Jackal Among Snakes

“Garm mouthed off to the Alchemist?” Argrave questioned while rubbing his chest, taking deliberate and heavy breaths. Anneliese had placed some accommodations in the room—the end of the bed had a chair to accommodate Argrave’s dangling feet, and she had placed a large couch just beside the bed for herself. In addition, some food was ready and stocked.

The pain was beginning in earnest. It was a constant dull ache, rising ever upwards in intensity. It had been manageable at first—ignorable, even. But it kept growing and growing, becoming all-consuming. It reminded Argrave, strangely enough, of having eaten something incomprehensibly spicy. The pain appeared tame for a time—half a minute, maybe. But the fire would keep growing, consuming one’s throat, one’s mouth, with such a steady pace that the moment seemed to last forever.

Unlike a hot pepper’s spice, there was no respite from this pain. No milk, nothing to offer temporary relief. It was just an ache rising ever higher, like a room slowly flooding. The worst part was that Argrave saw no ceiling in sight—it stood to keep growing, eating away more and more at all other sensations. The uncertainty bred nervousness, fear.

A month of this, Argrave told himself mentally. This is nothing. First step on the stair. Gotta be better.

“…and so they refuse to enter,” Anneliese said.

Argrave looked at her, realizing she’d been talking while he’d been lost in thought. “Sorry, got lost in my own world,” he confessed.

“They ran into the Alchemist, and he told them to get out of their sight after some words,” she summarized what she had said quickly. “Now, they fear retribution, so they stay far from the castle.”

A stab of pain seized Argrave’s head, and he inhaled through clenched teeth, veritably hissing.

“Useless imbeciles,” he said loudly, his own voice echoing in his head. “What good are they?”

Anneliese looked off to the side, saying nothing.

“Damn it all,” Argrave cursed. “No… they’re not imbeciles. Pain… pain makes your irritable. Forget what I said.” The stabbing subsided in his head, and once it did, he interrogated further, “What the hell did they say to the man?”

“They avoided the subject,” Anneliese crossed her arms.

“Christ. I might be pissing blood soon, and they’re playing about with our local twenty-foot-tall psychopath!” Argrave stroked his head, his shouting making his headache worse. “I can’t catch a break? Even now?!”

Anneliese stared at him patiently. “Is there anything you need?”

“Yeah,” Argrave nodded. “Choke me until I’m unconscious, see you tomorrow,” he gave a salute.

She lowered her head, unamused by his joke.

“I’m sorry,” he apologized. “Maybe you… maybe you shouldn’t be here. I’m just going to be a moody prick for days on end. No one deserves to be subject to that, least of all…” he shook his head. “Just go, join Galamon.”

“I made up my mind, Argrave,” she said simply without a moment’s hesitation. “You expect me to leave you to fend for yourself? Could you? We know not how bad this will get,” she pointed out.

“But—”

the bed. Wordlessly, the Alchemist came to stand before Argrave. He held his

silent, doing his best to make even his breathing quiet as he waited for whatever

now. You descend from

around the bed, hand remaining stationary. It reminded Argrave of the way a chicken’s head could stay totally still as it moved. After a long while where Argrave cast uncertain glances at Anneliese,

surprisingly rough, despite being white and smooth-looking. Argrave tried to keep his face firm, but his cheeks were soon squished by an indomitable force—not enough to hurt, but enough to move him, certainly. Not that Argrave could notice if it did hurt, what with the all-consuming pain

stood and stepped towards the bed, her expression morphed by surprise.

up, hesitant to stop the Alchemist. Before he could make up his mind, Argrave was released suddenly, falling back to the bed. “Every time I listen to this room, I hear your babbling.

brows furrowed and eyes

many in the world,” the Alchemist said. “Words fail half the time.

filled the room for a while. Argrave figured it was a

thinking. Answer,” the Alchemist commanded,

Argrave trailed off, before finishing,

describe them. They render you ambulatory, not words. You walked here. Words, be they on paper or spoken, carry

need this right now, Argrave thought, brain dancing to

metaphor,”

it was a sign of anger. “Words are a veneer—metaphor is yet another façade atop this veneer, another step to remove and obscure the purity of the mind’s

noted the irony that the Alchemist had used a metaphor to disparage metaphors, but he focused on what

his thoughts focused on the titan looming

mouth on his stomach opening up. Black smoke started to rise up into

experience an elaborate

on his voice—a rare divergence from the constant apathy. “No different

the same mistake as

form of assault, doing no genuine harm. The spoken word plants itself within your mind like a parasite, worming and changing and feeding on the valuable thoughts within. Corrupting. Morphing. Violating the sanctity,

shut, hiding the jungle away once again. “The spoken word is an insidious killer. Harmless, fools say. But in time, the words batter at the mind, until the ‘you’ that once was is only a memory, and your thoughts of the past become

go to any lengths to justify their lifestyle, Argrave thought drolly, finding

the time for words has passed, and mindless hordes charge each other, spite in their gut… everything blends into

Alchemist walked back to stand before Argrave’s bed. He stayed there for a long while, doing nothing.

another word, the Alchemist turned and walked out of the room. Argrave stared at the

Argrave collapsed back into the bed,

in the god

eyes on her. She reached out, then touched the

away, blood was on her fingers. Argrave kept his eyes on that for a long

it would happen,” Argrave said grimly. “Sweating blood. I guess… time to find out if I’d crack under torture,” Argrave

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