Chapter Twelve

With everyone back at the castle, what other surprises await them?

The Game

by omegax45

Chapter Twelve

Rowen woke Rose up after talking to the royal soldier for a few minutes and they collected the items they were given at the start of the challenge, leaving their shelter behind as they were led back to Redreu Castle.  They were joined by a few other couples and their guiding royal soldiers, some looking worse for wear.  Especially David and Raven.

“Are they all right,” Rose whispered to Rowen, “They look ill.”

“Perhaps they had caught something,” Rowen whispered back, “or eaten something foul.”

They reached the castle, where they returned their items and met up with Marin and the servants.  Marin inspected each of them before having the servants lead several nobles out of the entrance hall.

“Now that you have all returned from you camping trip,” the head maid announced, not hiding a hint of amusement in her voice, “All of you will return to your rooms and clean up.  Baths are at the ready for all of you, and I recommend a change of clothes as well.  You will have an hour to clean and rest before you will be fetched for the midday meal.”

“Finally,” Golde exclaimed happily, “A decent meal!  Not that your cooking skills are less than the cooks here, my dear Alfred.”

“I do apologize,” Alfred replied with a slight smiled, “but I just didn’t have the right ingredients to make the succulent dishes you deserve.”

“Take me to my room right away,” Bridget ordered a servant, “I need to wash the filth off me and have this dress burn.  No amount of washings will rid the fabric of the stench of the outdoors.”

“I want my bed,” Emma whined, “I want a bath!  I want my clean dresses!”

“And I do hope David feels better,” Amelia feigned concern and hope, “He ate some strange mushrooms and this strange meat a fox was carrying nearby.” 

“You dear are the devil,” Claire commented quietly.

“How so,” Mary asked in a whisper after overhearing her.

“Our camp was by hers,” Claire explained with distaste, “She was making him eat all sorts of items, including ones he knew that were poisonous.”

“Such villany.  Poor Sir David.”

“May I please see to Raven,” Christopher asked Marin, “I fear she may have caught something while we were patching up our shelter during the rain yesterday.  I wish to make certain it is nothing too serious.”

“Only after you have bathed and dressed freshly,” the head maid answered, “Cannot visit a young lady while covered in the mud and dirt, now can we?”

“… I suppose not.”

With that, and a few more complaints, they were escorted to their rooms.  Rose ignored the jeers of the noble girls that stared at her slightly dirtied dress, while their clothing sported patches of mud and grass stains.  She was surprised, though, when Octavia and Fayette walked up to her without any form of malice in their eyes.

“It seems that not many of the girls fared well in the outdoors,” Octavia commented low to her, “Do tell me, child of the streets.  How did you and the scarred butler fared so well?”

“We simply made snares to catch out food and stayed close to our shelter,” Rose answered just as lowly, “The one time we went exploring, someone came and took apart our shelter, taking it and our firewood with them.  We barely had enough time to make another before the storm came and kept us trapped in our shelter.”

“Are you serious,” Fayette exclaimed quietly, “Who would do such a thing?!”

“Obviously one of the girls that have no class or honor,” Octavia stated with hidden anger, “But the fault also lies with you.  You know what kind of rascals we are dealing with in this game, and how weak your chosen is.  You should’ve guarded your shelter better.  Better yet, you shouldn’t have left it alone and defenseless while ‘exploring’ around.”

“Octavia,” Fayette scolded, “That was harsh!  No need to pick on the poor child.  She really didn’t have the best of luck in this game since her first win.”

“We are all responsible for our actions,” Octavia said hauntingly, “It has nothing to do with luck or fate.  You either do what you must to protect what is yours and work hard to reach a higher plane, or let others trample all over you like she had all her life.”

“Kind of easy for someone to do when their opponent is a child,” Rose mumbled, “How di you expect a child to fight back against those bigger and stronger than you?  How do you expect someone to rise up when those higher than them spend all of their time making certain they stay at the bottom?  Not everyone is at the bottom because they’re lazy, you know?”

“But you can still rise up if you work hard for i9t,” Octavia frowned at her.

“I have to disagree with that notion,” Fayette stated suddenly, “I see it a lot with the nobles around here.  They spend all of their time and wealth sabotaging each other or blackmailing one another.  Our families may believe in honor, but others do not.”

“And yet, there are times when one must put their honor aside in order to survive.  You can’t always win if your opponent won’t play by the rules while you do.”

“I prefer not to become what I despise,” Rose concluded and walked a bit faster than the two noble girls, leaving them with surprised faces at her statement, of the underlining venom within it.

The poor girl entered her room to find a hot bath waiting for her.  Locking her door, she undressed and stepped into the tub with a sigh.  The water eased her aching feet from walking so much on her thin sole shoes, and she wondered briefly if she was getting used to having comfortable shoes.  A part of her reminded her that she would soon be back on the streets, but Rowen’s words soon dismissed that part of her.  In a few weeks, she would be wed to Rowen and being her new life here at the castle.  She had her doubts of Rowen being Dios, and yet she was confused by the game.  So far, with the exception of choosing Dios’ horse, all of the other challenges were about the girls answering questions or picking things they thought Dios used.  How were they to know if their chosen was Dios if they were answering the questions?  Were they supposed to find out all they could about their chosen first, then make the choices during the challenges?  Was it going by how many challenges they could win?  Thinking about it was making her head ache and she rubbed her temples to ease the pain.

She soon washed herself off before getting out and washed her dressed before wringing it out and hung it in the closet.  She dressed in a clean outfit and headed for the dining hall with a wandering servant as her escort.  She could hear the noble girls complaining and whining in their rooms, and was forced to hold back a laugh when she had a wondering thought of them living outside every day.  They would definitely not survive long enough to get use to it.  It took her a month to get used to sleeping outside and wherever she could find a safe place to be, and she had been just a child.  Now, it was natural for her.

Rose arrived at the dining hall, being one of the first there, and sat down at her usual corner at a table.  A servant brought her a cup of water and she thanked him, sipping at the cool and refreshing liquid as she waited.  Soon enough, the nobles arrived along with Rowen, the noble girls continuing their complaints.

“I can’t believe we had to live outdoors for three whole days,” Pearl complained loudly, “I had to use a rock to break sticks for our fire!”

“Why didn’t you have Henry do that,” Claire asked, “He was raised by wolves, right?  Breaking sticks should be no problem for him.”

“Because he was busy making traps to catch our meals!  I was only grateful we picked a tent when it began to rain.  The rest of our supplies got soaked!”

“At least you were lucky,” Joan stated, “Helen nearly set the whole forest on fire when she knocked over her lantern.”

“You said you wouldn’t tell anyone,” Helen hissed angrily.

“What’s there to keep secret?  Probably everyone and Her Majesty could’ve seen the flames from far away.  Luckily, James and Lewis were able to put it out beforehand.”

“Ha,” Dorothy barked, “Such a clumsy girl.  How do you expect to have a large family if you can’t even hold a lantern properly?”

“B***h,” Helen screeched, hand raised to strike her.

“Had we not learn this lesson from Marigold and Sarah,” Fayette stated suddenly, getting between the two noble girls and making Helen lower her hand, “That’s better.”

“Enough complaints,” Octavia boomed with a commanding voice, “We are soon to be in the presence of Her Majesty.  Mind your manners.”

“Who made you the master of this castle,” Catherine challenged.

“Care to face me in combat for the right,” Octavia challenged back, to which she was met with silence, “I didn’t think so.”

“Very wise choice,” Fayette commented, “I doubt she would be worth the challenge.”

“And you?”

“If you wish later on.”

“Enough ladies,” Alexander cut in, “No need for fighting right now.  Remember the rules.”

“Indeed,” Robert agreed, “We need not anymore ladies losing out just because of temperament.”

Everyone sat down and breakfast was served, a few noble ladies glaring at Rose.  They noticed a few of the other nobles were absent with several of them appearing to not look too well.  Rose wondered if they had caught a cold due to not staying fully dry in the rain before her thoughts turned to the delicious flavors dancing on her tongue.

Her plate had sausage links with toasted rye bread that had a touch of grape jelly and a poached egg topped with a sprinkling of salt and pepper that sat on top of a slice of ham.  She couldn’t recall the last time she had eggs, the taste lost to her memories until now.  

“There’s too much pepper on my egg,” Golde complained loudly, her fork clattering as she almost threw it on her plate, “And I hate grape jelly!  I demand strawberry!”

“Amazing,” Joan awed, “Something you truly hate that’s food related.  Still, I so do wish for less fattening foods on my plate.  This will make my hips fatter.”

“Would do you good for childbirth,” Helen pointed out, “Bearing children requires quite a bit of energy.”

“I have no problems with our meal,” Pearl smield brightly, “For I will not gain even an ounce due to my divinity.”

“So you say,” Elanor commented, taking a bite of her ham, “but we shall see if you can say that in a few weeks of eating such meals.”

“Quite,” Amelia agreed, “It would be interesting to observe.”

“Now ladies and gentlemen,” everyone turned to Marin, “Her Majesty Queen Usio expresses her deep regrets that she unable to meet with you today, as matters of importance have demanded her return to her castle.  However, she had left a message that Redreu Castle will be hosting a ball within the next few days.”

The noble girls’ faces lit up as they looked at one another happily.  A ball.  A ball!  Finally!  Fancy dresses, fine meals, music, dancing… Something all of them would be good at!

Well… except one.

Some of the noble girls looked at Rose with snickering gazes, wondering how the poor girl  will act out of the wilderness and the streets and into a more sophisticated social event.  Many pictured her standing in a corner and looking out of place or scared.  Others pictured her putting food in her pockets and getting drunk while making a fool of herself.  The very image made them laughed, causing several people to look at them.

“Now you must take this ball seriously,” Marin stated, catching their attention, “for this ball is also another challenge in Her Majesty’s game.  You must be prepared to answer Her Majesty’s questions, as this will test your knowledge so far about Dios.  You are free to prepare for the next few days.  The ball room will be off limits in preparation.  Dress your finest, and do be on your best behavior.  There will be other nobles coming to the all as well, and you will be representing your family’s honor.  Until then, do rest and prepare.”

Marin then left and everyone began talking amongst themselves about the news.  Rose, meanwhile, remained quiet.  Her mind was full of memories of the past, of a time when she was happy.

There are once a ball she went to as a child, her memory of it one of her brightest ones.  She remembered laughter, of family sharing memories, of dancing, of fun.  It was one of her memorable times, but she quickly stopped herself.  For that beautiful memory would lead to one of her most painful memories, and she wasn’t ready to face it yet.

“Are you all right,” she looked up to see Rowen looking at her, worried, “You look pale.  Would you like to return to your room?”

“I am well,” Rose replied with a small smile, “Just lost in my thoughts.”

“Thinking of how many scraps of food you will be hiding in your pockets during the ball,” Catherine sneered at her, “Keep in mind we will all be watching you.  Do not think for one minute we will let you get away with stealing.”

“Or maybe she is thinking about becoming a rich man’s w***e,” Emma laughed haughtily before covering her mouth, her cheeks looking a little green.

“Are you well,” Tulip asked before Emma pushed her chair so hard it clattered to the floor and she ran out of the room,  “I think she is ill.”

“I think there were others ill as well,” Mary added in concern, “Hopefully it’s nothing serious to warrant a doctor.”

“Lest they wish to be disqualify from the game,” Dorothy commented snidely.

Author's Note

THe next update may not be for at least two weeks. I'll be away for a bit.