Chapter 2
It was already busy in the palace grounds, not good. You quick marched around to the servants' entrance, you knew Marl would be waiting.
"Where have you been?! Thank goodness you're not too late! You know I need you to help with the younger girls. You'll be with 2 new girls today, get them up to speed as quick as you can. Now off you go to the main hall, quickly before they do something foolish." Marl looked red in the face and you knew she was cross but also a little relieved, she had needed your help more and more recently and you wonder if she was grooming you for her job.
More new girls! This was a regular thing but you had notice it increase recently, a new girl started last week! You nod to Marl and rush off to find them, inexperience was deadly.
You find them standing in the main hall gazing around, whispering and giggling to each other, why didn't they just stick a sign saying 'snack' on their heads.
"Girls!" You snap, "stop gawping and do your job! What are you names? Quickly!"
"I'm Darly and this is Fayun, we are so glad to be here, we'll work so hard you'll be impressed!" They both had beaming smiles from ear to ear, it was lovely to see but not in the palace, they would get noticed straight away.
"If you want to impress then get to work! Quickly and quietly, only speak when spoken too and don't even look at the masters or you'll be punished!" The last bit was your own rule and it was harsh but it needed to be, these girls needed to learn that everything wasn't as wonderful as it seemed. You hadn't seen the last new girl for a couple of days and you didn't want these girls to disappear to, but they wouldn't stop smiling!
They had been working quite hard all morning and you really were impressed, but you weren't going to tell them yet, you had had to dock Darly's wages and whip Fayun's arm when they had broken the rules. Darly had broken an ancient vase and you had caught Fayun singing! You didn't like being the harsh drill instructor but that's what they need to stay alive so that's what you were going to do, and besides you weren't half as strict as Marl had been, you weren't sure you'd be able to hold a cleaning cloth again after Marl had whipped your hands so many times for making mistakes on your first day.
"ok girls time for a quick break, see you back here in 5 minutes" Phew, you breathe a sigh of relief, they seemed like nice girls but you preferred to work alone and you weren't keen on being responsible for them but after a quick snack and a chance to relive yourself you decide it's time to head back. But then you stop dead, you can hear a man's voice purring down the corridor. You can't hear everything he's saying but you don't need to, you know the masters will say anything to get their prey ensnared. You feel you heart race, was he already draining them! No, they can't eat and talk at the same time, but what if he'd finished one and was starting on the other? You had only left them for a moment, what would Marl say, they had only been working for a few hours, and this would be the worst record ever. But what should you do! Kindly enter and offer to clean up the mess, No! Not this time! You take a deep breath to steady yourself and walk briskly into the room.
You almost curse out loud when you see its Lord Mavern, why him! But also have to hide a smile when you see both girls are ok and there is some distance between them. That's good; you might just be able to get them out of here.
"Well done girls! I'm very impressed, I'll tell Marl and you'll get a reward for such dedicated work!" you practically shout in an overly jolly tone, the girls look confused but it's also thrown Mavern off his game giving you a chance to get them away. "I think it's time for an early lunch, off you go girls to the servants' hall." Your over the top gesturing at the doors gets the message across for them to go now and they eagerly head for lunch unaware of how close they came to being lunch.
You can feel Lord Mavern's stare dig into the back of your head as you watch the girls go, trying to hold back a huge smile, you'd saved them for now.
"Danya, Danya,Danya, how clever you think you are." Just a whisper but you can hear the threat in his voice loud and clear, you're not smiling anymore, if you've just sent his lunch away, you could be the replacement!
You had always been good at avoiding situations like this but now what could you do, it was just you and him. He had shown interest in you before, that's how he knew your name, but Marl had always protected you, found last minute jobs to keep you out of his way, but now Marl wasn't here and you had just thrown yourself into his gaping jaws.
"My Lord" You bow and look at the floor," I'm a simple servant, I was simply informing the girls of when it is time to take a break so that they can continue to serve to the best of their abilities. Forgive me but my job here is done, I must continue cleaning before the choosing." You turn to leave but he steps in your way.
"Danya, you are anything but simple, how else could you have kept your distance for so long. But now I have you, perhaps I should put you in the choosing?" He smiled and stalked closer, what were you going to do?!
