Jackal Among Snakes

After the conversation with Batbayar, Argrave managed to get a few hours of sleep… sleep made harder by knowing the most pivotal part of the plan would come in twenty-four hours. Less, given the time that had elapsed. Batbayar evidently decided that time was of the essence. His conscious mind welcomed it, but his subconscious mind wanted far more time to rest and prepare for this grand undertaking.

On the next morning, something arrived when Argrave walked out of his tent—a large black bird with a huge wingspan, filtering through the trees in search of Argrave. Orion regarded the bird cautiously, almost viewing it as an enemy, but Argrave walked towards it and held his right arm out. Nikoletta must’ve ridden day and night to arrive and speak to Elenore so quickly. Its claws gripped him a lot more delicately than the average bird might’ve… but then, a druidic bond would have human mannerisms when controlled by a human.

There was a bundle tied to the bird’s legs—one on each side, so as to balance out its weight. They were books, two of them, with nothing else provided in the way of context. Argrave had demanded it be that way, in case Erlebnis somehow had a way to intercept messages.

Argrave freed the two books, taking them in hand. With that, the bird—in truth, Nikoletta through her druidic bond—nodded at him and departed. He hadn’t even been able to give his thanks.

“What is it?” Orion questioned.

Argrave looked around before opening them, but Onychinusa was preoccupied talking with Anneliese about something. Satisfied that Erlebnis’ champion was distracted, he opened the books up, reading the footnotes left by the ancient and departed writer. When he got midway through the explanation, he inhaled sharply.

[Worldstrider], Argrave read the spell’s name. An A-rank spell of precise teleportation.

Argrave had been confident in retrieving this tome of shamanic magic from the ruins of the dryads, but now that he had one in hand he felt a great relief. He hadn’t expected Elenore to have any shamanic worth delivering, but this tome alone was half the reason shamanic magic couldn’t be discounted. If he hadn’t been constrained by travel times, movement speeds… he could’ve achieved much more than he had. Days and days he’d walked, run, hiked… and days and days he’d wasted. No amount of money could buy time. This spell was the closest thing.

The other wasn’t so grandly useful, but it still drew his eye: [Resonance]. It was a C-rank spell that helped the caster track down other spirits. Though basic shamanic magic, it was the basics that formed the foundation of the grander stuff. Even still, one needed spirits to even cast the spell, so it was useless of yet. In the long term, though, this spell would be incredibly important.

But even in the short term… I can make use of this. If I have the spell ahead of time, I can learn it. Or given the disparity in talent, maybe Anneliese would be best with these. She can use A-rank spells already, after all, unlike me. Argrave closed the book. All we need are spirits.

His gaze fell upon Onychinusa pointedly, who still talked with Anneliese even now. His queen noticed him—and his annoyance at their closeness, perhaps—for she left words of departure to the ancient elf and then walked to Argrave. He didn’t miss the blatant displeasure on the ancient elf’s face, but she turned around and looked out into the forest and distanced herself from them.

“What are we doing now?” Anneliese asked as she came to stand by him.

“Getting an update on how the elven gods fare, getting an excuse for a departure, and then seeing if we can actually get what I wanted.” Argrave handed her the books discreetly, and she accepted them knowing their importance by how he looked. “Hold these for me, would you? Let’s go. You can read them if you’re bored…”

#####

“I’ll cover for you, but your excuse before the myriarchs was shoddy,” Altan told him flatly. “If you’re gone for long, people will begin to suspect.”

Argrave had told the myriarchs that loose ends remained untied with the centaurs. Given the threat another enemy might pose, it was justified enough to allow Argrave a little freedom in his activities.

“The bulk of my guard is remaining here,” Argrave shook his head. “They won’t be suspicious of a thing.”

arms. “And when you’re

leadership,” Argrave confirmed, though he didn’t intend to tell her

again in confirmation, then walked off to attend to whatever it was she had to attend to. Argrave jogged back

was the last of our ordeals among these woodland dwellers. Will we proceed alone, Your Majesty?” queried Orion. He had been somewhat briefed on the plan. “I know Vasilisa

wanted to fight us… she’d win. She knows every spell I do and

hardly promising words, Orion gave

back to attention. She nodded decisively. “I am ready for this. But I read that spell tome, [Worldstrider]… or tried, more accurately. It is different from any other

He’d given her most of the day free to examine what Nikoletta had delivered. If she was expressing trouble, then Argrave didn’t think highly of

get done… and so damned little time, Argrave thought internally, but only grabbed Anneliese’s wrist. “All you can do is

#####

woods. Onychinusa already waited there, sitting on a root quietly a distance away from the myriarch. The man to lead them stood with his hands

“Everything set?” Batbayar asked.

“Yes,” Argrave said succinctly.

or listening. Once he was satisfied, his

only I had the time for that…” Argrave adjusted his

the sunburst with snake heads—his symbol. It was meant both as a sign of his prestige… and of his responsibility to protect

impossible to place one in particular. But the crux of it… it was bitter resistance to his dying breath. He let it wash over him, and then followed after, his blood echoes leaving faint maroon trails

#####

made more difficult by the still-disturbed roots. Along the way the roving bands of Kirel Qircassia’s shattered forces sometimes reared their heads, and Batbayar made short work of them with

of the thousands of arrows pierced in the trunks of the trees nearby. The trees looked like pincushions.

enough to leave an arrow in the tree… we take them to the dryads,” the myriarch explained. “There, they

gray mist between these trees. His Brumesingers crawled out of his coat and spread out along the ground. They seemed

of the four of them. “We’re going through the dryads’ path. Wear these blindfolds. I will escort you from

untarnished white cloths without question, but Orion hesitated

this necessary?” the

nodded. “Only those blessed by the dryads once before can pass without guidance. And your eyes will be lost if you witness

to debate if he did want to keep his eyes, but then gave a solemn nod and put the blindfold on before anyone else. Argrave and Anneliese, too, trusted Batbayar and wrapped

her head in curiosity. “In your

the sake of blind obedience,” Batbayar answered. “Quite literally blind obedience, Queen Anneliese. Here, a child is taught to trust their superiors… and the adult is taught to take charge of those who rely on you for sight and vision. Life

the blindfold, Batbayar explained, “Take them off only when I say explicitly to take them off. Not when I say, ‘we’re here,’ or anything else of the kind. Listen closely, follow my guidance… none of you are children, so simply don’t do anything childish. Nothing

they were ready, Batbayar stood behind the four of them and gently shepherded them along. He held Anneliese’s arm, but even despite that Argrave was uneased. He felt his feet might hit a snag at any moment… but instead the path was smooth, and though he started when his feet set upon stone he decided

what felt like spiderwebs. That notion gave him shivers as he questioned what might be crawling across him, but he trusted Batbayar’s words and his own experience