Didn’t worry about going straight to my lair. Had he known where it was, that elaborate ambush wouldn’t have happened. I even presumed to know how I’ve been found out – same way as in the academy. Raktkalises must be sitting on some tech that tracked interruptions of data flow. If I survive this, I’ll need to find ways around that.

In the meantime, had another headache. Literal one. Adrenaline petered out and I was flagging. Exertion, stress and the injury finally got a chance to sink their claws into me.

I crawled into a heap of blankets and shivered.

The previously lively implant now seemed feeble and absent, too. Overtaxing a freshly attached limb had been idiotic, but neither was it my choice, nor doing. Come to think of it, I was surprised it hadn’t fallen off.

Within a gaping gash, I spied a much darker tissue reaching towards my blaring reds. Even not fully attached, this thing was holding on for its dear life. Revulsion overwhelmed me and I got sick.

Of course. The only reason this grandeur escape worked, was because the new limb didn’t come from a native animal. Invasive species had their own tenacious means of living. Parasitizing, mostly. It’s why we’ve been killing them left and right.

And now I was on the chopping block, too.

I passed out in my vomit.

Upon waking, I wanted to rip it off.

I lamented loss of my humanity. Loathed the listless, withering abomination. Was it keeping me alive, or making me sicker?

I dreaded my future, yet clung to the dregs of my life. Ate selection of pills by the handful. Slept.  

I lacked the energy for anything but seething, and gave myself to it entirely.

He will pay. I will make him pay. Raktkalis was correct on one thing – death was too easy. I’ll make him regret exercising his inborn rights. I was not one of his countless subjects to be used as a punching bag. I wasn’t here to make anyone’s life more enjoyable but my own.

Climbing out of my deathbed some weeks later, I had a concise plan of action. Ideally, I would have loved to sever a limb of his, too, but after cooling off, I found myself back at the starting predicament. General Raktkalis wouldn’t appreciate it. It would be taken for an assassination attempt. I did not want to go to war with an entire household.

I spent all my funds getting Raktkalis’s itinerary and the particulars of the carrousel wheel that was his ever-changing security detail. The former wasn’t a closely guarded secret, but high-profile people were in league of their own. Even knowing the basics was expensive.

Young lord has mostly wrapped up the tertiary education and had been participating in exterminations often. Leading some, even.

I would rob the General in the East of an heir in an inconspicuous way. Sabotage. Mistakes and incompetence will mount, and then the arrogant asshole will lose his rank. Why claim a limb, when I can obliterate the man’s entire reason for existence?

I packed up my most precious belongings – items that never exceeded what I could carry on my back – and set out. These fake orders won’t deliver themselves.

It was simple enough to sneak into a mail wagon and toss a meticulously crafted letter into a crate. It will just sit in the station until morning. I could rummage in peace for hours if I wanted to. Really, had I kept in the loop, I would have known a contingent of Kalantans has been posted here. What a thorough wilful negligence. I should be happy to have lost only one arm.

Shook my head off the past blunders. I’ll do everything right this time. I had many ways to ruin lives. Like impersonating a colonel who notoriously handled most of his business through the phone. Sneaking into his spaces to make that call was laughably easy. Forcing the words out would be a bigger hurdle – but I could prerecord some bits of that conversation.

I had observed many ways to fool the system. What they called a sabotage before – these people don’t know true meaning of it. Yet.

A total mechanical failure out in the wilds, amidst the beasts, would be ideal. Terror, with a high chance of death. Exactly what doctor prescribed for an overinflated ego.

Spent yet another night just staring at an inanimate foe from a far-off roof. The hangar was guarded, but barely so. I shrugged the fear aside and snuck back into the daunting military pen to do my mildest worst. It was too soon – but the rage urged me on. I’ve done equally outrageous jobs. There was no need to be skittish just because of one misadventure.

He has to pay. Little else mattered.

I eagerly waited for the counterfeit orders to arrive. They demanded immediate departure, as well as an unreasonable arrival time. Something that left no room for double-checks.

With the break of dawn, black ants spilled out from the underground bastion and boarded their dark vehicles. Just as planned. After all, all official documents followed the same template. It was insisted upon. Protocol and what not. What a joke.

At a pre-planned congestion, I attempted to incorporate live thermite into their newly loaded ammo crates. However, that part didn’t go as I imagined at all. The baldies disembarked in a protective circle around their transport. The supply truck was doubly watched. I did not dare come close.

I watched the loathsome procession move out again. Was not able to let them out of my sight.

Departure has stalled once more, this time by the city gate’s bureaucracy. Nothing out of ordinary – counting the people, checking for obvious contraband and signing of routine papers. Raktkalis juggled his half-sword in a listless manner, as his adjutants negotiated with the gatekeepers. Poor fellow, seemed so bummed out about having to do his actual job. How did he even get a posting here?

Regardless, in Raktkalis’s leisurely stroll I saw a chance I could not pass by.

The red dust ignited. It hissed, smoked and spewed the sparks around. Coughing through the chemical fumes, I ran out from behind the cover of an apartment building and launched the sloshing grenade straight at the lordling’s face. Well, fine – not straight, and not even remotely aimed at the twat. The high arch curved, and began a rapid descent towards his beloved blade – it was gracefully spinning up in the air.

I couldn’t take his arm, but I would take the seamless extension of it.

My screaming ball hellfire didn’t go unnoticed.

Without bothering to witness the result, I started running.

Metal barked and rattled as bolts slid back and forth. Primers ignited. Deadly chunks whizzed by, chipping the bricks.

Smack.

Splat.

Ca-clang.

Sizzle.

Already back behind the cover, I sprinted towards an open sewer. Hardly mattered where it lead.

Crackle.

Boots stomped heavily in pursuit.

Fizz.

The manhole would be too narrow for the armoured huntsmen.

“Hold!” gruff voice shouted at his hounds. “Livija, Jelgavas, Svajokle. Abort! Unauthorised…”

I didn’t stop running.

When I struggled to pull myself back up into the fresh air, I’ve found out I’ve been hit. Awfully close to the neck, too.

Luckily, an anti-human calibre has still been equipped. I shuddered thinking about the explosive rounds – especially this close to the departure. Their discipline saved my hide.

Luck.

Fuck.

Sat under the climbing vines of tomatoes, recovering my breath and trying to staunch my bloody side.

This injury added a few days to my schedule. I couldn’t exactly depart dripping with the most tantalising sauce. Animals – both native and foreign – loved a pre-tenderised treat on the slower side.

“F-uhk.”

Each run-in with the bastard, no matter how small, left me scarred and marred. I was almost inclined to discontinue this self-destructive endeavour – but it wouldn’t end so one-sidedly anyway.

Besides, the primordial rage still roiled freshly inside of me. It was already far too late. He crossed the line. I had no damn arm! Just a stub with involuntarily twitching sprigs, one of which occasionally passed for a scythe with a mind of its own.

At least they hadn’t started with my throwing arm. Or a leg. Walking would be impossible with this confused writhing.

What a fucking bright side.

The claw fished out the bullet out of my back. It could be surprisingly delicate when necessary. As though it felt when we’d been cornered. Perhaps it did. I had no knowledge how these macabre animals functioned. Agitation excretes adrenaline or some other cocktail. Maybe that relinquished the limb’s autonomy? Maybe it was simply aware. Not something I dared to contemplate right now.

After calming down, I worked on my final task for today. An ultimately insignificant irritant, but it would tie up all of his misfortune under a neat ribbon.

I had an access to a publishing house through a former janitorial job. Originally, it was meant for uncovering censored and unreleased information. Instead, this golden opportunity will be flushed down for a personal vendetta.

I had no problem with that.

My long-term vision was a little cloudy at the moment. Must be all that smoke.

I intended to print Raktkalis’s personal number.

I know he kept it. My phone disconnected – yet the call came through. I didn’t have the gall, a reason to sell this information. Before. I would tonight, because afterwards it will become a common knowledge anyway.

Scandalous article would be noticed and pulled. More so if it was true. A mug shot in the dating section, listing several unsavoury hobbies? Nobody would bat an eye. He wasn’t that famous. Yet.

It would hold him offline until the war band hits their first serious snag. Like a crumbled engine or two. Hopefully, that’s after the fuming commander’s failed attempts to reach the rogue officer.