by Jamie Wilson
Chapter 2
The Great House, with its black stone turrets that scraped the sky and its thick red-rimmed defensive-walls, made even Gil, who towered over me, appear insignificant. At the rear servant’s entrance, Gil requested the mistress of the house, and I was reminded of my first visit when I mistook the grand lady who answered our call for Lady Seve herself. Gil had explained that the woman was Mistress Laurey, the head of housekeeping. Lady Seve didn’t answer the bells rung in the servant’s quarters.
Mistress Laurey appeared in a stiff black dress adorned with a long line of white ivory buttons. Her dark red hair was pulled back in a severe bun, which pulled the skin of her face taut against her high cheekbones. Looking at Gil and me, she sighed deeply.
“How can I help you?”
“We’re wishing to place my niece into your household as a handmaiden.”
The woman laughed. “Rather presumptuous notions you have. I remember you now. Remind me of the girl's age.”
“Eleven years.” Gil removed his hat and grasped it in front of him, his knuckles whitening.
Mistress Laurey was clean, and she held her frame as straight as an arrow. In many ways, her bearing resembled that of the noble girl I had observed in the market.
“She’s small.” Mistress Laurey’s lips tightened into a frown, her nose twitching. “I can’t place her as a handmaiden now, but perhaps she will earn that position in time. We are in need of another scull.” My mother had told me that most servants working in the Great House started out as scullery maids, more often called sculls, although she had had the great fortune of being selected as a handmaiden on entrance to the Great House. Sculls had the unfortunate privilege of performing all of the dirty undignified chores disliked by the apprentices or masters in a given discipline, or the handmaidens and valets who served a single mistress or master.
Mistress Laurey was silent for a moment, before addressing me. “You will work for Mallory, the head kitchen maid. It’s a hard life, and it will be three years before you have an opportunity to advance your status here. If you leave your position, we’ll not take you back. Do you understand?”
“Yes, ma’am,” I whispered.
“What is your name?”
“Anais, ma’am.”
“Well, Anais,” Mistress Laurey said with a tight smile. “Welcome to the service of Lord and Lady Seve. You are very fortunate.”
Mistress Laurey turned back to Gil. “Her entrance fee is two silvers.”
Gil offered the coins with no protest, and then grinned at me before taking his leave. I felt cold. Without him, I was alone. I gulped and hoped I would at least be able to see him from time to time in the market. I rocked back and forth on my heels steadying my nervous stomach.
As Mistress Laurey led me through a long hall lit with floating candles, I couldn't help but wonder if a real mage lived in the Great House. I had never seen magic before. The truth was that I knew there weren’t any mages left, but I couldn’t force the hope out of my blood. Though I was curious, I didn't question Mistress Laurey about the candles or their origin. My lips felt as if they were frozen in place, and I was afraid to speak, afraid I would say something wrong. The hallway opened into a large airy kitchen. The last fading rays of sunlight filtered into the room through several small circular openings in the far wall, and three large fireplaces heating bronze pots and a large oven kept the room too warm.
“Mallory, we have a new scull. Please show her around, she will be one of yours,” Mistress Laurey said and then turned on her heels and left the room.
I was not alone with Mallory - perhaps fifteen others occupied the room, scrubbing, cooking, and talking. Mallory frowned at me, and sniffed haughtily. “You smell like fish guts, and you look like you’ve never bathed. Why do I always get the grubby ones?”
I reddened. I’d never considered it bad to smell like fish, but under this woman’s scrutiny, I couldn’t help but cringe. Mallory motioned to a girl who was scrubbing dishes, and whom I guessed was also a scull under her direction. “Addie, it’s your lucky day. Show fish girl your work. Once she’s trained you can start working in the stables.”
A girl with sandy hair tied into two swinging braids, looked up. Her mouth curved into a grin. “Thanks Mal.”
“What’s you’re name?” Addie asked me.
“Anais.” I responded.
“Good to meet you.” She extended a red swollen hand, and I shook it gratefully. “Well, let’s get you started. Grab a rag.” She motioned to a large pile of dishrags on the stone floor.
I pulled one off the top, and sat on a stool beside the girl. We washed an almost endless succession of ceramic and bronze pots, iron pans, wooden dishes and long wooden spoons.
“Every evening you’ll wash dishes, not the important stuff mind you. Mallory or one of her apprentices usually cleans the silver and good china. You’ll be washing the servants’ dishes and all the cooking utensils.”
We continued to scrub dishes for several hours while the girl chatted about her family and her situation as the youngest of ten. Her brothers operated a small farm, but no place existed for her there. Most sculls in the Great House came from similar backgrounds, tradesmen’s or farmer’s children but not the ones slated to take over the family trade.
In a brief respite from the girl chatting, I gathered my courage and looked at her with wide eyes. “I saw the floating candles in the hallway. I thought magic was illegal in Brightshire.”
“Oh those. A long time ago, in the age of kings, King Sirmon banished a mage named Grayson, along with the Queen, to Brightshire. The King’s court was a long way away. They say the Queen was unable to bear King Sirmon a son, and so he ordered Grayson to accompany her into exile to prevent her from seeking aid from her family. At the time, our shire was little more than a trading post, a fitting exile for a disgraced Queen. They say that after several years living here, Grayson fell in love with her and during that time they had the Great House built. Eventually they sought out her families support to overthrow King Sirmon, beginning the war, of course. Grayson was a strong mage and left some residual magic in the house, not serious magic mind you, just the floating candles that always shine, and the bells that ring mysteriously every seventh day at sunset. I’ve also heard that there are still some spells in place that provide protection against invasion.”
“What happened to Grayson and the Queen?”
“They won the war, dissolved the monarchy, set up the seven lords of the Seven Shires, and then just disappeared. No one knows what happened to them after that. I’m surprised you didn’t know that already.”
“How can there still be magic here without a mage?”
Addie shrugged. “I haven’t the faintest clue how that stuff works…”
“Have you ever been to Barriershire?” I asked.
“No, I’ve never been that far north. I’ve never had an opportunity to travel. Maybe once I’m working in the stables...”
“I saw a dwarf taking a boy to Barriershire. He said he was going to sell the boy.” I decided not to tell Addie that the boy might be a fury - I didn’t want to sound like a foolish child.
“Maybe the boy was a thief. Sometimes they sell thieves to the Arena master and make them fight. If that’s what happened, he’ll probably die. The regular Arena fighters are pretty tough. One of my brothers got caught stealing a few years back, and he was sold to the Arena master in Barriershire. One fight and he was dead. My parents never really got over it.”
“I’m sorry,” I said.
I looked down to see that the pile of dishes had diminished to nothing, and then looked back up into Addie’s eyes.
“Looks like we’re done here. C’mon, let’s get some sleep.” She smiled.
Standing, my knees creaked and I felt my arms go limp. I wondered how many hours there were left until daylight, it seemed like we had scrubbed dishes for forever. We were the last on
es to leave, and Addie snuffed out the lone candle, leaving the room in inky darkness.
I scuttled after Addie into a small dank windowless room just outside of the kitchen. She lit a candle, and I noticed that she dragged her left leg a little as she walked. I couldn’t keep myself from staring.
“I know, I know. There was an accident when I was little. A horse stepped on my foot.”
“And you still want to work in the stables?”
“It wasn’t the horse’s fault.” She half grinned. “It was mine.”
The room held a set of bunk beds and Addie indicated that the one beneath her bed was for me. She then pointed to a pile of clothes in one corner where I found a brown cotton nightdress that billowed around my sleight form.
I closed my eyes and the face of the boy in the cage swam into my mind. He couldn’t have really been a fury. He was just a boy with horrible eyes. I should have tried to stop the dwarf. I should have tried to free the boy. I could have at least told Gil. What if he died and I could have saved him? I groaned. Not a fury, not a fury, not a fury. I heard my mother singing, as I drifted off, “Dark at night, feel your fright, they creep and crawl, you cry and fall, you’ll never get away. Hide inside, my dearest child, or the furies will catch and eat you...”
The next morning came too quickly, and I woke with a headache. As the early morning wore on, Addie indoctrinated me into my new life, which started with scrubbing floors. Shortly after we started, another girl joined us.
“How was your day off?” Addie asked her.
“Lovely,” the girl twirled around in an awkward circle before settling her eyes on me. She wore a beige pinafore over a brown dress, identical to the clothes Addie and I wore.
“Who’re you?” She asked in a sickly sweet voice.
“Her name’s Anais. Be nice, Kirsten. Please.”
“Oh, I’ll be nice. What does you’re family do?” Kirsten asked as she fiddled with a loose strand of dark red hair.
“Fishermen.”
“Really? How dreary, no wonder you smell so horrible.”
I sniffed at my hands. “I don’t smell bad.”
Kirstin sneered. “She can’t even tell. She’s probably always smelled like dead fish.
“Leave her alone.” Addie sighed.
Kirstin smirked, before exiting the room in a swish of skirts.
After Addie and I finished scrubbing the floors, we reported back to the kitchen.
“Got anything else for us?” Addie asked Mallory, who looked up from the silver she was polishing.
“Empty out the chamber pots and water basins in the east wing, third floor, after that you may take your break.” Mallory then stood and addressed two of her apprentices who were helping her. “Set the dining room table for breakfast.”
I followed Addie up a short flight of stone stairs. There were no pictures, ornaments or windows adorning the servant’s areas. I didn’t like the narrowness of the staircase and hallways.
“These are the servant’s stairs. Never take the main stairs; if you do and get caught there will be hell to pay. We may only go into the dining hall and entranceway to clean before breakfast, after breakfast you’ll be smart to stick to the servant’s areas. Mallory will skin you, or worse, if you are seen or heard by anyone of consequence.”
We walked through a winding hall to a long row of doors. I coughed. “There’s so much dust.”
Addie shrugged. “You’ll get used to it. Nobody cleans these halls.”
“Where are we?”
“East wing of the third floor. This area is for wealthy visiting tradesman, governesses, tutors, and artists, or anyone who is an independent citizen, living and working here. Right now, only four of the rooms are occupied, but you need to check all of the rooms anyway. No one will tell you if someone new arrives. You just need to know.”
Addie paused at the first door. “Always knock first, just in case.”
She knocked and when no one answered, we entered. The room seemed huge, and was dominated by a dusty rose hue and decorated with large murals of women posing in intricate garden scenes.
“Blanche Howard lives in here, she’s Clara’s governess.”
“Clara?” I raised an eyebrow.
“Clara is Lord Seve’s daughter. You shouldn’t have trouble getting into Blanche’s room, because she starts her day with Clara very early.”
We checked her storage of candles, and Addie pulled two candles from a large satchel wrapped around her waist and added them to the pile. We cleaned the candleholders of the used wax. At Addie’s instruction, I swept up the excess char from the fireplace. The room held a smaller partition hidden by a heavy plum-colored velvet curtain. Addie opened the curtain to find a small white ceramic washbasin filled with sudsy water, and a copper chamber pot filled with urine.
Addie picked up the washbasin and indicated to me to pick up the chamber pot. We walked down the servant’s hall and stairs, and outside to a small stream and sewer line. She and I dumped the contents of the pot and basin into the sewer and I scrubbed the chamber pot while she filled the basin halfway up with fresh water.
“Where does the sewer line go?” I wondered aloud.
“Don’t know.” Addie shrugged as we walked back to the house.
“How many sculls are there in the Great House?”
“Oh, about seven sculls report to Mallory. The guild price is low, so supply is high. There are usually more of us, but over the last few months two sculls disappeared. I don’t mean that they ran away, that happens a lot, I mean they really disappeared,” Addie confided. “When sculls run away, we know because they are spotted in town, but the two that disappeared, they haven’t been seen at all.”
“Do you know what happened to them?”
“No.” Addie shivered. “I’ll admit it has me nervous though.”
I inhaled sharply, remembering the boy in the market. She looked back at me as if wanting to ask me something. I changed the subject. “How long have you been here, working here I mean?” I asked.
“Mm, oh about two and a half years. Sculls are apprenticed off after three years, but I got lucky and am apprenticing a little early. Bertram, the master of the stables, just got in a shipment of Greys. Lord Seve wants to breed them, so it’s been crazy in the stables and they need an extra hand.”
“Does every scull get apprenticed after three years?”
“Most of us, I think. If you don’t get an apprenticeship after three years of service they ask you to leave.”
“Why?”
“I think it’s supposed to prevent sculls from, well, remaining sculls forever. It should be easy enough for you to get on the kitchen, laundry, or bath staff after you've completed your service. They always need people.”
“What about becoming a handmaiden?”
“Ambitious, are we?” Addie snorted, and then quickly looked apologetic. “It’s possible. Not easy, but possible. Kirsten says she is going to try for it next year, but I doubt she’ll make it. There are a few positions open in the household, but handmaidens are often poor relatives of someone important. And I don’t think Kirsten’s important, and I hate to say it, but I doubt you’re important either.”
My stomach dropped; this was going to be impossible. How had my mother ever believed that I would become a handmaiden? For that matter, how had my mother done it? I barely suppressed a moan.
“You okay?”
“Yeah. Sorry. I’m fine.”
We finished emptying the washbasins and chamber pots from the other occupied rooms, and in the second to last room we found four large locked trunks of dark brown leather. Other than the trunks, the room was bare.
“Those weren’t there yesterday,” Addie commented, her brow furrowing. After a moment, she shrugged it off.
The last room, a small room with yellow walls, was also empty.
“You hungry?” Addie asked.
“Starving,�
�� I said, realizing that we hadn’t eaten a thing since waking up.
“Good, let’s go down to the kitchen. The remains from breakfast should be back from the dining hall. The best thing about being a scull is that we get to eat all the food the family wastes.”
We scurried down to the kitchen and I ladled out a bowl of broth for myself, and managed to snag a piece of bacon, a hard-boiled egg, and a mug of warm cider. Sculls and young servants crowded in the kitchen, shoving each other, and chatting over the leftover breakfast.
Addie led me to an open seat at the end of a long wooden table. I sat quickly and started shoving food into my mouth. It didn’t take long for the dull ache of emptiness that had filled my stomach to dissipate. I sighed, happy for the moment.
A tall hearty young man clamped Addie on the shoulder. “Congratulations Addie. Can’t believe you’re leaving the sculls already.”
A wide grin lit Addie's face as she stood and hugged the boy. “I feel like I’ve been waiting for this chance for an age…”
I looked around, wondering if I should try to make friends with the other sculls while Addie was engaged in conversation. My eyes darted around the room, and without intention settled upon Kirstin, who was huddled with a group of girls. She caught my glance and glared at me, and then started a hushed conversation. I watched one of the other girls steal a glance at me. I frowned. Was she talking about me? Why? How could she hate me already?
“C’mon, Anais.” Addie touched my shoulder lightly. “We’re free until sunset. Then we need to report back to Mallory and scrub dishes again. I’ll be going to the stables for the afternoon to help out. You should think about how you spend your free time. Some of the others will likely try to convince you to go to town and fool about. It’s not so bad to indulge occasionally, but you ought to think about what you want to do after your time as a scull is over, and make yourself useful in that discipline. It’s a hard world outside of these halls. I wouldn’t want to see you forced out of this house after your time as a scull is over. Oh, and whatever you do, don’t make friends with Kirsten. She’s going to have a lot of trouble when it comes time for her to be apprenticed.”
I did want to find something useful to do, but the truth was I was so tired that the thought of more work made me want to cry. So instead, I crawled into bed and slept the sleep of the dead. Tomorrow, I promised myself. Tomorrow I would start planning for the future. After some hours, Addie shook me awake and we returned to the kitchen.
That evening, I scrubbed dishes from the dinner meal until the skin on my fingers became so deeply wrinkled and pink that I wondered if they were permanently fixed that way. I liked Addie’s easy kindness, but there was no one else who had extended me even the smallest sign of friendship. It scared me that she would be gone soon. But yet, I was happy for her. She achieved her goal. That should give me hope. I should be excited about this new life - this new beginning.
The next morning, I dragged a wet rag over the last square foot of dry flooring, and sighed with relief. It took so long without Addie’s help, and my knees were aching from all of that time crouched on the floor.
“Ahem,” I heard a voice calling to me. At first, I didn’t notice Kirstin standing a few feet away from me. She traced her fingers delicately around my bucket of dirty water, and pushed.
“Shyte! How could you?” Without thinking, I jumped up from the floor and pushed Kirsten against the wall. I grabbed her left arm behind her back and yanked it upwards. Even though she was bigger than me, I was stronger, and I knew I could break her arm with little effort.
“Let me go!” she screamed.
What was I doing? Nothing good could come of this. Reluctantly, I released her and she ran off crying. I expected her to run to Mallory or Mistress Laurey. What she did instead was worse. She turned all of the sculls and younger apprentices against me. I don’t know what she said - how she did it. Even Addie would barely meet my eyes at meal times.
