Kassandora looked Nanbasa. In one week, she had mao re-arrahe city. Through sorcery and through teology, it was tiring affair. The east side of the ring, the city’s industrial district, had been ibalized. All the expensive maery moved to the city’s west. Now those empty factories and warehouses were being verted into bunkers and castles. Tunnels were being excavated to ect them, and more were being built uhe giant animal reserve.

  Iniri and Fer had taken it upon themselves to find some pce for the lions and elephants and lions to be safely taken too, and now Nanbasa’s zoo sat with only half the animals it once did. In a few days, it would be all empty. Then Kassandora would start driving artillery into the outcroppings of trees.

  Not Arika, but Epa. It was almost offensive on one hand, as if Alsaria was telling Fortia the woman was simply not good enough to try and fight on behalf of the White Pantheon against Arascus. But then Fortia had tried once. She had tried with Maisara, and Essa, and her own orders when they were at their peak. She had tried when Arascus did not even trol Kirinyaa’s gover yet. And she had failed. There was no way to re-frame the situation, there was no pretending to be done. She had gone in, and she had failed. “Waeh was the biggest loss.” Maisara said as she looked over the map of Epa.

  It was Fortia, Maisara, Theosius and Tasaidien. The two Goddesses in their armour, Maisara’s great-axe leant against the wall o Fortia’s spear. Theosius had e with his muscled chest exposed, although the whole man was covered in a yer of soot. He had been w on neonry for the tless iion Divines since Alsaria made the call that Pantheon Peace was no loo be abided by. And Tasaidieood there, oher side of the table, looking up at Fortia, at Maisara and back down at the map. He hadn’t said anythi, but then he wasn’t here because Fortia wanted him here, he was here because Alsaria had assigned him to Fortia’s front, and there had been nument about it.

  Fortia caught her line of thought, and realised Alsaria only been back for a few days, and that already she was starting to grind on Fortia’s nerves. Not her fault, she thought. That much was true, if Fortia had won in Kirinyaa, then Alsaria would have lost her position in the Pantheon. If Fortia had won in Kirinyaa, then it would be Alsaria who was agonizing over this Epan situation.

  Fortia sighed. But she had not won, so it was her job to agonize over, and not Alsaria’s. She looked up at Maisara and Tasaidien. They had stared long enough, now was time to get to work. “Maisara, how quickly your orders be mobilized?” Fortia asked.

  The Goddess of Order poio where Olympiada sat on the map, in the try of Gracya. “Everyone is here already.” Maisara said as she blew a lock of silver-grey hair back out of her face. “Some of my members were arrested in Lubska, I know I took a few fatalities in Rancais too, we’re still ting but there won’t be more than a hundred who have gone missing. It’s a drop in the bucket.

  “And the fortresses?” Fortia asked. Uhe Guardians, whely worked with offices in cities, the Padins still carried oradition of having castle-towns. Small forts scattered across the ndscape to keep order. Drayim fortress was one example. It was a shame that Waramunt had died, although Fortia had assumed so when she heard that Iliyal had led the assault. A man didn’t get to that age only to die to an Iion-tier Divine.

  “Still operational, I’ve told the people who are there to stay there.” Maisara said. Much like Drayim, most of the fortresses had their owies proteg them. They would hold. They should hold. Both Maisara and Fortia here had seen Olonia fight. A Goddess like that was nothing to worry about, and apparently, she was one of the better warriors of the group.

  “Are any near airports? Or they be resupplied?” Fortia asked. Maisara started to quickly pce pins on the maps to mark the airports.

  “You see for yourself. I wouldn’t try and engage an airport though. It’s too close to cities to take down effectively.”

  “But we shut them down.” Fortia said, she looked over to the God of the Fe, he straightened his bad flexed his muscles. Fortia did not know if it was w from the fe all those years, or if the man had just naturally developed into such a monster. His arm was as thick as her thigh. Whatever, it time for the first job. “Theosius.” Fortia said. “We need a modern catapult. Something like a mortar. Le and accurate, it doesn’t have to be too powerful.”

  Theosius nodded with every word and then answered with his own. It rumbled like the beginnings of a huge avanche. “So small then?”

  “I’d prefer for it to be carried by an unblessed man. If that’s impossible, then a Padin uardian has to be able to lift it.” Fortia replied and the man nodded.

  “What for?” He asked. Fortia raised an annoyed eyebrow at him. She wondered if Kassandora ever got backtalk like this as the God shrugged. “If I know what for, then I’ll know what we’re aiming for.” He expined in an exhausted tone.

  “To cause holes in roads and runways. Something to simply lob explosives over a distaheosius nodded.

  “See?” He said. “Now I know explosive ammunition is involved.”

  “That was a given.” Fortia quickly replied, the God shook his head and sighed.

  “It will be done.” He said. There, that was an answer she could appreciate.

  “We such down the airports with the neon, simply bst holes in the runway. A team in a car will be able to get it done quickly.”

  “What about mages?” Maisara asked. Fortia only smiled back at her friend.

  “Do you want to use them?”

  “Not really.”

  “Agreed.” That simple, there was nothing tue about when it was dealing with just Maisara. They both knew precisely why, the answer was that no one wao be held in Essa’s debt. If they relied on that woman’s power, it was ohing, but Fortia assumed Epa would have rifles. And if they had rifles, then it would only be a matter of time before magi’s blood illed. It was ohing if mages died at Essa’s behest, but it would be the headache of a geion if Fortia ended up killing one of Essa’s favourite mages.

  “We should circle around Erdely.” Maisara said as she traced a lih her finger. Up north, through Dakia, into Lubska, then Doschia, then Rancais. “Make a circle like that.”

  Fortia shook her head. “I don’t see why we extend the war that much.” She expined. “This is not Kassandora we’re fighting. It’s just mortals. Do you think they know anything of battle doe? Of logistics? Even if we assume that Kassandora sends Iliyal or some eneral.” Fortia imagihe Goddess of War wouldn’t, not when Uriamel was breathing down their neck. “Then do you think the Epans will just surrender all authority to him? They call themselves a Coalition, but it’s just five upstarts.”

  Fortia knew very well how quickly coalitions of that nature started to succumb to internal strife. The White Pantheon had been formed as an anti-Arascus coalition after all. “I push into Rilia.” Fortia said. “This will be the southern front, with my Guardians for support. I’ll take some minor deities, but Rilia has too long of a coastlio defend it.” There was that, and there was the fact that expining such tactical minutiae to Maisara and Tasaidien was not important. What she did on the Southern Front would not be important, as long as Rilia fell. “Maisara, you go down your route, as you pointed out. Secure Dakia first though.”

  “Secure them?” Maisara asked, there was an inuch glee iohough.

  “They’ve not decred for the Coalition, but they’ve not explicitly allied with the Pantheoher.” Fortia said. Sending Maisara in that way may be a bad call actually, but most of Maisara’s fortresses were iral or northern Epa. The Goddess of Order would simply do better in that region, so there was no reason for Fortia to try and overstep.

  “So?” Maisara asked. Fortia sighed. But if Maisara was actually going to keep ag this way, then maybe Fortia should take over that front, for the beginning of the war.

  “You go in, you give them the rundown, you don’t do any massacres.” There, even Maisara should be able to uand that.

  “No massacres.” Maisara said. “But force?”

  “If they’re not with the Pantheon, they’re with the Coalition Maisara.” Fortia said harder this time. Maisara nodded with a knowing smile.

  “That I uand.” She said as Fortia looked up.

  “Tasaidien, you will have two roles.” The God of Anktyda made a grim face, although he didn’t argue back. He only stood there, looking at Fortia, as she started to expin the orders. There was something annoying about the man, the fact he used a trident and that it was so simir to her spear. The fact he wore a . What sort of Divine o wear a ? Even Arascus had never worn one. Divines were Divihat should be all that was o be said about them. “Firstly, I expect Allia to be sending supplies to the other tries. If not, then they’ll act as some logisti or supplier. Maybe they pn to open a trade route to Ausa. Or around all Arika and do Kirinyaa.” That st option, she doubted, but it wouldn’t be unreasonable for Arascus and Richard VI to have set up some scheming pn on how to get artillery out of Arika and into Epa. “I want a full blockade on Allia.”

  The God looked at the map. “Everything?” He asked.

  Fortia knew what he meant. “Even the civilian goods. Even the granary ships. Everything. Not a single ship leaves that port. This is akin to the Great War.” Tasaidien didn’t look like he was impressed with the idea, but her did he look horrified by it.

  “Not a single ship will leave then.” Fortia smiled to herself as the God of Anktyda spoke again. “And the sed?”

  “I assume you create some sort of naval invasion force for us?” It most likely wouldn’t be needed, but after seeing the situation in Kirinyaa, she wasn’t going to simply walk into Rilia. No. It would be an invasion, just as they deserved.

  “To support your troops? We have transports. Sea-splitters be used too.”

  “That would be perfect.” Fortia replied, smiling. Why bother with ships? It wasn’t a rge sea, a few days mard the distance would be covered on foot. “How long would it take you to prepare everything?” Tasaidien shrugged.

  “A week from now, I have the Allian blockade running. Two, and your naval invasion of Rilia begin.”

  “And you Maisara?”

  “Most of my Padins are here already, it’s just a case of marshalling the forces.” Fortia smiled. It was the same with her.

  “Thehese two weeks to secure Dakia. Theh move onto the Coalition.”

  So it was dohe Epan Coalition thought it would be a bonfire? What were they even thinking? They weren’t even a spark, and Fortia was ing in to drown them in their own blood.

  Olonia readjusted her armour and drew her straight sword as she looked at Zamek Ksios. An a fortress, built before the Great War. A Padin stronghold, not the headquarters, but a recruiting grounds he less. It was in the south west of the try, close to a majhway which served as a vital artery for the e between Doschia and Lubska. Their shared blood flow of ons shipments could not be slowed down by such a rge clot.

  So Zamek Ksios had to go. Those two battles with Iliyal had been with training wheels. Now it was time to see how much the training had really given her. Olonia drew her straight-sword and heard the two hundred men behind her flick the safety of their guns off.