Chapter 355: Unclear Motives

The Sorcerers of Sundered Earth.

Very little was known about the secretive organization that hid themselves away at the bottom of a canyon in a region the Eldritch called the ’Forsaken Lands.’ It was an area of desolation where the sun baked the earth to brick during the day and froze what little water could be found at night. The land was criss-crossed with deep canyons that looked like they had been gouged into the earth by a being of tremendous size.

No Eldritch Lord laid claim to the Forsaken Lands and no one saw any reason to fight for them. However, some groups, like the Sorcerers of Sundered Earth, found the isolation offered by the brutal, unforgiving environment to be worth the heavy toll the climate took on any settlement that established itself there.

"I don’t know much," Ashlynn admitted when Captain Lennart asked about them. "Big sister only told me that, if I ever wanted to study the oldest sorcery in the Eldritch world, I should visit the Sorcerers of Sundered Earth. She said they had libraries that could rival Philosar’s and that even the Gnawing Death coveted some items in their collection."

"It goes a bit beyond just having a vast library," Lennart said. "These sorcerers see themselves as custodians of sorcery and learning. They seek out information about lost and fallen clans, they rescue people from clans on the brink of destruction and they horde relics of fallen nations."

"That sounds... nice?" Heila said, cocking her head to the side as she considered the mission these strange sorcerers seemed to be on. "It’s good that knowledge isn’t lost. But, aren’t the Forsaken Lands far to the west? They shouldn’t have been close enough to respond to Lady Nyrielle’s summit invitation."

"That’s just the thing," Virve said, straightening in her chair. She paused for a moment to delicately work a bit of meat from between her teeth with a claw, earning a disapproving look from Captain Lennart. The bearish woman either didn’t notice or chose to ignore his reaction as she continued, acting almost as if this was a family dinner and not a working meal shared with Lady Nyrielle’s Seneschal and a powerful new witch.

"They weren’t invited, my lady," Virve said as she flicked the piece of gristle onto her plate. "I don’t think Lady Nyrielle intended to exclude them, but the day before the summit, they just... showed up. Creepiest thing. They didn’t seem to know what was happening, but they came for the ’important gathering’ and said they’d been traveling for weeks in order to make it on time."

Lennart’s stern expression softened as he watched Ashlynn hide a smile at Virve’s casual manner. Ever since that desperate battle on the ice in the High Pass, Lady Ashlynn had treated Virve with a particular warmth that went beyond simple appreciation for a capable soldier. While part of him still wanted to enforce discipline, in Virve’s case, he needed to make himself let go. If the Seneschal herself wasn’t bothered by it, then he was in no place to make a fuss.

"As near as I could find out," Lennart added, pulling his mind away from Virve to focus on the conversation at hand. "They left the Forsaken Lands the day after the Tangled Tower fell to Lady Nyrielle and they headed straight to the tower. I tried asking a few of them how they knew where to go to reach the ’important gathering’ but the answer everyone gave me was useless."

"Don’t tell me," Ashlynn said. "They threw a feather into the air and followed the wind," she said, making fun of an old sailor’s superstition for men who were lost at sea. It was said that the lost could always find land if they followed feathers on the wind but most people who understood traveling by sea knew the saying meant to look for birds.

Yet somehow, there was an image among people who lived inland of sailors as mystic navigators who literally threw feathers into the air and set their course by the way it blew on the wind!

"No," Lennart said, scratching his head at the reference. "They said that their leader has a map. His name is Aspakos, I’m sure you’ll be meeting him soon," the bearish soldier said. "But he makes even less sense than his followers. I asked him why they came and he said ’Because a wedding shouldn’t be a funeral," and left it at that."

"That is bizarre," Heila said, giving Ashlynn a strange look. If anyone’s wedding should have been a funeral, Ashlynn’s marriage to Owain certainly counted. She’d been extremely lucky to survive Owain’s assault and if not for Lady Nyrielle’s timely rescue, Ashlynn would likely have died that night, even if she escaped the shallow grave Owain’s knights buried her in.

"What did Mistress Nyrielle say about them?" Ashlynn asked. She understood her lover well enough to know that Nyrielle wouldn’t just accept the help of strangers without having a reason to trust them. Clearly, she’d used her powers to cow several rebels into submission, but what had she done to gain the loyalty of these sorcerers?

"Almost nothing," Lennart said with a frustrated sigh. "Only that they may not be useful in a confrontation with the Lothians, but they will be welcome in the battles that follow. For now, our orders are to treat them as auxiliaries within the army. They are to be given no orders and no responsibilities. If we have need of them, we are allowed to make requests for their services but they’re permitted to refuse."

"That sounds... very permissive," Ashlynn said. Arrangements like these weren’t unknown in human traditions. If she had to compare it to something, it sounded very similar to traveling with a company of Templars or other orders within the Church.

A captain might take men of the Church onto his vessel, even fighting men, but even if they were besieged by pirates, he could never order to the Templars to fight. A captain might be the highest authority after the Holy Lord of Light aboard his vessel, but the Church answered to no secular authority and so everything was a request rather than an order, even if the Templars did as the captain asked.

For Nyrielle to offer the same treatment to these sorcerers was beyond strange. Perhaps there were things in this world that even Nyrielle felt the need to bow down before. They’d only just begun to discuss the other True Vampires before they parted and there was still much that Ashlynn didn’t know.

"I’ll ask Mistress Nyrielle about it when she wakes," Ashlynn finally said. "I may not be able to share what I learn if there are secrets that must be kept, but knowing this much will help me to ask the question. Is there anything else strange that I should know before tonight’s festivities begin?"

"Not exactly something strange," Lennart said with a knowing gleam in his eye. "But Lady Nyrielle asked me to reassign someone from my unit on a more permanent basis. With the way things have been going, she wants you to take on a personal guard."

"I see," Ashlynn said with a warm smile. "Virve, I assume that congratulations are in order?"

"If you’ll have me, my lady," the bearish veteran said. Moving with more grace than someone of her age and size would be expected to possess, she stood up from her chair before kneeling in front of Ashlynn.

"These claws of mine are weak and growing old," she said, holding up her palms in front of her chest. "But there’s strength enough in them to fight for several more years. If you accept me, I’ll take command of your personal guard when we return to the Vale of Mists. I promise to recruit only the most capable to ensure your safety."

"I couldn’t ask for anyone better," Ashlynn said, placing a hand over her heart and feeling the faint pulse of the seed she nurtured beneath her skin. The seed of witchcraft she currently carried was intended for someone else, but perhaps, once her coven had accepted its second witch, she would begin to nurture a seed for Virve.

Heila’s eyes widened slightly in surprise at Ashlynn’s seemingly casual gesture. The soldiers in the room might not know what lay beneath Ashlynn’s skin, but as the recipient of the first seed of witchcraft that Ashlynn had grown, it was impossible for Heila to miss the significance of the gesture.

But, seeing the way that Virve acted so casually around them, sharing a meal with them in much the same way they’d shared meals with Amahle’s coven in the Briar, Heila couldn’t help but give a small nod of approval in Ashlynn’s direction.

The woman had more than proven herself in their battle on the ice against the Tuscans. After hearing the story of the battle against High Lord Hamdi’s forces, it was clear that she had proven herself capable enough for Nyrielle to entrust Ashlynn to her care.

Ashlynn knew that there was still a bit of time before she would be able to nurture another seed, this wasn’t a decision that she needed to make on the spot. She also wasn’t certain that it would be right to bring a member of her personal guard into her coven but she firmly planted the idea in her mind. Now that she had, she would see how things progressed with Virve before she made her decision. Whether the idea sprouted and grew or died without blossoming would be up to Virve’s actions in the next few months.

"So, since you’re to be my new personal guard," Ashlynn said with a warm smile as she placed her hands on the woman’s outstretched claws, formally accepting her service. "Let me tell you about what’s going to happen tonight. Since I won’t have Heila with me, I’ll be counting on you to stay at my side..."