A Thorny Tale

A Thorny Tale: Part One

Chapter One

Briar

I was helping out in the kitchens again, a place I worked in daily to fill time in between other duties. A mound of potato peels sat in front of me as I placed another freshly peeled victim into the pot of cold water to rinse off any dirt on it before placing the unlucky root vegetable into another bowl placed before me. Again.

Of course the other humans on the kitchen staff have given me another blunt knife to make the task even harder for me. I resist the scowl that threatens to breach my impassive mask that I must maintain in here always.

I stare at the hand that I just used to put the potato down with for a moment, it's branded with a raised mark of a large, black, italic 'S' and it glistens on my wet hand. It pronounces to everyone clearly what my status is in this world and that status is one of being a slave. I look away to continue to work before I am caught daydreaming by the others.

The intricate stamp has been apart of me, for as long as I can remember, it has always been there. It was placed upon my flesh by magical means just after I was born by the Fae here. It could also only be removed by a Fae court noble as well. I barely noticed it anymore but those who didn't carry the mark, always noticed it on me.

People were always very focused on being better than someone else here. Especially in a castle that was all about ranks. I guess it made them feel better, to feel superior somehow and I was always made to feel worse off in their acknowledgment of our differences. Even if they were always a step away from becoming exactly like me and didn't seem to realise it.

It wasn't just my status here as a slave that evoked feelings of dislike, wariness and outright bullying from the others though. The regular kitchen servants disliked me for other reasons as well. The main reason was on behalf of the man who ran this little corner of the castle.

This man was the handsome male Fae chef in charge of running the kitchen here and he had a host of admirers amongst his kitchen staff and I had actually rejected him. Me, lowly little old me. This was much to chagrin of those who wanted to catch him romantically speaking and those who wanted to please him, even if that was to the expense of myself.

I could understand why the staff adored him. He prepared and organised his kitchen staff to create the sumptuous banquets for the ruling Fae court of this castle and its elite guests of honour. The kitchen staff were then treated very well because of his successes and in turn they were loyal to him and that loyalty was being turned onto myself.

There was a reason why everyones animosity had risen towards me more lately and that was because I hadn't been willing to become his and service his needs at night time. The Fae man had wanted to create a binding deal with me by making me his mistress and he made it seem that this deal would've elevated my low standing within the castle that cared deeply about rank amongst themselves.

It had even seem to me that he had boasted to me that I would get no better deal than his for my entire life?! The very nerve of him! Every time I replay his words in my mind I scoff aloud at it, I'm pretty sure people here think I have a problem with my throat by now because I do it so often and aimed at nothing at all.

The chef had took me aside privately one day to talk to me and he had said to me: 'No one upstairs will ever see anything of worth in a castle born slave like you Briar. You were born in the bowels of the castle's dungeon amongst the prisoners and to 'them' upstairs you will be no better than that,' he indicated with a wave of his hand towards the ceiling. In that moment I just continued to stare at him impassively and waited to hear what came next.