The Vampire & Her Witch

”No, don’t do it, Carwyn!” Sir Rain snapped as soon as Ashlynn made her offer. ”Whatever she’s asking for, it isn’t worth selling your soul over. Once Lord Owain strikes back, you don’t want to be standing on the wrong side of this,” he said with a menacing glower.

”Sir Rain,” Ashlynn said, narrowing her eyes sharply as she looked at the scruffy knight. ”You’re here as a courtesy and because I have business with you, but don’t mistake your place here. You might all be our unwilling guests at the moment, but don’t think for a second that your circumstances are the same.”

”Clearly they’re not the same,” Rain said, pushing his empty plates away from himself and crossing his arms over his barrel-shaped torso. ”Some men have forgotten their oaths already, and they’re ready to turn their backs on everything they ever fought for just because a beautiful woman flashed her...”

-SLAP-

The sound of Liam’s hand striking Sir Rain’s cheek filled the small room like a clap of thunder, followed by a heavy -THUMP- as the barrel-chested man fell from his chair, crashing to the floor in an undignified heap.

”I’m sorry, my Lady,” Liam said as he picked up a napkin from the table to brush off the back of his hand as if striking Sir Rain had somehow soiled it. ”Sir Rain is loyal to your husband to the last breath, but he isn’t known for his tact,” he said with a fierce glower at the fallen knight.

Standing from his chair, Liam quickly moved to offer Sir Rain a hand, pulling the burly man to his feet sharply enough that the other man stumbled into him.

”She’s a witch,” Liam hissed when Rain was pressed close up against him. ”Mind yourself or I won’t save you again,” he said before gently pushing the other man in the direction of his own chair. He had no idea how powerful of a witch Lady Ashlynn truly was, no one had seen her use her powers, but Liam was convinced that if Lady Ashlynn had lashed out in anger at Sir Rain’s insulting words and tone, he would have suffered far worse than a slap across the face.

”You owe Lady Ashlynn an apology,” Liam said in a louder tone as he returned to his own seat, hoping that Sir Rain would be wise enough to recognize what could have happened without Liam’s intervention.

”I, I’m sorry, Lady Ashlynn,” Sir Rain said, barely choking back the venom behind his words as he realized how much trouble he’d almost landed himself in. He’d become too accustomed to Ashlynn’s lightweight little sister, and when he heard similar scheming words dripping from Ashlynn’s lips, he’d forgotten that Lady Ashlynn was much, much more dangerous than Lady Jocelynn would ever be.

Only, as he looked at Ashlynn’s carefully composed features, he couldn’t help but worry that Lady Jocelynn’s older sister would be even more adept at wrapping men around her fingers than the younger Blackwell sister had proven herself to be. Since returning to Lothian City, Owain had begun to have more and more ’ideas’ that felt like things someone else had whispered in his ear rather than his own thoughts, no matter what he said.

But then, perhaps he’d been wrong about all of this from the start. Now that he knew that Lady Ashlynn was a demonic witch, it didn’t require someone of Hugo’s intellect to put the pieces together and realize that Lady Jocelynn was likely a witch as well. A witch who was working with her sister to steer Owain and the whole march onto a path of ruin from which it would never return!

”I can accept your apology this once, Sir Rain,” Ashlynn said in a tone that made it clear that her patience had limits. Liam’s whispered warning hadn’t escaped her enhanced ears, and even through the days of coarse stubble on his face, Ashlynn could see Sir Rain’s complexion turning pale and sweat forming on his brow.

He’d realized his misstep, and that should be enough to keep him in line while she finished her business with Sir Carwyn. When it came to the Dunns, however, she expected an entirely different explosion from the son of Baron Aleese.

”Sir Carwyn,” Ashlynn said, turning back to the young knight whose mind was still caught in thoughts of returning to his home and pregnant wife. ”I said that I have two conditions for you and I promise you that they aren’t things that will compromise your oaths or your honor as a knight,” she said solemnly.

”First, you all need to understand that the Eldritch have no true equivalent of a knight,” Ashlynn explained as she rang the bell to signal the servants to bring the next course. ”Villages tend to themselves or follow the directions of their Eldritch Lord or Lady. The idea that someone would be a lord of a village is foreign to them, and Captain Barsali wasn’t sure if he could treat you like a defeated Eldritch Lord or not.”

”What, what would it mean for me if he did?” Carwyn asked hesitantly. He’d already lost his weapons and armor to the serpentine Champion... was there more that the man might take from him? Or would he be bound in chains to serve as a slave to the victor? Perhaps something worse? He had no idea.

”When an Eldritch Lord, the ones humans have called ’demon lords’ for centuries, are defeated in single combat,” Ashlynn explained. ”The victor is entitled to seize the throne of the loser, along with anything else the loser may own.”

”In some nations,” she added in an ominous tone. ”That includes seizing the defeated lord’s woman and slaying their children. In this case, if we respected Eldritch traditions, Barsali would become the new knight of Raek Village, though he would have no reason to seize your family.”

”But you said you interceded,” Hugo said, stepping in when he saw Carwyn’s face go pale at the thought that another man might lay claim to his wife. ”You said you intervened on Sir Carwyn’s behalf. So, what manner of deal did you come up with for Captain Barsali to give up his claim?”

”I convinced Captain Barsali that only retiring old men would want to claim territory in the west, when our new borders with the Kingdom of Gaal will be much further east,” Ashlynn said with a mischievous twinkle in her eyes.

”As a Champion, so long as there is fire in his blood, if he wants to claim territory in the east,” Ashlynn said smoothly. ”Then I will provide him with territory equal to or greater than what he could have taken from you. There, he has a greater chance of fighting to defend his territory from the Kingdom, leaving Sir Carwyn’s village in relative peace.”

”And, and what is it you require of me to return to my village?” Carwyn asked once he’d composed himself enough to ask the question. ”What are your two conditions?”

”The first one is easy,” Ashlynn said. ”You are the vassal of Baron Ian Hanrahan. I ask only that you consider yourself to be the vassal of Dame Sybyl Hanrahan instead. Baron Ian is the son of a usurper, and Dame Sybyl is the heir of the last rightful Hanrahan baron. I don’t think that violates your oaths too much, does it?”

”What is the second condition?” Sir Hugo asked, placing a hand on Sir Carwyn’s forearm to stop the other man from speaking until they heard the second demand that Ashlynn had.

The first one sounded reasonable on the surface of it. If they believed Dame Sybyll, it was true that Ian Hanrahan was the son of a usurper and the legitimacy of his claim to the Hanrahan throne could easily be called into doubt. For vassals to be divided between internal factions until the Marquis pronounced judgment was nothing unusual, and Sir Carwyn wouldn’t be branded a traitor just for taking sides in a disputed succession.

But this wasn’t an ordinary disputed succession. As a woman, Dame Sybyll shouldn’t be allowed to inherit at all, which in normal times, would have meant that Ian could have become the legitimate next Baron Hanrahan, even if his father had been a murdering usurper. That alone would have made the waters muddy.

Yet Lady Ashlynn was going further, asking Sir Carwyn to pledge himself to a demon, to one of the vampire spawn of the Demon Lady of the Vale. That kind of oath of fealty went far, far beyond backing one side over another in a succession dispute and walked firmly into the lands of heresy that the Church would send inquisitors to root out. Carwyn’s whole family could be killed just for going along with the mad scheme.

”My second condition is easy,” Ashlynn said. ”Captain Barsali will lead a contingent from the First Army to occupy your village until I’ve resolved matters with my husband. No one is permitted to leave your village for the duration of this war, and in the battles to come, you will not participate on either side of the conflict.”

”Is that reasonable, Sir Carwyn?” Ashlynn asked. ”That doesn’t put too much strain on your honor or your oaths, does it?”

”How long?” Liam asked before the young knight could answer. ”How long will this war of yours against Owain Lothian go on? Sir Carwyn could be agreeing to become a prisoner in his own village for years if things drag on long enough,” he said, hoping to fish out more details about Ashlynn’s plans.

”Oh, you shouldn’t need to worry about that,” Ashlynn said as the doors opened behind her to admit a familiar pair of horned servants bearing the next course of their meal. ”I expect to resolve matters with Owain by year’s end...”