CHAPTER 816: REDRAWING THE MAP (PART TWO)

"Table Mountain is broad and flat and the Frost Walkers claim that the top of the mountain was cleaved off in an era before the Age of Ice," Ashlynn continued after shaking off the memories of iridescent horns cleaved in two by Nyrielle’s ax and the helpless, blank expression on Hauke’s face as he struggled against the curse the ancestors had left behind. "Whether that’s true or myth, no one knows, and it’s hard to see from Fortress Peak but I’m told there was once a vast city built atop the mountain."

"The Four Peaks is the name of the territory that the present High Pass will grow to encompass," Ashlynn explained. "Airgead Mountain was one of the original seven, but Dame Sybyll has defended that mountain for decades. She deserves the right to claim it and it is the ’littlest brother’ in the range. Knife Peak will become their new southernmost holding, and Table Mountain will become their new northern border."

"What’s beyond Table Mountain?" Liam asked as he stared at the map. "Why not give them back six of their seven peaks?"

"Because Aurora Mountain doesn’t exist anymore," Ashlynn said, tapping a spot on the map further to the north. "It was destroyed hundreds of years ago by the Volcano Witch. All that remains is a smoldering crater that oozes with the molten blood of the earth. Lady Heila has fought with cultists from the Cauldron of Fire who lord over that mountain, and while she defeated them, even Nyrielle and I would hesitate to provoke them on their own mountain."

"Excuse me," Liam said, staring at Ashlynn in open-mouthed disbelief. "Did you say that a witch destroyed an entire mountain until nothing is left but a crater? Is this ’Volcano Witch’ another one of the Great Witches? Like you?"

"No, not like me," Ashlynn said with a gentle smile. "The Volcano Witch is a subordinate witch of the Father of Calamities, in the same way that Lady Heila, as the Willow Witch, is a subordinate witch of the Mother of Trees," she said, resting a hand on her ample chest.

"I don’t know much about the traditions of the Father of Calamities," Ashlynn said. "But my teacher, Amahle, the Mother of Thorns, claims that the Witches of Calamity possess the greatest power of destruction among all witches because they possess so little power of creation."

"I see," Liam said. A deep sigh of relief escaped his lips, and he realized that for a moment, he’d all but given up hope. If Lady Ashlynn’s forces could destroy whole mountains, then what point was there in organizing any kind of resistance? They might as well surrender now.

But clearly, whoever these Witches of Calamity were, they weren’t involved in the present conflict... and perhaps they weren’t even around anymore. After all, if the Church had ever confronted a witch that powerful, the whole world would know of it!

"As to the other mountain," Ashlynn said, dragging her finger south and east until it passed into the westernmost edge of the expanded territory marked ’Dunn.’ "This one is called the Little Sister. There was a time, before humans arrived on this continent, when it belonged to the Vale of Mists, or at least half of it did. For the past hundred years, it has been an ownerless place, home to dozens of small villages that trade with the Vale but hold themselves apart from it."

"Sir Ollie said that some of the refugees in his village came from a nearby mountain," Hugo said as he fit the pieces of information together in his head. "He called them the Night Weaver Clan, but he said that only the Night Weavers were willing to leave."

"There are supposed to be other clans there that still believe they’ll be safe from," he started to say, only to trail off with an awkward look at Liam. "Safe from the expansion of the Dunn Barony," he finished lamely.

"But this is much farther away than my family thought to reach in my lifetime," Liam said, staring at the map in wonder. "The hills here are about as far as we felt we could press things if we could become a county in the Holy War or the next Crusade," he admitted with a sheepish look of his own at Ashlynn. "Anything beyond this, we expect to be claimed by others. To extend our territory so far... that would make us one of the largest counties in the Kingdom of Gaal."

"Though I suppose," he said as his smile turned wry. "If we accepted this offer, we wouldn’t be part of the Kingdom of Gaal anymore, would we?"

"No, you wouldn’t be," Ashlynn admitted. "You’d be part of something else. Something entirely new. A place where humans and the Eldritch can live together in peace," she said, tapping the marks on the map that represented Eldritch villages in the territory marked off for the Dunns.

"There are Eldritch people living within the territory we’re preparing to offer you," Ashlynn said. "Just like there are Eldritch villages in the territory that will be claimed by Sybyll Hanrahan," she said, tapping on the area that included Airgead Mountain. "These borders won’t be finalized until my war against the Lothians ends, and they may shift as we all negotiate to build something new here," she explained.

"But one thing that will be true in this new nation we’re building," Ashlynn promised. "Humans may choose to build their own communities apart from the Eldritch, and the reverse will also be true. No one will force you to live together side by side. But the days of warring on each other will come to an end. If you wish to rule this land, all the way to the Little Sister, then you have to rule over the Eldritch people within your borders with the same even and just hand that you use to rule over your current villages and hamlets," she said.

"And if we can’t?" Liam asked before holding both his hands up helplessly. "I don’t mean to suggest that we’d rebel," he said quickly. "If we accept your offer and join with you, then we’ll be as loyal to you as we’ve been to the Lothians."

"If you know our history, then you know that we chafe at the limits of our station," Liam confessed with a slightly guilty look at Hugo, who served as Owain Lothian’s steward. "But we’ve never plotted to topple the Lothians to replace them as rulers of the March. We only want the chance to grow as we see fit, without the constraints that the kingdom and the march put upon us."

"It’s just that, no matter how loyal we are, there are limits," Liam said. "We still have the Church and the people’s faith. It won’t be easy to convince them to accept de-, er, the Eldritch as our friends and neighbors. And there have been deaths among my people, recently even, because of your raids. Some people have legitimate grievances that won’t be easy to put down. So what happens if the people act out?"

"I understand that there will be challenges," Ashlynn said in a tone that started gently but grew firmer the more she spoke. "But there have been tragic deaths on the Eldritch side as well. Villages burned and people driven from their homes by your soldiers and Owain’s, and hurts that go back decades further too."

"Someone has to decide that the wars will end," Ashlynn said firmly with eyes that blazed with an emerald flame. "And Nyri and I have resolved to be those people. This era where the Church and the Kingdom of Gaal can slaughter the Eldritch with impunity is coming to an end, my lords," she said as she looked around the room.

"We don’t want to replace it with an era where the Eldritch do to humans as humans have done to them," she said. "So we’re willing to compromise and to extend offers like this," she said, tapping the Dunn territory on the map. "We can give you the chance to rise, but in return, you have to help us build the peace. If you can’t do that, even though it will be hard, then there’s no reason for us to preserve your family or offer you a position among the rulers of the nation we will build."

"We know it won’t be easy," Ashlynn said as a smile began to tug at the corner of her lips. "But if you or your people are so devout that making peace seems impossible, maybe it’s time that you consider this the greatest struggle that you’ll ever be called on to meet. War and slaughter are easy, but peace is hard."

"That’s why I’m sending you all to watch what happens in Hanrahan," Ashlynn said solemnly. "And after that, I’ll ask for your answer," she said as she rolled up the map and returned it to the scroll case. "But I hope, for all of our sakes, that you’re able to convince your father to choose peace."