The Vampire & Her Witch

The sun had set many hours ago by the time Jocelynn’s carriage approached its destination in the Vale of Mists.

When they’d all piled back into the carriage in Maeril, she’d intended to stay awake the entire way to Vale City. She wanted to see every bit of the journey her sister had taken to reach her new home, from the forest she’d walked through to the towering defensive walls Nyrielle’s carriage had carried her past...

She wanted to understand, as much as she could, the lengths that her sister had gone to in order to survive that night, and how far her will and determination to find the person who betrayed her had carried her.

Unfortunately, it was almost dark by the time they left Maeril, even with the speed they’d gained thanks to Ollie’s witchcraft. By the time they passed the stone marker displaying a warning about leaving the safety of the march behind, it was already too dark to see any details beyond a few trees faintly illuminated by the carriage’s lanterns.

She’d passed the time chatting with Samira about the village where they were currently staying, but conversation became hushed and then died out altogether when Ollie’s soft snores filled the carriage as no one wanted to disturb his rest. Eventually, she and everyone else in the carriage had followed Ollie’s example, drifting off to sleep while the carriage rolled through the dark.

”Lady Jocelynn,” Samira said softly, smiling at the young woman who had fallen asleep leaning against her shoulder. ”It’s time to wake up, we’re almost there.”

”Hmm?” Jocelynn said, blinking the sleep from her eyes and looking out the window.

Rather than the stark darkness she’d seen at the start of the final leg of their journey, now the entire world was cloaked in a silvery mist lit by the soft glow of the carriage’s lanterns. The sounds of horses’ hooves and carriage wheels clattering along the stones of the road had become muffled and muted, and she had to strain to hear the sounds of the wagons and carriages following behind them.

”How can you tell?” Jocelynn asked as she straightened up in her seat. ”I can’t see anything out there.”

”I can feel it,” Ollie answered from the opposite side of the carriage. ”Heila and Virve are waiting for us up ahead. They’re probably waiting with Lady Nyrielle and a few others to welcome us home,” he said, explaining for both Jocelynn and his parents sitting next to him.

”Remember, the people of the Vale may look a little strange,” Ollie said. ”But for the most part, they’re just like people anywhere else. Don’t let the horns or the claws scare you.”

”It’s so late,” Ollie’s mother, Lilee, said as she looked out into the mist at the slightly brighter spot that marked the moon’s position high overhead. ”We won’t be troubling anyone by arriving this late, will we?”

”The Vale is ruled by vampires, ma,” Ollie said with a light chuckle. ”Even in the middle of the night, there are always a few people who are up and about. Lady Nyrielle will be up for sure, and so will Sir Thane and her other progeny.”

”I’ll give everyone a proper tour of the city tomorrow,” Ollie promised. ”Tonight I just want to get everyone settled and...” Ollie’s voice trailed off as he cocked his head to one side, as he listened to something no one else could hear.

”What is it, son?” Jamys asked.

”Um, I think that someone, probably Heila, might have told a few people we’re coming,” he said as a towering stone wall emerged from the fog while the carriage clattered through the dark maw of the gatehouse. ”Um, more than a few,” he added sheepishly as the carriage emerged from the short tunnel.

Jocelynn’s breath caught in her chest as the mists seemed to roll back, revealing a glittering city nestled in the foggy valley. Everywhere she looked, she could see towers of scaffolding rising out of the mists like skeletal fingers clutching half-finished buildings. In the distance, moonlight glittered off the surface of the River Luath, though this close to the source, it was hardly more than a stream, a few dozen paces across.

Lamps hung from poles lining the streets, casting a warm golden glow over everything and giving the city the appearance of a net of light laid across the valley. A corner of Jocelynn’s mind couldn’t help but marvel at the costs involved in lighting a city so well at night, but the lighting was hardly the most impressive thing about the sight that greeted them.

Ollie said that Heila had told a ’few people’ they were coming, but as the carriage rolled into the city, Jocelynn didn’t see a ’few’ people; she saw hundreds, perhaps as many as a thousand people lining the road, cheering for their arrival and... and singing.

”O’ sing of the Iron Pot,

And sing of the Cypress Tree,

He’s the guardian of the broken,

And the truest knight we’ve seen...”

Jocelynn had heard stories about the Eldritch clans, but this was the first time she was confronted by how different they all were. Some were short with curled horns, while others stood tall enough to reach the top of the carriage without stretching, and their claws looked like they could tear through the carriage’s frame with contemptuous ease. But as different as all the people of the Vale were, they were unified in the song they sang and the overflowing joy in their eyes as they welcomed their heroes home.

”... really him in the carriage, Papa? Which carriage has the Cypress Witch?” a young child riding on his father’s shoulders asked excitedly.

”Make way! Make way for the Cypress Knight! Keep the road clear,” a bellowing voice echoed as a bearish soldier kept the crowd from pressing forward and overwhelming the carriage.

”... really true? The Lothian Line is broken? Sir Ollie, Sir Ollie, is it really true...?”

”Three cheers for the Cypress Knight! Three cheers for the Mother of Trees!”

As the carriage rolled on, the sounds of excited shouting, strident singing, and even joyous weeping filled the air, but one set of names echoed out again and again and again. Sir Ollie. The Cypress Knight. The Cypress Witch.

It had to be close to midnight, yet hundreds of people packed the streets, hoping to catch even a glimpse of one of the witches who had helped to end the tyranny of a century of Lothian aggression.

Jamys and Lilee beamed with pride as their son’s face turned a faint shade of pink while he sank lower in his seat, clearly uncomfortable with all of the attention. To Jocelynn’s eyes, however, there was something radiant shining out from underneath the obvious embarrassment.

On the docks of Lothian City, Sir Ollie had stood alone in the snow, and her heart ached to see Lord Liam ushering people away from him... But here, there was no fear in the welcome Ollie received, and as much as the enthusiastic singing seemed to embarrass him, a greater part of Ollie seemed like he was finally at ease.

The Cypress Witch had returned to a hero’s welcome, but even if the streets hadn’t been lined with people singing his praises, Jocelynn thought he would look much the same. The look on his face was one she’d seen on countless sailors after long voyages, and it told her everything she needed to know about what the Vale had come to mean to the flame-haired knight.

Nothing else could melt the tension from a man’s shoulders and soften his expression the way a first step ashore could, and she saw the same look on Ollie’s face now. Lothian City was the place he’d been born, and the manor was the place where he grew from an infant to a man, but the Vale was the place he called home...