(Is this your first time to the site? To start reading from the beginning- click HERE.)
April 10th, 3131
Teine awoke with a start at a crack of lightning so bright, he could see it through the closed shutters and his sleeping eyelids. As if that weren't bad enough, the lightning was accompanied with a peal of thunder so loud that he could feel it reverberating in his chest. Somewhere else in the tower, he heard a woman shriek and the clatter of breaking flatware. Needless to say, Teine scrambled to his feet, disoriented and wild-eyed, sending his journal, letters, and art supplies flying every which way. Fortunately his bottle of ink hit the thick rug by the bed, instead of falling a couple inches away and shattering on the flagstone floor.
"Did it hit us?" he heard someone else, probably a Human man, ask.
"I don't know how Madric could sleep through that." someone else replied.
Unsure of the time, and feeling vaguely guilty for sleeping so long no matter what time it was, Teine headed into the bathroom to freshen up. When he looked into the mirror, he could see the impression of his spiral bound notebook pressed into his cheek from where he'd slept on it. "Oh, great," he muttered sarcastically. "That's really suave." Taking a minute, he looked himself over, wondering if perhaps he should shave. But, as badly as he wanted the excuse, the coppery stubble that grew in patches on his chin and cheeks hadn't come in enough to warrant it. Disappointed, he also decided to postpone a bath, as Madric had mentioned he'd be cleaning, sorting, and carrying furniture downstairs all day. He hoped he'd have an excuse to use one of the lavishly appointed baths at some later time. Simply getting dressed and getting to work would probably be the best way to go.
Teine was just hopping on one leg, pulling on his trousers, when there was a rap on the door. "Are you awake?" Hamoni asked.
"Yes!" Teine called in reply. "Just getting dressed," He quickly checked himself once over in the mirror, noticing the impression on his cheek had faded a little, and his hair was more or less in order, given that he was a few days overdue for a trim. His clothes, wadded up from their trip in the bag, were adequate for a day of labor, but he found himself wishing he'd snagged an outfit that had come with his trunk.
"Hurry up!" the Aoife girl whined. "C'mon! There's something I want to show you!"
"Does it eat people?" Teine countered, trying to stall for time. He rubbed the mark on his face, hoping it would go away faster if he helped the blood circulate. Then, he cupped his hand to smell his own breath.
"No, silly!" she laughed. "Really, you are the one that gets to do the eating, I promise. It's breakfast."
Breakfast. "Now she's playing my tune," Teine thought. He swung open the door to look down at the girl with his best and most charming smile.
"What's wrong with your face?" she asked, tilting her head quizzically to eye him. With a sigh, Teine turned his back to Hamoni and began tidying up. "Don't bother." she said. "Really, we just heard the forecast and this corker's going to be here until at least tomorrow morning. You'll be overnighting it again, as sure as you're born."
Teine liked the sound of that, almost as much as he liked the sound of breakfast. Now that he was in the hall, he could smell the eggs, the bacon, and... hot chocolate? "These people live like Kings." he whispered to Hamoni, falling into step with the girl as they headed down the stairs. "I've never dreamed there were beds so comfortable, or bathrooms so luxurious, or hot chocolate at every meal."
"Ah, Madric keeps it around for the boy," she nodded. "At least that's what he says. I think he drinks more of it than Marne does. So, how did you sleep?"
"On my notebook," Teine pointed to the impression on his face, which he hoped was fading. "I didn't even stay awake long enough to read my mail. What time is it, anyway?"
"Oh, it's eight already," she chirped. "Though, it's hard to tell when you look outside. It looks like the sun's barely up- See?" She paused, pointing up at one of the small windows they were passing below. Teine made a face. It did look very early. He'd have guessed it for five-thirty.
A huge fire was roaring in the main hall, which they had to cut through to get back into the informal dining area where they'd sat last night. The table was loaded and groaning under many dishes and plates, and an elderly Human woman with her hair done up in curlers and a scarf padded around the kitchen in her slippers. She took great pains to dish up an attractive plate of food, arranging small quantities of everything on the table, then added the loaded plate to a tray with a decanter of tea. Without a word, she headed to the basement.
"Is Marne up?" Teine asked. It felt odd to know that the one person he was responsible to was the person he'd seen the least of since the whole misadventure started. "Should I be... I don't know. Reporting to him, or something?"
Hamoni waved his concerns away. "He's probably still asleep. He was in the infirmary just yesterday, and he always sleeps a lot after he's been ill."
The the other servants were definitely informal; Kenneth and his "louts," a pair of young men a couple years older than Teine, were shoveling in their breakfast as if cornbread pancakes, eggs, and bacon were going out of style. They grinned with their elbows propped un-apologetically on the table, good-naturedly chewing with their mouths open while making their "hallos."
Sitting down on the bench next to the larger of the two boys, Hamoni shoved and elbowed him playfully until she had enough room. "Best be careful when reaching for anything," Hamoni told Teine as he sat down, whispering in a stage whisper that was meant to be heard. "You could lose a limb if they're still hungry." The boys and Kenneth laughed, and so did Teine. Reaching for the tongs, Hamoni tossed a couple pieces of bacon on to her plate then looked around for the cornbread. Teine followed suit.
"So, what's on the table for today, Pop?" asked one of the boys. "As much as I'd like to finish pounding fence posts in while the ground's soft, there's no way I'm going to try it today."
Kenneth sighed contentedly, smacking his lips and pushing back a bit from the table. Small jewels of amber colored honey clung to his ginger whiskers. "We've got a busy day ahead of us cleaning harness." Both boys groaned, but Kenneth just grinned and rested his hands on his belly. "What about you, Teine? You planning to tackle that room of furniture?"
Teine nodded crisply while cutting one of the corncakes with a knife. "Yes, Sir." He didn't mean to feel smug, but he could definitely tell the difference between himself and Kenneth and his boys. It was more than just the green diamond tattooed on the hand of each one. Their lack of table manners were just the tip of the iceberg. "Until either of the Masters assign me to something else." Since neither of the boys had offered their names, and no formal introductions were made, Teine assumed that these people simply didn't put the emphasis on etiquette that he was accustomed to. Madric ran a very lax ship, compared to Solmurry proper, but if that's the way he liked it, who was Teine to tell him otherwise?
Groaning with the effort, the older human woman was slowly making her way back up the stairs from the basement. "Poor little thing," she muttered. "Still sleeping like a stone. I expect he'll be out for a few more hours."
"Maybe I can be done with the furniture by then." Teine speculated, thinking what a fine, industrious worker he'd be, accomplishing the task before the Aoife even woke. He had a very strong desire to prove himself capable and useful in Madric's eyes. Perhaps the older brother's positive opinion of him would help him win over Lord Solmurrian.
It was just then he realized that they were all laughing at him. "Oh, don't tell me! He hasn't actually seen the room yet, has he?" asked the old woman.
Teine's ears burned like fire as Hamoni filled her in. "No, no. Not yet." Her laugh, dainty and musical, danced above the chuckles and guffaws of the humans, but managed to sting Teine just as much. "He hasn't a clue."
Grinning, the old woman in curlers waddled over and dropped two more corncakes on Teine's plate. Both the other boys made noises of protest, but she silenced them. "Last two." she said, patting Teine on the shoulder. "Eat up, son. You're going to need them."
Now bent on fortifying himself for whatever Herculean task they'd dreamed up for him, Teine got to work putting as much breakfast away as quickly and tidily as possible trying to ignore the smug looks of amusement and chuckles from the working lads. He did fine until they got up to leave and one of them whispered to Kenneth. "He's so dandified, he hardly passes as Human. What is he, trying to be an Aoife?" Kenneth, to his credit, scolded the boy, but not before Teine had heard it all. He tried to remind himself that mockery usually concealed some kind of jealousy, but it didn't stop him from being a bit angry.
"What a couple of blockheads," Hamoni grumbled. "I swear, I've seen inanimate objects with more personality." She glanced at Teine out of the corner of her eye.
Teine shrugged, trying to feign a cool indifference he didn't feel. "To be honest, I was kind of surprised." He dangled this statement, like bait on a hook, to see if she'd strike.
"Surprised? By what?"
Teine took a sip of his tea, blotted his lips carefully with a napkin, and turned to face her. "I've never had much to do with Humans other than the ones raised at Solmurry." he said. "I expected... more. Somehow. Tell me, are they even literate?"
To read the next installment, click HERE.
If you like the story, please spread the word! Subscribe to our feed, "like" us on Facebook, "follow" us in Blogger or just tell people!
The Gilded Shackle is the first book in The Evermancer Saga, a series of online serial novels. Go go right to the most recent chapter, go to www.evermancer.com.
To read the whole story, starting at the beginning, click HERE!
0 comments:
Post a Comment