Jackal Among Snakes - Chapter 671

Chapter 671: Praise the Sun

“It always surprised me that you never picked up on what the Gilderwatchers truly were,” Lorena said as she looked out across Blackgard from atop the mountain ranges encircling it. They were waiting for someone’s arrival. “You had been to the Great Chu. You had seen their depictions of dragons—even seen some of the creatures yourselves. I suppose your preconception of the idea of them as ‘feathered serpents’ warped your sensibilities.”

Argrave listened to her words, and as he did, his eyes warped as he went through various stages of consideration—confusion, realization, then utter disbelief. He twisted his head and looked at her with wide eyes, questioning, “You can’t be serious.”

“I can. I knew the Gilderwatchers in their height. In structure, the Gilderwatchers have far more in common with us than they do snakes, or the monkey-dragons you can see today.” She kneaded the palm of her hand with her fingers as she talked idly. “They might be the only species of dragon that was ever fully united—but even in unity, they had no desire to dominate.”

“That’s good, then. If you’re both dragons, it’ll make this whole process easier, right?” Argrave waited for her to continue.

“My kind have mastery over flesh.” She held up her hand, and it shifted in countless ways in only a few second—it had scales in one moment, skin in the next, a carapace in the third, until coming back to as it had been. “It was much easier for us to discover how, exactly, cross-breeding affected the resulting mortal offspring. But the Gilderwatchers... they have domain over the soul. Vasquer was the first to ever succeed in creating viable offspring. I have deep knowledge of the changes. To answer your question... yes, it’ll be easier.”

“How did Vasquer actually have children with Felipe?” Anneliese began in cautious curiosity.

“A lady never tells,” Lorena said coyly, lightly tapping Anneliese’s nose. She bounced back in surprise. “Suffice to say the primary change in the royal family isn’t in the flesh, but the soul.”

“So I’d be invalidated, then.” Argrave crossed his arms, feeling a mite disappointed.

“I said the ‘primary’ change. There is plenty in your flesh. Besides, souls aren’t as honest as the flesh. They tend to be what we believe we are.” Lorena studied Argrave with her piercing bright eyes. “If you were entirely disqualified, you wouldn’t have been able to speak with Vasquer, or meld into the Tree of Being. But you can do both, despite the fact that your soul is foreign to the body it inhabits.”

“Fair point.” Argrave nodded, then saw an organic way to probe for information. “Can the Heralds read thoughts? Are you privy to the contents of those meetings?”

“They cannot. They can only read the thoughts of hosts. Why—is there something I should know?” Lorena studied him.

“Nothing I can think of.” Argrave shrugged, feeling some secret joy—their ploy had worked, and the watching Heralds would be unaware of Argrave and Anneliese’s intent to work to turn Lorena against them. “What’s the plan for us?”

Lorena looked up and into the distance—specifically, toward the sunrise. “It’s showing itself right now.”

Just then, the one that they’d been waiting for finally reared his head—specifically, Raven came out from his lab, manipulating his hands in such a way that the copious amounts of disgusting viscera clinging to it fell to the ground below. He looked at Lorena, then at Argrave.

“What kind of creature did you bring to me?” He asked in considerable alarm—far more than he usually expressed. Argrave debated whether or not Raven was the plan she had mentioned.

One of Lorena’s eyes looked at him, while the other remained fixed where it had been. “Raven? Hmm.” A lone eye looked to Argrave, and she spoke to him as if Raven wasn’t here. “I heard what he said about unlocking your bloodline. He was right, at least, in the necessity of the corpse of that silver knight. It could be considered a catalyst for the creation of the mirror necessary to rebuff Gerechtigkeit’s probing into the mind.” Both of her eyes focused on Raven. “As for what kind of creature Argrave brought... hello, Raven. I am Lorena, a dragon of the moon.”

Raven shifted on his feet. “You’re dangerous.”

“So long as you know that, we’ll get along fine,” she dismissed casually.

Anneliese watched her suspiciously. Lorena had more emotions wrapped up in Raven that she let on.

Lorena turned one eye to Argrave, and as if to distract everyone, asked, “Didn’t you once agree to watch every sunrise with your wife? My daughter was upset you don’t do that anymore.”

Argrave straightened his back. “That’s... no, it was the sunset. But it became impractical, things being as they are.” He looked at Anneliese somewhat guiltily, but it faded when she concurred with what he said with a silent nod.

“And your sigil is the sun,” Lorena continued. “Well... either it was calling out to you, or it was simply some lucky coincidence.” Lorena pointed forward, where the suns rose over distant mountains beyond those of Blackgard. “I’m rather confident that the key to unlocking your power, Argrave, lies in the sun.”

Argrave crossed his arms. “I’m not particularly eager to pay a visit. You’re sure?”

Raven stepped aside, parting the obsidian door to his laboratory. She walked inside, her long hair and tail trailing just behind her. Once she was out of sight, Argrave walked up.

“You can think of another way, right?” He asked hopefully. “The soul leaving the body—that’s death, right? There’s surely another way.”

#####

Argrave laid on the operating table, prepared to die.

As it turned out, Argrave’s vouching for Lorena was more than enough for Raven to take her seriously. After a cursory review of her theories and studies, they’d decided to immediately move forward to the first instance—a test run, so to speak. Practice.

“Don’t you think we should have someone else try this beforehand?” He asked, looking up at Raven. “Maybe we could get the New Traugott that Anneliese caught.”

“I have done this several times.” Raven read through a book.

“You?” Argrave asked in surprise. “That’s... reassuring, actually. What’s it like, separating the soul from the body?”

“Have you not read Erlebnis’ collection?” Raven answered idly.

“I have, but I want some firsthand experience. Give me... an analogy, maybe. A metaphor,” Argrave prompted hopefully.

“When I was human...” Raven looked away from his book. “I once voyaged to sea, with several others.”

Argrave’s expression brightened. “It’s like a voyage at sea?”

“When night fell, I became slightly too drunk and fell overboard. The ocean was freezing, I could no longer tell which way was up and down, and the thrashing ocean and haunting sounds rattled my skull.” He looked back to his book. “It was a little like that.”

Argrave sighed, and Anneliese held his hand. “You’ll be fine. You always are. Lorena was right—you’re special,” she teased.

“Yeah, and you’re funny. Funny-looking,” he countered weakly.

“Are you ready?” Raven questioned.

“Yes. Kill me,” Argrave commanded.

“As you wish...” Raven produced an implement.

“You said it wasn’t like death,” Argrave sat up quickly.

“Relax. That was a joke,” Raven said.

Argrave laid back down, relieved.

Raven brought down the implement, and when it was moments away from meeting flesh, said, “It’s almost exactly like death.”