“It’s them! It’s them! It’s them!” People shouted out at a shooting range in the far reaches of Karaina B, far away from civilization. “Look, the beastmen have returned!”

  Fer leaned in close to Neneria. “e on least put the horse away.”

  Ilwin, Iliyal and Arascus sat alone in the war-room as the you among finished expining. Iliyal and Arascus sat in silence listening to every word of the tale. From the disaster with running into Leona at Pepayel Regional Airport, to the capture, to the interrogations, to meeting Kassandora. And then the information Kassandora had told him.

  Iliyal poured himself anss of whiskey and passed oo Ilwin. This was the first time Ilwin had seen his grandfather drunk, all smiles and with rosy cheeks. It somehow didn’t sit right with him, that hard face, the cold eyes, the military garb. It simply did not fit. Arascus had allowed it though, he had poured the first gss for Iliyal.

  “Therekked here.” Ilwin said. “I brought the men because they saw the White Pantheon, I thought it was right to do.”

  “Right indeed!” Iliyal raised his gss. “Rightly shteous in fact!” Arascus rolled his eyes and leaned ba that massive throne of a chair.

  “It was a breach of protocol, but a sensible one.” Arascus said and expined. “Given the exceptional performand initiative, the information acquired. If your family we’re not nobles, you would have been titled today.”

  “Thank you Sir.” Ilwin said, coing to his cheeks. To be praised like that?

  “You’re owed a medal.” Arascus said. “And a promise akin to Daganhoff’s. Post-war, any pace or castle, you may have it along with the old Tremali holdings.”

  “You hear that!” Iliyal cheered and downed yet anss. “Praise you get used to, rewards though? Eh?” The a elf burst out in ughter and put his hands oable. He slurred his words, his eyes were cloudy, his cheeks red, but as he stood up, he embodied all that a general should be. “So we have an opening now. We have found Leona.”

  “We have indeed.” Arascus said.

  “I hope the pnes from the other airports are what they were hoped to be.” Ilwin said. Now that he had given his story, he wao hear about what had been happening ba the headquarters. He could not ask Arascus of course, and his grandfather wasn’t in any state to talk today either. Ilwin did not mind that though, he had expected Iliyal to give him a salute. Maybe a hug and two or three words.

  He had seen the man cry. Arascus tapped his fingers, gave Iliyal another look and thought about something. Ilwin waited in silehe three of them barely took up a tenth of the table together but with Iliyal giggling away between every breath, the war-room had more life in it than during a meeting. “Before that Ilwin, I have something to offer.” He took another breath.

  “Yes Sir.” Iliyal barely stopped himself from giving an instinctual salute.

  “A promotion. Iliyal will train you to serve as his rept.” Arascus began slowly. “If what Kassandora said about Leona was true, then…” He paused as Ilwin’s eyes got as wide as saucers. A rept for his grandfather? “Leona will indeed die, that is assured, but at what cost?” Ilwin blinked.

  “I do not uand.”

  “Killing Leona is a battle, we’re fighting a war. You win every battle and still lose the war. Her death, we both predict will be a pyrrhic victory. The ce for it to be bloodless on our side…” He took a sigh. “It practically does .”

  “I see.”

  “You do.” Arascus said and looked to Iliyal, he took a breath and finally dropped the words. “Yrandfather will lead the ground team.” Ilwin’s face paled as Iliyal sobered up immediately. Gone was the colour in his cheeks, those eyes refocused themselves as if the man was a wolf hunting for prey. Ilwin leaned ba his seat and nodded.

  “I am the best didate to lead an assassination of Leona.” Even the slurring was gone from Iliyal’s words. “I have faced the White Pantheon before, it is only right that I lead the ground team.”

  “Ah.” Ilwin said the word without emotioried to think of some ter-argument. He himself had failed aion against the Goddess already. His grandfather had survived the Great War.

  “Now that Arascus has returned, my role as leader is no longer needed. We have no armies either, a General without an army?” Iliyal merely shrugged. “It is what it is. The simple situation is that Leona must die, and for Leona to die, it is best if I do it.”

  “But you’re a mortal.” Why did Arasot do it? Ilwin gave a si the God, he was massive in stature but now he sat like a defeated man.

  “I have killed a God already.” Iliyal raised his gss smoothly, as if it was his first drink and not his sed bottle. “When I meet my aors, they will already be jealous with envy. Two?” He smirked at Ilwin. “I may be the greatest Tremali a hundred geions bad a hundred forwards.”

  “And Fer?” Ilwin barked. His eyes bulged as he apologetically looked to Arascus. That sort of tone would be uable to a sergeant, much less the God of Pride.

  “We have extensively discussed already.” Arascus expined slowly, he seemed to take no notice of the anger in Ilwin’s voice. “Fer…” He took a deep breath. “I adopted her third. Goddess of Beasthood, she is loud, brash, she rarely thinks before doing anything, proo emotion, filled with rage, she enters a bloodlust wheastes blood.” Ilwin blinked. Was the man talking about an enemy or his own daughter? “She takes initiative by herself, rarely sticks to pns, she believes in luck far too much for her own good and will frequently py down her own strength and owe success to ce.”

  “I see.” Ilwin said. Arascus shook his head.

  “You don’t. Fer is an angry dog, fiercely loyal, but Leona will most likely not be alone. If by some miracle it is just her, then I would send a team filled with nothing but rookies to kill her. Alsaria will be there most likely, we did expect back-up from Maisara and Fortia and pnned for it.”

  “Six teams in separate locations to stall, bait and pull away. It would be a one-way trip for all of them.” Iliyal said grimly. “A seventh ah would move in to deal the killing blow, failure would be assured from the curse of Leona’s Luck. Team nine would serve as bait to finally exhaust her, we expect most guns to jam ao keel over from heart attacks and the like but Leona ot hahat mubat in such a short about of time. Team ten, mine, would move in for the kill. I would do it personally.”

  “Why must you do it?”

  “Because there are only two souls in this entire base I would trust to successfully kill her. I am one of them.” Iliyal said, he looked to the God in that pause. “It would not be a shot through the chest. She has to be killed, not merely shot or stabbed. She has to be taken so far past the edge of living that even Kavaa would look at the body and shake her head. She has to be annihited.”

  “And how are you going to do that?”

  “Shoot her, then douse the body in gasoline and ig. Team ten then has to stall the other Divines for up to one minute, until there is nothing but ashes and bones left.” Iliyal looked to Ilwin. “Do you even know how to stall Maisara? Much less Alsaria?” Ilwin fell bato his seat.

  “Fer would grow enraged and would not be able to divide her herd properly.” Arascus said. “When the beastmen would start dying, her force would all a bloodlust. It would be a sughter, maybe they could kill Alsaria or the other Divines but they would fet apart Leona. It takes about thirty minutes or so for them to calm down, Essa, Zerus and Sceo are all fast enough to intercept them.”

  “And there is no other way?” Ilwin asked.

  “If we had other Divines, different daughters avaible. I would trust them to finish the job. If I had my magic, it could be done. But we py with the hand we’re dealt. Fer, simply said, is a didate so unreliable I would trust mortals rather her.” Ilwin poured himself a gss of whiskey.

  “So we have two months?” He asked.

  “Two months for you to learn every important teag Iliyal give you.”

  “And then?” Ilwin asked.

  “And then you assume Iliyal’s role.”

  “So there’s no ce he won’t return?” Ilwi like as if he was banging his head against a brick wall. There had to be some other way. Something else… There… This simply could not be it. His grandfather had survived so long, Iliyal was sure the man would outlive him too. He was as eternal as the Gods at this point. There was no one else like him…

  “We’ve not pnned for it.” Arascus admitted.

  “Tell Kassandora to pour o for me.” Iliyal said.

  “That’s it then?” Ilwin asked.

  “I’ll pgue you for two more months.” Iliyal answered. “But yes.”

  “I…” Ilwi his own eyes grow wet, he dowhe gss and poured another one. Drank that, then poured another. Arascus watched him with careful eyes but said nothing. There was nothing the God could say anyway, Ilwin did not want to hear any of it. “I mean…” For the first time in his life, he felt what it was like to manage a war. His grandfather had always sequestered him away from retionships, it was ohing to fraterh the men after a successful mission, it was ao have friends. Ilwin finally uood it.

  “The first time is the worst, you never get used to it, but the first time is the worst.” Iliyal said as he took the bottle out of Ilwin’s grasp. “But being sad over a man still walking is no excuse to start drinking.”

  “I’m not…” Ilwin colpsed in tears oable. He would rather he go alone. He would rather slit his own wrists than… than this. He had never known his father, the man died before Ilwin had even began walking, Iliyal had raised him alone. “So what then?” Was there anything that helped with this pain?

  “Get duties.” Iliyal said. “Duties push thoughts away and keep you thinking about the living and not the dead. You’ll be seeing ghosts if you let your mind wander.” Ilwin burst out into pained ughter as he stared at the girl in the er behind the two others around the table. Short, pale, in a dress, with silver hair and blue eyes, almost dull. She stared at Arascus, at Iliyal and at Ilwin.

  “Like that one?” He cried through tears. He had gone mad already! This is what he was! His grandfather had guided him for over two hundred years, the man had mahe remnants of Arascus’ forces fht hundred before that! And here he was! A plete wreck! Who was he to repce Iliyal Tremali? The Great General, blessed by Kassandora himself! What aplishments did Ilwin have? A few operations? Where success had all but been guaranteed by his grandfather’s pnning?

  Arascus and Iliyal looked at Ilwin pointing past them, then at themselves before they exhaled. Iliyal kept his gaze on Ilwin as Arascus poured himself a gss of whiskey. He eventually turned around to see what the elf ointing at.

  Arascus stood up. The bottle fell on the cold panelled floor. The whiskey spshed over Arascus. He took a step forwards. The ghost moved. It bowed its head and Arascus spoke: “Mint?”