The Vampire & Her Witch

The sitting room that Heila led Isabell to was like nothing the woman had ever seen. A crackling fire burned in a large granite hearth, filling the room with the faintest trace of cedar woodsmoke and enough warmth to forget that winter had nearly arrived outside.

The furnishings, from the plush sofas to the low table between them, were all crafted from the finest materials. Exquisite care and attention to detail had been lavished on each piece, with decorative carvings of intricate knot-like patterns on some and more organic, leaf and vine motifs on others.

The thing that truly took Isabell’s breath away, however, was the sweeping view of the Vale of Mists provided by a wall of windows that was made almost entirely of glass. Not just any glass either, but large tiles of perfectly flat, perfectly clear glass that only barely distorted her view of the misty forest outside and the ancient fortress below.

”Your room faces east,” Heila said, smiling as she watched the other woman stare out the window in amazement, not realizing that it was the engineering of the wall and the quality of glass that had actually captured the engineer’s attention. ”Sunrises are dull in the winter, but in the spring and summer, when the sun catches the mist, it’s very pretty.”

”And you think I’ll be here come spring to watch the sun rise?” Isabell said, turning away from the window and raising an eyebrow at the diminutive witch.

”Lady Ashlynn hopes you will,” Heila said politely. ”And so do I. But right now, you’re a guest, and a friend who is very important to her,” Heila said as she strode across the room’s thick, soft rug to open the doors of a large wardrobe. There were several outfits hanging there, but even with four or five changes of clothing, the wardrobe felt half empty, as if it was waiting for someone to finish moving in.

”Lady Ashlynn hated feeling like she didn’t have any choices when she arrived here,” Heila explained as she retrieved a pair of outfits from the wardrobe. ”She felt like everything was taken away from her and she didn’t have control of her life anymore.”

”Ollie should arrive later today with your things, but until then, I have several options of dresses or tunics with skirts for you to choose from,” Heila said as she laid out one elegant dress and another outfit that felt more practical. ”And if you tell me what you’d prefer for breakfast, I’ll send a message to Georg to make something special for you.”

”I can see why she might have found this to be a bit much,” Isabell said, crossing the room to look at the outfits that Heila had selected for her. Both were made of a soft, satin finished silk that was such a dark, inky black that Isabell wondered if the clothing had ever been washed or if it was brand new and prepared specifically for her.

The dress featured intricate silver embroidery down the sides and around the hem of the skirt. The patterns were precise and complex, and even though there was only enough embroidery to highlight the shape of the dress and break up the inky darkness of the fabric, it was clear that someone had spent hours or days on this dress alone.

The tunic and skirt felt more practical, with a few artistic touches of silver flowers embroidered along the shoulders and down one side of the skirt. Between them, Heila had selected a simple waist cinching belt of braided leather, combined with a pair of pouches and an impressive-looking silver hilted dagger.

”These are beautiful,” Isabell said, picking up the knife and inspecting it briefly. She couldn’t help but wonder if Ashlynn had left the elegant weapon for her in the hopes of making her feel safer here, even though the engineer was certain that the knife would be useless against a powerful witch like Heila. ”The embroidery is very delicate,” she added, running a finger over the neat, precise stitches that formed flowers on the tunic.

”Thank you,” Heila said with a faintly rosy hue appearing on her cheeks. ”I did my best.”

”You did this? For me?” Isabell asked, blinking in surprise. Just how long had Ashlynn been preparing for her arrival?

”Mostly,” Heila said, shuffling her hooves awkwardly under Isabell’s scrutiny. ”I think Ashlynn gave me the task to keep me occupied during Ollie’s vigil. I, I didn’t realize how nerve-wracking it must have been for her to watch over me during my trial until I was watching over Ollie for his. Having something to do, especially something that was for someone so important to her, it... It helped to keep me from fretting too much.”

”You don’t have to keep them after your things arrive,” Heila added quickly. ”Lady Ashlynn won’t force anything on you. But she hopes that you’ll choose to join her as an ally. I hope you will too,” she added softly as she ran her fingers along the silver embroidery on the dress. ”Lady Ashlynn... she needs more friends around her, and I hope... I hope that you can help the rest of us to keep her safe.”

”Keep her safe?” Isabell asked, pausing as she held the tunic up against her chest as she measured the garment against her own body. ”She’s a powerful witch who’s betrothed to an even more powerful vampire, surrounded by other witches and vampires and whole armies... What does she need to be kept safe from?”

”Herself,” Heila said softly. ”Even Lady Nyrielle can’t protect Ashlynn from herself. But maybe, if there are enough of us who are close to her, then maybe it will be enough.”

”Oh, Heila,” Isabell said, setting the tunic down and kneeling on the ground next to the diminutive witch. She’d already reached out to her in exactly the same way she would have reached out to one of her own children years ago, before she caught herself, realizing she’d reacted as though the diminutive witch was a child because of her size.

Heila didn’t refuse the gesture, however, and instead stepped closer, wrapping her arms around the engineer and feeling the same comfort and strength within her that she’d so often felt from her own mother.

”What is Ashlynn doing?” Isabell asked as she awkwardly returned the embrace. ”What is happening that has you so worried for her?”

”She hurts,” Heila said, blinking back the moisture that collected in the corners of her eyes. ”What Owain did to her, what his knights did to her, and whoever betrayed her to Owain on the night of her, her wedding,” she said with more heat in her voice than she’d intended. It was always a sore subject with the people who cared for Ashlynn, and there wasn’t anyone in the Vale who didn’t hate the thought of Ashlynn being married to anyone other than Lady Nyrielle.

”The things that happened to her,” Heila continued after taking a deep breath and pulling back from Isabell’s comforting embrace. ”They’re like hot irons, constantly poking her. She says it will all be fine once she puts an end to Owain’s life and finds the person or people who betrayed her, but... She pushes herself so hard, and she takes on so much by herself,” she said.

For a moment, Isabell was about to offer a bit of comforting, consoling advice to the clearly distraught young witch. After all, it was normal for young people Ashlynn’s age to push themselves to their limits, and Ashlynn had always been someone who strived to do her best, whether it was mastering her studies or tending her gardens in Blackwell Manor.

Heila’s next words, however, stilled her tongue before she could utter a word and sent a chill down the engineer’s spine.

”She’s nearly died three times already, and each time she comes a little bit closer to losing her life,” Heila said, looking up at Isabell with a watery, grass green gaze. ”Last time, we had to rush her back to the Vale to heal, and even with all her powers and the support of more than fifty trees, it still took several days for her to recover.”

”Now that she’s ready to go to war against the Lothians... I’m afraid she’ll risk everything, just to escape the pain that even Auntie Amahle can’t heal,” Heila said. ”So, please... can you help us keep her safe, even if we have to protect her from herself?”