Chapter 4

The Servant Girl

Was she still dreaming? Or was this for real after all?

Even when she was sitting in the carriage, Lorena still expected to wake up at any moment, finding herself lying on a piece of old sail behind some wooden crates at the harbor. This was way too surreal, this had to be a dream. But no, she still didn't wake up.

This was for real.

Looking behind her, Lorena saw the distance between her and Wrestar growing bigger and bigger. It was nearly symbolic; for many years she had tried her absolute best to survive on the streets of this city, and now that she chose for this new life, it was like she was putting her old life behind her. For the first time in years, the young woman knew she didn't have to steal food or look behind her shoulder at night. It was inevitable that she would have to work a lot, she didn't mind that, but one thing was for sure; she would finally have a safe place to stay.

But one thing that made her really uncomfortable was the way Stephanie was looking at her. From the moment she got into the carriage, the queen of Rexxan was glaring at her with a disgusted look in her eyes, as if she was a mangy dog instead of a human being. It made Lorena cringe from the inside; it made her feel like she was even lower than an insect. She almost felt ashamed for sitting here in the carriage; no king and queen would like to be seen with a street rat, after all. But maybe, just maybe... Stephanie would take a liking of her. If she worked as hard as she could, maybe she would see her in a different way. Maybe that would help... Lorena hoped it would work. Triple H himself didn't pay too much attention to the 'new girl'. He stared at his castle in the distance, as if he was hoping to get there as soon as possible.

The closer they got to the wall around the castle, the more nervous Lorena got. My God... she was going to be the first resident of Wrestar to be allowed inside the castle! She wondered how it would look like inside. Was it also decorated in gold, just like the carriage? Were there more servant girls? Lorena hoped she could befriend them, it has been a long time since she had been friends with anybody. During her time on the street, making friends with fellow homeless could actually get you killed. Finally they arrived at the wall of the castle. Lorena dropped her jaw in awe. My goodness... she knew the castle was big when she saw it from a distance, but from up close, the castle and the wall looked huge! 'Open the gates!' At the far front, Captain Seth ordered the giant gates of the castle to be opened. The guards complied and opened the gates with a loud creaking noise. Lorena bit her lower lip.

This was it.

No turning back...

The courtyard was large enough to let all of Triple H's soldiers train there. Numerous of racks with all kinds of weapons were attached to the walls. Swords, axes, spears, shields; these men had enough weapons to turn themselves into unstoppable warriors. It looked like some soldiers were still not good enough to fight on the battlefield, because some of them were left behind to train. The sound of clashing swords, shields and grunts echoed through the courtyard, but as soon as the training soldiers spotted their returning comrades with the king and queen, the sounds immediately stopped. The swords and shields were put down and the men walked towards the carriage, who had stopped in the middle of the courtyard. Lorena could smell their sweat when they got closer, it nearly made her wrinkle her nose in disgust. Some soldiers had bloody slashes and bruises on their bodies, giving her the goose bumps. So this is what they went through during their training...

Triple H stood up and got out of his carriage; like obedient dogs, the soldiers backed away a bit. They had nothing else but respect for their king.

'My soldiers...' the King of Kings spoke. 'It has been a long and bloody battle against the queen of Teann and her soldiers. We have lost good men, who were willing to sacrifice their lives for Rexxan. But their deaths have not been in vain. Because in the end, we have won the war. The queen of Teann has surrendered herself.'

Upon hearing these words, the soldiers burst into a thunderous cheering fit. Yes, they had lost some of their comrades, they were damn good men, but like their king said, their deaths hadn't been in vain; that was a big comfort for them. So far none of them had paid any attention to Lorena, they didn't even notice her. No, they only had eye for their mighty king. He was like a god to them.

A door near the main entrance of the castle opened and unbeknownst to everybody, a young woman quickly approached the carriage. She slightly bowed down to the royal couple, another sign of respect. 'Welcome home, your highnesses.' she said with a soft voice.

Just then, Lorena noticed her. The young woman's appearance made her blink her eyes in surprise. The woman was about her length, maybe a little shorter than her. Like Lorena, she had long platinum blonde hair, but the lower half of her hair was dyed blue. She was wearing a red top adorned with golden patterns and chains, a long red skirt with two splits and a golden belt. Was she a servant girl? Nonetheless, her length and her hair made her look like a fairy. The only thing that was missing were her wings. Lorena had heard many stories about fairies when she was a little girl... were they real after all? Were all the servants in the castle fairies? The thought made Lorena smile.

'Alexa!' Stephanie shouted angrily. Lorena jumped at this sudden outburst. What was going on here? What did she do to make her angry? She didn't do anything wrong if you'd ask her. Stephanie's voice made Alexa, the 'fairy', cringe.

'Where the hell are your manners? Where is your mask?!'

'I'm... I'm sorry, your highness. I must have forgotten it...'

'Of course you did, you stupid little cow.' the queen hissed. 'Next time when you forget to put on your mask again, I will not hesitate to punish you. Understood?'

Alexa stared at the ground in shame and nodded. 'Yes, your highness.' When she got a bit of courage to look up, she noticed Lorena. 'Your highness... may I ask who that girl is?'

'This girl here is Lorena.' Triple H answered before his wife could. 'She will work here as a servant. I want you to prepare a bath for her and give her some clothing.'

'And make sure you put a lot of herbs in the water.' Stephanie's said contemptuously. 'She smells even worse than the horses' stables.' These words made Lorena feel ashamed of herself. She wanted to say something back, really, but she couldn't. It was true what Stephanie said; she smelled horrible. And what was the point if she would say something back? Stephanie was a queen, she was a (former) homeless. Her words would mean nothing to her.

'Lorena.' Triple H said. 'You go with Alexa now. She will learn everything you need to know.'

'Yes, your highness.'

Lorena got out of the carriage and followed Alexa to the door. Much to her surprise, the 'fairy' was smiling, despite what happened a moment ago. 'So you are new here?' she cheerfully asked.

'Well yes, I am.'

'Ah! It always makes me happy when a new girl arrives at the castle!'

Lorena couldn't help but frown in curiosity. A moment ago she got yelled at by Stephanie and now she was smiling from ear to ear and talking like nothing happened.

'Can I ask you something?' the former homeless asked.

'Sure, what is it?'

'How come you are acting so happy now?'

'Well... queen Stephanie loses her temper quite often, even about the smallest things. She is a true perfectionist. I get scolded often, but I'm used to it by now. I always try to make the best out of my situation... it's the best thing I can do.'

The shame Lorena felt earlier was replaced with awe when she entered the castle.

Every time when she watched the massive building from the city's square, she had always wondered how it would look like from the inside. And today she would finally found out how it looked like. Torches were attached to the walls, illuminating brightly in the hallways. Night was nearly falling, so the light was very pleasant. Scarlet red tapestry with the golden cross embroidered in it covered some of the bricks from the walls. Lorena followed Alexa through the hallways, apparently she knew the way around the castle like the back of her hand.

'Trust me, you will feel great after your bath!' the woman happily said.

'Thanks a lot...' Lorena smiled shyly. 'It has been quite a while since I took a bath.'

'What? Why?' Just then, Alexa understood what she meant; looking at her old clothes, she found about Lorena's background. 'Oh... you are a homeless?'

'Yes... I've been living on the streets for a long time.'

'For how long?'

'Two, three years maybe.'

'My goodness... how did you manage to stay alive for so long?'

'I had to be as careful as possible... I had to steal food, I nearly got caught a couple of times. I couldn't trust any other homeless; most of them were so desperate they would kill you just for a bit of food. I even got attacked a few times for the food I had. This is why I have spend my life on the streets mostly alone. Every night I looked for different places to sleep safe. I refused to use drugs and alcohol, no matter how miserable I was on some days. That's how I managed to survive, basically.'

It felt good to tell her story to somebody, Lorena started to feel better and better.

'The king and queen only found me today when they returned to the castle. Some guy pushed me in front of the carriage. Stephanie believed I interrupted them on purpose and ordered me to be arrested, but the king offered me to work here. That's how I ended up here...'

Alexa slightly nodded. 'Dang... that's quite a story you got there. You're lucky you didn't get arrested, or else you wouldn't be even standing here right now!' Of course Alexa knew what would happen to homeless people if they were arrested by the city's guards. They would be thrown into a prison cell and left there to rot, nobody who would be concerned about them... if Triple H hadn't offered her the job, Lorena's life as a free woman would be over by now.

The women stopped walking when they reached a door.

'My room is over here.' Alexa said. 'I can grab some clothes of mine and give them to you.'

'Thank you, Alexa.' Lorena smiled, she had the feeling they were already building up a friendship.

'Hey, it's no problem. Hold on, I will be right back.'

Alexa opened the door, got into her bedroom and shut the door behind her. Leaning against the wall, Lorena let out a soft sigh. Well, so far things were going well for now... She was starting to become friends with Alexa, something she was really happy about. If she would become her friend, then maybe her life here in the castle would be even better! Yes, what Stephanie said earlier about her was embarrassing, but if she proved to her that she was definitely worth something, she could take back her words and take a liking towards her. Lorena was actually pretty optimistic right now.

Suddenly she heard some footsteps in the distance and two female voices talking to each other. Were there more servant girls in the castle? That was most likely. The footsteps got closer and two other servant girls turned around the corner. One girl was a bit tall and had blonde hair, the other had red lips and light brown hair. They were dressed just like Alexa, then they had to be servant girls as well. The women immediately stopped talking upon spotting Lorena.

'Hey! Who the heck are you?!' the servant girl with the red lips asked with something hostile in her voice.

'Sasha, I think she's a homeless, just look at her clothes...' the other servant girl said, pointing at Lorena's clothes and wrinkling her nose in disgust.

'I think so too, Charlotte... How the hell did she get in? Did she sneak past the guards?'

Lorena didn't like the hostility from Sasha one bit. It didn't make her feel comfortable at all. She looked pretty disgusted by her appearance, like the people in Wrestar did when they noticed her.

'I... I didn't sneak in.' the young woman said, trying to defend herself. 'The king offered me a job to work here as a servant girl.'

'Seriously?' Sasha frowned and looked at Charlotte. 'Does Triple H pick up street rats now? What the hell was he thinking?'

'What does it matter if I'm a street rat?' Lorena asked, starting to get angry with Sasha's attitude. 'I'm here now, my past doesn't matter now, or does it?'

'Oh it does, street rat...' Sasha chuckled and grinned. 'People like you are the worst. You are nothing more than vermin. Filthy, disgusting, vermin. You are not worthy to be a servant for the king and queen. You deserve to die in the gutter in your own filth.' Sasha walked towards Lorena and poked her harshly against her chest. 'You are worthless.'

Just before Lorena could say something back to defend herself, the door opened and Alexa appeared, holding some clothes. 'What's going on?' she asked. 'Is something wrong?'

'Triple H has picked up a street rat from the streets, that's what's wrong.' Charlotte sneered. Alexa sighed and shook her head. She had expected Charlotte and Sasha to react like this; these girls were downright mean. They enjoyed it when people who worked around the castle got in trouble, they would watch in delight when Stephanie would lash out against anybody who were unlucky enough to make a mistake. Charlotte and Sasha had a poor opinion about everybody, they thought they were so much better. These girls had a mean streak, and they weren't afraid to show it.

'Leave her alone, alright? She hadn't done anything to you, so you shouldn't anything to her.'

'She already did something to us.' Sasha answered, glaring at Lorena. 'She has the guts to stand near me. Let's go, Charlotte.' Charlotte nodded and together with her friend, she walked away from Lorena and Alexa.

The 'fairy' patted on Lorena's shoulder. 'I'm sorry about that. They have always been like this, they have picked on me as well. You just got to ignore them. Let's go now, I will prepare the bath for you.'

'What the hell were you thinking, Hunter?!' Stephanie hissed coldly, pointing her fork at him.

Sitting at the large oak dinner table, the royal couple had their first good dinner they had a long while. On the battlefield there was no time for a large cooked meal, for that time they had eat potato puree just like the soldiers. Being back in the castle and finally being able to have a proper dinner was so good.

After swallowing down a mouthful of wine, Triple H cocked his eyebrow. 'What do you mean?' he asked.

'You know damn well what I'm talking about!' Stephanie snapped. 'That little bitch Lorena you picked up from the streets! A filthy homeless! Here, in our castle! Disgusting, Hunter, disgusting!'

'Will you please calm down?' Triple H answered, unmoved by his wife's rage. 'I offered her to be a servant for a reason, you know?'

'Hunter, we already have three servants, I think that is more than enough!'

'Stephanie, if you let me finish speaking, I can explain it to you.' Triple H cut off a piece from the cooked chicken of his plate. 'She is a homeless. She is worthless. Her life doesn't have any value whatsoever. By becoming a servant, her useless life may have some purpose after all.' It was true. Triple H remembered Lorena standing there in front of the carriage earlier this day, nearly shaking like a leaf when Stephanie ordered her to be arrested. Just by one look at her, the King of Kings knew she wasn't worth a thing. No other king or queen would ever want a sickly pale, smelly, underweight excuse of a woman as their servant in their castle. This lowly homeless was destined to die in the gutter. Triple H didn't feel any pity for her. But at least he wanted to give her pathetic life some worth. That's why he wanted Lorena to work in the castle. Only for that, no other reason.

The queen didn't reply, but didn't remove the glare from her face. After a little while, she nodded. 'You're right about her being worthless.' she said, but her voice still had something cold. 'She'd better do her work good here... I'm not afraid to punish her if I have to.'

'I know that, Stephanie.' Triple H took another gulp of his wine. 'I know you will.'