CHAPTER 857: ISABELL’S TRAIL BEGINS

While events in Lothian City continued to spiral out of control, a very different series of events was unfolding outside of the ancient fortress in the area that had recently been devastated by Ashlynn’s training.

In a way, the ritual that would transform her from an ordinary person into the next Hemlock Witch was Isabell’s first real encounter with witchcraft. Certainly, she’d experienced Ashlynn’s power firsthand, and she’d seen other minor demonstrations of power since her arrival in the Vale of Mists, including Heila’s healing salve, though Isabell had been too injured at the time to observe closely.

But this time, things felt very different. When she watched Ashlynn use her power to create a flat and level piece of ground amidst the churned earth, Isabell had only thought that it must be useful to be able to manipulate the earth so easily instead of needing a team of men with tools to spend a whole day leveling and smoothing the earth.

It was what happened after that, however, that felt strange and... disconcerting. Ashlynn had told her to think of the formal words she’d need to speak as little different from the formal oaths that knights took when they swore themselves to their lord, and to treat the magic circle and offerings as little more than decorations.

It was obvious that the young Mother of Trees was trying to put her at ease, especially when she mentioned the process of ’planting’ a seed of witchcraft in her.

"This is the part of the ritual that has no comparison in the mundane world," Ashlynn said when she’d explained it to Isabell. "There will be pain," she said bluntly. "You don’t have to endure it. You can cry out if you want, or you can bite down on a leather wrapped stick if you’d prefer. But there is no potion or salve that we can give you that will stop the pain."

"I’ve borne two children, my lady," Isabell said confidently. "I understand what pain is. Something to bite down on will be plenty, don’t worry."

Ashlynn hadn’t been as confident as Isabell and she’d exchanged uncertain looks with both Virve and Ollie, but none of them were mothers who had experienced childbirth to compare the pain of the transformation to. In the end, Isabell held onto her confidence as the increasingly strange ritual unfolded around her, tight up until the moment when Ashlynn cut into her chest and placed the seed of witchcraft there.

It was only then, after it was far too late to have second thoughts or regrets, that Isabell realized how badly she’d underestimated the pain involved in becoming a witch. Childbirth had been agonizing, but it had also been concentrated on a small portion of her body.

When the seed entered her chest, however, its roots rapidly spread to the rest of her body, enveloping her in a ripping, tearing agony that made it feel as if her whole body was being torn apart, from the tips of her toes to the ends of her fingers and every square inch in between. She felt like a piece of parchment in the hands of a child who kept ripping and tearing at the pieces until they grew smaller and smaller and smaller, leaving nothing behind but tiny dots of torn parchment that could blow away on a faint breeze.

And then, between one agonizing moment and the next, she found herself in a different place, standing atop a hill, looking down at a small village beside a river.

"Ugh," Isabell said softly as she flexed her fingers and inspected her body, finding nothing out of the ordinary other than a strange spot in her chest near her heart that felt... tight. "It looks like I owe Sir Ollie an apology," she muttered. "It is worse than childbirth."

"I’m sure he’ll appreciate hearing you say that," a familiar voice said beside her. "He still lacks confidence in himself and he too easily assumes that others are more capable than he is."

"Ashlynn," Isabell said in surprise, turning to find her friend standing next to her on the hill, though the Mother of Trees before her now seemed... calmer, and more withdrawn than she was in real life. "No, you’re not Ashlynn," she said as she looked at the figure of the woman who wore Ashlynn’s face. "What exactly are you?"

"I’m an echo of everything the Mother of Trees poured into your seed while she grew it next to her heart, and the personification of your connection to the power of the world," the vision of Ashlynn explained. "I’m your guide for this trial."

"Then, you can answer questions for me?" Isabell asked, furrowing her brow in thought as she looked at the woman who wore Ashlynn’s face in this vision. "About the world and witchcraft and how all of this works?"

"Yes, and no," the vision said in a voice that grew deeper and more otherworldly. "I cannot reveal mysteries to you that even your Mother of Trees has yet to touch. Your mind is very well organized and I can feel you searching for ways to wring answers from me, but I’ll warn you once, that path is too dangerous and people who pursue it do not return."

"What, what do you mean?" Isabell asked as she took a step backward from the strange not-Ashlynn.

"You have a mind that seeks to understand the foundation of things upon which you will build," the vision said. "That isn’t forbidden, but if you use this moment to chase after the roots of your connection to the world, you will entangle yourself in those roots and there is no escaping from that."

"The Mother of Trees has already grown a set of roots for you," she explained as she reached out to tap Isabell on the chest, directly between her breasts where Ashlynn had placed the seed. "Trust in those roots and allow them to grow and develop over time. This trial is not about your roots, it’s about growing your trunk and branches," the vision explained as she gestured at the village below.

"I, I see," Isabell said as she flexed the fingers of both hands to dispel the trembling that came with the realization that she’d very nearly done something incredibly dangerous. Being confronted with a ’personification of her connection to the power of the world’, Isabell’s first thought had been to pepper the strange vision with questions about things that even Ashlynn hadn’t been able to fully explain.

It seemed, however, that some things weren’t meant to be revealed that way, and when she stepped back and thought about it, it wasn’t too difficult to accept. When she had been a much younger student, her teachers had often withheld answers to her questions until she managed to work out the solution herself and this felt no different. Well, no different other than the fact that asking forbidden questions carried a much greater risk than simply earning her teacher’s ire.

"When I talked to Ollie about his test, he said that he was commanded to ’take care of his people.’" Isabell said as she looked down at the village. "Is that what I’m meant to do here?"

"Ollie took the trial of a Guardian," the vision said with a slight shake of her head. "A Guardian must learn to care for their people in times of adversity. You are facing the trial of an Architect," the vision of Ashlynn explained. "Your trial is to help your people to thrive, now, and into the distant future."

"You had thought once about constructing a village on the River Luath," the vision explained. "Near the mouth of the Vale of Mists. You thought about this village several times before you entered the Vale and how you would create something that was greater than any of the frontier towns and villages you’d encountered in Lothian March."

"This is that village," the vision said, drawing Isabell’s attention to the neat, organized streets and the tile roofed buildings that funneled the water from the lightly falling rain into gutters that kept the streets from flooding. "The only thing that has changed is that this village now stands at the border of the Eldritch and the Human worlds, and to make it thrive, you must create a place where both can live side by side..."

"But before that, there are things you must learn," the vision said as she placed an arm around Isabell’s shoulder and guided her into the forest outside the village where a seemingly endless number of towering hemlock trees grew. "Once you have learned enough to apply your power, the real trial begins..."