The Vampire & Her Witch

More than an hour had passed since Heila discovered Ashlynn’s disappearance. Briefly, the diminutive witch had considered recruiting Talauia to search for the missing Mother of Trees, but in the end, she decided against it. If Ashlynn had only been the Mother of Trees, then a member of the famed Glimmerwing clan who was also the Thistle Witch might be able to catch up to her. But to catch up to the Mother of Trees, who was also the Seneschal of the Harbinger of Death, would be too much to hope for, even for Talauia.

Fortunately, the days were growing very short as autumn prepared to yield to winter, and it wouldn’t be long before Lady Nyrielle woke. Besides, at a time like this, Hiela was certain that the very best person to chase after Ashlynn was the woman she’d just become betrothed to.

Instead, Heila had forced all of her worries to the back of her mind to settle the practical affairs that she could on Lady Ashlynn’s behalf before collecting a lantern and venturing deep into the unlit caverns dug into the cliff behind the ancient fortress. A year ago, she would have needed a hand-drawn map and perhaps a marking stick of chalk to find her way through the winding caverns where no daylight could reach.

Now, however, she had made the trip to Lady Nyrielle’s chambers several times in order to retrieve Ashlynn or things she left behind after spending an evening with her lover. All of that familiarity did nothing, however, to suppress the feeling of anxiety and impending doom that settled over her as she stood outside Lady Nyrielle’s chambers, waiting for the powerful vampire to wake.

Each minute that Heila spent in the darkness with only the sounds of her own heartbeat and breathing to keep her company felt like an eternity, one that couldn’t pass quickly enough and at the same time, one that she hoped would last forever. As she stood there, she tried to figure out what she would say to Lady Nyrielle or how she would explain things, but before she could come to any good answers, the door opened and Nyrielle’s dark, shadowy presence filled the dimly lit stone hall.

”What happened to her?” Nyrielle asked without preamble. She’d felt Ashlynn’s distress hours ago, and it had only grown as the sun marched inevitably toward the horizon. Now, her hair was still askew, and she was still wearing her sleeping gown, but she didn’t care to waste even a moment in her need to reach her aching lover’s side.

”Lady Ashlynn, she, she learned who betrayed her secret to Owain,” Heila said, pressing herself back against the stone wall when the intensity of Nyrielle’s glowing, midnight-blue gaze struck her. ”It, it was her sister, Jocelynn. She was jealous of Lady Ashlynn’s marriage to Owain and...”

”It doesn’t matter why,” Nyrielle said, cutting Heila off as she extended her senses outward, feeling along the bond of blood that tied her heart to Ashlynn’s. ”How long ago did she leave?” Nyrielle asked, her eyes widening in surprise as she realized that Ashlynn had already moved far beyond the walls of the ancient fortress and must be nearing the boundary of the Vale of Mists itself by now.

”Do you know where she’s going and what she intends to do when she gets there?” Nyrielle asked as she turned her attention back to Heila.

”I don’t,” Heila admitted, hanging her head in shame. ”But she took her armor and the sword she used for practice. She wouldn’t have done that unless...”

”Unless she intended to use them,” Nyrielle said with a heavy sigh. ”I’ll bring her home,” she promised. ”She’s worked too hard and laid too many plans to throw them all away in a moment of pain and grief. I won’t let her do that to herself, no matter how much she wants to lash out right now. But... this will change things, no matter what happens when I bring her home.”

For a moment, Nyrielle stood completely motionless, exuding the stillness that only those who were already dead were capable of. Her mind raced as she filtered through dozens of possibilities before a plan came together in her mind. Not a complete plan, that would be impossible without speaking to Ashlynn, but she at least felt like there was a reasonable way to get her lover through this moment of crisis.

”Heila, you haven’t been a servant under my command since you became Ashlynn’s lady-in-waiting,” Nyrielle said. ”But I cannot wait for Zedya and Lennart to reach me. In their absence, will you accept my commands?”

”Your commands are the same as my lady’s commands,” Heila said as she gave a deep curtsy. ”Speak the words and I’ll see that your will is done,” she said in a voice that was thick with relief. For the past hour, she’d carried the weight of knowing Ashlynn was missing on her shoulders, but now, Lady Nyrielle was taking up that burden. Not only that, she was relying on Heila to help her rather than taking over entirely and shutting her out now that Lady Nyrielle had decided what needed to be done.

”First, find Zedya,” Nyrielle commanded as she held up a pale, slender finger to mark off her points. ”Tell her what has happened and ask her to send word to Sybyll. She needs to arrive within two nights. I doubt that Thane will be able to hold out for more than a single night in Ashlynn’s current state, but I’ll need to trouble him tomorrow night to help her prepare.”

”Second,” Nyrielle continued, holding up another slender finger next to the first. ”Track down Erkembalt and tell him that his time is nearly up. He has five days to complete his work on Ashlynn’s new blade. Tell him that for each day beyond the five I’ve given him that I’ll take one of his fingers.”

”His, his fingers? My Lady?” Heila said, swallowing heavily at the ruthlessness of Nyrielle’s order. ”Will you really, really sever his fingers? He’s an artificer. Without his hands...”

”You can reattach a finger if it was only severed recently, can’t you?” Nyrielle said with a faint smile that revealed a hint of fang. ”Don’t tell him that you can, but make sure he understands that this isn’t some silly research project that he can keep experimenting on. Ashlynn needs a suitable blade when she faces Owain Lothian, and if he won’t provide one, then I’m afraid she’ll risk using that cursed Holy Flame Blade again,” she said darkly.

Nyrielle didn’t need to say anything beyond that. Some day, Ashlynn might be able to master the Church’s sacred weapon, but her first attempt had left her badly burned, and they had been forced to rush her back to the Vale of Mists from the High Pass in order to have a chance to heal from her injuries.

In the wake of that battle, Nyrielle had commanded Artificer Erkembalt to forge a weapon that could replace Ashlynn’s shattered darksteel blade. If it had been ready by the time of their betrothal ceremony, Heila was certain that Lady Nyrielle would have presented it to Ashlynn along with command of the Vale’s forces.

Unfortunately, breaking Hauke’s curse had been more important than forging Ashlynn’s new weapon, and Heila hadn’t heard that there had been much progress in the days since Hauke was cured. Now, however, Heila couldn’t help but worry that Nyrielle was right. Ashlynn would want to destroy Owain in the most crushing way possible, and if that meant using the Holy Flame Blade to do it, especially right now when she was consumed with anger and grief over her sister’s betrayal, then that was exactly the weapon she would use.

”I’ll make sure he understands,” Heila said solemnly.

”Good,” Nyrielle said as her dark wings began to unfold from her slender back. ”The last thing you need to do is to explain all of this to Thane. He has tonight to see that the army is in order and that things can proceed smoothly in Ashlynn’s absence for the next several days. She’ll be in no shape to give orders, and he’ll need to make sure that the army can act independently.”

”You don’t need to look so worried,” Nyrielle said with surprising gentleness, appearing before Heila faster than the diminutive witch saw her move and gently wiping away the moisture that had collected in the corner of her eyes. ”I’ll be back with my darling soon, and I won’t let any harm come to her, even if I have to protect her from herself,” she promised.

Then, between one blink and the next, Nyrielle vanished from sight with only the faint sound of feathers fluttering in the wind and a light breeze to mark her departure. For a minute, Heila stood there, too startled to even move, but once the moment passed she took a deep breath and started walking down the dark corridor.

First, she needed to talk to Zedya about summoning Dame Sybyll back from Airgead Mountain. Everything else would come after that, one step at a time. She just had to focus on doing her part, and Lady Nyrielle would take care of the rest, hopefully before Lady Ashlynn did anything more rash than taking a long walk in the rain...