The Vampire & Her Witch-Chapter 1323: The ‘Lords and Ladies’ of the Vale

"Dame Sybyll is one of Lady Nyrielle’s progeny," Ollie continued, his voice taking on a more serious tone. "And she has her own role to play as Lady Nyrielle’s Executioner."

"Executioner?" Eira repeated, her eyes widening slightly. "You mean she... executes criminals?"

"Not exactly," Ollie said, furrowing his brows as he tried to think of a way to explain things that didn’t lead to misunderstandings. "Among the Eldritch, territory can be conquered by defeating its lord in single combat. It’s an old tradition, one that goes back centuries, and it’s considered a more civilized way of resolving disputes over territory or between nations than sending armies to wage war."

It was also one of the reasons that humans had been so successful in conquering Eldritch territory in the First and Second Crusades. While the Eldritch weren’t without warriors of their own, it was completely outside of their experience to face an army of thousands of soldiers who were willing to overwhelm powerful Eldritch champions through brute force and numerical superiority.

The armies of the Kingdom of Gaal had piled up thousands of fallen soldiers for every Eldritch Lord they managed to kill, but to the Kingdom and the Church behind it, such sacrifices were wrapped in the gilded halo of martyrdom, and the soldiers who died fighting against the ’demons’ were said to have earned their way to the Heavenly Shores.

It was a practice that Ollie had come to find deeply disturbing, especially when Lady Nyrielle first taught him how to touch the Void where he could feel for himself what lay beyond the veil of death. Ollie shifted in his seat, looking out the window at the passing countryside before continuing.

"For years, there have been powerful people among the Eldritch who believed that Lady Nyrielle was weak," Ollie explained. "They thought that because she hadn’t rebuilt the Vale of Mists to the status it held in her grandsire Torbin’s era, she must be vulnerable. Easy to defeat and replace."

"But they were wrong, weren’t they?" Morwen asked quietly, trying to reconcile the image of the terrifying ’Demon Lady of the Vale’ with the notion of weakness.

"Very wrong," Ollie said with a slight smile. "Most visitors who came thinking they could conquer her and the Vale were dealt with easily enough. Lady Nyrielle is..." he paused for a moment, trying to find the best word to use. "Strong doesn’t begin to describe her. Terrifying. Most challengers didn’t stand a chance."

"But?" Eira prompted, sensing there was more to the story.

"But some challengers thought they were clever," Ollie continued. "They didn’t just march up to the fortress and demand single combat. Instead, they began by causing trouble in the Vale itself, capturing the few traders who ventured across the mountains, spreading rumors to try to turn the people against their Lady, and generally creating chaos and fear. They thought they could weaken Lady Nyrielle’s position before challenging her directly."

He paused, his expression darkening slightly.

"The people in the Vale of Mists struggle enough," Ollie said bitterly. "There aren’t many Eldritch nations they can trade with, and they receive very little support from outside the Vale. They’re good people who work hard to care for each other and to hang on to the only place they’ve ever called home, while others," he said in a sharper tone than he’d meant to as he glanced at Lord Liam.

"While the Lothians raise their armies every few years to start another war, trying to drive them from their homes and burning them to the ground," Ollie said, charitably refraining from pointing out that Liam had led an army against the villages outside the Vale of Mists just a few months ago.

"Dame Sybyll was Lady Nyrielle’s answer to those troublemakers," Ollie said, returning to the original topic. "The people who thought they could challenge an Eldritch Lady for her throne weren’t weak, and no ordinary soldier, not even Commander Bassinger, could stand against them. But the Crimson Knight could crush the mightiest of champions who crossed the mountains to cause trouble," he said, explaining it as though it were the most logical response to decades of sporadic invasion by powerful champions.

There was a heavy silence in the carriage after that pronouncement. Even Liam, who had witnessed some of Dame Sybyll’s capabilities during the Battle of Hanrahan, looked slightly uncomfortable at the reminder of just how dangerous the woman could be.

"But all of Lady Nyrielle’s progeny aren’t like that," Ollie added quickly, apparently noticing the tension his words had created. "Sir Marcel is completely different. He spends most of his time working as a merchant and..." Ollie’s voice trailed off, apparently realizing that his example of a less violent progeny wasn’t working out as well as he’d hoped.

After all, Marcel wasn’t just a merchant, or even a master of spies. Dame Sybyll might be an Executioner, but Marcel was not only Lady Nyrielle’s Spymaster, but he was also a skilled assassin, and his network of spies and informants included a number of people who could be hired for murder.

"Right," Ollie said, clearing his throat. "Maybe a better example would be Madame Zedya. She’s Lady Nyrielle’s handmaiden, and she’s actually quite mild-tempered. Very gentle, very kind. She spends most of her time managing Lady Nyrielle’s affairs and knitting baby blankets for the newborns in the Vale."

"Baby blankets?" Morwen asked, her expression softening at the image. It seemed so... domestic. So normal that she had a hard time reconciling it with the image of a deadly vampire.

"Beautiful ones," Ollie confirmed with a warm smile. "She only uses simple patterns most of the time, but she works with very soft wool and very small knitting needles. Only a few families are lucky enough to receive one of her gifts. She has to give them in secret, or else the villagers might treat them as precious heirlooms rather than putting them to actual use, and she wants to make sure that her gifts are used.

"That’s lovely," Eira said, and there was genuine warmth in her voice. "It sounds like she truly cares for the people of the Vale."

"She does," Ollie agreed. "Madame Zedya is actually the first of Nyrielle’s progeny to take someone as progeny of her own. Her husband, Lennart, used to be the captain of Lady Nyrielle’s personal guard. They love each other very much," he said, smiling as he recalled how affectionate Zedya and Lennart were during the most recent banquet.

Eira leaned forward slightly, her eyes brightening with interest.

"Sir Ollie," she said carefully, "do you think there might be other opportunities for ladies to join Lady Nyrielle’s court? I mean, if Madame Zedya serves as a handmaiden, surely there must be other positions available. Perhaps for a young lady who had trained to manage estates? Or someone skilled at organizing gatherings of high-status people? What sort of qualifications does she look for in someone who becomes one of her ’progeny’?" Eira asked innocently.

There was something hopeful in her voice, something that suggested she was thinking about her own future and about what role she might play in this new alliance that was forming between the Dunns and the Vale, and from the way she’d phrased things, she was thinking about Morwen as well.

Morwen glanced at her friend, understanding immediately what Eira was doing. If Liam was going to spend time in the Vale training with the Oak Witch, if he was going to be gone for months or even years, then Eira was already thinking about how she might follow him there. How she might secure a position that would allow her to be close to him, to demonstrate her value to the alliance.

It was clever. It was strategic. It was exactly the sort of thing Eira excelled at.

But Ollie’s reaction was not what either of them expected, and neither was Liam’s.