Jackal Among Snakes

Argrave was higher ranked, and so had access to higher-ranked druidic magic. With it, he could create a temporary bond with a tamed creature only. For this purpose Argrave used a messenger pigeon, and with it, he examined the most important city in all the Great Chu.

The capital city of the Great Chu, Ji, had no peer. Argrave could say so fairly confidently while viewing it from above. He had been to Mundi, Dirracha, Sethia, and even founded a city of his own, Blackgard, but nothing could quite compare to Ji’s radiant beauty. To begin with, it had no roads at all. The whole of it was navigable by wide canals upon which boats traversed in tremendous numbers. Beautiful gardens lined these canals, with walkways of impeccable gray stone connecting the whole city.

No building seemed poor or run-down. Most all had clean white walls and gray-blue pyramidal roofs that hung over the side of the building. Gold and silver decorated wealthier homes, and children abounded, many of them playing with kites made in the image of eastern-style dragons. The crescent moon symbolizing their nation could be seen in noble palaces all over the city, each estate containing elaborate gardens and statues with a history Argrave couldn’t begin to guess.

Looming at the far north of Ji was the imperial palace. Argrave had thought the Sea Dragon massive, but the imperial palace was a gigantic complex of buildings in the same style of architecture throughout the rest of the city. One puny wing of it was as large as the entire parliament hall and all accompanying buildings in Blackgard. The imperial court did its business within, running the whole of this nation.

Closely positioned by the palace, straddling the wall between the palace and the city itself, was Argrave’s focus: the main branch of the Grand Imperial Bank in the Great Chu’s capital city of Ji. It was neither showy nor ostentatious, blending in with much of the city relatively harmlessly. But below, the heart of this nation beat. Metaphorically speaking, that bank was the moon that governed the tides of the economy.

And they were no closer to it today than they had been before.

Now that Argrave had seen it, he broke the connection with the bird and once again sat in his quarters within the Sea Dragon. The past few days were both a relief of some pressures and the application of others on a whole new level. The fact they’d compromised not one or two, but eight enemy commanders in such a timely fashion meant that the strain faced by their invading force lessened immediately. At the same time, this lessened strain enabled their scouting efforts to begin in earnest.

With druidic spells, they scouted army locations and geographical features, much of which they already had thanks to Lira. But with insider information, they began to map out how the power structure in the Great Chu had changed in the wake of Ji Meng’s absence. This was the most important information, yet also the hardest to manage. It was so tremendously difficult that Argrave found himself at a loss in merely three days.

Anneliese slid open the door, and Argrave turned his head to her.

She walked in and closed the door. Only then did she disclose, “Commander Yuan was attacked. He survived, yet… he lost a limb. I’m told this is likely to relieve him of duty.”

Argrave lowered his head upon hearing the news, but was not surprised. The past few days, he’d had to accept that he’d bitten a honeyed apple that was poisoned on the inside.

Three of the commanders that they’d managed to contact had been assassinated. Now, Commander Yuan was direly injured and likely to be removed from service. Some of the attacks had been blamed on Argrave and his forces—the commanders were ‘ambushed’ by raiding parties that Argrave never sent out. Two had utterly vanished, and were presumed dead. Worst case, they were captured and tortured by the imperial court. Argrave couldn’t be sure what information they leaked. All eight seemed steadfast, but anyone could break under duress.

“I should’ve known that things were too good to be true. This must be the imperial court’s move. Rather than place men they know are loyal to them in the frontlines, they placed ones they knew were steadfast.” Argrave scratched at his cheek. “Then, when we reached out… damn it all. But these men each and all had S-rank guards. How could they so easily…?” Argrave began to raise his voice, but calmed himself. He nodded quietly. “It’s done.”

Anneliese walked closer to Argrave to sit beside him. “The other four are far too busy preserving their own lives to be of any genuine use. I—”

The door opened, and Elenore stood there, shadowed by Melanie and Orion. Argrave rose to his feet at once. “Elenore. Why are you here? This place is—”

“Melanie and Orion aren’t enough protection for me?” She walked in briskly, then the two shut the door behind her. “I had to come in person. I was getting a headache from these constant mental barrages of conversation you people send me.” She walked with unusual vigor and grabbed a vacant chair, placing it before the table Argrave sat at. “Sit. Everyone.”

Argrave slowly acquiesced from the sheer force of her approach. Only Orion stayed standing.

“Three days. Three high-level informants attacked,” Elenore summarized, her voice rapid and sharp.

“Four, as of minutes ago,” Anneliese cut in. “He survived, yet was injured badly.”

“Four, then.” Elenore tapped the table. “We were naïve. These people are more advanced than ours in every which way—why did we believe ourselves their betters in espionage?”

“Durran tells me he did a good job of making things seem natural—that he made it seem like he fought them, then got pushed back,” Argrave shrugged. “And the commanders themselves… I don’t think they were indiscreet. So how could—”

“The ‘how’ doesn’t even matter,” Elenore interrupted him. “The imperial court may not even have known—they could have simply purged those they suspected. I’ve certainly done such things before. We should move forward with the assumption the imperial court knows of our intent to target the Grand Imperial Bank, and the fact the emperor is in our hands.”

Anneliese nodded in agreement, then asked, “Should we change our—”

“No, we won’t change our target,” Elenore interrupted her—her mind seemed to be moving far faster than they could speak, at present. “The bank is their biggest vulnerability, I’m sure of it. Despite that, we’re fighting our equals—no, our betters at subterfuge in the heart of their territory, and they’re amply aware of our attempts to infiltrate and undermine their position. It’s no wonder out first attempt failed. The first battle is lost, but it was enough to bring me here. And I refuse to lose any war.”

Argrave took a deep breath with a smile on his face. His sister, it seemed, had gained some rather extreme motivation. There was nothing more reassuring than that.

“I’m bringing the vast majority of my agents to bear, here,” Elenore looked at everyone in turn. “We need to attack in ways that cannot be anticipated. I’ve thought of one, for now: we’ll capture the pets of prominent figures and imbue them with druidic bonds to spy. Lira’s connections should be capable of that much. Even one or two successful plants could open up the world for us. As for the four commanders remaining… we’ll change our strategy. Drastically. We face a proactive foe—but by moving, they’ve already given us a vast amount of information. We have to force their hand.”

Elenore nodded intensely as her brain worked, then she refocused. “Commander Yuan—is he reliable?” She looked at each Anneliese and Argrave.

Argrave nodded. “Probably the most steadfast.”

“The fact he was injured suggests otherwise, but it works in our favor nonetheless,” she nodded firmly. “If the imperial court acts as they likely will, Yuan could become extremely important. His removal from service might be the legitimate grievance that allows us to protect and empower the four people that are our informants.”

Elenore rose and walked to a shut window, then opened it up. Orion watched the outside uneasily as she peered across the land. “Kill our informants without consequence? I don’t think so. Their information is conveyed by pipes beneath the canals, right? We need to get at that, intercept letters. It’ll be difficult to do so without arousing suspicion, but the rewards will be immense. As for assassination… it won’t be ours alone who have to die. We can stage killings of our own, pin the blame, just as they’ve done.

“Mayors, governors, prominent merchants, local heroes… we’ll rattle their cage until the rats come scurrying out. Then, we’ll burn them from beneath until they squeal the names of their masters. We’ll reach around the empire, too. Ji Meng talked about barbarians on the opposite edge of the borders. If we tell them about the internal conflict… if we tell them about us, here at the shores, liable to strike at the heart of the emp—”

“That might be a bit much, Elenore,” Argrave stood, walking up to her. “The whole reason we’re targeting the Grand Imperial Bank is to minimize bloodshed, remember? I’m not opposed to assassinations. Better for a few to die than both our armies, but that? Provoking invasions?”

Elenore closed her eyes and stepped away from the window. “I suppose it may be… extreme. But Argrave, tell me—do you expect it to be easier to raise Ji Meng as a claimant if the Great Chu is stable and prosperous, or if chaos erupts in his absence?”

“You know the answer,” Argrave said, non-judgmentally.

Elenore pursed her lips, looking to debate things. “…there are other ways. We could sabotage the intercity canals, for instance.”

“I think there are routes we forget.” Anneliese also stood, and came to join the three of them. “Rook is present. He’s agreed to help. He’s already involved in some way.”

“I can’t fathom what he’ll ask…” Elenore closed her eyes and rubbed them. “He agreed to help in war against the Qircassian Coalition. This borders on something beyond that, but perhaps if we phrase things properly…”

“Didn’t Rook bless some guy you know? Some noble of house Jast, got disinherited?” Melanie chimed in. Everyone looked at her, and she cocked her head back in alarm. “What? Am I wrong?”

“No, you’re very right.” Argrave pointed at her, acknowledging the merit of her suggestion. “I kind of wrote him off because he took service with House Parbon. I figured Elias would help him land on his feet. But Stain… he does have Rook’s blessings.”

“I don’t know...” Elenore crossed her arms. “He’s…”

“He’s what?” Argrave looked down at her.

“He’s been a bit of an annoyance. Melanie somewhat mitigated that annoyance when she claimed the Low Way of the Rose. She loves making money, so I just route trade with the Burnt Desert through there, give her a percentage.” Elenore gestured. “But House Parbon’s been buoyed by that disinherited upstart. I suspect he’s a fair bit different from how you remember him, now. He’s grown into his role as Rook’s champion, suffice to say.”

“You’re giving him a rather ringing endorsement, I think,” Melanie noted. “Thinking back, Rook wanted me to be his champion. His blessings… can’t he change his face with Rook’s powers? We’d have someone reliable on the inside!”

“Yeah, he can. Stain… Veladrien of Jast… god, it’s been two years, I think,” Argrave looked up at the ceiling reminiscing on memories long ago. Stain was actually one of the protagonists of Heroes of Berendar—he was a pure rogue. They’d met him in the city of Jast, and he helped broker an alliance between the count and the margrave. “I hope he’s still scared of me. It’s worth talking to him. If he’s unreasonable, we go to Rook, ask for his aid.”

“Very well,” Elenore conceded. “Maybe I can integrate him into my network. If not, you’ll kill him for me, right, brother? He annoyed me,” she said with a sarcastic, childish pout.

Argrave smiled and touched her shoulder affectionately. At the same time, he didn’t want to ask Anneliese if Elenore was actually being serious. It seemed the deaths of these commanders had sent the Bat-Signal, and now the Bat herself came down to the Great Chu. It was greatly heartening.