Jackal Among Snakes

Chapter 399

Argrave and Anneliese walked up to Onychinusa as she played with the dryad children on the ground. She seemed to have resigned herself to being adorned with all manner of flamboyant leaf accessories-- from Argrave’s sight, he saw a few rings, a crown, and a bracelet, each and all made of flowers and twigs.

“You must think me a fool,” Onychinusa said, looking up at them. “To help these dryads would be to hurt Kirel Qircassia, undo all the work that he’s done to this forest. You should know as well as I do that I cannot make that happen. He is in Erlebnis’ design, and so not to be meddled with.”

Argrave offered his hand to help her up. “We’re not here about that. I need your help for something more immediate.” As he looked on the forest floor, he spotted something peculiar crossed out in the dirt. “Is that... tic-tac-toe?”

“Anneliese showed me that,” Onychinusa said unabashedly, then grabbed Argrave’s wrist to rise to her feet awkwardly. “It’s a stupid game, but they’re children.”

A thousand-year-old elf calls thousand-year-old forest dwellers children, while acting like the epitome of one herself in many scenarios. Argrave held his tongue, but glanced at Anneliese and felt she shared the same sentiments he did.

“We would like to ask a favor of you,” Anneliese began her pitch. “We need to call upon your shamanic magic. There’s a place that we cannot reach without it.”

“Reach?” the woman repeated, looking at the two of them. “You mean transportation, then.”

“Yeah. One spell to reach there, one spell to return from there,” he summarized.

“One person?” she said, taking account of all variables.

“Two. Us,” Argrave pointed his finger between himself and Anneliese. “I suppose three, if you count yourself.”

“Okay. Best get everything that you need done, because I won’t stress my spirits beyond that extent. You have one chance,” she shook her head, then walked past Argrave. “Are you ready now?”

One chance, indeed, Argrave thought. One chance to get you to agree to ruin Kirel Qircassia’s plan, cause a falling out.

“Let’s walk a little closer to the site itself, then, to ease your spirits' burden,” Argrave suggested, taking the lead. Orion was already ready to come along, and so Argrave called out to Batbayar, “Myriarch. Are you staying here, or are we going back?”

“I want to speak to the mother dryad,” he called back.

Argrave nodded, then looked to Onychinusa. “Well... let’s go, shall we?”

#####

“In all your years, you never learned about your own lineage?” Anneliese asked Onychinusa as they walked back to where the mandragora and the library waited.

Argrave was very surprised to see that Anneliese had broken down Onychinusa’s defensiveness enough to ask a question as bold as that and not have the immediate response be a tantrum of some kind.

“I told you... I know what you’re doing, so stop,” Onychinusa shook her head.

ask,” Anneliese continued. “I mean... Erlebnis is the god of knowledge, and you are his mortal champion. He couldn’t have forbidden you

Anneliese, perhaps surprised that was the direction the conversation took. “Not all knowledge is important,” she said dismissively. “I learned only what

lineage will allow you to empower her,” Argrave cut in. “If it can do that much... well, hell. It’s got to be important, somehow. Given how hard this place was to reach, it might be something Erlebnis might not even know. There’s nothing wrong with learning. Part of the reason Erlebnis allowed us to

that true?” Onychinusa

“Of course,” Argrave nodded.

him Lord,” she muttered

out. “I think...

him once more in surprise, then faced ahead, her face a complex storm of thought. Argrave was ready to say more, but Anneliese pinched him and raised a gloved finger to her lips. Let her think, she mouthed.

where the mandragora was as

Anneliese said, “Argrave and

at the two of them curiously, Orion looked back, and said in confusion, “...but Argrave knew for a

long with a body as thick as an elephant. With her help, I was able to learn how to fully understand the mind of another person—in this case, my sister. More than that, we saw all of the

impressed, but in the end her brows furrowed. “But you’re human, not a snake.

“Though not quite the most conventional ancestor, her compassion was a boundless ocean all

pondered the forbidden, unanswerable Vasquer question, and in the end

“But I imagine you can be punished

claims, then looked at Anneliese, bringing up a card they’d both been holding. “The reason Dimocles was given responsibility was because he could be trusted to act

want him to drown,” Onychinusa responded instantly and

“Drown?

way to die,” she

louder, prompting even the ancient elf Onychinusa to chuckle slightly.

asked for, should everything go right with this... I asked for Dimocles to die,” Argrave said quietly, almost as

at him. “What was the

ceiling above. “I figure they must still have a

quickly, feeling indignant, confused, and focused all at the same time.

can work, Argrave began

#####

time,” Onychinusa told Argrave firmly. “I have to

trying his best not to sound offended by the fact she thought he was that stupid. “Orion,

the world itself

a few hours,”

hours,” Orion

library waited for them. Argrave and Anneliese both paid very close attention to what she did, both of them hoping to grasp some insight about shamanic magic from this procedure of hers. The ancient elf raised up her hand and cast the spell in a fluid, quick, and near effortless motion, but Argrave paid very close attention to how the magic acted and how the spell called upon the

spirits. It confirmed to him then that she had intended to abduct him with spirits without his permission in the past, and now this time things were not the same. He caught fleeting glimpses of the spirits as they weaved around

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