The Price of Freedom

400 years earlier, Lincoln, England...

The guests were already filling the church where Rosalind was set to marry the man of her dreams that afternoon. Arthur Petersen was considered a fairly major catch in Lincoln. Tall, handsome, strong as an ox and a pillar of the local community, he had swept Rosalind off her feet a couple of years back and she had been living a dream ever since. Today was going to be the culmination of that, a public declaration of their love for each other and confirmation of their desire to always be together. It wasn't easy for a practising witch to be accepted into society like Rosalind had always hoped to be, but Arthur taking her as his wife would surely grant her that privilege, locally at least.

The groom came striding purposefully into the room with several minutes still to spare.

"Arthur, you're early! You aren't supposed to see me in my dress before the wedding!"

"Aye, I need to speak with you about that"

The expression on Arthur's face was an immediate cause of concern for Rosalind. It was grave, serious, not at all the look of a man preparing to experience the happiest moment of his life.

"What could we possibly need to speak about now?"

"There is no easy way for me to say this" Arthur told his bride gruffly "I can't marry you on this day, or any other. My heart belongs to someone else"

The words hit Rosalind like daggers to her soul. This didn't seem possible, or even real.

"What? Who?" she managed to splutter in a state of shock.

"Isabel, the pretty girl who sells flowers at the market. I swear I didn't intend it, but I can't govern my feelings for the sake of convenience and I shan't live a lie. I don't love you Rosalind, and we can't be wed"

There was something almost menacingly calm in Arthur's voice. His words sounded rehearsed, his tone more stern than sympathetic. It was immediately clear to Rosalind this had been no last minute change of heart. She looked around her. Half the town folk were within her sight. If she started shouting, screaming and gesticulating wildly in outrage, like any normal human being in her position would want to, then she would appear to them as someone to be feared - the kind of witch that got burned to ****, almost for sport. The setting of her heartbreak and humiliation, the very place where it would hit her hardest, had been chosen quite deliberately to keep her in line.

Not being able to do anything else, Rosalind stood in stunned, horrified silence as Arthur continued to talk at her.

"I will make an announcement once everyone has gathered, but allow you time to make yourself scarce before that happens. I would rather spare you from the indignity"

Her heart shattered, Rosalind turned and fled from the church, past scores of confused onlookers dressed brightly for the days festivities, until she found herself in the privacy of a deserted alleyway, where she slid her body down a wall until she was balled up in a weeping mess.

She vowed to herself that such cruelty and betrayal would not go unpunished. The whore Arthur had left her for would be made to feel as awful as she did now, and at the hands of the very same man, over and over again for the rest of her days. And as for Arthur, his legacy to his children, and their children, and every future generation of his soon to be cursed family, would be the same pain, humiliation and hopelessness he had inflicted on her.

---

"Can I get you a whisky?"

"No thanks, I don't drink"

"Okay. Well, I'm going to have one"

As Amy raided the mini bar, Tammy looked around the venue she had been taken to for the privacy this conversation was going to require. Whatever she might have imagined visiting a witches hotel room to have felt like, it wasn't this. There were no dusty old tomes nor glowing trinkets to be seen - just a laptop, a phone that had been put on charge, a suitcase and some snack foods. Amy herself appeared to be a stylish, highly attractive and successful young business woman, a far cry from the kind of hex flinging crone from the early modern early era that Tammy might have anticipated.

"So how did you figure it out?" Amy wanted to know.

"Tina gave me super powered detective skills to research the curse. And her suddenly becoming a witch never made any sense to me, plus she was acting kind of odd the past few days"

"Doesn't she always?"

Amy quickly realised trying to lighten the mood in the room was completely futile, and that this wasn't the time or place for small talk, so she moved on to what she really wanted to say.

"Look kid, I'm so, so sorry for everything I have put you and your family through. It is unforgivable, irredeemable. I don't even have the words for it, honestly. For what it's worth, I at least feel like I learned from my mistake. It isn't just my name that has changed, I'm a completely different person now. I don't ever expect forgiveness, just for you to know I still regret what I have done every single day"

The apology wasn't just for Tammy, it was also for Isabel, and everyone else who came in the centuries between the two women. Isabel had always claimed she hadn't known Arthur was engaged when they began their relationship. It had been easier to think her a lying whore at the time. But over the years, Amy had come to realise that was more than likely the truth.

"I didn't come here for an apology. You did what you did hundreds of years ago, and I know you were the one who enabled my cousins and I to break free. As I said when I arrived, I want your help"

Amy sighed heavily and downed her shot.

"I can't. I wish I could, I truly do. But I've done as much as I can for you"

"That's not how I understand it" Tammy paused a moment before her big reveal "I'm the Purest Petersen"

Amy quickly poured herself another, noticeably larger measure of scotch.

"Look, I don't know what you think you've found out about that but, trust me, it isn't a route you want to go down"

"I think I have the gist of it. To banish the curse forever you have to erase me with it"

Tammy spoke with surprising calmness, while Amy downed her next shot and prepared a third.

"It's not quite that dramatic, thankfully. But I really hope you haven't come here to be a hero, because you would still be sacrificing more than anyone ever should, and you would be doing it to correct my errors"

"Can you at least explain to me how it works?"

Amy exhaled loudly and ran her hand through her hair before shrugging her **** acceptance of Tammy's request.

"It's all to do with memories. It wouldn't just be the curse that vanished, it would be anyone's recollection of it ever having been in place. All effects from it would be reversed at once, which can shift things about quite a bit, and people's memories would need to be altered to reflect that. The magic would work in a way that told believable stories in people's minds as to how they got to where they would be. Couples who were only together because of a command would behave like they had never been in a relationship with each other, and everyone else would have that same perception of them. On the other hand, if a couple fell naturally in love because of their shared experience with the curse, then they would still be together, but the backstory for their romance would be altered to exclude it. It's really not a bad thing. It's a kind of magical aftercare, to remove all associated trauma as the curse vanishes, while keeping things making sense in everyone's minds. Except...."

"Except what?" Tammy prompted the witch after she hesitated.

"Except in your case it works a little differently" Amy resumed sadly "You are right at the centre of everything, and the heart of the spell resides in you. Whatever information you found that said you would be erased, it didn't mean that literally. You would still exist as yourself, you'd still be the same beautiful, smart and compassionate young woman you so obviously are. But nobody would remember you, and you wouldn't remember anyone. You would be given a new backstory, not anything horrible, but it would effectively explain you being alone in the world and starting from scratch right now. You'd have a new surname, probably something incredibly common like Smith or Jones. Your family, friends and boyfriends memories of you, and yours of them, would be gone forever, along with everything you own and have ever accomplished"

"But everyone would be free from the curse permanently, right?" Tammy checked.

"Yes, but at what cost? You'd lose everything and nobody would even thank you for it, because they wouldn't have a clue who you were or what you had done. You wouldn't even remember it yourself, to at least have the satisfaction of knowing how many people you had helped. I'd say you've got a pretty great result here, all things considered. You and your cousins are now at the command of people who love and care about you and will use the curse only as a blessing. You can walk away from all of this now, go back to your family and friends and live an amazing life. Just forget about trying to reverse the curse."

"But I can't" Tammy countered passionately "Not when there are God knows how many innocent women out there being tortured, ****, enslaved, brainwashed and transformed because of it. My Great Aunt was one of them, and she's still horrendously scarred by her experiences to this day. I could take that away from her and she could be happy again. And if I walk away now, I'd always know I chose not to"

"First of all, everything you just described is on me, it's not on you. At all. And you wouldn't have to know. I could use a minor enchantment to take that knowledge away from you so you don't **** yourself with it"

Tammy paused again, visibly weighing up her options.

"What about when I'm twenty five? I'm pretty much going to have to have a daughter, whether I want to or not. And she'll be cursed as well. What sort of mother would I be if I let that happen to my child?"

"You're getting way ahead of yourself, kid" Amy sighed "Look, if you're determined to do this, we can. I owe you that much. But I can't reiterate enough just how strongly I would advise you against it. Take the win you got today and enjoy it. Don't throw everything you have away to try and save the world"

Tammy stood for a while longer, still contemplating the immense decision she had to make.

"I'm really sorry to do this to you Tamsin, but I need an answer now. I have a plane to catch in a few hours, and I don't intend to ever have this conversation again. Let me make you forget the power the Purest Petersen has to reverse the curse and remove your ability to ever discover that information again. My magic can override Tina's in that instance. Don't ruin your life because I fucked up. Please. "