Ever since the start of the day, there had been a feeling of panic in the palace kitchens. It started when word was received that the king required his breakfast and a servant to deliver it. It was then that the entire palace discovered Merlin was nowhere to be found. George had been quickly dispatched with the king's breakfast and ever since then, the day had gone downhill for poor Beryl Patmore, the head cook. It was now a little before lunchtime and she was on her hands and knees in front of one of the ovens, swearing like a trooper and trying to persuade the fire to burn hotter. If the temperature did not rise soon, the entire batch of cakes would be ruined. She sat up and shouted at a young boy to fetch in some more wood pronto. The child scampered off and Beryl stood up to survey her domain. She was a large (in every sense of the word) woman with ruddy checks and a bright smile. She was also a force of nature in her own right and controlled her kitchen with a rod of iron. Many a palace servant and minor noble had fallen foul of her sharp tongue when caught trying to bend the rules of the kitchen.
The large trestle tables down the centre of the room were groaning under the weight of the food available. Mrs Patmore was very proud of her ability to ensure that no one went hungry in her kitchens. There was every size of plate imaginable laid out on the tables, with newly roasted meats and vegetables steaming in the air next to the ovens. Fresh made loaves of bread with chunks of cheese, jars of chutney and sliced cold meats were arranged further down the kitchen with fruit, honey and cream desserts at the end. The gorgeous aroma of freshly cooked meats and herbs wafted through the air. The kitchen was full of the hustle and bustle of the midday rush as the personal servants to the nobles rushed around gathering food for their masters and the kitchen staff tried to keep up with demand.
Beryl looked up, her attention caught by a kerfuffle occurring in one corner of the kitchen. She noticed a group of the palace maids huddled together and swiftly moved towards the commotion. The staff in her path scattered like leaves in the wind, once Beryl was in motion heading towards a destination, she was similar to a large ship under sail and nothing and no one would get in the way. She arrived close enough to the group to hear the tail end of the conversation.
"...and anyway, I spoke to Dave earlier on and he said that Craig told him that Mark had heard arguments in the throne room last night. Maybe the King has finally just had enough and chopped his head off."
At this, the girls went quiet with shock and one of the maids threw her apron over her eyes and started to cry.
"Now, just what is going on over here?" The voice of the cook made them all jump and they looked around guiltily. "I'm waiting". Beryl's voice made it clear she was not in the mood to be patient.
"We were just wondering where Merlin is" said one of the maids quietly "because Sarah said that Dave said..."
"Ivy, I don't care who said what. You are in my kitchen to work, not to spread idle chit chat and gossip. Now get on with your jobs unless you want me to report you to the Steward". At this threat, the girls fled like birds before a storm. Beryl caught the arm of the maid who had been quietly crying, leading her towards the back of the room. "Caty, everyone knows you've got a soft spot for the boy but I'm sure he's fine". She handed over a handkerchief and waited as Caty blew her nose. "Now, I don't need to see you for the rest of the lunchtime rush. Go outside, get some fresh air and pull yourself together, I don't want you crying into the soup for this evening." She shooed the girl towards the back door of the kitchen after handing her a chunk of bread and cheese and an apple.
Caty let herself out of the back door and closed it behind her, leaning on the rough wood and closing her eyes against the bright sunlight. She allowed herself a small chuckle. Getting around the cook was just too easy sometimes, and she now had at least two hours to herself, more than enough time to complete her mission. She took a bite out of the still warm bread and set off in the direction of the guard room.
It had been over four years since she had started working in the palace and she thought back to how it had all started, knowing she owed everything to Merlin. She had only been a child of 12 years old when her father had died and left her mother and siblings destitute. Caty was a bright girl and had soon learned the necessary skills of pick pocketing to keep her family provided for. It had been a bright day at the end of summer when she went to the city market place for the annual fair. The large square was filled with merchants and townspeople all dressed in their best clothes and determined to enjoy the holiday atmosphere. There were bright flags, billowing gently in the breeze, coloured bunting strung across the stalls and all manner of items on sale for all of Camelot to enjoy. There was entertainment too, jugglers, stilt walkers and even a fire eater kept the crowds awed and the children thrilled. This was the perfect environment, providing rich pickings for a small girl with a desire to feed her family. Caty wandered from stall to stall, easily spotting and targeting the wealthy traders and merchants. A few coins lifted from a bulging purse here and there would not be missed and might mean the difference between living or starving for Caty and her brothers.
Towards the end of the day, she was just about to turn for home when she spotted a tall, black haired young man browsing the stalls. She recognised him as the manservant to Prince Arthur, the one that all the townspeople were aware was a bit of a fool and at least one sandwich short of a picnic. At least, that's what the prince was so fond of pronouncing. She walked up behind him and watched as he looked at the items for sale on the stall. The merchant was selling jewellery and personal seals for individuals and the young man was looking at a plain metal seal with the outline of a bird of prey in flight on it. The seal was designed for the user to easily conceal it with a small loop to allow it to be threaded on a cord and hung around the neck. Caty moved closer pretending to examine one of the hair combs and saw what she was looking for, the young man's purse was hanging from his belt. As the personal manservant to the prince, who had been appointed by the King himself if rumours were correct, she reasoned he must have a good wage and would not miss a small purse of coins. Her heart beat faster as she slipped closer, using the crush of people around the stall to hide her purpose and gently cut the strings of the purse with her small pocket knife. She triumphantly felt the weight of the purse fall into her waiting hand and swiftly secreted it under her skirts. The young man still appeared oblivious, and having purchased the seal, was talking to the stall owner. Caty quietly left the stall and made her way towards a side alley without any particular hurry. She had learnt long ago that rushing anywhere was the surest way to get caught. Her heart was slowing down as she moved away from the crush of people and she started congratulating herself on a job well done, this little haul should see the family through the hard months of winter. Suddenly there was a heavy hand on her shoulder and she spun around to look up into deep blue eyes that seemed to be glowing almost gold.
"I think you have something that belongs to me". There was no shouting accusation, no call for the town guards, just a quiet voice, but the intensity of his eyes left Caty in no doubt that he would not hesitate to be more forceful if needed. She briefly considered busting into tears and swearing that she did not know what he was talking about (this ploy had often worked before with foolish nobles) but she quickly dismissed this idea, somehow knowing it would not work with this man. He held out his hand, waiting for her to return the purse. She swallowed, calculating how quickly she could run once she had returned the purse. His eyes narrowed and she sighed before retrieving the purse and dropping it into his outstretched hand. She turned to run but a hand clamped around her wrist with an iron grip. "Come with me" he ordered as he started to walk towards the palace. Now Caty started to struggle in earnest. If he handed her over to the castle guards, they would easily find the rest of the stolen coins and she would be imprisoned or worse. Sentences for thieves were particularly severe to deter the common criminal.
"I gave it back to you, let me go" she shrieked as she tried to bite his arm. He stopped, seemingly puzzled and crouched down to look the girl in the eyes. "Are you hungry?" he asked quietly, looking at her skinny frame. Caty stared at him in amazement, still struggling to free herself from his grip. She did not remember the last time she had not been hungry. "'Course I am" she snarled, exposing sharp teeth like a small vixen. Then she added in a quieter tone, "I beg you, don't report me Sir."
The man looked truly surprised. "Who said anything about reporting you? I'm taking you to see a friend of mine who works in the kitchens, I'm sure she can find a meal for you."
Caty stopped struggling and gazed in open amazement, was this man for real? "Really?" she whispered, not daring to believe him.
"Really." He let go of her wrist and waited as she struggled between wanting to believe him and wanting to run. In the end, curiosity and the gnawing hunger in her stomach won and she looked at him. "Ok", she held out a hand, "I'm Caty". He smiled as he raised the offered hand to his lips and kissed it, as befits a courtier greeting a lady. "Pleased to make your acquaintance my lady, I'm Merlin". He stood up and started to walk towards the forbidding walls of the palace. Caty took a deep breath and followed, hoping she was not walking into any kind of trap.
Merlin led the way through the outer walls and towards the main courtyard of the palace. Caty had moved closer to him now and suddenly stopped as she noticed two guards who were stationed at the guard posts before the stone archway to the main courtyard. Sensing her reluctance, Merlin turned back towards her and pointed through the archway. "The kitchens are through there. We have to go under the archway to get to them. Don't worry, we're not going anywhere near the guard house". He gave her hand a reassuring squeeze and then sauntered through the archway greeting the guards as he went. Caty followed, and much to her relief, neither of them gave her a second glance.
They arrived at a rough wooden door set in the stone wall and Merlin pushed it open. Caty was hit by the warm air and the wondrous aroma that emanated from the massive kitchen. Her eyes adjusted from the bright afternoon sunlight and she gazed in amazement at the sight before her. There seemed to be hundreds of people in the room, all buzzing around like bees in a hive but the most amazing thing was the amount of food. Every spare surface was covered in it. There were bunches of dried herbs hanging from the rafters, there were whole sides of beef being turned on spits across the blazing fires, there were loaves of bread cooling by the ovens, there were even cakes and sweets that made Caty's mouth water with the mere thought of them. Her family had never been wealthy even when her father was alive and food had often been scarce. She had never seen a selection of food like this in her life before and the sheer scale of it took her breath away.
Merlin came back a few minutes later with a large woman who looked critically at Caty. "She's skinny" pronounced the woman. "She just needs a few of your famous meals Mrs P" countered Merlin, grinning at the woman. "You were saying only yesterday that you need someone to fetch and carry and wash dishes. She'd be perfect."
"Harrumph." The woman turned to Caty, "how old are you girl?"
Caty looked at Merlin who was making rapid upwards motion hand gestures.
"Ummm, sixteen Ma'am?" She lied and then grinned at the thumbs up signal from the young man standing behind the woman.
"None of those titles here girl. I'm Cook or Mrs P to everyone" the cook stated gruffly. "Well, I suppose I could give you a weeks trial and see how it goes, not promising anything mind."
"Thank you, thank you Mrs P." Merlin threw his arms around the cook and planted a kiss on her cheek. "I'm sure you won't regret this."
"I'd better not Merlin or the prince will hear about it and then it's your neck on the line too. Now, get this poor girl a plate of food before she collapses on us. Looks like she hasn't had a good meal since half past never."
The cook turned away towards another part of the kitchen and Merlin grabbed a plate, piling it high with bread, cheese and cold meats from the nearest table. He guided Caty towards a corner of the busy room and pulled out two stools from under a small table. She looked at him in astonishment. Within the space of one hour, this total stranger, who she had tried to rob blind, had managed to secure her both her first decent meal in weeks and a job. It was all too much to take in and she started to cry. He put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed it, "Are you ok?" She gulped and nodded. "I'm fine, but I don't understand...why did you that?"
Merlin shrugged, "You looked like you needed a break. I think people should be given a chance to prove themselves and not simply condemned for what they are. And besides, his prattness is getting sick of me doing Mrs P's fetching and carrying and told me to find someone for the role PDQ."
"But I can't ever repay you for this."
Merlin smiled, "I don't need repaying for helping someone." He grabbed a chunk of bread from the platter and jumped to his feet. "Go find Mrs P when you've eaten what you want. I'd better be off, sadly the prats armour won't clean itself. See you around." He gave her a mischievous smile and disappeared into the crush of people in the large room. Caty quickly finished her food and went to find the cook. Mrs Patmore was supervising the seasoning of a large vat of stew and looked up as the girl approached.
"Right, that boy might think he can pull the wool over my eyes but there's not much that I miss and I think you should know that people who lie to me, don't last long in my kitchen. So, I'll ask again, how old are you?"
Caty looked at her feet, was she about to lose the job before she'd even started? "Thirteen" she said quietly.
The cook smiled, "There, that wasn't so difficult was it?" Caty gave her an astonished look. "If Merlin is willing to vouch for you then I'll be happy to give you a chance. Now go and give Daisy a hand with those dishes over there". Caty smiled and turned towards the mountain of washing up, maybe this would work out for her after all.
Caty quickly settled into her new life in the castle. Having a regular wage coming in made all the difference to her family, allowing her mother to afford the medicines needed to cure her little brother of the cough he'd had since their father died. She proved herself to be a good worker, clever and efficient and she was quickly trusted and promoted in the kitchen ranks. However, she never forgot that she owed her entire turnaround in fortune to that lanky, clumsy, kind natured man and when Merlin approached her a few months later to ask a favour, she was more than willing to help him out. At first, it was just delivering the occasional message or passing on a letter to a travelling salesman who called at the kitchen. But as time went on, Merlin slowly introduced her further into the murky depths of the Ghost network of Camelot. It was less than a year ago that she had finally been added to the core group and introduced to the ultimate aims of the Ghosts. It had astonished her to understand just a small amount of what Merlin was capable of and she was again struck by how selfless and giving the young man was, while never expecting anything in return. And now, he was missing and no one seemed to know what had happened.
This jarring thought bought Caty back to the present as she reached the guard house. There were a few off duty guards sat around a small table in the afternoon sun, playing dice. They looked up as she approached and smiled at her. Caty was on the verge of womanhood and very aware that her looks made her the subject of some unwanted attention from a lot of the men in the palace. Her cheeks coloured as she nodded to them. One of them spoke to her "I think he's down by the water pump". She ducked her head appreciatively. "Thank you." She carried on down the cobbled steps at the front of the stone building to the water pump. Sure enough, a young guardsman was by the pump washing dirt and grit from his face after a busy morning out in the lower town. He looked up and smiled at her as she handed him the apple she had from the kitchen.
Watching this scene playing out in front of them, the older guards smiled indulgently. Caty had taken the young man under her wing when he first arrived at the palace and shown him around and they were now firm friends. She spent a few minutes talking with him before leaving in the direction of the physician's chambers. No one noticed as Hugh pocketed the small slip of blue parchment that Caty had handed over with the apple.
Caty walked through the castle to Gaius' chambers and knocked on the door before entering. She was glad to find the physician in his rooms. Gaius raised his eyebrows when he saw her. "Caty, come in. What can I do for you?" Gaius was brisk and business like and Caty wondered what was going on, until she noticed two knights sat in the corner of the room, obviously waiting for the concoction that was bubbling in a vat over the open fire. This was not what she needed right now as she wanted to quiz Gaius on the whereabouts of Merlin. However, it was obvious the old man was not in the mood for saying anything in front of witnesses, and so Caty's mind turned to the other purpose of her visit.
"I was hoping you could give me something for the burn on my arm, I scalded it over the stove this morning". Gaius beckoned her over to where he was stirring the bubbling mixture and she rolled up her sleeve showing a burn that was clearly a few days old and not really in need of treatment. He examined it and then shuffled towards a shelf to reach down a small pot of salve. He handed it over to Caty. "Rub this on twice a day, it will help with the healing and stop any infection." She gave him a quick smile and squeezed his hand, "Thank you Gaius." She nodded at the knights and walked out the door. Again, no one had noticed the blue parchment that Caty had passed over as Gaius gave her the pot of salve. He slipped it into his robes and smiled grimly, it was going to be a long and difficult few days.
Later in the afternoon, Hugh took a walk towards the lower town and visited the palace stables. He spent a while petting the horses and offering a crisp green apple to his favourite brown mare before walking to an empty stall at the end of the building in search of Greg, the head stable hand. Greg was a small wiry man in his forties with ginger hair and a face like a fox. Admired for his excellent ability to calm and tame any horse, Greg much preferred equine company to human and was considered sullen to the point of rudeness to anyone but those he knew well. No one else was in the stables to see the small slip of blue parchment that was handed over by the guardsman and the quick nod and sudden interest in the eyes of the stable man.
Similar scenarios were played out across Camelot for the rest of the afternoon and evening. Seemingly random and innocent meetings between people with a quick exchange of news and gossip, nothing to attract any unwanted attention or any out of the ordinary behaviour. In this way, by the end of the day, the entire core network of Ghosts in Camelot was aware of the location and time of the meeting scheduled for the following evening where they would hopefully find out what had caused Merlin to disappear so abruptly.