The Vampire & Her Witch

Chapter 253: Among the Ashes

Chapter 253: Among the AshesThe sun rose early outside the Valley of Mists, casting a soft golden light over a scene of devastation that stood completely at odds with the serene sound of birds chirping to welcome the dawn.

Ollie, Milo, and their companions arrived near Milo’s late the night before and built a simple camp on an adjacent hillside so they could

It was that phrase that had convinced Ollie to beg for the opportunity to become an apprentice in the kitchens instead of following his father into service in the stables. The few scraps that fell his way as a young man scrubbing pots had been enough to get by which meant there was more left for his parents when they received their meals from the castle.

The punishments for stealing food from the kitchens were harsh, but no one cared about the half-burned bits that were stuck to the great cauldrons. In fact, many of the things Ollie ate, whether it was porridge made from three-day-old bread crusts or the soup made from chicken feet, were considered so far removed from ’proper food’ that even if he’d been caught by the guards of the manor, they would only have mocked him instead of delivering the flogging a thief should suffer.

To most people, those things had been remnants little different from trash, but to Ollie, they had been precious treasures that helped him get through the lean years. Now he hoped that in the devastation that looked like it couldn’t hold anything but trash, there might be a few treasures they could bring back to the refugees in the Vale of Mists.

"Look at the burrows," Ollie said, shaking off his memories to focus on the task at hand. While the days were long, they only had until midday to work before they needed to return to the Vale. "It’s been several days but they’re still smoking and smoldering in places. That means there’s still something to burn other than ash."

"Just be careful not to burn yourself," he added, thinking of the number of small burns on his hands from times he’d thought the hearth had completely burned itself out only to conceal embers beneath the ash. "Things may still be hot."

The warning seemed redundant. It should be obvious that things that were still smoldering might be hot, but Ollie was at a loss for what else he should say. Milo had grown increasingly solemn as they drew closer to the abandoned village and this morning, he’d displayed none of his usual awareness of his surroundings. The skilled archer even stumbled over a tree root as they entered the village.

No one said anything about it but it was obvious that the sight of the village’s destruction had broken down what little strength Milo had been holding onto in the days since his brother’s death and Owain’s destruction of his home.

It had been an impulsive decision to bring Milo here in the hopes of retrieving the carvings that meant so much to Old Nan and the other members of the Heartwood clan. Now that they were here, Ollie felt responsible for helping Milo face the deeply personal demons lurking in those ash-covered ruins. The question was how?