As if Pepper is going to sit this adventure out. As if.
This chapter is a little short for my liking, so I'm uploading the next chapter as well.
The cautious seldom err.
Pepper watched the cook's apprentice wipe his snotty nose on his sleeve as he sulkily picked out vegetables.
She was in the city's marketplace, stalking the apprentice because she knew he was the only way she could get inside the castle.
She smirked as she thought how she managed to foil Tony. Little did he know, she always carried a hair pin and she used that to pick the lock of the bedroom door.
It is a good thing I never told him I can pick locks. Anyways, he was being such a stuffed shirt about me joining him and Happy. It serves him right if I do my own scouting.
The apprentice moved to another stall and another. He was clearly bored. At the cured meats stall, he perked up because the stall keeper's daughter was a well endowed, comely, young woman who was giving him a come hither gleam.
Pepper moved closer but ignored their conversation, dismissing it as flirtatious chatter until she heard the apprentice mention the new queen.
"You should be careful, you hear," he said hoarsely, leaning towards the stall girl. "She likes you good looking types. I've seen prettier wenches than you, locked up in the dungeon and then... poof!" he gestured dramatically. "They disappear one day, never to be seen again."
The store girl laughed throatily. "You is pulling my leg. Where do these girls go and what does she do with them?"
The apprentice whispered "I don't know much, I don't, but just last week, three beautiful young ones were brought from a far off village. They was fed nice food for a night and kept in the dungeon. I know because I took the food to them. They was charged with some petty crime. The guards told me, they were going to be transported but I was up that night and I saw them taken to her chamber. The queen's chamber. The next day, they was nowhere to be found. The guards say they were taken away but, but see this."
He pulled out a thin silver anklet from his jacket. "I saw this on one of the girls. The next day I found this, in the castle gutter. What you make of that?"
The stall girl laughed again while Pepper mulled his words in her head.
He could be lying. He's certainly trying to get her attention but what... what if he's telling the truth? What's happening to these girls? And she's smartly bringing them from other villages, so there are no young girls disappearing from this city itself. Hence no one will pay attention.
The town bell rung twice and the apprentice quickly paid for his meats.
Then Pepper saw him move towards the alleyway behind the marketplace.
He's going to take a piss. Now is my chance.
She pulled the cloak's hood onto her head and sneaked into the smelly alley. Sure enough, the apprentice was preparing to relieve himself against the wall.
She crept up behind him and poked the butter knife, she had taken from the inn, into his back. He gasped but didn't turn around and she growled thickly at him
"You be working in the castle for the cook?"
"Y...y...y...ye..yes, yes, I'm just an apprentice. Don't hurt me please."
"I won't if you do exactly what you are told to do. Don't go to the castle. Take the day off. Go home and go to bed and do not leave your house. Is that clear?"
"Yes, yes, just leave me be."
"Oh and one more thing... give me your chef's hat, jacket and pass. Take then off and throw them down."
He quickly did as she said.
"Now run away and remember, do not breathe a word of this to anyone."
He blindly ran from the alley, leaving his bag of groceries behind as well.
Pepper took off her black cloak and shirt. She was going to sneak in as a boy, so she had bound her breasts.
The palace wouldn't allow her to take weapons inside, so she hadn't brought her short sword. But she had a sharp blade that she had secretly pocketed from Tony's workshop. She tied the blade to her chest with string. Then she put her shirt and the apprentice's roomy jacket on. It had a number of old and fresh food stains. She put the hat on and pulled the cloak on as well.
The more nondescript I am, the better. I do not want to attract any attention at all.
She picked up the bag of groceries and began to walk towards the castle. I need to reach there before they start preparing supper.
There was a long line at the back entrance for servants and cooks. Two guardsmen were checking bags and passes.
She had rubbed some dirt on her face and tied her hair up under the hat, so she hoped she could pass off as a scrawny, tall lad.
When it was her turn, she handed the pass to one guard, while the other went through her bag.
"Where's Eamon?"
She answered gruffly, "He be ill. He sent me with his pass. I even brought the groceries."
The guards let her pass.
Phew, I'm in.
She followed another cook to the main kitchen. It was bustling with culinary activity. Supper was being prepared.
Pepper placed the meats on the counter and moved to the cutting table with some vegetables, trying to blend in.
I need to be smart. I can't do any snooping now. Later, after supper, I can sneak out. The apprentice mentioned the dungeons. There's something going on there. I must go there first.
