any worse than washing dishes without a machine.
“When Phinneas returned home five years ago with his leg all black and rotting, Hadrixia stayed with him day and night for a week. I was the only one she let in to bring them food, and I watched him while she slept. After that, he was confined to bed for nearly a month, and I stayed with him when Hadrixia started doing rounds again. I think she used me on purpose, so that Phinneas would look kindly upon me.”
“Trying to match make you with that old man?” Bryan asked half-seriously.
“He’s the second most important man in the castle after the baron, and he could have left to become the king’s war master if he wasn’t loyal to our baron’s family,” Meghan replied with dignity. “And he has granddaughters older than I am.”
A swarm of children engaged in some sort of game suddenly enveloped the pair, danced around them for a moment, and then streamed away like receding floodwaters. That’s when it hit Bryan that there were more children than adults in the courtyard, and that even the toddlers seemed to be teetering about without supervision.
“Where did all the kids come from?” he asked.
“I thought we covered that earlier,” Meghan replied, glancing up at him in amusement.
“No, I’m serious. I’ve never seen so many little kids in one place, other than a schoolyard, and nobody seems to be paying attention to them.”
“Do they send children that young to school at Castle Trollsdatter?” Meghan asked with an edge in her tone, adding a reproachful look. “Around here, the small children are too busy looking after their younger brothers and sisters, and they usually start working with their parents as soon as they can do something useful. The smarter boys might be apprenticed to a better trade if their parents can afford it, but only the rich and highborn kids go to school at King’s castle, and that doesn’t start until they’re older.”
“That’s not what I meant,” Bryan said. He was about to tell her that families where he came from usually had just one or two children, but he didn’t want to get stuck explaining what made that possible and decided to let it pass. “Where’s the kitchen you keep complaining about?”
“We’re still using the summer kitchen, which is the area over there by the wall of the keep,” Meghan told him. “The winter kitchen is in the keep itself, with the bakery. When you aren’t washing pots and pans in the scullery, the cooks may have you running pie fillings to the bakers. The full pots were too big for me to carry by myself, so for the last week the baker’s assistant has come for them.”
“What’s a scullery?” Bryan asked. He felt like he should know what the word meant, but somehow he couldn’t make the connection.
“It’s the room built onto the kitchen for the dishwashers,” Meghan replied. “Didn’t you have a scullery at Castle Trollsdatter?”
“I guess we did,” Bryan replied, thinking about the steam filled room and the oval-tracked dishwashing machine. “How do we get paid around here?”
“Coppers, or if you tell them not to pay you every week, you may get a silver.”
“No gold?” Bryan asked in disappointment, unsure what had even prompted the question.
“There’s my dragon,” Meghan replied happily. “You could work in the scullery for a year and not earn enough for even a small gold ring.”
“You use rings rather than coins?”
“We have both, but people prefer the rings because you can put a cord through them and wear them around your neck. Don’t worry. Stick with me and I’ll get you a whole pile of gold and jewels for your dragon’s hoard.”
Chapter 8
“I’ve got a surprise for you today,” Bryan announced. He took a break from scouring the giant copper pot and looked over at Meghan for her reaction. Compared to what he had imagined medieval cookery might entail, this castle’s kitchen was surprisingly clean. The soap wasn’t
“When Phinneas returned home five years ago with his leg all black and rotting, Hadrixia stayed with him day and night for a week. I was the only one she let in to bring them food, and I watched him while she slept. After that, he was confined to bed for nearly a month, and I stayed with him when Hadrixia started doing rounds again. I think she used me on purpose, so that Phinneas would look kindly upon me.”
“Trying to match make you with that old man?” Bryan asked half-seriously.
“He’s the second most important man in the castle after the baron, and he could have left to become the king’s war master if he wasn’t loyal to our baron’s family,” Meghan replied with dignity. “And he has granddaughters older than I am.”
A swarm of children engaged in some sort of game suddenly enveloped the pair, danced around them for a moment, and then streamed away like receding floodwaters. That’s when it hit Bryan that there were more children than adults in the courtyard, and that even the toddlers seemed to be teetering about without supervision.
“Where did all the kids come from?” he asked.
“I thought we covered that earlier,” Meghan replied, glancing up at him in amusement.
“No, I’m serious. I’ve never seen so many little kids in one place, other than a schoolyard, and nobody seems to be paying attention to them.”
“Do they send children that young to school at Castle Trollsdatter?” Meghan asked with an edge in her tone, adding a reproachful look. “Around here, the small children are too busy looking after their younger brothers and sisters, and they usually start working with their parents as soon as they can do something useful. The smarter boys might be apprenticed to a better trade if their parents can afford it, but only the rich and highborn kids go to school at King’s castle, and that doesn’t start until they’re older.”
“That’s not what I meant,” Bryan said. He was about to tell her that families where he came from usually had just one or two children, but he didn’t want to get stuck explaining what made that possible and decided to let it pass. “Where’s the kitchen you keep complaining about?”
“We’re still using the summer kitchen, which is the area over there by the wall of the keep,” Meghan told him. “The winter kitchen is in the keep itself, with the bakery. When you aren’t washing pots and pans in the scullery, the cooks may have you running pie fillings to the bakers. The full pots were too big for me to carry by myself, so for the last week the baker’s assistant has come for them.”
“What’s a scullery?” Bryan asked. He felt like he should know what the word meant, but somehow he couldn’t make the connection.
“It’s the room built onto the kitchen for the dishwashers,” Meghan replied. “Didn’t you have a scullery at Castle Trollsdatter?”
“I guess we did,” Bryan replied, thinking about the steam filled room and the oval-tracked dishwashing machine. “How do we get paid around here?”
“Coppers, or if you tell them not to pay you every week, you may get a silver.”
“No gold?” Bryan asked in disappointment, unsure what had even prompted the question.
“There’s my dragon,” Meghan replied happily. “You could work in the scullery for a year and not earn enough for even a small gold ring.”
“You use rings rather than coins?”
“We have both, but people prefer the rings because you can put a cord through them and wear them around your neck. Don’t worry. Stick with me and I’ll get you a whole pile of gold and jewels for your dragon’s hoard.”
Chapter 8
“I’ve got a surprise for you today,” Bryan announced. He took a break from scouring the giant copper pot and looked over at Meghan for her reaction. Compared to what he had imagined medieval cookery might entail, this castle’s kitchen was surprisingly clean. The soap wasn’t
Similar Books
Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit
P.G. Wodehouse
Gasp (Visions)
Lisa McMann
The Monument
Gary Paulsen
The Zom Diary
Eddie Austin
Waking Hours
Lis Wiehl
Travels with Barley
Ken Wells
The Apartment
Debbie Macomber
Death Blow
Jianne Carlo
The Mercy Seat
Rilla Askew
Something to Curse About
Gayla Drummond