The Vampire & Her Witch-Chapter 1332: An Empty Village

It took a tremendous amount of effort, but slowly, Ashlynn bottled up the fury in her heart and pulled her hand back into her lap while she turned her attention to the streets of Maeril rolling past the carriage window. Anything to keep her gaze from drifting back to that golden spire. Anything to keep her thoughts from spiraling down into the dark, furious places where her control frayed like old rope.

The streets were emptier than she’d expected. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Maeril sprawled across both banks of the River Luath, larger than most villages in the march. She’d studied the maps and intelligence reports carefully, crafting a plan that would allow her to seize the village in much the same way Dame Sybyll had, with virtually no loss of life to the common people.

Maeril meant battle on three or four fronts, all at once. Sir Garrik Maeril’s keep dominated the northern bank. It had its own docks on the river to bring in supplies in a siege, towering walls, and a proper moat. Outside the keep were dozens of storehouses, mills, tanneries, and the other hubs of industry that made the village function more like a small town than a modest frontier village like Sir Carwyn’s home of Raek. Assaulting the keep on the north bank would require overwhelming force, but if there was one thing Ashlynn had in abundance, it was brute strength.

The southern bank was harder. The Abbey of the Inquisition lay close to the western gate, while the Temple of the Rising Sun anchored the eastern gate. She had no doubt that Ignatious could neutralize the Abbey by himself, but the Temple could quickly become a thorn in her side if it wasn’t contained... and more than nine tenths of the common people’s homes lay between the two temples.

Keeping the violence contained and clashing only with soldiers would have been much, much more difficult than it had been for Dame Sybyll, particularly if the defenders made effective use of the river. Still, Ashlynn had been willing to take the risk in order to draw Owain Lothian out, because she knew that the capture of Maeril would be something he couldn’t ignore.

It should have been a bustling jewel at the western edge of Lothian March, filled with people going about their business even in the bitter cold of winter. Instead, the market square they passed stood half-empty. Shops had their shutters pulled halfway closed. The few people she could see moved quickly with their heads down, as if they were afraid to linger in the open.

"I don’t understand," Samira said softly from beside her, and Ashlynn was grateful for the distraction, for something external to focus on. "Where did everyone go?"

Samira’s dull-green eyes studied the empty streets with confusion and something that might have been fear. Her hands rested protectively over her swollen belly, and Ashlynn felt a pang of guilt at how tense the young woman had become since they’d entered the carriage. She had promised that she’d keep Samira safe on this trip, but she’d never wanted the young woman to feel like she wasn’t safe around Ashlynn.

"Many of them have likely gone to Lothian City," Ashlynn said, forcing her voice to remain steady and calm as she tried to be reassuring. Samira hadn’t said anything about her unease, but she didn’t have to... and once Ashlynn was aware of it, she couldn’t pretend she hadn’t noticed.

"The wealthy and well-connected would want to be seen at Owain’s grand ceremony," Ashlynn continued, doing her best not to bristle when she mentioned Owain’s name. "They wouldn’t miss an opportunity to curry favor with the new Marquis."

She paused, looking at the shuttered buildings, the dark windows, the sense of abandonment that hung over the village like a shroud.

"But this feels like more than that," she admitted. "This feels excessive."

"You don’t think that it’s for the Ascension Absolution, do you?" Isabell asked, looking around the deserted village as she tried to think of a reason for so many homes and shops to look quiet and closed down, hours before sunset. "Are there this many people who need to have their debts forgiven?"

"Ascension Absolution?" Samira asked, blinking her eyes in confusion. "What’s that?"

"A tradition so ancient that it’s still practiced in the old countries," Isabell explained. "The day after a new lord ascends their throne, they hold open court, allowing their vassals, subjects, and bondsmen to petition to have their debts absolved or their crimes forgiven."

"It’s supposed to be a way to help new lords settle any grudges or grievances they may have inherited with their throne," Ashlynn added, feeling grateful for the distraction. "They gain the opportunity to wipe the slate clean and win the favor of their people in exchange for their displays of magnanimity."

Her father had talked to her about this a number of years ago when one of his barons died at sea, going down with his whaling ship. By forgiving the debts and commuting the sentences of men who were fundamentally decent, but who had made mistakes many years ago, the baron’s son was able to secure the gratitude and loyalty of several skilled retainers who would have otherwise languished under the yoke of punishments his father had imposed.

’You can’t buy the loyalty of rogues and scoundrels this way,’ Rhys had cautioned his daughter. ’But when pride prevents a lord from admitting that his sentence was too harsh, or honor compels a man to take a secret that would prove his innocence to the grave, the Ascension Absolution can give a new lord the chance to put right what their father never could.’

"I’ve heard that some lords have corrupted the practice," Ashlynn continued, shaking off thoughts of her father lest they unleash another maelstrom in her heart. "Vast sums of gold are offered in exchange for a commuted sentence, or debts forgiven in return for unsavory favors... But could there really be that many people traveling to Lothian in the dead of winter just to have their debts forgiven?"

"I don’t know about that, your ladyship," Samira said, relaxing slightly now that it seemed like the intensity of Ashlynn’s emotions had receded. "In Lothian Manor, whenever anyone who got in trouble talked about things like this, hoping the next lord would forgive them, the Master of Servants would flog them till they couldn’t sit for days."

"We were told that the household staff weren’t to embarrass his lordship," Samira said when she saw the horrified look on Isabell’s face. "It would have been unseemly to make it look like his house was staffed by criminals and deadbeats who couldn’t pay their debts."

"Maybe it’s different for folk who live outside the manor," she added, looking out the window at a pair of boys who had climbed up on the ruins of an ancient bridge that once spanned the river in order to drop their fishing lines in the water. "But I don’t see Lord Owain as being the forgiving type... if people came from the villages to ask for this ’absolution,’ I bet he’d turn them right away."

"It’s simpler than that, my Lady," Diarmuid said in resigned tones as he looked at the anxious young witch who carried so many burdens on her slender shoulders. "The people have fled in fear."

"No matter how much Marquis Bors wished to suppress the news," the Inquisitor said. "A whispered rumor grows ten wings, and a rumor of war has a hundred legs," he recited solemnly. "After the raids against the Dunn’s hamlets and the Hanrahan’s caravans, this is the result," he said, gesturing to the half-empty streets. "The people are afraid that war is coming, and Maeril is close enough to the Vale of Mists that the people are afraid that their home would be attacked next..."

"And when you think about it," he added softly as he met Ashlynn’s wounded, emerald gaze. "They weren’t really wrong, were they, my Lady?"