Jackal Among Snakes

“Should we meet with this man?” Anneliese asked, staring out across the sea of grass. “Who is Dimocles, even? You seemed to have knowledge of this name.”

“One of the player characters,” Argrave said shortly.

“Ah,” Anneliese nodded. “Then maybe we…” she stopped, then rephrased, “As I recall, you once said all of the player characters are good… more or less.”

Argrave put his hands in his pockets. “This guy’s the more or less part of that.”

Anneliese nodded slowly, then stared at Argrave’s cheek as she asked, “Eliminating the other options we have already encountered, he would be a spellcaster first and a warrior second, correct?”

Though his mind was dancing as he scrambled to think of ways he might deal with this matter with Erlebnis, he turned his head and said, “Yeah, you’re on the money. I’ll tell you what he really is, though—he’s scary.” Argrave took a deep breath and crossed his arms. “If there’s anyone that fits the archetype of the game’s player, it’s Dimocles. He doesn’t enjoy eating, drinking, socializing… any of the normal human pleasures, basically.”

“Then what does he enjoy?” A frown spread across her face.

“Collecting,” Argrave looked down at her grimly.

“Collecting what?” Anneliese pressed for more.

“Spells. Weapons. Armor. Houses. Talented people. Unique people. Anything and everything that draws his attention, he tries and collect.” Argrave looked up at the endless blue sky. “Induen killed his parents, so you might think he’d have some good will towards me for settling that unchecked score… but damn it, I’m not quite sure if such a thing as goodwill exists from that man.”

As he stared up, Anneliese asked, “He collects… people?”

Argrave closed his eyes and sighed. “Yeah. It’s not…” he grasped at the words. “It’s not like he does anything weird with them. I don’t think he has the desire to do anything with them other than own them. It isn’t about having power over them, it’s just about them being his. That manifests in a bunch of different ways.”

Anneliese blinked for a few moments in confusion, then questioned quietly, “Does not the meaning of owning imply power over another?”

“Sure… sure, I guess,” Argrave agreed, his head still swimming. “But he doesn’t abuse that power. Like any collector, he likes to keep everything that he owns in very good condition, mentally and physically. Collection is about preservation, not domination. He’s rich, charismatic as a sociopath, smart, and talented… it isn’t hard to keep a little swarm of people he likes in his villa.” He looked back at Anneliese. “The cruelest thing he does is deciding that someone isn’t worth collecting any longer. He spends all this time making the other person totally dependent on him, to where their life revolves around his… then he finds someone better and the Fairy Godmother’s spell wears off, leaving them with nothing but a pair of glass slippers. They’re on the streets, destitute.”

Artur was that he thought the man was someone worth

a Magister?”

very expensive collectible, but if he

forehead and asked,

for this my brain is leaking out of my ears. Did Erlebnis intend this? That letter… Artur said it was about

to the same thing—we need

to go unwatched. The information we get from him might not be the whole truth, even if he’s not lying—hell, perhaps Erlebnis knows about your uncanny empathy.” Argrave looked at her. “And that’s

tilted her head. “You think it may be

Erlebnis, I don’t fear a trap overmuch. Maybe Onychinusa might show up… but even then, you’re her antithesis.” He looked at her

looked at her gloved hands,

any chance of dealing with this crap, we have to understand what’s going on.” Argrave rubbed his hands together.

with my bird,” Anneliese reminded him. “I need not place myself in

the meeting is tomorrow, we have more to discuss. I thought we might sleep tonight…

#####

altars that they’d entered inside to reach the Mother’s Steppes. The only way to

the Magister’s

the time of

#####

he cast light into the air with a quick spell. Anneliese observed this all with her Starsparrow, which had already taken

Artur took an involuntary step

robes were a bewitching combination of dark gray and a dark blue-green that swirled mesmerizingly about each other. Heavy metal baubles dangled from his sleeves, sewn on tightly so

skin was pale, yet with some scars and a

“Gotten… much more powerful, too. What rank

a few S-rank spells,” Dimocles

began, but laughed and shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. What is this?

he showed others was fake. But if the whole of him was fake, what was real? She couldn’t answer