The Witch's Relay

Chapter 21: Seals

"I see." Heather rubs her hand against her chin like she normally does. "So this happened because you were being careless."

"I.. Yes.." I look down on my feet.

"So you two are the ones that attacked the prince's party?" Looks like Linda is awake now.

"No." Heather quickly answers. "I fought them, but only because they ambushed me."

"Same thing. In this country as long as the person you fought has a higher status than you, then it is your fault, always. I would know." Linda and Heather stare into each other's eyes.

"You don't get to lecture me on how this country works. In fact, why don't you just shut up? We need to figure out what to do with you, and the more annoyed you make me, the more likely it is that you will end up with a shovel of dirt over your face."

Linda appears to want to say something, but changes her mind and stays silent.

"Can't we get her to promise not to say anything?" I don't have my emotions back, but somehow my gut is telling me that killing her is a bad idea.

"That would be stupid. It's not like we can trust this.. this assassin! Did you not see the amount of weapons this girl was packing?!"

"I did. But you spared me, and that turned out to be alright."

"I did. But we were also all by our own in those woods. There was no one for you to tattle to, and you also didn't try to kill me."

"Hey! Who said I tried to kill you?! None of you even drew blood!" Linda exclaims.

We both turn towards her.

"You both held a knife against my throat and threatened to kill Heather once you were done with me." I reply.

"But I didn't!"

"I stopped you." Heather injects.

"But I didn't.." Linda mutters.

We turn back to our conversation.

"Don't you have any spell to remove her memories like you removed my emotions?" I ask curiously.

"Hehe.. So you figured out that was what I did.. No. Because I'm an enchantress, not a mind-control mage. I can cast some rudimentary mind controlling spells, but nothing as advanced as would be required."

"So what you did to me was simpler?"

"Wait so that's why Kade has been acting all weird?!" We both ignore her.

"Yes, I only added a temporary seal over the part of the brain that is responsible for emotions, and it will either vanish by itself over time, or suddenly release if you experience an emotion too powerful for the seal to take care of." She continues after glancing at Linda. "For me to seal a specific memory I would have to have to first locate it, and then place a seal on it. And since I can't actually add a permanent seal, after a certain amount of time, or if her mind is strong enough to remember, she will come after us again. A mind-control mage could go in and permanently remove it, but that is beyond my abilities."

"But you could do that to me and that would give you enough time to get out of the city." Linda suggests.

"Aha! But you will report us." I point out. "Since it would give us "enough time" suggests that the time is limited."

"No! You misunderstand me. I don't actually want to report you. I only want answers, that is why I held the knife to Kade's throat and threatened to hurt Miss Heather."

"I could place a seal over her entire mind however." Heather says. "It would basically induce Linda into a coma-state, and then we could carry her downstairs and say she just collapsed."

"How long would it take for her to wake up?"

"She probably won't. Unless some incredible pain wakes her up, otherwise there won't be any significant enough stimulus to snap her out of it."

Linda stares at us with a look of fear.

"Since we plan to leave after winter anyway, could you not apply the temporary seal on her memories, and then reapply it every so often before it breaks? It would bring the status quo back to normal, while also not ruining anyone's life." I suggest.

"I could. But then it would be wise for both of us to stay away from her as much as we can. If we somehow accidentally recreate a situation similar enough, it will give her flashbacks and she will remember."

"But you can do it?" I try to confirm what I think she's implying.

Linda looks hopeful from the bed with her hands tied.

"Yes."

"Is this a risk we can afford to take?"

"We almost need to. With winter coming up soon, we need to shelter in this city. If we need to flee we might not make it. So we should draw as little suspicion as possible, and reapplying the seal multiple times may be a good way of doing that."

"Will it hurt?.." Linda asks.

"No." Heather turns toward her. "First I will put my hands over your eyes and make you fall asleep, and then while you are out, I will put my hands on your head, find the memory and seal it. And then I will wake you up."

"Ok.." Linda seems reluctant to go along with this, but also realizes that this is her only way to get out of this situation in one piece.

"Alright then. Let's do this as fast as possible to make the gap in your memory as small as possible." Placing her hand over Linda's eyes, just like she had described, she whispers something under her breath, after which Linda fall backwards into the bed with a slight snore once she settles.

"Step one complete, time to find the memory." Heather now climbs up on the bed and places Linda's head on her thighs while resting her own hands on her forehead.

After about ten minutes of having her eyes shut and whispering, a yellow light shines up from between her fingers before Heather looks at me and states; "Done. Time to wake her up. Untie her real quick first though."

"Ok! I got it!" I gently untie her hands and re-tie them to her leg, and put all the knives back where they belong, and put the ones supposed to be in her bots back. "What is the story we tell her?"

"She came up to talk to you, but before you had time to answer, she fainted, so you brought her in to rest on the bed. I'm going into the other room and shutting the dividing door."

"Ok." I start shaking her gently and after a couple minutes she wakes up.

"Hey! Linda, how are you feeling? Are you ok?"

"Kade? Yea.. I feel kind of funny in my head, but I think so. Wh-what happened?.."