The Vampire & Her Witch

”Heila, my child. I have only one question for you...”

Ashlynn’s calm, clear voice swept over the crowd like a soothing balm, easing troubled hearts who were afraid they were about to witness the merciless killing of a rising champion. Clearly, the Mother of Trees was about to ask if her Willow Witch wanted her to intercede. With a request from on high, it would give Yotsun a dignified means of backing down and everything would end well.

Truly, this Mother of Trees was both powerful and kind! It was no wonder that she had easily captured the hearts and minds of so many common folk in High Fen City.

”But first, I have a question for friend Yotsun about these warriors you’ve hired,” Ashlynn said, shifting her gaze to the far end of the arena. ”Tell me, master Yotsun, since these Tuscan Hunters aren’t gladiators of High Fen City, have they accepted the terms of your wager? When my Willow Witch defeats them, they will serve in the army of the Vale of Mists for two years?”

At the end, it had been this concession that tipped Heila over the edge. She refused to fight a ’meaningless battle’ in the arena. Lady Nyrielle had fought to bring champions home to reclaim the Vale of Mists from the Lothians. High Lady Erna had been the one to suggest that Yotsun could just hire Heila’s defeated foes for a few years if that was what it took to draw the young witch into the arena, but no one had thought for an instant that Yotsun would leap at the offer.

”Of course they will!” The voice of the short, pudgy merchant from the Horned Clan didn’t carry nearly as well as Ashlynn’s magically augmented voice did and the gray-haired merchant managed to sound both shrill and hoarse when he tried to make himself heard across the arena but he stood up tall and proud despite the indignity of the situation.

”If your Willow Witch defeats ten men a day for ten days, then of course I will contract all hundred men to her! Why? You aren’t thinking of withdrawing her from this battle after seeing my newest champions, are you?”

Yotsun couldn’t hold himself back from throwing out a barb of his own. This whole thing had gone badly out of control, but now that it had started, there was no way out but to see it through to the end. Since that was the case, he refused to be belittled in this arena by an outsider, even if she was a powerful witch.

”Remember,” Yotsun added. ”If she fails to obtain her victories, she must serve my household for two years! If you do not wish to see her harmed today, I might be persuaded to reduce that to twenty-two months. It’s a good deal, Your Dominion,” he said, giving an almost polite bow. ”You should consider it.”

”Heila, my child,” Ashlynn said, turning her attention to the seething witch on the arena sands. She hadn’t intended to goad the old goat into provoking Heila but the affect of him talking down to her in any way lit a fire in Heila’s heart that Ashlynn could feel all the way in High Lady Erna’s private box.

”These men could be useful to us,” Ashlynn said with a smile as cold as any that Nyrielle had ever shown. ”Can you capture them alive? Or do you need to kill them to secure your victory?”

Behind her, Talauia’s wings fluttered even faster, filling the air with a high-pitched hum as she realized what Ashlynn intended.

”Oh my, oh my,” she whispered, covering her mouth to hide her delighted grin. For months, she’d watched little Heila pushing herself forward and Ashlynn even more so. Now, looking at her friend’s confident demeanor on the arena sands, she could barely see a trace of the woman who hadn’t been certain that she was worthy of the seed of witchcraft that Ashlynn bestowed on her. Instead, she saw a witch coming into her power who was about to teach these people why they should never underestimate a witch.

Even Nereida, who had been so concerned about Heila’s stamina moments ago, straightened in her seat, her chest puffing up with pride at the way neither her new friend nor the powerful woman she served was willing to back down from the challenge. Seeing this moment, she knew, knew to the tip of her tail that she’d been right to befriend the diminutive lady-in-waiting even before she became a powerful witch.

”If Mother wants them,” Heila said formally as she offered Ashlynn a deep bow. ”How can this child be disobedient? I will take them alive,” she said, before turning to face the towering Tuscans. ”But if they do not surrender quickly enough, they may be beyond my ability to heal. I hope Mother won’t mind,” Heila added with a challenging smile of her own.

The crowd burst into cheers at Heila’s deliberate provocation. Feet and tails hammered the ground and another chorus of ”Willow Whip! Willow Whip!” thundered through the air as everyone realized that not only was Heila refusing to back down from the fight, she welcomed it!

At the far side of the arena, Ipiktok, the lead Tuscan hunter, frowned as he looked at the diminutive witch glaring at his men with hatred that seemed far too personal for a woman he’d never met.

He’d heard that witches were powerful with many rivaling the power of Eldritch Lords, but for this little lass to stand against him and his entire hunting band with such a murderous glare... was there something wrong with her?

”Hunters,” Ipiktok shouted, raising a large spear high in the air. ”Kill your prey! The man who lands a killing blow may claim her hat as his prize!”

-BRRRRUUUUUUMMMMMM-

The sounds of the Tuscan’s answering trumpet blasts filled the air and shook the walls of the arena. Massive feet thundered across the sun-bleached sands and the ground trembled with the force of their passage as they rushed the diminutive witch. They held their weapons high, chains, mauls, spears and axes glinting in the light like deadly jewels thirsting for blood.

Heila, however, didn’t move an inch from where she stood. With only seconds to respond, her hand dropped to the ivory hilt of Snow Fang, carved from the tusk of one of the Tuscans who had attacked Ashlynn’s companions in the High Pass. A slow smile spread across Heila’s lips as the weapon began to glow with a brilliant white light, visible even from within its sheath.

”Ancient peaks of endless snow,

Let winter’s curtain ’round us flow.

Through blinding white and arctic gale,

Let frozen mists my form now veil.”

Suddenly, the temperature in the arena plummeted as Heila’s witchcraft amplified the Frost Walker sorcery bound within the deadly blade. A whirlwind of white energy gathered around her feet before exploding outward in a flurry of snowflakes, momentarily blinding the startled Tuscans and leaving everyone in the audience leaning forward at the edge of their seats.

The dark fur and considerable bulk of the Tuscans made them easy to pick out, even in the blizzard that had consumed the arena, but... where had Heila gone?