Jackal Among Snakes

A tall, black-haired man with a white eyepatch over his right eye stared out across the ocean. The eyepatch had a peculiarly round ruby embedded on the front, giving the faintest illusion of an eye in the socket. His good eye was gray as slate. The sapphire-blue waters of the shore washed at his feet, while a faint smile played about his lips.

“Vincent!”

Vincent turned his head toward the voice. There, Sophia of Vasquer waved at him as she ran carefreely. She had grown to be a vivacious woman, with bright red eyes, cheeks full of color, and a touch of innocence that hadn’t faded even after ninety-seven years. Seeing her, Vincent’s smile only widened. He walked up to greet her, giving her a hug.

“Missed you,” Vincent said.

Sophia pulled away and looked up at him. “You always say that.”

“It’s always true.” Vincent patted the top of her head. “Did the trip go okay? Anybody give you trouble?”

“Would that you would show such concern for our other siblings,” Sophia said dryly. “I’m fine. I always am. But enough about me—what do you think mom and dad have planned? Their invitation was a little ominous. ‘The world will change forevermore.’ They don’t tend to exaggerate.” Sophia began to walk away from the shore, back toward the estate.

Vincent inhaled, following Sophia calmly. “Perhaps they’re abdicating to you.”

“Pfft.” Sophia scoffed. “What would be the point? All they have to do these days is a bunch of ceremonies on one day, twice a year. Even if it was true, hardly world-changing.”

Sophia inhaled through her teeth. “Could you imagine? Can they still, even? Mom’s an elf, and they have Raven… anything is possible.” She almost looked excited at the prospect, but further thinking ensured reality hit. “Still… it’s been a long, long while. Not sure they’d break discipline now. They don’t really know how to stop being disciplined.”

“Then I’m out of guesses.” Vincent shrugged.

“Really? You don’t know?” Sophia sounded genuinely surprised. “It always seems like you know everything.”

“I just loaf around all day. Why do you have such a high opinion of me?” Vincent asked.

“Do you remember when you were just a little baby, newly born?” Sophia looked at him.

Vincent narrowed his eye. “Does anyone?”

“You never cried,” Sophia continued. “You wouldn’t even feed. You had… well, the missing eye. Everyone thought there was something wrong with you, with your brain. But then I came, remember? And you cried, came alive, grabbed my finger with your little itty-bitty fingers… it was such a happy day. Mom and dad were so happy, so relieved.”

Vincent put his hands in his pockets. “You’re telling me I was too stupid to feed, so you think I know everything?”

“No. I could just tell, even then, that you were smart. A genius. You knew everything that was going on, you just didn’t want to feed. You needed a little push.” Sophia grabbed his arm. “So, stop lying to me, you little gremlin, and tell me why our parents called us here. I know you know.”

Vincent laughed hard, but then finally looked at Sophia. “It’s not a bad thing, Soph. Don’t worry your silly little head.”

“Really? Hmm.” Sophia looked at him. “What if I tell your wife about that time when you were eleven, and—”

“Alright, alright,” Vincent interrupted. “I’ll give you a little hint, but that’s all you’re getting. You’ve got a big mouth, and you can’t lie if your life depended on it, so that’s all I’ll do.”

“That’ll do,” Sophia conceded.

Vincent paused their walk. “They’ve decided to be a little selfish for once—to do what they want, instead of what’s best for the nation or the family.”

Sophia fell into quiet contemplation as they continued to walk toward the family estate. Its black roof entered into view, and soon enough its white walls. Goldrest was an elegant, four-story estate split into three sections by three islands bridged by serene walkways. Built entirely of stone and metal, it looked liable to last as long as its owners.

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More of the attendees of this event entered into view as they carried on. Galamon and Orion stood by a gargantuan grill in the garden, where dozens of staff managed a tremendous variety of meats. The pair wrangled a bunch of white-haired and black-haired children who hungered early, drawn here by the smell of cooking meats. The children that had learned the lesson of delayed gratification waited under a pavilion with Elenore, who gently combed the hair of a red-haired child while she read from a storybook.

Elimar demonstrated to some of the older children how to wield a sword, standing as the stoic instructor while Orion’s son, Argrave—Archie—encouraged the children as gently as possible. The eldest son, Castro, oversaw some teenagers as they ‘sparred’ with simple F-rank spells. The majority of the other adults were chatting away at the white tables spread out throughout the beautiful gardens.

“Oh, dear.” Sophia grabbed Vincent’s arm, pulling him away from his thoughts. “Hannelore’s found an audience. We should spare them.”noveldrama

Vincent turned his gaze to where Hannelore sat in a secluded corner of the garden, easily recognizable from her untamed white hair. A few of the children sat across from her, their eyes wide as they listened. Sophia dragged Vincent along to help resolve the situation.

“I mean, come on. Just think about it.” The sixth princess Hannelore tapped her temple while her gray eyes darted about passionately. “Every time you cast a water or ice spell, there’s more water in the world. Not only that, it sticks around. Water’s gotta go somewhere, right, kids? That’s why, according to my projections, the entire continent is going to be undersea by—”

“Hannah,” Vincent interrupted. “I think mom asked for you.”

“Oh.” Her face turned sad as the wind was taken from her sails. “Okay.” Hannelore nodded, then looked back to the kids. “I have to go. Just remember this. Fellhorn was misunderstood. He was actually trying to save us all by taking the water. It’s just his followers that were bad.”

As Vincent directed Hannelore away from the children, Sophia tactfully explained to the children that Hannelore was a little overeager about those theories of hers. When Hannelore walked away, Vincent looked out to the rest of the family. In a nearby table, he spotted his wife, Christine. When they’d met, she’d looked like a red-haired version of his mother, which was… off-putting, to say the least. Now, she’d gained her own identity. She waved at him discretely, and he smiled at her.

“Every time we’re all together, I just think about how blessed we are,” Sophia said as she rejoined Vincent. “I never could’ve imagined this when I was young. This wasn’t what a family was, to me.” Even as she spoke of the past, smiles graced her face. “I find myself forgetting those terrible days, more and more.”

“That’s good,” said Vincent with a slow nod. “A little dementia never hurt anyone. At the ripe age of 106, it was overdue.”

Sophia laughed. “Don’t be an idiot.”

Vincent only smiled, watching in silence as one of his nephews chased around one of his nieces with an ugly frog in his hand.

“Do you think the good times will go on forever?” Sophia asked. “I mean… they can’t, can they? It’s just not possible. Enrico showed us all that.”

“Maybe not.” Vincent nodded in agreement. “Though, good times, bad times… I think we can always be happy, at least. Our parents have built something that’ll always give us the opportunity for happiness.”

“Sometimes, I wonder if we deserve all of this,” Sophia continued. “Can we enjoy life so liberally when another person on another continent suffers because of the choices our parents made? Can we stop and rest while a single person yet suffers?”

“You do plenty,” he assured her. “Argrave and Anneliese did plenty. They’ve suffered plenty, too. Could you do more? Yeah, maybe. Everyone can. If every living person spent every second of theirs helping everyone, we could solve every problem in the world at once. So what? That’s just not the way things are.”

Sophia didn’t say anything for a while, enjoying the sounds of distant revelry. “It just makes me think about my blood-related brother,” she eventually admitted. “Griffin was just as trapped as I was. In a twisted way, the only reason I get all of this… is because of what he did.”

Vincent turned his head to look at her. “He said he loved you, didn’t he? Then he’d be happy. He’d be happy that you’re living an idyllic life, helping people around the world like you do, giving so much. He’d be proud that you held fast to your beliefs. If he was honest in all that he said, at least.”

“Maybe.” Sophia nodded. “’Survivor’s guilt,’ dad always called it. I still can’t shake it, after all this time.”

Vincent crossed his arms. “You never know what happened. Maybe things turned out just as nice for him, even if he doesn’t deserve it. Luck doesn’t pay any mind to good or evil, after all. And all we are is lucky. The both of us.”

“Sophia!” called out a distant voice before she could respond. “Come here a minute!”

Sophia glanced at Vincent as she walked toward the voice. “Coming?”

“Nah.” He shook his head. “Think I’ll go nap somewhere until the meal’s ready.”

“Okay,” Sophia agreed. “Be nice this time. Don’t make your niece cry by calling her fat again.”

“She’s a thirty-year-old woman, and she was fat,” Vincent argued. “Now—look, she’s thin again. I was helping.”

“Be nice.” Sophia pointed firmly. “I mean it.”

“Fine,” Vincent sighed.

Vincent couldn’t honestly say if the good times would go on forever. Maybe the Vasquer family would continue to expand until they consumed the entire world. Maybe more tragedies awaited them in the future. Whatever the case, Vincent would do his damnedest to be sure his family was happy. He retreated back, looking for a nice tree to seek shade under.

“Uncle Vincent!” shouted a child, who shortly after barreled into his leg. As his knee protested, he looked at the kid. “Can you take off your eyepatch? How’d you lose your eye? Was it a battle?!”

Vincent closed his eyes, reciting Sophia’s words of ‘be nice’ like a mantra.