Arascus wished Mam was here. She was a damn natural at this, the best of the best. How Kassandora handled warfare, Mam handled politics. He sighed, a better method would have been to wait for the eles and turn them into chaos, to make mortals miss the stability of divinity, but he wao secure Kirinyaa as early as possible. It was true that patience was a virtue, but patience was only given to those who had plenty of time. Reports were already saying the Epans were preparing for Pantheon Separation this year and very day spent with mortals in charge was a day not used for preparing for the Epan flict.

  Kassandora looked over the letter that had gotten to her tent again. This little piece of paper had been on a long journey, from a dey in Kirinyaa’s postal service, to being driven here. Not the whole way, the delivery car was supposed to be hand given to her, the car got stu the ash some hundred-fifty kilometres east of her current camp. That added another day to the dey. The car got stuck again, the post gave up on nd transport a a helicopter instead.

  Kassandora smiled. Helenna was responsible for that disaster of a delivery. She did it because she k would get Mwai emotional with anger. Angry men rarely operated on rationality. But it would also be suspense, from Helenna’s reports, the man had spent the past three nights sleepless, waiting to see her rea. Helenna said Mwai thought she was going to call for a rebellion immediately upon receiving it. Then he would use his authority to remove her from Kirinyaa, and the whole affair would be over.

  Kassandora, of course, would do nothing of the sort. She stood ahe letter again: Uhe authority bestowed upon me by the people of Kirinyaa, I ask Goddess Kassandora, of War, to appear in court. If you do not, I will be forced to remove you from the positioo crimes against humanity. It was a short piece, maybe Mwai had been struggling for words. She read it again. The world seemed brighter today, the thundering of artillery outside somehow became pleasant. Kassandora looked up again at the scarlet linen of her tent.

  There had been no point iing anything perma up here, the frontline against the Jungle was moving every day. She was good at strategy, but she knew when something was good. Ekkerson on the southern fnk against the Jungle had started employing a tactic called a Rolling Barrage. It would slowly batter the Jungle, firing in tight salvos. Instead of the trated shelling of areas that they had been doing, the guns would start to fire in lines, moving up, then calling down another salvo. The tactic did left little to up. The Jungle was now stantly afme.

  Kassandave herself one final gn the mirror. Bck suit, long coat, boots caked with ash. Her belt had the skull and sword emblem, the cap the same. From it, her crimson hair spilled out like a banner of blood over her back. She smiled to herself a outside. It was time for one final iion of Recmation Army tre.

  Instead of grouping the Binturongs and Lemurs, the fastest method to clear the Jungle was to stretch them out. They worked in small squads, only four each. Half of a full battery. Although looking at the firepower they put out, it would remain like this even for future flicts. Great War tactiassed artillery had been used because ons could output two, maybe three or four shells an hour. But these? These single mun outpaced two eteries of the past. Lines and lines of truumbering into the hundreds stretched out into the distance, supported by bulldozers and diggers that pushed the knee-deep ash away. Hulkis of iron and steel that became the i for this nd’s salvation.

  And in the distaowards the west, tarnishing the cloudless blue sky, was the Jungle. Once green, once so feared the natives would feed it sacrifices in some attempt to satisfy its hunger. O had been aential threat to this nation. And now it stood there, howling with ferocious winds caused by the vivid firestorms. The fmes, all reds and es and yellows, danced as they devoured, they ughed and giggled and mocked the greenery beio them, they pranced with the winds, they cascaded up and down over hill and through dried out riverbed. They left their dark marks on the world. Nothing but ash on the ground and nothing but tar-bck smoke in the air.

  The great Jungle, a deity that covered a third of a ti. Beaten not through might and magic but through mortal firestorm, sin not by Divinity but by fire and steel, annihited through the bined arms of humanity’s sheer force of will. If this did not prove the utter failure that was Divinity’s disregard for mortals, she did not know what did. Sokolowski and Zalewski were waiting outside her tent, they had e the moment Helenna had sent word that the court case was going to happen. Both in their uniforms, exact same style, apart from the fact they didn’t have her crimson hair. They saluted to her. Kassandora saluted back.

  “General Sokolowski, ready to report.” Sokolowski said as he lowered his arm.

  “Go on.” Kassandora said. “A’s walk.” She turned her ba the Juhere was nothing to gain but satisfa from watg the fmes, and the world did not turn on satisfa.

  “First and Sed Armoured have been notified.” Sokolowski said. “They’re heading from CR to the Kassandora Route.” That was the name bestowed upon the endless east-west highway that was currently being expanded. It had only been ged a few weeks ago, ohe Recmation War started pig up steam. The men weren’t aware of the pn, but Kassandora had never shared her pns. Some men, like Iliyal, had to develop Leona’s paranoia. That righteous fear of things going wrong to pn, as if fate itself had turned against them, it was a good skill. The less mehe less they could share. Like a vehicle, the more moving parts and points of failure, the more it would break down. Kassandora carried Leona’s paranoia as far back as she could remember. There was always someone smarter, someone who would see things she could not, someone who pulled the ued. Out of fortuitous stupidity if nothing else.

  “And KAF?” Kassandora asked.

  “Transport pnes all report as ready, but they’re all in CR still.”

  “Your fronts?”

  Sokolowski responded first. “Sed army is funiirely without my supervision. It took some time to grease the wheels, so to say, but things are rolling smoothly. As requested, I keep fifty thousand in reserve at all times.” He said proudly, then his tone became sheepish. “It’s closer to some sixty thousand though, we don’t have enough artillery to keep up with the pace the men work at.” Kassandora smiled as she walked backwards towards the east.

  The Sun was bright above them, the sky blue, the Sun bright, and the ground endless grey. Grey vehicles, heavy trucks, making long steel snakes as they ferried ammunition from the supply depot to the front lines. Grey dozers and diggers worked around them, battering ash down to create roads. Filling dried river beds, excavating through hills that were oeeming with the Jungle’s cursed green to make the shortest routes. All of them had been painted on pleasant colours once, most of these weren’t even engineering corps, instead just being civilians from panies. Whether they were w for Helenna’s favours, Helenna’s bribes or Helenna’s charm wasn’t important, the ash staihem all grey.

  Zalewski noticed the pause and realised Kassandora would not pressure him to respond. She could take her time today frankly. There was war ing again, that alone made her mood. “Third Army is w well, pushing onwards. We’re about to hit the ruins of Ulu.” Some a city that had been lost only fifty years ago, supposedly a beautiful pce long ago. So beautiful that the only defence Kirinyaa could muster up was an anized retreat.

  “Will they need supervision for that?” Kassandora asked.

  “They won’t, I’ve given the instrus to use the same procedure that’s used on the mountains.” Kassandora smiled, that’s what she would do too. Burn the sides, wedge around them, shell from the fnks. If the ruins proved se that artillery could not reach the tre then KAF would be called in for carpet bombings. There was no need for Kirinyaa to retreat any longer. War could be waged on anything, the living, the dead, against pgues and against pnts if the need called for it.

  “tihe reserves?”

  “Seventy three thousand.” Zalewski said. “I try to make everyone useful but there’s simply not enough Lemurs up there.” The man’s front was the furthest north, Ekkerson had the southernmost.

  “That’s not an issue.” Kassandora said, no. It wasn’t an issue whatsoever, she had told them to have a minimum reserve of fifty thousand each, but it wasn’t a reserve for them. It was a reserve for her. The fact they went over wasn’t an issue whatsoever, as the sayi: The more, the merrier. “How is the morale situation?” She already khe answer would be dismal. Morale was in a story state because of Arascus’ involvement with the news. It was needed for Mwai, but her men did not like it.

  Sokolowski took the initiative, as always. Kassandora didn’t care too much, inter-general hierarchy was good at the end of the day, the worst thing to happen was if they started arguiween each other. That was the fastest way to lose an army. “It’s pessimistic is how I would describe it.” Kassandora smiled as they trudged through the heavy ash to a spot where it had been cleared. Vans were already waiting to transport them back. She could fly but frankly, there was o.

  “What do you mean by that?” Kassandora asked.

  “It’s not disloyalty per say.” Sokolowski expined. “But rather, the me happy at the hat’s ing out about them.”

  “But they’re loyal to us?” She always made sure to refer to the army as a whole. It was hers at the end of the day, but men were more loyal if they felt as if they were in it together.

  “Undoubtedly.” Sokolowski replied with full fidence. “I…” He stopped and Kassandora turo raise an eyebrow.

  “tinue, I won’t demote you for opinions.” Not uhey were ht treason at least.

  “Well, on one hand, it’s a blessing I think.” Sokolowski began as Zalewski started to nod to support his rade. “It has pushed the men together, it’s not that they’re more loyal, but they’re further from the civilians.” Kassandora turned back to the dirty vans as they got close. These two would be dropped off ohey reached the red dirt that y past the horizon, the ash in the air had dowwo helicopters already.

  “There’s a gap now, there wasn’t before.” Zalewski interjected. “There’s a clear gap between us and civilians now.” Kassandora smiled. Arascus had been even more effective thahought he would be.

  “That’s good.” Kassandora said. The two men gawked at her, she felt their vision on the back of her head, although she felt almost every set of eyes o all times. She had assumed it aranoia when she was young, but now she simply grew to ig. People stared at a Divine simply because they were a Divihere was no reason to try and wage war on human nature.

  “I…” Zalewski began. “Apologies, but I don’t uand.”

  Kassandora finally took a step onto ash that had beeen down by bulldozers. It was good to finally not be taking heavy, rge steps through the ash. “Gentlemen, I have a court case. This nation is turning against us.” She didn’t bother to look at their faces of disgust, the curses and groans from them where enough indication of what they thought of that.

  “I assume there’s a tingency for this.” Sokolowski said.

  “There is. I want you each to lead your reserves to the coast. Zalewski, you go north of Nanbasa, Sokolowski, south. Helenna will call you with the exact locations today, tomorrow maybe. The schedule is tight. If you start getting close, then you call her.” Kassandora stopped. “Do you have her number?” She looked back at the two men.

  “I do.” Sokolowski said.

  “I do too.” Zalewski said. Holy, it was disappointing, Helenna’s cws were ihing and anything. She turned a walking, the two quickly caught up to her.

  “And what then?” Zalewski asked then caught himself. “If I may ask.”

  “And theurn the guns on Nanbasa.”