The Vampire & Her Witch-Chapter 1273: Choose Now

"...and that puts my heart at ease about joining them..."

The moment Baroness Mairwen said the words, everyone froze, though reactions ranged from shock to relief and acceptance to denial.

"Er, hrm, um, hrm, my sweet," Baron Loghlan said delicately as his gentle embrace around his wife’s waist turned into a brief pinch. "We have yet to make a decision, and the terms outlined in Lady Ashlynn’s letter.... Some of these warrant significant discussion, like this bit about spending one part in twenty of our entire treasury just to retain the services of the Hemlock Witch as an engineer..."

In fact, there were several terms in the letter that seemed alarming to Loghlan, but it was equally clear that Liam had put considerable thought into negotiating concessions from Lady Ashlynn that were in line with the priorities of the barony. For example, Lady Ashlynn had agreed to send master tradesmen from the Eldritch nations to review the industries of the barony and to share knowledge that could help them improve everything from their textiles to their tanneries.

But many of the terms were vague, intended only to express an intention rather than making a promise. The letter was the beginning of a negotiation; it wasn’t a treaty, and Lady Ashlynn had made no attempts to hide the fact that negotiations with other lords might affect the terms of the agreement she reached with the Dunns.

"If word got out in the Eldritch territories that Master Isabell could be hired for just a fraction of a nation’s treasury," Ollie said with a small smile. "I think she’d spend half of the rest of her life traveling from one Eldritch Lord to the next. The services of a witch, when they’re sold, aren’t easily purchased," Ollie said.

Ashlynn and Heila had talked to him at length about the potions they brewed in order to raise money in High Fen City. Ashlynn had arrived in the Vale of Mists without anything, not even clothing on her back, but after spending half a month in High Fen City, working with Heila to produce potions and heal ailments that no one else could heal, they’d filled several small chests with enough gold and silver to hire a small army of merchants, craftsmen and tradespeople to come help the Vale of Mists to reinvent itself.

"Be that as it may, we still need to discuss this before we make any commitments," Loghlan said firmly. "By the end of the night, I should have a response written that you can take back to Lady Ashlynn with our questions and our requests for changes or accommodations, but then..." he started to say, only for his voice to trail off as he realized he didn’t know what would happen next.

He could draft a reply by tonight, certainly, but then what? By noon tomorrow, he would need to have his camp packed and his entire entourage headed to Maeril. Once they arrived in Maeril, they would load up onto boats headed downriver and arrive in Lothian City the day before Lord Owain’s wedding to Lady Jocelynn and his ascension to the throne. But in that time, what would Lady Ashlynn be doing?

"There won’t be time for letters back and forth," Ollie said, pursing his lips as he looked at Liam’s father. "The details can be settled later. For right now, Lady Ashlynn only needs a simple decision. Do you stand with her against Owain Lothian, accepting that it means opposing the Church and the Kingdom of Gaal in time? Or do you wish to stand aside and accept whatever happens when Lady Ashlynn makes her move?"

"That isn’t an easy decision to make, Sir Ollie," Loghlan said as he massaged his brow with one hand. "A good many people’s lives depend on our decision. We need time to talk about it."

"I can give you a little time," Ollie said. He used the table to support himself as he stood, wobbling for a moment before he was able to stand up completely straight. "One hour. I can give you an hour to discuss things, and then I need to send Lady Ashlynn a message, informing her about your decision."

"An hour?" Baron Loghlan exclaimed, his brows shooting up as his jaw dropped. "Young man, no, Sir Ollie," he said, nearly forgetting himself along with the fact that the young man was a witch as he tried to process the timeline, or rather, the ultimatum he’d been given.

"Sir Ollie," Loghlan repeated as he forced his rapidly beating heart to slow. "At least give us the night to discuss it, and we can render some kind of decision in the morning. It’s already dark and very little can be done in the depths of night... No," he said with a heavy sigh. "I imagine that’s not true for vampires, is it?"

"By now, Lady Ashlynn has finished her planning," Ollie said as he used the back of his chair for support. "She won’t wait much longer now before she begins to move, and when she moves, she needs to know if you stand with her, or if you intend to stand aside," he said, not mentioning that they could choose to stand against her. If they did, then he would be forced to act, and he truly didn’t want to see that happen.

"I’m going to go for a walk," Ollie said as he took a tentative step away from the chair. "I’ll leave the tent warded by ice so you can discuss things, but when I come back, you need to be ready with your decision."

"Sir Ollie, let me help you," Lady Isolde said as she rose from her chair. "Let us help you," she added as she pulled Gavin up along with her.

Seeing Ollie struggle to do something as simple as standing and walking made it clear that the price he’d paid in order to heal her husband wasn’t small, and as much as she wanted to sing and dance with joy at Gavin’s miraculous recovery, her heart couldn’t rest easy while she saw the man responsible for it suffering so much.

"My lord, by your leave," Gavin said, bowing briefly to Baron Loghlan before he rushed to Ollie’s side and offered his shoulder to the young witch to lean on. "I can’t advise you anymore tonight at this point anyway," he said with a wry smile. "I think it’s clear that anything I would say is influenced by what Sir Ollie has done for me."

"That doesn’t mean your words are useless, Sir Gavin," Loghlan said, looking from his knight to Sir Ollie and back again. "But I think I know your mind on this matter," he added with a slight smile of his own as he looked from Isolde to Gavin and back again.

Truthfully, he was grateful that the young witch was giving them some space to discuss things without his presence. He had a tendency of slipping in the most shocking and controversial pieces of information at just the right times to derail a conversation or to make things even harder to understand, and the small gathering of the Dunn Court had already endured more shocks and surprises than they could easily bear.

"Protect him well, Sir Gavin," Loghlan said as Sir Gavin and Lady Isolde escorted Sir Ollie to the tent’s exit. "I don’t expect anything dangerous to occur, but if he’s injured while weakened from healing you, that’s a shame and an offense that neither you nor I can bear."

"I understand, my Lord," Gavin said, nodding in place of a bow while he helped support Ollie’s weight. "He is my benefactor, and no harm will come to him while I watch over him, you have my word."

"Good," Loghlan said, turning his stare to his son. "Now, we have an hour and many things about Lady Ashlynn’s letter to discuss, so let’s make good use of our time, starting with this bit about lending our soldiers..."