The Vampire & Her Witch

As they waited for the cart to be prepared, Eira found her mind racing with questions. What exactly had happened out there? What did Lord Loghlan mean about Sir Ollie needing tending?

She glanced at Lady Mairwen, who was speaking quietly with her husband a short distance away. The older woman’s face was still creased with concern, and Loghlan had his hand on her arm in a gesture that seemed both comforting and restraining, as if he was trying to keep her from insisting on coming along herself.

Sir Gavin approached them, his arms full of supplies, extra blankets, a skin of water, and another of strong wine. He looked tired but composed, and when his eyes met Eira’s, she thought she saw something in them that might have been sympathy or perhaps warning.

”Lady Eira, Lady Morwen,” he said with a respectful nod. ”I’ll guide you to where the others are waiting. It isn’t far, but the terrain is rough in places. Are you comfortable riding?”

”Yes,” Eira said immediately, and Morwen nodded in agreement.

”Good,” Gavin said. ”We should leave as soon as the cart is ready. The sooner we can get Lady Cerys back to camp and settled comfortably, the better it will be for everyone.”

There was something in the way he said it, some subtle emphasis on the word ’everyone,’ that made Eira think he wasn’t just talking about Lady Cerys. But before she could analyze it further, Cadeyrn was approaching with a small cart hitched to a sturdy horse.

The bed of the cart was already piled with blankets and cushions to create as comfortable a space as possible for their injured passenger. Cadeyrn had selected one of the smallest carts in camp, without so much as a seat for a driver, but it also had large wooden wheels on sturdy iron springs that could handle the rougher dirt paths that crisscrossed much of Dunn Barony. He would have to walk beside the horse or slightly in front of it in order to guide it, but when the terrain was uncertain, that actually proved to be an advantage and Eira found herself nodding in approval at the young man’s choice.

”I’m ready, Sir Gavin,” the young squire said as the cart rolled to a stop. ”Where are we going?”

”There’s a copse of trees near a stream not far from here,” he said as they collected their horses and set out at a leisurely pace that the cart could keep up with. ”Or at least, there was. The stream is still there, but the trees... well, you’ll see when we get there,” he said, giving Lady Morwen a pointed look and raising a brow at Lady Eira.

”Erm, Morwen...” Eira began delicately as they rode through the chill early morning air. ”There’s something you need to know before we arrive. Lord Loghlan has decided to stand with Lady Ashlynn against Lord Owain,” she said, hoping to ease into things with the least shocking bit of news.

”I suppose that makes sense,” Morwen said, furrowing her brow in thought as they rode. ”The Lothians were counting on their alliance with the Blackwells to launch the Holy War against the demons. Given what Lord Owain has done, there’s no way the Blackwells will continue to support him, but if they throw their support behind Baron Dunn, he might be able to convince the King and the Ruling Council to let the Dunns take the Lothians’ place as the next Marquis,” she mused.

”Lord Loghlan would have to deliver a victory that the Lothians never could have to make it stick, though,” Morwen added. ”Without proof that the Dunns are better at fighting demons and expanding the kingdom than the Lothians are, the King could just as easily name one of the princes to found a new line in Lothian, or do the same for one of the dukes.”

”But why bring this up now?” Morwen asked. ”What does this have to do with helping Lady Cerys, unless... Unless she was trying to betray Lord Loghlan!” Morwen said, pressing her hands over her mouth as the words slipped out. ”Eira, tell me it isn’t true! Tell me I’m guessing wrong...”

”I don’t think Lady Cerys meant to betray Lord Loghlan,” Sir Gavin said as he carefully guided his horse over the rocky ground. ”But it’s a betrayal nonetheless.”

”But... why? Why would she do that?” Morwen asked.

”Because,” Eira started, quickly considering dozens of ways to phrase what she was about to say and discarding all of them for being too circumspect when they only had a few minutes to explain. ”Because we aren’t just siding with Lady Ashlynn against Lord Owain. We’re joining with the Vale of Mists against the Kingdom of Gaal and the Church,” she said, delivering the second most shocking piece of news she had with all of the subtlety of a hammer blow.

”And, more than that,” Eira said, before Morwen could even process the fact that their liege lord had decided to join what could only be considered a heretical rebellion. ”Lady Ashlynn is a witch. A Great Witch,” she added. ”And Sir Ollie is part of her, erm, her coven,” she said, feeling proud of herself for being able to say something that would have been terrifying only a few days before with barely a stumble.

”No wonder all the children needed to be sent to bed early last night,” Morwen said after several long heartbeats of silence. ”Eira... Are you, are you all right with this? Sir Ollie is, is a witch,” she said, her eyes going wide as she recalled parts of their conversation last night. ”Why would you encourage me to... Eira! How could you?” Morwen asked, her face turning bright red as she remembered getting her hopes up when Eira had told her that Sir Ollie would likely be a guest at several feasts in the days to come.

Lord Liam was like a shining star in Morwen’s eyes. He was destined for greatness, and he had the ambition to rise higher in life, with skills to match his vision. For Eira, that was inspiring, but Morwen wasn’t interested in chasing greatness. She’d seen firsthand how fiercely competitive things were among the ladies of the court who sought to rise higher by finding a higher-status husband, and even the ladies who succeeded then had to struggle to meet the demands of their new station.

Morwen wasn’t interested in marrying the son of a baron, or even another knight. So long as she found a man who looked at her with the same eyes her father had when he looked at her mother, she’d be happy, whether he was a knight or a shepherd. But last night, when she met Sir Ollie, she was taken in by his eyes that seemed so kind, and the exceptionally polite way he’d greeted her father and all of the other knights.

His manners were old-fashioned, but that only added to his charm and his mystique, and it left her wanting to know more about the flame-haired knight who couldn’t be more than two or three years older than she was. But to learn that he was hiding such a great secret...

”Sir Ollie is a great man,” Sir Gavin said, startling Morwen with his praise. ”He used witchcraft last night to heal the old wound to my shoulder that even the Church’s priests couldn’t heal, and he asked for nothing for doing it,” he said solemnly.

”But today... Today, Lady Cerys nearly died when she fell from her horse,” the knight continued, shaking his head at the foolishness that had led to this morning’s tragedies. ”Sir Ollie risked his life to save her with his witchcraft, even though she’d rather have died than be healed by one of the Eldritch. He seems to be recovering now, but it was a very close thing, and his Eldritch companions were worried that he’d take Lady Cerys’ place in death as the price for saving her.”

”The... Eldritch?” Morwen said, frowning at the unfamiliar word.

”Sir Ollie’s allies,” Gavin said simply. ”The people we’ve been wrongly calling demons all our lives. You’ll see soon enough, Lady Morwen,” Gavin said as they crested a hilltop, revealing a copse of dead and dying trees. ”There are two of them down there now, and one of them is as close to Sir Ollie as a brother... They call each other such, and care for each other as much as any brothers I’ve ever seen.”

”You see, Morwen?” Eira said, riding close enough to her friend to speak quietly. ”I told you that you had good eyes last night when you set your gaze on Sir Ollie. He’s a good, kind man, and Lord Loghlan says that he’ll need just as much tending to as Lady Cerys.”

”This is your chance, Morwen,” she said with an encouraging smile. ”Don’t miss it, because once Sir Ollie is introduced to the ladies of the court, I’m sure the competition will be fierce...”