Chapter 102: Ashlynn’s History Lesson (Part Two)
"Mistress Nyrielle sent her progeny deep into human territory, intending to strike at their homes and force the human armies to turn back to protect their homes," Ashlynn continued. "This is how Mistress Nyrielle’s progeny fight. If five of her progeny can turn around an army of five thousand, then hundreds of others will live."
"Everyone at this table, stand up," she said, repeating Paulus’ activity. "There are thirty people standing here. Which one of you would leave the table, risking your life if you knew it would save the life of everyone else at the table? Raise your hands," she said, holding up her hand.
Several hands shot into the air without a moment of hesitation as every experienced soldier and hunter volunteered. A number of other people held up their hands, including two mothers holding small children.
"Elder Paulus would have you believe that Mistress Nyrielle is capricious with her allies, spending their lives the way the Lothians spend the lives of their soldiers, but this isn’t how she treats them at all," Ashlynn said, smiling at the people with hands in the air.
"A very few people face greater danger than any others so that the people in the vale may tend their herds, grow their crops and live their lives in peace," Ashlynn explained, thinking of the happy villagers she had seen when she visited the villages in the vale.
"Risks are one thing," Paulus interrupted, no longer able to hold his tongue. "But she still spent the lives of all of her progeny and replaced them with humans!"
"Isn’t that better then?" Ashlynn said, rounding on Paulus. "If she risks the lives of her younger progeny, they will be human progeny, not Eldritch progeny. Isn’t that what you want? For her to stop losing Eldritch lives in the fight against the humans?"
"Now let me finish," Ashlynn said, without giving Paulus a chance to respond. "You wanted to know what happened to the last twenty progeny, so let me explain," she said, returning her gaze to the Frost Walkers.
"Mistress Nyrielle sent her progeny to attack the barons and knights in the rear, but doing so is very dangerous," Ashlynn emphasized. "They had to sneak through enemy territory during the night and hide themselves away at night with no one to guard them as they slept away the long summer days."
"Mistress Nyrielle told you that the Inquisitors have magic to rain down fire," Ashlynn said. "But that isn’t the limit of an Inquisitor’s power. They are relentless seekers who will stop at nothing until they uncover what they’re looking for. A few of Mistress Nyrielle’s progeny managed to inflict some damage, leaving carnage in their wake, but doing so alerted the Inquisition to their presence."
"It was worse than the history books say," Nyrielle interrupted, her eyes looking dark and haunted. "The Inquisition captured one of my progeny, a member of the Scaled Clan named Sete. They tortured her with sunlight until she was half mad and then convinced her that if she ’confessed’ to the locations of her fellow progeny, they would ’cleanse’ her of her vampirism and allow her to return to her clan."
"It was a lie, of course," Nyrielle added, lest anyone misunderstand. "A vampire is perched on the edge of a knife between life and death. Falling off that edge only leads to oblivion. The dead can never return to life. But in her madness, she believed, and many of her brethren died because of it."