Chapter 1739: Toward The Vale (Part One)
Chapter 1739: Toward The Vale (Part One)
Jocelynn was both surprised and delighted to learn that they would be sailing west on the River Luath to reach the Vale of Mists as quickly as possible.
"It was Isabell’s idea," Ollie explained as the carriage rolled out of the city gates and onto the docks. "The wagon she reinforced to carry the sapling is still very heavy. It takes a team of six horses just to move it, and even then, it’s slow. We have better options for moving it in the Vale, but we have to get there first."
"Isn’t it going to be just as slow going upriver against the current?" Jocelynn asked, puzzled at how the journey would be any swifter going west. If they’d been headed east, toward Otker Canyon, she would have understood, or if they’d been in Blackwell, where they could make use of ships with full oar decks, travel upriver would have been quite a bit easier.
But in Lothian March, along the River Luath, the most common ships were simple cogs with single masts. They were efficient for transporting bulk cargo downriver, and they carried considerably less cargo when traveling upriver, but even when they were light and rode high in the water, they were still subject to both the wind and the river’s strong current.
"I can’t do anything about the current," Ollie said. "But I can manage the wind for us. I don’t know how much faster I can get us to Maeril, but Ashlynn thinks we should be there by dusk if I can keep the wind steady. From there, it won’t take long to reach the Vale," he said in a voice that contained a trace of quiet yearning, as if he were carrying burdens that he could only put down once he’d returned home.
It made sense, Jocelynn thought a bit sadly. Ashlynn had told her that she’d given Ollie the mission of protecting her if things went badly during her assault on Lothian Manor. Once they were safely in the Vale of Mists, it would be much easier to manage that responsibility.
Quietly, she resolved to spend as much of her time as she could in the company of Ollie’s family and friends. She’d already taken so many of her protectors so far away from their own families; if she could avoid doing the same to him, then it would be a small repayment for the way he’d stepped up to protect her from Owain on the night that she’d nearly married a monster.
"Thank you, Sir Ollie," Samira said from her seat in the carriage. "I know it’ll be hard on you to use witchcraft all day long. If there’s anything we can do to help, please, just ask."
"Master Jean sent us with plenty to eat," Ollie said after a moment of consideration. "I’ll be out in the cold all day to manage the wind, so if you can bring me something warm to eat or drink from time to time, that would be plenty. And, keep ma and pa company while I work, I’d be grateful."
"You don’t have to mind us, son," Jamys said in a voice that swelled with pride. "We know you have important work now, so we’ll stay out of the way and leave you to it; you don’t have to have anyone fuss over us."
"It’s not fussing," Samira said. "It’s just good manners, isn’t it, Lady Jocelynn?"
"You don’t have to call me ’Lady’, Samira," Jocelynn said, reaching out and taking the pregnant woman’s hands in her own. "We’re friends, aren’t we? And things are different now. I don’t know many people in the Vale of Mists, so please, don’t be distant," she said, stopping short of what she’d meant to say when her voice caught in her throat.
Her sister had spent months in the Vale of Mists, and when she described it, it sounded like some kind of fairy land from the stories Ashlynn had read to her when they were children. Quiet, mysterious, and shrouded in mists. If it had been anywhere else, it would have been easy to feel excited over the chance to visit such a secluded, peaceful place.
But this place was filled with the Eldritch. Despite Ashlynn’s reassurances that they were good, kind people, Jocelynn had heard plenty of horror stories about the Eldritch since arriving in Lothian March. Moreover, she’d encountered a number of people who had fought them and bore the scars of those battles, so the notion of coming face to face with the march’s greatest enemy still produced a swarm of butterflies in her stomach.
Or perhaps it wasn’t the Eldritch she was afraid of at all. Soon, she’d meet Nyrielle, the woman her sister intended to marry, and that made her far more important than her position as the Eldritch Lady of the Vale of Mists. If the meeting went badly, if Nyrielle didn’t want Jocelynn to be part of her sister’s life, then it could doom any chance she had of repairing their relationship.
Thankfully, Jocelynn was rescued from her worries by their arrival at the docs, where an impressive-looking cog awaited them, and her well-trained eyes took in every detail of the vessel as she stepped out of the carriage’s warmth and into the cold winter air.
"What do you think, Sir Albyn?" Jocelynn asked as the newly minted knight made his way to Jocelynn’s side from one of the other carriages.
When Jocelynn had explained everything he’d done for her over the past several months, especially his role in rescuing her from the dungeons, Ashlynn had promised that he would keep the knighthood his actions had earned.
He might not become the lord of Hurel village; it seemed like Ashlynn had other plans for the next lord of the village that had once been ruled by Sir Tommin Pyre, but that suited Jocelynn just fine. As happy as she’d been to see Albyn rewarded for helping her, turning a Blackwell sailor into a land-locked lord had been a stroke of casual cruelty on Owain’s part that Jocelynn was happy to see undone.
"She’s a fine ship, my Lady," Albyn answered. "I don’t know what to think about her name, though. Part of me feels like old times have come ’round again, and I’m stealing a fine ship from a master who doesn’t deserve her," he said with a light laugh.
"But sailors’ superstitions are hard to kill, my Lady," Albyn added. "And there’s a part of me that sees that name as an ill omen..."