Will stared at Anna for a moment half hoping that she might say ‘Just kidding’, but no such luck. It looked like Will was going to die after all, but it would probably happen from a snakebite instead of an altar from the looks of it. Anna dismounted from her horse and Will did the same. He looked around for something to tie lavender’s reins to when Anna said “Just leave her and follow me”.
‘That’s right. I won’t be needing horses anymore’ thought Will. He felt bad about leaving lavender, but at least she had the stallion for company. Will made sure he removed the saddle, stirrups and reins from lavender before he followed Anna.
Anna stepped to the door, opened it and stepped into the darkness inside. Will took a deep breath as he followed her in.
It was so bright inside that WIll had to shield his eyes. So bright and so vast. The inside of the house looked like a mansion, at least twice the size of the Faustad manor house. Will was slack jawed as he took in the huge drawing room that he just stepped into. There were wide stairs in the corner that led upstairs. From the ceiling hung a huge chandelier that bathed the room in white light. On a second look, WIll saw that the chandelier was embedded with stones which was the source of the bright light.
Anna had already sat down on a chair with plush cushions as she watched Will’s reaction. Will closed his mouth as he noticed Anna smiling.
“Have a seat Will” said Anna gesturing towards an identical chair across a coffee table.
Will knew it the second he sat down, this was the most comfortable surface his arse had ever sat on.
A grey cat appeared from behind him and jumped into Anna’s lap.
“Hey caitlin, did you miss me?” She asked as she stroked her head. Caitlin purred contently at Anna’s touch.
“Will, I’m sure you have a lot of questions for me. Feel free to ask”.
Will decided to start with the most pressing question on his mind.
“When are you going to kill me?”.
Anna’s eyebrows shot up as she replied with a smile “Do you want me to kill you?”.
“N..No. but you said back at the manor house that someone had to die to save Messenia’s life” Will said.
“I said no such thing. What I said was that someone would have to give up their life in exchange for Messenia. You all just assumed that I was going to kill you”.
Will was confused ‘What the fuck was the difference between dying and giving up your life?’
“I have no intention of killing you Will. but for all intents and purposes your life until this point is over. You cannot go back to your village or see anyone you know. As far as the people outside that ridge we crossed are concerned, you are indeed dead. But, that doesn’t mean that you actually die”.
So, he wasn’t going to be murdered after all. Anna still hadn’t told him what she wanted from him though. Will waited for her to continue.
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“What did you feel when I put that bracelet on your arms?” Anna asked pointing to his silver bracelet with the amber stone. Will described the sensation he felt the moment he put on the bracelet.
“That bracelet is the physical manifestation of the contract between us Will. The contract between a mage and her familiar” she said pointing to Will. When Will still looked puzzled at the word, Anna continued.
“A familiar is someone who carries out a mage’s bidding. It can be a human or an animal. Caitlin here and my horse Stiles are my animal familiars. Human familiars are a lot more powerful and useful though. There’s not a lot of mages who are powerful enough to connect with a human familiar”. Anna looked quite proud of herself as she was obviously one of those powerful enough to make the contract.
“Even those powerful enough to make the contract sometimes avoid human familiars” Anna said with a curious expression on her face.
“Why is that?” Will asked.
“Some mages grow quite attached to their human familiars. But the lifespan of mages is a lot longer than that of humans. They find it painful when their human familiar dies”.
Will was silent for a moment as he digested all this.
“How old are you?” Will asked.
“I’m 80 years old Will and I’ll be around for a lot longer even after the end of your natural life. That’s why I insisted on someone close to Messenia’s age rather than someone older”. So, she hadn’t needed WIll for healing Messenia but she wanted a human familiar and Will was the payment she took.
“Why do you need familiars?” Will asked.
“We mages can draw upon the familiars for power if need be, also makes our life easier”.
“What would you need me to do as your familiar Anna?”
“Nothing much Will, just helping me out with chores and I’ll draw upon you if I need to execute particularly difficult magic”.
So, his job was essentially the same, earlier he was serving the Faustad family for no pay and now he’d be serving Anna. Familiar or not, his existence seemed like that of a slave. WIll knew without asking that a mage will have ways to punish a disobedient familiar. He hoped he’d never have to find out.
Anna was right. He was dead as far as the rest of the world was concerned.
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After their conversation Anna took Will to show him where he will be sleeping. To Will’s surprise, the room was bigger than piggy’s at the manor. And there was a bed, a real bed with a feather mattress and pillows. There was a table, chair, wardrobe and a full length mirror in the room.When Will saw the wardrobe he remembered that he hadn’t brought any clothes except the ones he was wearing.
“Mm.. Anna, I haven’t got any spare clothes” Will said awkwardly.
Smiling, Anna opened the wardrobe and Will could see there were breeches, tight drawers, some shirts and even a couple pairs of boots inside the wardrobe. Anna said that she’d used their link to make sure all the items inside the wardrobe were fitted to his size.
Anna told Will to grab a change of clothes and a towel and follow her. Anna led past the drawing room into the kitchen, from there, she stepped into a smaller room with a trapdoor on the bottom and wrenched it open. The trapdoor revealed stairs leading down to a cavern. Initially the view was obscured by steam, but as it cleared a little, Will saw that he was in an underground grotto and the steam was rising from a circular pool that was 30 feet across. The room was also lit by the same kind of stones in the chandelier. There was another smaller antechamber adjacent to the far end of the pool. Will was informed that this was the bathroom and from the sound of it, there was a small stream of water flowing through it. Anna left Will to get cleaned up.
Will took off his clothes and deposited it in a basket that had the label ‘Dirty clothes’. He tested the temperature of the pool by dipping his toes. The water was really hot but not scalding. Will slowly stepped into the pool. The pool’s floor was paved with coarse stones and he lowered himself till he was immersed in the pool. Will cleaned himself using the soap, it smelled like lavender. Will had to admit, even though he’d ended up being a slave to the mage, he’d experienced more luxury in the last couple of hours than in the whole duration of his life.
After the bath Will headed back up. Anna was waiting for him in the kitchen. She had some fruits, salted meat and mead waiting for him. Will was really hungry and pretty much inhaled everything in front of it. The food was really good. When Will asked Anna why she wasn’t eating, she told him that mages didn’t need to eat as often as humans.
After the meal, Anna wished him goodnight and went upstairs while Will went to his room. He was really full from the meal and immediately went to bed. The feather bed was so soft that he felt that he was sinking into it. He tucked the mattress under his head. Physically, this was the most comfortable Will had felt in years. He felt the bracelet on his arm. He inspected it carefully, it was seamless. There was no way to take it off. Will let out a sigh. All this luxury was really nice.But a gilded cage was still a cage.