You Are Made of Iron

Chapter IV pt. 2

He looked from her to the man in the shadowy robe and then back to her, he took in her bound wrists and her terrified expression all within one second, "Come in." and that was all he needed to say.
​"I might as well introduce myself," the man said to her master as he steered her into the lion's den. He untied her wrists and then, bowing, he said, "I am Maeron Viljast. And you are?"
​"My name is Silas Gruff." He said this with his usual gruffness which was most likely how he had earned his name.
​"Well it is a delight to meet you Silas. Now that we have our pleasantries over with, should we talk about the girl?"
​"The other soldiers who returned Zeilla did not find it necessary to talk to me about her, what's different this time?"
​"Well, I think we'd better go into another room." By that he meant the eating room, as the only other rooms were the kitchen, the bedroom, and the living room which they were in now, he said this looking at Zeilla.
​"Humph. Alright then." Zeilla's master grunted.
​"Who knows, I might stay to talk over dinner." He was still giving Zeilla a strange look.
​Silas grunted again, "Maybe you will." Maeron winked at Zeilla, and then followed Silas into the eating room.
​Finally she caught on; he was distracting her master so that she could make him dinner, which usually made him happier. And he would stay over so that her master would eat before he even thought about beating her, and if this was true, than she realized that she'd better hurry.
​Zeilla walked as fast as she could through the eating room and into the kitchen without running. Once there she got out the spaghetti noodles, that she had made before she had run away, and a pot. She filled the pot with water and hung it on the metal bar that ran across the fireplace for that very purpose. Then Zeilla went about the task of starting the fire, this proved more difficult than it usually was as she couldn't find the tinder-box. Silas must have moved it when he had to use it on his own. Thankfully though, she found it quickly enough and was a master when it came to starting fires. Within two minutes she had a fire heating the water. The task of cooking It was all done within fifteen minutes.
​Then she set about the task of setting the table for the two, it was slightly uncomfortable as her master kept giving her disdainful looks and Maeron Viljast was looking amused but trying to hide it. After that Zeilla served up the spaghetti to her master,
​"Would you like some of my cooking master?" Zeilla asked him hesitantly, "It's your favorite, spaghetti and meatballs.
​"Yes I would," he grunted, "but don't you think that this changes anything girl."
​She dipped her head a little at this chastising, "Certainly master." And then after serving him she moved on to Maeron, "Would you like some Sir Viljast?"
​"Yes please and just call me Maeron." Zeilla was startled by this obvious statement of manners and familiarity.
​"I, uhh, ok," she served him as quickly as possible and darted back into the kitchen.
​"Where's she going now?" Maeron asked inquisitively.
​Silas grunted -one of his favorite pastimes-, "Outside to feed the hounds most likely."
​"Oh," and as if by his suggestion she scurried outside with the pot and two bowls. "So, are these hounds used to her feeding them?"
​"No she only does it when she's trying to suck up to me, mainly because I've never trained them to not bite her."
​"Well why not!"
​"Because I occasionally use them to hunt her." He said this so casually that you would almost think that this was normal.
​"When? And why?" Maeron asked curiously.
​"Oh, a while ago, about a year after she-" A loud yelping noise and lots of loud barking cut through their conversation and Silas heaved a sigh, "I should go bring her in before she ends up getting her hand bitten off." He put on his jacket and went outside to resolve the problem. About a minuet later Silas was hauling Zeilla by the back of the collar through the front door. Once he got inside of the house he dropped her on the hard wooden floor.
​"Humph, are you trying to get yourself killed girl?"
​"N-no master," she said picking herself up off of the ground.
​"Oh shut up already, Zeilla."
​Maeron looked from Zeillas shivering form to Silases extremely annoyed expression and decided that it was time to leave, "Well, I'd better be off now. See you in two days."
​Zeilla looked up and, in a break of character, asked, "You're coming back! Why?"
​"Zeilla." Silas growled.
​"Sorry master." She muttered.
​Maeron Viljast chuckled, "Oh your master will most likely tell you why." Zeilla looked up at her master Silas and decided that this was not actually likely at all, and as soon as Maeron left the house she would be unconscious, if she was lucky.