It felt like as soon as I closed my eyes that I was being shaken awake by a female guard. I think it was the one that was stationed at my door to keep me from running. my body was still sore, but my feet no longer hurt. The guard, unhappy that I was not moving fast enough, grabbed me from the bed and pulled me to my feet. once on my feet she shoved me out the door. I got the hint, time to get to work.
Knowing that I was already found out to have a voice I asked, "where are we going?" The guard did not answer and instead lead me up the stairs. They knew I was able to talk which I did not like. I did not want them to know what the sound of my voice was. It lowered my chances of escaping.
At the top of the stairs was a mud type room. There were a few chars against the wall and a desk just past the entrance. The walls where bare and made of a rough stone. Some spots looked smooth. The floor was another type of stone. The whole room was a dull brown though. As I kept looking at the floor, I noticed some of the floor had flecks of a dark red. Blood.
Once this realization hit, I looked at the wall in front of me and waited. The female guard talked to the man behind the desk for a few moments before turning back to me and told me to follow.
When using my brain, I figured we were either in the back of this castle or in the middle. If we are in the back, I think it would be safe to assume that the kitchen was in the back as well. I was pulling this information from old movies and what I could remember from pictures. After passing into another room, this one much larger than the last, we came into the kitchen. Yup the back of the castle.
"Okay slave this is the kitchen where you are going to prepare the Kings meal and bring it to him. Don't get any bright ideas, he can smell any poison you use and if the food is not up to par you will know about it." The guard informed me as she showed me to the pantry. After nodding my head, she then took me to the dining room and then the stairs. "Third door on the left is the Kings room, you are expected to have his meals ready for him at 8am, 12pm, and 6pm. In between you are to check to see if he needs anything else from him. Your chores are simple. Keep the kitchen clean, keep the second floor clean and fed the King whenever he wishes."
Nodding my head to what she was saying I looked up at the top of the stairs. If this was really a castle then trying to keep an entire floor clean would be a task onto itself. Fuck this shit. they took me. They hurt me and now they wanted me to clean for them. Yea fuck that. "No how about I just walk out the front door and you guys never hear from me again." I tried to sound strong and fierce but what came out was a soft whisper. My throat was still trying to heal from the lack of liquid of the few days.
The guard laughed at that comment. "No". at the point, the king appeared at the top of the stairs and come down to us. Double fuck.
"You need to get the rest of your punishment for the lie then you are to start on your chores" he grabbed me the arm as he finished speaking and pulling me over to stairs, he sat on the third step and pulled me down with no effort over his knee. "I know this seems more like a punishment for a child, but I think this will work for you as well." He raised his hand and hit my ass, hard. I yelled but he hit me 3 more times. By the time he was done my ass was stinging and numb. A small tear escaped my eye before I could stop it.
King hunter laughed. "Go make my breakfast, I want eggs, bacon and a cup of blood." He stood me up. "I will be in my office, head down this corridor and it will be the fifth door on the right. Knock before you enter." With that he left, and the guard stood with her back to the wall watching me. Guess I will make breakfast then.
Leaving the room and heading back to the kitchen the guard followed me. I saw a basket with some eggs in it and looking around I found a fridge. I guess this place at least has some type of electricity. The fridge had bacon in the bottom drawer along with some bags of blood. Grabbing the blood from the top shelve and the bacon from the drawer I looked around again until I found the stove. If the king wanted bacon and eggs, he would get bacon and eggs. I cooked the eggs first deciding that because he did not tell me the kind of eggs, he wanted I would just scramble them and then cooked the bacon extra crispy.
Was the bacon was cooking I tried to take a piece for myself but that was when the guard spoke up, "No food until King Hunter gives you permission slave." I put the piece back down and finished cooking the food. Before taking it to the King, though I decided to clean the kitchen, I washed the dishes I had just used and wiped down the counter. Once I was satisfied that the food was cold, I mean the kitchen was picked up I grabbed the food and the bag of blood and brought it to Hunter's office. Knocking of the door was a little hard due to my full hands but I was able to pull it off. He said I could enter so while balancing the plate on my forearm I opened the office door and walked in. Deciding to try and act the part of a slave I kept my head down and walked to his desk to sit the food down. Once I set it down, I headed back for the door. I didn't get a chance to move even 10 feet before something hit me in the back of the head.
"This food in cold and you did not warm up the blood." King hunter got up from his chair and walked over to me. "It is natural to want to fight for you I get that, but you will not do it anymore. I except my food to be hot and my blood to be warm. This is the only warning you will get. You have lost of the opportunity to get food today because of this mess. Now slave clean this up and get out of my sight." He turned away from me and headed back to the desk.
I knelt to clean up the breakfast and the broken plate. I was lucky that it did not knock me over or even have my head start bleeding. "I except you to have the second floor clean by the time I am done working tonight. I plan on being down in about 4 hours."
"Yes sir." Was all I said was I got up and left the room. I headed back to the kitchen and threw everything away and headed back to the corridor with the stairs. Heading up the second floor I was able to get a better look.
It looked to be about a quarter mile long and had about 6 rooms in total. The walls held beautiful pieces of art from landscape to portraits to animals. I was stuck with awe at the beaty of it all. I have never had a chance to see art like this before and just seeing it know took my breath away. Once reality sunk in though I got mad. He wanted to have this floor completely clean by the time he went to bed. There where 6 room and a long hall. No one told me where the cleaning supplies were. Come to think of it, I have not seen another slave.
That thought caught my attention and I turned back to the silent guard that has been following me. "Where do I get cleaning supplies from and why are there no other slaves around.?"
She looked at me for a moment before pointing to the last door on the right. Heading over to it I opened it and saw that it was cleaning closet complete with a laundry Shute. I grabbed a feather duster and a broom. Before closing the door.
Using the duster first I got the sides and tops of the painting and the varies Knick knacks that where all over the hallway. Next, I swept the dust to the middle of the room before heading back to the closet to get a dustpan. After the floors where done I notice the only thing, I had to mop with was a bucket of water and a hand scrubber. Filling it was the sink I added a random cleaner and starting at the back of the hallway I worked my way up front. I had to empty the bucket twice. Once the hallway was done, I went to go get the first room done. I was exhausted on my feet; this was long hallway and to have to scrub it with this little thing took a lot of my energy. I already wasn't at full because of the mistreatment and the no food but I was trying to do what I had to by my time so I could run. I needed to escape I just had to play my part first.
After putting the scrubber and bucket away I went to open the door closest to the cleaning closet but was stopped with a hand on my shoulder. "Time is up Slave; you did not finish cleaning before I finished my work. He tightened his grip on my shoulder and dragged me to his room. "You will start my shower and get my clothes for me. I want my outfit on the bed in 5 minutes." He headed back out the door and left me alone. I noticed that the guard was not even in the room and he closed the door behind himself.
To exhausted to fight him I started his shower and got out a pair of boxers, a blue t-shirt and a pair of cotton pants out for him. I laid the outfit on his bed and then stood against the wall. At this point it was the wall that was holding me up and not my own legs. My eyes started to close on their own before the king got back. I tried to keep them open but was fighting a losing battle. I just knew that I could not take anymore damage tonight if I wanted a chance to fully heal form the last time.
The bedroom door opened, and it was enough for me to wake up some. He came in and headed for the shower. I did not know if I was supposed to stay in the room or leave and figured where he did not tell me to go that I should stay right where I am.
His shower was quick, and he was back in the bedroom in 10 minutes. He had a towel around his waist, and he was well defined. He dried himself and got dressed. I did not watch him get dressed, I was still fighting my drooping eyelids. "Slave you may get some rest for now, lay down where you are and sleep." That was it. That was all I needed to get the rest my body wanted. I fell into a heap on the floor and closed my eyes.