Jackal Among Snakes

“I won’t tolerate you being ungentle with Sophia.” Argrave crossed his arms as he stood before the Alchemist. “You need to be as kind as you know how before I ever bring her around here.”

Argrave and the Alchemist stood on the mountainside where he’d chosen to set up shop. It was far removed from any prying eyes, and the only people that hung around here were ostensibly the great big snake Vasquer and Onychinusa, the unsociable recluse.

The Alchemist looked down upon Argrave with his cold gray eyes, and Argrave suspected that if he had nostrils, they’d be flaring in annoyance. “If you were going to be so sentimental, why did you send Castro to perish instead of myself?”

Argrave felt like he’d taken a punch to the gut after hearing the truth laid out so plainly. “I don’t want to relive what was going through my head. Suffice it to say that it was an impossible situation to be put in, and I’m never going to forget what Castro did.”

The Alchemist turned away and started walking. “I’m sure he’d weep with joy.”

Argrave glared up at him. “Why are you making this more difficult than it is? Do you think I chose wrong, is that what you’re trying to convey? You think it’d be better for you to become the Smiling Raven?”

The Alchemist stopped walking and looked back, returning a question with one of his own. “Why do you think I offered?”

“You’re angry at me? I thought that was beyond you.” Argrave walked closer. “The simple fact is, we never would have gotten this far without you. And I don’t think we’ll get much further if you were some mindless abomination trapped in this gemstone.” Argrave held up the gleaming black Ravenstone, and it dangling from its chain.

“And yet you treat the thing we retrieved with undeniable ties to Gerechtigkeit like a princess, giving her a bed and a home, whispering sweet words, introducing her to your family, fabricating excuses as to why you should welcome her as family.” The Alchemist leaned down. “You cannot be pragmatic only when it suits your whimsy.”

Argrave grabbed his head. “I know. Damn you, I know. Hause claims… claims that I might’ve been changed by her. Sophia is one half of the cycle of judgment. She’s creation itself. I can’t explain why I like the kid beyond weak platitudes like ‘it’s the right thing to do,’ and ‘she’s just a little girl.’ It makes sense in my head, but… what if it doesn’t?”

The Alchemist studied Argrave intently in silence. Countless eyes opened all on his body to better survey him. “She is creation?”

“That’s right,” Argrave nodded.

The Alchemist looked up at the sky, and the thousand eyes faded. “That does make sense.”

his

it does.” The Alchemist looked to be parsing through half a thousand thoughts, but then he refocused on Argrave. “This Sophia thing being unimaginably powerful and being a young girl are not mutually exclusive concepts. You managed to make the dwarves suffer you. If you cannot do the same for a seven-year-old child, that would be unimaginably disgraceful. So,

Argrave tilted

one half of the cycle of judgment,” the

“Correct.”

goal is to end

his

you are.” Instead of making new eyes, the Alchemist leaned down until

the only thing to bring about the cessation of the cycle of judgment. It’s far too early to say. Can something ever truly be destroyed if

#####

that Sophia might need to perish, Argrave felt himself calming second by second as he sat with all of his most trusted companions. These were the people that he’d been honest to without reservations. Anneliese, Elenore, Galamon,

Amazon, be aware

Here, they’d received dwarves in months past. Now it was only

be so much greater than he was before, provided our opponent

for those confused,” Anneliese explained

rewards. We’ve set on the path to untying the noose that’s been strangling this world for

his somber friend only nodded. “Now, more than ever, it’s important our victory be decisive and beneficial. We cannot afford the internecine conflicts of cycles past. With the dwarves and the Veidimen as our allies and no serious internal problems plaguing this nation… we have the opportunity

note, I’ve been giving some thought about Dario’s situation. He’s an artificer. We can employ him

Melanie. I’ve

was only speaking pragmatically. Imagine

different things.” He looked to his side, and Anneliese affirmed it with a

vague in front of everyone? Is she implying I want to shag that mummy without the bandages? That idiot with the vacant stare and the constant complaints about how it’s

laughing in class when they shouldn’t, while Anneliese assured, “I know. You feel pity and morbid curiosity. And you do raise a good point—he can still be made use of. If he can employ those metal frames he used on his own

something finally set in for her. She was welcome here, no matter what she said or asked for. And

we set the record straight,” Melanie said, then joined Durran and Elenore in some mirth with a