Jackal Among Snakes

Chapter 408

Sarikiz sat before Argrave, much of the tension in her shoulders drained. Her eyes did not wander from place to place so frantically, and she did not fear an attack from any direction. Indeed, it might be said that she seemed somewhat happy.

“Kirel Qircassia had made that rift. So long as he wills it, the thing will stay open,” Argrave explained to her. “More precisely, so long as he is willing and able to exert his divinity, it will stay open.”

“Do you intend me to bring my centaurs to act as warden of the land around this rift?” Sarikiz questioned, not fully pleased.

“Realms like this one we’re in now…” Argrave turned his head, looking out across the endless sea of grass where the animals prowled without a care. “They’re not like the mortal realm. Here, the rules are different. Here, you have true divinity. As you slept, this world was locked in frozen time,” he pointed at her to emphasize this point. “But just as it is here, so would it be there.”

Her back straightened as the point came to her. “You wish for me to pass through the rift, and enact my divinity to close the breach Kirel made.”

Argrave nodded. “You’d be leading a conquest of sorts. And it wouldn’t be you, alone, passing through. The centaurs could come with you.”

“But Kirel Qircassia would still be there,” she pointed out. “I was a god born on the last cycle of judgment. I am nothing compared to him.”

“But it isn’t the mortal realm,” Argrave shook his head. “You cannot die there, and nor can the centaurs if you decide to take them into your service. You have access to divinity far beyond anything you can muster on the mortal plane. You can fragment his realm, casting it adrift in the astral sea… and then, you and yours have a realm unto your own. No offense, but I imagine it’ll be somewhat grander than this one,” Argrave looked around. “You’ll still have to endure the cycle of judgment. We all will. But nonetheless, I think you’ll be tremendously advantaged if you follow through.”

“This must be your plan,” Sarikiz looked to Ghan. “No mortal possesses knowledge of this caliber about the divine and their workings.”

“It was his, from the beginning. It was what he intended even before Erlebnis made his presence known.” Ghan shook his head, holding his hand near his wound. “He knows more of the divine than he ought. But you know as well as I do that what he says would work.”

“I do…” Sarikiz confirmed hazily, placing her hand below her chin. “Then what of you, of your family?”

Ghan pulled his hand from his wound and said, “I will surrender myself as spirits, bestowing them upon Argrave that he might call upon a potent shamanic magic.” He looked to the side, where his wife stood even now. “And then… my sweet Ujin, or whoever still lives, will close Erlebnis’ breach.”

“Magic over divinity?” Sarikiz narrowed her eyes.

“I am wounded,” Ghan answered. “We were beaten by the thousands of spells Erlebnis summoned, and I was cut nearly in half by Chiteng. We were being hunted through the forests, and they would have overtaken us if not for that man,” he gestured towards Argrave. “My wound might heal, but it will take too long for me to be of real use. These spells… they might turn the tide. They combine the mortal and the immortal in a way I’ve never seen before. They were the work of Emperor Balzat, I’m told.”

A grim silence set over them as they confronted what was to happen. Sarikiz managed, “You elves always did seem keen to fight the strongest enemies, letting us take the easy pickings.”

Ghan laughed. “Well… it was the way things worked out.” He focused on Argrave. “I only hope that you can end the cycle of judgment better than we did, Argrave.”

Argrave lowered his head without words to say.

“And perhaps as more than a king,” Merata contributed.

do you mean?” Anneliese

this way… you’re bound to catch the attention of the universe,” a saddened Ujin said. “If you carry on this path, wayward spirits

happen,” Argrave shook his head

one point, the line between who I was and what I am blurred, and so I became

this continent is Gerechtigkeit’s point of contact,” Argrave

predict Gerechtigkeit,” Gunlik shook his head, rising. “We waste time. We must make

Sarikiz said, rising up. “Then… I believe it time to

was settled, Anneliese still stared at him, her brows furrowed in thought. It seemed there was something that would not exit her mind.

have…?” Sarikiz said, touching a knobby, cut bit that Argrave remembered sawing

to the point. “With the centaurs spectating from the Mother’s Steppe, the

Sarikiz nodded. “A final resistance, with my old

#####

the woods now free of impeding roots. There, at their front, Gunlik and Sarikiz proceeded to where Kirel’s breach stood strong today. The Holy Mother had manifested a

quickly,” Argrave

Ghan could speak. “It is easy to

still felt it strange that he had been speaking with the god on relatively even terms

the Bloodwoods, heading for the coast. Argrave had no specific information on where the breach might be, but the fact that Anneliese had learned from Onychinusa that it was underwater was

comfortable with what you’re doing?” Argrave

family?” Ghan questioned. “I do not think of that. All I see is giving them

he wanted to ask the old patriarch—if he was satisfied, if there was more he wanted to do… but at the end of the day, Argrave knew it was in his best interests to stay silent. And

cause, a country, a belief… seemed so foreign to me. If they are fools, at the very least I understand that foolishness now, as I did

the god sought to

you would die for, Argrave,” Ghan finished. “Then you will not think

stop, holding his crook wide

name, but

others watched elsewhere as if suspecting an ambush. Argrave was with them on that front.

staring them

not your concern,” Merata

slowly as he thought of his next words. He paused abruptly,

not, son,”

if I offered to close Erlebnis’

leave that task to you,” Dairi said, holding her

did you do it, son?” Ujin asked

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