Jackal Among Snakes

Though Argrave had consulted her for advice occasionally throughout this ill-advised trial, after a time, he went deafeningly silent. Elenore contacted him through their connection time and time again without receiving a reply, and her head worked quickly. Was Argrave sulking, despairing? But then, it wasn’t like him not to reply.

When he suddenly returned to them in Blackgard, not saying anything at all, she grew worried. He walked past everyone and entered her office, then walked over near her desk.

“Is it bad, Argrave?” she questioned, standing just behind him. “Just tell me. Tell me how it’s gone.”

Argrave didn’t say anything more. In frustration, she grabbed his arm and pulled, only to catch a faint smile on his face. He turned to look at her.

“Raccomen tried to squeeze more land out of me, but I called his bluff and talked him down to claiming a desert in the Great Chu. Rook just wanted more material wealth—couldn’t talk him out of it, unfortunately, so we’ll have to oblige him once the invasion’s done. Almazora, Veid, and Lira came along without strings attached. Law wanted me to make his faith that of the state, and I obliged, but the way it’s set up, it’s really just a ceremonial title; we’ll tolerate other faiths.

As for the bad… Stout Heart Swan and Yinther won’t be coming. Our huntress just kept the status quo, and Yinther claims to be ill-suited for combat roles. In summary, six winners, two losers. They intend on dividing the spirits gained from this invasion amongst themselves.” He took a deep, proud breath with a smile on his face. “We’d best be preparing for the voyage. You have to receive Lira. She’s going to modify the Sea Dragon to our specifications.”

Elenore felt tension drain from her body. She wanted to hit him for playing around with her this way, but she was too happy to be free of this burden to manifest it as rage. “What exactly happened?”

“I killed it, that’s what. We made a binding agreement in the White Planes to cooperate against the Qircassian Coalition and Erlebnis in a joint invasion. The only other caveat—all of us have to communicate with the others whenever something with Sataistador occurs. It’s for safety.”

“That’s it?” Elenore narrowed her eyes suspiciously.

“It’s a pretty good day to be us,” Argrave chuckled, patting Elenore on the shoulder as he walked by. He turned on his heel and walk backwards as he called out joyfully, “Let’s get to work. Now that Lira’s cooperating, I had an idea. Why don’t we make the Sea Dragon into our base of operations? It’s a little unconventional as a home, but I think Sophia would enjoy it. It’s certainly got enough room to be a palace. Might need a little redecorating, a little childproofing… but what do you think?” Argrave stopped at the doorway. “A new palace, prebuilt.”

Elenore could only nod, a little numb and dumb by his enthusiasm. He pointed at her and walked out the door happily. Hearing the results, she’d never been gladder for her advice to be ignored.

#####

Busy days passed as everyone moved frantically to meet the necessities of this rapidly-approaching assault. The turtle ships of the Great Chu were outfitted with Dario’s ballistae one after another until they ran out of space. Lira worked her powers on the Sea Dragon, creating a portal between the gargantuan flagship and a separate location outside the mountains of Blackgard—Argrave didn’t dare have the exit inside the city, in case the worst came to pass.

Argrave’s standing army had swelled to far above twenty-thousand by this point, the majority of them battle-ready. Five thousand had been diverted to the reclaimed Great Chu turtle ships, with a single Chu navigator to teach them how to sail the ship. They’d been armed with dwarven weaponry and dwarven armor, and coupled with support from a hefty magic squad, he thought his troops every bit the equal of the Great Chu’s basic infantry. But it was the battle among the elites that would be uncertain. The Great Chu had countless S-rank spellcasters and officers well equal to Emperor Ji Meng in strength and equipment. Ideally, their dearly departed emperor would be able to harness these elites to their end before outright war broke out.

The bulk of the Veidimen’s able-bodied population had been called to this war. They didn’t have an accurate count of bodies, but they did know the fleet. Eight hundred longships, Dras claimed, each of which could carry fifty warriors. Veiden had twenty-two S-rank spellcasters of varying quality—some had been born the past year or so. With Veid watching over them, they would be indefatigable, and with Galamon commanding them, they’d be able to amply use that power to their advantage.

Argrave sat with Dras and Elenore, chewing on a freshly grown apple from an orchard in Blackgard. Something about the fruits grown near the fields imbued with a fruit from the elven realms made them taste all too delicious. Many diagrams were splayed out before them—one of them was a map of the Great Chu. They had decided upon a landing point.

“With Lira’s ability, we’ve mitigated the necessity of hauling along enough food to feed our army,” Elenore pointed at Argrave, then looked at Dras. “But the others ships… we can’t reasonably distribute supplies from the Sea Dragon and keep a timely schedule. Separate ships will need to bring enough supplies to last the whole journey. Conservatively, I expect us to need a month’s worth of rations for the trip. Realistically, the journey should take two weeks. The winds favor us.”

Argrave chewed the apple as he thought, then said, “Nothing wrong with being conservative.”

Dras shook his head. “A month’s worth of food for my men? We might’ve had that before, but now we’ve spent long enough in this naval base that we’ve gone through much of it. We’ll need a little assistance.”

“Done,” said Elenore decisively. “I kept a close focus on agriculture, building stockpiles to prepare for when things get desperate. Despite undead and lesser deities roaming the countryside, we managed to improve our crop harvest. Your diet might be plain, but we can ensure we have enough food to spare for this journey.”

“We didn’t improve anything,” Argrave said, staring at her. “That was all you, Elenore.”

“All that matters is that it happened,” Elenore dismissed his praise.

“Let’s not forget to bring fruit.” Argrave held up his apple. “The freshwater situation is dealt with through magic, so we’ll need one spellcaster aboard each ship. Walking water fountains, they’ll be.”

“The logistics are settled, then.” Dras looked between each of them. “All I’m wondering is how your decision to participate affects our arrangement.”

Argrave set the mostly-finished apple down and crossed his arms. “You mean your intent to invade the Great Chu?”

“Precisely so,” Dras nodded, unabashed.

“I do imagine it’s complicated your grand vision, somewhat. You can’t exactly parade around as the noble conqueror that created a great empire from which Anneliese and I reaped all the rewards.”

Dras raised his brows. “Of all things, I didn’t think you’d gloat.”

“I do hope you don’t intend to go off on your own,” Argrave said simply.

“Of course not. You have your plan, your reasoning, and I intend to be as good an ally as I can.”

Argrave gestured. “Then that’s that. Once Gerechtigkeit is done and gone, I don’t know. What happens in the days to come, or even further out, is a mystery to me. Neither Anneliese nor I thought our hand would be forced to sail overseas en masse, but it was. This was entirely unpredictable.”

“Speaking of my heir… where is she?” Dras asked curiously.

Argrave cocked his head back in surprise. “You don’t know? I thought Rowe would report every little detail. She’s with her teacher. She tells me that she’s close to breaching the barrier to S-rank spells. They’re in some wasteland far from civilization. She’s going to give it an attempt.”

#####

Rowe and Anneliese stood facing one another in the howling winds of this plain in the middle of nowhere. Rowe leaned against his staff, and Anneliese stood with her hair blowing wildly.

“Before you try and do anything in the way of S-rank magic, I’d like you to ask yourself something,” Rowe yelled above the winds, looking at Anneliese seriously. “What is magic to you?”

“Really?” Anneliese narrowed her eyes, waiting for the wind to die down slightly before she spoke again. “I was asked that same question many times as an apprentice. Should I give the same answer as I did then?”

“Have you changed since then?” Rowe held his hands out. “That was the beginning of the road. This, ostensibly, is the end.”

Anneliese nodded, running a hand through her long white hair to straighten it after the winds had ruined it. “Back then, I believe I said magic was freedom. After my time with Argrave, it has become much less and much more. It’s a means to an end, a tool. It’s capable of massive amounts of damage, of harm. At the same time, there’s nothing else more fun to master. At this point, I would simply say this: magic is magic.”

“As stupid an answer as I expect from you,” Rowe nodded with an amused smile. Anneliese only shook her head, well used to Rowe’s disparaging antics by this point. “Magic is magic. Takes a real genius to come up with that answer, truly.”

Rowe stepped away from her. He drew the blade embedded in his staff, then planted it down in the barren soil between them. Icy mist spread out across the ground. She didn’t know what that blade was, but Rowe obsessed over it. He laid his arms atop the pommel, staring at her. “I said I would give this to you to signify you as my student. Well… cast an S-rank spell, girl. Earn this blade.”

Anneliese looked out across the wasteland. She didn’t feel much of anything at all, confronting this sheer wall. Just as magic, Anneliese simply was. And Anneliese felt amply ready to cross the last remaining barrier.