The Vampire & Her Witch

Loman’s question accomplished what none of the other reactions at the table had, and broke through the fog of swirling thoughts that Diarmuid had found himself lost in ever since experiencing the combination of the terror that Ollie unleashed and the miracle that Ignatious used to drive away the darkness.

Loman hadn’t asked a good question, or even the right one, in Diarmuid’s opinion, but his question was pointing in the same direction that Diarmuid’s mind had been traveling as he struggled to process what he’d seen.

Diarmuid understood, at least thus far, that there were three ’sources’ of power. Witches, Oracles, and Vampires. He also understood that what Sir Ollie had done represented the power of Vampires more than the power of Witches, and that this was a unique ability of the increasingly extraordinary young knight sitting next to him.

Similarly, Ignatious had just demonstrated his ability to use a form of sacred flame that few in the Church could ever hope to conjure. It felt nothing like the power of Vampires that Sir Ollie had demonstrated. If anything, it resembled Lady Ashlynn’s miracle of healing in the courtyard when she treated Sir Tommin’s wounds, but even then, the two things felt very different.

Ignatious’s flames hadn’t just banished the dark wind that Sir Ollie had summoned. In the midst of that darkness, the future seemed impossibly bleak. Diarmuid had felt as if he were a small child, dragged into a slaughterhouse to learn the cruel truth of the fate of the gentle cattle grazing on the hillsides.

Diarmuid had glimpsed what awaited him at the end of his life, and it filled him with despair, but Ignatious’s flames had rekindled the fires of hope within his chest. His faith had been shaken even more than it had been by the previous revelations, but he hadn’t lost all hope yet. He’d only glimpsed the Void; he hadn’t seen the whole of it.

Scripture said that one had to pass through darkness to reach the light on the other side... Just because he hadn’t seen the light, that didn’t mean it wasn’t there. Finally, he understood what Ignatious had said about some things being a matter of faith. Clearly, there were things about which the scriptures were very wrong. A vampire had just summoned sacred flame, and that alone proved several tenets of the Inquisition were either wrong or outright lies. But that didn’t mean that everything the Church had taught them was a lie.

”What is a miracle?” Diarmuid asked, looking directly at the High Inquisitor who had returned to his seat next to Lady Heila. ”I used to think I knew,” he admitted. ”But since coming here, I’m not so sure. What Sir Ollie just did... is that a miracle? Or Lady Ashlynn’s healing in the courtyard?”

”I feel like the Church has called the things we do ’miracles’ for a long time, but Lady Heila called what Loman did in Hanrahan ’sorcery,’” Diarmuid said. ”The Church calls any use of divine power outside the Church ’witchcraft,’ but that feels like it only encompasses the work of witches, so what are the workings of vampires?”

”I’m sorry,” he added when he realized that the people sitting near him, from Lady Ashlynn to Ignatious, Lady Nyrielle, and Lady Heila, were all looking at him with a strange, knowing smile. ”It’s just that, I think Loman and I aren’t even using the right words to understand what we’re seeing, and I’m afraid that we’re struggling to put things into categories that aren’t right just because they’re the only ones we’ve ever known.”

”That’s another of the Church’s deceptions, isn’t it?” Diarmuid asked directly. ”It’s divided the world into two neat categories. Sacred and demonic. Miracles and witchcraft. Good and evil. But the truth is more complicated than that.”

”Impressive,” Nyrielle praised. ”I approve of this one, Darling,” she said with a slow smile as she leaned up against Ashlynn, as if to whisper in her ear, even though she didn’t lower her voice at all. ”You should choose a good tree for him.”

”It’s too early for that,” Ashlynn said when she saw a puzzled look forming on Diarmuid’s face. ”It might be impossible for him and others from the Church, even if it was something he wanted. Their sorcery doesn’t make it easy to open a new path...”

”I succeeded with Ignatious,” Nyrielle pointed out, gesturing at the second of her human progeny. ”I’m sure you would succeed as well, and it would be a shame to lose a tool as sharp as Diarmuid. He is too intelligent for the Church; he’ll only grow weaker there.”

”Ah, hem,” Ignatious interrupted with a soft cough as he saw the look on Diarmuid’s face turning from confusion to fright while Mistress Nyrielle spoke about him in the same way a housewife might talk about buying a prize hen at market.

”There will be time for those questions later, won’t there, Mistress?” Ignatious asked politely. ”They still need answers,” he said, glancing at Diarmuid and Loman before returning his gaze to Nyrielle and Ashlynn. ”Or should we wait until Thane and Isabell return?”

”At least wait long enough for Heila and I to pass out a few of Georg’s treats,” Ashlynn said as she stood, nodding briefly to Heila before she walked toward the table where Georg had left several covered trays. ”Liam, do you need help getting back to the table?” she asked as she noticed the young lord seemed to be propping himself up on the table that held the casks of wine, cider, and ale.

”I was just wondering what I’m even doing here,” Liam said bluntly as he pushed himself upright, leaving his empty goblet behind. ”I’m fine,” he said a moment later. ”I just... I asked to follow you, Lady Ashlynn. I haven’t changed my mind, even now,” he said, glancing at Ollie with a complicated expression on his face.

”But I never studied for any of this,” he said, gesturing at Loman, Hauke, Ignatious, and the others. ”I’m just an ordinary little lord, like Hugo. I don’t have any of this power, whether it’s witchcraft or miracles or sorcery or anything else. So it all feels a little too big for me at the moment.”

”That you can recognize that is already a step in the right direction,” Ashlynn said gently as she helped him back to the table before filling a goblet with cool water and setting it in front of him. ”A clear head will help even more. For now, just listen. Nyri is right,” she added, looking down at the opposite end of the table from where Liam sat.

”Diarmuid asks good questions,” Ashlynn acknowledged. ”And you’ve already learned much of what you need to understand before you speak to your father about joining with the Vale. Just a little bit longer, and then you can rest. A good night’s sleep will go a long way to settling things in your mind and your heart,” she promised, even though she felt that tonight’s revelations might take several nights, if not weeks and months, for some people to digest, particularly her wounded brother-in-law.

”Loman,” she asked, pausing to set her fingertips on the young priest’s shoulder. ”Are you well enough to continue tonight?”

”I don’t know if I’ll ever be ’well’ again,” Loman admitted. ”But I’ve been lied to long enough. No matter how much it hurts, I need to hear the rest tonight,” he said in a fierce, determined voice. ”After that... After that, I can figure out what I need to do.”