The Vampire & Her Witch

By the time they reached the carriage, Nyrielle had a much better understanding of Ashlynn’s intentions. More than that, she began to wonder if she knew the Eldritch people as well as she had once believed.

For more than a century, the Vale of Mists had very little to do with Eldritch nations other than their immediate neighbors. Moreover, when Nyrielle dealt with other Eldritch Lords, she most often dealt with the extremely long-lived vampire lords that could be considered relics of an era that was beginning to fade. Now, it seemed like wealth and commerce were becoming as important to the Eldritch people as the raw strength to defend them from their enemies.

”When we met, I said that I believed you would help me break the stalemate with the Lothians,” Nyrielle said as they settled into her carriage. ”At the time, it was because I believed in the strength you would wield as a witch once you came to understand your powers. Now, however, I’m coming to realize that even if you were a powerless human, you would be an extraordinary agent of change.”

”Strength still forms the best support,” Ashlynn said, summoning a faint swirl of emerald energy that danced around her palm like leaves blown in the wind, filling the carriage with the rich scent of new growth. ”If I wasn’t the Mother of Trees, how many merchants would have met with me? If I couldn’t offer them things they couldn’t receive from anyone else, how many would be willing to discuss a deal?”

”If I wasn’t a witch, if I hadn’t been strengthened by my bond with you,” Ashlynn said, dismissing her magic and reaching out to hold Nyrielle’s hands. ”This wouldn’t have been possible at all.”

”I still don’t know if any of your seeds will bear fruit,” Nyrielle said, hoping to temper Ashlynn’s optimism. ”Or even if there will be time for them to do so. But so long as you believe, I’m willing to give new things a try.”

”That’s all I could ever ask and more,” Ashlynn said, snuggling up to Nyrielle in the comforting darkness of the carriage. The single oil lamp cast soft shadows over both women, creating the illusion that they blended into each other as they enjoyed the moment of peace and solitude before plunging into the crowds that would surround them when they reached the arena.

Outside the massive structure, crowds filled the plaza, pressing up against barriers and straining for a glimpse of the arriving dignitaries. Shouts of adoration and pleas for attention could be heard from innumerable throats as everyone from famous champions of the previous generation to the wealthiest merchants emerged from their stately carriages and made their way to the converted first floor of the arena.

As soon as one carriage arrived, however, the crowds went completely silent. Everyone pressed forward and the lightly armored guards dispatched from both the arena and the palace had to press people back behind barriers lest someone find themselves trampled beneath the crowd.

Drums sounded from the entrance of the arena, accompanied by the triumphant peels of trumpet blasts.

”We welcome the Blood Princess of the Arena!” A barrel-chested man from the clan of the great claw shouted from the top of the steps. ”We welcome the Harbinger of Death!”

”We welcome the Blood Princess,” the crowd echoed loudly. ”We welcome the Harbinger of Death!”

”It seems I’ve been forgotten already,” Ashlynn teased as she prepared to proceed Nyrielle out of the carriage.

”Should I give them a reminder?” Nyrielle asked in a tone that was light but held a sharper edge than Ashlynn expected. ”No one should disrespect my darling Ashlynn, especially not when I’m present.”

”No need, my love,” Ashlynn said, her face heating slightly as she felt Nyrielle’s protective fierceness echoing within her chest alongside the echo of her lover’s heartbeat. ”They’ve already seen me and they know me. Tonight, they’ve gathered to welcome you.”

The women’s emergence from the carriage created a stir among the people and several bowed or knelt where they stood. As soon as she exited the carriage, Nyrielle unfurled her black, feathered wings, stretching them out wide for a moment as the crowd collectively gasped before wrapping one wing protectively around Ashlynn as the women ascended the stairs.

”All of this is your doing too?” Nyrielle asked quietly, gesturing at the crowds of people. Compared to her previous visit when the only crowds present at the theater where they watched the opera were other attendees, this seemed somewhat... excessive.

”They will talk about seeing you tonight for years to come,” Ashlynn said lightly. ”Look, see the children riding their parent’s shoulders? That’s how much your legend means to them. Those children should be in bed by now, but look at the proud looks on their parent’s faces. They were able to see you tonight, even if they couldn’t afford a ticket to be in the arena. They want to remember this, and they want their children to remember you as well.”

”And this too, you’ve done for a reason? You court the wealthy for the power of their purses,” Nyrielle observed. ”But why is it that you’re courting the common folk of the High Fen? These aren’t our people. If they aren’t swayed by Little Snake’s strength or the coins of the merchants, what will sway them?”

”Stories are powerful, my love,” Ashlynn whispered. ”Stories of courage, hope... love. They’re very powerful. Even more so when they’re true. Inviting them to see a legend in the flesh may not achieve much at the moment, but what do you think would happen if we returned in the spring, seeking people to help us strengthen the Vale of Mists?”

”To the people of the High Fen, you’re one of theirs, a champion of the arena,” Ashlynn explained. ”But I want them to see you as you are, as the Lady of the Vale. Right now, they yearn for you to return to the arena. But look out there,” Ashlynn said, pausing to point outside now that they weren’t as easily observed by the people in the crowd.

”Notice how many of them are from the Horned Clan, or the Clan of the Great Claw,” Ashlynn said, leaning close enough to whisper in Nyrielle’s ear.

Near the front of the crowd, a cluster of children from the Horned Clan, so young that their horns were only small nubs barely visible through their hair, had already begun to play in the plaza under the watchful eyes of their parents. One waved a stick in one hand and held a coil of thin rope in the other, clearly imitating the new rising star of the arena.

Another young girl, with eyes that were as bright and shining as the stars, wrapped a cloak around her arms and flapped it like vast wings, even going so far as to wrap one arm around a younger sibling before declaring that she would defend her little brother, no matter the cost!

”They might not be your people right now, but they were once,” Ashlynn continued, subtly directing Nyrielle’s attention to where a grizzled veteran from the Clan of the Great Claw stood at rigid attention.

The man’s scarred face and minimal armor marked him as a former arena champion who had likely donned his old armor to pay respects to a fellow champion. But the look in his eyes when he saw Virve following closely behind Ashlynn and Nyrielle betrayed a deeply suppressed desire to protect people who meant far more to him than the warehouse full of grain he guarded for his current employer.

”And seeing you, and the splendor around you,” Ashlynn said softly. ”Perhaps some of them will wish to rejoin their long-lost kin within the Vale.”

”I doubt you’ll succeed, my darling,” Nyrielle said, turning away from the crowds outside to face the considerably more sophisticated crowd that had gathered within the arena. ”But I’m always willing to let you try,” she said in a voice that contained more yearning than she’d thought she could feel over the descendants of people who had abandoned her more than a hundred years ago.

But... if those descendants wanted to return... even if they didn’t choose to fight in the wars to come, Nyrielle made up her mind on the spot that she wouldn’t reject them. Whatever resentments she might have for their unwillingness to return once she sacrificed so much to retake the Vale of Mists...

None of that could compare to the feeling of having her people return, especially if they returned because Ashlynn encouraged them to do so.