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.

and rose. “Alright. We can get into the finer details.

Melanie noted. “Was all that talk about inner

glance at Anneliese. She gave him a

good at talking money,”

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

Melanie said, her face slowly gaining a smile. “Well… that’s certainly worth a little something. Make sure to get 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 with my pack of rose-bearing fools. Just a few clarifications before I

#####

between us and the Ebon Cult,” Argrave mused with Elenore as they walked along in Nodremaid. Being here invoked paranoia, but Argrave was assured this place was clean by Anneliese, who walked by his side. Galamon guarded ahead, while Orion guarded

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

Spellcasters get better spells, warriors get new equipment; it’s a simple equation. On top

trust you. Still, you seem… distracted,” Elenore stopped walking and looked

had said. He looked at her and countered, “Sure

arms and exhaled. “I

jitters at the altar?” Argrave leaned

wants things I can’t give?” She looked at

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 some

these fears are not

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

too late for that,” Argrave

then resumed walking. “I have

#####

Rose, Durran was there waiting for them. Him and half a dozen other wyvern riders swooped down from the mountains, casting great clouds of black sand about the land. He brought food from the caverns—Argrave recognized it to be food scavenged by the subterranean mountain people. It seemed Durran had made many friends in the Burnt Desert

he intended to visit the Alchemist, his friend was understandably concerned. After some explanation, Durran relented, agreeing to command

was nearly the perfect center of the