Ciria stared at the book oable. A string had been pulled here, a favour called in, a call to prestige had been made. And so, she had found of the few copies ie wasn’t to learn, it was simply to uand what sort of oppo she was ging up against.

  Ciria took a deep breath and ran her finger down the cover of the book. Old, and made of real leather. She opehe first page and began to read the preface:

  ‘This preface will be short iyle of the entire book. It is not an apology for the ck of crity in the book, it isn’t something as silly as a warniher. Instead, it is a dismissal for you, the reader. Some people will uand this intuitively, some people will need years of expnations. I am the Goddess of War, I work with what I have, I am not here to tea the same fashion other Divines do. I have never been a teacher, I am a fe that takes men and remakes into something greater. This book is not some great work of self-discovery, it is not meant to raise questions, it is written to be taken as literally as a diary.’

  ‘I do not write iaphor. I only use allegory for ease of expnation. I mean every word written on this page, as it is written. This book is a manual to war.’

  Ciria closed the book. Already she felt sid it was a thie too. She stared at the title, Kassandora’s magnum opus: The Philosophy of War.

  Kassandora and Mam once against burst out in ughter as they exged yet another set of ents full of nothing but utter spite and bile. This time, Mam was talking about Kassandora’s followers and Kassandora was boasting about how people wao follow her, whereas all that Mam could do was fsh a leg and hope the men were particurly thirsty.

  And Essa trailed behind them. Half in disbelief with the way that Of War and Of Hatred were treating each other, half in disbelief about the fact she was actually walking through a dwarf hold and half in disbelief about the fact that she didn’t feel as if she was walking into a trap. The dwarves themselves were practically invisible as they parted for Mam. The heavy pte armour, yer upon yer of sheet metal that must have been at least a finger-width thick, obscured them. Spears that reached up to Mam’s height, and tower shields that were almost perfect squares, to cover the stunty little half-mairely.

  And they said nothing.

  Essa could not evehem breathe.

  It was ohing to not barge iween Kassandora and Mam when they were having their little… argument? Bonding session? That sounded more like it, when they were having their little bonding session. But when Essa started through the visor of a dwarve and saw absolutely nothing, she felt a run down her spine. “Are they alive?” Essa asked the two in front of her.

  And now Kassandora stopped, she dropped down into a squat and ied one of the dwarves. “I just thought they were disciplined.” She poked the armour. The dwarf did not react. “Not a very good soldier, is it?”

  “They’re dead men walking.” Mam said. “I expio Kavaa already.”

  “Well I’m not sorry for not being Kavaa princess.” Kassandora said as Mam chuckled and stopped. She turned on her spot, her white hair moving in a wave as she sighed. Essa had always been jealous of hair as pristine as that, and then she realised she was doing to Mam exactly what she had doo Kassandora.

  “They’re animated skeletons.” Mam said as she bent down and grabbed one of the helms. Her other ha back around the neck, something clicked, and Mam picked the helmet up. Essa noticed the Goddess was not fully extending her arm to demonstrate. It must have been heavy then. “My idea Kassie, you know that?”

  “Not Iri’s?” Kassandora asked as she looked at the dwarf with the helmet removed. It was a suit of armour with a skeleton inside, although the skeleton ulsing with carefully inscribed runes. Essa reized some of them, Arcadia was the Archive of Arda after all. There wasn’t a type of magic that wasn’t mentiohere. Dwarven Runology had a small building dedicated to it, although almost all the knowledge within it was either posed during the Great War, or immediately in the years after it.

  The runes pulsed, from green to blue to yellow te to red to green again. They emitted a pale glow in the underground of these tunnels, although the torches fixed to the hold gate, and the light p in through the arrow slits did good to push the darkness away. “Not Iri’s.” Mam firmed, her voice tinged with pride.

  “I’m surprised you could think of something so useful fhting.” Kassandora said.

  “I’ll take that as a pliment.” Mam replied.

  “It was.” Kassandora replied early, still iing the dwarf. “ he take the armour off? How is it made?” Essa shook her head. Of course the woman could get excited, but she didn’t she would have ever seen her bee so childish.

  Mam sighed heavily, as if the simple idea of needing to think about how to expin was a huge pain for her. “We needed manpower.” She said simply. “Automatohe Worldcore to be recharged. Something had to be done.”

  “And?” Kassandrabbed the dwarf’s skull and tilted it back. She looked ihe suit of armour.

  “Oh so it’s fine when you ask questions?” Mam said. “Yet when I asked about names you got fed up?”

  “Mmh.” Kassandora said. “So you don’t know how it works.”

  Mam quirked a smile. “I do.”

  “I don’t believe you.”

  “Then don’t.” The Goddess of War finally stood up from iing that dwarf and Mam but the skeleton’s bato his armour.

  “You don’t.”

  “I’m not going to prove it to you.” Mam answered.

  “Because you ’t.” Kassandora taunted. And to think that just minutes ago, they were having this same versation but reversed.

  “Do you expect me to shout at you Kassie?” Mam said as she turned back around. “Me? At my lovely sister?” Mam walked off, her snow-white hair trailing off behind her all the ast her waist. “Never.”

  “She doesn’t know.” Kassandora said to Essa as they started walking ihe Hold. An active hold, a proper habituated hold. Essa’s eyes tried to devour all the sery at the same time, bridges upes, as if they were overpping sticks that had been tumbled onto each other. There were grand fes with real dwarves w there. But they too had the animated skeletons helping.

  For every smith w over a fe, the fur fme but magma, there were two dozeons all slowly shuffling as they ferried iron bad forth. The smiths all looked up, some even dropped their hammers, oo his knees. Some of them ran off. “Officially, Divines aren’t uheir jurisdi.” Mam said.

  “Officially.” Kassandora said. Essa caught it too, the word ‘officially’ oed to state the opposite.

  “Unofficially, I’m the grand court.” Mam said and Kassandora chuckled.

  “Quite a position you’ve worked out for yourself.”

  “It’s been a thousand years, it’d be disappointing if I couldn’t.”

  “And Iri?” Kassandora asked. Essa was still in disbelief that they could so casually be talking about the Irinika. The Irinika which the White Pantheon had speuries chasing after, who one day seemingly vanished, o be seen again. It had almost driven Alsaria mad.

  “Iri’s job is being Iri.” Mam replied.

  “Cssic.”

  Essa had to intervene. “What does that mean?” It wasn’t… She was here too! She was the Goddess of Magic! Both of these were mere ants in terms of power when pared to Essa, and they were ag as if Essa had disappeared!

  “Lead Champion.” Kassandora said ftly as Irinika turned down a er. This area had a corridor that cked on wall. Instead, it had a railing, which revealed a pit that was filled with huge stockpiles of raw iron ore. Animated skeletons were bring it here, tugging mis across the ground and theying them, as more were ferrying materials away, most likely to the fes. “This a mining hold?”

  “For iron mainly.” Mam said. “It’s a small ohough, there’s o hundred and thirty-one living dwarves here, then about ten thousand dead. It’s this way.” Mam turned down the door to a small corridor.

  “Where are we going?” Essa asked.

  “To fetch Kavaa and Iniri sweetheart.” Mam cooed and Essa felt a shudder go down her spine. No oalked to her like that. Absolutely no one, not even Anassa. It was… disturbing.

  “We’ll o go back as soon as possible.” Kassandora said. “I’d prefer if not dwarves e out with us either, if they get spotted on the surface, it wouldn’t be good.”

  “Apparently the surface doesn’t know that Tartarus is on Arda.” Mam said. “Is that true?”

  “No one does. It was Kavaa, Fer & Iliyal who found them.” Mam chuckled for a moment.

  “What a team.”

  “Iliyal says Kavaa is quite good actually.” There was something annoying in that too. Essa didn’t know why she was jealous that one of Kassandora’s generals was plimenting someone else, but she was. She knew she shouldn’t be, but it was ohing to realise aion, it was another eo trol it like that.

  “Well she is a mini-you.” Mam said.

  “That doesn’t even fug mean anything.” Kassandora replied heavily.

  “It means she’s like you but not as extreme.” Mam said. “Very hooo, that was surprising.” And again Essa looked at Mam without being able to pin the woman down. From scathing ents to shameless rage-bait to pliments like this? They turned down a corridor and started walking up a staircase.

  “Kavaa is ho?” Essa asked.

  “I know!” Mam said. “I was shocked too!”

  “No.” Essa said. “I mean, Kavaa has always been ho.”

  “That makes one of us.” Mam replied quickly.

  “I’m ho!” Essa didn’t know why she said that. Was she starting to like this woman? Her and Kassandora were funny together. Maybe she was just jealous of their bond? But then who wouldn’t? Bonds like that did in the Pantheon.

  “Ah.” Mam said. “I was borerday too, did you know that?” Her voice was full of sarcasm but Essa didn’t take offense. She almost appreciated the mockery, it was as if Mam was treating her just as she treated Kassandora. “I’ve pestered Ana enough about you E.” She turned bad smiled. “You two have simir names, don’t you?” Essa blinked, she almost missed iairs of smooth stone, cut directly into the earth. She had to grab her blue dress to calm down and looked at Anassa, Of Hatred was smiling as she ied the rea. “How cute.” She said.

  And Essa blushed. Why she blushed, she did not know, but she didn’t think anyone had ever called cute. Not on her entire miserable existence. “I just thought it was ce.” Kassandora said from the side. “But now that you say it…” She trailed off.

  “How do you know?” Essa asked and Mam burst out in ughter.

  “You gave it away!” She said and then turo Kassandora. “Of course you’d hink on it.”

  “It’s just names, not particurly important, is it now?” Kassandora said.

  “You’ve hought about it?”

  “Am I the type to Mam?” Kassandora asked. “Do I care? Does it matter whether it’s Anassa or Pam?” Mam chuckled as she shook her head.

  “This is why you ’t lead the home front.”

  “I destroy home-fronts.” Kassandora said. “It doesn’t matter how mine is fairing when the enemy doesn’t have one.”

  “WAIT!” Essa said. “How!? With the names?”

  “You firmed it for me.” Mam said as if she was a teacher expining a particurly simple problem for the dozenth time. “By asking me how I know? I know nothing Essa, I just guessed because I know Ana.” Mam expined and Essa felt her cheeks go red in fury. It was one of the few things that simply boiled her blood in rage, she could accept Anassa overp her, she could not accept the utter audacity of Of Sorcery to try and agiame. “Even now.” Mam tinued. “I know that this expnation, how utterly simple it is, and how silly you are for firming it, will get you mad. Me expining this reasoning will annoy you too.” Mam was right in all regards. It set an inferno alight in Essa’s stomach. “Grand Goddess of Magic, Archivist of Arda, how many books have you read? Probably more than all of us put together.”

  “Just because you’re illiterate doesn’t mean I am.” Kassandora interrupted.

  “I’ve read more books than people you’ve killed.” Mam replied, Kassandora opened her mouth, closed it, and gave up. It was the first time Essa ever saw Kassandora be caught for a ck of words. “But as I was saying Essa, you are easy to read.”

  “Am I?”

  “An open book.” Mam said and Kassandora sighed, shaking her head. The Goddess of Magic turo the woman.

  “Am I Kass?”

  “You’re not particurly hard.” Mam chuckled as they turned another er.

  “Don’t feel bad though E.” She cooed from ahead, now they were starting to head down. “We’re the best there is.”

  “There’s Fer.” Kassandora said.

  “But Fer ’t read how we do.” Mam said. “Fer say the words she reads on the page, we interpret.” Suddenly, the Goddess of Hatred stopped in front a door, a huge, heavy steel one forced into the stone. “Where are we?” She asked.

  Essa did not know why, but she wao beat Kassandora now. She looked at the heavy steel door in the wall and said the first thing that came to mind, before she even sidered all the possibilities, she answered. “Kavaa’s cell.”

  “What a smart girl you are.” Mam cooed. “I’ve moved Iniri over here too.” Essa had to turn around to hide her blush as Mam opehe door to Kavaa’s cell. It swung open to the sound of two people catg their breath inside.

  And when Essa saw Kavaa and Iniri, both huddled on the bed, sharing a piece of cloth together, when she saw the expressions, the two pairs of shocked eyes run away in fear from Mam, then focus on Kassandora. She saw Kavaa’s eyes light up with pure joy that they were meeting someoher than Mam. Maybe Helenna, Essa could uand. That Goddess had always beeional and expressive, Iniri too. Iniri had been broken by years in the Pantheon, but Kavaa? Dulled from her years as a healer, able to stand to almost anything and everything? Kavaa, who had led her Clerito Olympiada? Kavaa was terrified?

  Essa’s eyes passed over to Mam. Her bck eyes were shining, and that mouth was turned up into a smile. Even though they had just been chatting with each other, the illusion shattered. There was no physical ge, but now that Essa looked, the white hair was more remi of a sickly pale rather than pure snow, those eyes were no longer beautiful dark gemstohey were endless abysses. That smile was all knowing in its sadistic glee.

  Essa never got scared, but the fact that this monster was w her way into Essa’s heart was terrifying.