PEREGRINATE

CHAPTER 7

Waking up before the Sun? Acceptable. Washing and chopping vegetables? Acceptable. Washing the dishes? Acceptable. All of these activities were doable when done one, maybe two at a time. It was expected of me and Isha to finish them by afternoon! I knew I was an overachieving fool but this was extreme even for my subconscious. And to think that yesterday Isha did all this on her own. I overestimated the enjoyment I could get from this escapade. I was overworked and exhausted and we still had to serve those pretentious fools.

The castle of my imagination did not look as it was in the present time, it was big and magnificent but there were also many farmlands within the castle grounds itself. The castle was designed as intricately as possible. With numerous corridors and halls, it took me a few days to chart out its layout. There were three main doors to enter the castle, all of which led to an open courtyard. The courtyard was surrounded by corridors. These areas were heavily guarded at all times. The east and west corridors had stairs that led to the chambers for male and female family members respectively. While absolutely no male could enter the chambers assigned to women and girls, some of us maids were allowed to enter the chambers of the men to provide housekeeping services. The south corridor led to the main building

At the right center of the main building was the main hall. Here, the king held court as and when he wished. He had another smaller court on the floor above that was used as a conference hall for a small gathering. Besides these rooms, there were many other smaller annexes meant for weapons and storage connected by passageways.

Most part of the castle was built by carving out stones. No wonder it existed for so many centuries. Besides it kept the interiors cool in the hot days and frigid in the cold nights.

The kitchen was attached to the main building and opened into a dining hall mostly used by the family to have their meals. When guests were present extra chairs were placed to accommodate them. Otherwise, these three were any regular nuclear family with the addition of being surrounded by servants and guards. However, tonight they were entertaining.

I walked into the dining room with a tray filled with several plates. These people did not eat like we did last night. Our simple meal had been turned into a lavish buffet for them. It had exotic meat, three types of daals, rice of the finest quality, and at least three types of desserts. These were the dishes that only I served. My stomach violently revolted when Kabir enthusiastically told me that he had butchered tonight's meal.

While serving one of the girls my hand slightly brushed against her sleeves. Mind you my hand was neither wet nor had I touched her with a hot bowl of soup. But I received a really nasty look from her. When I stared back at her to send back the message that her rudeness was not appreciated, I noticed that she had uncanny light eyes. In the dim light of candles, they almost flashed yellow.

My sterned look changed into one of curiosity and before I could make sure my eyes were not playing tricks on me, Isha had already started dragging me away from the table. She did this a lot, dragging me. I was always either too late or dumbstruck by the details of the castle that my mind was successful in creating.

"It is rude for you to stare," Isha whispered harshly. Again.

"She gave me a rude look first," I shot back. Her look of disapproval of my attitude was reflected on her face. She sighed aloud. "Our job is to serve them their meal and retreat. We were never told that we could stare at them or talk back."

I had to concede with her as I remembered Nani instructed us so specifically. These were special guests and we were to be on our best behaviour. I lowered my head in embarrassment.

"Who is she?" My embarrassment did not stand a chance against my curiosity.

"She is the daughter of one of the Queen's friends. I will tell you more later."

As we went back to the table to collect the empty dishes, I caught snippets of their conversation.

"Where is the prince? I heard he returned yesterday," spoke the woman sitting next to the queen. She wore elegant jewelry and a peacock blue saree. Her hair was put up in an intricate updo woven with strands of pearls. It might have sounded ridiculous but she managed to pull that look off.

"He is not yet recovered. He is still resting. Inder will surely join us for our morning meal tomorrow."

To my dismay, I had to move away before I could hear more. Inder was the prince from that book. Though it could have been some other Inder, his father maybe. But no, his father was named Vikram.

Before I could ruminate more I was handed a scrubber and shown the sink to clean the plates. Another girl, Kashi, was helping me but over her continuous chatter, I could not even hear my own thoughts. As we washed away, I gazed through the window. There were empty pastures wherever the eyes could see. Sometimes chickens and cows could be seen grazing and toddling around.

Earlier that morning, as I was hanging the freshly washed sheets on the clothesline, I almost toppled over a mother duck and her train of ducklings. They were adorable, quacking all around the place. I went to the kitchen to get some corn and wheat to give them. They were polite and happily clobbered up the food but then out of nowhere came another duck shooing the family away.

On top of hogging all the crumbs for himself, he got the wild idea that I must have some more under my skirt and decided to get right under there. I was not wearing a single layer of the skirt; it had multiple layers, some tight, some loose so it was bound to get tangled up. I spent quite many minutes shrieking and falling over while all the others enjoyed the show but then Kabir rushed up to me, picked me up, and reached under my skirt to get the duck out. So relieved, I didn't even get offended when he burst into laughter once the rogue duck was away from me, instead I joined him. After making a promise that he would look for any more wild ducks, he went his way and I went back to the chores.

Remembering the incident, I had to chuckle now too. When Kashi questioned me how I could feel amused when she was telling me about her poor sick aunt, I rushed to explain myself but was interrupted by Isha. She informed me that she was going up to the prince's chambers to clean it up. Eager to see if this Inder was the same as the one I read about, I offered my assistance.

As we walked up the stairs my heart started to beat so violently that I placed a hand on my chest in an attempt to calm it down. I was gripped in sudden fear and my palms grew clammy.

Isha had no problem walking into the door but I stood outside it for a few minutes, trying to calm myself down. My heart beat so strongly that it made the pulsing pain in my head worse. I clutched my head, unable to take a proper breath. I felt slightly dizzy. I leaned on the doorway for support. The door gave away under my weight and I fell right into...my classroom.

Author's Corner:

I had to dip in some history lessons for drafting the layout of the castle. Once again, I have done my best to remain authentic. However, not gonna lie, I was tempted many times to be swayed away by the majestic sets of Bollywood. The descriptions might not have been as extensive as many historical fictions on this platform. Let me know if you have found it lacking. I want you all to have the visions of the magnificent castle I had in my mind as I am writing this chapter.

Drop some other features of a castle that you know in the comments!

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