The Vampire & Her Witch

”I’ll tend to the wounded personally,” Ashlynn said as she dropped the pieces of the broken spoon on the table to inspect her hand. The wood splinters had scratched her deeply enough to raise a few red welts, but after becoming Nyrielle’s Seneschal, her body was more than tough enough to resist being cut by something as simple as a broken utensil.

”And I want a list of names of people who survived their own stupidity,” Ashlynn added. ”I’ll give them a lesson in respecting their opponents and their leaders.”

”Are you sure that’s a good idea, Mother Ashlynn?” Virve asked, frowning at the leader of her coven. ”If they learn that you will heal them even after such a disaster...”

”Don’t worry, Virve,” Ashlynn said as she briefly gathered the aura of a stately, ancient tree around herself. ”These are proud men. Brave warriors. One of the worst punishments they can suffer is to be called home to their mother so she can kiss their boo-boos and make them better.”

The instant Ashlynn described what she intended to do, Virve choked on her tea, nearly spitting it out as she coughed and sputtered, thumping her broad chest in an effort to set her breathing right.

The image that filled her mind was just too... Too much. The idea of Ashlynn stepping into a healing tent filled with proud gladiators and fiercely independent woodsmen and telling them that she was there to tend their ouchies and make the pain go bye-bye was more than even she could bear.

Just looking at Ashlynn and the way her aura had become decidedly motherly as she radiated the age of ancient trees, Virve could already imagine the looks on the poor soldier’s faces when the mighty Mother of Trees entered the healer’s tent.

Her ears curled up in second-hand embarrassment and she shuddered at the thought of Ashlynn asking a mighty gladiator if he needed a spoonful of honey mixed in his medicine, or asking a skilled hunter to ’be brave for her’ while she mended his wounds.

”You, you’re not healing them to be kind,” Virve said, her mouth hanging open in shock once she could finally breathe properly again. ”You’re doing it to shame them into obedience!”

”It can be both, Virve,” Ashlynn said gently. ”I don’t want to see them suffer. I want the people who have been injured to make a fast recovery because if they try to fight while they’re still recovering, they’re more likely to get themselves killed. I want to preserve their lives, as much as I can...”

”But if I have to shame them into wearing their armor and fighting like real soldiers instead of acting like they’re putting on a show in the Arena,” she said fiercely. ”Then so be it. Their lives come first. Their dignity is a distant second. There’s no dignity to be found in a grave, Virve,” Ashlynn added softly. ”No matter how you get there, there’s only the cold, dark embrace of the earth.”

”I’ll teach them that too if I have to,” she said in a voice that was little more than a whisper. ”But I hope I don’t have to...”

”Remember, the news isn’t all bad,” Virve added, reaching across the table to rest a furry hand on Ashlynn’s slender wrist. ”I told you that there was a unique success, didn’t I? I don’t know whether or not you’ll approve, but one of the men, Captain Barsali, issued a challenge to a human knight.”

”I know, I know,” Virve said, raising her paws as if to ward off Ashlynn’s protests before they could even form on her lips. ”I don’t like the idea of grandstanding either. I would never have done this against the humans because they have no honor and fight like a pack of rabid dogs who will do anything to tear down just one more ’demon.’”

”You know that isn’t entirely true, Virve,” Ashlynn said gently as she watched Virve’s temper begin to shift from a faint, background simmer to a full boil. ”There are good men and bad ones among the knights of the march. Some of them are swine that should be beaten within an inch of their lives and buried alive,” she said, clenching her fist as she thought of Sir Broll’s companion who had helped him to bury her in the forest after Owain’s beating.

She had yet to lay eyes on Sir Tommin since that night, but according to Marcel’s reports, he’d become a Templar of some note, staying close to Loman and hiding himself behind the walls of the Church where he would be difficult to reach. Inwardly, she hoped he would be among the knights who would be sent to face the ’crisis’ she was facing, but she didn’t dare hope to be that fortunate.

”Some of the knights in the march are swine,” Ashlynn repeated. ”But others may yet be honorable. What happened when Captain Barsali challenged this knight to a duel? Did he accept?”

”He did,” Virve said, nodding her head and pursing her lips together in reluctant respect for the gladiator. ”He issued his challenge almost immediately after suffering his first casualty and he used the duel to secure the surrender of Sir Carwyn Belvin and his men. As much as I dislike his grandstanding,” Virve said reluctantly. ”Captain Barsali proved that he has the strength to defeat an armored knight in single combat, and he captured the knight alive.”

”That is remarkable,” Ashlynn agreed. ”We should do something to hold up his example, but only if we can find a way to do it without undermining the lesson we need to teach.”

”That shouldn’t be difficult,” the bearish former soldier said with a wide grin. ”According to the notes Commander Bassinger included, Captain Barsali and his two brothers were known in the arena as the ’Invulnerable Triplet Tails,’” Virve explained. ”They wear armor as heavy as any knight’s and they fought battles in the arena where they were outnumbered at least four to one. If you need men to showcase the power and importance of armor in the battles to come, I think he’s a good example to show the other men.”

”Perfect,” Ashlynn said, smiling in relief as she realized there really was a silver lining to how poorly the raids on Hanrahan Barony had gone. It didn’t make up for the lost lives, but it helped to blunt the sting. ”You said they needed Heila’s help,” Ashlynn added. ”Why? What do they want from her?”

”Well, according to the note he sent,” Virve said as she checked Commander Bassinger’s notes. ”He wasn’t able to be ’gentle’ with Sir Carwyn. In their final exchange, he nearly ripped the man’s legs off and almost tore his shield arm out of its socket. Sir Carwynn survived, but without witchcraft for healing, he’s unlikely to ever walk again, much less fight.”

”I see,” Ashlynn said. ”Of course, Heila can help. I think it would be a good thing for Sir Carwyn to receive his healing from an Eldritch witch instead of from me. And after that,” she said as an idea began to take shape in her mind. ”I think we should house him with Sir Hugo and Sir Rain. I think it would do our other esteemed guests a world of good to hear Sir Carwyn’s story directly from one of their peers...”