Jackal Among Snakes

Argrave once again felt the familiar sensation of being trapped within something that was in motion. It had been a long while since he last had the experience—the movement of the living fortress was so smooth it could be likened to travelling on a train or a car.

Hegazar, Anneliese, Argrave, and Durran held their hands to the fleshy apparatus in the back of the room, siphoning their magic into the vast fortress. It had been given a series of commands sequentially and burrowed through the earth efficiently. Argrave had done this quest enough to remember the commands, fortunately—Elenore was the one to give the quest to the player, funnily enough. It felt like much of the tension had been dissolved, yet the budding nervousness of his eventual meeting with Princess Elenore was replacing it by the second.

The rumbling sensation of movement beneath their feet ended, and Argrave felt the pull of his magic end. Hegazar was the first to retract his hand.

“Looks like we made it,” Argrave said, shaking his hand off. He didn’t like the sensation of touching that thing at all. “It seems this was a worthwhile endeavor for all.”

“I wonder what Vera must be thinking,” the Magister mused, reaching down. He pulled free the ear key, holding it close to his person. “Well, it’s no matter. Time is of the essence. Collect all that I promised you, and let’s be off.”

“What will you do to her?” Anneliese questioned.

Hegazar put the ear key into the slot closer to the door and stopped, turning his head back to Anneliese.

“What business is it of yours?” He questioned, tone passive.

Anneliese shrugged and walked forwards. “I am merely curious.”

“She has many friends. I am not sure what I will do,” Hegazar shook his head. “It requires deliberation.”

“I thought you’d kill her immediately,” Durran looked impressed.

“Told you I wouldn’t already,” Hegazar shook his head. “Violence is for savages. I can get more from her alive than dead. I just need to decide what state I’d like her alive in. A captive? Who knows…” he let out a long, almost sad sigh. “She had opportunities to kill me in the past, too. She didn’t take them. Always wondered why…”

As Argrave pondered what the Magister was getting at, he spoke the key phrase for the door and it slid open. He walked out with a confident step.

#####

Their group had hauled out a great many things from the depths of the vaults, and all of it resided in the heart chamber. It was a great mound of enchanted items of varying value. Though Argrave would have been satisfied with the set of bronze jewelry he came here to get, he definitely would not protest to acquiring more valuable enchanting items. He’d have a very adept broker to sell them off to in short order, too. That, plus the other loot they’d acquired from the Archduke’s palace or Induen’s retinue.

Galamon offloaded what few books and such he held to Argrave, Anneliese, and Durran, and then stuffed everything within rather ungracefully. The more delicate stuff was wrapped, but altogether his backpack became a misshapen mass of valuables and Order of the Rose books. He had a king’s ransom in his backpack. Altogether, an extremely profitable venture. It wasn’t a flawless trip, but it was the best Argrave could scrape together sandwiched between two S-rank mages.

entrance, the stone tongue folded

and simple. The floor was naturally eroded stone caused by the still-active waterways, while the area above was brown stone that was nothing more than a ceiling to prevent the smell of the wastewater from reaching the city streets.

room to stretch than this place, though, and Argrave found

“Yeah. Just follow the stream down. Exit won’t be far. It drains off into a lake. It’s a relatively secluded place—just a few fishing towns. Forest should shield you from prying eyes. Well, not that prying eyes matter for

a more profitable trip than I thought it might be. You have potential. I suppose the two of you do,

Hegazar,” Argrave said simply, disregarding the petty

portions of

setting his glaive firmly on the ground and

nothing more,” Argrave shook his head. “But I’ll

ahead into

for long. Meeting Elenore is our top priority. Once

that it echoed throughout the tunnel. “How scary is this sister of yours that all of this can be

harmless. She doesn’t even have any guards. But I’m more worried about this than meeting

on Anneliese for a long moment. She got the

#####

Argrave nodded, staring at the rushing stream at their feet. The both of

to Argrave. “You will not fret that things did not

chuckled. “No one died. Galamon got hurt the most. I don’t know,” Argrave shook his head. “Ever since Induen died, things have felt less… apocryphal. I still feel rushed, stressed, but I think… I think I can do this. It’s starting to feel like I can do this. I’m still

am glad,”

you out,” he finally said. “Certainly had no trouble

quietly and leaned against Argrave’s shoulder. “Yes, it

be careful,” Argrave mused jokingly. “Soon enough, you’ll do everything I can, and then I’ll just flounder about uselessly in the back while you save the world

do not think I could,” she shook

watched the water pass them by, then finally decided to bring up the things that were truly sticking in his mind. “I didn’t realize those things

I dramatized. But yes. They

with Hegazar more than I thought I ever would,” Argrave responded quietly, putting one hand to her head. “I can see why he’s bitter. Hurt. Paranoid. I don’t want to make those same mistakes. If I did something wrong, I want to fix

at him better. “Everyone has something that annoys the other. The engagement caught me off balance, at first… and I still believe it is detrimental, practically speaking… but it gives me a lot of comfort. Above all… I know you well, and I trust you enough to respect the actions you take that we disagree on. We cannot be compared to Hegazar and Vera. From the beginning, both saw each other as tools. Hegazar sought to groom a young Wizard into a perfect partner. Vera sought to use a senior to rise

the rushing water for a long while, biting at his lip.

out a quiet grunt of

rely on you heavily with Elenore,” he brought