The Last Witch

Norrah was openly staring at him as they made their way into Dalvany, and Asher couldn’t tell if she was trying to read him, or waiting for him to do something incredible. The carriage they had been given was bigger than yesterdays, and Norrah was a lot smaller than Navarre, so they at least weren’t crushed together. Though Asher still thought about Navarre. As much as he wanted to ignore what happened, he knew he needed to talk to the man at some point, if only to clear the air. 

When the carriage did come to a stop, Asher managed to pull himself together enough to hold the door for Norrah, who offered a small bow as she stepped out towards the town square. The afternoon sun was cool and barely visible under spotted grey clouds, but still Norrah had her arms bare, wearing only a thin dress of blue satin and silk. She didn’t seem bothered by the cold air, but she also stood out from the dirt stained stone and uneven road. The people milling around them were mostly in modest shirts and skirts with aprons, many of them farmers or outdoor workers, shabby and dirty and beat down by a hard day’s work. Norrah stood out more than a diamond amongst clay. With his uniform and the ceremonial rapier hooked under his cloak, they both did. 

The market in the town plaza was bustling despite the grey chill. Flowers bloomed around the edges of the footpath, and the wooden stalls collected in the centre of the plaza. More of them lined the closed off buildings around the square, filling the space with a white noise of conversation. The narrow path left around each stall little space, people milling through as they chatted to the vendors and scolded children running through legs. Somewhere on the other side of the market, a dog was barking incessantly. 

Asher spotted Clyde next to the Town Hall, strapping down his little crooked cart with aged, frayed rope, while a handful of sullen-faced men around him readied rifles. The old farmer glanced up as Asher approached, and offered a firm handshake. 

‘Glad to see your keeping your word, Lieutenant,’ he said. ‘Been a lot of empty words thrown around lately.’

‘I can’t make any promises yet,’ Asher said. ‘I’m just trying to get a picture of what’s going on.’

Clyde grunted in response. 

‘I present too, the Lady Adalynn Norrah,’ Asher added quickly. Norrah dipped her knee in greeting. 

Clyde bowed deep in response. ‘You must be old Henri’s estranged.’

‘Word travels fast,’ Norrah commented. 

‘It will in any community,’ Asher said. ‘People know when something’s up.’

Norrah nodded in agreement. 

‘If you’re trying to suck up to any of us it won’t work until you got something to show for it,’ Clyde said.

‘Maybe we can start with why there are so many guns,’ Asher said. ‘They’re not for the people I hope.’

Clyde’s face fell then, his mouth disappearing completely beneath his beard. He glanced back at the others by the cart, then jerked his head to the side. ‘There’s a story there. If you wanna know the full story, you should come with me real quick.’

Asher exchanged a glance with Norrah, then fell into step behind the older man. People turned to glance their way as they passed, moreso towards Norrah than him, though he did wonder if people had any idea who he was as well. Perhaps they saw two strangers, finely dressed and proper, coming down to bring news of the apocalypse, or to stop it. Either way, Asher could feel the tension pulling the air down. The nervous energy crackled like a sky before a thunderstorm. 

Dalvany did have a picture-book quality to how the sun caught the hills ablaze in orange glare. The town itself sat along the rise of the hills, spread amongst rocky crevices and curving over rounded peaks. From his place along the road, he could just make out the red tiled roofs and white brick of each building. Everything about it was far too narrow to hold so many people constantly. 

Clyde led them along the edge of the market, and Asher noted that the plaza was far more crowded than he first noticed. Dalvany was no where as big as Ralkauda, or Valenda before it vanished, but he hadn’t expected the streets to be as packed as they were, as pressed in around the buildings. 

‘How many of these people are refugees?’ he asked Clyde. 

‘You’ll have to check with the watch for any numbers on that one,’ Clyde said. ‘But we’ve had a few. Me and my boys aren’t the only ones who’ve been on the road. The road’s been closed off for over a week, so a lot of people have been stopping here and just... waiting.’

Asher glanced around, feeling a shiver run down his spine. He glanced at Norrah, who was biting her lip, deep in thought. 

They reached what looked like an inn of some kind, a tavern with a bridge sitting over it to connect it to the neighbouring buildings. A medical sign sat inside the frosted windows, next to a crudely hand-painted sign that read “No Vacancy.” Clyde held the door open for them both, and Asher pulled in a deep breath. 

The inside was as crowded as the market, with groups of people shoved into each other around tables, with a frazzled bartender in the corner responding to a dozen questions at once. The candles in the chandelier on the roof had long died, and the light coming through the window shone over floating specks. No-one seemed to notice - or move - as Asher pushed towards the bar, with Norrah close on his heels. They reached the long wooden bench, and the bartender huffed, blowing dark strands of hair from her face. 

‘If you want a drink, we’re out,’ she spat the words at him. ‘And unless you need stitches, I’m not letting you upstairs ei--’ She stopped when she saw Norrah, and the colour drained from her face. ‘Ma’am, I’m so sorry, I--’

‘It’s quite alright,’ Norrah said. ‘We’re not here to bother you.’

‘I’m taking them upstairs, Tippy,’ Clyde said. ‘Go back to stressing.’

The bartender nodded, and Clyde gestured towards a staircase next to the bar. More than half of the people around them had fallen into a hushed whisper, openly staring. Asher felt the colour rise in his face. People looking was something he needed to get used to. 

‘Brace yourself,’ Clyde said. ‘This ain’t pretty.’

Asher stepped up the stairs and gagged as the sharp sting of blood hit his nose. The space had been repurposed into a medical centre of some kind, with cots lining the far wall, each joined with a table and tray of instruments, stained bandages, and buckets of brown water. Only a small handful of the beds were untouched. The others had a range of people in various states of pain and drugged daze. The closest was a young girl who couldn’t have been older than fifteen or sixteen, with a shock of red hair matted with blood. A long, thin slash ran down the side of her face, sealing one of her eyes shut. Next to her, an older gentleman had a bloodied stub where his hand used to be. 

Clyde approached one of the beds, where another muscular older man was sitting on the end, nursing an arm that had three jagged, deep gashes running along the skin. The sight of it came with another harsh smell of blood, and a bile taste hit the back of Asher’s throat.

‘What did this?’ Norrah asked. 

‘This one was a wolf,’ Clyde said. ‘Big bloody bastard. A lot of these are wolves, though we’ve had some other animals too.’

‘So much for them being harmless,’ Norrah mumbled. Asher felt the words cut into the back of his head. 

‘They usually are,’ Clyde said. ‘The farmers have trouble with the foxes going after the chickens, but never nothing like this. Young sweetheart over here,’ he gestured to the red haired girl, ‘got that lovely new look from a hawk. You know those little birds? The ones that don’t do much to humans normally? The thing swooped down out of nowhere.’

‘I thought it was going after my dog,’ the girl said. She turned her head, and Asher flinched when he noticed how swollen the side of her face was. ‘I told my sister to go and take him home, but then it came down and swiped me.’

‘Is this what the rifles are for?’ Asher asked Clyde. ‘The animals?’

Clyde nodded. ‘I don’t know what’s gotten into any of them, but even the little cute herbivores are biting and scratching. The whole bloody kingdom has gone feral, and no-one can figure out why.’

This was not how gathering further information was supposed to go. Asher considered the miserable group of people around him, the tired doctor shuffling around. One bed had a small boy with his foot wrapped in a bloody bandage. The seat next to it had a pale faced woman hunched over, her head hung low as if in prayer. 

‘Any scholars who can help us out?’ Asher asked. 

‘I’ve got a few coming in,’ the doctor spoke up. He hadn’t shaved and his grey hair was wild, his clothes unkempt. ‘The Fauna Conservation and Research Society was in Valenda. It’s gone with the rest of it. Got a couple coming up from Fanmaryh, but it’ll be a few days yet.’

Asher nodded. ‘If there’s anything I can do...’

‘Figure out what’s going on, so people stop getting hurt.’

‘Have we lost anyone yet?’ Norrah asked. 

Asher’s stomach churned as the doctor nodded. ‘Six so far. I can’t see everyone though. I’m one person. If they’re not immediately dying I send them away, so if anything creeps up or turns out venomous...’ he sighed. ‘I’m doing what I can.’

‘Are you alone here?’ Asher asked. If he was, he would need to send word down to Ralkauda immediately, and get more than his unqualified ass up here to help. 

‘My other one is asleep in the back,’ the doctor said. ‘Twenty-two hours on her feet, she needs it. Got two more coming tomorrow, though I appreciate asking.’

‘There’s one more thing,’ Clyde said. He stepped around the doctor - giving the man a pat on the shoulder as he did - and approached a bed in the far corner. Norrah eased to the side, falling into a hushed conversation with the doctor, leaving Asher to follow alone. 

The man in the bed didn’t look much older than Asher, and didn’t look injured either. His face was gaunt, his eyes staring up at the roof, empty and vacant. Streaks of white broke out along his forehead and temple. He didn’t move when Asher approached. He didn’t even seem to notice anyone was there. 

‘I told you the ground was unstable out there,’ Clyde said. His voice was low, his face grim. ‘He fell straight through, day one. We were lucky to pull him out of that big hole, but he came out like this. Won’t talk, won’t move, won’t even look at us. The white hair’s new.’

Asher frowned. He’d heard of “snow syndrome” where hair turned white prematurely, but the process was caused by years of stress and fear, and a multitude of other factors. There was nothing else about the man’s features that suggested age; no lines or wrinkles or spots. He reached down and took the man’s hand, noting how big the palms were compared to the wrists. He wasn’t just gaunt, he was malnourished.

‘Is he eating?’ he asked Clyde. 

Clyde shook his head. ‘Sometimes I come around and help shove a tube in his mouth so he can get water, but now it’s just a matter of time.’

Because he fell through the ground, at a spot where an entire city had vanished without a trace. None of this was normal, and it was only getting more and more insane. ‘Has anyone else fallen in?’

Clyde shook his head. ‘I’m not risking anyone else to test if it’s isolated or not.’

Asher nodded. He wasn’t about to ask the man to do that for him or for anyone. Still holding the man’s hand, he pinched either side of his wrist. The man’s pulse was weak. Next to the pained moans of the people around him, next to the overpowering smell of blood and the general heaviness to the air, he didn’t see this getting any better. 

‘Do you know where I can meet the Lieutenant or Captain of this Province?’ Asher asked. ‘I think I need to touch base and start working on this.’

‘I’d appreciate that,’ Clyde said. ‘They’ve set up at the town hall. It’s the only place they’re out of the way. If it’s all the same, I’m gonna stay here with him for a moment.’

He dropped into a seat next to the bed, lowering his head in a similar pose to the mother across the room. Asher stared down at the man in the bed. He wondered if the Sleepless Three could hear any prayers, if they were waking up to end what they created, like in those old stories. 

If that was true, then there was no reason for him to be here. There was nothing he could do, and Asher refused to believe that. The gods would stay sleeping, and until then, this was something he could fix. It had to be. 

Asher thought about saying something, but there was nothing to say to either Clyde or to the vacant shell of a man in the bed. It would only seem empty and insincere. Instead, he gave a nod of the head and eased back around the injured people, back down the stairs and out onto the street. 

People were staring more openly now, looking at him with a mix of curiosity and weariness. Asher had always found children were more open about their curiosity, and now he saw a couple of them point and ask at the adult with them only to be pulled away. One small boy approached Asher with large eyes, only to be picked up and carried off by a scolding woman. The tension in the air felt like a whip that hadn’t come down yet, one that was frozen in mid-air and waiting for time to start up to deliver the final crack. 

Norrah stepped out as the crowd began to lose interest, but she still lifted her chin at a nearby couple as they stared at her. Asher wondered if she was bothered by the sudden attention, whether it was expected despite the circumstances or not, or if she knew that their fear wasn’t personal. 

‘I hope I’m not keeping you from anything,’ Norrah said. ‘Though I will point out that there’s no need to wait for me.’

Asher shrugged. ‘We came together, we might as well stay together.’

Norrah tilted her head. ‘You’re not assigned to watch over me, are you?’

‘Nothing like that,’ Asher said. Though he wouldn’t be surprised if the order was passed to someone in the near future. 

‘Good.’ Norrah pushed into the market, stepping fast and sure. Asher rushed to keep up, ducking as she twirled her umbrella. ‘I’ve only come down here to get a sense of the situation properly. In my home kingdom, it is improper for a leader to stay separate from the people, and where better to see what is going on?’

‘That would be my goal too,’ Asher said. ‘My next stop is the Watch, if that’s also your goal.’

‘In that case, I prefer you didn’t walk behind me,’ Norrah said. ‘I feel as though I have an escort.’

‘Oh. Sorry.’ Asher ducked forward to step in next to her, and almost crashed into a small group of elderly women coming the other way. They muttered at each other as Asher bowed in apology. The makeshift streets between the market stalls were technically big enough for more than two people to fit side by side, but with everyone trying to walk together, it became a battle to keep pace with Norrah while people wove around him, forcing him to step around and duck past, all while none made the move to do the same for him. Strangely, it was exactly how it felt working the main square in Ralkauda. At least some things never changed. 

‘From what I heard last night, it seems you and I are related,’ Norrah said. She wasn’t having any trouble with the crowd, slicing through it like a blade through paper. 

‘Are we?’ Asher asked. In some sense they might have been, but it was a very thin line. ‘I’m not related by blood to Henri Trembiou.’

‘Well, no, but he is married to your aunt, isn’t he?’

‘I think after last night that is debatable.’

Norrah chuckled at that. She had a surprisingly throaty laugh. ‘Your Uncle Henri. Tell me about him.’

‘There’s nothing to tell,’ Asher said. ‘He’s technically my guardian, but I only met him once as a boy.’

Norrah raised an eyebrow. ‘So he is in the habit of abandoning children then.’

‘I wouldn’t say that,’ Asher said. ‘I’d already been at Beau Jordeaux -- it’s a boarding school near Valenda -- for about three years when my mother died. He and my Aunt Evelyn were next of kin, but I only left that school to move to Ralkauda. We haven’t seen much of each other outside of the occasional letter.’

‘I see.’ Norrah continued forward, leaving Asher to stumble behind. ‘I only met him once also. I was born here in Tarinye, but he sent my mother and me away to cover up my existence. He appeared only once when I was young, to ask why we were not taking his money.’

‘Didn’t need it?’ Asher asked. 

‘No,’ Norrah said. ‘My mother was powerful in her own right. If he wanted to pretend we didn’t exist, then we were happy to do the same to him.’

‘It must be a shock then, to be brought up here to deal with all this.’

Norrah chewed on her lip for a moment, mulling the words over. ‘I suppose I always knew it was a possibility. I do not like the idea of being connected solely to a man who could not find use for me, nor do I enjoy being referred to as his child when he did everything to disown me until now.’

‘So why come at all?’ Asher asked, then flinched. The words were a lot harsher than he intended. 

A wry smile crossed Norrah’s face. It pinched at her cheeks, a sign that she didn’t usually make the expression. ‘I do not have any qualms against the people in general. Besides, you must have been desperate to send for an Euthrian of all people.’

‘It’s not like we’re still at war,’ Asher mumbled. Though he knew it was a weak excuse. If people wanted a reason to hate this woman, they would have an easy target for their anger. The Battle for Telkesi Gap was still raw in a lot of minds, and Asher wasn’t an outlier in that regard. His father had fought, met his mother, had Asher, and died in that war. So did a lot of mothers and fathers, brothers and uncles. All to claim a pile of inhospitable rocks because the mass refugees didn’t want to see their home taken by the neighbouring country. It didn’t matter if there was nothing left of it. 

‘I suppose if people want something to gossip about, I won’t hate them for it,’ Norrah said. ‘If it distracts them from their anxieties.’

‘Wait till they see we’re working together,’ Asher said. When Norrah raised an eyebrow in question, he added, ‘My mother was a Telkite.’

A sharp giggle escaped Norrah then, which she quickly smothered with a gloved hand. Asher grinned, taking a moment to revel in the absurdity of the situation. Norrah didn’t seem like a bad person, but there were some that would rather see them as enemies because of something as dumb as lineage. 

‘In that case, we should continue working together just to mess with them,’ Norrah said. She stopped walking, taking in a nearby stall that was showing an arrangement of hats and scarves. ‘I didn’t know you could smile, Lieutenant.’

‘I could say the same about you,’ Asher returned. ‘Though it’s hardly the circumstances.’

‘I suppose you’re right. Though I want to take a moment to tell you I appreciate this.’ Norrah met his gaze. ‘My welcome so far has been quite mixed, and I’m glad to have a normal conversation with someone.’

‘Oh.’ Asher’s mind went blank. ‘I... If you mean Evelyn, don’t worry about her too much.’

‘Oh, I expected an icy welcome from my father’s wife, considering... well, everything. Yet, it seems that the other lords are less than enthusiastic about me showing up.’

‘Like Lord Barque?’ Asher asked. ‘I think he’s like that with everyone.’

‘Noted,’ Norrah said. ‘And Captain Chauvereu? What’s his story?’

Asher flinched. He hadn’t seen Navarre since last night, and all at once the memory crashed to the forefront of his mind. They would need to talk about what happened, but he hated that it had to happen on top of everything else. He hadn’t reacted the way a professional should, and not as a friend should either. 

Norrah was still watching him, waiting for a response.

‘He’s harmless,’ Asher said quickly. ‘He can come off a little strong, but he doesn’t mean anything by it.’ The words tasted bad even after he said them. They felt like a lie. Though they weren’t. Navarre had said he went too far. They just needed to talk, and Asher had no idea how to tell the man that he didn’t do things like that.

‘You two are quite close then?’ Norrah asked. 

‘We’ve known each other a long time,’ Asher said. 

‘Have I struck a nerve?’ 

‘Oh, no,’ Asher shook his head frantically. Any attempt to tame his mess of curls fell apart as they bounced across his face. ‘Sorry. I was just lost in thought.’

‘You are a hard man to read, Lieutenant.’

Asher blinked. ‘Really?’

‘I won’t intrude any further,’ Norrah said. ‘But perhaps we should keep going.’

She turned on her heel and marched towards the town hall. Asher watched her part the crowd like a rock in river rapids, then realised he should be following and rushed to catch up. He needed to pull himself together. If the mere mention of Navarre was enough to pull him out of focus, then he wasn’t in any state to do his job. He needed to do his job right now.