Chapter 312: Danger From Above
Ashlynn was grateful that she’d left propriety behind, wearing a short pair of breeches that stopped above the knees and a sleeveless tunic along with her Hedge Hat as she calmbered over the branches of the magnolia tree to retrieve her fifth blossom.
Suddenly, a giggle spilled from her lips as she tried to imagine what her mother would think if she saw her eldest daughter with her legs bare to the knee, barefoot and climbing a tree to pick flowers..
The countess had already been slightly scandalized when Ashlynn took to wearing simple peasant skirts and tunics while rooting around in the dirt of her garden. If it weren’t for the isolation imposed on her by her mark and the guilt her mother felt over keeping her confined so often, Ashlynn was certain that her mother would have forbidden her from returning to her garden the first time she’d seen her daughter covered in dirt.
Instead of banning her, however, her mother had sent out for simple skirts made of higher quality fabrics and commissioned a blacksmith to provide Ashlynn with the best gardening tools he could fashion, crafted to precisely fit her hands. She’d looked heartbroken at her daughter’s joy at such practical gifts, but it had meant the world to the young Ashlynn.
"One day," Ashlynn promised herself. "I’ll show you what I can do with the things I learned back then. I’ll grow something special and make a potion just for you, Mother."
All thoughts about what she might concoct for her mother were interrupted by a piercing cry accompanied by the sound of wind fluttering through feathers.
Acting on instinct, honed by countless hours of Thane’s demanding instruction, Ashlynn’s hand dropped to her waist to retrieve her sword even as she turned to face the threat. Only it wasn’t a sword that sat on her hip today but the slender, gnarled piece of Ancient Oak that she’d carved into a wand.
The combination of the quick turn and the awkward grab she made for her wand when her mind caught up to the fact that she’d left her sword behind cost her valuable seconds that she didn’t have and left her so awkwardly off balance that she slipped off the branch she’d perched on, falling almost ten feet to the ground below.
For a moment, she felt like she was completely weightless as her arms and legs splayed out mid-air. In that moment, her eyes widened as she watched three birds with feathers of midnight blue and darker black dove through the space she had occupied just a second ago. Wind swirled around the birds and a cruel, calculating look flashed across their yellow eyes as they realized their prey had evaded their surprise attack.
The windstorm unleashed by the trio of birds tore through the branches of the magnolia tree, hewing slender branches from the tree like pruning knives and leaving deep gouges in the tree’s soft bark.
"Witchcraft," Ashlynn said in shock as she recognised the source of power that the birds drew on. All other thoughts were driven from her mind an instant later as she slammed into the soft, sandy soil beneath the tree’s branches. Bright bursts of light flared at the edges of her vision and for a moment, the world dimmed, turning the perpetual twilight of the Deep Water region momentarily into a dark, moonless night.