The Vampire & Her Witch

The more she spoke, the more Liam’s stomach sank. Her voice dripped with scorn and condemnation for the raiders who killed the common people among the Eldritch and her eyes burned with a fury that Heila herself had never known until she walked among the people of Ollie’s village and heard first hand about what they’d lost as the Dunns constantly expanded their borders.

Heila knew that Ashlynn hoped to find a way to forge a peace between their peoples, and she knew that she was using Liam Dunn as a sort of test to see if they could convince any of the lords of the Lothian Court to submit to Eldritch rule instead of resisting to the bitter end.

Thankfully, many of those villagers had heeded Ollie’s warnings and fled instead of fighting back this summer, otherwise they might have demanded the young lord’s head for his crimes. But there were still years upon years cruel, merciless attacks and senseless slaughter that were fresh in the minds of the newest residents of the Vale of Mists, and Heila’s healer’s heart ached when she heard their stories.

”Lord Liam,” Heila said, startling the young lord when she finally turned to look at him, addressing him directly for the first time since he had asked his question. ”You understand, don’t you? Why Lord Jalal wants to join the fight, and how hard we’re all working to limit the violence? He’s one of Dame Sybyll’s closest friends and she’s still holding him back because Lady Ashlynn doesn’t want this to turn into a massacre.”

Her hands tightened into fists as she spoke and she struggled to keep her voice smooth and even. One of the reasons she’d focused so much on concocting potions the past few days had been to have an excuse to avoid spending time with the murderous human.

She’d been tremendously grateful to Emmie for taking up the burden of watching over him while she worked, but now, she had to do her part in bringing about the peace Ashlynn wanted, no matter how much she wanted to lash out at Liam with her whip instead of just sharp words.

All around them, soldiers were forming up into organized ranks, checking their weapons one last time or clutching at lucky totems as they awaited the order to march. Yet the area around Heila, Liam, Emmie and Kurtz had grown utterly still without so much as a field mouse daring to approach the prickly aura that radiated from the diminutive witch.

”Lord Liam,” Heila said slowly after taking a deep, calming breath. ”Did you see the pattern of jewels on Lord Jalal’s tunic? Did you recognize it?” she asked.

”I, I did,” Liam said carefully as he realized that seeking out Lady Heila on the eve of battle to satisfy his curiosity might not have been a good idea, no matter how worried he was about the pagan deity that Hugo was being taken away to make an offering to.

”It’s one of the Thirteen Sacred Constellations, Gareon, the Ascended Swordsman,” Liam said, though he imagined that any child in the Kingdom of Gaal over the age of ten could have answered the same unless they’d never set foot in a temple or been taught the stars by their parents. ”Is it a trophy that Lord Jalal is wearing? A piece of sacred art that he’s turned into a tunic? It must have cost a fortune to make from so many gemstones...”

”Of course it’s not a trophy!” Heila snapped loud enough to startle the group of captains that stood nearby, prompting several of them to move an extra dozen paces away or more as they felt the faintest brush of her prickly aura against their skin, even from nearly thirty paces away.

Only Sybyll seemed unperturbed, standing resolute in her crimson darksteel armor as she waited for the rest of Lord Jalal’s men to arrive. Of course, her hearing was keen enough to hear every word of Heila’s conversation, but the young witch seemed to have things well in hand and she saw no reason to interfere when Liam Dunn’s affairs had little to do with her. Lady Ashlynn could make him whatever offers she wished, as long as they didn’t involve Hanrahan Barony or Airgead Mountain, she had little to say about any of it.

”That’s the art of the Soft Paw Clan,” Heila said as she fought to reign in her desire to whip the arrogant human. ”Those are the gemstones of Airgead Mountain and that’s what Lord Jalals’s people do with them, or at least one of the things they do with them. They don’t need to steal from humans to create beautiful things!”

She’d encountered a similar sort of attitude from Lord Hugo and Sir Carwyn when she helped escort them around the growing city outside of Lady Nyrielle’s ancient fortress. At first, the men had asked if the Eldritch had had learned their construction techniques from humans until Master Isabell pointed out that some of the techniques the Eldritch were using were more sophisticated than the ones used in human cities, even in the old countries.

But as much as Heila hated hearing Hugo and Carwyn making assumptions that the Eldritch had to learn from humans in order to do great things, they’d amended their attitudes quickly and they’d never once suggested that the beautiful paintings or tapestries on display in the ancient fortress were stolen.

”I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” Liam said, quickly dropping to one knee and raising his hand in submission as he felt the sting of sweat mixing with dozens of fresh pin-prick size wounds all across his chest when her anger became a palpable force.

”I, I didn’t mean to offend. It’s just, I was just surprised to see a sacred symbol of the Church on the chest of a de-, er, on Lord Jalal’s tunic,” he explained in a rush, stumbling over his words and revealing that deep down, there was at least a part of him that still thought of the Eldritch as ’demons’ even after everything he’d seen.

”A symbol of the Church?” Heila snorted derisively. ”Lord Liam, that isn’t a sacred symbol of your Church,” she said before pausing before correcting herself in a tone that lost its heat and gained a trace of embarrassment as she thought of how Ignatious would react to her statement.

”At least, it’s not just a sacred symbol of your Church,” Heila amended. ”There are countless stars in the sky and any number of minor constellations, but would you believe me if I told you that the ones you refer to as the Thirteen Sacred Constellations are recognized by the Eldritch people as well? And they have been for a long time, well before your people ever came to our shores.”

”The constellation that your people call Gareon, the Ascended Swordsman is the one we call ’The First Warrior,’” Heila explained. ”And it’s the symbol Lord Jalal wears to dance with death.”