Jackal Among Snakes

Traugott watched Argrave and his companions walk over the broken husk of this realm from a distance. He had to admit—he wasn’t expecting such a display of potency from Castro. As it turned out, a cornered rat was much as likely to fight twice as hard as it was to make a mistake. He’d spread a net of spirits outside this strange pocket realm to block their flight, but it was all turning to naught.

He lamented that he’d not had the time to study this realm in greater detail, after both Argrave’s severance of the loop and Castro’s levelling of the city. They preached of preservation, but they had put an end to an invaluable heritage in one fell swoop. He hoped to claim Sophia, but Argrave’s desperate thrashing had thoroughly trounced that idea. And moreover… it had put an end to another mysterious variable. The one called Norman, father of Sophia.

“Still… not all is lost,” Traugott whispered, laying his hand upon the corpse. He looked at the black ring in his hand. It stored Norman’s soul. It was no undying soul, but even still, Traugott was certain simply by the strange power still coursing through it that it would have something to say when he pried it open. What remained of King Norman would experience only agony until Traugott extracted the answers he sought.

There is a reason Norman was so freakishly powerful. And lurking in that reason is why Gerechtigkeit’s malignance led back to Sophia. Traugott thumbed the ring, smiling. Despite everything, he would get the answers he sought. Let Argrave enjoy his prize.

#####

Argrave walked along with Anneliese, supporting Sophia through the carnage left in Castro’s wake. The howling portal into the Shadowlands was vacant after Castro’s final act. It seemed that things died not only on this side, but in that abyssal plane as well. There were neither gods nor masters in the place called the Shadowlands, but Argrave did wonder if they had provoked something. It wouldn’t be the first time.

As they advanced near the end of their long journey through Sandelabara, a metal arm burst free of rubble, swiping at Argrave. He stepped away by instinct, then readied himself to fight. As rubble fell away from the golem, he saw that it only had one arm remaining. He expected mindless resistance as it was an automaton, but instead its arm settled limply. Its core was exposed, where white energy slowly seeped out. Argrave swore he saw an eye peer at him from within that core. He looked around to be sure there was no danger, and then dared a question.

“You said we were damned and doomed. That was you, wasn’t it?” Argrave stared at the white eye. He didn’t know whether or not to expect an answer.

Seconds passed with no response. Argrave was prepared to move on, as time was precious and they couldn’t know when the Shadowlanders would return. As he began to walk, a voice pierced his head. It was so fabulous as to be unknowable, yet so plain as to be mundane simultaneously.

“It wasn’t me who said you were damned. But it’s an accurate sentiment, whoever said it.”

Argrave looked around at everyone else. They heard the voice, too.

“How are we damned?” Argrave looked back at the golem, though remained cautious that this thing was trying to keep him in one place to set him up.

“Gerechtigkeit will come again, as he always has. This time, however, he will not need to build his power from the beginning. He will regain the might that he had during every cycle, all at once.”

Argrave’s blood ran a little cold as he contemplated what that meant, but he still sought further explanation. “Regain his might, meaning…?”

“Sophia, his anchor, is no longer stretched thin. He will be the strongest that he’s ever been. All of his power, typically scattered cycle-by-cycle, will instead coalesce all at once. He will be as strong as every iteration combined. And all because of you, parasite. You simply had to be the one to decide for the world. The world made its choice in generations past—who are you to decide against that choice?”

Argrave couldn’t tell if the being speaking to him was being truthful, so he spat back, “Who are you to choose for us?”

“Do you think I’m obligated to answer simply because you won?” Hearing the being say that, Argrave shifted on his feet. “Yes, I admit it. You won a battle in our war. Now, you’ll perish to Gerechtigkeit, and we will clean up your mess.”

“And if we don’t? If we overcome the odds—what then?”

“Find out on your own.”

The white eye faded away from the golem core. Argrave hesitated to move.

“It left,” Anneliese confirmed. “Others remain, but I can guide us around them.”

“We waste time,” the Alchemist derided. “I hear the distant calls of the Shadowlanders—they come for their portal, yet again. We have only a while yet before freedom. I will again bestow my magic upon you to ward from the heat and grant freedom of movement.”

“During that conversation… I think I saw where the being’s source was. It was linked to Dario, so…” Anneliese trailed off, then raised her head with resolve. “I believe we have one more priority. We must track Dario. If he’s still alive, the information we get from him might be far more than what that possessed golem was willing to divulge.”

“That’s good thinking.” Argrave nodded at her. “I’ll leave that to you. I think Onychinusa would be perfect to help you out, there. The Alchemist and I will return to Blackgard with Sophia.”

“I’ll help Anne,” Melanie nodded. “I owe it. Felt like I just stood around, then cut off a head, then followed everybody else. I’ve still got the energy to help.”

“And I—” Orion began, but Argrave cut him off.

“Need you with us, Orion. Sophia’s safety is a large priority. I don’t know what’ll happen after we leave this portal, let alone Vysenn.”

“Of course, Your Majesty.”

Argrave turned his head when the first call of new Shadowlanders filled the air. It was disconcerting thinking that these creatures would persist below Vysenn, but soon enough magma would flow over this place. With Sophia’s power over the land gone, perhaps it would be immersed entirely in liquid rock and metal.

Argrave held Sophia closely. “Let’s go home.”

#####

“You needn’t follow me out of guilt alone,” Anneliese told Melanie. “You could not have known Dario was who he was when you first met him.”

“Who says that it’s that?” Melanie protested, even though Anneliese did poke at the heart of the matter.

Melanie followed Anneliese and Onychinusa into some caverns at the roof of the vast magma lake beneath Vysenn. This deep, pressure and heat both were intense, so they stayed wrapped in the Alchemist’s shield of air as they searched. Despite her protests, she did feel guilty that Dario—a man she’d met first, and failed to sus out he was suspicious—had led to the death of Castro. That man… he had that kind of power, and Melanie’s failings had caused his death. She had to do more, be more, if she was to make up for that.

“Honestly…” Melanie continued when the silence stretched, drifting through the hot caverns where Dario likely hid. “I’m coming half because I have questions I need answered. About Dario. About what he did, and why.”

It was honest, and that seemed to convince Anneliese somewhat.

“I have been known to indulge my curiosity now and again,” Anneliese nodded. “I can relate. But none of that matters if he slips away, so let us work hard.”

“Right,” Melanie nodded. “Given how good the man is at hiding, I think we’ll have some trouble. But I know a few of his tricks, and have some of my own beside…”

#####

Dario no longer had the strength to stand. He could crawl, however, and that was proving enough to avoid the gaze of his pursuers. The key to stealth was not blending in with the environment, nor moving quietly. Dario did have all those things, but they were not key elements of successful stealth. Instead, it was all positioning. Knowing where the enemy was and would be, knowing where one could move to escape sight, and knowing the layout of the area made avoiding detection an easier task.

Dario waited in recesses that they would not logically check. He dragged his broken body through places they had already been before, and would not come again. He looped and winded around this twisted volcanic tunnel, sweating from the heat even as his broken body felt cold as the grave he would soon find himself in. Despite knowing that death would be the better choice in this scenario, he could not embrace it. He wanted to live, despite everything he’d given for his cause.

He wound around this twisted cave, avoiding Anneliese’s party as he headed for the exit second by second. He had studied this place for a long, long while. Multiple exits, winding pathways that all seemed the same… it was the perfect place for an escape. They found evidence of his presence, but their ever-frantic searches only made them all the more predictable.

Just as Dario felt he was falling into a loop, getting the better of them… he heard the scrape of a boot, and then felt something sharp and slick at his neck. He looked back, and spotted red hair. He recognized the woman. Melanie. She held her black blade at his throat.

He let out a long sigh—half relief, half defeat—then relaxed his whole body. All the artificing in the world meant nothing if he could barely move his body. “Where did I err?” he asked.

“Just hid an open portal beneath the rocks, then stared through it. Couldn’t hear you coming. Almost couldn’t see you, either. But… I did, evidently. Just remembered how you used to be, back when we were hunting those ogres.”

Dario finally rested his body, planting his head against stone. “Best kill me now. My guide—your true target, doubtless—is gone. I broke myself, and no torture can break me further. I am a dead end in your search.”

“A good man died because of you,” Melanie stated matter-of-factly.

“Who?” Dario looked back.

“Tower Master Castro.”

“He…” Dario settled his head against the stone. “He was a good man. I understand why he aided Argrave. I… I am sorry, you know, hollow as it may ring. But all of you are poking holes in a dam just to find out what’s on the other side. I had to do this.”

Melanie stared down at him in silence for a long while, then shook her head with a sigh. “No one knows I’ve found you. Maybe in time they will, but until then, I’m going to ask you some things. Not their questions, but mine.” She pulled the blade away, then walked around to sit on a rock. She studied the artifice work bracing his body, then fixed her green eyes upon him. “Do you feel good, having destroyed yourself for a cause? Are you fulfilled?”

Dario huffed through his nose. “Building rapport? Ineffective.”

“Not a tactic. Just a question, from me to you, as someone trying to figure out this life we have. Because… up ‘til now, wasn’t really in the position to look for a life worth living. Now, my head’s spinning trying to figure out what there really is. So, let me ask again, in simpler terms. Was it worth it?”