Jackal Among Snakes

After a while, Argrave managed to get the story out of Anneliese. When she mentioned going too far, too deep, she was talking about her evaluation of Onychinusa’s emotions. Apparently, what she had experienced was so profound she could all but perceive the elven woman’s thoughts. It had enabled her to say what was needed. But at the same time...

“I cannot shake this feeling,” Anneliese recounted. She sat on a root with Argrave beside her. The Brumesingers sat all around her, nuzzling her to comfort her just as Argrave held her shoulder. “The purposelessness. That’s all she wants, Argrave-- purpose. I know it just as well as she does herself.” She sighed, cupping her trembling hands around her mouth. “I wanted to avoid a betrayal. But in the end... the result is the same, I merely betrayed with deception rather than violence. This might even be worse.” Anneliese grew silent. “What do you think will happen?”

“...I don’t think she can be confined again, given that Erlebnis is manifesting himself and connecting his realm with this one... but she’ll be viewed as a liability once he learns. A liability he’ll be sure to cut off, one way or the other,” Argrave said quietly. “Whatever the case, she’s out of the picture. Erlebnis won’t let her slide. He raised her for certainty, and she failed once. He doesn’t like second chances.”

“Will he kill her?” Anneliese asked quietly.

“I can’t honestly say. He agreed not to all those thousands of years ago, but perhaps this breaks some clause,” Argrave shook his head. “But she’s out of the game. In what manner... we’ll have to see.”

“And Kirel Qircassia... his alliance with Erlebnis might not shatter immediately,” Anneliese said, her trembling fading as she distracted herself. “But it’s been undermined. The god will be suspicious, without a doubt.”

“Mmm-hmm,” Argrave nodded, mulling. “I’ve been working at flipping Batbayar. I thought we’d need to have a direct hand in purging Altan, and whatever other of Erlebnis’ worshippers are in the elven armies... but now, I think we let their system of military policing work on its own. Batbayar was resistant to the idea at first, but now that he’s coming around, I suspect he’s going to engage in a thorough purging of the army. He might even find the malfeasance I’ve been talking about for so long before I put him on the trail,” Argrave reasoned. “Whatever the case, we have a little more breathing room.”

“...thinking of how the forest healed... what do you think the emissaries would do immediately after that happened? Would they continue their hunt of the elven gods, or would they retreat and reassess?” Anneliese mused.

Argrave took a deep breath, her words bringing revelation. “I think they might retreat,” he reasoned. “Erlebnis won’t know what happened until he’s told. He might put the pieces together, but he might not. Regardless, this could be a window of opportunity.” He rose to his feet. “Whatever the case, we need to get out of here. Let’s wrap things up with the dryads, and then...” he paused. “Actually, scratch that. If you need to take some time, take some time. What you did was far beyond anything I could’ve managed, I think. I’m no mind-reader.”

”No... no,” Anneliese rose to her feet. “I will not allow this to put me down. But Argrave... please, never again. I know I chose this, but I never wish to do it again. This feeling of purposelessness does not fade. I cannot say it will. I am not made to manipulate others so completely. I nearly lost myself during that process.”

“You don’t need ‘please.’ You didn’t even need to ask,” he assured, patting her shoulder. “Come on. Let’s finalize these growing rifts while we have the chance.”

“Before you go... I learned some pivotal information. Erlebnis has a breach near Kirel Qircassia’s. His is underwater, off the coast of the North Sea,” she explained. “That has to help us.”

Argrave clapped once, and then nodded. “Yeah... yeah, that is necessary information. I’ll need... damn it. Underwater?” He walked away, pacing as he thought.

“Now that I know, I can scout out the coast in greater detail. But there’s another thing. Onychinusa presumably thinks I intended to tell you something I learned there,” Anneliese called out. “I know you care not, but I did. It pertains to your mother.”

#####

Argrave was not especially shocked by the news his cousin was also his mother. Perhaps it explained the frailty the real Argrave had been cursed with. He counted himself fortunate he didn’t have the Habsburg jaw. Perhaps if he’d gone along with Nikoletta, their children might have had it. Quite the dark thought. Regardless, it was another nail in the coffin alongside the thousands of other King Felipe III bore. The man was irredeemable, but Argrave wasn’t one to stick with family members no matter what circumstances came.

Anneliese and Argrave walked back slowly. She kept the Brumesingers in her arms, and the foxes obediently stayed still. To comfort her, they acted cuter than they ever had before-- as ever, they were reflections of Argrave’s desire.

When they came back to the grove with the dryads’ tree, Batbayar had returned. He conversed with Orion, and seemed to possess the same feverish and nervous excitement that Onychinusa did. Strangely, all of the dryad children were absent.

Argrave walked up to Batbayar and asked at once, “What are you still doing here?”

Batbayar looked at him, taken aback. “What do you...?”

“You went outside, right? You saw what happened, didn’t you? Then you should be returning to your people,” he told him commandingly. “You’ve got a lot of work to get done. I’m expecting good things to be in motion by the time we return.”

Batbayar took in Argrave’s words, then looked at most of them in turn. Orion still looked a little upset at the myriarch, but even he gave an encouraging thumbs up. Onychinusa was too absorbed with her own task to care, but eventually Batbayar looked back and nodded at Argrave.

“I suppose you’ve earned the right to command me a little. I wasn’t expecting this result... but I’m definitely not upset with it.” He took a deep breath. “I’ll follow along. If you’re right, you’re right... objectivity is all I can offer.”

“That’s all I need,” Argrave agreed, seeking to end the conversation here. He didn’t care to explain to the myriarch that the dryads had been subordinated to Onychinusa. The man got the message and left, heading back to the elven army to do his duty.

Anneliese joined them, still holding the Brumesingers to distract herself. Argrave gave her a nod, and then looked to the dryad that shadowed Onychinusa. “Then... we have two final things, I think. First... new things have come to light, and I can’t keep my promise to end the mandragora. The Yateveos... it might happen. Otherwise...”

“You need not fret,” Onychinusa said. “I claimed my lineage. You did this for me, and so I can explain it.”

“Claimed your lineage...” Argrave repeated. “What exactly does that mean for you?”

“Beyond the dryads’ help?” Onychinusa looked at her hands. “I don’t... feel any different. I know where my parents died, now.” She looked back to the dryad, who gave her a reassuring nod. “Perhaps... perhaps I can visit there. And perhaps there is more of the empire left unclaimed. None of that matters now, but...”

“Could be,” Argrave nodded. “But what about the dryad children?”

“They prepare to expand this forest, to grow beyond their childlike forms to a state more akin to mine. In time, they will all have a grand tree like this one,” the dryad explained on Onychinusa’s behalf, looking up at the purple leaves swaying with the wind above. “With permission given by the last of the imperial bloodline, we can act, so long as she wishes it... and she has bid us act freely.”

Argrave raised his brow in surprise, and Onychinusa nodded to confirm those words.

“I’m glad everything worked out for you. You seem... more whole, both of you,” Argrave said vaguely. “I got what I came here for, and you got more than you came here for, I suspect. But that other thing I was talking about...” he looked to the Brumesingers, all four of which were still in Anneliese’s arms and dangling relaxedly. “Can those guys get what they want, even despite the thing with the mandragora falling through?”

As if called, the four of them wriggled out of Anneliese’s arms and came to stand before the dryad. She knelt down, scratching behind their ears as her dress of leaves scraped the ground. “They wish to gain my mist, do they not? No... you need not answer: I can see it in them. Will you allow it, master?” she looked up at Onychinusa.

Onychinusa looked at Argrave, still seeming guarded... but there was also a connection where there had not always been one. When she looked at Anneliese, her gaze softened. Finally, the ancient elf nodded. “So long as it does you no harm, I think they’ve earned it.”

The dryad laughed. “As ever, the imperial bloodline is benevolent to care about a lowly slave so... but no, I will be unharmed.”

With that, the dryad rose to her feet, trailing back to the tree that was her respite. She held her hand up, and the branches craned down. On their edges, fruits budded rapidly. It was like looking at a timelapse of a fruit’s growth-- it began unripened, growing to rich green before converting to a brilliant silver. The dryad didn’t need to pluck them, as they fell into her hands. Once they were, she turned and kneeled.

The Brumesingers ran away from Argrave and Anneliese, coming before the dryad. Each of them put one of the silver fruits in their mouths, and then threw their heads back. Argrave had never seen this happen before, and so he called, “Hey, are you sure that’s...?”

As soon as they finished chewing, the Brumesingers came back to Argrave. They chewed the last bits, opened their small mouths wide in a big yawn, and then curled up at his feet one by one.

“When they awake... they will be more than they were. You have touched dryads, and that is enough: the mist they call will not harm you. The same cannot be said for others. Just as the mist outside blinds any who enter with eyes wide, so too will theirs recklessly assail any who find themselves in their influence,,” the dryad explained.

Argrave nodded, looking down at his pets. “How long will they be out?”

“Some few days, perhaps,” the dryad shrugged, then looked to Onychinusa. “Now... will you be departing?”

“I must,” Onychinusa nodded. “All of us must. We have duties to fulfill.”

“Then I will wait for your return, as I ever have,” the dryad smiled. “When next you see the children... perhaps they will be children no longer.”

#####

“I trust you have no more need of me?” Onychinusa questioned once they stood outside, in the clearing of trees impaled with thousands of arrows. Looking out... the forest floor was greatly disturbed, largely loose soil, but all the roots were gone. They’d gone back to their natural place.

“You’ve done great work,” Argrave nodded, refocusing. “I hope we can work together closely in the future. It’d certainly be better than the alternative,” he finished, referring to Dimocles.

Onychinusa smiled. It was one of few he’d seen from her. Then, without ceremony, she burst into black mist and departed. The silence persisted for a time, as none of the three remaining had words to say.

“I feel sick again, knowing wait awaits her,” Anneliese looked out across the forest.

Orion took a step closer. “Sick? Can I help with something, Your Highness?”

“In war... you do what you must,” Argrave said, putting his hand on her shoulder. “And I believe now is the time for our counterattack.”