Chapter 439: I Refuse
For a moment, Ashlynn stared at Hauke’s stooped figure, too stunned by the ancient spirit’s proposal to articulate her thoughts. The cold wind blowing across the mountainside and the creak of weapons and armor from both Nyrielle’s army and the forces on the walls were the ounly sounds in the barren landscape between the two.
"Ha ha, haha, ha, ha," Ashlynn laughed, finally lowering the Holy Flame Blade and allowing it’s flames to fade away. The muscles of her arm shook with relief and her whole body relaxed as she let go of the tension of maintaining her threatening posture to laugh at the ancient spirit’s proposal.
"Drop your sword," Ashlynn told the old woman possessing Hauke. "I accept your surrender. Since you understand that you are defeated, we don’t need to make this any uglier do we?" Ashlynn asked with a light smile on her face.
On the walls, Savis stared at the young witch in open-mouthed shock. She’d been offered a chance to fight for the throne of the High Pass. If she won, all of this would end. He’d already been forced to watch as several soldiers from the Black Wolf Brigade died to the Frost Walker’s sorcery while he and Tausau were trapped atop the gatehouse. He knew that there had been casualties among Tausau’s Mongrel Horde as well, yet their mighty Seneschal was laughing and treating their challenge like a surrender? Had she lost her mind?
"Young woma-, that is, your Dominion," Kimsel stammered, utterly confused by the witch’s reaction to her solemn challenge for the throne of the High Pass. "Perhaps you have misunderstood..."
"I haven’t misunderstood anything," Ashlynn said calmly, using the time to steady her breathing and regain a bit of her strength. Her wounds burned with the stinging cold of the mountain air, and her muscles ached from the abuse she’d subjected them to, but she could already feel Nyrielle’s presence returning.
The echo of Nyrielle’s heartbeet within her chest was going stronger by the moment and at this distance, she could feel Nyrielle’s deep sense of worry for her and the all the people with her. Soon, this nightmare could come to an end, she just had to drag things out a little bit longer.
"Only someone in a position of weakness would demand single combat to conclude this matter," Ashlynn pointed out in a tone more cutting than the mountain air. "Your blizzard is broken. Our men have breached the walls of the fortress, and the rest of our army is now able to move. The sword you used to suppress me has been countered by an even more powerful artifact, one whose nature is more dangerous to you than yours is to me," she said, calmly ticking off her points.
"The prison of ice that stopped anyone from interfering with our battle is shattered and broken, and there is no one else coming to your aid," she said. "You are alone, fighting a battle no one else wants to fight for a cause no one else believes in. The only path you have forward is to declare Lord Ritchel unfit to hold his throne so you can seize it for yourself and force the Frost Walker clan to do as you wish."
"I respect the Frost Walker tradition of honoring your ancestors and seeking their advice," Ashlynn said, turning to face the Frost Walkers standing on the walls. Her voice was loud, and she used a subtle manipulation of the winds to ensure that everyone in the fortress could hear her words. "But these are not the first controlling ghosts I’ve had dealings with, and they are no different than the last one who tried to force a member of my coven to bend to her will."
Though Cecile’s attempts to influence Ashlynn had been limited by her deference to the next Mother of Trees, the way the ghost of the former Willow Witch attempted to twist Heila into the same kind of witch that she had been in life was something Ashlynn and Heila had discussed at length. Ashlynn’s encounter with the ghost of Lady Claire du Gaal had been even more concerning, and seeing the actions of these ancestors now, she was increasingly convinced that the dead should leave the living alone.