Jackal Among Snakes

Levin walked a bridge from the Dragon Palace, heading to a lone tower with a cone roof. Two royal guards stood in front of it. They were large men, just short of Levin’s height, and their golden helmets swiveled as they followed the prince’s approach.

The prince paused just before the door. “She’s awake?” he questioned.

“Yes, prince,” the rightward knight nodded.

Levin nodded curtly and shot his cuffs. He fixed his collar, swallowed, then pushed open the door. In the distance, the sound of chains swaying rattled out. The room was dark, the windows mostly blocked by curtains. Levin stepped within hesitantly, then shut the thick door he’d pushed open.

Levin cast a spell, and a ball of light rose up into the air. A woman ahead flinched and gasped, and tried to crawl away.

“Mother. It’s fine. It’s me,” Levin said, stepping closer very slowly with his hands spread out to show he meant no harm.

Light from his spell illuminated the woman. She was pale, dreadfully thin, and bound in a straitjacket. She had blonde hair, but it was unwashed, matted, and greasy. Her bright blue eyes shone back against the light like sapphires. Felipe had married Valeria because of those eyes, so the tale went—they reminded him of his first wife’s.

“Where’s my husband?” the woman asked. “He’s the king. Once you’re found… cut your losses. Let me go, I can let you live. I can give you a pardon. My husband listens to me. Once you’re found…”

Levin paused, studying her face. Though she had been bound in a jacket to protect her from harming herself, it hadn’t stopped it completely. Her lips had been bitten into tattered shreds. Her fingers couldn’t grow back—she’d eaten those. But her lips could be healed.

Feeling encouraged by her clarity, Levin knelt. “You’re here for your own good, mother. Let me treat your face.”

The woman flinched away as Levin extended his hand… yet when healing magic started to close the cuts on her lip, she gradually accepted things.

“My baby…” Valeria said.

“That’s right. I’m here,” Levin nodded, smiling excitedly.

“Where is Orion? Where is he? Where’s my baby?” she demanded harshly. “I want to see him.”

bit his lips hard enough to draw blood, then

eyes darting

of northern nobles unhappy with my father. We’re going to split from Vasquer… form the Kingdom of Atrus. I’m going to be crowned its first king.” Levin clasped his hands together. “Really… never thought

he called mother heard and understood him, she

in the war. These northern nobles, they want to stay out of the fighting. I offered that opportunity. And then, when the fighting dies down… I’ll negotiate a spot in the new Vasquer from a position of

sought it,” Levin continued. “But… more and more, I see my father slipping away from what he usually does. He’s losing it. And Argrave… to see his progress… if even he can succeed as

Levin with her feet. The chains that bound her rung. “Wait. This rebellion of yours… another footnote in our

can get you out of here, mother. I want to help

grave of a dead world. I saw them. I saw the coming terrors. He will end you all. The black one is coming for you. The ground will split for his wrath. Time itself will end. We must be united.

by day. I’m going to ruin him. All that he’s had me do over the years—murders, abductions, hiding his sexual escapades, spreading the plague… I kept records of it.

clenched his teeth together tightly, looking down at her. Then, with a quiet rage, he turned on his heel and left. He pushed open the great door

the royal knights as he passed

#####

cart had a destroyed wheel, and it

messages long distances. With her help, she could operate effectively for hundreds of miles near instantaneously. The princess saw the full use of such a thing, and constantly spoke of sending word to Elaine to acquire some of these spells, integrate them into her personnel. Argrave was

significant. In essence, Felipe’s attack told the world at large two things—the Bat was not a friend to the king, and the Bat had been concealing the companion of the first king, the great

fifty. People that were closely entwined with Vasquer and the royal family would be less likely to do business with the Bat, now—she was an open enemy of the kingdom. Yet even so… the public would likely be equally

a record of all the king’s wrongdoings. Argrave noticed immediately that most of these wrongdoings Levin himself had perpetrated… yet it was the nature of things. The prince departed from Vasquer, claiming he could not bear to support his father anymore after what had come to light. This move completely batted aside the mutually assured destruction Elenore had hoped for. Levin got away having pillaged the royal vault, and he brought a vast retinue of royal knights to the north. They numbered

intended to put himself forth as a claimant to Vasquer, or that he sought to break free of Vasquer and form an independent realm, or that he would merely retire

Vasquer—the snake, not the kingdom or the dynasty—their prediction proved to be accurate. It was impossible to avoid leaking to the public that Vasquer had been found. Felipe had the giant snake tended to by mages and paraded this fact to the public enthusiastically. Even still, the purge in the palace had been thorough, and Elenore could not get any genuine

been a bit naïve, yet steadfastly loyal and willing to get her hands dirty with some

stood before a simple wooden coffin,

open it?” Durran questioned, standing

that within with these items,” Elenore gestured

I…” he trailed off,

back as Elenore stood before the coffin. Argrave didn’t know what else to do. In a family with many cousins, uncles, and other such distant relatives, he’d been to many funerals where other people were sad while he knew