Jackal Among Snakes

“I know that it might seem ridiculous,” Argrave said, one hand hovering near the other which held a wriggling salamander. “But these things… they’re the key.”

Reinhardt shook his head. “We’re the ones to ask you for help, Your Majesty. Why would we doubt what you do?”

Argrave looked down at the margrave. It had been perhaps three or four months since last they spoke, and now the situations between them had reversed entirely. It was a very strange thing to see Margrave Reinhardt and think of the past. That point of comparison struck home how much had changed. Argrave had done a lot. Some of it was worse than in Heroes of Berendar, and some of it was far better.

“Your Majesty?” Elias asked politely.

Argrave was drawn from his thoughts. “You’ll have two options. The first is to eat these things, daily…” he began.

Argrave explained the intricacies of the process to the two members of House Parbon, calling upon Anneliese to relay her experiences treating Elenore when necessary. When it was done he asked, “Any questions?”

“None.” Reinhardt shook his head.

“Good. Then, these things aren’t immortal. You’ll want to get this over with quickly.” Argrave looked down at the salamander. “You’ll either want your wyvern, or you’ll want to leave now. I’m curious where it is.”

Reinhardt looked instinctually defensive. “It’s… safe.”

Argrave smiled at the margrave’s paranoia. As he stared, he heard a knock on the door. Galamon, who was still acting as his knight-commander for now, stepped to the door and opened it up.

“I need your help,” Elenore said, her voice entering the room before she did.

“That’s rare. What is it?” Argrave tossed the salamander at Elias, and the one-eyed man grappled with it frantically in his surprise. “If there’s nothing else, margrave…”

“Nothing more, Your Majesty.” The man dipped his head respectfully, and his mane of red hair covered his face.

Argrave bit his lip, reminded once again of how much he enjoyed being undercover in the far north. It was hard to make fun of someone when they treated him like a king. It felt unfair. He turned to Elenore, and then he and his entourage walked out.

“You looked distressed,” Anneliese noted at once, and they walked down the hall following the princess’ fast pace.

“I have news,” Elenore began. “Rovostar… he’s abandoned his forces. On the bright side, they’ve surrendered to us and sent his family as hostages. His eldest son was killed while resisting.” She looked at him, gray eyes somewhat bright. “No more armies oppose you.”

Argrave raised a brow. “I only care about Duke Enrico by this point.”

“That’s the thing.” Elenore crossed her arms as she walked. “Rovostar took Duke Enrico with him alongside his small force. They marched right past Blackgard and Relize—the garrisons tried to stop them, but they travelled light and our sallying defenders were unable to even wound any of them. They have a spellcaster with them, I’m told. Last word I got… they’re headed for the Bloodwoods. It might be they enter, or it might be they look for a way out of this.”

Argrave sighed and placed his palm against his face. “I can’t… good lord. I knew I should have acted personally…” When he thought of what he might say to explain things to his cousin, he quickly asked, “What about Nikoletta?”

“We did find her,” Elenore nodded. “She was injured chasing after Rovostar’s party. She’s taking respite at Blackgard with another—Mina of Veiden. Her wounds are already healed, but the garrison is retaining her. For her own safety,” Elenore added positively.

it all. Everything was going so well…” he

Elenore sighed. “We’re here.”

the room. Argrave saw Orion sitting on the left, Vasquer situated on the balcony, and Elenore moved to sit opposite Orion. Vasquer barely fit: it was extremely evident that she needed much more room generally. Argrave looked about

seat, Argrave,” Orion gestured to a couch. “We’d like

furrowed his brows. “Is this… an intervention?

at Orion. “This man has been bothering me ceaselessly. He insists

and communicative. That’s what she told me. I insist we meet monthly, to update the others on what we’re doing,

leaned up against the doorframe, feeling a bit dizzy. Even here, he could not escape forced family

Orion repeated, pointing. “You as well, Lady Anneliese.

sunk into the cushions. He stared at Vasquer as she fit awkwardly into the room. Galamon shut the door as Anneliese

happily, running one hand over his beard. “I’ll

don’t we just get mutual understanding through

Her body is old and ailing. It was trouble enough for her to move from the underground position after years of suffering. We have to

further into the couch, then fiddled with his ring as he stared off into

Orion said. “Then…

of this is just a pretext to moralize about the fact I’m disparaging our

know why you don’t care. This is about

couch, fiddling with his ring faster. He looked up at

“You don’t even know what you want. All of this nonsense about family—I don’t want to hear it. You were father’s lapdog for years, jumping to his whim just as eagerly as Levin. Even now you’re defending his image. What am I to take from that? Can you even conceive of what he did to me? To

out so much, he noticed. Ordinarily, he’d be stomping and getting close to her face and looming and ranting about the gods. I guess

he’d done in the past. And Elenore… she’s getting a lot more emotional than

watched him almost expectantly. On the other side, too, Vasquer stared with what seemed to be hope. Argrave slowly sighed and closed his

enough!” He looked between the two of them. Elenore crossed her arms and leaned back onto the

getting anywhere. Forget Felipe, forget what Orion’s done, let’s just start with simple, ground-setting crap.” Argrave looked between the two of them, then pointed both hands at Orion. “Orion: why do you want to have this

find out what I want.” The big man closed his eyes. “I cannot

pupils bright. “I want… a family. A true family. I wish for what was illusion to become reality: love, respect, mutual struggle for prosperity. I thought I had these things, but I wronged Elenore, Levin, Induen, and Magnus in service of parents

few moments, then looked away,

to be a true brother

her lips and said,

going to be busy. With Galamon going away, the two of you are going to be my primary people for facilitating things. I need you two to

#####

and Anneliese, who were eating breakfast, both turned their heads at his

greeted. “You

feel worse,” Argrave returned. “Don’t do the majesty stuff. It’ll make what

his head back. “What

Righteous stepped in, and the two men locked eyes. Rowe was larger than Castro by a far