Chapter 504: Change Arrives in the Vale of Mists
Five days after Ashlynn’s arrival in Orava Village, an army the likes of which the Vale of Mists had never seen marched into the small town that surrounded the ancient fortress. Townspeople lined the roads despite the late hour, pressing up against each other for a glimpse of their long-absent Eldritch Lady. But despite their curiosity, the curtains of her dark carriage remained tightly shut, offering not even a peek of the powerful vampire or her Seneschal.
Even though they weren’t able to see the Eldritch Lady of the Vale herself, the remainder of her army still made for an impressive sight. It had been decades since outsiders made a habit of visiting the Vale of Mists, and only a few people took up trades that required them to travel across the mountains where they might encounter other clans.
From Savis and his Golden Eyed Black Wolf Brigade to the shocking appearance of more than a dozen clanless vampires of Tausau’s Mongrel Horde, each new group produced exclaimations of shock and excitement from the crowd.
"She’s done it again," an old man with hair that had turned as bone-white as his horns said, smiling as more and more soldiers marched into view. "Last time, she was gone for less than a month before she returned with forty-seven champions. This time, she was gone for half the year and returned with an army."
"Did you see her champions last time, Grandpa Gill?" a young boy with horns that barely peeked out of his tousled hair said as he clung to one of the brightly lit street lamps, hoping for a better view of the giants with shaggy wool and tusks that reached nearly to the ground. "Are these champions even stronger?"
"How old do you think I am, boy?" Old Gill said, rapping the young boy’s thing with the handle of his cane. "I wasn’t even born yet to see such a thing. But my father saw it. Forty-seven of Lady Nyrielle’s progeny, storming into the Vale like the black wind of death. But this is different," he added.
"With this many people," the old man said. "Lady Nyrielle might even reconquer the villages outside the Vale, so all those newcomers could go home again."
"But what if they don’t want to go home? Will they have to? Qebicq likes it here," he added with eyes that grew misty at the thought of his new friend leaving after they’d only just met. "He doesn’t have to go away, does he?"
"Who knows," the old man said, looking out over the train of wagons that trailed after the soldiers of the army. An army’s supply train would always be nearly as large as the army itself, but this looked like far more than a supply train. There were carts full of common folk, laborers, and tradesmen, and even carriages carrying wealthy merchants into the Vale of Mists for the first time in generations.