The Servant Queen

Everybody Wants a Look

Ani

I opened my eyes immediately and stood up from the sound of the front door opening. I shouldn't have fallen asleep. I opened the Servants' Quarter's door, then locked it with the key. I hurriedly went up the nearby stairs to the second floor, where Oliver said his room would be. My feet were still in pain.

"How absurd! All that trouble and our servant wasn't even in that cargo?!" said a booming voice, from the first floor.

That must be Oliver's father. "Where the hell did she go!"

I knocked on Oliver's door, but he didn't open it or reply. Is this the right room? I tried the door knob, half-expecting it to be locked, but it wasn't. I pushed the door open and went inside the dark room.

I scanned the room until I noticed a figure sitting on the window seat holding a book.

"I didn't hear you knock. Did my father arrive?" said Oliver.

I nodded. Oliver sat on the window seat glazing quietly at the hazy sun that begun rising above the rigid mountains that divided the Forbidden Land with the rest of Stone Kingdom.

Oliver got up, grabbed his white-collared shirt hanging from a chair, and buttoned it up. He looked at me with his blue eyes, tiredly.

"I've made provisions for Mr. Green." He grabbed a burlap bag on the floor and threw it at my feet. "It's in here, Servant."

I picked it up finding it extremely heavy and looked back up at him.

"It's food and medical supplies," he said.

I waited for him to command me what to do next. He sighed.

"There's another door in the Servants' Quarters that leads to the stables. Let Mr. Green escape through there. Afterwords, don't let him use the road that you both followed or any of the small roads. They're most likely swarming with Guards."

I nodded in understanding.

"If you follow go 130°SE from the stables, without getting off track, you'll come across an infamous river called Trice. It was said to be poisoned by demi-humans long ago, so nearly no one goes near it. But, the poisonous properties of Trice River already disappeared decades ago. It's safe. Don't go far from it until you reach Central City Main Road. Trust me."

Why doesn't he just tell Walter himself?

"Go and don't let my father or the other two servants see you, servant girl."

I backed up about to leave the room.

"Stop."

I halted, and he came up to me.

"Show me your feet."

I didn't have time to react to his command. He already kneeled down and picked up my injured, bare foot. It was so sudden that I fell backward on my bottom, with the back of my head against the wooden wall. Oliver didn't care. He was busy still holding up my feet and wrapping it with a bandage. His gold necklace dangled from his neck.

"You're foolish. Before helping someone out, think about yourself first," he said. "I barely even noticed."

I slowly reached out to grab his hand and placed it off of my foot. He looked at me as I pointed at my mask, trying to show that I was just a servant and that he didn't need to worry about me.