Dullahan

7 - Middle Ground - 4

He paid closer attention to the way they went as they left the dark corridor. Following Ness felt safer, a familiar figure that added security to the entire adventure. He may not have known much about her, but he was finding it easier to predict her actions, easier to understand what she might do next.

The steps up to courtyard level outside the doorway were layered in orange and red leaves, trampled down with mud and rainwater. Eldred nearly slipped on one as he climbed the stairs, only regaining his balance at the last moment. Ness didn't turn, but he could feel her attention on him until he had straightened and his steps had returned to their usual rhythm. She took them across the courtyard itself, a small irregular shape more a result of the buildings around it than from any sort of planning. A tap jutted from the wall opposite the stairs down to the corridor, water dripping from it in a slow but regular pattern. A few other doorways led onto the small paved area itself, as well as two separate archways leading off to either side leading to other exterior areas of the castle. One, Eldred remembered, was the one Gildas had led him through the day before, the covered passageway beyond being crossed by a number of other serving folk. Ness guided him toward the other, a tall archway that led to a larger open space filled with hedges and plants, paths winding through gardens.

She led him along a wall, past rows of vegetables and herb bushes, crossing a stone square housing a water pump, over to another section of the castle. There, they stepped down yet more stairs and through a door straight into the warmth of a kitchen. Savoury smells hit him all at once, fresh bread and simmering stews, stock pots boiling bones and off cuts, ovens filled with pies and pastries. Tables took up much of the space in the large room, cooks and kitchen staff working tirelessly around them.

Ness went a short distance within, staying close to the wall that shared the door they had entered through. The kitchen seemed too busy to notice them, the kitchen maids too busy chatting about castle gossip or listening to instructions yelled from across the room to pay too close attention to the two people that had just entered. "This is the kitchen," Ness explained needlessly.

There were all sorts of people working within, Eldred noticed. The human-scale operations were what had first caught his eye- human-sized fae cooking human-sized meals- but looking closer he could see smaller fae, individuals similar to the insect-winged folk he'd seen in the city worked on smaller meals, their larger colleagues cutting human-sized food to more manageable sizes, or transporting what seemed like entire workstations to other parts of the kitchen. It seemed to Eldred that no two individual was the same in here, with a varied mixture of folk from those almost indistinguishable from humans, to goat-legged servers, bark-skinned chefs, scaled maids, and everything in between. Similar to the cooks, the food itself was a wild mix. Much seemed familiar, bread, pastries, stews, roasts, but there were other strange mixtures of food with ingredients Eldred did not recognise, all being prepared with knowing hands.

There was a momentary hush in the noise of the room as their presence was noted, furtive glances directed toward Ness sending ripples of whispers among the staff, before more senior cooks chivied and barked orders to set the kitchen back on track. Eldred understood now why Ness had drawn so much attention in the city, her armour so plainly marking her out from the others at the castle. He hadn't seen another clad so completely aside from the other dullahans outside the throne room. Even the city and castle's guardsmen were more lightly armoured, dressing more for mobility than the pure defence the dullahans seemed to prefer.

A serving boy approached cautiously, furred black tail lowered and still even as he fidgeted with the bottom of his shirt. He stopped just off to the side of Ness, eyes fixed pointedly on the ground, awaiting instruction.

Eldred paid little attention to what the dullahan said, too focused on the goings on of the kitchen, staring at all stages of food preparation. He wondered if they were preparing for a feast, imagining the throne room filled instead with long tables, each place taken and still more people entering the hall for a grand meal. A cascade of laughter off in one corner of the room caught his attention, looking over to find a small group of children standing together, unable to hold in laughter. He felt the echo of a smile on his own face, until the group glanced toward him, and their laughter renewed. One leaned forward, whispering something to the group that brought fresh grins to their faces, a few of their number stealing looks at him.