Iliyal took the long and slow route through the depths of the Divine Armoury, past Arascus’ se. They were iing the rooms as they went, there was nothing here. With Asna in his hand, a major Divine would have to be brought in, but all the major Divines were still in Arika. Olonia stalked by his side, his men followed. The Padins who had chased them down here were dead, the minor Divines and the mages too.

  His eyes noticed something.

  He circled his fshlight along the walls agaio the door leading into the God of Pride’s. He blinked. Impossible. She had been here?

  Olonia stopped and fshed her own light. “Are you looking at the runes?” She asked gently. Iliyal stared at the writing on the wall. Runes? Well, they would ruo her.

  “Just curious.” He said. “It wasn’t here st time.” That much was true, these had been carved into the wall by magic.

  “Lubska’s national library has a colle of them that we’ve found. No one has been able to trahem though.” Olonia said quietly. Of course they wouldn’t. The only people privy to this text were Kassandora’s Legions and the leading Divines of Arascus. Not even the on Divines were taught it, Mam and Kassandora had made it together, out of paranoia caused by Leona. “ you read it?” She asked ily.

  “I do a lot.” Iliyal lied through his teeth. “But not this, we came across it in the past. I’m just questioning why it’s here.” That erfect. Olonia made some wordless sound of agreement as she bought the fib. Iliyal could read it perfectly.

  ‘I have escaped to the Dwarven Underkingdoms. Mam is with me.’ And there, at the bottom, it was signed. ‘Irinika.’

  Fortia stood in her a, tables covered with maps and ters, radios and ss all fixed onto some skeletal structure of steel pipes built to support them. She felt her legs start to quiver and shake as if the whole world was about to colpse. She stared at that s and she looked at the man who had just rushed in. Olympiada attacked? How? When? Olympiada had tens of thousands of warriors on it, thousands of deities, with mages to match. It was so huge that a single army wouldn’t be even be enough to siege it. Kassandora’s Great War Legions could do it, but they numbered into the huhousands.

  She wouldn’t have allowed a force that rge to shrough. Maisara wouldn’t. Even Essa would have kept track. And the ships o move such a force? Kassandora’s airforce wasn’t rge enough to transport troops like that, and it was still in Kirinyaa. Her owimates said she only had about twenty p her disposal, even doubled, it wouldn’t be enough. Even tripled.

  And Olympiada was attacked? HOW!?

  She sighed. Setbacks do happen in war, that’s ohing Kassandora always said. Anyone who would be defeated by a siback was not fit to stand otlefield. Fug Kassandora herself had just spend a thousand years in prison and look at her now! Fortia sighed ahings settle. Olympiada attacked. That could be recovered from. Frankly, how bad could the damage be? A few burnt buildings?

  Oh. That made se must have been a bombing run. Fortia smiled as her eyes went to the s. Essa’s Worldbreaking had been stopped. At first, she had been panig but the atta Olympiada had brought her down bato reality. There was no ce, absolutely zero, no ce at all, that Essa had been stopped after she started Worldbreaking. With Fer, with Anassa, even if Arascus and Irinika were there themselves, they wouldn’t have the power to stop it.

  A bombing run as o attempt to do some damage before Kassandora died. That made sehat was exactly like Kass too.

  Fortia leaned bad breathed a sigh of relief.

  And anuardian, in a brown shirt and shorts, ran into the room.

  Iliyal ehe room that had the breato the Divine Armoury. The entire pce had been looted for a while now. But he wasn’t ing back empty-handed. Asna was in his hand. Stalker held Labrys, the Goddess of the Axe stared ahead with hungry eyes. Baker was oher side, with Pridwen in his arm, holding up the God of Shields.

  He was bringing these back, but more than that. Irinika and Mam were located. All eight daughters had been found.

  He kicked the door open. Could this day get aer? He lifted Asna as Stalker raced forwards. The man holdiook a knee and aimed the musket, several other muskets materialized in the air around him. There were a dozen Padins around the breach.

  The man pulled Bess’ trigger and all the muskets fired.

  There had been a dozen Padins.

  “DRAYIM FORTRESS HAS FALLEN!” The man shouted, then drew a salute, then dismissed himself. Fortia blinked as her sudden ce crumbled away. It cracked like a dam and dread flooded her once again. The man wouldn’t know what y under Drayim, but she did. She and Maisara and Alsaria had all ventured into that a underground fortress that y under Drayim.

  Worldbreaking. Olympiada. Drayim. One was a disaster, two was the final spasm of Kassandora’s rage. Three though? Three was far tanized. “It’s fallen?” Fortia said. “Drayim has fallen? Not been attacked, not under siege? You’re saying Drayim is fallen?”

  The man nodded slowly and swallowed. “Reports are still ing in but…” He took a deep breath. “God Waramunt is firmed to be dead. Goddess Olonia is part of the attack. The report said that they breached inside and that no one has e out yet.” Fortia grabbed the back of her chair to bance. Olonia was in on it? How? If it was Olonia, then that meant Lubska had just effectively decred war on the Pantheon.

  A war in Epa would be the end of the Pantheon. A defeat in Kirinyaa could be salvaged, they could retreat, Kirinyaa could be put bader sans, they would draiion as had been the first pn before the invasion. At the end of the day, the most powerful army was the world ey, and the White Pantheon still ran that.

  But Epa did not even have to win its war. Simply moving White Paroops against the Epans would be enough to destroy aimacy the White Pantheon had. That was all it had now frankly, si’s image of invincibility had been all but wiped away with this humiliation in Kirinyaa. “Are there survivors?” Fortia asked.

  The man shook his head. “I don’t know. The report came from reinforts from nearby Padin strongholds.” Fortia sighed. So none. Maisara would not be happy that her Epan Headquarters had been attacked, the entire western fnk would have to be called into a retreat before she went inte and ordered a full offeo the coastal cities.

  Neneria stood in the main hall of Alsaria’s pace. Huge marble pilrs to either side, Alsaria’s own White-Gold banners hangio the Pantheon ones of the same colours but different designs, and the dead around her feet. There was the beating of footsteps, boots on stoiles from the elves, and the flig and rustling of paper. Pick up would be ing soon but while they were here, they may as well make themselves useful.

  Alsaria always sidered herself a little author. It was time to find out exactly what secrets she was silly enough to share with loose-lipped books.

  Fortia k would e. The little wave of hope had been utterly crushed when she heard about the assault on Drayim. Now the Sun was rising, reports were ing in. From Olympiada and from Drayim. And from Kassandora’s main base. And not a single one of those reports said anything good.

  Olympiada: bombed. The chaos of the bombing had only been a smokes to drop Neneria onto the mountain. So Fortia knew what Olympiada would look like. It was rge enough that a few survivors may still be there but… she shook her head. It would only be a few, if any. The White Pantheon would o recover and repopute Olympiada after that. The Dead Legion would grow, Neneria would most swallow the souls of at least a few Divines.

  Fortia did not know why the thought hadn’t even passed her mind. Olympiada was only a few hours from Arcadia, the nd of mages. Olympiada was the home of the White Pantheon. Olympiada had a thousaies and tless Orders situated on it. Who on this precious world, who in their right mind, would ever even have the idea of attag Olympiada?

  Fortia could just see Kassandora looming over her. A terrible dark spectre always ten steps ahead. It was a testament to the woman’s skill that she made a war against Leona st a tury.

  Drayim: devasted. The fortress set alight on the way out, the reinforts that had bee over had been sughtered. They didn’t even put up a fight. They wouldn’t put up a fight. Fortia didn’t even need firmation that the on Inations had been freed, she all but had it already in her report: Iliyal Tremali otted leading the assault.

  Fortia had no damn clue why this thought hadn’t passed her miher. Drayim Fortress was unassaible or so Maisara said, the Divine Armoury had been written out of history, it should have been impossible to find. What refereo it eveed apart from passing ents about how it was Arascus’ store-room once?

  Fortia could just see Kassandora looming over her. That elf by her side. He was old enough to remember, if he had gotten ihen there wasn’t the slightest shred of hope that it was just a random attack. If he had gotten ihen the on Inations were free. The loss of the reinforts firmed that too.

  And now Fortia stared at the image that had just e through. They had sent a pack of drones. Kassandora didn’t even bother shooting them down, nor did Anassa. And she stared at the image that one of them sent. Kassandora’s base fl with green leaves, the great ravines left by world-breaking filled in by the roots of Iniri’s trees. Ash all around the base, aaring up at the drohe Goddess of Beasthood was smiling as if she was looking at Fortia herself, that smile knowing and taunting.

  So Essa had been lost. This thought had at least crossed her mind, she could admit that. But it had e too te, the warnings weren’t enough. She should have rang earlier. But somehow, she had been stopped. So it was over. Forty thousand mages and the Goddess of Magic, gone. Gone just like that, whatever advantage Fortia’s army thanks to the magis had disappeared st night.

  And without magis, the teological gap could not be simply ignored. It was too great at this point, new reinforts from Arcadia would reduere trickle without a veteran mage, and Essa had been the only veteran mage left. Now, it had truly bee a pce for theorists and book-keepers and little else.

  “Bring me a piece of paper.” Fortia said out loud, to no one in particur. Someone had to call the shots here, Alsaria was still missing, it wouldn’t be her. And if it wasn’t going to be Alsaria, then who? Fortia was leading this war, so it should be her.

  Someone had to call the shots. Someone had to be responsible. Losses had to be cut eventually otherwise they would keep piling and piling up until nothing remained of the White Pantheoer to sacrifice the wounded arm than to let disease spread into the rest of the body. She stared at the paper as someone gave her a pen. It was over. It had be written down. It would be a humiliation, but a humiliation was better than total annihition. She put pen to paper. It was one of the hardest letters she had ever written. And one of the shortest.

  I am a full-retreat.

  We have lost.

  - - - End of Arc 6: The First Kirinyaan War - - -