The Vampire & Her Witch

Standing before the assembled men and women of Nyrielle’s army as well as hundreds of Frost Walkers, Ashlynn tried to summon a fraction of the calm, self assured demeanor she’d seen so often from her father when he sat upon his throne in Blackwell Manor. Nothing ever seemed to phase him when he sat in judgment, no matter whether he was overseeing a dispute about a fence line or pronouncing the sentence for a convicted murderer.

Whether he could maintain that calm in front of this audience or not, she had no idea, but just the thought of him sitting here beside her, watching her do as he had done so many times helped her to firm up her resolve as they approached the critical point in this trial. Perhaps one day, he truly would be able to watch over her, but for now, she would have to continue on as he taught her.

"Old Svenja," Ashlynn said, turning to face the oldest of the Frost Walkers present, the woman who was considered to be closest to the ancestors. "I encountered the ancestors who had become ’Frozen Blood Guardians’ when they were at their worse. When I left, Hauke said that he intended to preserve their horns in order to learn from them. In the time that I’ve been away, can you tell me what’s happened?"

"What would you like to know, your Dominion?" Svenja asked carefully. Already, her spirit felt restless and her body trembled with a dozen contradictory feelings. Shock at what Nyrielle had revealed, outrage at what had been done in the name of their honored ancestors, and wrapping around all of that, more fear and anxiety than she knew where to put.

Already, she wanted to call a recess to this entire proceeding, withdraw into her chambers for a week or more to think through everything she had heard in the past hour and try to form some semblance of a scap of wisdom she could offer her people who were doubtless struggling even more than she was at the moment. But the dead would not wait for justice and the living would wait even less for vengeance.

"Many of us were anxious about allowing young Hauke to learn from the ancestors in the way that he wished to," Svenja said, lowering her horn in shame. "There were voices that were opposed to it. Hauke said that he needed to keep their horns close and he wore them on his body. He said that if he did not sustain them in this way that the ancestors would crumble away now that they had lost their purpose."

"He did not lie to you," Nyrielle said, speaking up for the young lord who couldn’t speak for himself. "Without the frozen blood that sustained them, they would suffer all the ravages of time that the blood held at bay. Years would pass in days and centuries in months until there was nothing left but dust."

"So he said, your Eternity," Svenja said. "Others still disagreed. We wished to place them in an ancestral cave of their own, mounted on traditional statues so that they could be sustained by ordinary sorcery. From your words, I assume that we were wrong and our attempt would have failed?"

"I’m sure they would have endured for a time," Nyrielle said, choosing her words with care. "Whether you were wrong or not is a different matter. After all, if you had done so, last night’s tragedy would never have occurred. There would be no dead to demand justice and your lives would continue much as they had before."

"Who made the final decision?" Ashlynn asked, taking back control of the conversation so she could nudge it in the direction that it needed to go. "Was it left to Hauke to choose? Or were the elders persuaded?"

"Lord Ritchel made the final decision," Svenja said, casting an apologetic glance at Odette. "As Lord of the High Pass and Hauke’s father, he judged it acceptable if it would allow Hauke to harness the powers of the ancestors for the good of our people. Perhaps, he hoped that doing so would allow young Hauke to succeed him sooner."