Will and Rowan’s dinner consisted of meslin bread and bone broth made from antelope bones, probably the same ones that Geoffrey had hunted and brought home. Rowan said good night and went home a little while later. Will looked in on all the stalls before turning in for the night. Just as he thought, Will’s leg was giving him trouble from all the walking around he did during the day. Wishing that piggy was having an even worse time than he was, Will closed his eyes and tried to get some sleep. He rolled around the haystack, trying to roll himself into a position where his legs wouldn’t hurt anymore. It was a while before Will finally drifted off to sleep.

In what seemed like no time at all to Will, he was awakened by the rooster’s call. Will opened his eyes and stared blankly at the stable ceiling for a moment before sitting up. He really hoped that the sleep had been enough for the pain in his leg to subside. Will slowly got up and waited a moment before putting weight on his left leg.

“Son of a bitch” Will swore as pain shot up his leg. The sleep hadn’t done the healing he’d expected, if anything, the pain had gotten slightly worse. Cursing piggy silently, he decided to take a few more steps. The pain didn’t increase much, at least he could walk. Will decided to continue with the morning routines in the stable anyway. Master Rowan had to do extra work yesterday because of him and Will wasn’t about to let Rowan have even more work waiting for him.

By the time Rowan arrived at the stables, Will had completed most of his work. He had brought some black rye bread and soup with him. Will had some breakfast while Rowan got started with his morning inspection of horses. Will tried to hide the fact that his leg was hurting with each step, but Rowan was on to him soon.

“Will, you’ve already done most of your work. Go and sit down. I can manage just fine” Rowan told him.

“You can be such a worrywart sometimes Rowan, I’m fine. see..” said Will cheerily and to demonstrate his point, Will tried to balance his whole weight on his left foot.

This would’ve been a bad idea even on a good day. Will immediately buckled from the intense pain that shot up his legs.

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“That’s it. Come here”. Rowan said angrily as he supported Will to the haystack and made him sit down.

“I swear, sometimes you act as stubborn as a mule and as dumb as a turkey Will”.

“Still makes me smarter than Piggy though” Will said smiling through the pain.

“ You’re sitting down and taking a rest until your leg feels better, got it?” Rowan said testily.

Rowan noticed that Will still had a mutinous look on his face. So he added “Either you can take it easy here like I say or I can go get Mary to tell you”.

Will groaned as he knew the battle was lost. If Rowan’s wife Mary got wind of this, she’d make him go home with her and she probably would make him sit on his arse for a week.

Rowan knew this too as he had his trademark victory smile on his lips.

Will took it easy, perched on the haystack watching Rowan work. He tried a couple times, unsuccessfully, to convince Rowan that he was alright, but Rowan wasn’t buying it.

Will really hoped that lady piggy wasn’t going to grace him with another visit today. It was almost noon now and piggy and her cronies were mercifully absent from the stables.

The reason for piggy’s absence was made clear to him when Geoffrey showed up in the stables that afternoon. Apparently, Lady Messenia was feeling a bit under the weather. She had a fever and was sneezing like crazy. Lord Damien had sent for a healer and lady piggy was, for now, confined to her room.

“There is justice in this world Will. She tried to mess with you yesterday and now she’s paying for it” said Geoff.

“ I don’t know if I’d consider piggy being laid up for a day as evidence of justice in the world. More like evidence of stupidity in the world” said Will.

“Well at least she got something back for making you suffer Will, that’s something to give thanks for”.

“To small victories” said Will raising a mock glass.

“Hear hear..”.

Geoffrey left a little later and since Rowan absolutely refused to let Will do any work, he had to content himself with spending the day idly till their dinner arrived. It was difficult for Will to fall asleep that night as he hadn’t really exerted himself much that day. Thankfully, the pain in his leg was starting to subside. Sometime later, he slowly drifted off into unconsciousness.