Carack

Carack Ch13 p1

Chapter 13 Chun

The kitchens were hot and noisy; there was a large steaming pot on an large impressive spit over a huge fire. A small, thin boy on a stool was stirring the contents as best he could, as he had to stretch to reach the pot, it looked as if the fire was slowly roasting him. A tall girl in a white apron, that was much too big for her, was rolling pastry and dusting flour around the table, the chef, a sallow faced man, cuffed her head as he passed with a bowl under one arm.

‘Too much flour Anita! Look at the mess!’ He pulled up short at the sight of Euny and Gerent in the doorway.

‘Well and what have we here?’ he walked around Euny, who was taller than he was, eyed her up and down and said, ‘pretty, very pretty. Now what do you two urchins want?’

‘Please sir we need work,’ replied Euny in a very winning girl’s voice, ‘my brother and I hoped you might have a place for us in the kitchens.’

‘You I could use.’ The chef replied rubbing his hands together with relish, ‘but the scrawny brat there you call a brother, no.’

‘Then I cannot stay,’ replied Euny, ‘for we have lost both our parents and must stay together. Come brother!’ Euny turned and the chef hurriedly called out:

‘Now, now! No need to hurry, I don’t need a boy at the moment,’ he glanced at the sweating individual over the fire, ‘but I soon might, I could put him to work if you will stay, I need a good serving maid and you would be ideal, have you dished up before?’ Euny nodded in a shy way, Gerent was in awe of the knight’s acting and remained silent, ‘good,’ continued the chef, ‘start now. Aprons over there,’ he pointed, ‘wash bucket over there, plating up here, trays there, cutlery in that box, got that?’ Euny nodded, ‘good, you boy, what’s your name?’

‘Uh, Ulf sir,’ said Gerent taking off his cap and twisting it in his hands.

‘Oh ho! Ulf the oaf eh? That’s good that is, like that do you boy,’ he nudged the boy stirring the pot so hard in the back he almost fell in to the pot, ‘eh? Ulf the oaf, well oaf, sorry I mean Ulf,’ he laughed at his own words, ‘take this to the midden,’ and he kicked at a large bucket, brimming with peelings and waste food.

‘Sorry where?’ asked Gerent.

‘The midden boy! The midden! Just out that door and round the back near the pig’s keep, go on!’ He stepped toward Gerent and raised the back of his hand to him. Gerent did not need to guess what that meant and so he ducked under the hand, grabbed the heavy bucket and disappeared out the door to the rear of the kitchen. Gerent found himself in the open air he was in a small, enclosed yard. In one corner he saw a low wall and could hear the sound of pigs on the other side of it. Gerent carried the bucket across the yard in that direction and going behind the pigs, he found a small wooden hatch in the wall. He smelt, before he saw, the open tip of rubbish that lay outside the wall on the ground below the hatch. This then, he concluded, must be the midden and so he hoisted the heavy bucket up and tipped it out onto the putrid heap below. He returned to the kitchen after having a quick look around the yard and noting the only other exit, a large, solid wooden gate, which appeared would lead into the courtyard of the castle when open.

When he returned from the yard he saw Euny had laid up some meat and vegetables onto a plate, she had set it out very appetisingly and was adding a sprig of parsley and watercress to garnish, the chef was watching her with pride.

‘Well done missey!’ he praised, ‘I can see you are going to be an asset!’ Euny glanced up at Gerent with a wry smile, the chef caught the glance and stepped swiftly across to Gerent cuffed him around the ear.

‘Took your time about it didn’t you oaf? Now get to those dishes in there, help Wig!’ Gerent was pushed in through another doorway and found the boy who had been stirring the pot was now bent over a steaming tub washing pots and pans. He looked starved, scared and tired, Gerent took over washing from him and he picked up a towel to dry.

‘Did you save any?’ he whispered, Gerent glanced at him:

‘Save any what?’

‘Any slops, you didn’t, did you? No I thought you wouldn’t,’ he shook his head sadly, ‘Chef Oswald did that on purpose, sent you with the slops, he knew you wouldn’t know.’

‘Know what?’ asked Gerent passing him a large platter to dry.

‘Know about keeping something to eat, we don’t get anything unless we take it from the slop bucket,’ replied Wig sadly, ‘now we won’t have anything until tomorrow. He’s a mean one.’

‘You’re joking!’

‘No talking in there!’ came the chef’s voice from the kitchen and Wig bent his head, said no more but got on with the drying and stacking of dishes. Once the wooden tub had been emptied down the midden, Gerent wondered how Wig had managed to carry on his own before, the chef set them both to peeling onions for the evening meal. Gerent had never peeled onions before, he didn’t realise how they could sting and his eyes were red and painful before they had finished. When Euny came back from serving the king’s meal there was a lunch for the knight, served by chef Oswald, at the kitchen table. The chef was fawning all over Euny, obviously fooled into believing Euny was a girl as he said things such as:

‘We don’t want you wasting away’ and:

‘much too pretty a face to be soiling those delicate hands with work’. From what Gerent could see, as he peeled the onions, Euny’s face told him how close the knight was to rearranging the chef’s own features, permanently! Euny was then set to folding napkins and arranging cutlery for the dining hall upstairs, which Euny then had to take up, Gerent was glad to see that it was all falling into place, that they had access to the king’s meal and the castle as well. After the onions he was sent with logs to the dining hall to replenish the supply piled up beside the fire, he felt tired and hungry but still could not believe he would not get anything to eat unless it was from the slops. He looked around as much as he dared as he carried the logs, which took several trips, he passed Euny but apart from a glance, they did not have the opportunity to speak, as there were guards stood in every room and hallway.

After the evening meal had been served and cleared, during which Oswald had cuffed Gerent several times, Wig showed them where they were to sleep. It was a small, dark, cellar with straw mattresses laid on the floor, Wig had made two for Euny and Gerent that afternoon, they lay down in their clothes, Gerent hungry and exhausted, they had not been fed, except Euny, who had had the same treatment in the evening as received at lunchtime. Gerent could tell that Euny wanted to talk after the others were asleep, but he was so tired he just fell fast asleep and did not wake up again until Oswald kicked him early the next morning.

While he roused himself, which took some doing, he realised that both Anita and Wig had disappeared, Euny quickly asked him for the powder and pushed it into an apron pocket. Brunnstan made himself visible for a moment and expressed concern over Gerent but Euny brushed it aside saying he would get used to hard work and knocks and that it would not be for long. Gerent felt this was all right for him as he was not being beaten, but he told Brunnstan that he would be fine and not to worry. Gerent’s shoulders really ached and he felt frail, as if he could close his eyes and drift away forever, but he knew he had work to do in the kitchen and that Oswald would be calling ‘Oaf!’ if he did not hurry up.