Chapter 2013: The Ancient Oak’s Warning (Part One)

Ollie knelt in the soft grass beneath the boughs of the Ancient Oak as the tree began to sway in the still winter air. A heartbeat later, Jocelynn and Eira followed his gesture, kneeling and bowing their heads toward the mighty tree.

To Jocelynn, the air itself felt warmer here, as if the tree held back winter itself. The feeling of safety she’d felt from Ollie all day grew even stronger beneath the russet and golden leaves of the Ancient Oak, but the feeling went far beyond simply feeling safe.

Being in the tree’s presence carried much the same feeling of entering High Priest Aubin’s office in the Great Temple of Lothian City. She was safe here in a space that felt impossible to defile while someone old and wise watched over her. ℯ

That feeling was quickly followed by one of abject horror. The Lothians had come to a tree like this; they had seen something this majestic and sacred… And they’d chopped it down to make a throne.

Jocelynn’s chest grew tight as she tried to imagine the sort of men who could swing an ax at such a beautiful, venerable tree. How hard must their hearts have been? How full of hatred of anything the Church deemed ‘demonic ‘? Or how afraid of their Lothian masters were they?

The Lothians she’d once admired and called ‘heroic.’ The hatred she’d once seen as bravery and valor.

A churning, nauseating warmth spread through Jocelynn’s stomach and the rustle of the Ancient Oak’s leaves grew loud in her ears. Through the sound of trembling leaves, she heard echoes of her own voice…

“…I knew that the hero of Lothian March would return victorious…”

“…tell me how you fought. Tell me how you conquered and claimed so many trophies…”

“…Owain is the future of Lothian March, and he carries the ambition of all Lothians since the founding of the March…”

“…Owain would never do that to me… He didn’t harm Ashlynn because she was a danger to his ambitions; he killed her because she was a vile witch who never should have been allowed to marry him in the first place…”

“…I do love him! I, I love him more than anything in this world, and I would do anything for him…”

“…My lord… You know my heart is yours, now and forevermore…”

“…The demons survive to this day because humans can’t be everywhere at once… But anywhere Lord Owain chooses to stand, what can they do but die?”

Every word and phrase had been something she said. Worse, they were things that she’d genuinely believed, and beneath the boughs of the Ancient Oak, she couldn’t hide from them.

The churning in her stomach grew more and more intense and Jocelynn collapsed to her hands and knees as echoes of her own words drowned out every other sound. Her stomach clenched and heaved, and what remained of the hearty breakfast Ollie had prepared for her surged up her throat, mixed with burning bile.

Dimly, she sensed Ollie moving next to her. He felt his hands settling on her shoulders, steadying her and holding her hair back as she emptied the contents of her stomach onto the soft grass, but this time, his presence did nothing to protect her from the voices carried on the wind that moved through the Ancient Oak’s leaves.

Voices that belonged to dead men…

“…You’ve miscalculated, Lady Jocelynn. Your advice in matters relating to the merchants of Blackwell County has been useful, but in matters relating to the Church and the Frontier, you still know far too little. Your sister was far more impressive in this regard…”

“…I don’t think your love matters for very much. You act like you loved your sister, but without your words in Owain’s ears, she might still be alive today. You can act however you want in front of others… But don’t you dare tell me that you love my son. I’ve seen what you do when the people you love stand in the way of your own ambitions…”

“…Silly girl… What did my foolish son ever do for you to earn this much adoration and devotion from you? Hmmm? What has he done to capture your heart?”

Bors had seen through her in ways that she hadn’t been able to see through herself. He’d stripped away the lies she told herself and hurled the cold, bitter truth in her face, but she’d never been able to hear those words when he spoke them. She’d treated them like the blade of a sword to fence against and never once considered that he’d been right about her all along.

But she couldn’t hide from his words now, any more than she could hide from the words of the man who’d hurt her more than any other…

“…Pure skin doesn’t mean you’re innocent; it only means that your wickedness hasn’t bubbled to the surface of your flesh…”

“…I have an offer for you. One that might prove there’s still a glimmer of a good, decent woman somewhere in your black heart…”

“…So it’s only the sister you’re jealous of that you can’t bring yourself to worry about. But of course, you’ll never have to compete with Eleanor for the attention of a man you fancy, so I suppose that makes her safe from your schemes, doesn’t it, Jocelynn?”

Jocelynn couldn’t feel Ollie’s hands on her anymore. The leaves on the Ancient Oak felt like they’d closed in on the world, blocking out the light and leaving her in the darkness that belonged to Percivus and the dungeon beneath Lothian Manor.

Just like Bors, Percivus had seen through her. He’d seen the ugliness that she’d hidden from and he forced her to confront it directly… She couldn’t hide from herself in the darkness of those cells, and she couldn’t deny the truth at the core of the malicious words that dripped from his lips like poison from a viper’s fangs.

Somewhere far away, Ollie was saying her name, calling out to her, but she couldn’t answer him.

And then Owain’s voice found its way back to her ears…

Oh, this is not good…

Special thanks to Sierra_Argyri, the Secret Seeking Witch, and D_L_7751, the Heartwood Witch for the Golden Gachaphons last month!