Will closed his eyes and tried to get his bearings. No, he definitely wasn’t imagining it, there was a tugging sensation in his heart that flowed from the chain which was now more like a bracelet on his arm. His bracelet felt connected to the mage. Anna was still smiling at him. Lady Mildred was standing there impatiently staring between Will and Anna.

Anna turned towards one of the maids and said “Fetch me a pail of water”. Agnes immediately left the room to comply with the mage’s order.

Anna turned to Will “Go to stand on the right side of the bed Will, near lady Messenia’s head”. Will complied, wondering which was the part of the ritual where she killed him.

Anna herself moved to the opposite side of Messenia’s bed.

The maid Agnes soon returned with water in a wooden pail and placed it at the foot of the bed as the mage instructed her to. Anna made a small whirling motion with her wrist and the water rose up from the wooden pail and hovered in mid air over Messenia. The maids gasped and scooted away from Anna, suddenly afraid of her. Will would’ve liked to scoot away too, but it was like the bracelet was keeping him anchored there.

Anna looked at Will, she had a reassuring smile on her lips.

“Will, we’ll be doing the healing process together. I will control the flow of this water charged with magic through Messenia’s body while you will be visualizing the healing. While I will be controlling the mechanics of the healing, it’ll be your desire to heal Messenia that will be directing the process. I need your complete focus on Messenia’s well being while I’m doing the healing or else this could end up causing irreparable damage to her body”.

Lady Mildred looked horrified at this statement.

“Wait a moment, What will happen if he wished her harm while you’re healing?” Milderd asked.

“Then his wish will manifest and instead of healing, this process will cause her harm. That’s why I asked you to bring someone who was willing to sacrifice their life for Messenia”.

“ No, it’s too risky. I’ll… I’ll bring someone else,”Mildred said.

“I’m afraid it’s too late, I’ve already linked Will to my magic. It’s either him or you’ll have to find another mage to do the healing. You can also choose to not do the healing, in which case she’ll die anyway from hemorrhagic fever”.

Mildred swallowed hard and looked at Will. He could see fear in her eyes. Mildred’s precious daughter’s life was in Will’s hands now, her plan had dangerously backfired. Agnes and Alice had begun whimpering in the corner, they didn’t seem to have any doubt about Messenia’s fate if it really was up to Will. At that moment Will could feel anger swelling up inside him. Anger combined with a sense of power he’d never felt before. He could get revenge for all the things that were done to him, for his mother, for the years of abuse he’d suffered.

While Will was considering this, Messenia’s body jerked again followed by a small groan. Will could see a small trickle of blood running down Messenia’s nose. Will let out a breath.

No, he couldn’t kill this helpless girl lying in front of him. No matter how much he hated her, he wasn’t a murderer who could kill a 15 year old girl, no matter how nasty the girl in question had acted in the past.

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Lady Mildred started sobbing as she saw her daughter’s condition was getting worse by the minute. She was out of time.

“Shall we begin?” Anna asked.

Mildred shot one more uncertain glance at will before gulping and nodded her assent.

“Alright Will, remember what I said. Concentrate on the healing. Focus on her getting better”.

Will took a breath to steady himself before saying “I’m ready”.

Anna made another movement with her wrist, this time accompanied by delicate movement of her fingers. A small vortex began forming at the bottom of the water sphere and as a thin stream, the water began entering Messenia’s nose. The moment the water entered into Messenia, Will could feel Messenia tethered to him. He had to focus on her getting healed.

Will tried to channel all his attention to Messenia’s well being. He visualized the sickness leaving her body leaving her healthy. As will focused more, more of the water started flowing into Messenia until the whole globe of water was inside her.

Will focused on leaching the sickness from her body. He couldn’t help but wish he could leach the poison from her mind as well. Will wondered what Messenia’s life would’ve been like without the poisonous influence of Mildred. Pushing these thoughts aside, Will focused more on healing her.

Anna mover her fingers again and this time WIll could feel his connection with Messenia ebbing as Ana began pulling the water out of her body. The water that was coming out was brackish. As the last drop left Messenia’s body Will felt the connection severed. Messenia’s eyes suddenly shot open as she looked at him, but just as suddenly, she slipped back into sleep.

Anna flicked her wrist again and the brackish water dropped back into the wooden pail.

“We’re done”. Anna said with a smile. Will suddenly felt tired even though he’d done nothing but stand there and think about Messenia getting better. He had to take the support of the wall nearby as he felt a sudden dizziness come over him.

Lady Mildred had flung herself to her daughter's bedside. Will looked at Messenia, She looked much better now. The bleeding had completely stopped and her breathing was not ragged like before. Messenia’s sleep was far from the fitful slumber earlier, this was a peaceful sleep. Anna placed a hand on Messenia’s forehead and smiled.

“Lady Messenia’s fever has left her. Let her sleep now. She’ll be fit as a fiddle come tomorrow morning”. Mildred took Messenia’s hand in hers and kissed it reverently as if she couldn’t believe how close she’d come to losing her daughter.

Anna went to the corner of her room and grabbed her staff. She turned to face Will

“Time for us to leave Will”.

Will was confused. It seemed that Lady Mildred shared the same feeling as she asked

“Wait, you said you needed someone to sacrifice their life to save Messenia”

“Yes I did, and Will is that sacrifice but I never said I was going to slit his throat here and now. I’m taking him with me”.

It was clear that Mildred didn’t like this idea. Now that her daughter was healed, it seemed like she wasn’t about to let Will be removed from her presence unhurt.

“But..but that wasn’t the deal” Mildred was blocking the mage’s way. Anna’s expression quickly turned, a flash of anger and annoyance was on her face.

“The life of someone who was close to your daughter’s age in exchange for your daughter’s life. That was the deal. I’ve kept up my end of the bargain and I intend to take what’s mine. I’d recommend you get out of my way because I can assure you that your husband doesn’t have nearly enough men in his service to stop me”.

Anna banged the tip of her staff on the ground as she said this. Will could feel the air in the room vibrating from the force of the mage’s anger.

Lady Mildred slowly stepped back. She realized she was no longer the most powerful person in the room. Anna stepped towards the door and Will silently followed her. He could feel the connection to the mage through his bracelet tugging him and urging him to follow her.

At the door, Anna stopped and turned around towards Mildred.

“I’ll also be taking one of your horses for Will”.

Mildred opened her mouth as if to protest but thought better of it as she met Anna’s glare.

Anna turned and walked out the door. Will followed her and shot a final look of loathing at Mildred before he followed Anna down to the courtyard