Jackal Among Snakes

“I’m sure that she’ll turn up sooner or later, my prince. That child, Mina, she’s…” Count Elgar of Veden shook his head.

Induen tapped his fingers against the dining table, staring Elgar down with his cold blue eyes. The Count had golden hair and eyes just as Mina did yet shared little with her beyond that. Induen did not like him. “Your daughter is missing, yet you don’t seem to care.”

Elgar placed his elbows on the table and clenched his hands together. “She’s been doing that since she was very young, my prince. She’ll disappear for days, sometimes weeks on end. Typically I need only send a message to Duke Enrico—she always heads there, the foolish girl. I apologize for her discourtesy.”

Induen narrowed his eyes. Though anger was there, something else marred his features more—confusion, perhaps, or curiosity. “You’ve not sent her away?”

Elgar raised a brow. “Why would I do that, my prince?”

“Stupidity, maybe,” Induen mused, leaning back in the chair and scratching his temple. Count Elgar clenched his jaw tightly at the insinuation yet did not rise to combat it. “Do you hate your daughter, I wonder?”

Elgar furrowed his brows. “Who would hate their child?”

“Well, my father, for one. He never liked me much. I killed his wife, you know. The whole childbirth incident,” Induen pointed out. Both looked serious, but then Induen started to laugh. “Joking, joking. Of course. Of course,” Induen smiled widely.

“Mina is missing, Prince Induen. I don’t know what else to tell you,” Elgar stated once again, leaving no room for argument.

Induen leaned back in and slammed his hand against the table. “Yet you send not a single knight to look for her?”

Elgar stared back. “I have explained my reasonings. That girl had wasted enough resources in frivolous searches throughout her whole life. The waxpox still abounds, and I’ll not have my guards contract it in a fruitless quest to collect her.”

Induen’s gaze was cold and dead. Elgar swallowed as they stared at each other, alone in the dining hall. Just then, the great double doors burst open. Induen turned his head, surprised. The confidence in his posture veritably withered away as his eyes widened.

“Brother!” Orion shouted out cheerily, moving towards Induen with long strides. The prince wore thin casual clothes, rich and black, yet even still he made the formidable Induen look small.

Induen rose to his feet and stepped back, placing the chair between himself and his brother. “Orion. Why are you… here?”

Orion pushed the chair aside with his foot and embraced Induen. The elder prince’s face visibly contorted in displeasure and anxiety, and his hands hovered a fair distance away as though he feared to touch his brother.

Prince Orion pushed away, holding Induen by the shoulders. “I’ve heard of what you’ve been doing here. Working with the sick, stopping the plague from spreading… I cannot describe the joy that welled within once I heard of it. It brought tears to my eyes. And seeing outside… you have done so well.”

Induen swallowed. He never knew what to say when he talked with Orion. He always did his best to avoid his younger brother. He never felt older when they spoke. He always felt deeply uncomfortable, almost belittled, after any interaction with him. Induen tried to avoid his father, too, though never for the same reasons.

“How did you get in?” Count Elgar inquired. “I did not hear the guards open the gate.”

Orion released Induen and turned, expression and tone cold. “I climbed the walls. I trust this is no problem, Count Elgar. The royal family is not barred from anywhere in the lands of Vasquer, and I wished to visit with my brother. On that note… give us some time,” he directed the Count curtly.

The Count looked as disconcerted as Induen felt. He gave a stiff bow and made to leave. Orion’s stern gaze followed his every step, making the Count hurry. He shut the doors behind him. As though his sternness was a façade, he turned to Induen happily.

“I wished to speak with you direly! Of course, I always enjoy speaking with my family, yet now it was especially so—there is so much to speak of, so much to do. It has been too long since we last spoke, brother. We must change that in the future.”

“Why are you here?” Induen reiterated insistently.

Orion raised a brow. “You wished me to come, did you not? Ah, but—even if you did not, I wished to talk to you. Let us begin…” Orion pulled a chair back and sat, facing away from the table. “…with the more dire news. Our brother, Magnus, was murdered in cold blood.”

Induen took a mental note of everything Orion said and stepped forth cautiously. “So close to you, I hear,” he said, implying negligence.

“I know,” Orion said, and at once broke into tears. He placed his elbow on his knee as his hand supported his face, tears of molten silver pouring between the cracks of his fingers. “I was foolish. My brother died not minutes away from me, and I was entirely ignorant. The thought will haunt me for time eternal.”

Induen watched the molten silver tears smoke and burn the Count’s carpet once they fell. His brother’s strange tendencies and constant oddities were a large part of Induen’s discomfort at his presence.

“But I am near sure we have caught his killers,” Orion continued, voice now filled with an icy anger. “Foul things persisted in the wetlands. I have finally ventured deep within them, and I have discovered the truth of the fall of the Archduchy.” Orion rose up. “Foul beings with vengeance in their hearts wreaked havoc across the wetlands… and then, the entire continent. Their magic killed Magnus, I am sure of it. But I killed them. Killed them all to the last. Extinguished them with my bare hands.”

Induen stared at Orion’s hands as he clenched them into fists.

“This plague… the heretics of the wetlands caused it,” Orion growled. “Thousands of lives burnt, scarred or simply withered away entirely by their revolting rage. But I—no, that is not fair to say. Argrave recognized this! Argrave put a stop to the plague!”

Prince Induen’s vision swirled. “What?” he asked, low and insistent.

“Perhaps you’ve noticed the spread has ceased,” Orion ventured. “Argrave found out the root cause. He heralded a traitor, used her to put an end to this virulent vendetta! And now, the disease will never spread again!”

“What are you talking about?” Induen demanded, voice tense.

Orion held his hands out. “A non-believer and would-be slaughterer called the Plague Jester harnessed the power of the wetland gods to conjure and spread this plague all across the land. Argrave tore this information from the hands of an enemy, and then led a crusade forth by my side to vanquish the enemy.

“Vanquish the enemy?” Induen laughed twice. His vision was all white as myriad emotions assaulted him from the news. Before he realized it, he was stepping away from Orion, heading to where he and Mina had planned out their tackling of the plague.

As soon as it was brought up, Induen knew it had to be true. The fact that the waxpox had not spread at all in a week was such a bizarre thing. It had struck him as odd the first day he’d seen it. He thought it mere luck… yet this strange happening persisted. He remembered wondering if, perhaps, Mina had been right all along. He wondered if he could rule in this manner.

He made it to Mina’s study and leaned out across the balcony, gazing out at all of the work he’d put in the past few weeks. Innumerable tents, messages, edicts, all to curb the plague… and all of it overshadowed by Argrave’s grand achievement. All of his efforts entirely wasted. He would receive nothing in return for it. No recognition. No praise.

Mina, Induen reflected. She’s Argrave’s friend. And now she’s gone. She was strangely insistent I stay here.

Induen gripped the stone railing tightly enough to hurt his hands. He turned back to the desk, over which he and Mina had drafted out plans for days on end. He stepped to the table, fists clenched, wishing to take his anger out on something.

It was all a lie, he thought, his breathing heavy. But then he paused. He looked at a half-finished piece of writing, and then reflected.

No… no, something is off, his mind noted. She worked as hard as I did. She was desperately attempting to stop the plague in Veden and beyond. Those were not the actions of someone who knew it was to end. Induen lifted his head, his breathing growing steady. And her departure… it was soon before Orion arrived. None saw her leave, and even her father is ignorant.

What’s more… I was never informed of this victory. Elenore has eyes everywhere—if she wished to inform me urgently, she could. She wanted me to return to the capital not weeks ago, now she keeps me ignorant?

Induen turned his head back as Orion entered the room once more. Induen took slow, steady steps towards him.

“Induen… what’s wrong? Why did you storm off so?”

“You said I wanted to see you earlier,” Induen said, his voice surprisingly calm. “What gave you that impression?”

Orion raised his brows, then thought back. “You sent a messenger to the northwest, no?”

Induen smiled. “Me, personally, or someone under my command?”

“Someone under your command,” Orion reflected, brows furrowed. “I believe… a royal knight, the man said.”

Induen took a deep breath, his smile widening. He laughed in revelation. Everything seemed to fit together so well. “I see. I see. Yes, I see it now,” he said, and then began laughing once more.

Orion looked confused. “Did you not?”

“Oh, I did,” Induen lied heartily, for the first time feeling glad of his brother’s presence. His sister had likely deliberately sent Orion here to rattle him, make him emotional… make him do something impulsive. “Tell me, do you know where Argrave is heading?”

Orion answered proudly, “After I head to Dirracha, I intend to petition my father for legitimization. Regardless of the result, we planned on meeting him at Kin’s End. He has asked I deliver some armor and weaponry to his companions—I intend on outfitting them with equipment from the royal armory.”

Induen pursed his lips at the mention of legitimization. “Petition father, hmm? Well, ending the plague is a meritorious achievement, well worthy of something like that.”

“I am pleased you agree,” Orion concurred happily. “He is a changed man. A B-rank mage, seeking to become a High Wizard of the order… him and his fiancée. A lovely woman, his companion. Incredibly smart, resourceful. True love blossoms between them.”

Induen raised his brows, and then stepped up to Orion. He prodded his chest twice. “I’ll tell you what. Father has been quite upset at your absence, you know—I suspect he will not be so pleased if you come back to the capital and then leave so quickly.” Induen stepped away, retrieving a document. “I will give my magic signature to a document advising Argrave be legitimized. While you persuade father, comfort him with your presence… I will deliver the royal armory’s equipment to Argrave.”

Orion frowned. “Yet I promised I would meet Argrave there.”

“You can,” Induen held his finger out. “But I’d like to meet him first, let me tell him how proud I am. I think it would be best you spend a fair amount of time at Dirracha with father. Even if he doesn’t say so, he sorely misses you.”

“Certainly, if it’s only a few days, I am sure Argrave would not mind if our meeting is delayed… doubly so if you explain things…” Orion took a deep breath.

“Oh—and tell no one. Absolutely no one,” Induen coaxed quietly. “I wish to surprise our dear brother. A surprising reunion is all the more joyful, no? Like this reunion. Surprising, joyful, and very, very enlightening… about the true nature of my family members.”

Orion looked pleased. “That sounds like a wonderful plan, Induen.”

“Come here,” Induen said, initiating a hug for the first time he could recall. As his head rested beside Orion’s, he smiled.

He thought back to Mina’s words.

A well-maintained tool performs a task all the better.