Jackal Among Snakes

“You’re sure this will work?” asked Vasilisa as she sat on one of the beds in their inn’s room.

Anneliese held the Starsparrow atop her finger. “It is most certainly our best bet of finding the two Magisters ahead of time. What else could we do? Ask questions around the city? They have not yet arrived, so that would be a pointless endeavor. You cannot call upon any friends that might know, yes?” Anneliese questioned.

Vasilisa slowly gave a begrudging nod. “Alright. I suppose it is a reasonable way of going about things. Still… I think it’s far-fetched this will work, to be frank.”

Argrave looked to Anneliese, nodding. “I trust Sanora. She’s very good at finding things with that bird of hers.”

Or rather, ‘Sanora’ could get word to Elenore’s people with this bird of hers. Argrave didn’t know how Vera and Hegazar would be travelling. The sole time they’d travelled with the two in the past, they’d done so with a spell of Vera’s designed to traverse long distances. If that was the case once again… well, then their whole plan might crumble. But would Vera do such a thing again while travelling with Hegazar, presumably alone? More importantly, why exactly was she with Hegazar?

Questions bred more questions but seldom offered answers. The only thing left to do was the doing.

While Anneliese was preoccupied with that, Vasilisa, Argrave, and Galamon devoted their attention to another matter occupying them: thwarting Ivan. The Magister sought to illustrate a point, and so took the two of them walking through the city.

They stepped through a busy marketplace where people sold many commodities gathered from the coastal villages. The city on First Hope was remarkably flat. The water served as natural defenses, so no walls had been erected. One could often see for many miles in the same direction. To say the least of the place, it was thriving. First Hope contained the majority of the arable land in the entirety of the North, despite being a small and isolated island.

“You see?” Vasilisa commented as they stared down at a stall, far out of earshot for anyone. “They sell pearls here, Silvaden. Pearls. People have grown old, gotten fat off fish and caviar, and remain satisfied and rich underneath the reign of Magister Ivan. Let it not be said, at the very least, that Felipe III was not generous after his betrayal. All of Ivan’s territories are the richest in the north. What could possibly change the status quo here?”

“…and we already established you didn’t care for worsening people’s lives to get them to rebel, yes,” Argrave agreed readily.

Vasilisa glanced around uneasily when Argrave said the word ‘rebel,’ obviously not entirely at ease with the notion. “So? Then, what?”

“In the end… all power is a hierarchy,” Argrave said with authority, watching that stall of pearls even still. “Patriarch Dras, for instance. He conquered all of the tribes of Veiden and unified our people into one cohesive nation. Yet even still… even still, he’s one man. He delegates tasks to a select few underneath him. Like this, his power is divided and vested into those directly beneath him. These men further divide their power to yet more subordinates. Like this… a hierarchy,” Argrave illustrated with his hands, forming a pyramid. “Right, Vulras?”

After skipping a beat because he was unused to the alias, Galamon nodded. “It’s true. Vasquer grants more power to fewer than Veiden does, though. Most chiefs retain a great deal of power in… our land.”

Vasilisa crossed her arms, nodding steadily. “Your point being?”

person selling the pearls, not the people collecting them, but the people who own the pearl… farms, I suppose would be the word. A coup d’état

Then, her eyes wandered to the pearl stall. By this point, the woman who owned the

your role there?” Vasilisa finally asked, evidently ill at ease with how

“Well… the patriarch didn’t conquer every

“Dras

Ambers? What was that, then?” Argrave rebutted, recalling the story of Anneliese’s past. Her mother’s husband had betrayed his tribe’s chief to seek revenge.

the two of them, clearly hesitant to get engaged

with local powers,” Argrave pointed, diverting things back to the subject. “I think… provided you can follow instructions well, something I don’t doubt…” Argrave rubbed his hands together, pondering. “I think you can get all of what you want. You can find where the Flame of the Tenebrous Star is, and you can prepare to take it back in the same fell swoop. All you need is a pretense to reach out

“House Quadreign’s debt,

nodded. “Let’s say… if House Quadreign had a way to repay their debt in full… a new mine, perhaps, or something else of similar value…” Argrave

“We don’t,” Vasilisa answered.

it a risky loan, of sorts, with the prospect of repaying your debt and regaining your flame in one fell swoop.” Vasilisa looked at Argrave blankly, clearly skeptical. “I’m not denying it’s going to be a complex beast to navigate. But I’ve learned from what I’ve done in the past. I’m confident in juggling

from Leopold and Elenore both, and he’d learned from his own experiences

face of their personal tragedy, and to see how their territory had declined since Vasquer conquered the land… he loathed seeing them taken advantage of without any recourse. He felt in his bones that restoring them to power was the best

the Magister placed her hand

that so

She pursed her lips, appearing to debate mentioning something. Going cold as steel once her mind was made, her gaze jumped between the two of them. Vasilisa said plainly, “I know who

relaxed to utterly strained in a heartbeat. Magister Vasilisa watched,

that be?” Argrave asked, dreading the

shifted to Galamon. “He’s

of people and wheeling of barrows washing over them like a flood. Beside him,

true, what happens?” Argrave asked, still

the side, thinking. “Will it work?

choosing his words carefully. “I

it would.