Chapter 4
I woke up after a rough nights sleep. Tossing and turning, staring at the ceiling, and finally exhaustion took in and knocked me out. I jumped when I heard a loud bang somewhere in the castle. It interrupted the dream I was having of me being beheaded for having that dress. Natalie was calling out that I stole it from her, Prince Cambridge stood with the axe. When I think about it, it was a stupid dream, but scared me nevertheless. I looked down at my hands where thin scabs were starting to form.
"Maleen," Theresa whispered from the doorway. "The horses and carriages need cleaned today, before the Queen awakes. They are making a trip into the country." With a groan I rolled off my bed and walked out of the servant's quarters.
The horses bayed when I pushed open the stable doors. The Queen always insists on hooking five horses to the carriage when she goes traveling, when it only takes one. The Prince insists on traveling and riding when the roads are really muddy and messy, because he likes the splashes. The Princess only rides side saddle, and for ten minutes tops. The King only rides in a carriage when going long distances for diplomatic meetings. He likes to ride bareback. I know everything about the Royal family. When I entered the stables, I knew instantly that the Prince went riding on the last rain storm. The white carriage with the Haverstick coat of arms was splattered with mud, and the horses were all very messy. I groaned and grabbed a bucket to take up to the well. This was going to take awhile. Luckily the rooster didn't crow yet.
After four trips to the well, I finished washing the carriage, now all I had was the horses left. That would have been easier if they didn't keep rearing. The rooster crowed in the distance. That would give me at least an hour until the Queen wished to go riding.
"Do you need some help?" I spun around expecting the stable boy to be there, but it was Prince Cambridge. My eyes widened, and I stepped into the bucket of water when I went to bow. "Don't bow, please. I hate it when everyone becomes so proper as soon as I come into a room. Just be yourself really."
"Yes, your highness." I said quickly. My foot was still in the water, but I was terrified to pull it out.
"Call me Cam, Cambridge if you so wish." We stared at each other a little bit. I must have resembled a frightened deer. Theresa was right, he was quite handsome. "Is your foot stuck?"
"No, sir."
"Well, take it out." Maybe Nathaniel was right. Maybe I am dumb. I slowly slipped it out of the water and onto the ground. He smiled at me and then walked closer. "I didn't think I would ever see you again."
"Please don't tell anyone about the dress. Please, I don't want it taken away from me." I begged.
"Don't worry about that. It will be our secret." He turned away from me and looked at the horses tied up to be washed. "So would you like some help on washing these horses?"
"You don't have to. I wouldn't want you to get messy. The princess might not enjoy that."
"More reason for me to wash them." He picked up the brush and started to scrub the one closest to him.
In no time we had all five horses spotless. I tied them up outside where they wouldn't get messier, and so it would be easier for Jacob to hook them up to the carriage.
"So, your name is Maleen?" Cambridge asked me as a horse nuzzled his shoulder.
"Yes." I answered while absentmindedly petting the horse.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Maleen, both times."
"MALEEN!!! Maleen! Where are my riding boots?!" Natalie screamed from outside her window. If I thought the bell was bad... no, just ignore it Maleen. I looked at Cambridge briefly, and then bowed.
"Pleasure is all mine, your highness. But I have to go tend to my mistress." I walked away, not willingly, but under the threat of my probable beheading.
"I may take her up on her offer!" He called after me. I looked over my shoulder at him. "Fair thee well, Maleen." I nodded my head slightly, before going back into the castle.
I think that the Princess is either becoming dumber, or she did not like that I was speaking to Cambridge. When I entered her room, she was sitting on her chair waiting for me to put her boots on. They sat right there.
"I see you found them." I said, folding my arms across my chest.
"What did I say about speaking to me?" She spat.
"Your Highness, Princess Natalie." I bowed. "I am at your service."
"Put my boots on my feet." I sighed and followed her orders. I laced them as tight as I could, hoping to cut the circulation off. She yelped a few times, and kicked me in the shoulder. I gave up on causing her pain, and just laced them properly.
"Anything else, milady?"
"No, you took enough of my time just with the boots. Tell Peters I wish to be announced at the breakfast table."
"Yes, mistress, will do." I bowed and exited quickly. Looking out the windows in the second floor hall way, Cambridge was no longer by the horses. He could be anywhere in the kingdom of Havern by now. I sighed and went back down to the kitchen.
The summer days in Havern are usually muggy, but it was already murderously hot this afternoon. I and the other kitchen wenches were laying on the cold kitchen floor since the stable hands kicked us out of the wine cellar. The cool stone felt comforting against my shoulder, where a foot print shaped bruise started to form.
Zell, an older maid, told us jokes as we laid there. It was very pleasant, for the short time it lasted. We took turns cleaning up the kitchen, or doing Petunia's biddings, but even she understood how horrible it was in the heat. I caught her laying on the floor a few times. Theresa urged me to sing. She always tells me that I'm so musical with a beautiful voice, but I don't see it. I'm embarrassed, really, whenever someone catches me singing as I work, but laying on the floor as my fellow servants cheered me on made all the embarrassments go away.
But halfway through my song, I heard the familiar bell ring. Theresa, Zell, and some other wenches groaned, just what I was going to do. I, against my own will, pealed myself off the floor to see what the spoiled princess wanted.
She was standing in the entrance hall with the Queens, her brother, and Prince Cambridge. Cambridge smiled at me when he saw me enter and I could feel my insides jump. The Queens were in low conversation and the Prince was glaring at Cambridge's head. But Natalie stood there with an evil smirk upon her face.
"Ah, Maleen. There you are. Not being lazy are you?" She sneered. I bowed to them all, and snuck a look at Cambridge. How trustworthy was he? Hopefully nothing like Nathaniel.
"What may I do for yee, your highness Princess Natalie?" I asked in a sickingly sweet voice.
"We are going on a ride through the country and of our lands. I want you to accompany us so you may fan me."
I wanted to protest. I wanted to spit on her shoes, telling her to hang her head out the carriage if it was too hot for her. I wanted to run away far far away from here. But all of these things would have been difficult if I had no head, which is exactly what would happen if I didn't say, "Yes, milady, as you wish." The impeding doom of my beheading went away for at least one more day.
"Princess," Cambridge said softly, looking at the ground and at no one. "Do you really believe that is necessary? Must you have someone to fan you?" Is he to be trusted? Did I ask that before, because how could I doubt. This man was wonderful. For saying that, I had enough gratitude to give him my life.
"Yes, it is. Today is hot, and I want someone to fan me. I want her to fan me." Natalie said stubbornly. And that was the end of that. She huffed a bit and turned back to me. She thrusted her feathered fan into my hands and exited the hall out to where a carriage sat.
The princess got what she wanted. I was crammed in a carriage across from the Princess and Nathaniel. Cambridge sitting next to me gazing out the window. I yawned as my arm went up and down, up and down, up and down. I'm not sure how much air she was getting from the small fan, but she best be enjoying it. For I was sitting in her carriage, being sweaty and dirty, my shoulder ached from where she kicked me, and my arm muscles were screaming out to rest. I was not having a good time. Natalie and Nathaniel were talking about something, I tuned them out after a while. Suddenly, Cambridge turned to look at me waving my arm up and down.
"Do you always order your hand maid to do stupid tasks like this?" He asked the Princess, his gaze not leaving me.
"This is not a stupid task. It's hot, I needed a fanner." She said as though he offended her. She doesn't have a heart, she can't be offended. She's pure evil, no emotion crosses her mind.
"You could fan yourself, just as easily as she is fanning you." He snapped back. I wanted to pipe in and say that it wasn't all that easy, but Nathaniel interrupted me.
"What are you saying?" Nathaniel hissed. This was getting interesting. I paused in my fanning, but Natalie kicked my shin when the fan rested on my lap.
"I'm saying that she abuses her servants and treats them like slaves." Cambridge yelled. The princess snorted, and turned to him, with a superior glance.
"Well, my dear Prince, she is a slave." Natalie answered. Cambridge's head whipped around to look at me, and I stared darkly at my feet. Refusing to look up. In my head I was screaming 'stop looking at me'. It was as if he heard me, because he started looking out the window again. "Maleen, don't stop fanning." I followed the order and began to lift the feathered fan up and down again, to the rhythm of the screaming in my head.
I cried myself to sleep that night. Between the numbing pain of my arms and shoulder, and the scene in the carriage playing through my head over and over, I couldn't help but sob. I hugged the dress as I lay there, pulling a bit of comfort from it. There wasn't much to comfort me, but the kindness that I was once given by the seamstress, and Cambridge. Would he still treat me the same way, now that he knew I was a slave? I tried to banish those thoughts from my mind, but the look of his face still haunted me.
