Jackal Among Snakes

Argrave’s hand hovered just near Vasquer’s scales, and his eyes scanned her body. He looked at her eyes, but they were still and unblinking. He looked at her wounds, and already, the blood coming from them was beginning to wane in volume. He heard noise from behind, and then felt a huge arm at his shoulder.

“Don’t touch the body,” Raven instructed him. “Not until all that power dissipates.”

The body. The word rang in Argrave’s head, again and again, no matter how much he wished to dismiss it. Dead? Vasquer was dead? Seconds ago, they had been consulting her, basking in her warmth, delivering joyous news of a family long ago lost to her that was now soon to be returned. She was supposed to be welcomed back among her ancestors, just as Argrave and his siblings had been welcomed by her. Now, her once-proud mane of feathers moved only because of the mountain winds, stained by her own blood.

The whole world had been turned over. Had that been Lindon? Had he always been an agent of Gerechtigkeit, or had he been corrupted, somehow? Or was it merely an impersonation? How much of what Argrave experienced in the preceding events had been genuine, and how much had been total fabrication? If it had been since the beginning, it made no sense for the deity to offer them so much help. Mere minutes ago, Lindon had helped Argrave master the abilities granted by the Fruit of Being. Argrave could make no sense of it.

Regardless, because of his negligence, Vasquer had died.

Another hand grabbed him from behind—a more familiar, consoling touch. “Argrave,” Anneliese spoke in hushed tones. “This may not be the end of things. Without Vasquer’s presence of mind, it will be more difficult for us to detect covert approaches, as from the underground and elsewhere. Onychinusa’s barriers still persist, preventing teleportation, but you know as well as I that isn’t the end of our vulnerabilities.”

For a moment Argrave felt a terrible weight coming from his own mind that was near too heavy to make him straighten his back. But the reminder of the root of all this—Sophia—helped him rise, compartmentalizing the grief in a small box to be let out at another time. He wiped away and slapped his face, then turned back with a fierce mien. He was not granted the luxury of grief.

“First priority is securing Sophia,” Argrave said, voice hoarse yet strong. “Anneliese—I need you to teleport me there. I can’t use spirits as I once did.” He looked at Elenore, who seemed to still be in something of a state of shock. Despite her nature, she wasn’t as used to squarely confronting death. He kneeled down.

“Elenore,” Argrave said quietly. He put his hand on her, and she finally turned her gray eyes toward him. “Elenore. Are you alright? Are you fit to move? You’re needed.”

With her body trembling terribly, she tried to stand, then nearly collapsed before Argrave stopped her.

“Stay sitting,” he ordered her, and she nodded as he let her down. “You’ll join Sophia soon enough—someone will teleport you there. I need you to contact everyone we trust. Everyone needs to come to Blackgard prepared for a fight. We have to assume the worst—that this is a beginning to something much larger.”

“Alright,” Elenore managed, her voice regaining some of its vigor and her trembling fading with a clear objective before her. “I’ll assess the situation, as well.”

Argrave nodded and stood up, looking to Orion. He saw his brother staring at Vasquer. He was shaking, too… but certainly not from fear. Veins on his forehead and neck bulged, and his hands were clenched into fists tight enough his gauntlets creaked in protest. There was a dim crackle in the air about him as the blessings within manifested unbidden. He bore a silent fury with an intensity Argrave had never seen from him before.

“Orion,” he called out. “We’ll find them. Be ready for that, but only act when that time comes.”

Orion’s fist slowly slackened, though his anger did not fade in the slightest.

Raven walked ahead of Argrave. “I’ve collected a sample. I can temporarily fill the role of watching the underground using earth magic, but my method will have a degree less efficiency than she did.”

Argrave nodded at him. “I think I’ll look in the wiki, too. Learn that spell myself. For now, let’s get moving.”

As Argrave prepared to teleport with Anneliese, his mind busied itself wondering if his newfound abilities had a way to use shamanic magic without the typical mechanisms all other casters used. That distraction inevitably faded, and his mind wandered back to the incident. Lindon… what the hell was this? It felt like luck had finally found them, but its sweet taste turned to sand in the mouth in mere moments.

Something told Argrave that the matter with the Gilderwatchers ran far deeper than Argrave knew. There had to be some reason why Gerechtigkeit, or Lindon, or whatever that had been used Vasquer as the medium of attack. Argrave had been totally caught off guard by this, lured by a sense of momentum into overlooking pivotal details. Gerechtigkeit was never this overt before his arrival. Perhaps it was an omen of his strengthened ability, as the Heralds had promised would come.

The mind. It was a terrifying thing to meddle with. What did it matter if Argrave had unified the world, if their minds might be changed overnight? Measures needed to be taken—quickly. The one who might be able to help them the most on this matter was compromised, possibly even outright malevolent.

#####

Contrary to Argrave’s expectations, Sophia was not under siege. Her appointed guard, the Magister of the Gray Owl, Vasilisa, reported nothing out of the ordinary. She slept, peacefully. A great deal of Argrave’s force came to bear in light of Elenore’s rapid and frantic assessment of the situation. In less than thirty minutes, countless powerful people had arrived, and the whole continent was on high alert.

For a moment, Argrave felt as though the incident had come and gone as if it was a mirage. But eventually, ominous stirrings came to light.

“I searched the underground city, somewhat, with earth magic and my own sight,” Raven relayed to Argrave and Anneliese as they stood outside of Sophia’s chambers. The man was in his ‘Doctor Raven’ form, as he was about to give Sophia an examination to see if anything was wrong with her. “I noticed something extremely strange. The ground… all of it was rumbling, trembling. It wasn’t enough to consider it an earthquake or other event of similar magnitude. But something beneath the ground is stirring.”

Argrave nodded. “Maybe I should go and see it myself, cross-reference it with the things in my head.”

“I did one better.” Raven shook his head. “I contacted the dwarves. Things have been progressing quietly with them, but they still have been progressing. I was able to inquire if their machinery had detected anything, or if they’d similar anomalous reports.”

“Diplomacy. From you.” Argrave shook his head. “And?”

“They concurred.” Raven looked around. “It’s strongest near here, beneath Blackgard, but around the world, something huge is stirring underground. Things are in motion.”

“The Gilderwatchers, maybe,” Anneliese posited seriously. “I believe you said they live underground, largely.”

“I cannot say with certainty it’s them.” Raven looked to the door. “Enough speculation. Let us see the girl.”

With a nod, Argrave made for the door. Vasilisa gave him a polite nod as he neared, then stepped out of the way of the entrance. Gently, he pushed into her room while trying to keep the hinges silent. They creaked slightly, and a crack of light illuminated Sophia’s face. Her eyes opened, then fell upon the three of them.

“…Argrave?” she muttered sleepily, sitting up and pulling her blanket with her in light of the chill.

“Did we wake you?” Argrave entered, abandoning the plan. “We just wanted to check up on you.”

“Why?” she asked innocently.

Argrave stared at her without an answer, his mind somewhat scrambled after the events of today. Apparently, this girl had changed his mind, somehow. But could that information be trusted, after what happened? Was it another machination of Erlebnis? He could believe none of what he heard, and half of what he’d seen.

“Has anything strange happened to you?” Anneliese kneeled down.

“Umm…” Sophia rubbed her eyes to dispel her fatigue.

“What happened to you today? Recently? Say anything, no matter how trivial,” Argrave encouraged her, looking between Raven and Anneliese before he also knelt. “It’s of the utmost importance.”

“Mmm…” Sophia thought hard, gradually waking. “Yesterday, I woke up, then Auntie Vass took me to the place so I could see the people. I dunno where it was. We teleported. I helped a man without a leg get it back. He was asleep. And then, I…”

Sophia carried on, describing her day in minute detail while Anneliese and Raven scrutinized her for anything off. Her day seemed typical for Sophia’s admittedly atypical lifestyle, and Vasilisa said that it matched with what she remembered. Argrave was frustrated that he could find nothing, until Sophia started recounting something that struck hard.

“I guess… I guess I don’t have nightmares, anymore,” Sophia said.

“Nightmares?” Argrave repeated.

“I haven’t had them in a while.” She shook her head, clutching her blanket. “I see… I used to see Norman, a lot. He would…” she trailed off, muttering. Argrave wouldn’t dare ask her to repeat it. “But now… hardly ever.”

Argrave was glad of it, but he wished that he’d known about this earlier. Anneliese probed, “Why do you guess? Do you still have unpleasant dreams?”

“I still see Norman. But he’s a little different. And he doesn’t… he never does the things, anymore. And he talks different,” Sophia said, gaze distant.

“What does he say?” Argrave pressed.

Sophia clenched the blanket tighter. “He wants me to leave this place.” She shook her head. “But I don’t want to go. So he goes.”

Argrave heard her, and his grip tightened. A man that looked like Norman, but different. A man that wanted her to leave.

#####

Argrave sat on a rock outside Sophia’s room. Many months before Gerechtigkeit was meant to descend, the calamity was already playing a heavy hand in the world’s affair. Argrave had half-dismissed the notion that Gerechtigkeit was Griffin. Now, however, with the dreams that Sophia had been having…

He’d felt all-powerful not too long ago. Upgraded, enhanced blood magic. A match for divinity. Now, he was scared it would all crumble around him. Ironically enough, he’d become adept at fighting, strategizing, warring. Now, it was affairs of the mind that outplayed him all around. That attack was an assassination attempt, without a doubt. And they desperately needed a defense.

“Before you attack, listen.”

Lindon’s voice made the hairs on the back of Argrave’s neck stand up, and he conjured a blade of blood magic at once, preparing to cut away the intruder.

“If not you, I could converse with Elenore or Orion,” Lindon said quickly. “Instead, I came to you. I understand your rage and sorrow, but refrain from playing into his designs, I beg of you. Just listen.”