Nadine Book 4

32. Look At Me

Frode talks the second we get into the new castle. "The vault has been cleared out. We have the crowns and jewels. The guards are searching for anything else of value. They had so much, I don't understand why they didn't do anything for the village. Those people are bad off."

I glance around. "Do they have servants here?"

One of them step into the room. "Yes ma'am, what can I assist you with today?" She stares at my feet.

"How many of you are there?"

"94 ma'am."

"Are you hungry?"

"We are perfect, ma'am."

"I'M UP HERE. LOOK AT ME."

She moves her eyes up to mine so fast.

"ARE YOU HUNGRY?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Is there food in the castle?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Enough to feed all of you?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Go eat it and stop calling me ma'am."

She freezes in place. Her mouth falls open.

I sigh. "Go tell every single servant to go to the ballroom now."

"Yes ... " She stands there.

"Good. Now go."

She runs away.

"It's always so difficult when they are new." I shake my head. "I'll be in the ballroom trying to make servants eat. We can feed the village after I get done with that, and what do you say we leave half the servants here and take the other half? Did anyone talk to Nox yet?"

"Making sure we get the money out first, sweetheart. Give us another hour."

I step on the stage in the ballroom and watch the 90 servants. Mary and Kane are both with me.

"We have taken the castle by force. You now belong to my throne. Does anyone disagree?"

None of them move an inch.

"Great. I have been told you are hungry. How many times a day do you eat?" I point at one. She is so skinny. "You answer."

"Sometimes 1 ma'am."

"You answer."

"It's mostly 1 ma'am. Some days we skip."

"When is the last time you ate meat? You answer."

"I do not remember ma'am."

I point at another. "We eat only vegetables, ma'am."

Mary nods. "Are you beaten? You answer."

"Yes ma'am."

"You do not, ma'am me. I am a servant."

Their eyes go to her so fast. She stands beside me.

"What are we thinking?"

"We have to feed them."

"We don't know where the food is, Mary."

"Where is the food kept here?"

"In the kitchen."

"Take us there."

We go through a big dining area and into a nice kitchen. "The boys are right. This place is nice."

"And there's so much food."

I glance at the servant. "Why is there so much food, and you don't eat?"

"That is for the king and queen. And his advisors. This is not for us, ma'am."

"How many advisors did he have?"

"3 ma'am."

"This is enough food to feed the servants and us. Why do so few people get to eat? It will go bad."

"I have no idea what they were thinking, little miss."

"Summon the servants to the dining area please."

"Yes ma'am."

We wait a few minutes and the servants are in here now.

I rub my eyes. They are hungry and weak. They are in rags. They are not cared for. They are dirty.

"I am your queen. You will not address me with a title. You will not call me ma'am. The first order I will give you is to go cook that food and eat it. Eat as much as you want. Eat the meat. Everything will go bad if you do not. I want every single one of you to eat. I do not care if you eat all the food here. I want you full. When you are done, return to the ballroom and sit down on the chairs. I will return there in 1 hour to give you further instructions."

Then Kane leads me and Mary to the king's office.

"How are the servants doing, baby?"

"I ordered them to eat. There was so much food here. But they weren't allowed to eat. It was for the king and advisors."

"How many advisors did he have? We only saw offices for 3, babydoll."

"Yea, it was 3."

Tye shakes his head. "This man was not a good king."

Tre shrugs his shoulders. "The village is a disaster. They have big gardens and big animal barns. I don't understand."

Dipak nods. "They were taking everything they could from anyone they could. Even their own village. Making sure the villagers and servants are fed will only be a start. The castle is nice, but the village is horrible."

"Let's go over to Nox. I have to be back in an hour to tell the servants what to do next."

Dipak stands up. "Frode, you're in command here. I'm going with my queen. We'll bring Nox back if we can sell him on the idea."

Frode sits down at the conference table.

Tye sits back. "What do you want us to do?"

Dipak smirks. "Go search for anything you want. Or anything that's better than we have. If Nox takes the castle, we won't be able to remove anything else."

Kane nods. "I'm going to stay and search too."

Dipak puts an arm around me. "Me and you sweetheart. You probably don't need the veil anymore." He gives me a wink as I pull it off with the gloves.

We get to King Nox's office. He and his 6 advisors are in it. Drake smiles at me.

"Hi Drake." I smile back.

"Hi Nadine. How are you today?"

"I've been better. I have a bit of an issue. That's why I'm here."

"What happened?"

"A princess tried to touch Tye. I killed them all."

"All?"

"Yes, and now I have another castle."

They laugh.

"I think the castle is better. I know it's bigger than this one."

Dipak nods. "A lot bigger."

"The kitchen is amazing. But I don't think I was ever in the kitchen of this one. But it has a ballroom there too."

"So what do you need from me?"

"Well, how do you feel about moving?"

"Why do you want us to move?"

"My new castle has a kingdom that goes with it. And Dipak told me that a kingdom must have a king to go with it."

"That's true. It'll fall if it doesn't. So, you want me to take the castle and the kingdom over?"

Dipak fixes his shirt. "There's a huge catch."

"What?"

"The kingdom is s**t. The king was exploiting his people and servants for everything to make the castle bigger and better. The people are hungry. Nothing has been put back into the village. Those people are in sad shape. The king was awful at his job."

"If you want to see the castle and village, we're there right now. You're more than welcome to come see it. All of you can."

"Let's go see it." The 7 of them stand up.

"How many servants do you have here?"

"100"

"Ok."

We pile in to the new castle.

"How long has it been? I need to check the servants."

"Almost an hour, sweetheart."

"I'll be in the ballroom. Trying to order them to bathe. Actually, I need to run back home and bring servants' clothes here. They are in rags."

"Bring soap and combs too, baby. They probably don't have anything."

I make myself a door. I walk into Dipak's office and rub my eyes.

Daddy, Bud, and Thora stare at me.

"What's wrong, my princess?"

"These servants are in rags. They're dirty and starving. The village is starving. But the castle is nice. Bring me 150 servant dresses and underwear. 150 soaps. 150 combs. 150 servant sandals. 150 hair soaps too."

"Some kings only take my princess. It is never good for anyone that way. What is your plan?"

"I already made the servants eat. Now I'm going to give them that stuff. Then me and Dipak are going to grow food for the village. I'll send the servants to take it to them. We have Nox at the castle now. Hopefully he'll take it over. I don't know what else to do, daddy."

"Go slow. If Nox doesn't want it, then we will watch it. We will make sure they don't starve."

16 servants walk in carrying boxes.

Thora jumps up. "Can I come too?"

"Of course."

I make a door back to the ballroom.

The servants are sitting at the tables. "Is this all of you?"

"Yes."

"Where do you normally bathe or shower?"

"Outside in the lake when it's not cold."

"And when it is cold?"

The servant shakes her head.

I look at one of my servants. "Where do you shower?"

"We have 20 showers in the servants area."

"Do you have showers in your servant area?"

"No."

"How many advisor rooms are here?"

"20."

"How many baths total are in this building?"

"45"

"Where are the other 25?"

"2 in the royal home. 12 in the guest rooms. 10 in a special war area."

"You 12 come here." I look at my servants. "Make sure each of them get this. You 12 will get one of each of these and then go bathe and dress in the guest rooms." They're going to cry. "You will use the guest room baths to bathe today. You will get a new outfit. When someone comes back, someone else goes. You 10 come here. Get your items now. You will take us to the special war area." I look at my servant. "Go make sure none of my people or the Nox people are in the guest room area. If they are, ask them to leave in my name. These servants need privacy to bathe."

My servant leaves with 12.

Thora and I follow the 10 out of the ballroom. We go into a room by the back door. It's huge. But there are 10 showers set up on the back wall with curtains around them. Dipak and King Nox watch us.

I smile at Dipak. "The servants bathe in the lake only. They have nothing." I turn to the 10. "You have your items. Use them in these showers. Close the curtains for privacy." I turn back to Dipak and Nox. "I've also taken over 12 guest rooms. Don't plan on seeing those today."

Thora rubs her eyes. "How could he not give them even basic things? Like bathing areas and food or shoes. A f*****g comb."

Dipak shakes his head. "I have no idea."

I nod. "Hopefully in an hour or 2. They'll have a clean outfit and some shoes. They'll be clean and fed. That's a start."

Thora smiles. "Let's go look around."