Page 87 of Bosse
How would Alifair find Rez’s tower room and get her out with Krol back in the castle?
“You three return to the kitchen,” Kylie said, pointing at the designated three. She turned to Alifair and the servant behind her walking the gardens. “You two follow me.” She walked off without another word.
Alifair’s enthusiasm deflated faster than a popped balloon.
She trudged behind the woman who took them around to the hall where she’d opened the door to carry food upstairs yesterday.
What?
A fresh wave of excitement refilled her balloon of hope over where she might be going.
Kylie unlocked the door and walked upstairs fast, wasting no time. At the top of the stairs, she turned left toward the empty bedrooms, explaining, “You’re to freshen a bedroom for Krol’s new guest.”
At the second room Alifair had found last night, Kylie entered and strode over to a tall cabinet made of neglected dark wood no longer polished. She opened the double doors, removed a stack of bed linen, and handed them to the first servant. Next, she walked into a smaller adjoining room. It had been furnished with an oval mirror and wooden table where a cream ceramic pitcher, pottery drinking cup, and matching basin had been set up. Two large towels and two hand towels were folded and sitting next to the basin.
This room also had sort of a commode. Linota had grumbled how servants were stuck with chamber pots to empty and clean while the upstairs bedrooms had garderobes. At Alifair’s blank stare, Linota chuckled and explained a garderobe was a toilet with a straight drop to a pit somewhere below.
A guard walked in carrying a large bucket of water and a matching empty bucket.
Kylie pointed at the bathroom. Once he placed the bucket in the room where Alifair stood, he left. Then Kylie opened the door of a narrow closet and withdrew a small plastic tub filled with old rags and cleaning supplies.
Handing that to Alifair, she said, “This room needs to be spotless in less than an hour. Not a bit of dust. Nothing. I don’t listen to excuses. Krol is less patient than me.” Nodding at the servant tackling the bed, Kylie said, “She will help you when she’s done.”
“I understand.” Alifair accepted the tub of cleaning supplies. She tried very hard to give an acceptable reply while not saying thank you to someone who treated her like a slave. She got busy cleaning as hard as she could.
Who was this new guest?
If she had not seen Rez today, she would have thought Krol had delayed bringing Rez here even if Alifair’s dream had pinpointed this as the location.
The other servant joined her after Alifair had cleaned the bathroom spotless. She dumped the dirty water into the empty bucket, rinsed her plastic tub, then refilled it with fresh water and soap. Standing up and groaning with pain in her lower back, she handed the scrub brush to the middle-aged woman.
Good time to get to know another servant. Alifair asked, “How long have you been here?”
“Long enough to know to keep my mouth shut and not ask questions,” the woman answered in a flat tone.
Did they capture sullen women, or had the time spent here as a slave to Krol ruined everyone’s attitude? Alifair did her best to clean everything she could find in need of attention. Someone like this servant would report any infraction to Hessie.
Time passed without Alifair noticing until she got off her knees and began picking up the cleaning rags. “That should do it.”
The other woman dropped her scrub brush in the bucket. “If you say so.” With that, she washed her hands in the dirty water, wiped them on her apron, and left.
Alifair ground her jaws, realizing if the room was not suitable, that grouchy woman had just hung the responsibility on her. Fine. She’d keep moving around and checking every inch in case. Wouldn’t it be nice if she found some secret passage to Rez’s room?
At least the new occupant of this room would have extra water since Alifair had been frugal in using it to clean.
She was down to wiping nonexistent dust from the furniture when a booming voice approached the room from the hallway.
Krol. He sounded jubilant.
Had someone located Bosse? Please no.
The door opened without a knock because no door was closed to Krol. He stood to the side and gave a short bow as if addressing royalty. “I have excellent accommodations for you.”
Who had he brought here?
A woman of significant stature. The kind of female who exuded confidence and power just by the way she carried herself. She had striking white hair, which one might associate with being elderly. Not this woman. She might not be thirty yet and carried herself as one who held respect.
More noticeable than all that was her rounded belly. She appeared to be in the late stages of pregnancy. A gradual energy floated into the room ahead of her, sneaking around corners as if checking for threats.
