Jackal Among Snakes

Despite the fact that Argrave was allegedly ‘on trial,’ when he entered the room where the gods of the Blackgard Union waited the only judgment that he received was curiosity. Only Lira knew the truth of what was going to be said here today—and even then, she only knew some of it. Argrave and Elenore had discussed how they might control the situation to come out ahead, and they had a relatively solid plan of attack.

As this was not a true dispute but an earnest disclosure between people who were allied, this room was not so grand and threatening. It looked more like a staged intervention, with many gods sitting in a half-circle of golden thrones ready to confront him about his pathological lying addiction. There was a seat ready for Argrave. The justiciars that had escorted Argrave panned out, coming to kneel beside each god present.

Argrave made to take a seat in his own throne, and as he did so, Almazora criticized, “I do hope that there was a good reason to bring us to this place. Even gods do not call meetings to Law’s Court so fickly. The White Planes might’ve been a better choice had you something more to ask of us.” She took her large braid of galactic-flavor hair and set it across her lap.

“If this is about the Qircassian Coalition, I’d advise you to stop worrying.” The god of deception and subterfuge, Rook, laid across his throne sideways. He appeared the image of the cocky rogue, dressed in all black with his legs rested on one armrest. “Rather, the situation is a good one. It shows that they’re unwilling to commit to fighting us. Unless you have new information, we should simply ride out their barrage of attacks.”

Argrave sat down in his throne, searching for words. As he did, one of the justiciars kneeled beside his throne. It would be assigned to him during the duration of this trial, to parse through his soul for truth.

“I suggested Argrave call this meeting,” Lira said, looking at everyone.

As everyone seemed to grow considerably more serious, a final justiciar took his seat in the last empty chair in this half-circle. It sat in the middle of them all. Its helmet swiveled about as it looked at everyone—the burgundy-wearing Raccomen, the tribal tattooed Stout Heart Swan, the young boy Yinther, and the namesake of Veiden, Veid all present yet silent.

“All are present, save Hause,” the Justiciar declared.

“Hause doesn’t need to come. She’s already informed,” Argrave said, settling back into the warm, if stiff, throne. “Seeing as I’m the one to call for this meeting, I’d like to propose the structure of this trial. Does that suit everyone?”

Moments of silence passed without anyone raising any objection.

“Very well.” Argrave nodded, tapping his knuckles against the throne’s armrest. “I propose something thorough, yet casual enough to be called informal. First, we’ll have a hearing. I’ll state my perspective plainly. Second, we’ll have an interrogation. Third, I’d like for you to make your choice regarding my proposal. Let’s call that my sentencing.”

“That sounds just,” agreed the justiciar representing Law. “Have you conditions?”

“I do,” Argrave nodded. “I will be truthful, and omit nothing about the situation. All I ask it that you let me retain the right to refuse to answer any questions that might come back to harm my kingdom or my family.”

“That’s rather abstract,” objected Rook, still lounging on his throne. Argrave felt seen through already—they’d intended for it to be abstract. “We need to define ‘harm.’”

moment, then clarified, “Anything that might trigger someone else to wish, or actually try to commit, acts of aggression against my

Argrave to withhold everything he thought needed withholding. Perhaps he’d be proven wrong, but

head. “Anything in the whole world could harm you if the threshold is wishing or committing acts of aggression. Some people want to kill you because you’re

defend one another by defensive pact, and have no reason to be at odds, I’ll say this. It should be obvious to all of

between everyone. Lira looked to have something to say, but no one else made any issue with this idea until Veid broke her silence. “You should explain to us

them think that he was being dishonest.

the nature of this conversation,” Lira interjected. “There should be another condition. If we do not like what we

this story should be

looked at her. Law’s representative spoke up, informing, “My court is not

bound to this trial if he doesn’t agree to that as the premise. You won’t allow him to be bound if it’s not

speaking to Lira first had been Argrave’s biggest mistake. But then, it was the only reason they’d been brought here. He didn’t doubt Lira only

leaned in, staring at Lira. “Our exchange with Argrave has been a wonderful one. We have new faithful, and come next cycle, we may manifest in Berendar again with a populace

nodded intently.

the connection in his head and asked Elenore, “How well

sharp. “Terribly. Absolutely terribly. The barrage from that Sky Tower, as Sataistador called it, would get through

to reopen the deal regarding

said, “If that’s something that can genuinely happen, I think you should leave, now. We should approach each of the gods of the union individually. They may be angry and distrustful at your sudden flight, but losing the union after we’ve built so much of our plans around it… well, frankly,

can’t revoke

“I think the risk far outweighs the potential gain. We should simply

quite well. But how confident was he in his ability to, quite frankly, bullshit his way through a conversation? The longer that Argrave stared, the worse the idea

to draw everyone’s attention. “I can

finally spoke up. She eyed with curiosity—perhaps she’d gleaned some of his intent just from his

you’ll all want to rush to the White Planes to get away from my stench. I’ll have you know I smell quite good.” Argrave tapped his chest. “Matter of fact, I think that it’s rather the contrary. I’ve been dealt—no, that’s not fair. I dealt

Lira leaned

right to take all of you to the White Planes again to renegotiate our deal.” Argrave held his arms