Chapter 15: Chapter 15

#15 The Young Servants

That night, Cassandra slept in

one of the servants‘ rooms. There were several available, so it was no inconvenience for

her to take one. Even if Nebora insisted she sleep upstairs, being all alone in

the Prince‘s chambers was too intimidating for Cassandra. Moreover, the bedroom she was given was

quite decent. It was simple, with wood furniture, like

a bed and a desk, just enough for someone to sleep in comfortably. From what she had seen in Nebora

and Bina‘s rooms, they were free to decorate as they wished, too.

She slept well, but because she had already slept so long the

day before, Cassandra was up early. Quickly getting dressed, she went to the kitchen, not thinking she‘

d see anyone at this early hour. But Bina was there along with another girl and a boy, all standing aroun

d chatting. They all looked younger than

herself, around fourteen or fifteen years old. Upon seeing her come in, Bina stood up.

“Cassie!”

She walked up to her and turned to the others.

“This is Cassandra, who I just told you about! She‘s the one with the fruit peels!”

Cassandra recognized the other

girl as well. She was the one who was scared of the dragon the previous day in the inner court with her

cart.

“Hi… I’m Prunie.” She nodded shyly.

“I‘m Helmond,” said the boy.

“Prunie is a servant like me, Helm works at the stables!” said Bina, joyously.

“Nice to meet you both.”

“Hey, Cassandra, do you know how to make breakfast? We‘re so hungry, but none of us can cook…”

“Would you show me where we keep the food?”

“Sure!”

For the next half hour, Cassandra made breakfast for everyone while

she listened to them gossip. Those three, being the youngest, were quite chatty and lively. She

quickly learned that Prunie and Bina had been recruited around the same time this

year, while Helmond was Patrina‘s nephew. By the time Cassandra was done

making breakfast, Nebora had appeared too, her black curls all tangled.

“The kids made you make breakfast?” she asked while yawning.

“It‘s fine, I like cooking. There‘s enough for everyone.”

“Great. I‘ll make some tea…

Soon enough, all five of them sat around the table to cat, everyone complimenting Cassandra‘s cookin

g. Curious, Helm and Bina asked Cassandra lots of questions about the Capital, as they had never bee

n before. She politely answered their endless questions for a while, as the others ate silently.

Suddenly, the roof over their heads made a terrifying noise, like it was about to cave in. Everyone froze

as the walls trembled, too. Nebora was petrified.

“What was that?”

“There aren‘t any earthquakes here, right?” asked Bina, scared.

Cassandra got up as the roof shook again, like some storm was over their heads. When she heard a lo

ud growl, she finally understood and walked outside.

Indeed, Krai‘s gigantic front paws were on the roof of

the building, and the Black Dragon was growling, its claws scratching the

walls. Krai didn‘t even seem to realize the whole building was about to collapse from the extra weight.

Cassandra walked all the way to the inner court until she could see the dragon‘s head. Behind her, all

the other servants who had left the kitchen to follow her were petrified.

“It‘s the Master‘s dragon!” Bina whispered.

Prunie kept looking at Cassandra as Nebora grabbed her arm, trying to hold her back.

“Don‘t approach, Cassandra. His Highness‘ dragon will kill you!”

However, she kept walking until the dragon finally turned its head and spotted her. Immediately, it jump

ed down from

the building and trotted towards her with a loud growl. She heard the screams of fear behind her, but di

dn‘t turn around. Instead, Cassandra stayed very still until Krai

stopped in front of her, sniffing and tilting its head to the side. She took a peek at its empty back. 2

“Did you come back alone? What about your Master?” Cassandra

asked the dragon, while scratching its head.

If Krai had understood her, it

didn‘t bother to give her an answer. Instead, it was just growling quietly and turning its head from one si

de to the other, begging for more scratches. Behind her, she heard Nebora speak.

“I can‘t believe you…”

“He‘s quite nice,” said Cassandra.

“Nice? I saw that dragon eat ten men at once! It didn‘t even chew! And you‘re petting it like some cat…

What kind of woman are you?”

Cassandra couldn‘t help but chuckle. Indeed, she

had seen Krai kill people, quite gruesomely, in fact. But, for now, the Black Dragon just laid down in

the inner court, closing its eyes and letting her scratch its head.

“I wonder why His Highness didn‘t come back as well?” Cassandra asked.

“They are not always together. That dragon pretty much does whatever it pleases most of the time,” sai

d Nebora. “Our Lord is probably still at the Military Camp.”

“Is it far from here?” asked Cassandra.

“By foot, it would take a few days. On the dragon‘s back, maybe an hour or so. The Military Camp is qui

te large, almost like a city itself, and right at the Empire‘s border too. Around two hundred thousand me

n.”

That

was a rather large number considering this Castle appeared quite… empty. For such a large beast, that

number of soldiers probably didn‘t even compare, though, as Krai could probably protect the castle on

its own. Cassandra looked down at the dragon that was about to doze off under her pets.

No wonder this Empire was so powerful compared to the others. With seven

dragons, they could probably take over any country on a whim.

“I don‘t know how you can stay so close to it. It could eat you in

one bite and use your bones as toothpicks!”

Nebora was still being very brave, standing a few paces away while all

three of the others had literally run away. Cassandra, however, wasn‘t scared at all. Despite

its gigantic size, the hot breath, and sharp fangs, she didn‘t feel any animosity coming from the dragon.

She waited until it seemed like Krai was asleep and snoring in the middle

of the inner court, to walk back to Nebora, who had her arms crossed.

“I don‘t know if you‘re insane or lucky.”

“I could be both? Come on, we should get to work,” chuckled Cassandra.

The two women went back to the kitchen, cleaning the dishes, and talking. Compared to the cold shoul

der she had given her the previous day, Nebora‘s attitude had completely changed. She

was still very blunt and a bit rude at

times, but as she showed Cassandra everything they did in the Castle, all hints

of hatred were disappearing. Instead, she seemed

to treat the young woman like a peer and explained to her how everything was handled patiently. 2

“There aren‘t many rooms to take care of,”

Nebora explained as they were bringing clean sheets upstairs. “But there are only a few of us

and Patrina is always making sure everything is spotless. She will even have us clean a room

three times a day if she sees a little speck of dust.”

“Has she always worked for His Highness?”

“No, she used to work for His Highness‘s mother at the Palace. Her daughter was murdered

in one of the jealous schemes between the concubines.

After that, she asked to be sent away from the Palace and ended up here.”

Cassandra was shocked to hear such a story. Seeing a woman as resilient as Patrina, she had no idea.

“You‘re lucky to have been brought here,” continued Nebora. “You would have been killed within a wee

k back at the Palace. It‘s famous for being a nest of snakes.”

She nodded slowly as they placed new sheets on the Prince‘s bed. She had already

seen it herself. The violence, the death… Not only for the slaves. Even a concubine like Lyria, who was

untouchable in the Capital, had been killed on the spot only a week after entering the Palace. It was tru

ly a scary place.

“So, no one comes here?”

Nebora seemed to think for a bit, while folding a fur cloak.

“Aside from his sister, not really.”

“Princess Shareen?”

“You know her?”

“I‘ve…met her.”

Cassandra couldn‘t help blushing as she remembered

the incident. That Princess Shareen was truly one of a kind! Thankfully, Nebora didn‘t notice her cheeks

going red as she was taking care of the dust on the curtains. Meanwhile, Cassandra changed the cand

les and added a batch of herbs in a basket.

“Those two are close, from what I‘ve seen. Even if she is a total weirdo… Don‘t get close to that woman

, she‘s really dangerous. There are some crazy rumors about her, and I wouldn‘t be surprised if half of t

hem are true. But that‘s pretty much it for visitors. Our Lord isn‘t the social type…What is that?” 2

She was pointing at the basket of dried herbs Cassandra was putting next to the window.

“Just so the room will smell good. I‘ll open the window a bit, too, so it‘ll smell even better.”

“Oh, I see. I’ll open the other one then. Do you need to… Ah!!!”

Nebora‘s scream resonated throughout the room, making Cassandra almost drop her basket. She turn

ed around to see what was wrong, only to discover that the big window Nebora had tried to

open, now had a wall of scales blocking it, with a red eye moving around in the middle. 2

Cassandra rushed to Nebora‘s side, making sure she was alright, but

it was hard not to laugh. Krai‘s big muzzle was trying to get inside, and the dragon was making odd gro

wls; its eyes looking around.

“No, no, you‘re too big!” she scolded. “What are you doing…?”

She could only imagine what it was like from the

outside. Had it tried to climb up the Castle to get to the tower? Its head was still too big for the window,

though it kept trying to maneuver around to fit through. Cassandra felt helpless.

“You‘re too big! Oh, come on…”

She tried to push its muzzle away, until it was completely out. It kept looking at her though, with a disap

pointed look. Next to her, Nebora was still trying to stop her legs from trembling and get back up. Cassa

ndra helped her, trying to ignore the loud growls.

“I can‘t believe that dragon! It scared the shit out of me!”

“Do you think the whole tower could collapse…”

“It should be fine, it‘s not the first dragon to live here. None of them tried to actually get inside though! L

et‘s just hope its Master will call

it back soon. I don‘t think I can work if it keeps popping up at every window!”

“Can he call from so far?”

“What? Oh, yes. Dragon tamers have some special

bond with their dragon. Even if our Lord was all the way back at the Palace, this

one would fly to him anytime he needs him.”

Cassandra was completely astonished at that fact. She had never heard about any of this before. The

dragons were considered deities here. It was already

very rare for anyone to be able to spot one, as they always stayed with their Masters.

Ignoring the annoyed growls, she closed the window where Krai was lurking.

“I had no idea…”

“That‘s normal, they don‘t leak much information about the Palace to the

outside. Here, Our Lord doesn‘t really care, I guess. Come on, let‘s finish quickly here, that big red eye

is creeping me out…”

Krai eventually got bored and went away long before they were done cleaning the room. The dragon ha

d probably gone to hunt somewhere. When they got back downstairs, it was nowhere to be seen.

The two women went to the kitchen, where Prunie and Marian were sorting

out vegetables. Cassandra walked up to them, taking what looked like a carrot from the basket.

“Is it fresh enough?”

“Not really,” said Marian

with a sigh. “But it‘s hard to get fresh ones around here. The closest farmer is still quite far away.”

“Why is no one cultivating the soils around the Castle?” asked Cassandra.

She had wondered this while flying over the land, too. Aside from scattered houses, the whole area aro

und the Castle was pretty much deserted. She kept looking at the vegetables, but no matter how she lo

oked at them, they just weren‘t very good. Especially not when compared to what she had seen in the

Capital.

“They say the soil is not good for cultivating here.”

Cassandra frowned. Her native land was much worse than this, yet they

still had always been able to provide for themselves.

The vegetables gathered in the baskets were definitely ones that fit warmer climates though, like the C

apital, not what they should have been growing here.

“What about the pastures? The livestock?”

Next to her, Nebora sighed.

“Cassandra, the livestock were not too happy to be here, they left ages ago. Did you

forget? We have a one ton predator flying around the area!”

Author Note: Thanks for reading, please be sure to like and leave a comment if you enjoyed

the story so far!