The Vampire & Her Witch

At the same table where Commander Savis brooded through Nyrielle’s tale, Lady Tosha Saliou clutched the radiant sun pendant that hung from her neck while the other arm snaked protectively around her son, Riwal.

She had no fear of the lupine vampire, nor any of those who followed Saintess Ashlynn. She had witnessed the miracles of the Saintess personally, and she trusted, to the depths of her soul, that she was in no physical danger tonight.

But when the High Inquisitor rose to speak, after everything she just heard, Tosha braced herself for a truth that would be difficult to hear, and maybe even harder to reconcile with the faith she’d grown up with than the things she’d already heard.

”Across the sea, things unfolded differently,” the High Inquisitor said as he stood. ”But in the very beginning, things weren’t that different at all.”

”Few records survive about the Empire of Endless Waves,” Ignatious began. ”At least, among humans. I wish I could say that was because it fell so long ago, but the more likely reason is that many of the ancient texts were destroyed deliberately to prevent people from learning from the Empire’s example,” he said, shaking his head in disappointment.

”The Eldritch have their own stories about the empire that rose among the waves,” he explained. ”Enough to know that it was ruled by a Great Witch, the Mother of Tides, and an Oracle, the Sovereign of the Moon. We know that the use of sorcery was common in the empire, that their fleets of ships could reach halfway around the world, and that the world was at peace during the reign of its empress.”

A few people around the room nodded, accepting the version of the tale they’d heard from priests since their earliest days without comment. In most temples, the Empire of Endless Waves was a cautionary tale told to children about the dangers of witchcraft, so hearing the name of the Great Witch who ruled it passed over them without producing a ripple of shock.

For the truly devout like Lady Tosha, however, the story had already begun to diverge from the one they knew. The witches who ’commanded the waves and worshiped the moon’ that had filled the stories they’d grown up on had become a witch and an oracle... just like the witch and oracle who had founded the Eldritch world in Lady Nyrielle’s story, and that distinction felt very important.

”When the Empress died, and her empire fell, chaos engulfed the world,” Ignatious said. ”The wars that were fought between people hoping to claim her throne were terrible things. Cities burned. Tens of thousands died. Worst of all, would-be-emperors sacrificed their own subjects in rituals that harvested lives to fuel their sorcery.”

”Some of those who died likely offered their lives willingly to protect their homes, their families and their children,” Ignatious said. ”But many others were sacrificed for ambition and greed. This was the world that the Great Prophet was born into; An Age of Chaos where humanity teetered on the brink of extinction.”

”You see how similar it is, don’t you?” Ignatious said with a slight smile. ”All of humanity cried out for a savior and one was born to them, a Sovereign of the Sun with the power to reshape mankind’s destiny, guided by a Sovereign of Stars and a Celestial Court of great teachers...”

”High Inquisitor,” Tosha said, surprising herself by speaking up, but as he laid it out before her, she couldn’t hold back the question in her heart. ”You’re talking about the Great Prophet and the Saint Teacher, but you just called the Saint Teacher a ’Sovereign of the Stars’... The same as the person who helped the Eldritch after the Age of Ice. Are you, are you saying that the Saint Teacher was the same man who helped rescue the Eldritch?”

Heads turned across the Great Hall as people looked at the banners of the Thirteen Sacred Constellations hanging on the walls. Some stared in disbelief, looking from the banners to the Eldritch people from the Southern Steppe who had shown reverence to the very same sacred stars. Others shook their heads in denial, refusing to accept the idea that Lady Tosha had given voice to.

How could it be the same man? For hundreds of years, the Church had called the Eldritch ’demons’ and taught that they were to be killed on sight... How could the Saint Teacher be responsible for saving the Eldritch people if they were demons who needed to die? It was impossible!

”No, I’m not saying that he was the same man,” Ignatious said, provoking a wave of relieved sighs from many of the faithful. ”But he carried the same power, much as Lady Ashlynn carries the same power as the Mother of Forests. That’s why our sacred stars are the same as the ones that guide the Eldritch... Because we all live under the same sky, and the power of the Heavens that helped the Saint Teacher and the Great Prophet to rescue the world is the same as the power that guided the Eldritch out of the Age of Ice,” Ignatious explained.

”It can’t be the same,” Rastlan snapped, glaring at the red-robed priest who dared to claim that humans followed the same stars and the same teachings they’d inherited from the Sovereign of Stars. ”The sword of a warrior is only drawn against another warrior, and every one of us who has called on the power of the First Warrior knows this.”

”To entrust your fate to the edge of your blade is a bargain that only true warriors can make,” Rastlan said. ”But the Templars of the Church call themselves warriors as do the ones who call themselves knights. They claim to follow the path of a warrior while cutting down women, children, farmers and hunters,” he said with a snarl.

”Lord Jalal,” Rastlan said, looking down the length of the table to the one-armed lord from Airgead Mountain where he sat next to Sybyll. ”You have fought these butchers. You know they are not the same as us!”

”I have fought them, Captain Rastlan,” Jalal said in a carefully neutral tone. ”I lost my arm to a man wielding a Bow of Stars,” he said, gesturing to the stump that was all that remained of one arm. ”I fought Templars wielding swords of light as keen as any dagger of Starmetal I’ve ever held. In Hanrahan, brave Kurtz and I would have died in that battle were it not for the power of Dame Sybyll’s blood and the grace of Lady Heila’s healing.”

”Just because they are powerful does not make them the same,” Rastlan growled. ”The way they use their power is an affront to the Laws of the Heavens!”

”And yet, when they call out to the Heavens for strength, their prayers do not go unanswered,” Jalal said. ”When they make their bargains with fate, they receive what they bargained for,” he said, holding up his hand to stop Rastlan from interrupting him.

”I do not say that they are the same as us,” Jalal said. ”But they aren’t as different as they seem. The same song, taught by different teachers, passed down a dozen times, sounds familiar in our ears and strange or wrong at the same time. The fact that it’s so familiar is what makes the differences so jarring. I’m certain that if we’re patient and we listen, friend Ignatious can tell us why our paths seem so close and still so far apart.”

”Savages who slaughter innocents don’t walk a path that’s anything close to mine,” Rastlan snapped. ”And the Heavens should punish them for claiming that they do. I’ll listen,” he added when Dirar turned a piercing gaze on him. ”But wherever they draw their power from, I do not believe that it descends from the same Heavens above... The Heavens wouldn’t betray us that way,” he insisted.

”If the Heavens could be relied on to protect us eternally,” Dirar said, shaking his head at Rastlan. ”I would not need to trample them to rescue us from the fate that Bujir saw. The stars are there to guide us, Rastlan, and we can use them to find our path. But at the end of the day, it’s up to us to walk that path, and I, for one, want to understand the path that led us here.”

”I apologize for the interruption,” Dirar said, bowing his head to Ignatious. ”Please, help us understand. Too much blood has already been spilled over these things, and I, for one, have always wanted to know why...”