Mwai Ruku looked at the arrest order. They had enough evideo arrest Kassandora courtesy of whoever it was in the army that had been sending him letters. There were even some pictures here and there, although it was still entirely unrealistic that she could be tained in a jail. But with how she was ag, he doubted she would suddenly run rampant in the try, there were more Divines here. Frankly, it could we for the best if she was embarrassed and the of her own accord. That was the dream.

  But realistically, this would thhly discredit her image. Kirinyaa had exged one pair of Divine shackles for another, a looser pair that was as unfortable, but shackles they were still. Now it was time to finally take of the shackles ahe try live free. With the White Pantheon now hated, and Kassandora humiliated and exposed for being a liar, they would finally be able to guide themselves. To set an example for the whole world. It wasn’t about the glory of it, Moured himself anss of whiskey. Another bottle one of his assistants had gotten as a gift from Helenna. He would be lying if he admitted that there wasn’t some spark of pride in his heart at being the first leader of the try to tell Divio go away.

  He sighed. One of the new men had reended a show trial. How the man came upon the idea, Mwai had no clue. Damn though, it was a fine idea. She would be tried publicly, with cameras in the courtroom. She did not even have to be found guilty, all that o happen was to y enough doubt at her feet to pletely destroy her image.

  He took another sip of whiskey. The support, the ck of ter protests said the people were with him. The only reason the crowds were so small was because people were afraid of Arascus seeing them go against his favoured daughter.

  Mwai took a deep breath and Mut pen to paper.

  Helenna in a room in a Nanbasa hotel. A small room, in a cheap hotel, not quite dirty, but certainly far from . The men had picked it out themselves, even though she had allocated them enough moo rent out the best the city had to offer. The big issue they had found was that the nice pces didn’t allow smoking inside, and they were far from any of rowdy bars, instead being in a region of the city that was famous for its dining halls and grand, expensive restaurants. Frankly, Helenna didn’t even want to know how much they were spending on drink. The men had enough money for a room each, they had rehree, and were sleeping four to a room. Maybe they just ied all of it but somehow, she doubted that sario.

  There was something in their anised mess that annoyed Helenna. Maybe it was the fact she couldn’t point out anything in specific, but the room was a mess. Clothes were folded ly, excellently arra the foot of each bed, but nothing hung in the wardrobe. Bottles of drink were in a rank on the ter, sorted by type and then sorted again alphabetically, and they weren’t on the shelves. Botes were arranged in little squares, perfectly segmented out for each man, and they weren’t in the cupboards. It was an infuriatingly mess.

  At first, the Cleriaturalization Lao only include Kavaa’s Orders, the parliament had little issue with them, but Mwai’s party was against the idea of letting those sworn to Kassandora to bee citizens. Then Helenna had raised the issue of the fn volunteers. No one had raised any objes, after all, it was all fellow Arikans, wasn’t it?

  And so the Cleriaturalization Law became open to basically anyone in the Kirinyaan Military. Officially, it only said ‘Members of Clerical Orders’ and ‘Volunteers from other nations’, but didn’t everyone fall into that sed category? And o passed the hands of politis aered into the warm embraces of bureaucrats, it had been even easier to speed up that bureaucracy than it was to open a celebratory bottle of champagne.

  The Naturalization Offices weren’t even open, but Helenna had already secured passports and citizenships for twelve men to make a legal team already. “How did the exams go?” Helenna asked, she knew already. They were Kassandora’s men, which meant that they had drilled every single question and answer into their heads by a week ago.

  “Everyone passed.” Mateusz replied, he was tall, bald, with an average face. Muscled and lean, although all of them were. Mateusz himself looked as if he didn’t appreciate the suit, the rest were ambivalent about the garb Helenna chose for them. Kassandora had picked out men from among the officers, those that didn’t have to be tested for their intelligen the first pce. Helenna kheir names before they even arrived, she knew what units they came from by the time they were on their way here. She knew about their families and what they did before this whole escapade by the time she stepped foot into this room.

  “As expected.” Helenna said. “Questions were rather easy.” No one would hire them of course, supposedly to bee proper wyers now, they should stick around those who were in the business and serve as assistants for a year or two before taking on their own minor cases, and then specializing into some discipline or field of w. But that was mere tradition, officially, they had the bureaucratic stamp of approval, and they had the best t in the world.

  “Thank you for them.” Pawel said. Another man from the same unit as Mateusz, Sokolowski’s and squad. Kassandora said these two were only on loan, and that it would be good for them to get the experien any case. It trained a way of thinking and grander awareness about the outside world, that soldiers had a tendency tet. Pawel here, his forwardness Helenna appreciated. There were few men on this world that had either the bravery, the stupidity or just the damn ck to shame to go ahead and eye her so brazenly.

  “Don’t mention it.” Helenna replied. “Now, I would like to go over the legal strategy.”

  “We’ve prepared several.” Mateusz snapped his fingers and one of the other men stood up. A Theodore Asvalt, although the man hadn’t said a word yet to Helenna. Shorter than the rest, stockier but not by much. Shaved, as all of them were, and awkward in his suit, as all of them were. They’d need a lesson on how to present themselves like humans before the trial started.

  Helenna made an impressed face as Theodore brought her a stack of papers. “All of us have made one.” Mateusz expined. “It’s like we did during the war, everyone makes ohe best part from each is taken.” Helenna looked at the huge stack of papers. Had the me a week writing this? It may as well have been as thick as an aome.

  “I see you don’t ck brevity.” Helenna said as she started s through it.

  “Half of it is Theodore’s.” Pawel said. “I only have five sheets there.”

  “I like writing.” Theodore said.

  “Well I’m not going to sp you for having fun.” Helenna said idly as she separated the papers out. Theodore indeed was singlehandedly responsible for at least a solid half of the stack of papers. “Impressive.” The man smiled, his cheeks going red as he looked away from her. “I’ll read it in my own time.” Helenna said, she would skim through all of them. They would be using her legal strategy anyway, these men may have passed the test, but no one had gotten a perfect score, only Mateusz had gotten close. Without the answers, probably half would have failed.

  They had gone for the bureaucracy, so they could legally represent Kassandora and so they knew basic court etiquette. A few rough edges here and there would be allowed to slide, they could even help make them retable for the cameras, but they weren’t here to think. “First though, have you discussed this between yourselves?”

  “We have.” Mateusz replied with a nod. Pawel leaned bad looked at the bottles.

  “ I take a shot first?” He asked and Helenna raised an eyebrow.

  “I didn’t realise Kassandora had alcoholics this bad in her army.” She said and the man ughed.

  “To calm my nerves.” He expined. “It’s the first time I’ve performed before a Goddess.” Helen her hair turn a shade brighter, from the cool business bck to a surprised grey. Not quite stunned white, but she had thought these would be total amateurs who just expected to wing a court case.

  “So you’ve rehearsed this already?” Helenna asked. The men all carried proud smiles at her surprise.

  “Only between ourselves.” Mateusz said.

  “Have a drink then.” Helenna said. “And pour me a gss.” Pawel cpped his knees as he stood up.

  “Of course, my pleasure.” He said as he walked off. Helenna watched him swagger and pick up a bottle of expensive vodka. That was a cssic, what else would soldiers drink? He was Lubskan too, so that only made it even more predictable. “Do you mix or…” Pawel asked as he looked at Helenna again, the question trailed off.

  “Boy, I drink all you into the ground.” Helenna said. “Sequentially too.” Pawel chuckled.

  “No time for that.” He said, a few other men raised their hands for a shot too. Most of them. The whole bottle went just like that. Helenna drank her full gss in the same way they drank their little shot, she leaned bad motioned with her hands to speed them along. They had impressed her with the fact each man had made his own pn already, and with the fact they rehearsed already. Let’s see what else they could do.

  “We nominate one speaker.” Mateusz said. “Everyone had a go at it already, anyone do it really.” He shrugged as he stood up. “Pawel, you want to?” Pawel nodded, he stepped into the bathroom and dragged out a whiteboard on wheels. It was empty.

  “Right.” Pawel began as Helenna watched him grab a pen and start scrawling. That could be improved, he had soldier’s handwriting. Nothing good. “Firstly, we’ve been given the information by Arascus on what Mwai has received.”

  “There’s a mole in the midst.” One of the soldiers ented. Helenna saw o reveal the real author of half of those letters. She assumed Arascus was responsible for the other half.

  “We keep a tight ship though.” Pawel tinued, ign the interruption. That was a good sign, she didn’t want them to act too friendly with one another in court. If they fooled around in front of her, there’d be a good ce they would fool around in front of a judge. “So all the information is rgely circumstantial, unproven, or false.”

  “I’ve read the dots too.” Helenna said. “There’s little ihat’s a ft lie.” Pawel nodded and wrote the word information on the board.

  “But enough is.” Pawel said. He wrote discredit o it, an arrow from the tter to the former. “One is proven to be a lie, it doesn’t matter if we ’t prove another, we smear all the pieces with doubt.” Helenna his is what she expected. They had been tasked to prove Kass’ innoce, so they were going down that route. “What ’t be disproven ht be id at the feet of an author unreliable, and who will trust an unreliable source?”

  “The Melukal situation now.” Mateusz said.

  “The Melukal situation is simple.” Pawel expined. “Firstly, we did not do Melukal, so the letters are fake. Militaries review all situations, all pns, so someone did write that. Who it was, we don’t know, but it wasn’t anyone important.” He shrugged and made a show of innoce. “Who does not have bad thoughts after all?”

  “This was my idea.” One of the soldiers raised his hands. Some Frederique De Terriere. Tall, not the tallest amongst them, but a handsome man. He could be the main showman at the trial. “It’s not about just disproving the Melukal accusation, it’s about showing Kassandora in a good light.” The men all nodded, a few of them smiled as they saw Helenna impressed. This part, she thought she would have to teach them.

  “Of course.” Pawel said. “So this is ant this route. Melukal firstly did not happen, we disprove the accusation, but the letter is real. Kassandora did review it, and she decided against it. We make more letters with these end sarios, razing the coastal cities, scorg the entire west, salting the nd in every vilge north of the mountains for example. Kassandora reviewed them, and Kassandora decided against them.” The men all nodded.

  Frederique interjected again. “That’s to paint her in a good light and to show how reserved she is. How if it wasn’t her leading the war, then half of the try would be a wastend now.” Helenna smiled and blihis was going to be easier thahought.

  “Did she tell you this?” Helenna asked.

  “All she said was ‘Make me into a star. You should uand what that means.’” Mateusz pulled a hiriously deep voice for her that made Helenna chuckle. It was funny, and it was infuriating, why did she have to deal with total cretins for a thousand years, when Kassandora could just pick men like this seemingly out of a hat? She lifted her empty gss and gave it a shake. One of the soldiers even caught what that meant, he went to grab another bottle immediately.

  “But this is just the defensive. Melukal is oint, ohat fnk is secured, we move onto the offensive.” Pawel tinued as Helenna took a deep breath. They barely passed their exams, but she would want to see what they had written down. Surely the mistakes must have just e fr terminology and nothing else. They were fug geniuses!

  “How will you do that?” Helenna asked.

  “We yer it in, the opening statement will only have a sprinkling of it.” Pawel tinued. “We don’t mention Mwai’s , but do something along the lines of how Kassandora is extremely popur, even more popur than the president.” He shrugged as one of the men refilled Helenna’s gss with more drink. “Just quietly, the goal is to paint a story for the judges.”

  Helenna sighed as she listened. Were they mind-readers? This is why she had e to prepare them! What was she even doing here? Pig out their clothes? They could run it themselves. Pawel turned back to the board and wrote story. “The goal isn’t to point fingers directly.” He started writing names around, of panies and famous people. “But let the judges work it out for themselves.”

  Theodore interjected now. “But make it obvious who ointing to, don’t let them think through it.”

  “Well for example, the public loves Kassandora, it wasn’t someone from them.” Pawel crossed the word public out. “It wasn’t the panies, because we mention the fact of how profitable the Recmation War is.” He crossed out the names of various panies. “It ’t be one of her own men, because we talk about how loyal the entire army is.”

  “I thought ing witnesses from every unit.” Another man added as Pawel crossed out the word army. “Likewise, it wouldn’t be the politis, because Kassandora does not threaten them.” He crossed out the word parliament. And on it went, never pointing a finger, but always giving a reason why it couldn’t be a certain group. On and on it went, until Mwai Ruku was the only name remaining. “And that leaves only oarget.”

  Mateusz had poured himself another shot and took over, talking loudly from behind the kit ter. “We then start talking about how the evidence is falsified in the first pce. But we never mention Mwai’s he most is ask Kassandora a question of who do you think it could be.” He nodded back to Pawel.

  “And her answer will be a noble one, something along the lihat it’s not her domain to interfere in, but that it would obviously be someone who feels threatened by her.” Pawel said and caught himself. “In a more diplomatic fashion of course, but basically that.” Helenna sighed. These men knew how to run a defence almost effortlessly.

  “We basically never give Kassandora a ce to speak for herself. All the accusations will be made by us.” Theodore said. “We don’t know if this is too aggressive or not, but a few of us could be disbarred on purpose.” Helenna blinked.

  “Excuse me?” She asked.

  “We raise the accusation in bad faith against Mwai. It wouldn’t be a mistrial, but there’s enough of us here that we give the lises away basically.” Mateusz expined. “That’s my idea.” He added proudly and Pawel nodded.

  “There’s twelve of us here, the average team only has two or three. We have half of us go, and we’d still have men to spare.” Helenna blinked and she finally realised what these mereating the situation as. This wasn’t a court-case to them, this was a battle. Like the ohey’ve seen, and using Kassandora’s own philosophy. It wasn’t enough to win and simply cause a retreat, they wao utterly crush any doubt of Kassandora’s guilt. As Kassandora wrote in her own books: Victory was annihition. There was nothing

  “Are you actually aiming for Mwai?” Helenna asked. The men looked amongst themselves with calm expressions. There was ion there, it was simple reasoning. A weighing of thoughts, as if they could collectively read each other’s minds.

  Pawel finally answered. “Well, we need a sacrificial cow. These accusations, even if she’s proven i, will stiless we hand them off to someone else. Mwai is the easiest target.” He shrugged. “We ge it, but we’ll need a week to prepare.”

  “No lemen.” Helenna downed her gss. This job was even easier thahought it would be. Why did she not always have Kassandora’s soldiers at her side? They were amazing! “Mwai is perfect, keep at it.”

  They shared relieved gnces and looked at each ain. Mateusz finally spoke up as he went to pop open another bottle for them all to share. “So what do you think?” He asked easily, as if he was talking to a the Goddess of Love. Helenna appreciated it though, she finally uood what Fer meant when the woman talked about how Kassandora’s soldiers were some of the few people who could be spent time with simply for the sake of pany.

  Helenna turned her hair a bright happy e and beamed a smile at them. “Gentlemen, you have impressed me.” Kassandora really did know how to pick her men.