Chapter 215: Powerful Pull
After spending seven days and nights traveling across the High Fen, Ashlynn and her companions finally arrived at the edge of the cliff that marked the end of the White River and the entrance to the Briar.
In the starlit darkness, their small circle of wagons had been arranged to block the cool mountain winds that swept down from the east. The breeze carried traces of snow and ice even now that summer was almost upon them. In the distance, the frozen peaks loomed as darker shadows against the moonless sky.
Lanterns hanging from the wagons cast pools of warm light that pushed back against the darkness, but even their glow seemed minuscule when Ashlynn looked out over the vast, mist-covered darkness below the towering cliff. Next to the dizzying height and the thunder of water pouring over the edge, everything felt smaller and less significant, as if it could be swept away at any minute.
Nyrielle had told her what to expect, but words didn’t do justice to the awe-inspiring force of a mighty river spilling off the edge of a cliff and tumbling hundreds of feet through the air into the lake below. The sound of churning water made conversation all but impossible within a hundred paces of the cliff’s edge and a cold mist drifted through the night air like tiny raindrops attempting to return to the sky.
"Sights like dis are someting special, ain’t dey, cher?" Jacques said lightly as he came to stand next to Ashlynn looking over the edge of the cliff. "It’s better in de morning, I promise you dat."
Over the past several days of travel, Ashlynn had come to a tentative understanding with the reptilian witch. He didn’t encroach on her personal space and he didn’t seek her out on the occasions that the group had stopped to rest or while they took ferries along the few navigable stretches of the mighty river. Unless Ashlynn herself sought out his company, he left her alone.
Still, completely ignoring him would have been both difficult and rude. Instead, on the occasions that they spoke, Ashlynn did her best to keep it to topics that felt neutral rather than personal. She asked about the plants growing in the area and the wildlife that she’d never encountered before.
Jacques’ connection to plants was incredibly deep and he was happy to keep their discussions to lighter topics adjacent to witchcraft as long as they didn’t delve into the mysteries of the craft itself.
Jacques himself had been surprised how ’hands-on’ her knowledge of plants turned out to be. When he learned that she’d been raised as a noblewoman among humans he had assumed she lived a pampered life similar to the children of powerful merchants. His opinion of her had dropped even further when she and the diminutive Heila seemed so insistent on building relationships with vapid social-climbing women in High Fen City.
Learning that she’d tended a personal garden in her youth and that she had made an extensive study of botany came as a pleasant surprise to the thorny witch. With that as a basis of comparison, their conversations became more of a lopsided exchange.