Jackal Among Snakes

A couple linked arms as they ascended up the mystic stone elevator in the center of the Tower of the Gray Owl. One was a fairly tall bald man with lean features and a grin that seemed markedly bitter. The one beside him was quite the enchanting woman with gray hair and sharp orange eyes. She wore tall heels—tall enough to be the exact same height as the man beside her. There was a strange air between them. It was not quite the harmonious aura one might see in a couple, yet it could not be likened to a couple who had fought.

“I wonder why the Tower Master calls all Magisters in the Tower to assemble,” Vera said, breaking the silence.

“And you voiced that thought out loud,” Hegazar answered back, staring ahead.

“Well, yes,” Vera said. “This is generally the part where we discuss things, like civilized people who can cooperate, and share a similar lack of understanding regarding the present situation. Unless you know something?”

Hegazar turned his head. “Do you think I’m hiding something from you?”

“The irony hearing that from you, the illusionist. Historically, that is the case,” Vera mused.

Hegazar shook his head and faced forward once again. Two people passed by on another platform, and both Magisters adapted smiles on their faces like nothing was wrong at all. Once they’d gone, both went stony.

“Listen… part of being a happy-go-lucky couple is being nice to each other. I started this conversation rather normally, don’t you think?” Vera questioned. “A simple question, which, though mundane, was perfectly normal. Don’t you think you owe it to me to respond in kind?”

“Why?” Hegazar questioned. “I released you from that vault without a hitch. We split the loot as we had intended to before the star-crossed lover betrayal—as equal partners. If anyone owes anyone anything, it’s—”

“Is that why you did it?” Vera questioned. “To get me in debt? To have me as a partner once more, out of obligation?”

“No, I--!” Hegazar stopped as another set of people passed them by.

The smiles came to their face once more. Once the people had come and gone, Hegazar started laughing.

“You’re laughing, now,” Vera noted.

“I’m sorry,” Hegazar said. “Not about the laughter, mind you. I did answer a bit harshly.” Vera gave him a glance, a little surprised. He carried on, saying, “Do you know what our favorite little kingling did once he’d locked you in that vault? He embraced that girl of his, Anneliese. You should have seen how nauseatingly pleased he was—both of them were. The entire time, they’d been playing us.”

be like

army poking at the door to the Tower. Now, one’s a king with an army to match… and the girl is bound to be a splendid queen, if I’m gauging things right. Two B-rank mages. That’s what they achieved. If we could work together like that… imagine,” he said with an unmistakable, almost

as Hegazar was. “And I’m… sorry too,” Her face slowly lost some tenseness.

is calling us,” Hegazar answered. Just then, their stone platform reached the floor they’d intended. “But we’re soon to find

Beyond, a simple room waited them. It was little more than a conference room, but then not much more was needed to accommodate so few people. The two Magisters

call them only ‘people’ was perhaps a bit demeaning—these were true movers and shakers, Magisters of the Order of the Gray Owl. Some of them could wipe small cities off the map if they really put their mind to it. They had presences to match, each and all. Some of them had presences in a more literal sense—one man’s shadow danced with

decades. The tension was higher amidst some, while others seemed relaxed: the political and apolitical Magisters respectively. Hegazar envied the relaxation of the scholars, at times… yet he loved the politics far too much to do as

a gray-green disc, placed conspicuously close to the head of the conference table. It depicted an eye in the center, strange abominations on

Look at the decoration,”

Master Castro has been scammed by some new age artist,”

nodded. “Or maybe the man has finally gone senile, and that

his apprentice’s work. Let

of theirs might work—instead of making mocking each other, they’d make fun of everybody else around them. His laughter died

“Who’s…? Oh. Moriatran is missing. I suppose this is some grand show of his to one-up me by ignoring my summons,” the man said,

decades. Though old, bald, and shrunken as ever, Hegazar found himself

a cure for arthritis,”

and grim features, and cast shadows as though light obeyed his whims. His skin was quite dark, too, hinting he might hail from the Burnt Desert. Hegazar could

about the war, Master Castro?” Magister Traugott spoke respectfully, having a measured tone and a deep voice. “We’re all well aware of your close

about the war,” Castro said

that the usually even-keeled Castro

this,” Castro declared, setting a bottle with a dropper on its cap atop the table and walking up to the

looked back. “Is this a latest art investment of yours, Master

Tower Master. “It’s an investment,” Castro agreed. “But not art. It’s an investment in truth.” The Tower Master stepped away from the disc, grabbing up the bottle. “I’m

man every bit as old as Castro. His

seems I’m late,”

now, Moriatran—sit down, shut up,” he declared, then walked forward to the disc, tipping the bottle over until a drop of black liquid formed