The Mice in the Kitchen

Chapter 23

The cabin in the forest was big enough to accommodate twenty people. However, there were only the six Enbojup brothers, who, after the considerable reduction of the mine's yield, were its only workers.

They received the four newcomers with cordiality. They treated Adalberht with a combination of esteem and reverence. The news from the palace had not reached the general population yet, so that his explanation about the transfer of power to Kasimir was taken warily by these six men, who still called him "Your Highness", just in case. Herta wondered if Adalberht had made a mistake choosing this destination as the first stop of his new life away from royalty.

Herta and Flora soon discovered that, for them, staying in the cabin would not be a bed of roses. Nevertheless, they hadn't been expecting otherwise when they made the decision of leaving everything behind and starting from scratch, being women with no means of support. The relationship —or rather the lack of a relationship— between the girls and their companions was soon revealed to the Enbojup brothers as a result of Adalberht's naive side, despite Detlef's efforts to prevent it. The six miners immediately felt entitled to joke and take certain liberties they would not have taken had Flora and Herta been married women.

The first three days, the men went to work at the mine and the two girls took care of the household chores.

It was clear that the four of them were willing to work hard; and it was also quite obvious that Adalberht was aware of the kind of tasks he would be undertaking. But his three friends soon realized that something he had been mistaken about was the character of his employees, whom he had intended to treat as equals.

They probably hadn't met very often in the past and the managers of Dwarf had managed to make the most of their talent for acting to show a friendly attitude out of self-interest. But, now —and increasingly as they became truly aware of the ex-prince's situation—, the true personality of these men would have to come out, even to the eyes of the person from whom they most wanted to hide it.

During the third evening, they shamelessly made ill-mannered comments, with no consideration and perfectly hearable by Adalberht.

'Hey, kid, you should come to the mine with us tomorrow. With that short hair you don't look much like a woman. In fact, it bothers me to see you serving me food. If you wear your hair like a man, you should work like a man and let your skinny friend do the cleaning and cooking.'

Detlef and Adalberht instantly stood up, while the other five men burst out laughing. Detlef could feel flames growing in his eyes. Since they had returned that day from the mine, he had been admiring Flora's short hair —which he had not dared to praise yet—, which enhanced Flora's neck and her general exquisite features. He was as sick of those knaves as the girls were, but he had been tolerating them out of respect for Adalberht's dream and because he had developed the ability to be patient after many years of practice. However, there were limits he would not let them cross.

The few seconds Detlef and Adalberht spent in deciding whether to waste some words or directly start fighting were taken by Flora as an opportunity to verbalize her reply:

'That's exactly what I was planning to do. I agree with you. What am I doing trying to make a nice home for a group of scoundrels whose filthy habits would not let them appreciate my efforts? But how many of you will be there with me? Probably not many.'

The mystery spread through the room just before the stomach cramps and fainting fits began.

'What the...?' Detlef looked at Flora questioningly, as did the only two other pairs of eyes still standing and not writhing with pain.