The Vampire & Her Witch

Soft morning light filtered through the heavy fog in the Vale of Mists, spilling into guest rooms in the ancient fortress that hadn’t seen much use in decades. Now, however, the number of people who had become ’guests’ of Nyrielle’s fortress had grown large enough that even Georg needed a bit of help keeping up with the demands of so many unique individuals.

In one of those guest rooms, it was the combination of the light pouring in through the windows and the smell of spiced sausages and fresh bread that roused Liam Dunn from sleep.

”Where am I?” Liam asked as he sat up in the plush bed, throwing back the warm, comforting blankets and looking around the luxurious bed chamber in confusion. ”This doesn’t look like the rooms in Sir Garrik Maeril’s castle...”

The last thing that Liam remembered was arriving in the Village of Maeril the day after his infuriating meeting with Marquis Bors and the few members of the Lothian Court who had gathered to learn of the demon attacks. He remembered Sir Garrik Maeril being insufferably polite about the Dunn family’s losses and the lack of support they were receiving from the Marquis while Bors sent Loman and reinforcements from the Church to Hanrahan Barony.

Technically, while Liam was the son of a baron and held a higher station than Sir Garrik, the infuriating knight didn’t owe any allegiance to the Dunns. The village of Maeril fell within the territory claimed directly by the Lothians and Sir Garrik was one of Bors Lothian’s personal vassals, the same as Liam Dunn’s father.

So, despite the differences in their station, Sir Garrik saw little reason to hold back his sense of satisfaction that the powerful and wealthy Dunns had suffered such an overwhelming setback. In the end, Liam had left the contemptible knight’s fortress for a knight of honest drinking in a pub that served the wealthier landowners bringing their goods to Maeril to ship downriver.

But, while he remembered going out drinking with a few of his knights, he had no memory of how he’d gotten to the room where he found himself now. The only thing he remembered at the end of the night were a pair of strange, amber eyes and the sound of a voice richer and stronger than any he’d ever heard, though he couldn’t remember anything the voice had said. Everything other than that felt hazy and the more he tried to think about it, the more details seemed to slip away.

The fortress in the Village of Maeril wasn’t very large and the accommodations offered to visiting noblemen weren’t much better than what could be found in any of the traveler’s inns in the bustling riverside village. By contrast, the place he’d woken was fit for the son of a count or better, with elegant tapestries on the walls and intricately carved furniture throughout the room.

”And where are my clothes?” Liam wondered as he realized that he’d been stripped to nothing but his underwear before he was placed in bed.

Glancing around the room revealed his boots and sword belt sitting near a chair, though the sword itself was missing. On top of the chair lay a neatly folded set of breeches, warm looking socks and an intricately embroidered tunic of soft greens with coppery designs that resembled falling leaves.

When he touched the thick, wool socks, however, his brows rose several inches in surprise. The Dunn Barony had made a significant amount of its fortune on their large herds of sheep and those fortunes grew even greater when they invested in mills to spin or weave wool and fields of flowers to dye it with.

He doubted that someone like Owain would notice the quality of something as mundane as a pair of socks, but in Liam’s hands, both the socks and tunic felt like the work of master weavers... people who maintained a far higher standard than his own family’s barony had been able to achieve. Combined with the luxurious bed chamber, left him even more puzzled about the place where he found himself.

”I suppose I’ll play along,” he muttered, cleaning himself quickly in the room’s washbasin before dressing. He wanted to shave the night’s stubble from his face but while the room offered a mirror and comb, there wasn’t a blade in sight. Outside the room, however, faint voices and the clink of silverware on dishes could be heard, so clearly, wherever he was, he wasn’t alone.

”Good morning Lord Liam,” Hugo Hanrahan said warmly when he saw the door to Liam’s room open. ”Sir Carwyn and I were just wondering if you would wake in time to join us for breakfast or not.”

”Sir Hugo?” Liam said, blinking in surprise as he surveyed the well appointed sitting room before walking over to join the other two men at the table. ”So you didn’t go missing in the demon attacks,” he said with a relieved sigh.

”I’m sure Lord Owain will be glad to hear that you’re safe. But,” he paused, looking around the room, finding to his surprise that there were four other rooms in addition to his that had doors leading to the sitting room. ”Where is Sir Rain? Still asleep?” Liam asked as he took his seat at the dining table.

”Sir Rain is, um, confined at the moment,” Hugo said slowly as he shared an awkward glance with Sir Carwyn.

They’d asked for permission to visit their captive companion but they had been told that Sir Rain was being kept away from others after losing his duel with Sir Ollie because they feared he might attempt to instigate some form of resistance among their men. Supposedly he was being treated well, but he lacked the courtesies that had been extended to Sir Hugo and Sir Carwyn as ’guests.’

”I’m sure they’ll return him to us after Sir Rain has had a chance to cool his head,” Carwyn said helpfully as he passed a heaping platter of sausages over to Liam. ”Sir Ollie doesn’t seem like the sort to hold a grudge and no one has said that anyone here has claim on him the way they’ve spoken of Dame Sybyll.”

As he spoke, Sir Carwyn shot a questioning glance at Sir Hugo, raising a brow as if to ask whether his liege lord knew if any of the demons had laid claim to Lord Liam’s life the same way that Dame Sybyll had claimed Sir Hugo’s.

Hugo, however, could only shake his head helplessly. If one of their hosts had a deep grudge against the Dunns, they hadn’t mentioned it to him. But given who had brought Liam into their shared chambers this morning, the motive for bringing the young lord here shouldn’t be simple... He just had to learn as much as he could to figure out what it might be.