Jackal Among Snakes

Durran opened a door, beholding the man waiting on the other side. His name was Traugott. As Elenore said, his skin was darker than most people in Vasquer. Even still, Durran had seen darker men in the Burnt Desert, and his other unusual features drew attention first. His hair was as black as ink, appearing soft and inhuman. It looked more like grafted strands of black silk than hair. And his shadow… it looked solid, almost tangible, and did not move with the light of the room.

Despite that, he had a pleasant and somewhat round face. That, coupled with his ordinary gray robes bearing the insignia of the Order of the Gray Owl, somewhat grounded the Magister Traugott back in the mundane.

With a white-toothed smile, Traugott inquired of Durran, “Hello. Who might you be?”

“Just some help for the princess,” Durran answered, opening the door wider. “Please, come in. We’re happy to have you here, Magister Traugott.”

“The princess? I see,” the Magister said evenly, stepping within the room. “Greetings, Princess Elenore. It’s currently rather nice to make your acquaintance despite the circumstances around us.” His eyes landed on another person in the room, and his expression slowly lost some of its cheer. “And… Magister Vasilisa of Quadreign.”

Magister Vasilisa stood in one corner of the room. She was a tall woman, blonde of hair and blue of eye. She came from the very distant north, part of the noble family of Quadreign—apparently, the majority of their members were renowned spellcasters. Elenore was happy to have this Vasilisa’s presence, but Durran was not.

Elenore, despite her haste in arranging this meeting, had not done so without some precautions. The princess had called in a lot of favors and spent a lot of money to merely have this woman present with them. Durran had complained that having two Magisters was more dangerous than having one, but Elenore had rebutted that at least this Magister was of proven character.

In the end, though Durran was not entirely content about this precaution, he had to admit it was better than nothing. Traugott came as an ally on paper, but he was still an unknown quantity. Indeed, the lack of information she was able to find was alarming. No one seemed to know anything about him. Vasilisa, contrarily, had an upstanding reputation. Traugott had already arranged to meet with her, too, so it wasn’t a disrespectful measure.

“Traugott,” Vasilisa greeted. Though she had been completely unenthusiastic before the meeting, now that it came she was at full attention, playing the part of a diligent escort.

“I’m glad I managed to get in touch with you,” Elenore spoke to Traugott kindly. “I thought I might facilitate your journey here. You intended to spread the word of Gerechtigkeit to your fellow Magisters, didn’t you? But some of my sources say that you had a personal support of Argrave’s cause. Please, have a seat.”

“Well… you’ve saved me some travel.” His face recovered from its change in demeanor quickly, and Traugott smiled as he sat down upon his chair. “I should ask—might I meet His Majesty, the King Argrave?”

Elenore raised a brow at his grandiose address. “His Majesty is absent from Relize at present.”

“Ah,” Traugott nodded. “Such a shame.”

Durran walked to stand behind Elenore, keeping his arms before him as he kept a close eye on the man ahead. Traugott didn’t seem to mind.

booklet. “So many… proofs, truths, each and all leading back to Gerechtigkeit. His Majesty must have made a formidable study of the situation. With this

diligent,” Elenore nodded simply. “Castro

wonder how it is the king managed to find all of these leads. I, myself, am quite a scholar, yet all of these things… passed right under my nose,” he

So many were aware

been deliberately suppressing things,”

Traugott exhaled slowly. “Then how, I wonder, has King Argrave managed to find the

the news,” Elenore said without skipping a beat. “Vasquer has been discovered. She was held by the Bat. Argrave has long been aware of these

a very reasonable, plausible answer,” Traugott

Elenore said quickly, hoping to change the direction of the conversation. “I thought you might be amenable to detailed cooperation, considering you volunteered to come to the north to convince your fellow

Traugott nodded with a

“I wanted to discuss how you might use your sway in the Order of the Gray

did come to offer some help,” Traugott tilted his head. “But I’m only a scholar—a seeker of

‘plausible’ or ‘good justifications,’ as though he knew some sort of truth and

alone… they’ll have ramifications: namely, positive results for us. The title of Magister has weight, you know that. Your vocal support for

give a slight

long ago accepted. Everyone would be better off if they admitted they know nothing. The past—how are you sure it happened? Because you can recall memories? How do you know they’re yours? What is ‘knowing?’” He

her brows, sitting in silence for a few seconds. She seemed just as perplexed as Durran was. Was the man trying to avoid answering them in an elaborate way?

much time asking those questions, you stagnate,” Elenore said,

shook his head. “But going with that assumption I made… how

moments, then answered, “You’ve stumbled onto

shook his head. “But the word you used… it’s faith. People don’t know. They cling to assumptions, reasonable or unreasonable, without ever truly knowing.” The Magister leaned

before he stopped being able to see anything. Quickly, he cast a spell of fire, but it, too, was consumed by darkness. What was up, down, and all around ceased

the dark because it’s unknown. Myself, I’ve always wanted to be steeped in it. Rather than leaving it be, nothing entices me more than

so did the darkness release them. When it was over, Vasilisa stood before both of them, holding her hands out towards Traugott with a spell swirling about that ate away the darkness. Durran struggled to stay on his feet—whatever

she was unharmed. She sat there, the same as ever. But could Durran be sure that nothing had happened to her? Tearing his gaze away and back to

thought it came from Castro at first, but that isn’t the case, is it? No… it came from Argrave,” he said, the honorific address dropped. “There are so many places to visit in this little booklet. So many leads to follow, so many other proofs. Or so is claimed… I’ve yet