Jackal Among Snakes

“I could start with pleasantries. It’s clear you have a great deal of questions you’d like to bombard me with, Anneliese, but I’m not sure how we’ll all walk away from this, and I don’t want to start liking you before I’m sure I can afford it.” Lorena began. “How is Sophia, these days?”

“These days?” Argrave repeated.

“Jaray’s been flirting with it for a very long time, but I won’t be as subtle as he is.” Lorena’s bright eyes darkened, expressing her grim tone just as well as her voice did. “I do represent the Heralds in some capacity. You’re tipping very dangerous scales, and it’s becoming very worrying. No one decided that you should decide the fate of the world. It was only by the force of your own will that you brought us to this. You’ve conquered this world, well and true.”

“No one?” Argrave raised a brow, looking around. “I’m only the leader because people tolerate me as one.”

A burst of flame and smoke erupted from her nose as she scoffed. “Your rule is predicated on gods and nobles, deciding the whims of all. You appeased them, not the whole. Not that I’m…” She cut herself off, calming flames that started to appear near her. “I see there’s good in your heart, Argrave. The love you have for your family is enough to move my kin, move me. I’m not…” she sighed. “Damn it. I should wait for Jaray. He’s better at explaining these things.”

“You should.” Jaray walked out from where he’d been obscured. He dragged along two loungers—it wasn’t entirely clear where he’d gotten them from, but he set them both beside Argrave and Anneliese.

Argrave laid down relaxedly, while Anneliese sat upright on the edge of her provided seat. “Why don’t you explain, then?”

Jaray walked until he stood in front of Lorena. “When last we spoke, we were talking about convenience.”

“So?” Argrave beckoned.

“You named me a catspaw to the Heralds,” Jaray continued, and it made Argrave tense up to hear those words repeated. It all but confirmed someone’s omniscience. “It’s true. They rely on me because I’m a convenience for them. And the time is rapidly approaching where they’ll no longer trust us to handle the situation alone.”

“And that’s relevant to this situation how?” Argrave leaned in. “Listen—all that I’m looking for is the method to stop Gerechtigkeit’s mental influence, full stop. We’d hoped that might lie with you and the method to unlock our bloodline, but—”

“Might as well let them speak, Argrave,” Anneliese reminded him, glancing over.

Argrave silenced himself, listening closer as Jaray nodded to Anneliese in thanks. “The Heralds and their ways remain a mystery to both Lorena and I. But they, just like all of us, are beings of convenience. They want an easy, quick solution that puts all of their fears to rest. Right now, you are their fear. And with you pursuing these dangerous things, Sophia in tow… they might be liable to do something desperate.” Jaray cradled his hands, expressing his sincerity.

“There’s no denying you’ve bloodied their nose,” Lorena picked up where he stopped. “But if you take this further, there is no doubt in my mind that they won’t happily wait and see who wins. If need be, they’ll interfere. Even if it’s on the side of Gerechtigkeit, they’ll do something.” She sighed deeply. “It’s time to make a deal, Argrave, and settle. You have the most leverage now. Do so while their fears are high, yet before their superiors come to look upon them with closer scrutiny.”

Argrave looked between them. “It seems to me that you know a hell of a lot more about the Heralds, and this world, than we do.”

“We know this, mainly: the Heralds’ sole agenda is to keep the cycle of judgment going perpetually.” Jaray looked up at the bright red moon above, then looked back. “They would be willing to give anything within this realm—secrets and abilities beyond your imaginings—if only you allowed them that.”

“Think of it.” Lorena leaned forth off her tail, eyes brightening in what seemed to be righteous indignation. “Why do you do this, Argrave? Would you consign trillions to death this cycle to save a slightly higher number many millennia from now? By what right do you involve people in this struggle? It’s only now that you reveal your true intention to the gods, but the people remain ignorant to this very second. Why have you taken their right of choice from them? Could you look each and all in the eyes, and tell them the truth—that you want them to die for others to live? You couch your fight in nobility, yet—"

“You’re getting worked up, Lorena,” Jaray reminded her softly, and she leaned back while looking away.

Argrave narrowed his eyes, not voicing his thoughts immediately. “I’m getting a sense that you two might be speaking from experience.” His eyes darted between them. “Am I wrong to think that?”

He felt the silence following his question was answer enough.

“Do you mean to tell me that I’m not the first to come this far?” Argrave stopped lounging, leaning in. His next words were spoken harshly as he asked, “Would that honor happen to belong to you, Lorena?”

Lorena fixed her eyes upon him. “What if it did?”

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Argrave couldn’t help but laugh. “So, you had the means to fix all of the misery that people had endured, but you decided against it, because…?” He looked to Anneliese, seeking her perspective. She only watched them without a word, scrutinizing, and he was forced to look back. “What did they offer you? Let me guess—a moon?” He looked up. “A home world of your own? A ruby in the sky, to watch us suffer down here?”

She only shook her head at his provocation. “You have no concept of what you face.”

“Gerechtigkeit—”

She snapped, her black nails spawning dancing strings of fire that faded. “Gerechtigkeit is a tool, Argrave, to achieve a result the Heralds want! What that is, I can’t comprehend or qualify. But I’ve seen the end of the road you’re travelling on.” She rose to her feet, walking forth until she looked down upon him as he sat. “It would be the end of worlds beyond this one—the Heralds didn’t lie. But more than that, it would be the end of magic, the end of divinity. You’re entreating gods to help you kill themselves. You’re depriving mankind, elvenkind, and all creatures like myself of the beauties of magic.”

Argrave rose to his feet, looking her in the eyes determinedly. “Someone has to do something. Because I know this…” Argrave looked out at everything. “I know this isn’t right. We’re in service to higher powers, giving our lives not knowing to what. The misery, the death… I know there’s another way. I know this cycle has to end.”

“Destruction without creation is ruin. Creation without destruction is cancer. Life without neither is stagnation,” Lorena said emotionally, pleading with him. “Think about what you’re doing. Think about the forces you’re playing with.”

“Then where does that put you, living on the moon?” He asked pointedly, and her eyes grew dark.

“You have no idea the concessions I’ve made to keep my people safe,” she said grimly. “But what of you? Now that you’ve obtained the knowledge for immortality, will you share that with all? Will you give all things you own freely? Will you relinquish all worldly possessions? I think not. You’re a king, and such a man cannot walk through life without skirting on the edge of certain moral boundaries.”

Argrave felt a little bit of fire rise in his chest, but a touch from Anneliese, who he didn’t realize had come to stand by him, reminded him of his place. He was staring at, he realized, himself. Lorena had come to the same summit that Argrave had, and after seeing what laid on the other side, elected to take a road that differed from the one he’d set his heart upon. That was sufficient enough to give him pause, to make him reconsider.

Lorena seemed neither a cruel pragmatist or a selfish tyrant. Rather, the passion with which she spoke betrayed a certain kinship between their approach to life. At the heart of this all, he knew that he still needed her wisdom, regardless of whether or not he agreed with the choice that she’d made.

“Alright. Tell me, then. You saved your people by bringing them to the moon?” Argrave asked. “The Heralds allowed this?”

Lorena stepped back with wordless nods, and Jaray advanced to speak in her stead. “They borrowed Sophia’s power of creation to transform Lorena’s home into a planet for her kin, the dragons. They live there, far above, to this day. At the end of it all… isn’t that what you crave? A land for you and your people? To live undisturbed by the ravages of the cycle? That reward could well be yours, Argrave of Vasquer. And I can be the one to broach the offer.”

“Jaray is good for his word,” Lorena insisted, calming herself by pacing about. “He was the one who brokered the deal that saved my people. You and Anneliese… the entire continent of Berendar… any you dictate, by this point, could be given a land of their own. Nothing would even need to change. You possess such leverage that I’m sure you could make any demand of them.” Lorena shook her head.

“But you said you made concessions,” Argrave pointed out.

“It isn’t like my time,” Lorena shook her head. “My coalition of dragons had no true advantage. We were at a stalemate. Like you attempt to do today with the mind, we stopped Gerechtigkeit from utilizing a fell ability—control and manipulation of the flesh—but it left us all too weakened to face what came after. I chose to save my people instead of risk it all in a battle that might’ve wiped us out. But you? It’s different. And I urge you, please, take what is offered now.”

“You would broker the deal?” Anneliese asked, looking at Jaray.

“I can.” He nodded, blowing smoke into the air. “Or at the very least, secure a negotiation.”

Argrave sat down, pulling Anneliese to sit just beside him. He looked into her eyes. The two of them had come to know each other well enough that he felt there was tacit understanding between them. They seldom needed to speak to know what the other was thinking, feeling. Perhaps they were born for each other… but Argrave preferred to think they had reached this understanding this through their own efforts. Mostly Anneliese’s efforts, frankly, but Argrave had some small part.

Argrave looked at Jaray with conviction, saying, “Then let’s broker this deal.” Jaray’s expression brightened with joy, until Argrave continued to speak. “Provided, of course, that Lorena can join us. She can prepare us for this negotiation better than anyone. After all, who better to walk us through than someone who’s been through the same experience?”

Jaray looked back at Argrave, puffing the pipe in his mouth as everyone waited wordlessly. In those dark eyes of his, Argrave spotted the enemy he should’ve from the beginning. Involving Lorena was an unspoken challenge against Jaray, who seemed to be the emissary for the Heralds. In the midst of her earnest pleas, he heard the words he’d been searching for. The dragons had stopped Gerechtigkeit from manipulating and controlling flesh. That was near a mirror to their problem—control of the mind.

“Lorena can speak for herself,” Jaray looked at her.

“I only want to avoid repeating any mistakes.” Argrave focused on the dragon earnestly, peering into the brightness in her eyes for the passion he still felt even today. “Can you help me with that?”

Argrave couldn’t see himself cutting a deal with these Heralds. Instead, he intended to challenge all the vested interests standing behind Jaray. He intended to challenge the Heralds in the same manner they had him; indirectly, through proxy and manipulation. He hoped to remind Lorena, a hero of ages past, of why she’d fought to begin with.

Lorena smiled, revealing too-sharp teeth as her eyes brightened. “You won’t regret this, Argrave.”

Argrave gripped Anneliese’s hand, looking at her. She nodded in affirmation, silently joining him in this battle as she had countless before. They knew and understood the other’s aim. But with the Heralds watching, they would need to be silent schemers.

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