The Greatest Sin

Allasaria woke up in the stomach of that whale.

How long had she been in here?

Kassandora back to her own camp, her thumb dancing along her fingertips as she took heavy breathes to calm herself down. Kavaa’s camp was now in open celebration, the Clerics had brought drums and guitars out and song had descended over the red dirt. Kassandora took a breath. “Sokolowski, the men are free for today, it’s an order, enjoy yourselves with the Clerics.”

“Of course General!” The man said happily. After every battle, men would need some time to celebrate. They had not ventured in the Jungle, but she would let them bathe in her victory. That way, at least the fifty days weren’t wasted time. At least she could cope with the fact it built camaraderie and morale.

“Bring your stack of notes to my tent.” The two men followed her, entered her abode and Kassandora absently gestured. She held her breath as the men put the papers down and left. The moment the curtains shut, her armour disappeared, Kassandora fell to her knees, and smashed her fist into the dirt as she grit her teeth. Her skin cracked and she hit again. And again. Until her arms were tired. WHY? What sort of useless bureaucrats were they? She could bring them plans! She could organise the factories herself! She would do it fucking all! Just as it was in the past were she spent every night organising logistics singlehandedly, so she would do it now! And now? And now they told her to wait! What was that about? It was a simple waste of time! Elassa was making moves. Allasaria was making moves. The White Pantheon was slowly turning and twisting, it’s machinations no doubt working in the shadows and KIAB did what? Told her they didn’t have authority for this? What sort of joke was that? If they didn’t have authority, then they should go and pester someone until authority was given.

Eventually Kassandora stopped beating the ground. Her knuckles were dirty, blood had been thrown about onto the tent walls, and Kassandora got up and sat on her bed. The Arikans must have joined in on the partying too now, there was a fast and rhythmic singing in a language Kassandora did not know. Kassandora sat alone on her small bed, in that tent, and pulled her knees up to chin as she thought of what to do.

This Napalm? How hard would production be? If Kirinyaa would not produce for her... She didn’t even finish the thought. Kavaa had a large treasury, she was an ex-member of the White Pantheon after all, but her money wasn’t unlimited. The quantity required would require the backing of a national government, bankrupting Kavaa would only mean that she wouldn’t be able to hold her forces together.

But that would mean she would have to go and lobby the government herself. Kassandora rolled her eyes as she idly played with loose strands of her crimson hair. And she had not seen how this napalm burned yet. Maybe the Jungle would not burn in the first place? Then how? Then magic would be the answer, although that was simply jumping to conclusions. She looked at the burning candle, it had shrunk by a quarter, so she had wasted another hour simply sat here and thinking. Kassandora got up and dressed.

It was the clothes the Arikans had given her, one of the loose shirts and a skirt. Knitted out of the heavy fabric that insulated from the heat. It was tough, the clothes she had worn into the Jungle were ruined by damage, but they fact they had not fallen apart was a mark of good craftsmanship.

Kassandora left her tent and looked around the camp. Most of her soldiers had disappeared, most likely to the celebrations the Clerics were holding. A few men were still idling about, smoking and sharing a drink, sitting about in loose shirts unbuttoned and sharing tales from before they were Clerics. They tried to stand up and salute Kassandora but she simply waved them down. Mortals were like this, mortals needed their recuperation. “Di-Divine General Goddess!” One said, half-slurring.

“Enjoying yourselves?” Kassandora asked.

“Ye-Yes!” The man responded. His head was shaved bald, all of theirs were. Kassandora always had her soldiers shave, long hair could be grabbed in a brawl.

“Good on you.” Kassandora said lightly and smiled pleasantly. There was no reason to take her anger out on these people. No reason at all. “I have a small job I want help with.”

“O-O-O.” The man hiccupped before getting the sentence out. “Of-course!” He finally managed to get the sentence out. “I-I-I ap-apologize for my sorry state!” He said, his face going red.

“There is nothing to apologize for, I’ve seen far worse. Can you stand?” The group of five men stood up. None were particularly steady, but only one looked as if he was teetering on the edge of collapse. “Do you know where the napalm is?”

“O-Of course!” The man forced his way through the hiccup. It was most likely the alcohol giving them vain courage, but they actually managed to talk to her on the way. “W-We think it is very impressive you rescued Goddess Iniri!”

“Did you worry about me?” Kassandora asked.

“So-somewhat!” One of the other men said. “Es-especially aft-ter the sec-second wee-week.”

“I’m honoured.” Kassandora turned back and shot them a smile and a wink. This would be another story added to their repertoire.

“We-we-we kept uuuppp with tray-training erryday.” One of the men said, like a child looking for praise. Kassandora smiled at them all again.

“I wouldn’t have expected anything less.” She said and they all cheered. It was usually like this, soldiers that had felt her blessing grew addicted. Once man got the taste of War, he rarely had the willpower to let go of the blissful sensation. “So, the napalm?”

“Right here!” The man had to put some effort into raising his arm to the nearby tent. “Bu-bur-buried.” Kassandora entered the tent, there was indeed a tank that had been buried in there. The top was exposed. She reached down and gave it a twist. Some force was needed, but it slowly slid out of the ground. Kassandora strained as she picked it up. If Fer wasn’t off partying, she would have called Fer to carry it. Kassandora set it on the ground and rolled it out. It was a simple barrel with handles on the top. She inspected it, it looked to be sealed fully.

Kassandora rolled it out of the camp and sent the men to get bows. They smoked, so they’d have lighters on them. She rolled the barrel on top of the hill, stood up it and sat on it. It was tall her for her to kick her legs against the air as she waited for her drunken soldiers to come back. They took their time, but this was expected too. Kassandora merely thought of how to manufacture this. Kirinyaa needed to have refineries, the country had some oil it was exporting, so it would be impossible for them not to…

Ausa. Arascus was in Ausa. He could negotiate. She finally smiled. That was an excellent idea! It would further foster relations between the two nations and Ausa had their firewall. Kassandora had read about it, each of Ausa’s twelve coastal cities was surrounded by a massive wall that would burn the land around it, every day, the Jungle would grow vines onto the wall, and twice a day, the front would ignite to burn it away! If she could get her hands on whatever refineries they used… the problem of production would be solved. Her smile did not fade, but her good mood did when she saw Iniri heading to her.

The woman had changed into a light green dress-thing that ended at her knees, she was walking alone, with a bottle of wine in her hands. Kassandora kept herself from rolling her eyes. Iniri was coming with thanks no doubt. Kassandora had practically already forgotten she saved Iniri, it was merely another task to complete. Now, she wanted to get back to work. “What are you doing?” Iniri asked slowly. Her green eyes looked over the barrel Kassandora was sitting on.

“I’m working.” Kassandora said and Iniri nodded.

“Fer said you wouldn’t attend the party.”

“I rarely do.” Kassandora answered promptly. “There’s work to be done.”

“Neneria said you’d say that.” Iniri’s face quirked into a smile. She put her hands on her hips and adopted a low tone. “Don’t annoy Kass. She’ll give you some snarky reply and then say ‘There’s work to be done’.” Then she wagged her finger. “Neneria said that.”

“I assumed.” Kassandora replied looked over at her camp. How hard was it to find a bow?

“You’re amazing.” Iniri said.

“I don’t think so.” Kassandora shook her head. She didn’t like compliments from Divines. Well, she supposed she did, but when they were for her battle tactics, her strategic thinking, her quick orders. She didn’t like compliments to her character, there was nothing to compliment there.

Iniri shook her head, that brown hair gleaming like a rich fertile ground. “No, you are. No one has the energy to so much as think and you’re…” Iniri gestured to the barrel. “I don’t even know what you’re doing.”

“I’m running a test.” Kassandora said.

“Well.” Iniri said. “I wanted to thank you. For saving me. I wouldn’t have made it out without you.”

“Thank Kavaa and Fer. Both of them were more useful than me.” Kassandora said. That was true, Fer did all the heavy lifting and Kavaa did all the healing. If either of them had a little bit more of brain, Kassandora would have not had to go in with them.

“You led them though.”

“I lead a lot of people Iniri. Leading is the easy part, doing is the hard part.”

“You make people believe they can do it though.” Iniri said and Kassandora sighed. Her arms fell and she posture collapsed.

“Iniri. I have nothing to say. Thank you for thanking me. I’m glad you did. But I’m doing something right now.” Iniri raised an eyebrow.

“Are you?”

“I’m waiting for that lot.” Finally the men appeared from the camp, they walked in shaky lines, all holding bows and arrows.

“I’ll wait with you then.”

“Alright.”

“You’re annoyed.” Iniri said.

“I am.” Kassandora said quickly. “Not at you, but I’m just annoyed.” Kassandora sighed, that wasn’t a good answer. Iniri would think it was because of her, then their relationship could take a hit. “I went to KIAB earlier. They told me they don’t have any authority to make decisions.”

“And you’re annoyed because of that?”

“I’m annoyed because that’s not a war I cannot win. They don’t have the authority, so they simply don’t. I can’t give them authority and from looking at them, they’re the types that won’t argue for me.” Iniri smiled as she leaned over.

“I was laughing about them with Helenna. She said they couldn’t be very good if they were sent here to just sit about.” She finally passed the bottle of wine to Kassandora. “This is for you.” Kassandora took the bottle of wine and looked at it. A southern Rancais burgundy. “I like it.” Iniri followed up quickly. “Fer said whiskey would be better for you, but I still wanted you to try something new.” Kassandora put a smile on as she rubbed the bottle, people always liked to see their gifts bring happiness.

“Thank you Iniri.” Kassandora slid off the barrel as the men got close, Iniri would have to made happy. Kassandora quickly added something to make her happy. “We can drink it later together.”

“I was hoping you’d attend Kavaa’s celebration, at least for an hour.” Iniri’s voice fell quite. “Please? Kassie?” Kassandora’s smiled dropped.

“I can count the number of people of people who call me Kassie on two hands. Never call me that again.”

“It’s cute though.” Kassandora sighed, shook her head and passed the bottle to Iniri.

“Hold this.” Iniri took the bottle from Kassandora’s hand and was replaced with Joyeuse swiftly materializing. “Stand back, all of you.” Frankly, she did not know if the barrel would explode or what would happen, but she gave Iniri and the men a good amount of distance. Joyeuse cut a small slit into the top of the barrel and the smell of chemicals immediately hit.

Kassandora tipped it over. It was jelly. That was odd. Kassandora had expected liquid fuel. “Arrows!” The men set off immediately, one tripped over his own feet and planted his face into the dirt. Kassandora took one arrow and dipped the tip into the jelly. It slathered and stuck to the metal. “Bow!” A man passed her bow, it was mortal sized, too small for divines, Kassandora still drew it though. She wasn’t about to have drunk men fire flaming arrows. “Does anyone have a lighter?”

“I-I d-do!” Kassandora looked at the man hold his lighter up proudly. He had a cigarette in his mouth, unlit. Truly exceptional.

“Pass it to Iniri.” If he couldn’t light a cigarette, he wouldn’t be able to light an arrow. “Iniri, light the tip, don’t touch it.” Iniri carefully spark the lighter, it didn’t even have to close, the heat set it off. The tip ignited into a red flame that burned with dirty black smoke and Kassandora loosed the arrow. It hit the closest tree and still kept burning.

Twenty arrows were sent off like that. Not a single one went out mid-flight and only the first five burned out by the time the last had been let loose, they did burn a few leaves, but the wood was untouched. Whoever this Mikhail Alash and his team was, he did a good job. The ancient liquid-fire they had used in the past burned out after a minute. Kassandora hefted the barrel and decided it was still too heavy to throw such a distance. She wasn’t Fer and she didn’t have the strength of a trebuchet. She tipped it over to its side, the jelly slowly oozed out and then Kassandora gave the barrel a kick. It was all downhill anyway, it bounced along the ground, then crashed into a tree. The barrel was dusty with the dry red dirt of this land, but it looked undamaged.

Kassandora hefted Joyeuse again, it was much lighter. “Men, watch this!” She shouted and the drunken band cheered. She sent the greatsword spinning throw the air straight into that barrel. Metal crashed against metal, and the flammable jelly was strewn about the front of the Jungle. The men cheered. Then Kassandora sent another flaming arrow into the liquid. Joyeuse disappeared as a moment later as she recalled her greatsword.

The napalm burst out in a fiery explosion, coated the trees, and burned with a thick black smoke. As if someone had taken a paintbrush of tar and slowly started to paint the landscape in it. They watched the flames for a while. The wood did burn, a tree fell over and after an hour or so, the flames went out, revealing a small black in that great green wall. An incision into armour. Kassandora’s eyes stared at it and she finally relaxed, the tension in her shoulders disappeared and she took the wine from Iniri’s hands.

The cork fell onto the ground and she drank straight from the bottle. It was good, it was indeed good, but that sight was better. The Jungle was a fortress. An impenetrable fortress the Arikans thought would be impossible to siege. And now, that fortress wall had a tiny cut into it. A cannonball had been fired, the wall had repelled it, but a crack had formed on that wall.

Kassandora would launch the cannonballs herself if she needed to. “Are you happy now?” Iniri asked. She felt wind bare against her teeth as her lips smiled. Fire burned in her eyes. This was the first probing attack of the War against the Jungle, and it had gone better than she could have imagined.

“Oh I am.” Iniri grabbed her hand and pulled Kassandora towards Kavaa’s camp.

“I don’t like when you make that face.”