The Vampire & Her Witch

Lady Tosha felt her heart pounding in her chest as the entire hall focused on her.

When Ashlynn tested her a few days ago, she’d failed utterly, especially when Ashlynn’s test focused on preparing her late husband’s barony for war. Riwal had been more than willing to step up to whatever was demanded of him, but Tosha herself had been unable to see that the demands Ashlynn made of her were unreasonable.

In the end, Lady Ashlynn had accepted her as Riwal’s regent, and she’d promised to provide support and guidance for her, for which Tosha had been immensely grateful. But now, the burden had shifted from a regency to holding the title of Lord, or rather, Lady Gardener in her own right, and the support included someone that Empress Nyrielle wanted to recommend to her.

Empress Nyrielle was both beautiful and terrifying, and Tosha had to forcefully shove down every haunting fairy story she’d heard about the ’Demon Lady of the Vale’ to meet her gaze directly. When she did, however, she found a surprising softness in the dark-haired woman’s midnight gaze, especially when the Midnight Empress drew close to Empress Ashlynn.

”Empress Nyrielle,” Tosha said, swallowing heavily and clutching Riwal’s hand under the table as she bowed her head to the mighty empress. ”If you have a suggestion, of course I’ll hear it.”

”Good,” Nyrielle said with a smile before she looked at a stocky Eldritch figure sitting at the far end of the same table where Lady Tosha sat.

”Near the Stoney Moor, on the far side of the mountains, I encountered a group of exiles in search of a home,” Nyrielle said, prompting the stocky figure to sit up straighter in their seat as Commander Savis translated her words. ”Warriors of the Iron Tusk Clan who had been loyal to a fallen Eldritch lord, carelessly exiled by a successor who feared a new challenger would arise from within their ranks. I promised them a home for them and their families if they would fight for me,” Nyrielle explained.

”Captain Ultrech fell to Loman Lothian’s sorcery in the Battle of Hanrahan, leaving behind a widow and his children,” Nyrielle explained. ”I believe he would have been an extraordinary Lord Warden for you, but his wife, Sveta, is no less extraordinary. On the long march across Eldritch lands, she was one of the first to step up and help maintain order in our growing camp during the days when vampires slept.”

”I think the forests of Saliou will be an excellent place for Sveta’s people to settle,” Nyrielle said. ”And I think that the two of you have more in common than you may know,” she added, gesturing to the Eldritch woman at the end of the table. ”But I’ll let her speak for herself.”

It took a moment for Savis to finish conveying Nyrielle’s words to Sveta, but when he did, he added a few words of his own for the widow.

”Accept nothing you do not desire,” Savis said. ”Ultrech died keeping his word. Empress Nyrielle will not force you to accept this if you do not wish it. It will be harder to establish a place for your people among the humans. You were promised lands in the Vale. If you want them, I will fight for them in Ultrech’s place. I owe him that much,” the commander said. ”Since I cannot repay him, I will repay you.”

”Thank you, Commander,” Sveta said, flashing him a brief, sad smile. ”I will find out for myself if we can survive in this Saliou. Her Eternity said the lands were lush with forests as plentiful as the Vale. The soldiers in your army need a place to come home to that they can call their own. If this place can become a home to us where one of their own is recognized as a lord... It will be even better than what we could have in the Vale of Mists,” she said before turning to face Lady Tosha.

The first thing that Sveta noticed about the thin human woman was that she didn’t flinch, even when she came face to face with a member of the Iron Tusk Clan. Sveta’s dull-gray tusks cast stark shadows on her pudgy face, combining with her stubby nose to create a visage that many humans had called monstrous tonight, but Tosha gave no sign that she was afraid, and that was a good sign.

”I’m not a soldier,” Sveta said bluntly. ”I’m a mother with six squeakers of my own, and I’ve helped to raise dozens of men like my Ultrech who fought and died for our lord. My people need a home, and if you take us in, I swear to you, I’ll keep the peace in your Ride the same as I kept the peace among my husband’s soldiers. I’ll raise up strong ones to keep the squeakers safe, human and Eldritch alike.”

”I don’t know your people,” Sveta admitted. ”I’ll need your help to learn. I’ll need your help to find our way,” she added. ”We only have soldiers, sows and little squeakers. We don’t know farming or herding or how to build a village of our own. We need a good Lord Gardener to take care of us,” she said bluntly. ”But if you do that, we’ll protect you and yours.”

Tosha spent several moments thinking about her answer after Savis finished translating and she asked the lupine vampire a few questions to make certain she understood before he turned back to Sveta with Tosha’s first question.

”She says it’s hard to lose the husband you loved and she wanted to know how old your children are,” Savis said. ”I told her for you. She said it’s been a long time since children that young played in the gardens of Saliou Manor and she hopes you’ll visit her even if you don’t become her Lord Warden.”

”But she wants to know,” Savis continued. ”If men like the knights of Saliou oppose you, men who are soldiers with armor and weapons, what will you do about them since you aren’t a soldier? She says that she isn’t very strong and she’ll need help to resist people who are, so how will you help her?”

”Who are the knights she’s worried about?” Sveta asked as she started to unlace the cuffs of her sleeves, rolling them back to reveal thickly muscled forearms. ”Tell her that I’m no soldier, but I didn’t say I don’t know how to fight. Send up one of the knights she’s fretting over, and she can watch me settle them down,” she said as she balled up a fist and slammed it into a meaty palm.

”Right now,” Sveta said confidently. ”If it’s one or two or five of them, I’ll make sure they know their place and don’t step out of line in her house!”