Slave of the Dragon

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

My hands burned and felt raw as I continued to scrape the garment in the water, desperately trying to get it clean. Lady Veronica insisted on her daughter's dress being cleaned by tonight for tomorrow’s dinner, and this child must have been rolling around with the pigs in the stables down in the clearing, it was such a mess. I had been scrubbing the thing furiously for an hour and a half now and little had improved. But I kept going, knowing I could not upset Lady Veronica.

"Annabel, you're still working on laundry?" said a loud voice behind me.

"Oh, hey Epona." I said turning my head to face the young woman that stood before me. Her coppery hair was pulled back in a neat bun, as was expected of us to wear, her thin features giving me a judging look. "It's just that I have to clean this dress for Lady Veronica by tonight."

Epona raised an eyebrow at this, "It has taken you this amount of time for one dress?"

A dress that could have arguably been used to wash all the floors of the manor. "Well it hasn't quite been that easy to get clean," I said as I lifted the dress out of the water.  You could hardly tell that the actual color of the dress was white with all the stains and smudges effacing it. Even the little pink bows looked distorted from the gunk.

Epona gave it a hard look, then reaching out a hand saying, "Let me see it." I handed the garment over to her. She quickly took a spot next to me and began washing the dress with energy I had long ago lost. Not bothering to tell Epona to stop, I instead to decided to stretch my hands out in the sun, pruned after being in the cold water for so long. I'd soon have a couple more blisters to add onto them. I looked over from the washing area in the back, the manor standing tall in front of me. Its impressive stone structure of dark grey, almost black, gleamed as the sunlight reflected off of it. Of course it had to be nice, seeing as the owner was the eldest member of the Royal Council, Spiros Pendragon.

I heard Epona swear and I turned my attention back to her. She was holding the dress up and nothing had changed. "What the hell happened to this dress? It's not like the Dotat ever do any work, that's why we are here," Epona said bitterly. And I didn't disagree. Our kind have been worked our whole lives to do all the Dotats' bidding while they sit pretty with all the fine things in life. But it's not like we can do much about it now.

"Maybe Lady Veronica purposely got it dirty just to make things a little harder on me. She has never cared for me much after I accidentally ruined her fur coat," I offered, knowing that it actually could be a possibility.

Epona laughed. "I remember that day. I thought smoke was going to spew out of her ears, she was so mad."

I smiled. "Now that would have been a sight to see. Maybe next time I get her mad she'll  do it."

Epona gave me a stern look. "Now Anna, you know you can't let that happen. If you get on the Dotat's bad side you'll end up like..." Epona died off on her speech.

I lost any humor I felt before. Swallowing I finished, "I'll end up like my father." Epona gave me a grim smile. I grabbed the dress back from her and stood up. "Well it looks like I have to go break the bad news to Lady Veronica that the dress can't be cleaned."

"Good luck."

I nodded my head and started to head back into the manner. I made sure that my plain, black button-down dress and black stockings were all straightened out. when I entered in through the back servant's door to the giant kitchen, many others were moving about cleaning, cooking, or trying to get from one place to the next, like me. I dodged some people as I walked to the opposite door leading into the long hallway. I was soundless as I walked along the marble floors in my flats, passing by decorative works of art, vases, and other objects to fill the hallways. The dark stone walls all looked very smooth with nothing looking out of place. After twisting around some corridors and going up a flight of stairs I finally made it to Lady Veronica's room.