Chapter 39: Feeding the Army of Devils
The next morning I awoke from the cold. I had left the window open the previous night out of habit. It must have been four or five in the morning since the stars were still out. I hear a small nock on the door. The head maid, Mortla was standing there with a maid's uniform in her arms and a pair of old boots.
"Be in the kitchens in five minutes. I will not tolerate idle hands." She said as she shoved the cloths into my hands and briskly walked away. I hurried to get dressed. I placed my other cloths underneath my pillow and tucked the four inch heels under the bed. The old boots she had given me were far more practical than the heels that I had been wearing for the past few days. By the time I was done dressing the other maids were making their way down stairs. I hurried out to join the crowd so I would not get lost.
The kitchen was on the first floor in the back of the building. There were five fire places, six tables laid end to end, and two sinks. Everyone seemed to know exactly where they were to go. Resa waved me over. She was in the process of pulling out a few bags of potatoes. She handed me a peeler and handed me a potato. I had peeled potatoes before, but only for family dinners for holidays, and Resa was miles faster than me. By the time I had finished five potatoes, Resa had finished twenty. She had many more year of experience under her belt so this was natural to her.
By the time the sun had arisen the potatoes were peeled, cut into cubes, and thrown into one of the several large pots of boiling water. Others were kneading bread, cutting meat, cooking large amounts of eggs on large pans suspended above the fire, feeding the fire, and other various tasks. Every person knew what they were doing and were efficient at it, but I had no clue. While we were waiting for the potatoes to cook Resa and I brought out large bowls, mashers, ladles, milk, butter, salt, and pepper out of storage. It was still a few minutes before the potatoes were going to be done, so we cleaned the knives used for the meat.
We ladled the cooked potatoes out of the large pots, since others need it to cook meats and vegetables. Resa then had me mashing the potatoes while she poured in the milk and the butter and added large helpings of salt and pepper to the mix. She then joined me in the smashing and mixing to speed up the process. Once we were done, we hurried over to the chapel to set up the tables with three other maids. Moments after we started, other maids came pouring in with the food. The tables were filled with a bounty of bread, various meats, fruits, potatoes, and eggs. There was enough to feed an entire army, and when the men started to pour in I saw that that was exactly what we were doing, feeding an army of men whose sole purpose is to pillage, burn, steal, and torture the surrounding villages.
I thought of the families that were stolen from or lost their homes because they would not comply with Capricorn's wishes. I realized where this bounty of food came from, from their raids or from the money they stole from those poor village families. I could not understand how these men could sit there and stuff their mouths when they knew exactly where it all came from. It made me sick to my stomach.
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