Imbolc
Chapter 11: Imbolc
You woke up in your new bed and for the first time in your entire life you understood the definition of being well rested. Out of respect for lord Blekk, you had slept in the second bedroom and not in his own bed, although you must admit that you were curious as to what waking up there would feel like. His matrass had to be so much better than the one you were currently lying on, you were sure of it, but you would not satisfy that curiosity. You stretched out and opened your eyes to be greeted by the soft orange light of the rising sun, the sound of birds singing and the piercing green eyes of prince Hreiðmarr staring at you while lying on his side. Yes, you could definitely get used to this life.
“Good morning, prince Hreiðmarr.” You said with a smile as you stretched your hand out to scratch his belly. The cat rolled onto his back, so you had easier access, while purring loudly. “I should probably get ready to go to the archives for breakfast with lord Blekk.” You said as the cat used his paws to trap your hand securely on his soft belly. You laughed softly at his antics, but eventually got up from the bed and headed towards the bathroom. You prepared yourself a bath and walked back to your bedroom to grab the grey servant dress you always wore. Prince Hreiðmarr was no longer laying on your bed, in fact you couldn’t see him anywhere.
“Maybe he went on a hunt for his own breakfast.” You thought as you went back to the bathroom to turn off the tab and pretty much jump into the tub. When you were washed and your hair fashioned into a braid your mother had once taught you to make, you went on your way to the archives accompanied by Egil who immediately asked after your first night as a princess. You laughed at the notion and told him of prince Hreiðmarr being the prince you woke up next to. When you arrived at the archives and you had thanked Egil, you descended the stairs to be greeted by a smiling lord Blekk.
“There she is.” He said happily as he sat himself down at the makeshift table. You did the same and also gave him a big smile.
“Here I am.” You replied just as happy as he was.
“How does it feel to live a life of a noble?” He teased while spreading butter over his toast.
“I know I shouldn’t, but I could really get used to it.” You giggled as you grabbed a pear from the basket of fruit. “Especially the swimming pool.”
“You mean the bathtub?” He chuckled.
“Yes, that’s the one.” You both laughed and continued your breakfast before returning to your work.
You were happy to be back at the archives. You didn’t mind working with the ambassador, but working for his wife had proven to be rather difficult to like. At least now you were back to your own desk where you could work in peace and quiet. You had finished copying the chronicles of the Dark Elves from Svartalheim which had proven to be very interesting. In the two weeks that followed you had copied another book on the ancient city that had once stood proudly on the plains of Vigrid with the frost giant Ymir as its king. On your own request you were now copying a half-eaten book on king Ymir’s murder by king Odin’s grandfather Buri, resulting in the ever-existing animosity between the two realms. You were just penning down a chapter on prince Bergelmir’s escape to Utgard to make it his new capital thus creating the realm that was now known as Jotunheim, when lord Blekk cleared his throat to get your attention. You looked up from your book and lowered your pen to see lord Blekk standing there next to Rydigg, the head of the kitchens.
“Good afternoon, girl.” Rydigg said to you.
“Good afternoon, ma’am.” You said as you stood and curtsied for her.
“I have come to demand your assistance in the kitchens tomorrow and I want you to serve the nobles tomorrow night at the feast as well.” You looked at her quizzingly, which Rydigg picked up on as she rolled her eyes. “Don’t look at me like that, girl. You were supposed to serve the nobles at lord Skírnir’s wedding, but you somehow got excused from your duties by the queen. Tomorrow night will be different however and we will need every servant we can get our hands on.”
Rydigg then turned to lord Blekk. “Vigdis, the old tart, was of the opinion that the chambermaids weren’t made to do ‘regular servant work’, can you believe it?” She did not wait for an answer. “As if the other servants are not already doing so much more work than those little bitches. I told her that and luckily Dalla took my side and now they will know what working hard truly means.” Rydigg complained. She then turned her attention back to you. “I have heard you are the reason why Thyri was flogged by her master.” She said and you looked slightly guilty. You didn’t feel any love for the girl, because you were sure that she had wanted to kill you with that shard, but receiving ten lashes must have been extremely painful.
Rydigg however didn’t seem to think so.
“Good. She deserved it and at least now she keeps her abnormally large mouth shut for once. Anyway, I want you to report to me first thing in the morning and after the feast you can return back to your books.” Rydigg said and without waiting for a reply from you or lord Blekk, she turned around and ascended the stairs to leave the archives.
“She continues to amaze me, that woman.” Lord Blekk muttered while shaking his head and walking back to his own desk.
The next morning, you pretty much jumped out of bed which startled prince Hreiðmarr as he screeched angrily and jumped into the air. He must have crept into your bedroom and decided to sleep next to you, because you couldn’t remember him being there when you had gone to bed.
“Sorry.” You said softly and patted his head gently. You then went into the bathroom and quickly cleaned and dressed yourself. You also ate some fruits from the fruit bowl on the table to give you strength for what was going to be a long and hard day. You then bid prince Hreiðmarr farewell and closed the door behind you before running down the halls. Egil had received a well-deserved vacation for working overtime to protect you. He was staying at his family’s estate somewhere up in the hills and would return in a week, or so he had told you in his latest letter.
The kitchens were already swamped with various servants, some even wearing brown dresses showing their station as cleaning maids. You tried to find Djúpvitr in the mass, but that proofed to be futile. You would probably see her anyhow today, so you walked through the mass to find Rydigg standing on some sort of stool screaming out orders. When the larger woman spotted you, she called out your name.
“You are on bakery-duty! Go to the bakery to receive further orders!” Rydigg yelled and you quickly disappeared into the direction of the bakery, at least you hopped you were going the right way. Eventually you decided to ask someone just to be sure.
“Excuse me.” You said to a passing servant with a round face and a small nose. “Is this the right way to the bakery?” You asked her. The servant looked you up and down with angry little eyes.
“Yes it is, now get to work.” She said and you quickened your pace to get away from her. When you arrived at the bakery you were met with the delicious smell of freshly baked bread and tarts.
“Are you, Svinnr?” An angry-looking woman with a white dress asked. You recognised her from somewhere but you couldn’t remember from where exactly.
“I am, ma’am.”
“Good. You will help with the filling for the Blod kaker and once that is done I want you to help prepare the Kornmjölsgröt and hollow out the bread so they can be filled with Nässelsoppa later on.” The servant said and you went to work with the others on the custard to fill the Blod kaker with.
The amount of eggs alone that they were going to use was enough to feed your village for a whole harsh winter. The whisking of the yolks with the cornflour, sugar and vanilla required the strength of four servants and sadly one of them was you, who was struggling to not break a sweat over the giant pot. Two other servants came to your side and gently poured in litre after litre of hot milk into the mixture. After that the mixture was poured into a large saucepan where two servants kept watch over it and stirred it until it thickened. The other servants went back to their bowls and started on the preparation of the fruits and berries.
When lunchtime came you were all allowed a quick bite before having to return back to your duties. You were finished with helping on the Blod kaker, but you preferred that job over the one you were doing now. You had to help prepare the Kornmjölsgröt, which smelled and looked a lot like vomit. All you had to do was stir in a huge pot full of the stuff and add water when it became too thick, but the look of it all made your stomach twist and turn. It took more than three hours for it to be done and even though others had added a few berries and a cherry sauce, it still looked horrible. You then went to the back of the bakery to be greeted by Djúpvitr who was working hard on kneading dough with various other servants who were cramped close together at a wooden bench of sorts.
Djúpvitr gave you a smile, but quickly returned to her work with the outmost concentration. You didn’t mind, you knew that Djúpvitr had always worked in her family’s bakery and that she actually loved doing the hard work. You went to the shelves with the dark breads that had to be hollowed out and began the work. All the residue bread was going to be used in some sort of bread pudding or other recipes. Just half an hour before the banquet would start, you were ordered to stop whatever you were doing and go to the showers to clean yourself and get dressed in a new servants-dress. You quickly did so and left the bakery to run towards the showers. You grabbed a soap bar that smelled like lavender and stripped out of your clothes to get under the water. You were one of the first servants to have arrived here so you had the choice between the different soap bars, something the other servants had noticed as they too walked in to get themselves clean.
“Who took the lavender soap?” A girl demanded to know. By the look of her dress and the material it was made out of, she was clearly a chambermaid to some lord or lady.
“You can have it in just a moment.” You said which earned you an animalistic sort of grunt and an unfriendly glare from the girl.
“Who do you think you are, girl?!” She screeched and before you could answer, she spoke again. “Oh, wait, no, you don’t have to tell me. You’re the girl who feels herself so special as if she too was graced with the position of a highly placed chamber maid! I must say I am impressed. Most girls take years, even decades to earn some sort of affection from someone of noble birth, but you get it done in only a few weeks. Do your parents know that they have raised a whore instead of a daughter?!” The girl was practically deranged.
“Oh, don’t worry. I would never feel the same way as a chambermaid as highly placed as you. Pinned high against the wall with some kind of noble between my legs, that is.” You said back sweetly and threw the servant the bar of soap. You didn’t need this. You hadn’t done anything these chambermaids were accusing you off, but if they wanted to believe their own fabricated stories and be petty about it because they were jealous, then that was fine with you. The girl you had thrown the soap bar at was approaching you in angry steps, but you had pulled on your dress before she could reach you and left the showers without a scratch.
When you walked into the dining hall with various trays of food in your hands to be served to the lords and ladies you were met with loud applause. The allfather must have finished a speech, because as the applause started to go down a little, you could see the king sitting himself back down with a smug smile on his face. You quickly lowered your eyes as you set down the plates on one of the tables, showing your servitude to all the nobles. The food smelled delicious and you tried your best not to make the loud grumbling sound of your stomach that obvious. You kept moving in between the kitchens and the bigger dining hall to carry plate after plate of food to pile on the long tables for the nobles to feast on, but the thing you mostly did was either fetch more mugs filled with ale or fill their goblets full of wine from a heavy silver pitcher.
“Another!” A bearded man with a belly as round as a barrel yelled out loud after smacking his mug onto the stone floor. As quickly as you could, you went for another mug which was filled to the brim with ale and went to bring it to the lord.
“Aye, I say you’re a pretty one.” He all but slurred out his words. They had been feasting for about two hours now and some of the lords were evidently getting quite drunk. The woman who sat beside the man send him a hateful glare and you wondered if she was perhaps his wife.
“Go on, girl, others need attending to.” She said and even though her voice was soft, her eyes were filled with anger. Another man at a table further away yelled for a refill, so you grabbed the pitcher and quickly went to help him. This man was worse. Instead of just saying whatever came up in his mind, he all but undressed you with his eyes. It was so intense that your hands began to shake and you ended up spilling some of the wine onto his hand.
“I’m so sorry, my lord.” You quickly said as you grabbed for a napkin to dep his hand clean, but before you could even reach for one, he all but dragged you into his lap while the others at the table cheered and clapped. “My lord, please!” You squealed as the man kept you firmly perched on his lap and left sloppy kisses on the side of your neck.
“More wine!” Another man yelled and you tried your hardest to get out of the man’s lap.
“I’m sorry, my lord, but the prince has requested her to serve the royal table.” A male servant, whom you didn’t recognise nor had seen approaching you, said. The lord grunted, but eventually let go of you. The male servant helped you to steady yourself back onto your feet and you thanked him with as much gratitude you could muster to sound through your shaky voice. He smiled at you and then left to serve another table, while you slowly crept up to the high table were the royal family was. When you were close enough, you could see the queen give you a small encouraging smile which gave you the strength to straighten your back and walk the last few feet with confidence.
“Wine.” Prince Loki said without Looking at you. You wondered whether he was the prince who had asked for your servitude of the royal table which was actually the responsibility of a servant by the name of Kadlin. He didn’t look very invested in the story his brother Thor was telling, but neither did he look angry or smug, which were the moods that you had come to associate with him. Your hands were still shaking when you poured his glass full of wine, but luckily you didn’t spill anything this time, although you thought you saw prince Loki glance your way once or twice.
“So what do you think?” Prince Thor asked his brother.
“About what?”
“Were you even listening?” Now prince Loki did look smug as a smirk formed on his face. Prince Thor rolled his eyes at him. “I was asking about your opinion on the commission of the elven blades that prince Frey was talking about earlier today.” As if on cue prince Frey called for more wine and quickly waved Kadlin away. “Kadlin won’t become my best friend anytime soon, by the way she’s giving me the stinky eye.” You thought as the girl all but stomped her way to the back of the high table to await orders from one of the royals who needed her.
“How are you, Svinnr?” Asked prince Frey as you filled his glass with a smile.
“I’m good, my prince.” You said softly and the prince smiled warmly at you.
“That man didn’t hurt you, did he?” your breath hitched.
“N-no, I was just a little frightened.” You quickly replied. You could hardly tell the prince that the man had been shamelessly groping you, he was a noble lord after all. Prince Frey however looked conflicted as if multiple emotions were battling inside him.
“I hope you know you can trust me.” He all but pleaded.
“Wine.” Prince Loki suddenly called before you could even come up with something to say to prince Frey. You gave him a quick curtsy before returning to prince Loki with the pitcher of wine still clutched in your hand. When he held out his glass for you to refill, you could see that half of the contents you had poured him before was still there.
“What were you discussing with Frey?” Prince Loki asked as he kept his eyes pointed before him, watching the other nobles enjoying the feast.
“He asked after my wellbeing, my prince.”
“And what did you tell him?” He asked after a moment.
“I told him I was good.” You said with a soft smile on your lips.
“Good.” Prince Loki muttered.
That was pretty much how the feast went until it came to a close early into the morning. You kept running from one prince to the other while the other prince, Thor, munched away at his dinner undisturbed. When prince Thor had stood up and left with his friends to who-knows-where, there had only been a handful of people left in the dining hall. Prince Loki and prince Frey had gone with prince Thor, but not after they had both bid you a good night. An hour after they had left, you and the other servants had managed to get the last drunk out of the hall to get it cleaned and rearranged for the morning meal which was only an hour or two away. You were busy cleaning one of the tables when your name was being called. When you looked up to see who needed you, you were met with an angry-looking Kadlin who was flanked by a dozen other servants you hardly even knew.
“What in all of Yggdrasil are you playing at, girl?” She said hatefully.
“I beg your pardon?” A servant on Kadlin’s left laughed without mirth.
“Oh, you will be begging, alright.” She said as all of them came closer to trap you in. It went dead quiet as they all stood there, waiting for someone to deal the first blow and that quickly came. Someone pushed you forward while another smacked some kind of rag that was wrapped around a bar of soap on your forehead. Then they all started beating you with similar weapons. Some of them even used their legs and feet to stomp you in the stomach or your chest.
The last thing you saw before everything went black was a cleaning maid’s boot making contact with your face and the loud, cracking sound of something breaking.