The Greatest Sin

Kassandora studied the images of the battle Wiktor had sent her. Digital technology was truly a blessing, in the past, she would learn about battles a month after they were done. Now, she could see exactly what was going on as it was happening.

Fortia’s army had come in expecting rifle-fire. Tight ranks like that with the heavy tower-shields were used in the past to block musket volleys. Kassandora wanted one of those shields for testing. They hadn’t expected the landmines. Good, now they’d take it slower. She crossed out one day on her calendar: Seven days left until Sandfire began.

 

 “Police have taken over all evacuation measures. Everyone is at the frontlines now. Two teams of sorcerers are starting to lay hedgehogs under the roads and in buildings.” Pawel recounted what he just heard on the radio and then brought out a map of the city. Some of the structures and roads were shaded in red. “This is the regions they’re doing.” He took a breath. “And Fortia sent an ambassador to us.” Pawel reported as he re-entered the room that had made up the observation outpost. Damian was stood there, in his green shorts and a t-shirt to match. His halberd lay propped up against the way, next to the weaponry of the other three men in the room.

At first, Sokolowski had silently questioned the fact Kassandora had not sent them with rifles. He understood the reasoning of safeguarding the design, but that didn’t mean he had to like it. Now, he had just watched that fight between Anassa’s sorcerers and Fortia. This viewpoint had given him an excellent sight of the action, and it had quelled whatever ideas he had about shooting Fortia in some ambush.

If those fifty sorcerers had descended upon his forces, then his forces would have been wiped out no matter how well armed they were. And those fifty sorcerers didn’t even lay a scratch on Fortia’s armour. Sokolowski turned to Pawel. “She did?” Honestly, it was shocking. Why would she contact him? What was she wanting? Peace?

“What did she say?”

“She sent this for you.” Pawel pulled out a letter from his pocket. It had an uncracked seal on it of gold wax, a dove carrying a spear stamped across it. Damian read the letter immediately: Dear General Sokolowski. I know not what Kassandora’s tactics has taught you but I will provide you a lesson from myself. At 15:00 today, stretcher-bearers will enter the frontlines, I declare a truce until tomorrow’s dawn. These men will pick up our dead and leave. This is currently a clean and honourable war, I do not plan to raze your city, or this nation, nor will I harm the civilian population. Eventually, you will be sentenced but your actions now will decide whether the price you pay will be temporary or permanent.

If you open fire upon them, or if the sorcerers make a move, then I will consider you a threat akin to Kassandora. The other White Pantheon Divines are not far off, I am sure you aware of their positions. This will no longer be a clean war. The dead demand their respect. Damian had to re-read it twice to actually believe it. Sometimes, fortune did smile upon him. “What does it say?” Wiktor asked, he took a picture of the envelope with its broken seal on the floor using that bulky camera of his.

“She wants a truce.” Damian put the letter down on the table and the men got to reading it immediately. Wiktor took a picture of that too.

“Are we taking it?” Pawel asked.

Damian stared at that hill. Teams of Guardians in their golden glinting armour were stood there, watching the city. Frankly, Sokolowski could not believe his luck. He even chuckled to himself, Kassandora’s warplan Sandfire only needed time.

What better way to get time than when people gave it away for free! “Of course we’re taking it! Radio the sorcerers, tell them not to even think about raising a finger against them.”

 

Day One: Today, there was a big fight outside the city! I was told to stay away from the windows but I still snuck with Azizi to watch. There was lots of explosions and people flying the air. Then lots of fire. They made this big red plate that shattered. It was very loud!...

…I like writing. So I’ll write what is going in my city everyday from now on! One day, I might even sell this diary, papa said that people buy diaries and to keep writing. He likes it when I write and he’s very proud of me for writing so much, although he can’t even read! Then I’ll buy a house! :) And I’ll get a cat too! I like cats! I’ve been flo following Fer on YapYap, she sometimes writes about how to por properly raise animals! I’ll raise the best cat ever!

- Excerpts from The Diary of Tisha Msuya

 

Lyca cut down ten more guardians as they filed onto the sand. It was a different tactic today. Mages in front, men armed with bows behind. Fortia herself was leading from the front but they could adapt just as well as she did. Well… Sokolowski could at least. He had watched the first battle and sent a report of tactics to be used for when Fortia appeared. Fleur’s team was currently the one closest to the Goddess, and they were hidden behind the buildings.

Every few seconds, a chunk of building, scraps of someone’s car, a hail of glass or whatever other makeshift projectile could be salvaged from the city, was sent in a high arc from Fleur’s team and towards the frontline. Most of them missed, the ones that didn’t were blocked by magical shields.

But they forced Fortia to hold at the front lines, that was the important part. The Goddess was too powerful to engage, so they simply would not. Instead, Eliza’s team had taken the far west, Edmonton’s the far east. Lyca and Fleur were assigned to the middle sections of the city today, with a good mile of distance in between them.

There were no more pushes into the open, none of that first-day action. Lyca snapped his fingers. The wall of the closest building collapsed and he disappeared into it, a storm of arrows quickly followed him but they were easy enough to dodge. Even the fresh-meat could avoid them. Only small attacks were to be done, to disrupt mages from pushing further onto the minefield and inflict safe casualties on the Guardians. Then they were to pull back and hold for another opening.

A howling wind swept through Lyca’s team and the ground split. A tower block started to collapse as the ground ruptured and swayed like waves on a coastline. Lyca stared at the building for a moment for a moment. It was an ugly tower of concrete painted yellow, flat topped with a mist of glass around it now that the windows had all simultaneously erupted. Why was it going forwards? He would have sent it to domino into another building and not into the minefield…

Oh.

Lyca raised his hands and barked an order to his men. “DESTROY THAT TOWER!” A slash of sorcery stabbed into in the building. The men realised quickly enough what they were targeting, and they were taught by Anassa not to ask questions. Eleven more beams slammed into that as it slowly leaned. Then again, and again. Stone cracked and exploded, glass shattered into mist, the abandoned furniture inside set alight from the heat. The foundations gave way and the building toppled downwards instead of forwards.

They would not be building any bridges over his minefield today.

 

Day Two: Today, there was big battle outside! I saw it with Azizi and Papa, we were watching through the window. On the other side of the city, the BIG towers were falling over. Papa was scared, he tried to hide it, but I knew he was scared. He didn’t say anything and he usually talks a lot! Mama and Papa had a talk about leaving. Mama doesn’t want to leave, they were shouting at each other all day. Papa says they should. I know there’s more people here who have not gone either and the police came around today. They were all very grumpy that we were still here.

They shouted at Papa too. I overheard them, someone said that they do not have enough trucks for everything here and that it is only one suitcase per person. I am a good girl and Papa said to be prepared for everything, so I already have my bag packed. Toothbrush, teddy, clothes. Is there anything I forgot? I don’t think so. I am not scared though. We have lots of soldiers on the street. They are checking buildings for people and making sure that the water still flows.

- Excerpts from The Diary of Tisha Msuya

 

Damian lit up a cigarette as he stared outside. It was day three of Fortia’s assaults. Day three was much the same as the days one and two. Fortia’s army appeared in the morning. Mages were sent out to clear the minefield, Fortia’s Guardians were sent in to support them with heavy shields. The Goddess must have been expecting to face gunfire, it was the only thing that made sense.

But there were no guns, there were sorcerers instead. The second day. Eliza’s team had lost a man and Edmonton’s lost another. They had grumbled and complained to Damian over that. What was he supposed to do? How many men had died underneath him? When the Twin Hearts still existed as a Divine Order under Kavaa then every expedition into the Jungle had a casualty rate of one-in-five. He took a long drag and shook his head. Youth was a blessing, but there was a blessing that the young shouldn’t be made into leaders. Passion was a beautiful thing, but for every part of it that was beautiful was a part that was dangerous and self-destructive.

Although who was he to talk? His own soldiers were still merely camping a street deep into the city. They were the ones laying hedgehogs now. In buildings mainly. Against magicians, soldiers would need the advantage of surprise and ambush. Against Fortia herself… Damian was merely glad that the woman could not fly or move about too quickly. She hadn’t taken anything less than a scratch. So they sat, and so the sorcerers fought, the only support Damian could give them was the Binturong artillery, and even that not so much anymore.

Two days, maybe eighty rounds apiece, and one of the vehicles was already experiencing failure. Something the engineers grumbled about, but apparently it could be fixed with what meagre equipment they had here. Kassandora had only told them that the Binturongs were to be destroyed and she wasn’t going to send spare parts.

Fortia’s army came in differently this time. In small teams. A half-dozen mages each, supported by men with lighter shields. They moved quickly down the hill, approaching the landmines and deflecting or blocking the sorcerer’s attacks as they went. “Give the signal to open fire with the Binturongs.” Damian told Pawel, the man gave an aye-aye of affirmation and disappeared into the other room to radio the commands.

The Binturongs hit, only three explosions this time. Fortia was adapting to this as well. Instead of trying to block the shells, the fires were contained by shields and then dropped onto the ground by the defending mages. The sorcerers kept up their assault. Two of Fortia’s teams were overwhelmed in organized volleys, but that only put a dent into the offensive.

“Do we have high-explosive shells?” Damian asked as he watched holes open up in the ground. The burning napalm was simply swallowed up by the sand. The tar-like black smoke of it disappeared. Whether it burned underground or was put out… Damian imagined neither he nor Fortia cared much. She had found a way to counter it.

“The sappers are using them.” Damian sighed.

“Using how?”

“Sets of four shells bundled together.”

“Replace one with a napalm shell then, have the HE be ready for tomorrow.” Another team was overwhelmed in the distance. Damian had told the sorcerers to spread out instead of conglomerating like at the start. It saved their lives and it one flank from clearing the minefield too quickly. Another team got overwhelmed on the other side. One of the sorcerers had conjured a gleaming red blade from the sky and brought it smashing down upon a team getting close the field. It pierced through the barrier, and then a dozen red beams erupted from various windows inside buildings to cut the attackers inside down.

And a hedgehog exploded. Not from being stepped on. Fires burst out over the desert sands and raced down towards the city. They stopped just before reaching the buildings, but the goal was obvious. They were going to cook the mines to force them to explode. Sokolowski took his binoculars and inspected those teams, then he looked up at Fortia on the hill. She was staring down from her hill with a smile as her forces kept working. Two more of her teams got overwhelmed. Then another. A fourth and a fifth. It was all the sorcerer’s work, the Binturongs were ineffective entirely, burning napalm was buried as soon as it set alight. And the four Binturongs didn’t even matter at the end of the day, Fortia could afford these smaller losses, ten teams were less than a hundred and fifty people. The sorcerer that had been sent to track said she came in with more than a hundred thousand behind her.

One magician dragged up the sand around him and conglomerated it into a ball of stone. He sent it forwards. It got hurled towards a building, a wave of sorcery burst through glass and shattered brick to meet that stone in mid-air. The crimson magic disappeared upon impact, the stone exploded into a hundred pieces.

One. Two. Three. Damian lost count to the amount of hedgehogs that exploded in that moment. That team was cut down promptly by a counterattack. But he saw it immediately, and if he saw, then Fortia would see it too. He looked over to Fortia through his binoculars. The Goddess of Peace, in her gleaming armour, was staring at that location. She turned and talked to a magician next to her.

Another stone was created from sand, and then launched in an arc at the ground. The sorcerers ignored it. It obviously wasn’t going to hit the city and they had greater things to worry about. It impacted into the middle of the minefield, rolled a short distance and then hit a hedgehog. It went up in a great explosion of sand. Damian turned back to Fortia. The blue monocoloured flag was already up, he had figured that out as her retreat order.

The teams slowly started pulling away. A few sorcerers shot off angry blasts against the attackers, but they largely stopped as soon as they noticed the retreat. The stretcher bearers started to come down immediately. Fortia, Damian had to give it to her, was honourable. She would watch the retreat, watch her men recover her wounded and lost, and she wouldn’t attempt to push until tomorrow.

But tomorrow, Damian already knew what would happen. She would be launching stones onto the field from a distance. With the minefield cleared, her army would be able to spill into the city. With her army there, she would enter. If she entered, there was no chance they would be able to even slow her down, much less stop her entirely.

HE shells would not do. He started to think of a way to stall her as his sappers set Melukal to blow.

 

Day Three: Today, there was another battle. There were less people outside and they came in small groups. There were some explosions too, and fire. Papa has rang the neighbour and we have a car now! I think we’re only borrowing it though. Maybe he is a thief? I do not think so though. Papa always talks about how you should not steal. I think we are ready to go. Mama still does not want to. She says that everyone she knows was born here and she does not think we will ever return.

Of course we will return though! We have so many people on our side. Ka… Ka… I do not know how to spell her name, but everyone knows her. I just call her Red-Hair because she has really pretty red hair and is on our side. She is supposed to be the best ever!

- Excerpts from The Diary of Tisha Msuya

 

Eliza stared at Lyca, Edmonton and Fleur as they all jumped up from the couch in shock. “He wants us to play fight?” Fleur barked angrily. What was difficult to understand about that?

“Yes!” Eliza angrily slammed his fists against her hips as she stared at the three. “We go high up into the air and hold a training session! That’s what it is.”

“And why?” Edmonton asked. Only Lyca listened to her without questioning the words out loud, but it was obvious that he was just as doubtful as they were.

“Because, he said.” Eliza didn’t bother to keep the lecturer out of her tone. Sometimes, she thought they were all far smarter than her and yet sometimes they had situations like this, were a solution was right in front of their noses and they simply went blind, deaf, smell-less and stupid. “If she sees us fighting, she won’t want to attack today. If we look like we’re falling apart, she’ll just let us fall apart because, he predicts that she will think, if she attacks when we mutiny that will rally us.”

“But we’re not mutinying though.” Fleur said. Eliza exhaled a sigh. How was Fleur such an excellent student, and yet she could not grasp this? It was a marvellous plan. She looked over to Lyca. That questioning look had dropped from his eyes and he was nodding along.

“It may work if we put on a good show.” Edmonton said slowly as he thought about the idea.

“I have two men I don’t like.” Lyca said as he stood up. “We’ll make it a good show.”

 

Day Four: Today there was a battle again but it was up in the air! The sorcerers were fighting amongst themselves! It lasted a really long time! They knocked down some buildings and then finally one of the big sorcerers finally killed two others! I just couldn’t believe it!

- Excerpts from The Diary of Tisha Msuya

 

Damian stared down at Fortia’s letter. It had come not by ambassador, but by giant rock hurled into the city last night’s evening. Very smart General. I honestly thought you were having a mutiny on your hands. Give Kassandora my compliments, she has indeed taught you well. Damian sighed and put the note into his pocket. He would in fact show it to Kassandora when he returned to report on this situation. “Pawel! Send word to the sorcerers, no show today! Tell them to prepare against rocks!”

“Understood boss!”

 

Day Five: Today was scary! I was watching with Azizi and Papa and Mama through the window. There was lots of rocks and explosions! I don’t know what they were doing, but we had our sorcerer friends try to protect us! They would shoot with their red magic at the rocks and then explode them in the air, but there just so many! Azizi thought it was raining rocks at one point. Soldiers came round today too. They said we should leave but they were very nice, one of them gave me a chocolate! :)

Then Papa and Mama had an argument again. Papa said he is going to take us, no matter what she says. Mama still wants to stay, she said that as long as we do not try to stop Fortia, we will be fine. I do not know who was right or not, I just do not want them to shout at each again.

- Excerpts from The Diary of Tisha Msuya

 

“Sokolowski has told his troops to ready for battle. Fortia is moving in too.” Fleur said. The fact the General preferred meeting with Fleur and Eliza annoyed Lyca and Edmonton, but last time Lyca had gone to see him, they had an argument in which Lyca threatened to kill everyone under command. Edmonton was even worse apparently, the one meeting Ed had gone to, Sokolowski had sent a letter an official letter of complaint. Lyca didn’t get that. Edmonton had only said he tried to scare the man.

“This is the final day, isn’t it?” Ed asked.

“It is.” Fleur said. “He told me already, they’re pulling out soon, and we’re going with them.”

“Who’s Binturong duty?” Edmonton asked. They all looked at each other, quirking smiles at the farce of it.

“Do those pieces of shit still work?” Lyca laughed out loud. They all did. The Binturongs were amazing for all of two days. Then from what Lyca had heard, there were oil leaks, engine malfunctions, one vehicle had somehow managed to lose its track during a turn. Another had pneumatic problems and wouldn’t lift the barrel. “I’ll do it.”

Eliza leaned in sweetly and cooed. “But I wanted to.”

“We both can then. First come first serve.” Lyca leaned into her shoulder.

“Then I’ll retreat with my team south west and Fleur do south east, split up so they can’t give chase.”

 

Day Six: Today was even scarier! Everything was chaos. Papa left for most of the day and came back with an injured arm. He said it was just something called… I do not how to spell the word. Shrapnel <- Mama helped me spell it. Shrapnel.

There were explosions in the streets. I saw people fight together with swords. Magicians and sorcerers were all flying in the air shooting at each other. And I saw Fortia too! She was huge! I think our Red-hair is better than her though, but she was really big! I saw people run from her, she did not even chase them. Just walked from place to place. I understand though, I would be scared of her too. She was SOOOO big! Bigger than Papa, I am sure of it.

- Excerpts from The Diary of Tisha Msuya

 

From Binturongs to explosives. What was worse? Filip, rather frankly, did not know. The Binturongs had fresh air, but they were an endless task. You fixed them and then they broke down immediately. These explosives were a dirty job, he had to wear heavy clothes and leaking waterproof boots in the sewers, with only a flashlight crudely strapped to his helmet for light, but at least these had an end.

And that end came with this set of artillery shells. He plastered the explosive material around the shells that were sellotaped together. Honestly, it didn’t even look like anything dangerous, a block of this could be mistaken for a block of some old cheese. But he handled it with care, careful not to spark a light or anything like that. The torch on his head did little to provide light down in these sewers, but it was finally over. With this last addition.

He pulled out an old flip-phone. An abomination of a flip-phone actually, with its back exposed and two wires hanging loose. One end got stuck into the putty, then the other. It was done. He had been careful when he started, putting it in slowly and steadily but somewhere around the two-thousand mark, he simply wanted the job over with. Now, he handled the compound with about as much care as he would handle the cheese it was so reminiscent of.

He put a black trash bag over the device and started walking away. From above, the sound of heavy vehicles riding away was coming through the ground. The fighting hadn’t reached the south of the city yet. The General had been right in setting the bombs in the north and centre first.

Time to report back to Sokolowski. The sewers were ready. Sandfire could be initiated whenever.

 

Day Seven: Everyone is leaving. A soldier told mama that today is the last day and to pack up. Mama has packed us up FINALLY. I really don’t know what to write right now. Mama has said not to be scared but I think she is crying in the over room. We’re going to Auntie’s. She lives near the seaside, it’s a long journey. Last time, we went through a plane but this time, I think we’ll go by car.

One of the soldiers came in and took pictures of everything. He took a picture of me too, I showed off my diary to him. He photographed every page! I am going to be famous one day! Hahaha <- That’s me laughing at the thought of it :)

I have my list of things to take! I’ve written it down. I am sure Auntie will be proud of me for how well I write! She always has chocolates at her house. I hope she gives me some.

- The Last Recorded Entry from the Diary of Tisha Msuya.

 

“Sapper teams have finished. I just got the final report.” Pawel shouted from the other room.

“Issue a full retreat to the men.” Damian replied. “Keep it orderly, pull them out squad by squad. Deadline to be out of the city is tomorrow noon. It’s a hard cut off. Anyone who hasn’t reported by then will be added to the casualty lists.”

 

Fortia held out her spear to hold her men from chasing after Kassandora’s soldiers. It wouldn’t be a good look for them if they were recorded by the civilians chasing men down, and they didn’t bring any cavalry here so it’d be difficult to catch up anyway. In the desert sands, horses were only a hindrance anyway, you needed hard ground to field the heavy charges of the past and she had never much liked skirmish tactics.

Not that they weren’t effective. But the Goddess of Peace had always liked to use overwhelming force to win a battle quickly rather than drag battles out for weeks. Melukal was a perfect example of that. Kassandora was playing nice too, she didn’t even blow the train station. No doubt they’d have a public relation issue later when they arrested her, was she actually betting on fighting a clean war and getting a reward for that?

Fortia laughed to herself. Let her think it. Fortia would fight cleanly in return. They’d settle this like Divines and peace would return to Arda. Frankly, the woman should be pulled out once a century to lead a little uprising like this. Peace became dull when you didn’t have to fight for it. Kassandora was putting up a good fight though! Those sorcerers were effective for what they were, the artillery had been dangerous until it broke down. The mines were a devious little invention. But devious little inventions did not stop an army.

Fortia turned back to Melukal with a smile on her face. A week-long siege! That was one for the history books! And with only eighteen hundred losses! It was almost too easy, but the men deserved a rest today anyway.

What a victory!

 

Kassandora had been staring at her phone for past two hours. The call finally came through. ‘2 Sokolowski’ flashed across her phone. Finally. She answered immediately, the man didn’t even get a chance to introduce himself. “Kassandora, status report Sokolowski?”

“We’re ready, they’ve secured Melukal. Sandfire is ready to go, have we got the green light?”

Kassandora leaned and closed her eyes, her chair leaned back and she almost fell over with nothing but pure glee. She tried to imagine Fortia right now. What was the woman thinking? Was she happy? She’d be happy. Kassandora hoped Fortia was fucking ecstatic. She hoped that Fortia was just salivating like a damn dog at her victory right now.  

Because Fortia was skilled at battles and logistics, she thought herself skilled in warfare. Kassandora took a deep breath as she put her boots onto the table, her other arm fell loose as she relaxed. Her cheeks flushed as she stared at the cloth ceiling of her tent. It was time to remind the Goddess of Peace that there was a difference between just a series of battles and a war.