Jackal Among Snakes

“Be careful,” Argrave told Anneliese as he held her hand. “I think’s it’s pretty well-established you can take care of yourself, but I always hate sending you off.”

“I know. You want to protect me.” She leaned in and kissed him. “But need I remind you… that you still have to catch up to me?” With a cheeky smile, she turned away and walked off, and Argrave’s hand slid off hers. “So, go do that. And you be careful.”

Argrave chuckled and smiled, watching as she walked away. When he turned back, his party was waiting. It was the smallest, yet perhaps the most potent—Artur, Vasilisa, Orion, Ganbaatar, and some of the first people he’d met on this realm… namely, Nikoletta and Mina. He’d changed a lot since meeting the two of them. And maybe they’d changed, too.

Orion carried a glowing section of Sarikiz’s dreaded hair, bound in a red rope that made it look like magical wheat. Artur relaxed on the grassy ground, staring up into the sky nonchalantly. Mina and Nikoletta talked amongst themselves, and Vasilisa caressed her forehead as though she had a headache. Ganbaatar seemed eager to move.

“You two are probably wondering why I wanted you with me,” Argrave said, directing his voice towards the ducal heir and her good friend. “Well, it’s simple. I didn’t want you to think I’d forgotten about my promise to ask the elves to search for Duke Rovostar and your father.”

Nikoletta looked surprised, and she crossed her arms and said quietly, “That’s… benevolent.”

Argrave stared at her when she gave that response. Things had changed, he was realizing. Now that he was king, people called basic human kindness ‘benevolence.’ All he was doing was what he thought was right. Maybe that had never changed.

He rolled his shoulders to dismiss his thoughts and said, “Let’s go.”

#####

As they walked across the grasslands, Argrave found himself very out of sorts. Galamon, Durran, and now even Anneliese were absent. He wasn’t quite at ease with Orion yet, and though he liked Vasilisa well enough he’d yet to build the same rapport he had with his mainstay companions. And as they walked…

“Might I steal a moment of your time, Your Majesty?”

Argrave looked to his right, and then far down to spot Artur’s shaggy head of brown hair. The Magister had expended much of his magic reserves in the fight against the wood elves’ Tumen and had asked them to slow so that he might walk with them—his enchantments drew from his magic supply, after all, and he needed that to replenish.

“Steal? Didn’t take you for a thief,” Argrave said lightly, giving a non-answer.

Artur laughed, though Argrave didn’t think his own joke was particularly funny. When he settled, the Magister cleared his throat and said, “I’m going to be blunt, Your Majesty, because I don’t think you care for delicate speech.”

Argrave spared the stunted man a glance, then turned his head back to the grasslands ahead. His cynicism flared, telling him that now was the time the cost of this man’s favor showed up on the balance sheet.

“I have a certain fondness for delicate speech,” Argrave admitted. “It’s saved my life a few times. And now I’m going to go talk to a god again—I hope I have a talent for it, as I think I do.”

“Again?” Artur repeated.

mind that,” Argrave shook his head. “Say what you

his eyes on Argrave. They were strange eyes—sometimes gold, sometimes green, sometimes every color one could conceive. It probably had something to do

seriously, “I hope that Your Majesty will allow me to create an institution subordinate to the crown, focusing on rediscovery,

say the least. Argrave took a long time to think about it

does that already. Technically, they’re supposed to have a monopoly on all magical knowledge… but such a thing is almost impossible to enforce, given the autonomy of each Order member. Still, it has

be completely unrelated to the Order. I think that, in the years to come, the title of Magister won’t have much weight to it anymore. And I think you’re to blame, Your Majesty. You know things. This journey here is enough to

a deep breath, thinking. He hoped to delay the conversation and joked, “Well, we still have to talk to a god, first. Might not make

sure of it. Physical enhancements, sight in darkness, resistance to poison or disease, or things like that silver bracer on your arm,” he pointed up to Argrave’ wrist.

altar. Argrave could hear their boots cutting through the grass as his mind thought

asked.

Majesty would realize the value of such an organization… and investments would be made,” Artur said diplomatically. “To do away with delicate speech—money.

“Power,” Argrave finished.

a few moments, and then back to the grasslands ahead. “I suppose you could call it that, yes. But… no. No, I don’t think it is that. All I

these that reminded Argrave why he preferred to go everywhere with Anneliese. That sounded

back at the Order… I’ll say only that I intend to promote development so long as it doesn’t come at the expense

doubly so in that region of cold, infertile fields. They had no use for a child like me. With this stunted body of mine, I was incapable of so much of what they needed—stout labor, endurance, general physical capability. I learned, then, a simple lesson. If they did not need

took up administration of taxes in the village. The tax collectors veritably extorted the villagers who were ignorant of how much was in a single bushel—this was long before Felipe’s conquest of the region. I was… ten, perhaps? From there, I took on more and more… I became literate, helped people with trade, learned medicine… it was a life of constantly striving to fill roles that were needed. It was only at thirty that I learned I had a talent for magic. It felt like a blessing beyond compare…” he closed his eyes. “But even having learned so late

never heard this backstory before. He knew Artur was from a peasant

you allow me, I will become an irreplaceable help to you. I’ve been doing it my entire life, after all. I didn’t wallow in self-pity. I would have succumbed to starvation long ago if I

being needed was all that mattered to you, would you have advanced so far? That was the

You’re an S-rank spellcaster,”

glance, then looked back to Argrave in expectation without answering

leaned against the stone and watched. “Anneliese has a similar sentiment about

Highness?” Artur raised a

hear what you’re saying. You’ve proven yourself many times over in that engagement back there alone. But it’s not my sole decision, anymore. You’re on the parliament—you know I intend for a future where it has more importance

he gathered his composure quickly and wrung his hands together as he nodded. “So it is, Your Majesty. So long as you know my will, I am content

#####

experience to watch something that looked like hair burn and turn into liquids. Sarikiz had the souls of sixty tribes trapped in her hair—though perhaps trapped is the wrong word, for it implied that it was not a willing thing. Regardless, it suited their needs for bridging the

place and threw it up into the air so that it might bathe the room in light. This new stone building was much the same as the first underground altar they had entered in many ways. It varied in two ways—namely, the fact that there were many more entrances, and the fact that it was flooded with blood. Argrave

and the rest soon emerged from the portal, blinking open awake just as he did. Orion’s hand went to his sword at once the moment he

up to a slightly elevated place where the blood had yet