Summoner Of Death

Chapter 3

Siesta felt semi-confident as she left the maid quarters in the wee hours of the morning. She had spent a majority of the night imagining every bizarre appearance she could, at this point she was absolutely sure no matter how odd the foreign king looked she would be able to hide her shock. The king had been given one of the rooms reserved for the highest of nobles, in a wing of the school reserved for visits from royalty.

Siesta had been to this wing a few times during her stay at the school, while the royal family usually brought their own servants to maintain and guard the rooms during their stay, the rest of the year the school servants had to maintain the wing. Usually, the task was given to two or three maids every couple of weeks, the names of all those who worked within the wing were written down along with the day to ensure the cleaning staff didn't attempt to steal the expensive tapestry or art. The rest of the time it was locked behind a magical door, only the teaching staff and the head maid had a key.

Siesta thought it was rather silly, only a moron would attempt to steal from the nobility in such a blatant fashion. The paintings and tapestry were no doubt expensive but easily located. The nobles were liable to hang the entire family of the thief to send a message. All the same, she approached the large oaken door, stopping in her tracks as another woman clad in a maid uniform approached.

The woman appeared to be in her early thirties, with pale alabaster skin, orange hair, and cold blue eyes. The woman's eyes eerily reminded Siesta of ice, not the solid blue ice that her father taught her could hold her weight, no instead they reminded her of the thin white ice. Just like that thin ice Siesta felt if she stared too long at those eyes she would be swallowed whole by the freezing depths below.

Siesta forced a smile on her face as she turned to face the women apparently, she was part of Osmund's personal staff. He had insisted on having one of his personal servants help with catering to the foreign king. Something about Osmund's claim didn't sit right with Siesta though, she had overheard a chunk of conversation between the headmaster and another teacher while cleaning. Siesta hadn't meant to listen in but as she was cleaning a classroom and couldn't help but overhear the conversation in the back room.

"...So how many servants do you hire, old friend?" A male voice questioned laughter clear in his voice.

" Servants are for the young and rich. I'm too old to bother with such troublesome matters, I hire some groundskeepers for my estate but that's all. Servants, wealth, status, power struggles...I'm well past the years where such things hold sway over me." The answering male voice was familiar to Siesta, as it belonged to the headmaster.

"Hasn't stopped you from..." The first voice began again but Siesta yanked herself from eavesdropping as she forced herself to finish scrubbing the floor as quickly as possible.

Thus Siesta wondered who the women eyeing her actually was, perhaps she truly was a simple maid the headmaster had hired on? Still, Siesta had her doubts...

"Hello, My name is Siesta, I suppose you have the key?" Pushing her errant thoughts aside she greeted the strange women, plastering a fake grin on her face.

"...Odette, of course I have the key. Shall we?" The Odette eyed her closely as she spoke, Siesta felt as if her cold blue eyes were tasting her. Rather than respond verbally to her cold gaze Siesta nodded. Odette reached into the folds of her maid uniform, her dainty hand emerged gripping an ornate key. Rather than place the key into a lock she simply held it before the door, there was a brief blue glow before the door swung open.