Wissel turned on the news, Everything in Epa was broadcasting a live feed of KTV; Kirinyaa Television.

  Essa tuo EIE. Her face turned pale.

  Arascus sat down with Olephia as she stopped painting and sat on the couch. He put his arm arouo watch the broadcast.

  Abakwa sat in office, the feed on his ptop.

  Iliyal, Ilwin and Sara popped open a bottle.

  Mikhail Ash excitedly saw his creations on television. There was no work being dooday, every engineer was stood or sat on couches or benches or toolboxes as they looked up at the TV he ceiling.

  The entire world seemed to stop.

  Today, it began.

  Kassandora made a few final adjustments to her suit, then spread her arms out. “What do you think?” She asked Helenna and gave the woman a little spin. She was dressed in a long bck overcoat she had made to specifications of Helenna by the Dos firm of HAUPT, it fell to her calves. A white shirt, barely seen, with a bck tie that disappeared uhe coat. Tight leather gloves on her hands, tall leather boots and a leather belt, marked off with a bde peing a skull to show off it beloo the Goddess of War.

  “You look great.” Helenna said, then moved close to readjust the colr on the overcoat. “Like back then.” Kassandora smiled, she felt like it. The coat had bindings on the back to carry Joyeuse, it hadn’t been necessary, but swords always looked good on television. The bde materialized into those bindings and Kassandora stretched as the rest of the Diviered. Fer and Neneria, Kavaa and Iniri. Kassandora had ordered for them too, although they had not arrived yet, her own took two weeks to make. Helenna’s was currently being shipped, although the Goddess of Love did not know about it yet.

  “What about the hair?” Kassandora smiled at herself as she looked in the mirror. She was simply stunning.

  “It’s better when its loose, don’t tie it back.” Helenna said.

  “Alright.” Kassandora picked up the cap from the little stool and put it on her head. A high cap, pitch bck, marked off with bands of silver and with the same crest as her belt had. It was a general’s uniform, a new vision for the world. The people would stare in awe, and Kassandora would send a message to the White Pahrough the uniform alone: War has returo Arda.

  “Have you got your script?” Neneria asked.

  “I don’t.” Kassandora readjusted the cap, then gave up a down so Helenna could fix it for her. The Goddess of Love’s hair today was red, just like Kassandora’s. “I don’t phings.” Fer leaned over as if she was afraid to touch Kassandora’s uniform and mess it up.

  “Fantastic.” She said. “Real leather.”

  “Only the best for us.” Kassandora said as she looked bato the grand mirror. Helenna had spent an hour today with a pair of scissors cutting Kassandora’s hair tohe loose strands angrily bursting out in all dires, now she finally looked presentable for television. Kassandora could not tain her smile. “Helenna, you did a great job.”

  “You said you wao look like the Goddess of War.” Helenna said. “It just sort of came about naturally.”

  “And you did a good job in Nanbasa too. Well done on keeping up with the schedule, I know you were busy.” Kassandora had tried not to burn Helenna out, she had anised a lot, but it had all been very manageable. Underlings deserved praise when they did a good job, if you never praised your soldiers, you were called a cruel svedriver. If you gave them a kind word here and there, they’d grow to like and work even harder.

  “You had a tighter schedule than I did.” Helenna said as Kavaa came to cp the Goddess of Love on her back.

  “Don’t worry about it, yours wasn’t easy too.” Kassandora did not let the y herself down. “I know other Divines who would have thrown iowel after two days.” That much was true. Neneria and Fer wouldn’t have kept up with the stant socialization. Kassandora stood up straight and took a deep breath. It was somewhat sad she had to pull her eyes away from the mirror, she could stare at herself for another day. She checked the fre gun oable, it was loaded, and put it into her belt. “Kavaa, your men know what to do?”

  “They do.” Kavaa’s Clerics weren’t on firing duty, that important job was reserved for Kassandora’s own soldiers, but the Clerics would be ferrying ammunition from the cooled taihat sat under shade to stop the napalm shells from exploding in the Arikan Sun. Kassandora took another breath, g her refle o time, o herself and bathed in the sensation. War was ing baot a fake war, not a war of words or ideas. Proper war, with armies and strategy and tactid logistid men dying. Her own domain was desding bato Arda. She licked her lips.

  Kassandora left her ow and her army fell silent. When she had first arrived here, there were three camps. Her own, the Clerics’, and the Kirinyaan tribesmen. Now, there was a small town being built. Wooden structures were being put up, there was an airstrip, crete had been poured out over the dirt to house give Kavaa’s airfleet a pce to stay. Roads had been id down. KIAB had been repced by real representatives of the Kirinyaan gover who stayed in rge buses that served as homes for them. Shops had gone up, deep wells had been dug, and there was even a brothel here and there. All the things an army needed.

  She marched as men turo look at her in silehe rest of the Goddesses had goo their own duties. Fer was to help the men if anything too heavy or cumbersome to carry. Kavaa and Iniri would stay he Binturongs to stop ating too close, Neneria would help them. Helenna was oion duty, from spending two months in Nanbasa, she khe most about the operation other than Kassandora herself and Kassandora didn’t have the patieo deal with a thousand news crews. She was only here to give a speech.

  KTV, the rgest news station in the try had been granted an interview with Kassandora. The only el in the try, it was a calcuted move. The Kirinyaans were ecstatic about the fact that Kassandora had picked them as her favourite and it sent a good message to Epa: This is not your try to e in and make demands as you wish. EIE had begged on its knees for an interview and Kassandora had still not gra.

  KTV had their statio up on the small hill to record it all. It was a small ptform. The green, red and yellow tricolour of Kirinyaa. o was the fg of Ausa, the green and blue, with a white dot in the middle. A pretty girl with curly hair eaking as she held up a microphone. Kassandora walked in the midday Sun as journalists were pushed away by Kirinyaan poliake way for her. She didn’t even turn to look at them, instead just walking straight ahead with a smile.

  From the top of the hill, past the tents and crowds of bustling spectators that fell quiet when they saw her, she could see the two batteries of Binturongs oher side of the camp. Great ons, they all had a scoop in the back that had been lowered to pressed into the dirt. The guns were already raised and men were standing at attention around them, a pile of shells o eae ready to be loaded when for when they fired. Kavaa and Iniri were already there, along with Cleri full pte looking just as they had when they marched onto Olympiada. They had formed a cordon only Kirinyaan officials a news crews were allowed to enter into. Now, several teams had set up cameras to catch a shot of the first volley, more Ausan and Kirinyaan fgs around them waved in the cool breeze. Helicopters flew around them, careful to stay out of the line of fire but eager to catch a rec from above.

  Sixteen of them. Sixteen! Kassandora tained her grin. She couldn’t let herself indulge now, not when she had to be presentable. She had only expected otery. She got two! Sometimes, the world really did her give its favour.

  A young man in a suit, a badge of KTV over his breast approached Kassandora as she waited. More cameras fshed as more pictures were taken. “Goddess Kassandeneral Domkat of Ausa and President Ruku have fiheir speeches. We’re ready for you now.” One was some general from Ausa without an army, the other was the President of Kirinyaa, a man Kassandora had meant several times. She did not reply to him, she wao squeal like a little girl when she looked at her oys. A range of ten miles! Ten miles! Ba the Great War, the greatest ons had three! These had ten! Theoretically, they could fire every forty seds! Forty seds! Back then, ons would only maen shots an hour!

  Kassandora turned her gaze away and looked at the ptform KTV had built for themselves. It was a ructure, wooden and raised. Kassandora would obviously not stand oform, or else only her legs and hips would be in the shot. She readjusted her tall cap and stepped towards the cameras.

  Olephia quickly started writing on her papers. There were already papers strewn about on the floor before her and Arascus as she filled them up. “LOOK! IT’S KASSIE!”

  Wissel ignored his ringing phohere was no point. Everyone would be talking about the same thing. He knew Kassandora had been active in Nanbasa, a few els had reported on her staings but this… The Goddess of War had returo grace Arda with her demesne once again.

  Essa felt her grip slip around the gss she was drinking from. Everything was going badly. Everything had been going badly. Nothing was w. And now… How could Kassandora stand on national news like that?

  Sara leaned forwards as Iliyal and Ilwin both raised their gnces and saluted the television. Then they burst out in ughter and dowheir drinks. Sara could not pull her eyes away from Kassandora, she wao look like that.

  “And now, before we start, we at KTV are proud to annouhat Divine Kassandoddess of War, has e to share a few words for us.” The woman turned and as Kassandora stepped o her podium. Even with those steps and the fact her feet started at Kassandora’s knees, her head only reached up to Kassandora’s chest. Of War watched the cameras slowly move and focus oheir leurning to try a all of her in frame.

  “Thank you.” Kassandora said, she put her arms behind her back, pushed her chest out and took a deep breath. “Although these words are not for KTV, they are for Kirinyaa and for all of Arika.” The woman nodded excitedly as Kassandora began her speech. “Firstly, I would like to say thank you. Thank you to Ausa for the sixteen Binturongs. Thank you to the Unions and pahat have put their own profits aside to fund this project. Thank you to the men who desighe Binturongs. Thank you to every to Kirinyaa for lettiay, and thank you to the Kirinyaan people for believing ihank you to you all. Today, I repay you.” Kassandora made her tone hard as she imagined an army standing before her. She could see it, these journalists were warriors, the battlefield was the mind. She began her war.

  “The Jungle has rampaged unchecked through this ti for tless geions. There is a saying that man is closer to death every time he goes to sleep, that saying is nowhere more true than in Arika.” Kassandora raised one arm straight to indicate the Jungle. “We see the death of this ti expand every day. We wake up to the news of another person taken. We see the struggles of Ausa, reduced to a mere twelve coastal cities, always uhreat by this endless enemy. We see in Kirinyaa were it grows unchecked. We suffer its pgues and diseases, we only turn tail and run away when it spreads into yet more homes. Its wanton greed cims the riches of Arika.” Kassandora lowered her arm and made her prand.

  Joyeuse fshed from her back to her open palm and she stabbed it into the hill. “This.” Kassandora let the swo and it stood up straight. “This is the end! When I first came here, four months ago I met a man called Arusei. His entire family has been stolen by the Juhe bones of his aors like uhat green o. I made a promise to him. He will step where his forefathers could not. Over these past two months.”

  “Now. I have met an untable number of people in Kirinyaa and all them of say the same. What happens when the Jungle grows to the coasts? When it drains Kirinyaa’s rivers, when it scales Kirinyaa’s mountains. What happens when it start growing north. Is the whole world doomed? Doomsayers among us say yes. But Arika says NO!”

  “Through the advent of the Binturongs, we have developed a on to fight back.” Yes Alsaria. Yes Essa. Yes to the Whole Pantheoo the whole world. Do you hear that? A on. Pantheon Peace has just been broken and a on has been developed. A on for war. What will you do now? Will you side with the mindless behemoth dev Arika? Or will you let the on stand? Ched mate.

  Today. Kirinyaa breaks Pantheon Peace. Tomorrow, the whole world.

  “No longer are we defenceless against this growing menao longer must we t the days until our doom. Today is the first time we wield our new bde against the Juomorrow, I hope Ausa wields it. week, I hope all of Arika will e together to strike at its mutual foe. Today, I, Kassandoddess of War, annouo the entire world that in our lifetimes, we will see anisations like the Arikan Jungle Crisis Fund be no longer needed. No longer needed because the Jungle Crisis will be over! Today, I annouhe beginning of the Recmation War!” The crowd burst out in cheers and Kassandora waited for them to cool down.

  “My st words is for the enemy right here! Today is the day that you take a step back.” Those words were for the Jungle, as much as they were for the White Pantheon. Kassandora pulled out her fre gun. She held it for a sed and listeo her owbeat. Then she pulled the trigger. A red light shot into the air towards the Jungle.

  Oher side of the camp, sixteen explosions sounded as the Binturongs fired, the crowds went silent for a moment, then cheered. Cameras turned, helicopters pulled away. The ground shook, shells whistled through the air and Kassandora turwenty-one seds she ted. And then, fire exploded across the Jungle. Fire burning in bck smoke. Fire that felled trees, that left nothing but dark ground and ash as it rampaged.

  And then, the sixteen Binturongs fired again.

  And again.

  And again.

  And the Jungle burned.

  And the crowds cheered.

  And Kassandora’s artillery kept firing.

  Raging fire and deafening explosions and frantic cheers. Music to the ears. Kassandora licked her lips again.