Jackal Among Snakes

“I trust your journey here wasn’t difficult?” Princess Elenore asked from her desk, staring at the two in front of her. She had four golden-armored royal knights standing behind her.

The red-headed siblings Elaine and Rivien Vyrbell shook their heads fiercely. “Not at all,” Rivien began, a statement which Elaine agreed with a mumbled affirmation. “We were accosted by the undead. Fortunately, my sister recently ascended to A-rank.”

“I had been meaning to thank you for your help with my magical progress. I was able to get one of those Magister hoarders to give me the knowledge I needed to ascend,” Elaine thanked her with a hand held to her chest, her green eyes earnest.

Elenore nodded. “Alright. Argrave spoke highly of both your skills, and I’m short of time so I’ll summarize things for now. Rivien—you’re to become a member of parliament and the minister of Jast. You’re to help deliver the king’s will and the parliament’s will to all within the county of Jast. Elaine—you’re to represent the Order on the parliament. Unofficially, you’re a link that I have to keep track of things in the Order. You understand?”

“I do,” both confirmed.

“This is no joke,” Elenore stared at them with her steely gray eyes. “I don’t want underhanded dealings or corruption on any level. I keep track of things. You’ll be well paid, but well monitored. Let that be a deterrent from any skimming off the top you might be considering.”

“I under—”

“And that includes your men.” Elenore stared at Rivien fiercely. “If there are any rogue agents, your head rolls with them. I trust you know how to spell guillotine?”

Rivien stepped back, eyes narrowed. “Here I thought I was the gangster, Bat. Still hard to believe that it was you I was dealing with this whole time… but I digress. Yeah, we have an understanding.”

Elenore placed her elbows on the table and entwined her pale, skinny fingers. “Good. For the first while, you’ll be helping shepherd plague refugees, facilitate road reparation and construction, and find recruits for the military. You’ll get details—for now, I have something to attend to.” She looked behind her. “See them out.”

One of the royal knights moved to obey, moving the Vyrbell siblings out of the room to prepare for the next guest. Elenore briefly wrote on a piece of paper as she waited, then turned to another parchment that had a long list. After crossing off a point on the list, she stared at the next entry for a long time. She rubbed a golden ring on her finger—the B-rank warding ring that Durran had given her.

“Bring him in,” Elenore looked back once again.

The door opened, the royal knight leading the next guest into the room. She stared ahead, her gaze slowly lowering to keep eye contact as the guest entered further into the room.

“I’m very sure the briefing that was given amply conveyed that His Majesty was seeking S-rank spellcasters for potent, highly dangerous combat.” Elenore leaned back in her chair. “I’m wondering why you volunteered to join him, Artur.”

desk—in a rare display, he walked on his own two feet, the mantle he wore dragging along the ground behind him instead of suspending him in the air. His eyes gleamed as he answered, “Do you think enchanting is only for defense, like that

a second later. “I think that His

“I do have my reasons. But I assure you that our

#####

that constituted the Bloodwoods, a tan-skinned elven woman with white hair sat on one of the branches. Onychinusa wore clothes that covered all but her head,

amber eyes looked down upon a stone fortress. They moved about, taking in sights. When Argrave emerged from his tent, walking about and delivering orders, they

all, burst into black mist, dispersing through the air and clinging to the trees and leaves. Just after, a flash of gold came to where she had been. The Starsparrow hovered there for a moment, wings beating fast enough a hummingbird was put to shame. The bird’s head

wrapped in leaves so as to conceal herself better. She watched where the bird had left for a long while. After a time, her eyes melted

elephant and with an armored carapace. The bottom of its body had sucking teethless mouths that inhaled the leaves of the redwood trees right off the branches and kept it fixed to the trees elsewhere. Its mouths travelled along, inhaling the leaves

elven woman, she held her hand out and cast a spell. Spirits danced out from her hand in the wake of a mana ripple, and with a burst of purple light the creature simply vanished. It reappeared miles away, the spirits tossing it into empty air. It flailed helplessly, falling slowly until its body hit the ground and shook the earth for nearly a mile. Predators of all stripes descended on it, fighting

#####

room quickly enough her blonde hair became a whip. Someone hailed her, and

with the man. “I thought… I didn’t think I’d see you again

summoned me. I was called to this place.” The elf looked around. “I know this kingdom has grander cities—why does the king hold his parliament here? Beyond

plans for this place, apparently. It’s not my place to judge—merely to represent mom.” She tapped her hand against the table. “We weren’t

it… but that letter had contents about

him seriously.

destroyed. But considering the man that hailed me is the one who knew how

into her voice, and she cleared

enough for all others to gather, I’m told.” The elf crossed his arms. “Something big

#####

crates in pairs of two. It had to be two—the content of the crates was pure metal, and more than that metal made to scale with the Veidimen. Elsewhere, he saw his three officers Grimalt, Bastal, and Rasten already handling their armor. It was

never known the royal smiths

that stupid bright gold metal that made things take so long. No offense,” he looked at Orion, who wore exactly what he’d

in garrisoning this fortress. Regardless of what they did in their expedition, some migration away from the Bloodwoods might be inevitable. Argrave hoped to mitigate damage from