Just as Geoffrey finished narrating the morning’s events to Will and Rowan, one of the servants came down from the manor and said that Geoffrey was needed by the Captain. Geoffrey left with the servant and turned around to find Rowan’s worried and pensive eyes looking intently into his own. He had a pretty good idea what that look meant.

“ Why look so glum Rowan? At least now we know for sure your grandfather wasn’t senile. Although, I’m still convinced old toothless Tom was lying about seeing mages”.

Will was hoping Rowan would laugh, but his face only grew more serious as he said

“Will, I think you should leave the village now”.

“ Geez, I don’t know what I did to make you angry Rowan, but at least give me one more chance before you exile me” Will said with a smile. But he knew exactly why Rowan wanted him to leave the village. If Messenia’s life was to be saved and a sacrifice was needed to do it, neither he nor Rowan had any doubts as to who lady Mildred would want to pick.

Rowan wasn’t amused by this comment either.

“I’m serious Will, You need to get out of here as soon as possible. Grab a horse and some supplies. We’ll go by my house now, I have some money that I can give you. You grab whatever you can carry and get out of here before they come look for you”.

“And where would I go Rowan?”.

“Anywhere but here”. Rowan was almost shouting now.

“Calm down Rowan. Think about this. I know Lady Mildred hates me, but do you think Lord Damien is the kind of man that would let a boy from this village get sacrificed even if it was for saving his daughter?”

“Why not Will? He didn’t lift a finger to help when Walter almost killed you 2 years ago”.

“That was different, Rowan. Walter is my step father and as far as this society is concerned, a father has the power of life and death over his child. Lord Damien couldn’t possibly interfere with Walter punishing me, especially considering all the rumors that people still whisper about him and my mother. Do you really think Lord Damien is the kind of man who’ll let me or anyone’s child from this village get sacrificed?”

Rowan had to concede Will’s point here. Lord Damien was an honorable man and he wouldn’t sit by and let someone else be sacrificed for his daughter’s sake.

Will continued “Besides, even if I do run, how far do you think I’ll make it with this leg even with a horse. They’ll call me a horse thief and catch me before the fortnight and this time Lady Mildred will finally have a valid excuse to kill me”.

Rowan let out a huge sigh and his body visibly relaxed. “You’re right Will. I’m sorry I yelled at you”.

“That’s okay Rowan, let me ride Dawn and we’ll call it even.” said Will with a smile. Dawn was Lord Damien’s horse and Will was never allowed to ride him.

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“I don’t know if I’m that sorry Will” said Rowan with a chuckle.

Will tried coaxing Rowan into letting him ride Dawn for a few more minutes and then they went back to work on checking on all the horses that Geoff just brought back. They were taking a little break in the afternoon when Geoffrey came by the stable again.Geoffrey seemed to be in a better mood now. Will thought things must be getting better in the manor.

“How’re things in the manor Geoffrey?” Rowan asked.

“Messenia’s feeling better now, she’s stopped vomiting and bleeding. When I saw her yesterday, she was thrashing about in the bed. Now she’s sleeping peacefully it seems”.

“That’s good. I’m glad lady Messenia’s better. Did that woman leave?”.

“Not yet Rowan. Messenia’s not fully cured yet. In fact, that’s why I’m here. I need you to ready 5 horses including mine, Lord Damien and the captain’s horses. We’re going to the Mort Manor”

“The Mort manor. Why?” Rowan looked puzzled.

Mort was the family name of Lady Mildred. Rowan and Will looked at each other wondering what possible reason was for them to be travelling to the Mort Manor.

“I don’t know the full details Rowan. But it seems like whatever magic that takes to save Messenia comes with a price that someone else will have to pay. Since Lady Mildred’s mother is already old, they’re going to bring her here to help save her granddaughter”.

Will could feel a knot in his chest loosening at these words. He could see that Geoffrey’s words had similar effects on Rowan. So, they didn’t have to worry after all. Old Lady Mort was coming here to save her granddaughter.

Will, Rowan and Geoff prepared the horses quickly. Lord Damien, Captain and 2 other men came down a little while later. Will and Rowan watched them take the road leading outside the village towards the direction of the lands of house Mort. Will and Rowan sat and talked about all the stories they’d heard about mages, trying to determine which ones seemed plausible and which ones were more likely to be induced by a full belly of mead.

A couple hours before sunset, one of the servants came into the stable. A carriage’s wheel had come off, which caused an accident on the road leading to the village. From the sound of it, one of the horses pulling the carriage was hurt. They wanted Rowan to go down there to take a look. There wasn’t much left to be done for the day and Will could handle it himself. He told Rowan he could go straight home after he dealt with the accident. Will could easily take care of the rest.

After Rowan left, Will busied himself with the grooming of the rest of the horses. Will had just finished grooming Lavender when one of the men at arms from the manor came down to the stables. He told Will to bring Lavender to the manor house. Will thought that was pretty strange considering piggy was in no condition to leave her room, let alone ride a horse. He really hoped that the mage wasn’t going to do anything to Lavender just because she was piggy’s horse.

Will took lavender out of her stall, slightly annoyed as he’d only just finished grooming her, and took her to the manor house. Will lead lavender to the courtyard and tied her to a post there.He could see the sparks coming from the forge on the back of the courtyard. Will looked around and saw 2 soldiers. One was sitting on the stairs that lead to the first floor while the other was leaning against a wall nearby.

Will turned to leave, but the soldier that followed him from the stable was blocking his exit. The soldier who was leaning against the wall called out.

“Hey Will, why don’t you follow me?”.

He turned around without waiting for a reply and Will understood it wasn’t really a question, but an order and he was expected to obey.

Will followed the soldier as he led the way along the corridor between the kitchen and the store. The 2 other soldiers followed behind him. At the end of the corridor he saw 2 more men appear from either side. He didn’t know the man on the left, though he’s seen him in the stables once or twice and on the right was...Walter,his step father. At that moment, everything clicked into place for Will. These were not the Lord’s men, they were lady Mildred’s men. And Will had a good idea who it was that he was being taken to meet.