The Vampire & Her Witch-Chapter 1327: A Great Witch Arrives In Maeril (Part One)

The winter sun hung low in the sky, casting long shadows across the frost-hardened road as a modest caravan approached the village of Maeril. At its head rode a solitary knight, his armor gleaming dully beneath a travel-stained cloak while his breath misted in the cold air. Behind him, three covered wagons creaked and groaned under their loads, their wheels cutting fresh ruts through the frozen mud. A single modest carriage brought up the rear, its curtains drawn against the chill, pulled by a matched pair of sturdy draft horses.

To anyone watching from the village walls, it would appear to be nothing more than a merchant’s convoy, perhaps bringing winter supplies or trade goods from one of the Hanrahan villages to the south. Nothing remarkable. Nothing threatening.

Nothing that would suggest the Mother of Trees herself was riding in that nondescript carriage, approaching the village that was supposed to have been the site of her final confrontation with Owain Lothian. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

Sir Carwyn Belvin sat straight in his saddle despite the hours of riding, his tawny hair falling across his brow as he studied the village ahead. Maeril sprawled across both banks of the River Luath, having long ago grown beyond its original walls. In theory, Maeril and Raek were both villages, and Sir Carwyn’s status was no lower than Sir Garrik Maeril’s. In practice, however, Maeril was more like a small town than a village, and the knight who guarded it commanded almost as many soldiers as some of the eastern barons.

The old stone fortifications still stood on the northern bank, gray and weathered, their crenellations stark against the winter sky. Beyond them, he could see the peaked roofs of the village proper with smoke rising from countless chimneys to create a hazy veil over the village.

The river itself was a dark ribbon cutting through the landscape, its surface reflecting the pale sky like tarnished silver. In warmer months, Carwyn knew, the Luath would be busy with barge traffic, carrying timber and grain and wool downriver to Lothian City. Even in winter, there should have been some activity on the water, fishing boats at the very least, or ferries shuttling between the two banks.

Instead, the river looked almost deserted. A single ferry was making the crossing, but it was half-empty despite the reasonable hour. A few barges were tied up at the stone loading platforms on the northern bank, but no one seemed to be loading or unloading cargo. A handful of fishing boats bobbed near the far shore, but Carwyn couldn’t see any fishermen tending them.

The village itself seemed strangely quiet. It hadn’t been abandoned; he could see people moving in the streets, and there were soldiers on its walls, watching the small caravan as it approached. But to Carwyn, it felt as if Maeril was holding its breath, waiting for something. Or perhaps, he realized as he tried to shake off the feeling, he was the only one who felt that way because he knew who was in the caravan he was leading.

Carwyn’s gaze traveled up to the keep that dominated the northern bank, a stout fortress of dark stone with a single tower rising above the walls. The banner of House Maeril should have been flying from that tower, the silver fish on a blue field that marked Sir Garrik’s authority over this strategic outpost that represented humanity’s first line of defense against the Vale of Mists.

Yet the tower stood bare.

Carwyn’s jaw tightened slightly. Sir Garrik was gone, then. Almost certainly already in Lothian City for the grand ceremony that Owain Lothian was planning, the funeral for Marquis Bors, a wedding between Owain and Lady Ashlynn’s sister, Jocelynn, and finally Owain’s coronation as the next Lothian Marquis, all wrapped into one elaborate spectacle.

It wasn’t entirely surprising that Sir Garrik was gone. A vassal of the Marquis would be expected to attend such an important event. Still, Carwyn had hoped that the knight he’d admired for both his courage and fairness would have been present when they arrived. Lady Ashlynn had a way with words, and Carwyn had no doubt that, if they were given the opportunity, she could have brought his old friend over to their side of the coming conflict.

Instead, Garrik’s absence meant that the very same courage and sense of loyalty that Carwyn admired could place the man firmly on the opposing side in the confrontation to come, and he would have to take up arms against his old friend.

Garrik’s absence also meant that Maeril’s defenses would be diminished. There were fewer soldiers to man the defenses, and more importantly, fewer of Sir Garrik’s well-trained subordinates who might notice something suspicious about the meeting that would soon take place between Lady Ashlynn and Baron Loghlan Dunn.

Sir Garrik would have taken his best warriors with him to make a proper showing at the ceremony, clearing the way for the first step in Lady Ashlynn’s attack on Owain Lothian.

Carwyn had never expected to be caught up in this. When he’d pledged himself to Dame Sybyll Hanrahan, backing her claim to the Hanrahan throne over her murderous cousin, Baron Ian Hanrahan, Lady Ashlynn had made it clear that she wanted him to stand aside in Raek Village. She respected his honor as a knight, and she didn’t want to force him into the battle between her and the Lothian lords.

Two twists of fate had conspired to place Sir Carwyn here, at the head of this caravan. First, he’d learned that his wife, Olwyna, was pregnant with twins, and if they were to have any hope of both mother and children surviving childbirth, he would need the help of either the Church’s healers or Lady Ashlynn’s witches.

Thankfully, as soon as he sent a message requesting aid from Lady Ashlynn or Lady Heila, Ashlynn had written back, telling him to bring Olwyna to the Vale of Mists, where Lady Heila could tend to her.

The second turn of fate had been the death of Marquis Bors Lothian, which forced Lady Ashlynn to drastically alter her plans. Now, instead of sacking Maeril Village in order to provoke Owain Lothian into bringing his armies to face her, they needed to infiltrate the village and Lothian City beyond it if they were going to have any hope of preventing Owain’s marriage to Lady Jocelynn.

When Lady Ashlynn asked Sir Carwyn to help with that infiltration, she made it clear that her coven would care for his wife regardless of his choice, but Carwyn had always thought of himself as a man of honor. It was impossible for him to accept Lady Ashlynn’s care and refuse her request.

He only hoped that Lady Ashlynn would be able to accomplish what she intended, preventing as much bloodshed as possible, because if it came to drawing swords against old friends like Sir Garrik.... Carwyn wasn’t certain that he’d be able to fight as well as honor demanded.