King Richard VI of Allia read the letter again and again. His eyes flicked from the paper, to the EIE broadcast playing on his TV, his wife had taken to watching the news a lot lately: Fortia’s Defeat in Kirinyaa. They were trying to lessen damage, but the simple fact of the matter was that it was impossible to frame sixty thousand casualties in any positive light.

It was made even worse when Kassandora released a public list of names of her own fallen, honouring each and every one of them. Fortia’s estimate sat at around sixty thousand, Kassandora’s list had five-thousand eight hundred and forty three names. Sophistry could reframe a great many things, but this was a mountain too large to scale even for the best propagandists.

And Richard looked at his letter again: ‘The White Pantheon calls for support.’

Wissel’s plan could not happen soon enough.

Arascus leaned back in satisfaction, he put his arms around his head as he looked up from Iliyal’s letter and around the tent. Neneria, standing tall in her black dress, was reading Artois’ plan with curiosity. That already meant a sign of affirmation if she didn’t shut it down immediately. Anassa was bent over the table, almost stunned. Fer read it once and had collapsed back onto the table, arms outstretched as she moved her fingers, a satisfied smile on her lips. Kassandora, in a fresh HAUPT suit, was beaming, as was Iliyal. The elf stood there with pride as he tried to hide the fact he was monitoring everyone’s reactions.

“My my.” Fer eventually broke the silence. “You did indeed bring something good this time.” Iliyal nodded and bowed.

“If you wish to discuss, I will take my leave.” He said with another bow. There were a few mortals Arascus thought fondly of, Iliyal was one of them. That one sentence explained Iliyal perfectly, the level of discipline and courage to speak freely to Divines was great in the first place, but it was tempered by an inhuman level of self-control and denial of curiosity. Kassandora looked to Arascus and nodded to Iliyal, her face making a gesture of approval. The question was obvious, and the elf was the perfect candidate for helping organise this. Arascus already knew that the elf would be their man for Epa, there was simply no other candidate. The God of Pride returned a nod.

“Stay Iliyal, take a seat.” Kassandora said immediately. “You will be needed in this.”

“You do play favourites.” Anassa said from the other side of the table.

Kassandora gave Anassa a cool glare as she replied. “I’ve never pretended to do otherwise Ana.” Iliyal sat gingerly as he avoided looking at either of the two Goddesses. Fer leaned closer to him as patted his back. Neneria sighed and came to stand close by Arascus’ side.

“So obviously, change of plans.” Arascus said. “This has changed our situation if Epa is coming to us.”

“Not all of Epa.” Anassa said.

“Enough of them.” Kassandora replied.

“Doschia, Rancais and Allia are the three biggest economies of Epa, bigger than Karaina even, Lubska and Rilia are the next. It’s enough.” Neneria said in a quiet voice.

“They have mascot Divines.” Fer said, her ears wriggling with every word. “I’d like to meet them.” Arascus let them speak as he formulated a plan. Fer and Anassa and Neneria went round in a circle, saying what they knew. It had always been like this, were the other Divines would give reminders while he and Kassandora formulated a plan to discuss.

Kassandora reached over as she re-read the other documents. “Obviously, the plan is terrible.” Kassandora said. She passed one paper to Iliyal. “Do you have a pen?”

“I do.” The elf brought one out from his pocket. A red one, same style as Kassandora used. Arascus always found it amusing how much the man tried to imitate his idol.

“Then make corrections, this part isn’t hard.” Kassandora passed him the piece of paper and then brushed her red hair back. “Just tactical suggestions on the operation. Not for the grander picture.” She looked to Arascus and then her sisters. “That’s our job.”

“Elassa obviously.” Fer said. “You can’t touch anything in Epa while Elassa is there.”

“The others too.” Neneria said.

“Others are in Arika already.” Fer replied. “Elassa needs to move out. She’s in Arcadia now, isn’t she?”

“We can assume she is.” Arascus said. “If not there, then somewhere else in Epa.” Kassandora leaned forwards as she added her own point.

“Elassa is fast.”

Fer nodded and asked a question. “Do you remember Sara?”

“I do.” Neneria said with disgust.

“Daganhoff?” Kassandora asked and Fer nodded. “I do.”

“Once she complained to me about Elassa taking her off from Arcadia to Osheim in Norjesk. Six hours.” Fer said and Neneria shook her head.

“How do you even know that?” The Goddess of Death asked in annoyance. Fer sat up and spilled her hands on the table, palms up as she feigned a defensive tone.

“I talk to people!” Fer exclaimed.

“From the Great War, we already know Elassa and Sceo can both cross the continent in six hours.” Kassandora said.

Fer’s ears bounced as she explained herself with that tone she used for young cubs in her pack. “My point was she hasn’t gotten any slower.” She dropped back onto the table, arms outstretched as those yellow-gold eyes jumped from person to person.

“Elassa though.” Kassandora said. “She’ll come to us eventually.” Arascus finally made his addition.

“We wait for her to engage us then, we don’t press the White Pantheon too heavily, let them dig in here.” Kassandora nodded as Anassa spoke up.

“Not too much though, you don’t want to let them think defences are substitutes for Divines.” This is why Anassa was in the meetings, there always had to be a pessimist about to bring up the flaws in a plan. Kassandora’s expression said that was a good point.

“We start making probing attacks to secure ground then.” Kassandora said. “Enough to keep the lines moving, but nothing to cause a mass retreat and send them back to Olympiada.”

“Olephia in the west, Fer and Anassa in the east, you Kass in the centre, don’t alter major strategy too much.” Arascus said. Anything too large would scare the Pantheon into a reorganization of their forces. What was needed was to make Fortia think that they were on the brink. “We focus on Divines leading battles, then they’ll be forced to respond with their own Divines.”

“Stalemate.” Kassandora said as she crossed her arms and looked over to Iliyal. “Do you have anything to add?”

The elf looked up from the paper. “I would still go with the western encirclement.” Kassandora shook her head.

“Simple issue is nothing can cross the desert. We’d be a new frontline to defend our supply lines, Fortia will raid us there. Fortifying that…” She shrugged. “We don’t have enough manpower.” The elf nodded and went back to making corrections on the actual plan on how to raid the Divine Armoury, now the Paladin HQ.

“We…” Iliyal said slowly. “Since it’s the Paladin HQ, we can target Maisara’s numbers. Ease this.” He tapped the paper. “By forcing her to pull reserves out to Arika.” Kassandora beamed a smile around the table at the fact her little elf had managed to say something smart.

“This is why you’re here.” She said. “We concentrate on Maisara’s forces, Paladin recruitment in Epa is already low, we drain her.”

“Oh I’d love-“ Anassa began in a stupid tone.

Arascus interrupted her. “Anassa.” He said and the Goddess rolled her eyes. “Later.” Iliyal had heard all the jokes before, it was impossible not to when you had this close a relationship to the Divines, but it was still something that Arascus only tolerated in private.

Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

Fer spoke up as she patted Anassa on the back to ease the woman’s sulking. “I think we all agree then. Kass can handle the tactical parts.”

“And on Elassa?” Neneria gently asked. “How are we going to keep her here?” Every pair of eyes in the tent turned to her. Arascus looked around the room. Even Iliyal had looked up from the paper to question the Goddess’ statement.

“Nene.” Fer said in a coy tone. She was the best of them when it came to tact. “Who do you think?”

Neneria stood there and blinked, and then pointed a pale finger at Anassa. The Goddess of Sorcery smiled and shook her head. “Oh.” Neneria said, just as softly, with barely an emotion. “I see.”

“You.” Arascus said. “The Legion can only be dispelled through magic, it’s obvious Elassa will be called where you are.”

“How many souls have you recovered from this battle by the way?” Kassandora asked and Neneria looked at her fingers. She counted them for a moment, a fairy ghastly fairy appeared to jump from finger to finger.

“Fifty eight thousand and eight.” The table shared impressed glances.

Anassa broke the silence as she straightened her black hair. “That many?” It was impressive how loud the woman’s fingers could be when all they were doing was simply running through her locks.

“They…” Neneria’s voice trailed off, she shrugged and began again. “They’re not prepared, not like real war. The souls weren’t told to leave. Most of them didn’t even know what was happening.”

“Have you?” Kassandora asked. “Can you use them?”

Neneria made a single nod. “All of them, no one was prepared to stay.” She said flatly, then her voice finally took on some emotion, a certain satisfaction and joy. Not roaring fires of happiness, but rather small and reliable candles of contentment. “They’re very well behaved, I didn’t even need to press them too hard.” She chuckled to herself. A low chuckle as Fer stretched.

“In that case, I’m not going to deploy Neneria.” Kassandora said as she looked to Arascus. “If we remind them she’s here, they’ll be forced to restart basic soul training. It would slow down how many men are sent to Arika, and I’d rather we build her up.”

“I agree.” Arascus said. “I will set up a meeting with the Epan leaders under the guise of Peace Plans, I’ll tell you the date when it’s ready, but have a revised version of that.” Arascus pointed to Iliyal working on the paper. Already the sheet was filled with red highlights and notes. “Ready, then I’ll propose it to them.”

“I want Iliyal to lead that operation.” Kassandora said.

“Of course, we’re not giving the Epans their autonomy, are we?” Arascus said with a chuckle. If there was one thing he had to give to the White Pantheon, it was the fact they completely refused to hold any negotiations with him. That was a good move, he would not negotiate with someone like himself. It was a quick meeting, but the meetings were always fast when people got along. He sometimes wished he was a fly on the wall in Allasaria’s quarters, simply so he could watch the troubles she faced.

Anassa took a deep breath, as she always did whenever a meeting concluded, but Fer spoke up, still on the table. “I have one more thing.”

Anassa shook her head as she put her head in her arms, staring in exasperation at her sister. “Really?”

“I’m an honest girl.” Fer said smugly. “We’ve captured spies.”

Kassandora raised an eyebrow. “We know that.”

Fer continued. “I mean… well, meeting isn’t over yet. Don’t go anywhere.” She stood up and left the tent. Arascus, Kassandora and Neneria all looked questioningly at Anassa. Those two were partnered up on Zalewski’s front, so if anyone would know, it would be her. Iliyal flipped the page started scrawling more notes on the back.

“She feels indebted.” Anassa said flatly. “Because it was of the fact they spilled that we got early warning of Waeh.”

“Oh.” Arascus said, Kassandora made a face of disgust.

“They spilled?”

“Well…” Anassa said and looked to Neneria. “They didn’t really a choice.”

“I scared them.” Neneria said. “You know how it is.” Arascus nodded. Everyone here knew how it was, a spy could be kept alive and sent to Neneria. Then they would join the Legion and there would be nothing that they wouldn’t spill.

“But they did give us early warning, without that.” Anassa said and shrugged. “Frankly, I would have killed them already simply because they are spies.”

“I would have too.” Kassandora said in agreement. War and Sorcery shared a smile.

“I don’t care either way.” Arascus didn’t even bother asking Iliyal, now that Kassandora had voiced her opinion, the elf would treat it as gospel.

“So what’s the issue?” Arascus asked.

“They’re…” Anassa trailed off. “Well, you’ll see why Fer likes them.”

“She likes them?” Kassandora asked in disbelief.

“Wrong choice of word, but she is predisposed to them.” Anassa admitted. And so they sat and waited. It wasn’t a long wait, Fer must have prepared everything already. She came back with seven women in grey garbs in tow and Arascus understood why immediately. They were all tall, even the youngest among them, who looked to be a child, was just shorter a teenager. And they all had fox ears and fluffy red tails, one of the women had five, the tails topped off with tufts of white. They came in scared, but were obviously unhurt. Although with Clerical healing in Arascus’ disposal, whether they had not been hurt was left up to question.

“I am back!” Fer exclaimed as she entered, the women looked to Anassa, hurriedly averted their eyes in fear. Then to Kassandora, she got the same response. Arascus, same thing. Then Neneria, the blood drained from their faces when they saw her, one of the kitsune started to tear up. The group’s eyes settled on the ground of the tent. It was merely sand, Anassa had bothered to install flooring when she had smashed the structure together. Fer looked proudly at her the four Divines in the tent, then pulled the tallest fox-woman forwards by her shoulder. “This is Asano, she’s their pack-leader.”

“Hello.” Arascus said.

“I said I would be lenient if they helped and that I would send them to you, dad. So here you go.” Fer slapped Asano on the back and sat down back in her seat. Neneria walked around the table, several of the kitsune took tiny steps away from her, but not a single one had the courage to actually run.

“They are pretty.” Neneria said quietly as she stared at Asano’s five tails.

“Very soft too.” Fer added. Arascus decided what to do. Fer obviously liked them, it was obvious from her smile and eyes and how she looked at them. And it wasn’t too far-fetched, these were natural beastmen not created by Anassa’s sorceries. That was unseen of in Epa.

If he had captured them, or if Fer wasn’t here. Then it wouldn’t have even been a question, they would have received the same treatment all spies received. Shapeshifters were simply too dangerous to be left alone, human spies could be contained and fed false information, but a shapeshifter could hardly be contained. It placed everyone on watch. There was no quicker way to crush morale than through paranoia, that was part of the reason the men were kept in the dark on why the beastmen were running an investigation.

But Fer was here. And not killing them would make Fer happy. And Arascus liked seeing Fer happy. It was as simple as that. Arascus leaned back and got a piece of paper. “Fer here has informed me of what you’ve done already.” Arascus said to Asano. “Four days under Anassa’s nose is impressive.” Anassa did not like that, Kassandora looked at her smugly, her facing that the same wouldn’t happen to her. “I just have one question.”

Asano took a deep breath and forced the shakiness out of her voice. She tightened her fists, her tails flicking up into the air. Neneria watched them with full attention. “Ask and I will answer to the best of my ability.” She spoke in an odd way, stretching certain syllables and shortening others seemingly at random points. One of the women started to cry, silently but uncontrollably.

“You are from Ihon, we have never had any qualms with your land. Why?” Arascus said. Fer made a satisfied smile at that question as the entire table, even Iliyal, looked and listened with full attention to how the woman answered.

Asano shuffled in surprise as she fiddled with her brown locks of hair. Her tails moved with her. Neneria nodded in satisfaction at that and then reached out a hand to grab them. Asano squeaked at Neneria’s touch. “Neneria.” Arascus said. “Don’t scare her.” Neneria put her hand back and looked at her fingers. She made a smile of satisfaction.

“Very soft.” She said. “Very nice indeed.”

“”So Asano, why?” Arascus asked. They were already going to be freed, but the largest difference between being a wise king and a merciful fool was the reasoning.

“We…” Asano sighed. “We’re not mercenaries.” She said harshly. “But the Ihon economy has crashed five years ago and we’re still going down.” She made a sniff of humour. “There’s a joke back home, Bank of Ihon loses stock value it didn’t even know it had. That sums up the situation.”

“So you are mercenaries.” Arascus said.

“We’re not.” Asano said with some pride. “But we need the money.” Arascus smiled at her. So a mercenary who didn’t want to admit it. Lovely that. He sighed and shook his head.

“I will not pay you, nor will I hire you. Are there more of you?” He asked. Fer practically beaming.

Asano thought for a second, then answered quickly. “I don’t know, other temples maybe?” That was too long a thought, there were others.

Arascus leaned back and spread his arms out. “This is what will happen. You will be our prisoners until Fer has finished the inspection. You will stay in this camp, and if we find anyone else, they will be sent here. Then, when Fer has finished.” Arascus pointed a finger back at her. “You will be sent home, someone will see you off onto the plane, I do not give second chances, this was your warning. If you return, you will be executed on the spot. Understood?”

Asano blinked for a few moments, the little fox-girl next to started to laugh and cry at the same time. Another kitsune came and patted Asano on the shoulder. Asano couldn’t contain her smile, it was a pretty smile though, with those vulpine eyes and the two tall fox ears on her head. “Yes, of course.” She bowed. The rest of them did too, even the little one who was still crying tears of joy. “I…”

Arascus raised an eyebrow as Asano trailed off. Fer gave him two thumbs up and a grin. Anassa scowled and rolled her eyes. Kassandora had no reaction, Iliyal copied that lack of emotion and Neneria prodded the tails again. A different kitsune, this time the woman didn’t flinch. She merely laughed and stroked Neneria’s hand with her tail. “Very soft indeed.” Neneria said quietly.

“Is there anything else?” Arascus said. “You will be treated with dignity, but the food is going to be the same as what the soldiers receive. Do not try anything. If one of you disappears, it’s everyone’s heads on the line.” That was standard procedure when there was obvious loyalty between prisoners. No one wanted to carry survivor’s guilt.

“Nothing.” Asano almost blabbered the word, she bowed even deeper. “Thank you. Thank you. We’ll never do this again. Never again, we thank you for your mercy.”

Arascus smiled back. Fear was a weapon to be used as intimidation, but fear could be beaten: by love, by bravery, by sheer stupidity. Gratitude though. Gratitude and forgiveness was a debt people never repaid. Epa was next the house to be taken, but when he got to Ihon, he would already have a foot in the door.