The Greatest Sin

Olephia is a walking storm. Neneria has a pocket army. Irinika is near-unstoppable. Baalka’s diseases can destroy kingdoms. Fer’s warherds ravage the countryside. But Anassa?

I would prefer to parley with any of the aforementioned Goddesses than Anassa. It boggles the mind that Malam, Goddess of Hatred, is somehow more pleasant to deal with than her.

- Excerpt from the secrets texts in the White Pantheon’s closed library. Written by Goddess Maisara, of Order: ‘Documenting the Daughters.’

Fer walked through the secret compound her father had set up to give Mikhail Alash a space to make his tools. It was deep in Karaina B, in an area once forgotten and now teeming with life thanks to the sudden economic resurgence Alash’s factories had brought. His recruited engineers and engineers were just as mad as him, and the fact half of them were transferred to Kirinyaa to design machines in the open there did not seem to put a single damper in their spirits.

Fer’s black boots clicked against the ground as she walked through the workshop. She tried to look like her sister Kassandora. Tried to. Kassandora would walk stiff-backed with barely a smile, and then give them an inspiring speech that would rally the spirits. Fer prowled, her hands behind her back, her yellow cat-eyes dancing over each and every invention these men had constructed. She knew she had a stupidly large grin on her face, but how could she not.

The packmasters of her herd walked followed in step. Traius, the huge minotaur with two horns that made a crown over his head and his chest was covered in scars. Each step he took was a heavy drum, each breath as loud as mechanical pistons used to lift the cannons of the Binturongs. He towered half-again each human’s height, and Fer towered half-again over him. Logar was next to him. A wolfman covered in fur, with a wolf’s maw overflowing with teeth on his head. His steps were quiet and delicate, he always walked like he was on the hunt. Those two managed the day-to-day runnings of the pack when Fer was away.

Then her three darkfur packmasters. Kanstantin, Naro and Traian, three darkfurs that managed everything Logar and Traius could not. Darkfurs blessed with Anassa’s sorcery, beastmen capable of wielding a power only human hands should be able to hold. Some called their version of sorcery barbaric and an abhorrence in the magical world. Fer only considered it evolution.

“This is the parachute.” Mikhail guided the party through his workshop. He wore overalls, Fer had sent him a letter telling him not to dress up, she’d didn’t like the pretentious of official ceremonies. The workshop was quite now, with engineers standing by display pieces of things they had produced. They had worked enough with the beastmen that now the only looks of curiosity were given to Fer herself. That was good, Fer did not like people who were scared of her pack members.

“Put it on.” Fer pointed to Logar behind herself. He was just taller than a human, and this thing… She looked it curiously. It looked like a big backpack. Supposedly this would let people jump from planes, but she had never seen it. “How does it work?” She asked Mikhail. The man leaned into the wolfman to explain. “Here is the main parachute. You pull that, and it releases-“ Fer leaned forwards and pulled that white string with a plastic handle at the end. There was a hiss as Mikhail shouted.

“No!” Then Logar’s backpack exploded with a giant white carpet. The force knocked Traian behind over and the darkfur had climbed under the parachute as if he had been trapped by a net.

“I see.” Fer said. She did not see whatsoever, how this was supposed to slow a fall down, she could not begin to fathom. “And this red string.” Fer tapped the string on the over side.

“That’s the backup parachute.” Mikhail said. Fer smiled at Logar and pulled it. Another hiss of air, another explosion and sound of tearing, and another gigantic piece of white fabric erupted from the backpack.

“So we have two?” Fer asked. That was the sort of question Kassie would ask.

“In case the first one fails.” Traian cursed from underneath first parachute as the second settled over him. The other beastmen all shared looks of mirth, Fer did too. When something was funny, it was funny, there was no reason not to laugh.

“We’ll be landing in the night, can we paint the dark blue? Like the night sky?”

“Of course, of course. This was just the demonstration model but we have camouflaged ones available.” Fer nodded.

“And for him?” Fer tapped Traius’ chest. The minotaur puffed it out.

“We have a larger model for the minotaurs.” Mikhail said. Fer nodded to herself.

“And it’s not hard to use?”

“You just jump and pull.” Mikhail said. “That’s all.”

“You think you can remember that?” Fer asked Traius. The minotaur’s maw twisted into a smile.

“Bit complicated, but I’ll try.” He said sarcastically and Fer snorted with laughter. She stood up straight and clapped her hands. “Alright, very good Mikhail. Very good indeed. But we did not come to see giant duvets stuffed into backpacks, did we?” The engineer, his smile revealing his teeth.

“No, we did not.” He walked to the first station. Two men were stood there. “This is the first model. We’ve called it the Sledge, like sledgehammer.” Fer looked at the gun. It was a barrel of metal, a wooden stock on the end, and some sort of grip underneath.

“And?” Fer asked.

“It shoots these rounds.” Mikhail picked up a red shell. Fer took it out of his hands.

“So where do we load it?” She asked.

“At the top.” She stuff the shell into the top, it disappeared into the gun with a satisfying click. Fer extended her arm, aimed it at the wall and pulled the trigger. Nothing happened. “You cock the gun first.” Mikhail said. Fer looked at him and he pointed to that piece of metal Fer had presumed was something to make holding it more comfortable. She grabbed it and pulled it. The gun made a satisfying click. She aimed it at the wall, the engineers all put their fingers in their ears and Fer pulled the trigger.

The gun made a deafening explosion and Fer looked at the damage in the wall. There was a hundred or so tiny impact. She knew it from the past, but she never thought it could be condensed to be handheld. “You’ve made a grapeshot cannon!” Fer said as she inspected the Sledge again. “But handheld! Amazing!” She honestly meant it.

“It’s a shotgun.” Mikhail said. “We have different rounds. Slugs for longer range, that’s for clearing rooms.”

“Excellent!” Fer gave the gun to Logar who inspected it. “Very good.”

“Iliyal said they should be hardy so there’s almost no moving parts in it. You can use it as a club and it still works. It will fire even when wet.”

“Even better!” Fer patted the man on the head. “Very good job.” She said. This was amazing!

The man showed them something called the AA-Rifle. Automatic-Alash rifle, named after the engineer. “This is…” Mikhail said. “Well, it’s better to just show you.” He took the gun, a magazine, shoved it inside and handed it to Fer. “Please don’t point it at anyone.” He said.

“I’ve used muskets before.” Fer had never liked muskets. A crossbow was much better, much faster and easier to use. She aimed it at the wall and pulled the trigger. Nothing happened again.

“You pull the slide on the side.” Fer looked at the gun, it was small in her hands and saw a tiny piece of metal sticking out. She pointed to it.

“That?”

“That.” She pulled it. There was another satisfying click. She aimed at the wall, and pulled the trigger.

Amazing.

Beyond amazing.

Game-changing.

The gun unloaded it’s magazine in two seconds. Thirty bullets went just like that. This was much better than a crossbow. “This I want more of.” Fer said. She could see it already. Mikhail showed a long range sniper, it had a bigger calibre apparently and was able to penetrate steel. A smaller gun. A thing called a pistol that humans could use with one hand. And then they moved to the other side of the room.

This was the toys she saw at the start. This is the thing she wanted to see. “This is a flamethrower.” Mikhail said as he scratched his chin. “Honestly… Iliyal told us to make one and we made it along with the Binturong design but…” Fer looked at the flamethrower. It was shaped like a gun, with a pipe leading from it two heavy tanks.

“You stick those on the back I presume?” Fer said.

“Yes, it’s like a backpack.” Fer tapped Traius again.

“Lift that.” Traius stepped forward. The minotaur was even wider than Fer. He moved slowly and deliberately. His massive furred hand curled around the tank, and he lifted it easily. “And the gun part.” The minotaur hooked a finger through a steel notch and held the whole thing in the air with one hand. “Alright.” Fer turned to Mikhail. “This is excellent. I like it.”

“But it’s…” Mikhail shook his head. “You like it?” He asked incredulously.

“I do. Now stick this.” Fer tapped the tank. “Onto this.” Fer tapped the gun piece and then tapped Traius. “So that he can use it.” Mikhail smiled at the suggestion.

“It will be done.” He said and then moved onto the last thing. It was what Fer found most interesting, no one in the past had ever tried to design something like this, it was much too big to be used for humans. The gun had a belt attached to it too, which lead to a box. There was a handle on the front and in the back. Mikhail grabbed the two to demonstrate how to hold it. “We call it the MG-1.” Mikhail said. “Machine Gun One.”

“Why?”

“Because it works like a well-oiled machine.” Mikhail said. “And we originally planned to mount it on machines.”

“I see.” Fer said. She nodded for Traius to pick it up. It fit the minotaur perfectly. “What does it do?”

“It fires sixty rounds in two seconds, with the box having capacity for four hundred rounds before it has to be reloaded.”

“This is the sort of thing you have a backpack for.” Fer looked over to Traius. “Those boxes, we could fit maybe?” She raised an eyebrow. “Fourty of them on him? That’s what? Sixteen thousand rounds?” Every beastman smiled. The engineers did too. “Do that and make it so he doesn’t have to reload.” Fer tapped Mikhail.

“We need melee weapons too.” Beastmen always needed melee weapons. Fist and hoof and claw and tooth was good, but it wasn’t sword and spear and axe. Mikhail raised a finger, a smile spreading over his face as he led them back to the Alash model.

“We’ve thought of this actually.” Mikhail said. “And… we don’t produce them yet, but it’s easy enough to make.” He signalled to the engineer and the man produced a long knife, somewhere between the length of a dagger and a short sword from the back of his belt.

“And that is?” Fer asked, terribly unimpressed.

“We stick this onto this.” Mikhail slid the knife onto the gun. Fer’s eyes widened as she saw the dream. A gun which was a spear. Amazing! How did no one think of this in the past?! She actually felt her jaw drop. She clapped her hands, turned and spoke loudly to every engineer in the building. They all had grins on their faces, it was obvious she was impressed.

“You all did an excellent job! Amazing! I want everything!” She shouted. “Amazing work!” She said again. She had never been good at speeches.

It really was though. She spent another half hour just walking around and testing out all the guns again before time caught up to her and she realised she was stopping these men from working. Logar came close to her when they left the building. “What do you think? I’m impressed myself.” He said earnestly.

“I think we’ve just created a warherd fit for the modern world.”