Jackal Among Snakes

Many of the people of the research team had a unifying thought. This thought was shared between some few members that knew one another and had a rapport.

The queen only received her role because of nepotism.

Some few quietly dissented against that opinion, arguing that the fact that she had become an S-rank spellcaster at all was evidence enough of her right to belong here. Still, there were quite a few stages of the pinnacle of magic. Ancient casters like Castro, Rowe, Moriatran, or Tarah could not be put on the same level as those that had just breached the barrier. Her knowledge, rather like an iceberg, was doubtlessly grand, yet surely tapered off at the top where it breached the water. Theirs were mountains, looming far above the sea.

Rowe the Righteous spoke to one such doubter hailing from the Great Chu. He listened patiently, not displaying the fickle wrath he was well known for. At the end, he suggested, “Why not give her some difficult questions? If she’s embarrassed, her authority over us will be lessened.” He prodded the man. “Put her words of treating all as equals to the test.”

Though the person Rowe spoke to did not immediately do as he suggested, the idea spread rapidly among the proud spellcasters assembled. As everyone else reviewed the notes that she had distributed, someone gained courage and walked up to her where she sat.

“Anneliese,” the man said boldly—a caster from the Great Chu. He knew her prowess on the battlefield, but the battlefield was not research.

“Yes?” She looked at him expectantly.

“Have you considered the possibility of the S-rank illusion spell [Unperson] being one of the points of attack?”

Anneliese nodded. “Yes. That’s one of the points of reference in the third booklet—I can’t recall the page, but it’s about midway through. I, myself, have scrutinized it in some detail. I wrote some of my thoughts on the matter within the annotations.”

Hearing his question answered thoroughly and respectfully, others yet approached the queen. They posed reasonable, if increasingly esoteric, ideas. No matter how thoroughly they delved, the queen had an answer ready for each and all. Moreover, she answered follow-up questions adroitly, demonstrating insight that did not come from rote memorization. Rowe continued to shepherd people into undermining her position, sometimes even directly supplying them questions they could ask her with a devious smile on his face.

Eventually…

“I don’t find your joke particularly funny,” Anneliese rebuked someone calmly.

“A joke? It’s a perfectly reasonable question,” a Magister of the Gray Owl defended. “Is there some reason you can’t answer it?”

“Your question was answered on the first page of the notes I distributed,” she retorted, then looked around. “It appears I need to give clearer direction, as a startling number of questions posed are already some that I answered in the distributed texts—in short, surface-level.” She rose. “We may be inventing a new field of magic. New fields do not revolve around S-rank magic. They must be capable of casting spells from F-rank to S-rank. Read what was distributed. Catch up to where I stand, theoretically. Only then can we press past all of this, getting into the meat of the matter.”

The people that sought some sort of humiliation walked away humbled, though none could protest. She had indulged them as equals, but in so doing, proved she deserved her title as their superior. Rowe, though, walked past all of them and greeted Anneliese.

“Well done,” he told her quietly. “It’s about what’s expected of my apprentice.”

She shook her head. “Most of the questions were about illusion magic. Considering it’s new to our people, can you really claim any credit?” She smiled, and Rowe himself stood humbled. “Still, thank you for forcing that opportunity. Now, I believe you should catch up to me as well.”

managed a few awkward words then shambled away, joining the rest in having been artfully cowed by the

to Argrave, despite your tension. His wiki spared me in a few tight moments. I think the results will be wonderful in the team. As a matter of fact, we may be far

welcome,” Elenore replied simply. “I hope

to cheat a little. She wouldn’t make a habit of it, but

her head in response. There, Artur floated. “I wished to consult you further about the

emotions. He seemed ambivalent. “Certainly. Seek me out at the

“I will.”

#####

the unusual seismic activity is directly related to mass movement of Gilderwatchers,” Raven told Argrave as they walked together through a particularly gloomy volcanic cavern. Lights from spells billowed around them as they walked, illuminating their

intensely focused on the cavern ahead, but

story should be reported if

rough, and I took no samples, as I did not

don’t have their blood. You’d

I might’ve communicated with Vasquer. How else do you think I recognized your heritage when no others did? Mine is a different

survey a branching path. “Alright. And what was

words Lindon contacted you with after Vasquer’s death were genuine. I felt the same energy I had extracted from the sample coming from the

is Anorexhai?”

Raven said. “A

Raven out of

“I reported everything.”

the lottery?”

it somewhat ingenious,” Raven said ponderously. “None could guess one as vacuous as Durran might have such potential lurking within. Garm will prove invaluable. I hope you will lend him to me, as I

from Raven, he knew something was wrong about the way he’d handled the situation. There were cracks in the foundation. Argrave hated the feeling

the situation demanded little time to rest and think about what had been done.

said holds true…” Argrave pressed onward over a steep incline

here, and the black rock had shards of obsidian embedded at random intervals that made the light dance. Sudden glances of light often caught his

pooled upon it. What was ahead rather reminded Argrave of the obsidian pathway one needed to take to discover the Alchemist’s lair. They shared their material—so-called volcanic glass, black and brilliant. It

strangely didn’t carry very far into the pathway of obsidian. “Just

ahead, stopping just short of the volcanic glass. “Do you know why I employ obsidian so often?

for the answer, but he answered, “Some quirk, I imagine.

Nothing else can respond to the most whimsical of

Raven. “We can just walk through all