William became irritated, seeing Yeriel’s loss at making Lord Kirien’s wife swallow the cure. Her teeth were clenched so tight that if she tried, most of the solution would be wasted.

“Give me that,” William said, and literally seized the flask from her.

Since the bombardment, he was a bit agitated. Despite him presenting the same collected self, he was really short on time. His associates had already made their move already on the information he had given them. Things would get a bit complicated from here, but again, didn’t he act as a civilised sorcerer for this kind of opportunity?

He did feel a little qualm betraying his colleagues whom he worked with for over a year, but he killed that promptly. The world is changing. You either join in the line, behind others or form a line for yourself. William always wanted to be the latter.

Narrowing his eyes, he drew in the energy into the solution and let it flow according to his will into the sick lady’s mouth. It poured through the gaps in her teeth and into her throat all the way down to the stomach.

“We’re done here,” he said, throwing away the flask after pouring everything into the sick lady.

“Lord Kirien,” Yeriel shouted immediately and was about to run at the old knight, but a tough arm caught her.

William thought something was not right since he heard nothing from the old fool when they were curing his dear wife, but who knew he was already dead? Well, he did know the old knight was not in good condition and would likely die soon with no immediate care, but who knew it would be even before he saw his spouse cured?

‘Well, I did drug him,' William thought, ‘and then infected his channels with dark affliction. It’s a miracle that he stood so long. He was a good man for a hypocrite. I’ve to give him that.’

“Let me go,” Yeriel shouted, struggling to free herself. “Lord Kirien, he needs my help.”

William said nothing and moved towards where the old knight was sitting, eyes still wide and weary, but they looked lifeless. He didn’t have to drag Yeriel, as the healer was already struggling to help the old fool. She was one light-blinded fool, and that’s why he had need for her.

“I’ve completed my oath,” William told the elderly knight, nudging him on the head.

Lord Kirien didn’t answer, his body dropped to the side as his lifeless eyes shook for the last time.

“He’s beyond help, Precious,” William said, “Let us withdraw.”

“No . . . no . . .” Yeriel said, her voice losing its strength coming as just a whisper. “Let go of me. He needs help.’

William, obviously, didn’t comply with her request, dragged her out of the camp into a bone-chilling icy blizzard while Yeriel spout curses at him non-stop. To be honest, her vocabulary was quite limited in this subject, still, William felt annoyed. Two of the three difficult tasks were almost done, he needed to prepare for the third, and in that he would need Yeriel’s assistance, if she came willingly then the task was half done, however, he’d failed to warp her mind, showing the hypocrisy to the noble she tried so hard to heal.

“Let go of me if you have any humanity left in you,” Yeriel shouted, tears dripping down her face as her feet dragged through the snow. “You unholy, Light consume you. . . .”

William stayed silent no more. With a sudden jerk of his arm, he threw the healer forward into the snow. Yeriel yelped, but William came straight in front of her face, his cold eyes staring at her unblinkingly, not a single sign of his grin present now. He held out his hand and touched her chin to make sure she would didn’t look away.

“Precious, you have two options from here,” he said, voice as cold as the stiff wind. “What I’m going to do with you is something mortally dangerous. Either you give in to my demands, do as I say, and you will be able to keep your life and sanity. If you agree to this, I’m willing to take another oath on this.”

William looked at her as if wanting to gain an answer from her, but Yeriel’s jaw was hard-clenched, struggling to free herself from his clutches. William was not joking there. His purpose was to gain strength, not just murder people on a whim. His other associates would disagreed, but William was unlike them.

“Or, you can struggle till the end,” William’s voice grew colder, “where you might keep your life, but I can’t say the same about your sanity. Trust me, I would do it even if I’ve to break you. It would pain me, but Precious, I would do it.”

“Inhuman,” Yeriel yelled, voice at the edge, “Zashin burn you.”

William shook his head. He was not getting through to her. Maybe she still held onto the hope that someone would save her. Let see how long it takes. He has an entire day, which should be enough to get what he wanted from her. If not, he would have to proceed without her willingness.

“Let’s go,” he said and dragged Yeriel from there. And so, the warlock dragged the healer with him into the snow, leaving a dead Knight, and a sick lady, who might get cured of her disease, but would surely die of cold.

Yeriel didn’t make it easy for him, stayed there like a limp; William had to drag her entirely. The stiff, icy wind swirled, swaying her hair, and the muffler. Cold icy snow slapped against her face, bringing pain, however, the impending doom should be far scarier to her.

William would’ve felt compassion for her if he was younger, but compassion is irrelevant and illogical.

Yeriel kept on screaming behind him, though her voice was fatigued, and with the blizzard wind swirling, not much of it came into his ears. He needed to be quick, he already wasted too much time. Yeriel was not making it easy; she was dragging her body in the other direction.

“Looks like I’ve got to make you unconscious again and carry you all the way.” Shaking his head, William turned.

Abruptly, something sharp shot at him at a tremendous speed. William didn’t have enough time to form a shield, but he still drew energy into the amulet. The shield would be too late, so he tried to move away, jerking his head back, but all his effort rendered futile as it hit right into his right eye, digging into the eye socket.

“Burn you, woman!”

William screamed at the top of his lungs. Although the short spike dug only one of his eyes, his vision darkened immediately, as William rolled to the ground, screaming in agony. The shield formed after the damage was done, still, William kept a part of his focus on supplying more energy to the shield. However, betraying his reasoning, no attack came after that.

“Curse you woman. Curse your Forefather.”

He didn’t know what happened. He had sealed Yeriel’s channel properly. It would take her a dozen hours, if not a day, to unseal it on her own. How could she attack him? At the moment, William didn’t care a till for the answer. All he wanted was for his pain to end. Gasping for breath, he pulled the spike out, though his vision was still dark, both eyelids tightly shut.

The spike had dug through his right eyelid, while his left one closed on instinct along with it. Gritting his teeth, he pressed his palm against the right eye, while struggling to open the left eye. After a few failed attempts, William managed to open his teary left eye into the darkness. Only, after blinking half a dozen times, did his left eye adjust.

Yeriel was nowhere to be seen. In his frantic agonising manner, the healer fled. Fortunately, she had left her trails in the snow, though he had to make sure if she left it as a false trail or not.

Then he looked at the spike that blinded his good right eye. It was a black hairpin. Now, it made some sense to him. This black hairpin was a sympathetic item to her, but how could she manipulate it without spirit energy?

Communion takes little to a negligible amount of energy, however, it’s impossible when your channels are sealed. Unless . . .

‘Don’t tell me she linked it to her before I sealed her channels and held onto it till now, even through her unconsciousness?’ That thought chilled William. Now he was even suspecting his understanding of alchemy. She was literally drugged, and he had already checked the dose on Mrs Sonina, the landlady.

Shaking his head, William kept the hairpin in his pocket, before bringing bandages and medicine out of his handbag. Applying the medicine was not any bit easier. It hurt like hell, but William completed both medicine and bandaging roughly within a couple of minutes, gritting his teeth. He still had a lot of things left to do. Yeriel just made it messier.

He had to move fast, the snowfall would destroy all the trails in a few minutes. The warlock moved swiftly. The blizzard was no less alarming to him; he had to make sure his channels were not freezing, swirling energy all the way.

"This girl can run,” William muttered, looking at the long trail, “but luckily, it seems the weather is on my side.”

The blizzard slowed down, and even the snowfall. Swift wind still blew, but that was a lot slower now. Ice didn’t slap against his face now as he proceeded swiftly down the trail, ignoring the pain in his eyes and head.

Abruptly, William felt some disturbance. Someone was coming. Without thinking, he stopped and tried to hide though failed in the attempt. It's vast white land covered in snow. Only after a few seconds, did William find out it was not someone, but three, coming towards them, moreover, it appeared he was familiar with them.

William’s brain worked fast as he collected himself, making sure he had nothing on him that would be a giveaway to finally approach the group, concocting a plan in his head.

The first of the three William noticed was his boss, or old boss before he betrayed her. She seemed fine from the outside. He knew this witch was better than she let others think. Her knight seemed to get the worse end of them, with a severe wound on her right thigh and right shoulder slumped. She was trying to hide it, which gave it away to him.

And lastly, the tall youth with red hair with a cut mark on his right eyebrow all the way to the scalp. His handsome face was an utter mess nose with a broken nose and blood patches. One of his arms seemed broken too, but more importantly, he was standing. Dear Lord, he was freaking standing.

Now, William was sure, he needs to revise his alchemy study harder.