Jackal Among Snakes

Chapter 177

“I’ve come to see my brother. It’s clear to me he needs help, despite his abundant capability. I’m told Prince Orion is ahead, tending to the plagued,” Argrave spoke to the Waxknight before him, staring at the man’s dead eyes barely visible behind his bandages.

“Do you mean to say our Holiness is your brother?” the leading knight demanded, taking a step forward.

“Half-brother,” Argrave removed his hands from his horse’s reins, holding his palms out. “But a brother nonetheless.”

The loose bandages wrapped around the leading Waxknight’s face slacked, blocking his vision, and he corrected it while pulling it tight.

“Prince Induen?” one at the side questioned.

Argrave shook his head. “No prince at all, elsewise I might have an escort gleaming as you knights do.”

“Argrave, then, the bastard,” the leading knight said.

“All are equal before the gods’ eyes. That’s what Orion says, at least,” he smiled warmly, defusing the situation.

The Waxknights sized Argrave up, then glanced back towards his companions, examining them in turn.

“For your own sake—the waxpox abounds here,” their helmetless leader informed him. “We will take you to Orion if you wish it to be so, but even our Holiness struggles to combat the disease, and more refugees show up daily.”

“I have an idea of how bad things really are,” Argrave turned his head, looking through the trees from whence they’d come. “Things get worse beyond these wetlands every day. Not all refugees had the good fortune to be tended to by my brother. And that’s precisely why I came here—to help him, and to help those that suffer,” he said seriously.

comers. Whether you are truly his brother—that will be

companions and I

and Durran, “Drink your super juice, you two. I know you

Mask covering her face, and imbibed the liquid, wincing from its bitterness. Durran cursed too quietly to be heard, and then drank

said Durran, voice tight from his grimace. Anneliese nodded, then put the

taking. With three of these knights acting as ostensible escorts, Argrave was not worried about anything coming to kill them, so he kept his Brumesingers close. Argrave could not say with confidence that Galamon was these knight’s superior in combat. They were some of the most dangerous warriors on the continent at this stage, exceeding the royal knights

by the waxpox. This made them immune to pain, and their skin was near as hard as stone. In addition, Orion had

enough to avoid asking shameless questions.

Orion and his gigantic camp of refugees, to come into sight. The wetlands of the northwest were tenacious and aggressive, and much of the fortress had been torn asunder by growth—trees, roots, fungi, and vines all consumed the gray stone. People lay in tents en

for a keep in the corner of the fortress. Once at the door, the knights directed them to a makeshift stable that they’d been using, and Argrave left his

disciplined steps into the keep where more of their colleagues abounded, guarding the man that lay within. Orion received a vast host of the

his knees. His eyes were gray, with

to Orion. They spoke to him, and then pointed. Orion looked at him. He pushed past

recalling every experience he’d had with this man in ‘Heroes of Berendar’ all at once. A great deal of them

took long, rapid strides towards him, each step seeming to shake the earth. His presence was intense—he outsized even Galamon—and he hurtled towards Argrave like a bull. Despite himself, he took a step back. Galamon looked

felt that he’d grown a lot the past month, but now he was being treated like a small child. After a moment of rib-crunching embrace that very nearly triggered his armor’s protective enchantments, Orion put him back on his feet and stepped

shoulders as though feeling his muscles, and then laughed again. “And your eyes…” he paused,

forward effortlessly. “Everyone!” he shouted. “This is my

before the crowd. Even despite their sickness, they mustered cheers. Orion’s Waxknights changed their

ear, barely audible above the cheer of the crowd. “I see light in you, now. Gold amidst the dark, like Vasquer’s heraldry… and your eyes. Your strange eyes… that vex the

someone else stepped out. They stood above the crowd, too, another dark-haired figure.

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