Jackal Among Snakes

When Durran returned on wyvernback, bearing seven papers that he gave to Elenore with a casual gesture, she was beset by so many emotions they were uncountable. She wanted to hit something very hard, preferably Dario, and perhaps cry a little while doing so. She didn't do that, but it took so much effort to restrain that instinct all she could do was stand in shocked silence while Durran sat on a chair in her office.

"Really don't know what it is with that guy. He'd rather bleed from his eyes than kill me. Can't say I'd make the same decision if I was in his shoes." Durran removed his pauldron, which had been partially wrecked by something. “But he did. So I’m alive. If only the rest of the world worked like he does…”

Elenore walked up to him with steady steps. The panic she'd felt had been so overwhelming. She had resisted the urge to muster an army to stop Dario only just. Now it ended all like this. She reached out a hand and rested it on his head, gently stroking his hair as the others held the papers she’d received.

"Dario... he escaped?" Her voice was quiet.

"He got in undetected. Got out the same way. I had a harder time of things. A little difficult to explain why some of their automatons came to life in my brief little visit. Fortunately for me, his exit did catch some eyes, so I had a decent enough alibi. It was a lot of trouble… but in the end, all worth it." He smiled at her, golden eyes shining in the dark. "Go on. Read the papers."

Elenore felt that was rather the last thing she cared about at present. But seeing his cat-like eyes proud of the prey that he’d caught made it impossible to say no. She continued to stroke his hair as she lifted them up with one hand and read the first of the documents.

“This is about Sandelabara,” Elenore said after a while, looking at Durran intently. She expected him to have already read it all.

“I would say that we got lucky, but the entirety of the documents seemed to be about the place,” Durran nodded proudly. “Whatever entity is standing behind Dario, I think we can safely say two things. One—it wants us to stop Gerechtigkeit. Two—it wants us to keep the cycle going rather than end it, the key to which lies in Sandelabara.” He rose to his feet, setting his pauldron down on a nearby table. “We’re close, Elenore. Closer than I ever thought we’d get.”

He started to walk away, but Elenore grabbed his forearm and kept him there. She didn’t want him to leave—not yet. He’d need to endure a few hours by her side, at the very least. Not for him—for her. And Durran, ever adroit at understanding the emotions she herself did not grasp, smiled quietly and remained at her side.

“There’s two other names in that paper,” Durran told her after a long time. “Mozzahr’s name. Traugott’s name. They’re listed in the same breath as Argrave. Mozzahr for his independent research… and Traugott for his theft of it. These documents keep track of everything that we’ve been doing. They’re almost… omniscient. He’s somehow been monitoring people that are nearing Sandelabara.”

Elenore refocused. “Do you mean to tell me that Dario—or whoever is behind him—considers Mozzahr and Traugott legitimate contenders to reach Sandelabara?”

“He does indeed,” Durran nodded. “I deduced that he was acting alone—at least among mortals. But we can assume that everything we do, even this conversation right now, is being heard by something.” He waved his hand around. “Given the fact Dario seemed to know that we were speaking through a connection, and severed it personally, I don’t think that’s exempt either. I suspect that our listener is whatever entity was possessing those golems.”

Elenore gripped his wrist a little tighter. She didn’t know what he was talking about when he mentioned possessing golems, but there seemed to be more important matters of contention. “What are we dealing with? There’s no way Argrave could be ignorant of something so powerful if it was within his purview.”

“Nothing on those papers told me what I needed to know,” Durran sighed drearily. “They were just tracking our progress. ‘Our’ meaning everyone who’s nearing the truth of the cycle. And all of it confirms that our progress has been entirely on the right track.”

#####

When Argrave heard the news that Durran had risked his life to get, he was even further confused by the new information.

Is Gerechtigkeit only an agent of something greater? Argrave considered the question deeply. It held merit—they knew that Gerechtigkeit came from another realm entirely, and they knew he returned after dying. If he was something created and sent out for that purpose, it fit splendidly. Still, Argrave didn’t understand how it all might tie together. He needed to see those documents. If he did, perhaps there was some memory locked away in his head that might unlock when given the right stimulus.

But in the end, another more pressing matter reared its ugly head. They had competitors to find Sandelabara. Apparently the documents that Durran seized were not exceptionally recent—they didn’t detail what Traugott or Mozzahr had been doing recently to discover Sandelabara. But these two were, at the very least, competitors to reach it. And upon hearing the news that Dario had been researching heat-resistance, he could safely assume that Dario himself was attempting to reach Sandelabara, perhaps using golems.

That meant that they were restricted in terms of time. They desperately needed to earn the assistance of the dwarves in clearing Vysenn of any magma before it erupted… and beyond that, they needed to secure the territory itself. He directed Elenore to monitor Vysenn closely, and perhaps even move in to seize the place. He’d never be so imperialistic usually, but their tribes had already shown some hostility, and this was a life-or-death matter for the whole world.

Argrave and his companions stood in the gardens of Therapont’s estate. This was becoming something of a meeting area for them while in Mundi. It was the only place where the Alchemist might speak without drawing the attention of all. The man didn’t speak, though—he stood in the background eerily, watching and listening after Argrave explained what Durran had learned.

“If time is indeed so short, and Dario vies to reach Sandelabara before us…” Anneliese said, half a question and half a statement. When Argrave nodded, she continued. “…then we must take some risk. We do not have the luxury of courting the journeymen slowly and in secrecy, perhaps with Melanie’s aid, to pressure the senate into accepting our proposal.”

“You’re saying we don’t have any options you see,” Melanie ground her black blade against the marble, leaving scuffs. Argrave scowled at her, and she got the message not to deface the walkway.

“No,” Anneliese shook her head. “I said we must take some risks. Rather than handling everything on our own, we should entreat an ally in this fight.”

“Anestis? Trifon and Kostis, maybe?” Argrave shrugged, then sat down atop one of the railings overlooking a garden plot. “They helped, but I don’t think they’re what we need.”

“Therapont showed that he was willing to listen to reason,” Anneliese pointed out, walking up to him as he sat. “We can persuade him once more. We can have another debate.”

Argrave scoffed. “I won the first debate because the facts were on my side. This alliance is a net benefit for all parties. And hell—the alliance part of this hasn’t even been established yet. This time… how can I possibly make him see things our way? This project to purge Vysenn of magma is predicated on two things—the Alchemist’s word, and my knowledge that the sucker’s going to erupt. They agreed to help us stop Gerechtigkeit. They didn’t agree to trust my word as gospel.”

“Didn’t you use the excuse that Gerechtigkeit was planning to use magma to his own ends?” Melanie pointed out prudently. “I think that issue was muddled because you thought it was a lie… but hasn’t it become true?”

“Well…” Argrave paused, struggling. “I said this event would affect them. But it doesn’t—Vysenn’s eruption only affects Berendar. Ash clouds will block out the sun, causing mass famine and lowering the temperature by several degrees for the whole continent. That is real. What I said to the dwarves was just a white lie, some non-existent issue to force the proposal to pass. But Therapont didn’t rally around that—he rallied around the common-sense idea that the dwarves would be best served preventing Gerechtigkeit from winning, as they might suffer the consequences if we failed.”

“But now you’ve found the truth,” Anneliese reminded him. “And Therapont is someone willing to listen to reason. If you resurface old issues, blending them with what we have learned now, he might be swayed. And if he is swayed, he might join our plan to use the political discontent in the southern section to pressure the senate into enacting change. And unlike us, he can actually succeed in this. He knows these politics.” She kneeled down before him. “Argrave, our plan is hopeless without using insiders. Even as welcoming as these people are, we are complete strangers.”

“So, another debate with the old man,” Argrave summarized, crossing his arms. “And one where the facts aren’t on my side this time.”

“A debate with me on your side,” Anneliese reminded him, touching his knee. “If you think I might help.”

“Of course you’ll help,” Argrave nodded at once, taking her hand with his own. “Well… hell. If you think we should put our cards on the table, then I’ll do it. We need to get to Sandelabara. I’ll send word to Therapont. I’ll ask him to clear a few hours from his schedule for a conversation.”

#####

The old dwarf Therapont stepped out from behind his desk, stroking his gray beard. “So, Gerechtigkeit’s malignance in the magma… rather than something that’s near Mundi, where we might build our own technology in our own lands… you’re seeking to build a pumping station atop a volcano on the surface known as Vysenn?”

“That’s right,” Argrave nodded. “And frankly, I don’t think I can even broach such an idea before the senate without being torn to shreds. So I came to you.”

Therapont walked in front of his desk, leaning up against it and facing Anneliese and Argrave, who both sat before him. “Why might it be torn to shreds? Could it be because you’re asking some of our best artisans to abandon Mundi, heading to the surface in the heart of your power? Not to mention how that would deprive us of labor, it would also directly expose our most precious technology to the very heart of your observation. There are so many issues with this I don’t even know where to begin.”

“We came to discuss that,” Anneliese reminded him.

“And we will,” Therapont agreed. “But as it stands, this request sounds like something the conqueror I painted you as might make. And I’m wondering about the viability of the whole alliance, if that truly is the case.” He looked between the two of them. “So, let’s talk. Persuade me.”