Jackal Among Snakes

Argrave tossed aside the newly acquired knife. It clattered against the floor. Some of the knives could be good loot, but he had nothing to evaluate them with.

“Give warning before you do something like that,” Anneliese rebuked Argrave, placing her hand to her heart and sighing to dispel her tension. Galamon put away his sword.

Argrave shrugged without a response, watching Durran walk past the golem while giving it a wide berth. He bent over, leaning on his glaive, and retrieved the discarded knife.

“Good gods. If I’d known your little fellas could muster warriors that could cut steel, I might’ve thrown them a snack or two, won their favor.” Durran flipped the spearhead knife through his fingers, running his fingers opposite the edge to test its sharpness.

“They eat souls,” Argrave turned to him. “Might be you have fed them, but not deliberately.”

Durran gazed at the four small creatures scamper back to Argrave, seeking refuge in his clothes once again now that their task was done. “Got a miracle pet lined up for me?”

Argrave blanked. It was a good point, certainly, but he’d been too distracted to plan for what to assign to Durran. He mulled for a moment, then recalled, “You’ll have to get to C-rank if you want any permanence in bonds. Most of the D-rank druidic spells aren’t the type that’ll keep your druidic links lingering by your side for longer than a few hours. Anneliese has the C-rank [Bond], while I use [Pack Leader].”

“And in time, I plan on learning the B-rank spell [Progenitor], to bind us in a druidic network,” Anneliese butted in.

“That spell Tirros used back at the druidic camp in Mateth?” Argrave pointed, but then realized she probably wouldn’t know as she hadn’t been there. “Never mind, I know what it is. That… will be useful,” Argrave nodded. “At that point, you’ll be able to notice what my Brumesingers notice. Between the Starsparrow and them, ambushing us is going to be impossible. And that’s a damn great thing, because we can win most fights we’re aware are coming.”

“C-rank spells, huh?” Durran clenched his fist. “Alright. Got something to focus on. Might be I come to you two for pointers.”

Argrave walked to Anneliese and placed his hand on her shoulder. “Sure. Anneliese is the best teacher you could ask for.” He took his hand off, glancing around the square. “But we’ve idled enough. It’s time to head to Essenza, the Skyburnt Fortress.”

With those words, his gaze rested on the only road remaining that headed upwards. It went along the top of the peak, heading steadily upwards. A giant drum tower was visible in the far distance, like a capstone atop the mountains. Unlike the roads before, this was one adorned with mostly fully functioning golems, their spears still intact. Few of the subterranean people cared to test themselves on golems of that sort…

And barring two, Argrave didn’t plan on it, either.

#####

Galamon raised his hands to his ears, startled by the deafeningly loud thunder booming out across the peaks. Everyone else was a step slower in reacting, but they all turned to the sky where stormy clouds whirled far above.

“Lightning on mountaintops? Forget this,” Durran shouted out. “We should call it a day, wait for conditions to improve. I like living.”

Argrave loudly. “This place

these peaks built wholly by the subterranean mountain people. It was octagonal in shape, built around a cone mountain peak. Eight towers marked eight corners, each with a jade pavilion atop them similar to the one they’d seen within the wildlife sanctuary. The cone

where spikes of metal rose up into the sky. The metal spike and jade pavilion both sparked, glowing brilliantly even amidst the shade of the clouds. Despite the size of the apparent storm, no

in there?” Durran asked incredulously. “Even the youngest in the tribes know not to fly a wyvern in a storm.

jade,” Argrave warned, stepping forward. “If you don’t step on the jade, you’ll be fine. If you do step on it, you

two elven companions followed without second-guessing him. Durran hung back, turning in the road as though deliberating between waiting outside

passed beneath the great gateways of Essenza, where two golems three times the size as those on the road stood guard. Their spearheads were fashioned of greatswords. Frankly, those two gate golems were nightmarish when compared to the weapon they dropped, and Argrave was quite glad that he didn’t need

Essenza was a barren place, but it seemed busy. That was lending to the pattern running across the floor. The place was a maze of simple, gray stone and beautifully polished jade. Whenever the clap of thunder deafened them,

of Balein…” Galamon

“What?” Argrave turned back.

a bit closer. “The Ice of Balein

a brow, thinking on the matter. If he prowled his memory, the term was vaguely familiar. “You’ll have to tell me more of it later,” Argrave

rising

If we’re closely bunched, someone might bump into someone, cause an unfortunate accident. Whether it be the walls, the floor, the ceiling—be very mindful of what you touch. Avoid this Ice

he took a deep breath to fight his uncertainty. Everyone gave him ample space, watching him closely. He set his

ever mindful of how large

lightning sparked, it was difficult to avoid being distracted by the brightness and the sound of it. Between focusing on the path and avoiding being distracted by the myriad distractions, it was very fitting to

in the drum tower. He let out a light sigh of relief. Like this, he took measured steps towards it, refusing to allow his caution to drop even slightly.

two steps one was made of jade, the other of stone. Considering Argrave took stairs two steps at a time normally, it didn’t prove to offer much challenge at all. Argrave got into a stable position,

any shocking revelations?” Argrave called out once everyone had

leader man—now is not the time,” Durran called

turned to the stairs once he was content everyone was well. Despite the ease it offered, he moved very cautiously. The stairs were smaller than his feet, as it turned out, and so he needed to awkwardly maneuver with his feet held sideways

storm hovering above. He didn’t dare drop his caution at that point, very carefully making his way up to the top of the

a large jade spiral starting from the center and moving outwards. Each branch of the spiral was thin, and easy

the opposite end of where they had come from, two golems stood. They were a fair bit larger than most of the ones that had decorated the walkway. They were more complete, somehow—their figures were more intricate, and they bore genuine armor. It seemed to be plate mail. Their spears, too, were different, most notably in the spearhead. The knife spearheads were

that was safe. He held his arms out and smiled in triumph, eyes darting around.

You bloody bastard,” he looked at

“Yep,” Argrave nodded.