Chapter 163: Maggie the Witch
Ashes sat on the castle’s highest parapet and watched Border Town build itself.
She had been on the roof most mornings since she arrived. Not hiding — the other witches knew she was there — but watching. She had run out of things to persuade them toward and couldn’t make herself simply wait inside.
The attempts had failed in every direction. Scroll had declined with the measured courtesy of someone who had thought through the question before it was asked. Lily had said no with the completeness of a closed door. The others — Leaves, Echo, Mystery Moon, Soraya — had each found their own particular way to say the same thing: we are staying. Not because of what they feared from the Fjords, or because of the crossing, but because of something in Border Town itself that Ashes didn’t entirely understand.
The older ones stayed for Roland. She could feel it — a specific quality of trust that came not from naivety but from evidence. The younger ones stayed because the place had become theirs, because there was something here that was worth staying for. This, she could almost comprehend.
What she couldn’t comprehend was Anna.
She had stood in front of Anna once, briefly, just to feel the magic. The texture of it was unlike anything in her experience — not the sharpness of a combat witch, not the diffuse warmth of the support types, not the strange muffled quality of an extraordinary. Anna’s magic felt like a wall of iron that was also, somehow, in motion. The heat of a forge, the density of hammered metal, and behind it the controlled patience of something that could cut through anything and had chosen not to. She had asked the others about it and received descriptions she couldn’t quite reconcile with what she’d felt. Something about fire that had learned to be a blade. She left the question there.
From the parapet she could see most of the town. The new district was the busiest: a grid of plots marked out in the earth, foundations already sunk in the ground, walls rising with a speed she wouldn’t have believed if she hadn’t watched it. Brick after brick, from the kilns to the north whose chimneys smoked continuously into the grey sky, hauled by carts that moved in a constant line. The workers didn’t rest the way workers usually rested. They ate walking, they talked with their hands still moving, they picked up where their neighbor left off when someone broke for water.
What did you do to these people, she thought, looking at it. What made them want this?
Above her head: the sound of wings.
A pigeon landed on her shoulder. Fat. Larger than any normal pigeon — larger, she noted clinically, than made physical sense.
“I’ve finally found you,” the pigeon said, beside her ear.
“Has Tilly sent you?”
The pigeon ruffled in something that appeared to be outrage, and said something that was mostly guu.
“Turn back first. Then we’ll talk.”
The transformation was always startling. White light through the feathers, the body expanding rapidly, the wings collapsing into sleeves of white hair until what sat beside her on the parapet was a small woman who looked like a girl — barely waist-high, hair like a white waterfall, watching her with the patient expression of someone who had been traveling for a long time and had learned not to complain about it.
Maggie. Tilly’s messenger. Her best long-distance flier.
“The trace I could follow barely reached — the signal stopped near the Fallen Dragon Ridge, and the magic stone only caught a signal once I was close.” She shook herself like she was still drying feathers. “Shadow told me your approximate location, or I’d still be searching.”
“Is Tilly safe? In the Fjords?”
“The Empress of the Sea made it safely. The second ship hit a northwind and was pushed toward shore — no one was hurt. The third and fourth ships are still at sea.” Maggie tucked her knees to her chest. “I left when I heard you’d come to Border Town.”
Ashes exhaled. At least. Even granting Roland his point — that the crossing was dangerous — the alternative was worse. A witch caught on the continent during what was coming would have no escape at all.
“Tilly’s response?”
“Shadow said you were staying to recruit. Lady Tilly said, ‘that’s good.’” Maggie turned to look at the town spread below them. “Where are the new companions?”
“They won’t come.”
“Oh.” A pause. “Lady Tilly’s brother is also sheltering witches, and they still won’t leave?”
“They trust him.” Ashes heard how flat her own voice was. “He’s done something here that makes them believe it will hold.”
“If Lady Tilly accepted us, and her brother is the same—” Maggie tilted her head. “That doesn’t sound terrible, does it?”
“It sounds like a fragile promise in a bad location.” Ashes looked toward the river. “I’ll wait for the duel. Leave after.”
“But you said even if you win, they won’t come.”
“Even a small chance is worth trying.” She paused. “There’s one other thing. When I flew over the Fallen Dragon Ridge on the way here — I saw riders. Church flag. About ten.”
Maggie went still.
“Not a large force. They’ll be Judges, not the Army.” But they are scouts. And scouts are followed. “I won’t tell Roland Wimbledon yet.”
“You’re going to let him face them without warning?”
“I’m going to win the duel first,” Ashes said. “Then I’ll tell him. He should see what his choices have cost him.” She turned back to the town below. “After that, he can face the consequences of what he’s built.”
Chapter 163 Maggie the Witch
Ashes sat at the top of the castle, waiting for the arrival of the day of the competition.
During the past few days, her attempts at persuading the other witches had not shown any progress. The stubbornness of the witches had greatly exceeded her expectations, whether it was the older women like Scrolls or the minors such as like Lily. They all refused her invitation. The only difference between them was their manner and reason in rejecting her.
Some chose to stay because of Roland, while others didn’t want to leave the Witch Cooperation Association, but in the end the ten witches had all gathered together into turned into one unbreakable piece of iron. As for Anna and Nana, both of whom had originally come from Border Town, Ashes wasn’t in the mood to even try to lure them away. In particular, when Ashes stood in front of the Anna, the magic she could feel coming from her was completely different to anything else she had ever felt before. Her magic felt like it was as hard as steel, but at the same time it also had a smooth and dense feeling to it. It felt as if she was separated from Ashes by a wall of iron.
Among the many witches that Tilly had been able to gather, none of them had ever given her that feeling. After inquiring the other witches on this topic, she learned that Anna’s way of controlling her flame was actually quite unique. However, how could it be, that even though her flame was invisible, it still felt as if there was a real barrier present? Ashes simply couldn’t understand this.
As for Border Town, in comparison to the other towns and villages that Ashes had seen before, it was quite different. If she were to put it into words, Ashes would have to say that felt as if the town was full of vitality, and that
the people here all seemed to be holding on to a purpose for each and every day.
From her position high up on top of the castle, she had a perfect panoramic view over the whole town. It seemed that at this moment, the most intense flow of people was in the area for the new houses. They had separated a square site as the new district, and within that area, every house looked similar to the next.
There was an endless stream of carriages continually bringing in new batches of bricks from the North of the town while the masons were starting to dig out the foundations for a dozen new similarly shaped houses. Soon after, they could start to raise the walls, which was all done surprisingly quickly. Within a day, the walls had already reached around the height of a child.
Looking into the Northeastern direction, she could see smoke constantly rising up into the sky. The smoke wasn’t caused by a mountain fire, but rather was the workings of the brick kilns. In particularly, there were several thick brick towers that had been erected, all of which at first glance, like a forest of colossal red tree trunks from the distance.
Looking in the direction of the river, she could see some of the several sailboats that were arriving at Border Town every day since she had been here. Most of these sailboats came from Longsong Stronghold and were all loaded with so many items that the unloaded goods would almost fill up the entire shipyard.
A group of guards were always patrolling around the yard while keeping those strange wooden pikes in their hands. Unlike the guards from some of the other cities’ garrisons, they weren’t walking around languidly for a short time before disappearing to find a place to hide and take a nap. No, they always marched in a straight line, moving between the terminal and the yard, and sometimes would even take the initiative to come forward and help to unload the ships, all of which Ashes had no memory of ever witnessing such a scene ever before.
What kind of spell had Roland Wimbledon used that had given these people so much enthusiasm for constructing this new town in such a barren and
desolated land?
Just at that moment, from overheard, Ashes heard a burst of gugu sounds from a flock of birds. She raised her head and saw how a large fat pigeon dropped down from the sky and landed on her shoulder.
“Finally, I have found you,” said the dove beside her cheek.
“Has Tilly sent you?” Ashes pulled some wheat corns from her pocket and threw them on the roof.
The Pigeon began to flap her wings in anger, which was probably supposed to mean something like, “I’m not a bird, gurr!”
“After you turn back into a human we can speak again.”
“Okay. goo,” when the voice faded, the pigeon’s feathers suddenly expanded, and released a white light from the gaps between its feathers. Its head moved up, followed by the rapid expansion of its body. Simultaneously, its feathers began to shrink and were turned into a bundle of long white hair.
No matter how many times she saw this happen, Ashes would always be amazed. Maggie’s ability as a witch, which allowed her to change into a variety of birds, besides the problem that she was quite fat in her bird form, was wonderful and charming ability. She would even sometimes long to have Maggie’s ability, rather than being an extraordinary who didn’t have to be afraid of the power of God’s Stone of Retaliation. She was much more eager to have the ability to travel from one place to another. With this ability, as long as she wanted to see Tilly, she could immediately go to her, no matter where Tilly was at the time.
“Even with the trace I could follow, it still wasn’t that easy to locate your position, ah,” Maggie’s entire body trembled as if she was drying her feathers, “The distance was so far that my magical stone statue couldn’t even sense the magical fluctuation coming from your mark. Fortunately, Shadow could still tell me your approximate whereabouts. When I flew over the Fallen Dragon Ridge, the magical stone finally showed some reaction.”
In addition to her bunch of amazing white hair, the most eye-catching part of her was her short stature. She was obviously an adult, but until you reached her waist, she still had the exact same appearance as a young girl. If she untied her white hair, it could almost cover her entire body.
“Has Tilly safely arrived in the Fjords?” Ashes sat down and patted at the tiles beside her. The other side, just like a bird, obediently came over.
“She took the Empress of the Sea and had a safe travel, but during the second trip a strong Northwind came up and pushed the ship against the shore, fortunately no witch was killed. The third and fourth ships are still at sea; the moment I heard of your travel I came over to find you.”
“That’s good.” Ashes could finally feel some relief, although she felt disgusted when she saw the Prince’s face, one thing he had said wasn’t wrong. He was right that the voyage from the Kingdom of Graycastle to the Fjords would be filled with danger. The weather on the sea could change far more rapidly than here on land, and at the same time, it could also be much more violent than on land. What was an entirely blue sky of pleasant winds just moments before could turn into a storm within the blink of an eye. Fighting against the overwhelming waves, her extraordinary power appeared to be negligible.
“You both say the same thing,” Maggie continued, “Shadow stated that you did not come back together with them because you wanted to recruit some new witches from Border Town. Rather than asking for more details, Lady Tilly just said ‘That’s good.’ ” She paused and took a look at her surroundings, “The new companions, where are they?”
“They do not want to leave,” Ashes sighed in regret and began to repeat her story. “Compared to me, they seem to believe in the Lord of Border Town, who is Tilly’s brother.”
“Lady Tilly was willing to accept us, and now even her brother is also prepared to take us in… ah, to me this doesn’t seem to be bad, gurr,” she leaned over, “That being the case, shouldn’t you already be on your way, on the road to the Fjords? Without your help, Lady Tilly cannot start the cleansing program.”
Ashes shook her head, “I still have to wait, I will leave immediately after the duel has finished.”
“But, you just said, even if you win, the other side still wouldn’t take the initiative to accept your offer.” Maggie muttered, “So why do you have to complete this test?”
“If there is a chance, I still want to try,” Ashes answer came quietly. “The cleansing program has no immediate effect, but if I’m able to bring a witch with me, Tilly’s strength will definitely increase.”
“Well,” Maggie nodded, “In that case. I will be staying here and wait for you so that we can both go back together, but there is still one thing you have to take note of. When I flew over the Fallen Dragon Ridge, I saw a group of riders flying the banner of the Church. They were about 10 strong.”
“That’s isn’t a very large number… If they are raising their flag, that must mean they belong to the Army of Judges,” Ashes said in a cold voice, “Except for Border Town, I don’t think there is any other place near here that the Church would want to send their envoys. Their noses are as sensitive as a dog’s.”
“All is well and good, we will keep this information to ourselves until I finish neatly defeating their knight. Afterward, I will tell him the news that the Church is approaching. Roland Wimbledon should finally realize what a terrible mistake he had made. How awesome would that be.”