Tonight was the night where the light passes into the darkness, the time of year where the veil was thinnest between the worlds of the living and dead. Samhain was here, and Ingrid could not be more frightened by it.

Each year since Ingrid became a servant of Wilona, she was forced to witness depraved things. These rituals peaked the night of Samhain, where Wilona could access the dark forces that would be difficult, if not impossible, to contact any other day of the year. Ingrid's worst memories were when Wilona tore open a baby's neck with her teeth. She forced Ingrid to catch the blood in the cap of a skull. She would pour it into a goblet and then proceeded to drink it. After the town grew suspicious of the missing children, Wilona moved on to virgin girls' blood. She forced Alaric to drug them and then drag them to the sacred circle in the forest. They were usually the poor daughters of the farmers and harlots of the town. No one cared when they disappeared.

Wilona wanted to talk to the Gods, and to do so, the veil had to be lifted. She had to conjure the darkness first by torturing the girls through physical, sexual, and mental abuse. At the peak of their misery, Wilona would slash them from ear to ear and drink their blood. The murder of the girls opened the portal to the underworld in which their souls would leave into. As Wilona drank their blood, their life essence still existed in her body, and a spirit would come through the death portal to Wilona and offer her assistance for the dark energy she created through torture and sacrifice.

Wilona killed these girls for petty things, for wealth, power, and beauty. It was such a waste of life. Anyone who witnessed the torture would also be bestowed these gifts from the Godless dark world beyond. It worked a little too well in Ingrid's favor. Slowly Wilona's sacrifices did not work for her beauty. It went to Ingrid. This infuriated Wilona. Soon Wilona used Ingrid's blood to draw up symbols instead of her own. The dark realms preferred the purity of virgin blood over Wilona's.

Finally, Wilona had enough and made her men force themselves on Ingrid and rape her during her last significant ritual a year ago. Ingrid fell pregnant, and Wilona made her kill the fetus and coverup what she had done to her. Since then, Ingrid had not been in another sacrifice. She still has the scars on her arms from the bloodletting, but no scar will be as deep and wide as the one on her heart.

"Are you alright, Ingrid?" Alaric asked, looking down at her.

"Yes," Ingrid said unenthusiastically.

"It's too early to seem so upset."

"It's Samhain, Alaric. You know very well why I'm upset." Ingrid said, running her fingers through her hair.

Her hair was almost long enough to put into braids finally. She couldn't sleep all night, hence why she was up before dawn. Very few were up this early but Alaric. He had to rise early to make Wilona something for her morning purges. She would be up in an hour or so.

"I think you're upset with your hair." Alaric laughed, making light of the problematic situation.

"How is it that my older brother has longer and more beautiful hair than I?" Ingrid hissed, trying to pull a tat out.

"Maybe if you'd brush it for once." Alaric laughed.

Ingrid puckered her lips and grinned. She picked up one of the chess pieces and hurdled it towards Alaric's head. Alaric had a fast and steady hand and caught it midway in the air before it could hit him.

"Hey! This is real ivory! Don't throw things." Alaric said calmly as he walked over to the table and gently laid it back in its position on the board.

Alaric sat down in front of her and sighed.

"Nothing is going to happen, Ingrid. You can't be bitter anymore."

"I would have been a mother by now, Alaric," Ingrid said, crossing her arms and looking off to the side.

Alaric got up and walked back to his shelf. There he stared up at the collections of botanicals in the various bottles.

"I'm sorry, Ingrid."

"You weren't sorry when you forced me to take that herb with Wilona watching."

Alaric bit his lip as he pulled down the bottle of pennyroyal on the top shelf.

"I had no choice! She would kill you if I didn't administer it." Alaric said, biting his lip so hard a bit of blood was tasted.

"I wish you would have let her do it. If the town knew, an uprising would ensue, and she would be burned at stake for dark magick work." Ingrid hissed.

Alaric took the bottle and went over to Ingrid, and gently placed it in her hands.

"I promise I will never take another one away. You have my word, God as my witness." Alaric said with a gentle but forced smile.

Ingrid looked down at the bottle and then looked up at Alaric with a glare that could pierce iron.

"You're a fool, Alaric, for not doing this sooner." Ingrid stood up and placed the bottle in her leather satchel.

"Tell me you will stay inside tonight," Alaric said.

"I'm banned, remember, Alaric? My blood is no good now that it has been tainted with the essence of man. Who knows, though, these demons might be useful if they can sever her head for us." Ingrid laughed.

Alaric looked down and said nothing. He turned around and went back to making another concoction for the queen to drink. Ingrid stared at it and had a brilliant idea.

"What's in this sedative? Is it for another girl tonight?" Ingrid said, walking over to it and smelling it.

Whatever it was, it was too abhorrent to smell.

"What herbs are in this!?" Ingrid said, darting her head away.

"Don't stick your nose to it. It is an antiemetic. The highness is sick again." Alaric said and turned to look at a recipe scroll.

"Tell me what's in it, Alaric, I'm curious," Ingrid said, trying to make him distracted.

The moment he turned away and started listing off the ingredients, Ingrid very quickly and gently pulled the cork from the pennyroyal bottle. She dumped the entire contents into the mixture. She stuck her hand in the mortar and pushed the herb to the bottom so Alaric could not see it. From the amount she put in the battery, she hoped Wilona would die. Alaric only gave her a few leaves in her tea, and that was enough to induce abortion.

"Get your hands out of there!" Alaric exclaimed, pulling the mortar to him.

"What, I like the scent of wild clary and spearmint?" Ingrid laughed.

She knew what she had done.

"This is not for you to touch. I have specific quantities in here, and I don't need you meddling with them. They might have a different effect." Alaric said.

Ingrid rolled her eyes and concealed her smile. Wilona will definitely get a different effect from this batch.

"If you want the clary or spearmint, ask me first. Don't go digging in someone's medicine for it." Alaric said as he pulled off two bottles from the shelf.

"Take two or three, no more," Alaric said, setting them on a table and turning around again.

"Maybe later, but thank you," Ingrid said with a grin as she left.

She had no regrets.

"Una, come quickly!" Una shot her eyes open out of a deep and dreamless slumber.

"Huh?" Una said, rubbing her eyes before seeing Alaric begin to come into focus.

"Please, it's the queen!" Alaric implored Una as he shook her awake.

Una threw off her covers and stood up. She only had her under garbs on but did not care. Una knew this was serious.

"This way!" Alaric ran down the hall with Una close behind.

As they approached the room, Una could hear the queen screaming at the top of her lungs. When they walked in, she was slumped over on the ground, naked, shivering on the floor. She was clasping her stomach and small baby bump so hard that there were blood blisters across her skin. Una ran up to her and crouched next to her.

"Idris told me you heal people well. I can't let Alaric do this alone. There is something very wrong with her!" Gareth said with a fearful look in his eye.

"How long have you been slumped in pain?" Una asked Wilona.

"Not long, but she hasn't stopped, and she's never been in pain. She is growing weaker by the minute." Gareth said.

Wilona cried out in pain as she clutched her stomach. It reminded Una instantly of her late friend Marged.

"What has she eaten, food, drink, remedies, even sniffing flowers."

"Nothing, she only consumed my tea," Alaric said, looking pale in the face.

"Bring it for me!" Una stood up and ran over to him.

"It can't be the tea, it's the same kind I serve her every morning, and she has did not react to it," Alaric said nervously as he handed Una the cup.

"You think she would build a tolerance to it. However, I know you can build an intolerance if too much is in the system." Una said as she pulled out a small oval leaf from the cup.

Una's eyes widened in fright. She recognized the plant leaf. She had to make sure of it. Una pulled the cup to her nose and smelt the tea before she took a small sip.

"Ahh!" Una panicked.

Instantly Una threw the cup down to the floor, and she spits out her sip as fast as she could.

"She's poisoned! It's pennyroyal!" Una cried out, running over to her.

Una knelt and picked Wilona up to her knees.

"Grab her hair!" Una ordered Gareth to hold her hair back.

Gareth did as he was told, frightened as much as Una was.

"Alaric, by my side, now!" Una ordered him.

He ran over next to her.

"Hold her mouth open. If she bites down, let her!" Una said as Alaric violently opened Wilona's mouth.

Una stuck her hand as far back as she could into Wilona's mouth and down into her throat. She had to make her gag and puke. Wilona moaned in pain and screamed. It was muffled by Una's hand trying to trigger her vomit reflex.

"Una!" Gareth screamed at the disturbing view of this terrible accident.

"She can breathe, but she must purge, or she will die. This must be done!" Una said unapologetically.

Suddenly Una could feel her throat tighten around her hand, and it began to flex forward as her stomach was contracting. Una kept it there until she could feel Wilona searing vomit come up her throat and came spewing out through her mouth and nose. Una pulled her hand out, and Wilona slumped forward on her hands and knees. She expelled thin and dark liquid from her body. A strong odor of spearmint emitted through the air with a rich medicinal undertone. Una knew she had consumed pennyroyal.

It grew wild where she lived, but she was never allowed to touch it. She knew it was toxic from a very young age. All bad things left a sharp image in Una's mind, from poisonous plants to venomous snakes and wild animals. She knew for sure she was poisoned. For a moment, Una hesitated to save Wilona, but something told her in the back of her mind that it was the right thing to do. The right thing was not always the best thing for Una's emotional state, but it was better than the feeling of regret later on.

After a few minutes of purging, Wilona began to dry heave. There were no contents left in her stomach, and she collapsed on the floor from exhaustion. Gareth tried to pick her up, but she cried out in pain again.

"Stop, don't touch her. She must rest. Do not mover her. Her body will need all the energy she has to expel the toxin in her blood." Una said as she pulled a heavy wool pelt off the bed and on her body.

"Thank...you." Wilona barely uttered as she gently grabbed Una's ankle.

"You saved her and the child," Gareth said with a sigh of relief.

Gareth turned and looked over at Alaric. He trusted him with his life, but he could not help but wonder what went wrong with the tea given to his wife. Alaric saw this in Gareth's look.

"I...I don't understand. I followed the directions and quantities perfectly. I have no pennyroyal in my possession." Alaric said.

"Yes, he does," Wilona murmured.

Alaric froze in fright. Wilona ordered him to abort Ingrid's child, but she never once saw the plant or knew he had it in his possession. She simply called him to get rid of the child, or she would kill Ingrid to hide the abuse she suffered. The baby would have been the bastard child of a very high lord in the kingdom, and he would have Ingrid killed as well if she did not terminate her pregnancy. It would ruin his reputation as both a Christian and a benevolent lord.

"You may check, Una, since you are so well versed in medicine." Alaric insisted.

Una could not deny it, though. She knew the leaves were in her tea. She knew Alaric despised Wilona, but he would never go to the lengths to kill her. Alaric was like Una, where the right thing was better than regret. He could never harm Wilona if he tried. Wilona's child was innocent of their mother's actions. It was Gareth's child, after all.

Suddenly it hit Una when she remembered Alaric and Ingrid speaking of pennyroyal. Una felt a chime in her heart of a target that was cornered. She knew it was Ingrid, after what she told Una the night before. Una might have sealed her own fate by not letting Wilona die, but more than anything, she feared for Ingrid's life now. She had done this, not Alaric.

"It's a simple mistake, your grace," Una said hesitantly.

"Spearmint and pennyroyal have an uncanny similarity in scent; however, there is a sharp difference in taste. I had picked the herb by mistake, but my mother was luckily there to guide me away from it. Alaric has been working tirelessly to make sure that Wilona is comfortable. He works through the night and early morning to assure that your wife feels well even if he may not. I suspect he had run out of spearmint and went foraging in the darkness of the pre-dawn light. It is very easy to confuse spearmint and pennyroyal, even for an expert. For him to be in darkness, he relied solely on the scent." Una said, quickly making something up to protect both him and Ingrid.

"Forgive me, Alaric," Una said, looking over at him, his eyes wide in terror.

"He has informed me that he holds your wife in such high regard. His affections are not appropriate for a simple court physician and queen. In fact, I may be daft enough to say that he is in love with her and would never touch a hair on her head." Una lied to Gareth.

Una finally got down on one knee and bowed before the king. Gareth seemed very unsettled at the sight of Una bowing before him. He knew she was sober at this moment.

"I ask your personal forgiveness, for I have made a mistake myself. Alaric has been exhausted caring for your wife, and this was an elementary but serious mistake. I assure you I have seen no pennyroyal on his shelves. He is a healer. Healers heal. They don't poison and murder like simpletons you get in apothecaries in town or the village." Una bowed down further and laid her head down on the ground.

"I beg for your mercy," Una said.

Gareth swallowed hard and looked at Una and then up at Alaric. He had never seen Una so desperate to protect someone. He knew from the moment he saw Alaric's face that he had not done this but seeing Una knew she knew who had. Regardless, Gareth played along.

"You have my mercy, Sir Alaric. Now leave us." Gareth demanded.

Alaric did not hesitate. He knew who did this as well. He was going straight to Ingrid to confront her. She had almost cost him his life and the queen.

"For as many men as you kill, you sure save a lot of them." Gareth laughed as he helped Una up off of her knees.

"Now, I want to hear the truth, Una," Gareth whispered into her ear as he peered down at his now sleeping wife.

Una gulped and stared up into his golden eyes and sighed.

"You will have it."