The Greatest Sin

Allasaria fell into the ocean. She had not flown back to Olympiada. What point was there to?

She merely floated above the oceans until her energy drained.

A whale swallowed her.

A week they spent. A full week trekking through the Jungle. Kavaa followed Kassandora and Fer as they cleaned tore through another section of living plants and tearing vines. It was all growing thicker here, the poisons were noxious green clouds that rested in dried out streams. The trees here grew old and thick, their bark gnarled and scarred. They reached high into the sky and made a canopy so thick it blocked all light. Kavaa gripped her sword, freed her legs again, blocked spine that would have penetrated her chest with her shield, jumped to dodge a branch that would have decapitated and stabbed at another one of those poisonous man-eating ones again.

She threw the blood off herself, watched Kassandora scream as the magic flowed through the Goddess of War. She felled a massive tree with a single swing, then swung it in a blur to break the vines that had crawled onto her armour again. And then Fer roared. The Jungle fell silent as Kavaa felt a blur move past her, a tree cracked, fell, another, a third. Another maneater exploded as Fer ploughed through, her fur burned with poison, then stopped burning.

And silence descended again. This would be another few minutes. They came in waves. Kassandora had worked it out first, she said they were getting close to whatever their destination first. “That’s the last one.” Fer said as she stopped. Her ears twisted, her cat’s eyes sent a chill down Kavaa’s spine as they passed over her and she turned.

“How do you know?” Kassandora asked.

“It’s given up.” Fer said. “Like a dog.” She spat on the ground and kicked a nearby tree. The bark exploded as if it had been by a cannonball. “But we should move fast.”

“That’s a given.” Kassandora barely finished speaking before Fer started her jog again. Kavaa had to sprint along with Kassandora to keep up. Why where they even here? Fer had basically done everything herself. Kassandora was had helped every now and then, but Kavaa? She was only here to heal Kassandora whenever the woman took a wound, and most of those wounds came from her having to free Kavaa from another piece of aggressive flora. They crossed a mile in the space of a minute.

Ten miles passed under their feet. It really had cleared up. Kavaa felt her guts wretch. Why wasn’t she taken? With Iniri, this journey would have taken half the time. She looked at Fer and Kassandora again as Of Beasthood slowed to a stop, leaving a trail of dirt behind in the air and then slamming into a tree. Without the help of Arascus’ daughter Goddesses, even if Kavaa had brought every Cleric in the world, they would have not made it half the way. A quarter even. “We’ve caught up.” Fer said and sniffed the air. “It’s very smart.”

“What are you talking about?” Kassandora asked.

“Iniri first.” Kavaa watched Fer lift a finger and she stepped forwards to next to the woman. They were standing on the edge of a cliff, trees finally gave way to reveal the clear cloudless blue sky. The ground suddenly gave way and dropped to form the bowl of a massive crater. There was no great tree, no poisonous swamp, no mark that this was Jungle’s stomach. But it had to be.

“That is what I’m thinking it is, isn’t it” Fer asked. In the very settle, the trees finally gave way. The ground became clean white ivory. A field of bones that grew until they made a small hill.

“Neneria would have a field day.” Kassandora said. “Can you feel it?” Fer merely lifted her arm in front of them. Her thick fur was standing on its roots as if she had been struck by lightning. “We still have eight canteens left.”

Fer quietened down as her ears twisted and moved. “It’s speaking.” Kavaa looked at Kassandora. The Goddess of War shook her head.

“What’s it saying?” Kassandora asked.

“That we’ve beaten it.” She gave the air a sniff and then stopped. “There’s something odd here.”

“I don’t think we’ve beaten it.” Kassandora said as she looked around at the edges of the crater.

“It’s telling me it’s given up.” Fer said again, her ears moved again. “It’s very adamant about it.”

“Very adamant about giving up?” Kassandora asked, her voice bitter.

“It’s saying it will give up Iniri if we leave.” Fer added. Kassandora turned to Kavaa and then raised her arms.

“That’s almost too easy.” Kassandora said.

“Look!” Fer shouted. In the very of the huge crater, out from that mountain of bones, a flower was growing. A huge one, with giant pink petals making up a flower. There was someone in the middle. Kavaa’s vision was just too weak to make it out, but there was obviously a person there. It rose and rose into the air, until it stood like a small, thin skyscraper in that crater.

“Can you see?” Kassandora asked Fer.

“It’s Iniri.”

“Are you sure?” Kavaa asked. “Is she hurt?”

“I am.” Fer said. “And she’s not, her feet are dirty though.”

“Can you grab her?” Kassandora asked.

“Too far to jump.” Fer said. “And she’s being held.”

“How?”

“There’s vines wrapped around her limbs, one around her stomach too.” Fer said. She put her arms on her head and shrugged. Kavaa stood there, hand wrapped around her blade. Iniri was here! She was so close! They could cover that distance in less than a minute! It was practically flat ground. Why didn’t they? She felt Kassandora’s hand on her shoulder.

“Hold.” Kassandora said. Joyeuse appear in her hand again, and she threw it forwards, onto that patch of skulls. It spun in the air, then crashed into the ivory in a cloud of bone-dust. When it finally cleared, all that remained was a deep hole in the ground, as if someone had tread into dirty snow. “See.” Kassandora said. “We can’t land there.”

“Onto the trees then.” Fer said.

“How close do you have to get?” Kassandora asked. “To make the jump I mean.”

“The edge of the bone hill.” Fer replied. “Are we going? It’s really not happy with us.” Kassandora took a step, then stopped.

“Drink some of my blood.” Kassandora raised her arm. Her black armour, now reddened with blood, disappeared. Fer’s ears raised and the woman smiled.

“Are you sure?”

“I am sure.” Kassandora said. “Kavaa, heal me.”

“Why not Helenna’s?” Kavaa asked, took hold of the woman’s arm as Fer licked her lips.

“Mine is stronger.” Kassandora said.

“Helenna is weak.” Fer added immediately. That was no surprise, but Kavaa had seen what sort of effect Helenna’s blood had on Fer. Now Kassandora’s?

“Remember, not too much.” Fer rolled her eyes as she looked down on Kassandora’s hand again. “I’ll pull away.”

“Five mouthfuls.” Fer said.

“Five.” Kassandora agreed. Fer’s teeth sank into the woman’s hand and Kavaa started to apply magic to her. Replenishing blood was easy, it was simply speeding up production. Kassandora sighed, and eventually pulled her arm away. “That was six!” She said.

“You didn’t stop me.” Fer replied. She was already changing. Her fur grew thicker, her eyes turned red. Her fangs expanded to spill out of her mouth, past her lips. Her step became lighter, she turned around and looked at the mountains in the distance. “Do you remember when I talked about tiny little wolves in your body?” Fer said.

“What does that have to do with anything?” Kassandora scowled, but her eyes still followed Fer’s hand.

“Those are moving. And they’re not tiny little wolves.”

“Excuse me?” Kassandora said. Kavaa squinted at the horizon. It was merely a dark line in the distance, Kavaa would have put money on those simply being hills. “Are they coming here?” Kassandora asked as she leaned forwards, her eyes trying to pick out what Fer was looking at.

“We have a day at the speed their moving at.” She moved to jump and Kassandora stopped her. Joyeuse appeared in her hand, straight in front of Fer.

“Break the cliff here.” She said. Fer looked at Kassandora curiously, then at Kavaa.

“You two should be off the ground though.” Fer said. Kassandora’s armour disappeared and the woman crouched down.

“Get on my back.” It took Kavaa a moment to realise Kassandora was talking to her.

“W-what?”

“Get on my back.” Kassandora hands moved in a grabbing motion. Kavaa sheathed her blade and hugged Kassandora from behind. She put her arms around the woman’s neck and brushed the red hair out of her face. The woman smelled of sweat. She felt Kassandora’s hands clasp her from behind. “Are you ready Fer?”

“I am.”

“You’ll have about ten seconds.”

“I need two.” Kavaa felt Kassandora’s hair brush against her as the woman nodded, she felt Kassandora’s legs tighten, felt magic flow from her, and then they were in the air. Kavaa reacted too slowly, by the time she was looking down, Fer was already brushing her fist. The cliff cracked, stones and dust started to roll into the canyon and Fer gave the ground a kick. It slid forwards as the Goddess of Beasthood jumped away to avoid the landslide.

It slid forwards and fell, but Kavaa wasn’t looking at the crash the dirt made. The breaking of trees as it buried them. No. She was looking at that huge piece of ivory bone that Kassandora landed on. Kassandora slid Kavaa off her back and inspected the ground. Joyeuse appeared again, she stabbed it into the ground. Tried to at least.

The blade ricocheted off that ivory. Kassandora looked to Fer. Kavaa wandered if they could speak telepathically with each other, or if they simply knew each other so well that glance was worth a sentence. She wished she had that bond with others. Fer lifted her leg and smashed it against the ground. A small crack formed, a few chips fell off and Fer bounced away, holding her foot. “Owie!” She squealed.

“What is this?” Kavaa asked.

“Bone.” Kassandora replied. “Teeth.” She sighed and looked at the plant again. “It’s a trap.”

“Are you sure?” Kavaa asked.

“If little Kassie says it’s a trap, it’s a trap.” Fer said. Kassandora her blade to the Goddess. “Can you cut that plant at this distance?” Fer moved with the blade as if it was a feather. When Kavaa had tried to lift it, the blade wouldn’t move. When Kassandora moved with it, she made it a blur. Now that Fer held it… She may have been holding nothing. The Goddess of Beasthood twisted, took aim, and sent the blade directly at the stem of that huge plant holding Iniri.

The plant moved. The plant moved very quickly. Kassandora’s sword disappeared from the air and reappeared in her hand. “Now you’ve done it Kassie.” Fer said.

“What have I done?”

“It called us very smart. And to get out of here. And that we’re never getting her back.” Kassandora shook her head.

“Tell it shouldn’t talk so much. I only realised because it said it was going to give her up.” Fer smiled.

“It heard you, and it doesn’t like you.”

“Well I don’t like it.” Kassandora kicked the tooth. She stopped for a moment. Kavaa wandered what was going on in that head of hers. “Right Fer. We’re going in.” The plant moved immediately. The petals closed around Iniri and it quickly retreated into that mountain of bones. Kassandora started chuckling as Kavaa looked on in dread. What was there to laugh about? Kavaa had disappeared! What was funny? There was nothing funny!

The bones started to fall once the pink flower bud retreated entirely, as if they had laid on a floor which suddenly disappeared. Kassandora eventually controlled her laughter, although that mostly at Kavaa’s behest. “This is why I live Kavaa.” Her armour reappeared. She grabbed of Kavaa in one arm, of Fer in the other. “Impossible odds like this. This is War in its truest form.” Her dark helmet appeared over her face to cover it. “Under no rational circumstances, should we follow after Iniri. We should retreat, we should come back with another sister later on. That’s the rational thing to do.”

“Iniri may be gone by then.” Kavaa said. She grabbed onto Kassandora, realising what was going to happen.

“But if we were rational, we wouldn’t be here. If we could be stopped, it wouldn’t need to trap us.” Kassandora gripped Fer’s arm harder. “If this Jungle had balls, it would come to face us ourselves. And not send plants to slow us down.”

“It didn’t like that Kassie.” Fer said.

“If we were insignificant, it wouldn’t care. It is facing the Greatest Strategist in all Arda! It has already lost!” Kassandora took a step back as she shouted. Kavaa felt chills go down her spine, her back stiffen, but there was something about the crazed expression on Kassandora that was almost… soothing. This was the Kassandora of the Great War, and this Kassandora was on her side. “Fer, take us into that hole.”

Kavaa felt the wind rip past her as Fer pulled on Kassandora, and Kassandora pulled on Kavaa. She looked down to see the basin of that crater below them. She saw the giant tooth, another crack on it from Fer’s jump. She saw the hole approach. An endless, dark abyss.

Kavaa, Kassandora and Fer shot into that abyss like a tiny meteorite.