The Greatest Sin

Raymond looked up at the monitoring board: Six hours had passed: 22.3%

Kassandora marched out of the Cleric’s encampment with her new army behind her. On one hand, it was a large force, two thousand men were nothing to scoff at. On the other, during the Great War, millions had served, killed and died under her command. There was still a long way to go.

Kavaa, apart from being angry, had accommodated them quite well. Sokolowski and the men who were granted permission to leave were allowed to keep their armour, after their heraldries had been scratched off, whereas weaponry was each Cleric’s individual responsibility. They weren’t Kavaa’s to take. Kassandora thought of what to call them, she had never much liked the idea of Orders. They were too autonomous, each with their own ideas and traditions. They made for good soldiers of course, but it was in spite of being in a Divine Order rather than because of it. There was a reason most Divine strategy was merely to pick a battle and throw the local Order in.

So the unorganized band of men marched behind Kassandora, a short half-mile stint over red ground to the Arikan camp. The tent architecture changed, from the long rectangular barracks that housed a dozen men to tall round things that only had a few warriors sleeping in them. There was no storage room, Kassandora saw through the doors everyone slept with their arms next to them. Some Arikans went out to greet Kassandora, tall dark men, now that night had settled in they had donned shirts and cloaks. Bonfires had been lit. That was another difference. The Clerics had electric lamps scattered about, the Arikans had huge bonfires that warmed with heat. The smell of wild game wafted in and Kassandora lifted her hand up. “Stop!” She shouted.

The men behind her stopped. Kassandora did not turn, she merely spoke to them as more Arikans started to exit their tents and curiously inspect the force approaching them. “Wait here until I return.” It was the most basic of tests. Some people thought pain or suffering broke wills, that was true to an extent but Kassandora had long found a much better exam that did not require any input from her: boredom. Without giving them a reason, a time, any information whatsoever, Kassandora alone walked into the Arikan camp.

Most of the Arikans went back into their tents. A few introduced themselves, a few waved. Back in Epa, Kassandora would have already caught a crowd who were hoping to be blessed by simply catching a glimpse of a Goddess about. She decided this was much better. Waf was the first person to approach that she recognised, he had a light shirt on and shorts and came weaponless, the light of fires reflected off his face and dark hair. “I have come.” Kassandora made her voice loud but there was no reason to shout. The air simply carried her tone far.

“I see.” Waf said as he leaned past Kassandora and her red hair to the ex-Clerics waiting at the edge of the camp. “Are they not coming in? We have room.”

“They are not.” Waf shrugged and sighed.

“Suit yourself. The chief’s tent is this way.” He turned around and waved for Kassandora to follow. The Goddess did. The journey was short, there was no tour of this camp like Sokolowski had given her of the Clerics, although even from the short journey, Kassandora had seen enough. People were roasting food, dancing, drums were playing as laughter filled the air. Every now and then, the camp would fall silent as another detachment of Clerics arrived in a plane. Then everyone would cheer, laugh, clap and giggle at the arriving Epans.

Kassandora decided she needed more information about these people. It was too ragtag of a band to be able to handle large military operations. “Straight to the chief’s tent?”

“Straight there.” Waf answered.

“You don’t have any protocols about this?”

“Is there a need?” Waf replied. Kassandora supposed there wasn’t.

“How many men do you have here?”

“This war camp has eight hundred.”

“That’s it?”

“Kavaa’s camp only has four thousand.” Kassandora showed no reaction but her mind worked quickly. Waf was correct to ten percent, Kavaa’s camp only had four thousand one hundred as of this evening. How did he know?

“And what do you want me to do?” Kassandora asked.

“The elders will inform you.” Waf replied.

“Are you not an elder?”

“I’m…” He thought for a moment. “In Kavaa’s camp, I would lead an Order, that’s my rank.”

“Captain then.”

“I don’t like that though.” He said.

“Why not?”

“Captains steer ships, they don’t go on the ground.”

“I see.” Kassandora replied. A prideful people then, if they thought ships as beneath them. Good to know, although she had thought as much from the short interaction back in Kavaa’s tent. “How much further?”

“A minute.” The minute passed quickly. Waf led the way to a large tent, circular, held up by logs that bad been hammered into the ground. The cloth was the same material the Clerics used, but this one had animal skins hanging as decoration on the outside. There were no guards, nothing, children played by the entrance as if they didn’t have a care in the world. Two women watched them and chatted away as the clouds above gave way to the stars and the bright moon.

Inside, Waf led Kassandora to a circle of men who were sitting on carpets on the ground. Some had weapons, axes and spears, others daggers, a few came with bows, some had no arms whatsoever. The dress code varied about as much, two men were shirtless. Kimani was one of them, he sat with his arms by his side to display the massive scars across his chest. One-eared Arusei was close to him, these men held their hair colour for a long time. Arusei was wrinkled, signs of age obvious as the light from torches danced across his face, but only his roots were going grey. No one else in the tent could claim that. Eyapan and Jebet, both bald, both with their weapons across their knees, watched Kassandora enter. The rest of the men inclined their heads, one, obviously the youngest, offered a cup of water.

As customs went, Kassandora had seen worse. She would have drank it even if she wasn’t a Goddess and poisons could have harmed her. It was cold, with an earthy taste, but she did not sit. “I have come to help solve your problem.” It was the small things like that which people liked, obviously she would solve it alone, but making them feel as if they were here to do anything but inform her would do well for social standing.

“We have been awaiting you.” Arusei replied and indicated for her to sit. Even with her legs crossed and tips of her red hair sprawling across the coloured carpets, Kimani, the tallest man only reached up to her shoulders, the rest not even that. “We have heard you have men outside the camp.”

“They’re mine.” Kassandora said. That was all they needed to know, but answers like that did little to inspire. “They won’t enter without my permission, I’m training them.” The explanation revealed nothing of importance but she saw several of the dark men relax, their shoulders falling as tension left them. “I do not know how you do things, personally, I skip pleasantries and get right to the heart of the matter.” These men were obviously warriors, and she had not met a single warrior in her long life that enjoyed gossip during meetings.

“That is good.” Jebet replied without permission to speak from Arusei. The others took no notice, nor did Arusei seem particularly perturbed. Meritocratic then, or they were equals, each leading their own. Kassandora made a note on it in her mind. “We should get right to the heart of the matter. As said before, villages have been disappearing.”

“And you’ve shown me the pattern.” Kassandora interrupted him as a test. No one seemed to mind.

“Indeed.” Jebet said. “We have decided it is not hunting grounds.”

“Why not?”

“Because beasts would destroy villages. Our scouts have returned, everything is left in place as if the people simply got up and left. Foods were left cooking, some homes were burned down but the fires were obviously not set from outside. Children have their toys, spears were undisturbed, it is not a beast.”

“It’s a demon.” Kimani spoke up. “As I said before, so I will say it now, this is the work of demons.”

Kassandora ignored the man entirely. “And is there a pattern?” Kimani showed no reaction to being ignored.

“It moves, whatever it is.” Arusei explained. “The jungle in the area has expanded two miles south in a month. It has stopped at the streams.”

“Demons cannot cross running water.” Kimani added.

“And there is no chance this is nomadic activity?” Kassandora asked.

“None.” The entire room agreed. Kassandora broke posture and leaned back as the room turned on her. Well, it was an interesting dilemma alright.

“Have you thought about jungle expansion and which villages disappear? Tried matching the dates up?” The Arikans looked to themselves, the silence did not last long, Kimani broke it.

“We have not considered that.” He said nodding. “It’s obvious when you think about it though. The jungle is taking them, villages disappear as the jungle nears them.” Kassandora gave no reaction but inside she was very happy with these men. She had met generals filled with ideas of grandiosity who would never admit a mistake. This man had just done it and not batted an eye. The rest of them nodded.

“That makes the situation worse though.” One of the men Kassandora did not know, a tall man with pale tattoos over his body spoke. “A beast can be killed, a demon chased away. The jungle though?”

“Have you ever tried to stop the jungle?” Kassandora asked. The entire room looked at her as if she was an idiot. Kassandora laughed at the honest reaction. Arusei answered.

“Have you ever tried to hold back a river?” Kassandora had held up the Sun, but she was not about to tell them that. They most likely would not believe her.

“I’m asking because from the short time we’ve been talking, most of your problems seem to stem from this jungle.”

“Everything we cannot deal with stems from there.” Kimani added. Kassandora tilted her head. This was a solution so obvious she could not believe it. How had Kavaa missed it? Treating problems at their source was her speciality after all.

“Have you never tried to cut down the jungle?” Kassandora asked and the room burst out in laughter.

“Kassandora.” Kimani said through bouts of giggling. “We understand you are new to this land but do not joke.”

“I’m not joking.” Kassandora said, she had to wait for the men to settle down. It was as if she had just told them to slay a God.

“The jungle is unstoppable.” Arusei said.

“Indeed, it takes and eats and we live around it.” Kimani spoke up.

“It gives birth to beasts and demons.” Jebet continued.

“It is Arda’s answer to humanity.” Waf now.

“It is not a place to step in.” One of the unknown men said.

“You can trick it, you can avoid it, you cannot defeat it.” Another man finished.

Kassandora leaned forwards. These men… they treated the jungle as… two swords in her mind clashed together, steel against steel produced a spark and that spark razed a nation as it grew into an idea. Divines were ultimately the collective consciousness of humanity coming together to give birth to an incarnation of an idea. There were general rules some had tried to categorize but typically the grander and more universal an idea, the grander the Divine. “How long has the Jungle existed?” Kassandora asked.

“Since before man stepped here.” Kimani answered.

“And have things ever been different?” Kassandora asked. “Do you satisfy the Jungle in any way? Sacrifice to it for food and so on?”

Arusei answered this question. “Several ceremonies are held throughout the year, after hunts, during the solstices, important events, when a prophesized child is born for example. But all that is asked is survival.” Kassandora took a deep breath.

That sealed it. The fact she could see how it began was even worse. A man walks into the jungle, trips, dies, some animal gets him, how it started did not matter. What mattered is he did not return; The Jungle took him. And another. And another. Give it some time for folk-tales to spread and then when someone enters, he does not trip, nor does an animal get him, but this does, the Jungle takes him. People avoid it, they beg for survival, they only fuel the dread.

And now?

“I will need time.”  Kassandora said. The Arikans looked in shock to each other.

“You will need time?” Kimani asked.

“The question of disappearing villages is easily solved, move them away.”

Kimani narrowed his dark brows. “And if they don’t want to?”

“What do you do when an ill does not want to take medicine?”

“We make him.” Kimani said, then seemed to realise what he said and nodded. “I see.” Kassandora stood up, being always listened to those taller than them. And they needed hope that the Jungle could be stopped.

“You win battles against the Jungle every year. Each beast slain, each scar over your bodies marks another victorious skirmish and yet how is your war going?” She did not give them time to answer. “You are losing! Every mile of land given is a mile conquered from you!”

She made her tone hard. There was no question about it. In a war against delusions, certainty triumphed. “I am Kassandora, Goddess of War. I swear upon my name and title, you will win this war with me.”