Part 1

The Castle

“Mistress wants you, Cam!”

“I know! I’m hurrying!” I yelled back as I raced down the corridors. Mistress’ room was on the third floor; I was on the first. It would take a few minutes to climb those huge flights of stairs. The castle where I worked as a maid for the Mistress was huge! I loved the beauty of it, but sometimes the size overwhelmed me.

Mistress is, of course, the queen, Queen Bea. I was hired by the King, King Ray, to serve her. Also, I was supposed to serve the Prince, Prince Jake, on occasion. They were a lovely lot, richer and more important than many of the other royals. And for what I did, they paid well.

Of course, my mother received all my money. All of it was sent directly to her, unless I went to the King and asked for some of it. And any that was freely given, not a regular pay, I was aloud to keep. Sometimes I felt like I worked for free. And I did work.

Up everyday before the sun, cooking, serving my Mistress, helping her get ready for the day, cleaning up her room, serving her and her guests tea, riding with her to neighbors to make sure she was well served, cooking again, serving the Prince, helping My Lady ready for bed, helping clean the kitchen, and finally, exhausted, falling into bed.

I knocked on the door. “Come in!”

“My Lady?”

“Ah, there you are, girl. I must needs be getting ready! That dress I wore sometime back, is it clean?”

“The blue one, My Lady?”

“Yes, the blue one.” I scurried to the closet and searched around.

“Here you go, Mistress.” She dressed and I started to do her hair.

“Do a better job than you did yesterday, understand? It was falling down half way through the dinner! You would have thought I had been tugging at it.”

“Sorry, My Lady, it will be better tonight.” I worked another ten minutes on it before pinning down the loose ends and sticking in the comb of pearls. “There you go, My Lady; good as if you were going to a ball.”

“If it falls down, you will be punished! It’s embarrassing when I can not look fit to be queen!”

“Yes, Mistress.”

“Now, go to the kitchens and get something to take to Jake; he hasn’t eaten all day. I will be back late tonight, and you had better be up and waiting.”

“Yes, My Lady, I will be.”

“Then be gone!” I curtsied and left. She wouldn’t be back till twelve and I would have to wait up to undo her hair and clean her dress. I sighed. Then up again before the sun; when would I get enough rest?

I walked down the corridors, down the stairs, across the ball room, and through the hidden door to the kitchens. “Hello, Cam. How was Me Lady?”

“In a right bad mood, Daria. Terrible, she was. But, I get the evening off.”

“That’s good. Well, look ‘ere, I have the food for the Prince. You want me to take it up?”

“No, I’ll do it. You should rest! Been cooking all day, haven’t you?”

“Mostly. But now, go, if you’re going! The Queen will be angry if you are late!”

“Thanks.” I hurried back out the door and across the hall. Turn right, up the stairs, turn left, up more steps, down the corridor, and on the right, at the end, the Prince’s room. I knocked on the door and waited. “Come in.”

I slowly opened the door. I paused, looking around the room. No matter how many times I had seen it, it always made me want to study it again. The wood floors, the high ceiling, the big fireplace, the perfect desk, the dresser and bed. I started forward again. After setting down the tray on a table, I noticed it was dark and chilly in the room. I poured the tea, picked up the plate, and carried it to the desk where the Prince was studying. “Evening, sir.”

No response. No one ever received much of an answer, if they received one at all. In the past three years I’d been working with them, I could easily count the number of times the Prince had answered me (seventeen times, to be exact).

I walked to the fire and started working on the logs to light them. Soon the warm flames filled the room. I decided not to get a lantern, since that might be too much light, so instead I lit two candles, placing them at opposite sides of the room. It was cozy now; warm and peaceful. I waited in the corner while the Prince ate. I studied him as I did so.

He was a handsome man, the Prince. Dark features, he had. Dark hair, black eyes, sharp face. He was also very studious. He spent most days cooped up in here reading, writing, and learning. He forgot about warmth, food, and light, so others had to help him. He would surely freeze before he stopped reading. What always amazed me were the things he knew at eighteen.

“Are you still here, maid?”

“Yes, sir, what may I do for you?”

“Go to the library and fetch me these books.” He handed me a list with some six books on it. Each of them had scientific names that I couldn’t have pronounced, had I tried.

As I walked the four doors down to the library, I thought, I should have gone to school. Should have learned to read. Should have learned to write. Not that I couldn’t. Actually, I was very good at writing, and Mistress had me write all her letters for her. And I could read, too. Not like the Prince, but better than the other maids. I just wished I could have learned more.

It was hard walking back down the hallway with six giant books stacked in my arms, but somehow I did it. After he took them from me, he said, “You may go, girl.”

“Do you not need anything else?” He looked up. He hardly ever looked at the person he was speaking to. Usually he distractedly told them what he needed.

“Yes, I do. In an hour, a professor will stop by; I have invited him. Have food ready for him. Also, come and get me when he arrives.”

“Yes, sir. Anything else, sir?”

“No.” I curtsied and left.