Jackal Among Snakes

Anneliese awoke with a sharp intake of breath. She sat up with surprising energy, then looked around the room. Most notable was Argrave, sitting by her bed in a chair. He looked tired, yet locked eyes with her all the same.

“You alright?” Argrave questioned.

“I…” Anneliese grabbed at her chest. “I feel so strange.” She paused, questioning if she was still covered in blood. Looking around past him, it seemed Argrave had cleaned everything.

“Strange how?” Argrave leaned in intently, placing his elbows upon his knees.

“I…” her gaze lingered on him. Dancing wisps of smoke poked around his body, and she watched them perplexedly. “I think… it works. I can see the magic within you. Faint, but…” Anneliese lifted up her hand and looked at it in wonder. As she saw her wrist, clarity returned. She looked at Argrave. “Are you alright? What exactly happened?”

“I’m fine. It’s morning, now. You took less blood than Galamon did that one time, I think,” he joked. Seeing Anneliese was not amused, his smile faded quickly and he continued seriously, “I healed the wounds pretty quickly. I do feel a bit sluggish, but I got accustomed to that on account of using blood magic so frequently. To summarize, don’t worry. As far as I’m concerned, it was just a little lapse back into my usually scheduled programming,” Argrave shook his head.

“I…” Anneliese looked to the ground, feeling guilty, embarrassed, and ashamed in equal measure.

“Let’s not waste time with this routine,” Argrave reached forth and put his hand on her leg. “I wanted to help, so I did. It seemed you needed it. I’d sooner lose a pint of blood than watch you lose all your hard work because of my insistence,” he noted pointedly. “And I wouldn’t have insisted so hard if I didn’t think this was an option.”

Anneliese covered her face with her hands, ill at ease with what had happened. “I… underestimated the difficulty of filtering out the magic of the world in reconstructing my vessel. Llewellen was able to do it quicker than I was because he had no such limitation, I think. Or perhaps… he is simply more talented than I am.”

“Don’t fret on the why,” Argrave shook his head. “It’s over, isn’t it?”

Anneliese slowly uncovered her face and nodded. “…yes. Yes, I suppose it is.”

Argrave leaned in a little further and grabbed her hand. She was puzzled, yet after a few moments felt a strange sensation travelling up her arm. She realized that she was draining him of magic.

The moment she recognized what was happening, Anneliese yanked her hand away. “Argrave…!” she called out, distressed.

"Given that reaction, I can assume you took some magic from me,” Argrave said, sinking back in the chair. “Either that, or we’re not as sound as a couple anymore. Don’t break my heart, now.”

“I… drained you,” Anneliese looked at her hand, rubbing it in distress.

“My personal supply remains untouched,” Argrave informed her. “In Heroes of Berendar, a few things would change. Your melee attacks would recover your magic, while spells would actually drain magic from targets. You’d have… I think it was about 30% spell absorption,” he mused, scratching his nose. “Not a grand list, but a formidable, all-purpose A-rank ascension that puts you far ahead of just about every magic user. As for what it does now in this reality… I suppose we have to test it out, won’t we?”

“[Life Cycle] is a passive ascension,” Anneliese noted. “I don’t think my body has fully adapted to the change. I cannot cast any A-rank spells… yet I can say I am soon to be an A-rank spellcaster. I…” she closed her eyes. “We did it, Argrave.”

“I just filled up your tank once. You were driving the car,” he dismissed with a shake of his head. “And speaking of driving… Diana says that the bulk of the spellcasters we’re going to get are assembled. All that remains is marching through northern Atrus and converging with Elenore’s force. And given the situation there, I think it’d be best if we hurry.”

“The situation?” Anneliese looked at him concernedly. “One so bad you hear of it oversea?”

“Elenore’s men sent a bird here with a message. She’s already facilitating the move to grow her position in the north—she wants to be in position to secure the bulk of the profit for the trade concessions I gave the archduchy,” Argrave explained. “Insider trading… it’s a little grimy, but I trust her to be fair at the very least. She understands the situation.”

Anneliese nodded intently. “What did the bird’s message say?”

“Georgina, one of the protagonists, is heading a guerilla force against our army and succeeding quite splendidly,” Argrave said without hesitation, recalling the message well given how much it caught his attention. “Without spellcasters, the army’s advance is nigh impossible. Durran has led out an expedition with Melanie to take care of things.” Argrave rose to his feet. “The two of them are capable, but they still lack something we have: good magic users. Consequently… I think it’s long overdue to remedy that problem, isn’t it?” He held out his hand. “How are you feeling? Good enough to stand?”

Anneliese turned until her legs were off the bed, then took his hand lightly and rose to her feet. “Like I said, I feel strange… and the most dramatic of the changes has yet to come. Nevertheless, I feel well,” she confirmed.

“You can rest longer if you want,” Argrave suggested, watching her to be sure nothing would happen.

“No. Vasilisa’s ascension was a passive method of change as [Life Cycle] is—I want to speak to her about what to expect for this process.” Anneliese stepped about, retrieving her footwear. “Let me… eat breakfast, reflect and process what happened. My mind is rather messy at present.”

#####

After Anneliese had some food and some time to think alone, she was able to largely gather herself. Argrave was not entirely sure what to expect of the aftermath of this event. When she began to expel the magic from her body, it had been a rather harrowing thing to witness—the magic escaped from her body much in the same way Galamon’s vampiric beast had manifested, scaring him to no end. From what Argrave could see, things went well.

Anneliese judged that she would much prefer keeping busy as opposed to laying idle in bed with only her changes to think about, and so Argrave confirmed that he would be meeting with Diana today. With the core of their forces gathered, it was time to plan things. To that end, the figureheads of their spellcaster retinue had gathered: the Magisters and Diana.

Galamon opened the door, holding it open for Argrave and Anneliese. For now, the bear that was a gift to Durran had been relegated to the outside after they received some complaints from the people within the Quadreign palace. Argrave took confident steps into the room, mindful of Anneliese just beside him.

Archduchess Diana of Quadreign turned around from the table she stood at. Her gaze jumped between Argrave and his companion beside him. “Your Majesty, Anneliese,” she greeted politely. “People tell me your ascension was a success,” she locked eyes with the elven woman, looking up at her.

“Perhaps in a few days I can claim things are fully complete,” Anneliese nodded, watching as Galamon closed the door and stood behind him vigilantly. He seemed… brighter, somehow. Argrave was perplexed.

“A passive ascension, I see,” Diana nodded. “My ancestors passed down their method of A-rank ascension… yet I could never grasp it. I lacked the affinity for magic,” she said wistfully, blue eyes growing distant. Then, her face turned to her sister just nearby. “Vasilisa, contrarily, made her own method up entirely spontaneously.”

“You’re still young yet,” Vasilisa defended.

Diana scoffed. “You’re the younger of us, you forget.”

“I hadn’t even realized I had ascended to A-rank for a long while,” Vasilisa recounted. “I just thought I could cast spells without matrixes for no reason at all. As it turns out, I was pioneering a new method.”

Argrave absorbed the information. The topic was a complex one, it seemed, which only made him more and more fretful about his future on this matter. Anneliese had described what she experienced… and it seemed like something so complex it made his task impossible. He was not someone like Llewellen or Vasilisa—he was only someone who relied on foreknowledge and luck to come this far. He didn’t feel he could compare to people of this magnitude on the field.

“Let’s not reminisce,” Hegazar cut in. “We have a bunch of lovely men and women with fire in their blood, and I think it best to solidify their course before snow falls and turns flames into embers.”

“Congratulations, Anneliese. I see I was wrong in assuming you needed my help all those months ago,” Vera said. “But Hegazar is right. Time wastes.”

“It sort of marches on as ever,” Argrave disagreed, stepping up to the table. “But fine, let’s get to it.”

Anneliese joined to the right of Argrave, and then Diana to the left.

The archduchess peered over at various papers, sorting through them with nimble fingers. “I think you’ll be rather pleased, Your Majesty. My steward Ferrel has taken a tally of all those that heeded the call. The party accrued consists of four hundred and twelve B-rank mages. Additionally, there are seven A-rank spellcasters… I think it’s a rather alarming number.”

“Alarming how?” Argrave looked to her.

“We command a force ostensibly far more powerful than the known loyalists that will be leading,” Diana looked between the Magisters in the room.

“I don’t think…” Vera began. “Being outnumbered won’t be a problem,” she decided, looking at Argrave and Anneliese both. “Those two are strong. And forgetting strong, they’re leaders I think can control those beneath them well… even if they are personally weaker. Isn’t that right?” She smiled crookedly.

“…sure,” the archduchess agreed hesitantly. “Do you intend to expose your identity, Your Majesty?” Diana asked.

“Mid-journey,” Argrave nodded. “Little morale booster. But what of the lower ranks of mages? They factor in just as powerfully. C-rank, D-rank, et cetera.”

“I hoped to have them defend Quadreign,” Diana said, speaking slowly and cautiously as though she feared to offend. “Many are young sons or daughters of those already in the force. The vast majority of those that join hope to elevate their family as direct vassals of the new archduchy, as it was before the queendom fell.”

“And you’ll build their magic supply with the flame so that they can be ready to defend this territory,” Argrave guessed.

“Yes,” Diana nodded.

Argrave considered that. The potent force they brought with them… it was already incredibly powerful. Still, Argrave had been given a stark reminder yesterday that Gerechtigkeit was the larger issue.

“Anne?” Argrave turned his head. “Thoughts?”

Anneliese, despite her own troubles, remained sharp as she answered quickly, “The sheer number of B-rank mages vastly outnumbers both central and southern Vasquer. Combined, they may have more. I would add that qualitatively, both sides have a greater number of A-ranks or above… but that was when we left. Given Castro’s efforts, that may well change.”

Argrave nodded, then looked back to Diana. “Alright, then. Focus on building your defenses with this young blood.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty,” Diana said. “Your largesse will—”

“Now, the path,” Argrave interrupted, feeling there was no time for praise. “I’m thinking we employ something I did in coming here. Travelling is made easier if we do it low-key… along the coast, perhaps. Where’s a map?” Argrave looked around. “I have something in mind that’ll lead us right to where Elenore needs us.”