it was pitch black, the space was far from quiet.
Things moved all around them, chattering teeth and hisses. A light bloomed in the dark. A stone in Kattla’s hand sent out a clear white light to illuminate the decrepit dugout.
A growl came from Dalynja’s armored dog, and a gasp escaped from Conrad’s throat. A torrent of vermin. The trio stood in its center. A few feet of clear ground separated them from a swarm of thousands.
“Enough theatrics, you’ve proven your point.” Kattla’s voice echoed.
From the swarm, a figure rose. Two burning eyes glaring at them. Conrad licked his lips, Dalynja unclipping a mechanical crossbow from her belt.
“Have they sent little Kattla out into the dirt?” a deep, inhuman voice said. “We must truly be losing then.”
“Wretchy…” Dalynja whispered under her breath. “What happened to you?”
The swarm sped up. “Dalynja, good to see you again,” Wretch said as the cat-sized rat crawled up to perch on his shoulder.
The veil, torn and sullied, still clung to his head like black ribbons.
“Wretch. Pull back your playthings before I exterminate them,” Kattla scoffed.
Wretch chuckled and gestured with a clawed hand. The swarm retreated, pulling back into the dark corners of the room. “What has bestowed me the honor?”
“You’re to return to Voska. Rest and recuperate,” Kattla said. “Though it pains me, upper command has designated you as non-disposable.”
“Fortune truly shines upon me, does it not?” Wretch said as the swarm now scurried to surround him, climbing over themselves to reach for him with squeaks of adoration. “The ground, it's begun to tremble, a steady beat from the north-east. What is coming?”
“Not even I am privy to those details. Now, the defenses. How is this section faring?” Kattla said, eyes gleaming in the dark. “And how goes the control of your new Blessings?”
Wretch rose to his full length and stepped closer, wading through the swarm. “They sent infantry and Firelings for five days. They didn’t succeed, of course. Then they instead turned to hammering me into the dirt with artillery. I answered by sending vermin into their water supply.”
Kattla smiled then, even as a tremble came from the earth. “Your control over the vermin. Elaborate. That’s an order.”
Not so easily fooled are we? Wretch thought. He wished to give the upper command as little information about his improvement as possible. But the General’s oath still bound him.
Do your utmost in the war effort.
Retreat only when instructed, or when facing a Blessed of higher rank.
Follow the orders of any Nov Yanosk officer.
Do not lie.
Wretch stepped closer to tower over the trio and the growling dog. The light from the stone in Kattla’s grasp cast him in white light. “Rats are the easiest. I’ve yet to bind any crows or ravens. They’re fickle and intelligent. The handful of vermin that have bowed to me, I’m trying to change into something deadly. But so far, that has proven difficult. Only this one has survived the change.” He gestured to the oversized amalgamation on his shoulder, a gruesome mix between a hound and a rat. The creature revealed its needle-like teeth in a hiss.
“That will suffice as a report. Conrad here will accompany you back to Voska,” Kattla said, spitting on the ground. “But you’ll bring none of your pests with you.”
“Oh, cruel little Kattla!” Wretch said, gesturing towards the handful of weapons peeking up over Kattla’s shoulder. “I’m only doing what I can for the war effort. The swarm is as much my weapon as your steel or Dalynja’s beast. Are we really in a position to turn away from such strength, no matter how crude and strange?”
Kattla shook her head. “Know your place. You might still be the last of the penal battalion, but you are still just a dog. A thing used only because we must.”
Wretch glared at her. “You said I was the last?”
She sneered. “Your little freak is dead. No way to return a second time, it seems. But perhaps that only improves your mood? I read that you killed the other.”
Wretch felt something bubbling up inside him. That thorny and violent urge. But he was growing sharper. She was trying to taunt him into acting against her. He swallowed the feeling whole. Tempered that flowing feeling of hatred into something cold and hard. He hissed through his sharp teeth, then spoke. “Alright, but let me send our enemies one last gift.”
He made for the entrance, walking past the trio out into the light. The swarm followed, rushing between the boots of the other Blessed.
Outside, Wretch vaulted up the lip of the trench. Standing there, the cold wind blew at his tattered clothes. Beyond lay the blasted ruins of defences for several hundred yards before the Gulschak line began. Even now, the odd shell ripped at the earth to send dirt and smoke through the air. He drew in a deep breath and pointed with a clawed finger.
Bite and tear. When they grow still, don’t feed. Push eastward.
The swarm answered in a choir of squeaks. Conrad yelped as a tide washed over the battlement. From every crevice and corner, a creature shot forward enough to form a river that flowed against gravity. Up the walls of the trench, through the half-buried warmachines and barbed wire. His carefully collected swarm moved with their last order. An odd shell blasted a hundred into pieces, and just as many took their place.
Wretch sighed and turned around. Lastly, he put down the overgrown rat-beast from his shoulder, and he gave it an affectionate pet on the head. It had taken him plenty of flame to make this one. A hundred of its kin had died by his hand before his control grew intricate enough not to murder the tiny creature with his power, and even then, it was mostly luck. Still, it wasn’t nearly dangerous enough. A failure.
He sent it away with the rest.
He turned to the others, his torn veil fluttering in the wind. “I've been wondering Kattla, what do you think would happen if the General whose words bind me–died? Do you think that would set me free? Who would I turn on then? A dog as I am. Perhaps his heart will fail in the middle of the night. What then, cruel little Kattla?"
Kattla's eyes grew wide and her mouth shot open, but no words came. Instead, Wretch responded, a smile under his veil. "Well then, Conrad. Let's get moving.”
Kattla shouted threats behind him even as, across the no-man's-land, screams of terror broke over the rumble of the front. Wretch offered Dalynja and Kattla no other farewell and walked with a curved back towards the west and the gray outline of Voska.
He did as instructed, taking no vermin with him. But he had never promised to leave none behind. He left only one. One bound to him. One whom he could watch and spy through. Not on the Gulschaks as before, but on the Blessed of Nov Yanosk.
As Conrad and Wretch walked back through the hammered trenches, visions of rats flooding through crevices filled his mind. A tide of teeth and claws that would soon leave his command. Despite his taunts, time was running short. Whatever was coming from the north-east was bound to signal the crescendo of this conflict. And by then he would have to be ready.
Non-disposable huh, who could have thought.