The Lost Mark

Chapter 17: The Little Princess

When we got closer to the castle Alex handed out the amulets. The amulets were made out of brass and had the royal family seal on them. A panther I think. Some kind of cat. We showed the guards our amulets and walked in.

"Oh you are here." the tiny woman said, " I will show you to your rooms."

"Thank you," Rina said as we followed the maid.

"We have three different wings with different types of occupants. The women go to the East corridor, the men to the West, and the married couples are in the North corridor."

We nodded listening. She stops at the intersection of the corridors and hands us our keys.

"I didn't realize there were two of you going to the female corridor otherwise I would have given you another room."

"I prefer to stay with my mother," Nee said.

The maid nodded and left after pointing us in the right direction. I went to my room with Nee not bothering to see where the others were going. The room we were given was huge and magnificent. I had never been to a place like it before. The bed was big and fluffy. When Nee saw it she immediately jumped on top of it. I chuckled. A maid walked into the room and made a noise of surprise. We showed her our amulets.

"Oh goodness, I didn't know you would be here so soon. I was going to clean up a bit more."

"It's fine," I reassured the maid.

"Do you wish to take a bath? I can get the water ready for you?"

"I would appreciate that. We have come a long way, so it would be nice to wash off all of our grime."

She curtsied and quickly disappeared. I turned my attention back to Nee. she gave me a questioning look as she stood on the bed. I chuckled.

"Are you having fun?"

She nodded.

I debated joining her. Should I be a good parent and tell her to stop or give in to my inner child? I decided on a little bit of both; a compromise if you will. I flopped down onto the bed. It was even more comfortable than it looked. I felt like I would melt into the bed. It was made of such high-quality products that people as poor as me dream of feeling, just once in our lives. The pillows are not made of straw like the ones we have at home. I can't tell what exactly it was filled with, but it felt like I was laying my head on a cloud. I gave a sigh of contentment.

"Nee, stop jumping," I called out from the pillow. "This is too comfortable to just jump on. You have to lay on it. Experience it."

She followed my directions and I could feel the bed lean a bit on one side because of her weight, but it was still amazing. There was a knock at the door. I groaned. I guess I have to get up. I dragged myself out of bed and opened the door groggily. It was the maid from earlier and another maid. They were carrying buckets of water.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Come in." I said opening the door wider.

"We are going to fill your bath." the new maid said.

I nodded and followed them curiously. They poured steaming hot water into the tub until the tub was full.

" Do you need anything else?" the first maid asked.

I shook my head. "No."

"If you need anything else just pull on the bell and I will come," she said pointing to a bell by the bed. " It doesn't matter what issue you have, pull the bell and we will come."