Chapter 739: Chasing Ashlynn
More than an hour had passed since Heila discovered Ashlynn’s disappearance. Briefly, the diminutive witch had considered recruiting Talauia to search for the missing Mother of Trees, but in the end, she decided against it. If Ashlynn had only been the Mother of Trees, then a member of the famed Glimmerwing clan who was also the Thistle Witch might be able to catch up to her. But to catch up to the Mother of Trees, who was also the Seneschal of the Harbinger of Death, would be too much to hope for, even for Talauia.
Fortunately, the days were growing very short as autumn prepared to yield to winter, and it wouldn’t be long before Lady Nyrielle woke. Besides, at a time like this, Hiela was certain that the very best person to chase after Ashlynn was the woman she’d just become betrothed to.
Instead, Heila had forced all of her worries to the back of her mind to settle the practical affairs that she could on Lady Ashlynn’s behalf before collecting a lantern and venturing deep into the unlit caverns dug into the cliff behind the ancient fortress. A year ago, she would have needed a hand-drawn map and perhaps a marking stick of chalk to find her way through the winding caverns where no daylight could reach.
Now, however, she had made the trip to Lady Nyrielle’s chambers several times in order to retrieve Ashlynn or things she left behind after spending an evening with her lover. All of that familiarity did nothing, however, to suppress the feeling of anxiety and impending doom that settled over her as she stood outside Lady Nyrielle’s chambers, waiting for the powerful vampire to wake.
Each minute that Heila spent in the darkness with only the sounds of her own heartbeat and breathing to keep her company felt like an eternity, one that couldn’t pass quickly enough and at the same time, one that she hoped would last forever. As she stood there, she tried to figure out what she would say to Lady Nyrielle or how she would explain things, but before she could come to any good answers, the door opened and Nyrielle’s dark, shadowy presence filled the dimly lit stone hall.
"What happened to her?" Nyrielle asked without preamble. She’d felt Ashlynn’s distress hours ago, and it had only grown as the sun marched inevitably toward the horizon. Now, her hair was still askew, and she was still wearing her sleeping gown, but she didn’t care to waste even a moment in her need to reach her aching lover’s side.
"Lady Ashlynn, she, she learned who betrayed her secret to Owain," Heila said, pressing herself back against the stone wall when the intensity of Nyrielle’s glowing, midnight-blue gaze struck her. "It, it was her sister, Jocelynn. She was jealous of Lady Ashlynn’s marriage to Owain and..."
"It doesn’t matter why," Nyrielle said, cutting Heila off as she extended her senses outward, feeling along the bond of blood that tied her heart to Ashlynn’s. "How long ago did she leave?" Nyrielle asked, her eyes widening in surprise as she realized that Ashlynn had already moved far beyond the walls of the ancient fortress and must be nearing the boundary of the Vale of Mists itself by now.
"Do you know where she’s going and what she intends to do when she gets there?" Nyrielle asked as she turned her attention back to Heila.
"I don’t," Heila admitted, hanging her head in shame. "But she took her armor and the sword she used for practice. She wouldn’t have done that unless..."
"Unless she intended to use them," Nyrielle said with a heavy sigh. "I’ll bring her home," she promised. "She’s worked too hard and laid too many plans to throw them all away in a moment of pain and grief. I won’t let her do that to herself, no matter how much she wants to lash out right now. But... this will change things, no matter what happens when I bring her home."
For a moment, Nyrielle stood completely motionless, exuding the stillness that only those who were already dead were capable of. Her mind raced as she filtered through dozens of possibilities before a plan came together in her mind. Not a complete plan, that would be impossible without speaking to Ashlynn, but she at least felt like there was a reasonable way to get her lover through this moment of crisis.