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.

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

took. “Not

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 come here was because he

Onychinusa looked at

“Of course,” Argrave nodded.

him Lord,” she muttered quietly after a while. “Both

hand out. “I think... I think I

ready to say more, but Anneliese pinched

four of them moved in silence, Orion leading them back to where the mandragora was as he

to think, Anneliese said, “Argrave and Orion rediscovered their

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

With her help, I was able to learn how to fully understand the mind

furrowed. “But you’re human, not a

not quite the most conventional ancestor, her compassion

quite mortified as she pondered the forbidden, unanswerable Vasquer question,

Anneliese said poignantly. “But I imagine you can

card they’d both been holding. “The reason Dimocles was given responsibility was because he could be trusted

him. I want him

chuckled. “Drown?

painful way

prompting even the ancient elf Onychinusa to chuckle slightly. Hers was a strange laughter—stuttery and jittery, but entirely

one of the things that I asked for, should everything go right with this... I asked for

at him. “What

no, either.” Argrave looked to the ceiling above. “I figure they must still have a use for him yet. Something he has that you don’t. Seeing

confused, and focused all at the same time. As she did, Argrave

can work, Argrave began to

#####

use the Lord’s blessing this time,” Onychinusa told Argrave firmly. “I have

Argrave said, trying his best not to sound offended by the fact she

the world

maybe just a few hours,”

few hours,” Orion nodded just

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

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

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