Jackal Among Snakes

Argrave looked out across a room filled with torches. He walked to specific ones, passing others by, and lit them with simple spells. A bunch of his people watched what he was doing in confusion, but he carried on unconcerned. Finally, when he lit the torch in the top right…

The floor in the center of the room started to shift around, clicking and grinding into place as a stairway slowly took form. Argrave walked around it, joining everyone else while paying the strange contraption little mind.

“Orion?” Argrave said, holding out his hand. The prince slowly deposited a rolled-up sheet of paper in Argrave’s hand.

“How in the blazes do you know about this?” Melanie questioned, following Argrave as he walked in the room.

“There’s a partially destroyed journal in the second floor of the mayor’s house where he wrote about this top-secret entryway in extreme detail, in case adventurers like us came here and needed to access this place. Lesson number one: if you write a journal, you die. It’s simple statistics. Regardless, even with some of the journal missing, you can puzzle it…” Argrave began to explain, but trailed off when Melanie looked at him like he was mad. “Don’t worry about it. Just accept it.”

Argrave knelt down on the floor, then pointed to the stairs. “That, there, is a hidden entrance to the old dwarven cities.” He unraveled the piece of parchment Orion handed him on the floor. “This here’s a map of the city I had retrieved and recreated. This entrance emerges here,” he planted his gloved finger on the top right of the map, then traced it to another location. “You’re going to bring the Stonepetal Sentinels to this spot, here. That’s just below Blackgard. By then, that place will be accessible. It’s ten or so days away, given the diversions along the way.”

“This is some ask!” Melanie noted indignantly.

“You can do it,” Argrave looked at her plainly. “I trust your ability more than most I can think of.”

That decisive praise seemed to brook no protest, and Melanie shifted on her feet anxiously while muttering something. “Alright… alright, fine,” she crossed her arms. “You said we’re collecting something. What?”

“See these X’s on the map?” Argrave pointed them out, one after another. “Check here. If the X is oriented like this, it’ll be a refinery. There’s a big thing there that you’ll need to haul away—I’ll give more details after. If the X’s are like this, it’s a warehouse. Your job is to pick these places clean. Take everything you can carry. Then, you’ll bring them to Blackgard.” Argrave looked up. “Now, this next bit is the most important.”

“We talked about this,” Melanie interrupted. “Avoid the Ebon Cult.”

“Yes, avoid the Ebon Cult,” Argrave repeated, saying it like praise. “You, Melanie, are the leader of the scouting party. You’re foraging for some resources, finding some ideal locations… but you are not to start any fights. The Ebon Cult is far less numerous than we are, and this city is huge. There’s no reason to fight. The Stonepetal Sentinels are used to exploring an underground city cautiously—they’ve been wandering around Nodremaid for generations, stepping on the toes of vampires and two-armed heads since before you were born. They can handle this, so long as their leader leads them with caution in mind.”

“I believe she gets the message, Argrave,” Anneliese cut in.

We can get into

a promotion,” Melanie noted. “Was all that

She gave him

You’re good at talking money,”

it is now, needs to survive off of commerce. The road to the Lionsun Castle is notoriously dangerous—rockfalls pervade the valley, with no sources of water for miles on end. As such, this city is going to become a hub for commerce between the two nations. Once we repair the fortresses on either side… this place will become quite defensible. And Argrave and I were thinking you should be this city’s first countess. Once we repair it for you,

rid of those weird eye-lights on the ceiling. Oh, and install new magic lights, if you would.” She scratched her cheek, then seemed to decide not to push her luck as she said, “I guess I’ll be scurrying on into that hole

#####

the Ebon Cult,” Argrave mused with Elenore as they walked along in Nodremaid. Being here invoked paranoia, but Argrave was assured this place

skeptically, “Will new metal alone really prepare our army to fight all that

it absorbs force so well that very little impact transfers to the wearer. Spellcasters get better spells, warriors get new equipment; it’s a simple equation.

distracted,” Elenore

She was right—he was thinking about what Castro had said. He looked at

and exhaled. “I don’t… I don’t know,

at the

things I can’t give?” She looked at him. “What if I’m wrong? And

listened, Castro’s voice rang in his thoughts—you must swallow the fact that you can be wrong. Elenore was as good a leader as Argrave knew, and yet even she questioned herself. Maybe this wasn’t the same, but even still… it provoked

a thousand reasons not to do something,” Anneliese counseled Elenore as Argrave paused. “In the end, I know only this; these fears are not founded in the here and now. I see no warning signs. He has pure intentions. Emotionally, at least. Elsewise…” Anneliese

nodded, looking a bit calmer. “Yes, I… I suppose this is so. But there’s a part of me that wishes I didn’t let this fall into his hands so easily…” the princess sighed, then shook her head. “I have some strange, incurable stubbornness he evokes in me. Perhaps I should let him win, if only this once… still, I can’t let him think too much of

that,” Argrave pointed out, catching his

then resumed walking. “I have some things in

#####

casting great clouds of black sand about the land.

was understandably concerned. After some explanation, Durran relented, agreeing to command some of his men to

between the Burnt Desert and Vasquer. It was nearly the perfect center of the continent, and a more-than-defensible location to reside in while Argrave visited the Alchemist. Once he returned, he would bear witness to their union. It was a political show