Wizardom Legends: Charlatan for Hire by Jeffrey L. Kohanek

Author:Jeffrey L. Kohanek [Kohanek, Jeffrey L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Fallbrandt Press
Published: 2022-10-25T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 19

Uncommon Servants

Dressed in a dark blue coat and matching trousers, Jerrell pushed the laundry cart down the castle corridor. Haelynn wore a white apron over a rather plain blue dress, but it was near impossible for her to appear anything but plain. With her jaw set in determination and her hands clasped at her waist, she marched down the corridor at his side. Their own clothing was hidden in the cart’s bin.

“I hope nobody finds that couple before we are away from the castle.” she said.

“Let’s hope that does not happen. I tied them well, and with the gags, they can do little more than moan and mumble.”

A smirk teased her lips. “Isn’t that how we found them in the first place?”

He chuckled. “Yes, but others are unlikely to intentionally walk in on such activity.”

A heavy-set, dark-haired man in a stained white apron emerged from a door at the far end of the corridor. When he spied Jerrell and Haelynn, he threw his hands up. “There you are. Have you forgotten about tonight’s dinner?”

Jerrell looked at Haelynn. Her blonde hair was in a bun, her red wig long discarded. While her chest tested the seams of her bodice, she otherwise looked enough like Iris to pass at a cursory glance, especially in dim light.

Likewise, Jerrell had taken a blade to his cheeks to remove the stubble. Clean-shaven and dressed as the steward, he had wet his hair to tame it, combing it with a part down the middle to appear more like Harris. He stood a couple inches shorter than the steward, but that could not be helped.

Jerrell turned to the cook. “We have laundry—”

“The laundry can wait. The food is ready. Get in here, so we don’t keep His Grace and his guest waiting.”

The cook disappeared through the doorway, the door swinging closed behind him.

“What do we do?” Haelynn asked in a hushed voice.

“We play along as Iris and Harris. If the lighting is poor, perhaps he won’t notice.”

“Let’s hope not.”

Jerrell pushed his way through the door and passed into a narrow prep room. Sacks, crates, pots, and pans filled the shelves along one wall, while a counter covered with a dirty cutting board, flour, and three empty bowls stood along another. They crossed the room and entered a kitchen illuminated by the cool light of an enchanted lantern on one end and the hot fires of an open oven on the other, the flames from the oven providing dim, flickering light. One man pulled a pan with baked fish from the oven, turned, and slid them onto plates held by the cook who had found Jerrell and Haelynn. The cook spun around, set the plates on a long platter, and dropped a couple hot rolls onto it, joining the mashed potatoes, asparagus, and fish already there. A carafe of red wine and two goblets waited on the counter near the plates. When finished, the cook placed two metal domes over the plates and stepped back with a nod.

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