"What is all this talk of magic?"
Dukes Adlad's voice was hard, it spread across the chamber engulfing the mage like a shroud.
"Speak Morgan!"
Morgan sighed.
She'd had a long day, why couldn't the Duke just pretend not to know of what she did and let her off this one time.
"I merely told the princess of her affinity, nothing more."
It was unfair to get scolded for just this much.
Besides an innocent boy remained in the infirmary for three days, fighting for his life. Yet here was their esteemed lord, coddling his daughter in-law.
The only person with better healing abilities than she'd seen in years.
Biting back the words, Morgan chose to remain silent.
The Duke laid on his bed, the grand canopy hiding him from view. To his side, the head maid, Lady Shira stood, waiting upon him as always.
The old lord exhaled, he didn't want to be too hard on the mage. She was only doing her duty in the end.
All the same, he wouldn't have her pulling little Ophelia into the world of magic.
There would be consequences, far too many for the poor child.
"I instructed you not to act on your own,"
He stated, his voice ever stern.
"I do not want that child grooming thoughts of magic, no matter how valuable you think it is,"
"This isn't just about her value, your grace. If she learned, if I honned her skills as a healing mage, the princess could bring prosperity to the entire North."
"The North is prosperous,"
"But your grace, if only you'd let me-"
"That is ENOUGH Morgan."
The duke's calm tone rose to a shout, she fell quiet immediately. Shira sighed but remained silent at her post.
When did this liefling grow so stubborn.
Duke Adlad could only wonder, Morgan's determination didn't seem to yield in the slightest, he didn't want to be stern, but ge would have to be.
"I tire of repeating myself, DO not do this again. Leave."
"Glory to Vladimir."
Morgan greeted, departing with a swish of her coat.
"She wears me out Shira,"
"You wear yourself out with worry, not her."
"Could you not support me this once,"
Duke Adlad questioned, smiling fondly at his serving lady. She waved her hand unceremoniously at him, walking away from the bed.
"Don't bother me old man. I'll fetch your tonic in a moment -"
A bold knock cut the lady short.
Shira scowled, the mage was the last appointment Adlad had for the day. There was only one person who dare show up unannounced to the Lord's chambers besides her.
"Father, may I come in?"
Ah, he is back already. The young Duke.
"Come in son! Come. Come."
Cheerfulness returned to his tone, the Duke shed his mask of stern lord, returning to the doting father he'd always been to his son, and now, the future duchess.
Claude stepped into the chamber, still donned in armor and cloak. He greeted his father, then the waiting lady who was busy preparing his tonic.
She waved at him casually, nonchalantly muttering something along the lines of;
"Welcome, yes...yes."
There were hardly ever formalities between lady Shira and the lords of Chamlan.
She'd seen one since he was in swaddle cloths and had been friends with the other long before her first crimson wave.
Now they were more of family than her masters, and they accorded her as such.
"What news do you bring son?"
"The Efer forest has been cleared of beast nests since twilight. Scouts will continue searches, untill it is safe for the towns lumbermen."
"I see, that is good news. You've done well."
"Many thanks father. The knights and squires also did their best."
"Of they did. They're Chamlan knights afterall."
The duke's blaring voice broke into laughter. The pride he had in his order apparent as the evening star.
Claude remained quiet as the Duke cheered, soon the cheering stopped and he said.
"Father I intend to waken the princesses' powers."
Silence followed.
"What nonsense did I just hear?"
The Duke questioned, anger returning to his tone. This would be a long night, but the young Duke was ready for his father.
They'd run out of time despite it.
________________________________________
Ophelia shuddered in her sleep.
She turned and twisted, thick beads of sweat rolling down her face.
The heavy blankets tousled about her, latching unto her hands, then her feet. The thick mattress dipped suddenly, the princess shrieked struggling as it swallowed her whole.
It was dark. Pitch black darkness.
Sssshhhhhhhhhhh.
She could hear water flowing... No, not flowing.
Pouring.
That sound, where did she hear it before?
A harsh shove sent her spiralling. She gasped.
Her feet colliding with the something as she fell forward.
Ssssssshhhhhhhhnhh.
The water poured in front of her, pooling down in a thick veil. It was the fountain.
Ophelia flinched, backing away from it. How did she get here.
The darkness that engulfed her, rapidly slinked away, revealing the large courtyard. But it wasn't the place from that morning, it felt wrong, like a mirage.
CAW!
CAW!
Ophelia turned sharply towards the sound. It was a crow, a hideous ominous creature with three red beady eyes.
She didn't want to be here.
Another forceful push sent her a distance farther.
A pathway appeared, one she'd never been before. Her breath hitched and her heart raced, then she was roughly shoved a third time.
Now a garrison appeared. Her hands trembled.
Again. The forceful push.
A walkway. Her legs gave in from under her, the darkness was suffocating.
Something violent grabbed unto her wrist, pulling her to her feet in a single drag. And then, another brutal shove.
A different area, a building Ophelia didn't recognize. Her body trembled, fear overwhelming all her senses.
"W-w-wait! P-please stop!"
She begged, fright and confusion etched on her face.
Her quivering pleas rang out into the darkness and the ominous structure that stood before her.
Ophelia had never been so terrified in her life. Dread filled her stomach as an intense feeling swarmed her.
There was something moving at her back. She spun around, her eyes peeled in terror as a mass of darkness grew, towering over her shivering frame.
Ophelia's scream faded with another push.
"Princess! Princess!!!"
She awoke with a start. Gasping for breath, kicking and struggling. Her maids surrounded her bedside, with two physicians eagerly tending to her.
The scene was akin to a well layed tapestry, depicting confusion and chaos.
Her throat felt more parched than it'd ever been, she wasnt even this thirty the day she awoke in her northern chambers for the first time.
Now though, Ophelia felt like she'd almost crossed into hell.
"Bring her water! Quick, quickly now!"
One of the physicians raised alarm. Vilda and Eidel helped her sit, while Alissa brought a water goblet to her lips. The taste of the liquid was a reprieve, the princess snatched the drink in her trembling hands.
Hungrily scarfing it all down.
Afterwards they laid her back to rest, however Ophelia struggled from the reach of her handmaids, escaping the cursed bed.
She could still remember how it rose and dipped about like a monster, the sheets that clung unto her limbs like tentacles and the mattress that swallowed her whole.
The princess wanted nothing to do with the bed, or sleep for the matter.
Vilda's soothing voice echoed in her ears, followed by Alissa who queried the physicians.
The elder lady Agatha also made an appearance in her nightclothes, equally repeating words of comfort to the disoriented highness.
"It was only a dream princess,"
"You suffered from a nightmare madam nothing more. Come to bed. Please,"
Vilda who managed to stop crying when the princess roused, still had her cheeks wet with tears. It'd never been this bad, why did her poor lady have to suffer so much.
Slowly Ophelia calmed, allowing her ladies to tend her. The dream remained as clear as the burning candles.
In her head each detail, each scene and every single painful push was as real as the very air she breathed.
CAW!!!
CAW!!!
Her breath hitched at the sound, her entire body breaking into a cold sweat.
"Heavens!"
"gods bless us!"
The women exclaimed, equally startled at the sight of the large black bird perched on the window sill.
CAW!
CAW!
CAW!
It's shrill cries continued, rising in pitch.
"Cursed bird. Black devil spawn! gods punish you!"
Vilda swore, slashing at the creature with the sheets that she'd rolled into her arms. With a final squawk, the crow vanished into the night.
"What an ominous thing,"
Agatha heaved as Vilda angrily shut the windows.
"-Me to Morgan,"
The princess said something but it was barely above a whisper, the physicians who argued with Alissa drowned out her tiny voice.
"What did you say your highness?"
"Take me to Morgan right now!"
______________________________________
The healers weren't enough. The poison had set in too deep, only a miracle would save the boy now.
Morgan channelled the two healers that poured their magic into the boys injury. This was their final attempt, and like all trials before now, it was doomed to fail.
Morgan threw her hands up in frustrating, swearing profanities. The healers pulled back as well their hands blackened from exhaustion.
Saving the squire took just as much effort as reviving a corpse.
The poison had reached his heart, nothing more could be done.
Save granting him a painless death.
The young Duke and vice commander stood nearby, watching the scene unfold.
Claude had toiled night and day to get this healers to Chamlan. One rode in from the east, the other from the distant south, near the borderlands.
Yet despite their efforts, it wasn't enough.
The commander went against his fathers desires in the end, seeking out the princess since Morgan sang her praises.
It was disappointing that she proved to be of no help to them.
The commander found his wife writhing in her own bed, struggling to breath. He'd summoned her maids and the castle's physicians to her side.
That was it. The promise of her magic had been snuffed out in a moment.
Reiner could only watch, helpless, as his little brother convulsed, a mixture of blood and saliva foaming at his mouth.
He was to blame for this.
The vice-commander considered himself a fool for trying to turn the idiot brother of his into a knight.
Carpentry suited him better. Plus none of this would have happened if he allowed him to be a woodsman in the first place.
The healers bowed in greeting as they exited, exhaustion was written all over their faces and their hands black as coals.
They promised to do their best, and they did. But now, it seemed the child was doomed to die.
Claude glanced at the door as the healers departed. The vice commander didn't bother to. Though he could hear some commotion unraveling outside.
Not a moment sooner, the side entrance opened with a forceful push and the leaders bride appeared. Disheveled, panting and clad in her nightdress.
"Princess?"
When did she wake. What is she doing here.
"I've come to help."
She announced. Her arms trembled as she squeezed the robe of her night-dress.
The woman looked pitiful in her state, where were the servants and how did she wonder so far from the castle at midnight.
At another time maybe Claude would've accepted the offer she gave, but even if the frail looking princess before him possessed any magic, she'd probably die from using it right now.
"There's nothing for you to do here. Where are your maids, you're unwell."
Claude approached her but she flinched away from him, darting across the room towards an exhausted Morgan who watched them with heavy eyes.
"Morgan! You--- you said I have magic, use me-let me help,"
Her voice was frantic, a desperation the young Duke had never witnessed on her before.
Where had the bold, snarky woman gone? Was her illness so severe? No wonder his father was so guarded with her.
"Use me. Please."
The princess begged grasping both of Morgan's hands in her own.
The mage looked at her, there was distress in her eyes. Clear and thick.
What frightened this woman to such extents.
There was still no sign of her servants. Agatha would get an earful later.
The young duke unclasped his fur cloak in a swift motion, draping it over the shoulders of the trembling woman.
"I'll take her back to her chambers,"
"What! No! Noooo!"
Ophelia shrieked pushing against him.
She needed to help, she so desperately needed to.
"Wait."
Morgan stepped forward, pulling the princess from his iron hold. He didn't oppose her actions, seeing how his wife rushed into the woman's arms like a frightened animal.
"What happened my lady? What made you change your mind?"
The mage questioned. Ophelia looked at the taller woman, her eyes wet with tears.
No one would believe her anyways, no one could fathom what she'd seen.
"I want to save him."
She cast a sorrowful look at the dying man.
gods! He was the same as her dream...the exact same.
"You said I have magic! Please let me help, let me save him."
She was begging. The situation couldn't be anymore confusing to those who looked on.
Reiner didn't understand what transpired in front of him, he stayed silent and watched.
"Even if you do posses magic, he's beyond your powers princess. You are not to blame for this."
Claude explained, his voice soothing as he gently reached for her again, she moved away just as quickly, rushing from Morgan's arms to the farthest corner she could reach.
It wasn't as far as she imagined.
Ophelia stole another glance at the shivering body on the bed. He looked no more than a corpse.
She turned away. It was him.
He had to live.
But they didn't understand. How was she going to explain all this to them. How would she start to.
"No. If it's her, it's possible."
Morgan said walking to her and pulling the princess along.
Ophelia's dejected eyes instantly brightened.
They were letting her help!
Claude with one motion reached them, and held her back by her shoulders.
"She is not an option,"
He stated, as a matter of fact.
It became clearer that Morgan wished to turn his bride to a dead body.
"On the contrary, SHE is the only option we have."
The mage squared off the young duke. Each glaring at the other.
But a thud stole both their attention.
Reiner bowed his head, one knee on the ground, then for the first time since the princess appeared, he spoke.
"I know I have no right to ask this, but I beg you my lord. Please let the princess help my brother."
The proud vice commander was kneeling. The man whose stubbornness could not even match his own.
Damnit.
Claude was at a crossroad.
Reiner never once asked him for anything, he'd aided him from before when he was only a sellsword till he rose to his current position. Now the bastard was requesting something that wasn't his to give.
If the princess got hurt instead, what then?
Healing magic remained so complex, when used out of proportion it would cause tremendous backlash to the healer. Sometimes the consequences were dire.
He couldn't let a sickly amateur do it.
"I beg you Claude. I beg you."
Reiner knelt completely. He pressed his face to the ground, his heart racing.
A moment went by in stoic silence.
Morgan readied an entrapment spell in her thoughts, Ophelia's beady eyes seemed even more distant.
Reiner's anticipation rose to the brim.
And Claude... He gave in.
"Haaa. My father will kill us."
Claude huffed releasing her.
"Let's save the runt then, shall we princess,"