Once they were out of the stable, Will paused for a moment. Looking up at Messenia, he asked “Where to, my lady?”. He really hoped that lady piggy would be happy with taking a short stroll around the outer road of the village. The lord and his retinue could be back at any moment and it would be beyond problematic if they rode into an empty stable. As if she could sense the fear in Will’s voice Messenia smiled and said” I think I feel an overwhelming urge to see the meadows today cripple boy”.

“But my lady, there’s no one at the stable right now and your father is expected back any moment” he pleaded.

“That’s not my problem now is it. Now stop wasting my time and move your lazy arse”.

“Yes my lady” replied Will in a defeated tone.

Messenia had done it once again. She’d taken another slice of happiness from his life and turned it into fear and loathing. Will wasn’t worried about himself, he could take any punishment that came his way. But he shuddered at the thought that master Rowan might be reprimanded because of him. Rowan and his wife Mary were one of the handful of people in the village who actually cared about him. Rowan’s wife Mary had been ill for the last couple of days and so master Rowan had gone to look in on her and he had trusted Will enough to leave him in charge of the stables. He simply couldn’t bear the thought of letting Rowan down.

Fuming silently, will lead Lavender and Lady piggy along the path that lead to the meadows beyond the hill at the edge of the village. The meadows were about an hour’s walk from the village. Even the tall watchtower perched on top of the hill looked small at this distance. As Will made his way along the path, he couldn’t help wincing slightly every time he put his weight on his left leg. He could handle walking short distances, but the longer he went, the worse his pain would be. After a walk to the meadows, he was pretty sure he wouldn’t be able to sleep tonight.

Will was angry and a little careless as he stepped on a loose stone on the road and slipped his foot. It would’ve been fine if it was his right leg, but lucky as he was, it was his already damaged left leg. The pain in his leg doubled as he tried putting his weight on it. A gasp escaped his lips as he took the first step. This was enough to bring a smile to lady piggy’s lips. Smirking slightly she asked” Awww.. Is the cripple boy in pain?”.

Will took a deep breath to compose himself , turned around and replied” No my lady” with a smile. There was no way he was giving Messenia the satisfaction of him admitting that he was in pain. He had to grab what little victories he could.

For a few moments Messenia watched Will for any sounds or expressions that would betray his pain. Will, on the other hand, put all his energies into walking as normal as he could despite the growing pain in his foot. If he was in pain, he sure as hell wasn’t going to let lady piggy take pleasure from it. Instead of focusing on his pain, Will tried to imagine what it would be like to drive a long stake through lady piggy’s fat arse and out through her mouth. He could see himself roasting lady piggy over a fire while her stupid eyes stared at him in disbelief. This thought cheered him up a little as he continued along the long road towards the meadows.

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“Do you know why my father’s gone on a hunt today cripple boy?” Messenia asked as they were passing the old farmer creedy’s land. Will didn’t think there was a particular reason for today’s hunt.

Maybe Lord Damien decided it was time for his daughter to be wed and had gone into the forest to find a wild boar who could be convinced to pork his lady piggy. Since he didn’t want to lose the use of both his legs, Will didn’t voice this opinion. Instead he settled for looking curious and replied “No, my lady”.

Messenia assumed a superior air and gave Will a condescending look before saying” My father’s gone to hunt for a lavian stag”.

Will had heard tell of lavian stags. They looked similar to regular stags except for their horns, which had golden veins running through them.

This, apparently, gave them an appearance of a crown which was why lavian stags were also known as the King stag. But Will had never heard of anyone even seeing a lavian stag in the outer forest, much less catching one. There were supposed to be lavian stags and other magical creatures in the inner forest, but no one was actually insane enough to go anywhere near the inner forest. Old farmer creedy’s son once went into the inner forest and that was the last anyone ever saw him. Not even lords and knights dared enter the inner forest. According to stories, only mages lived in the inner forest.

“I thought lavian stags only lived in the inner forest my lady”.

“Well, you thought wrong cripple boy. What would you know of lavian stags, you spend all day with your head shoved in horse manure” said messenia with a derisive snort which caused some booger to land on the back of his neck.

‘I guess I’ll have to find comfort in the fact that horse manure is on my face instead of the inside my head, lady pig snout’ thought Will.

Messenia continued “My father’s scouts reported seeing a lavian stag in the outer forest. He’s going to kill it and present it to the king at the solstice banquet. I’ll go with him of course, so that prince Henry can finally see me and fall in love with me”.

Will was unable to suppress a snort at this comment. Prince Henry was the eldest son of King Alfred and the crowned prince of Lorraine. Prince Henry was rumored to be an accomplished warrior and handsome to boot. He had competed and won in many tournaments throughout the land. Will had a better chance of sprouting wings and flying out of this shitty little village than of prince Henry falling in love with lady piggy. Their village of Lamia was an insignificant little village on the outskirts of Lorraine. Lord Damien could have lamian stag horns growing out of his arsehole and even that wouldn’t be enough to get his daughter married to the prince.

Unfortunately, Messenia heard Will’s badly repressed snort and her cheeks grew flushed as if she knew exactly what he was thinking.”WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT NOBLES AND ROYALTY YOU FILTHY SON OF A DEAD WHORE”. Will came to a halt suddenly as if his muscles were locked in place. His knuckles went white over lavender’s reins and he looked up at Messenia with a deep hatred from the bottom of his heart. It was a look she returned with equal intensity . At that moment they knew that each hated the other more than anything in the whole world.