The Vampire & Her Witch

”Come up, come up and try your luck! Three tries to a tail, bloodstone bracelets and charm necklaces for your lady or your man!”

”Test your mind and your body, solve the puzzle to free the scarf and keep your prize, just a tail to try!”

”Hunters, archers, warriors bold, take up this bow and...”

The northern fields between the fortress walls had become a sprawling, boisterous, and chaotic free-for-all where shopkeepers pitched tents and set up stalls to present all manner of games for prizes large and small. Children raced from booth to booth, some dragging parents with them while others carefully counted the handful of coins in their purses with conflicted expressions as they tried to decide which game they should play next.

Kneeling on the ground at one such booth, Hauke did his best to drown out the noise of the crowd as he put all of his attention on the bits of twisted metal arranged on the table in front of him.

Blacksmith’s puzzles like this one were uncommon in the High Pass but the challenge presented by this shopkeeper looked deceptively simple. Take three twisted iron rods and arrange them in a manner that they could support themselves without falling over. Anyone who could do so would win a small silk purse in a bright color of their choice.

Hauke had initially intended to win a crimson or gold colored purse for Sir Ignatious, feeling like it would compliment the former Inquisitor’s wardrobe and that a new purse would represent a new opportunity to fill it with treasures as he began a new life after returning from exile.

What Hauke hadn’t expected, however, was that after solving the first puzzle, the shopkeeper immediately presented a second one, this time with four twisted iron rods, and the chance to select a better purse with a fine brass clasp as long as Hauke was willing to pay another silver tail for the right to keep playing. And if he kept winning, there were even greater prizes to be won. Of course, if he failed, then he lost anything he might have won before, and he would have to start over from the beginning if he still wanted the best prize.

Now, frost covered his horn as he focused all of his attention on the seven twisted rods as he struggled to recall everything he had learned from Eraric about stable structures and mutual reinforcement. The Frost Walker Architect might have been the person who forged the chains that made Hauke a prisoner in his own mind, but he was also one of the greatest architects of his era and perhaps the greatest in the history of the Frost Walker clan, and the lessons he’d given Hauke over the summer were still priceless treasures to the young lord.

Standing next to him, Heila and Talauia held hands and all but held their breath, not daring to make the slightest movement that would disturb Hauke as he carefully threaded an iron rod through a gap between three others that he held loosely in place with one hand while the other manipulated the rod.

Further back, Virve looked at Ollie with a slight grin before elbowing him in the ribs and leaning over to whisper in his ear.

”I’ll bet you ten tails that he fails on the fifth rod,” Virve said as she watched Hauke struggle to make the fourth rod lock into place. ”This one is much, much harder than the last one.”

”I won’t bet against my friends,” Ollie said, frowning at Virve’s suggestion. ”So my bet is ten tails that he succeeds on this one, just like he did on the last one.”

”It’s okay to bet against your fellows, you know,” Virve said with a laugh. ”Soldiers gamble on everything, just to pass the time. Nine days out of ten are spent marching somewhere that we might fight, maintaining our weapons and armor in case we fight, or sleeping and recovering because we just fought. It’s a lot of idle time to fill, and even cards and dice get boring after a while.”

”But knights aren’t common soldiers,” Ollie insisted. ”We have to set an example for the people who follow us and we should lift each other up instead of cheering to see one of our own fall. Look at Heila and Talauia,” he said. ”They’d be cheering him on if they weren’t so worried about distracting him.”

”You don’t get it,” Virve said, shaking her head at the young knight. ”I’m not cheering for Hauke to fail, I’m creating a reason to cheer no matter what the outcome is,” Virve said, surprising both Ollie and Ashlynn standing beside them. ”If I win because he loses, then I at least owe him an ale to celebrate my good fortune. He’ll also see that you believed in him enough to wager coin of your own on his success, and that’s a good thing too.”

”This is why I knew I picked the right person to become the Captain of my guard,” Ashlynn said proudly. ”I never thought that gambling among soldiers was so meaningful.”

”I’m just repeating the lesson I got from Captain, I mean, from Sir Lennart, when I told him that I thought the gambling was getting out of hand years ago,” Virve said, her ears twitching slightly as Ashlynn praised her. ”Really, I was just bitter about losing so often. I barely had enough of my wages left at the end of the journey to buy a nice dinner and an expensive bottle of wine to drown my sorrows in, and some of the others had made what felt like a small fortune betting on fights in High Fen City’s arena.”

”Wisdom is wisdom, wherever it comes from,” Ashlynn said with a wide smile. ”And I’ll join Ollie,” she added as she watched Hauke successfully set the fourth rod. ”I think Hauke can’t lose at this game.”

”What?” Virve asked, blinking in surprise. ”Is he really that skilled with these sorts of puzzles?”

”He’s very clever,” Ashlynn said, nodding in pride as she watched Hauke’s confidence grow when he quickly set the fifth rod. ”I can’t wait to introduce him to my friend Isabell when she arrives in the Vale. Marcel sent a message that he’s arranging to bring her to the edge of the Vale tomorrow night.”

”Ollie,” Ashlynn added, as if a thought had just struck her. ”Master Isabell may not be able to escape Lothian City without an escort of Owain’s guards. It might be best if we could limit our party to just humans to receive them. We can handle any trouble that arrives with her ourselves, but if her escort notices Eldritch folk around, they may try to run away before we can stop them, and we can’t risk word getting out. Are there any of the men we captured from the Summer Villa that you trust enough to act as our ’guards’ and escort when we meet with Master Isabell?”

”I can think of a few who were very helpful in building the village, and hunting for food to feed the refugees in the early days of the crisis after Lord Owain attacked the Heartwood Clan,” Ollie said with a firm nod. ”

”Eamon might be a bit... eager,” Ollie said, choosing his words with care as he thought about the woodsman who had become an increasingly devout believer that Lady Ashlynn was a divine messenger blessed by the Holy Lord of Light. ”He’s a good man, though, and he and Darragh were both helpful this summer. Daithi too,” he added after a slight pause. ”I think you met his wife and daughter when you visited the village.”

”Good,” Ashlynn said with a genuine smile. ”I’m glad to know that we didn’t destroy their lives when we took them prisoner. I was worried when I left that they would cause all manner of trouble but it seems like you’ve helped them to integrate well into life in the Vale. Well done, Ollie,” she praised.

”Six, that’s six rods!” the shopkeeper shouted loudly, startling several of the people who had gathered to watch Hauke attempt to complete the most difficult puzzle he offered for a chance to win the greatest prize. ”But the last one is the hardest. What do you say, young lord Hauke?” the shopkeeper said warmly.

”If you stop here,” the shopkeeper offered loudly, pitching his voice to be heard by Ashlynn and anyone around her. ”I’ll still give you your choice of silk satchels. You said your friend was a scholar, right? Nothing better for a scholar than a good satchel to carry around their precious books. I’ll even add a basic coin purse for each of the ladies in your party since you’ve made it this far.”

”It’s a good deal, isn’t it, friend?” the shopkeeper asked. ”Why don’t you just quit while you’re ahead?”