Chapter 17: Dinner
Loria Hardel touched her daughter’s head tenderly. “There’s nothing in all of Parli that I’m going to miss more than your smile. Well, a close second has to be your father’s lame jokes.”
“Hey.” A voice came from inside the hut. Mr. Hardel came out holding his wife’s bag. “My jokes are anything but lame, isn’t that right Mith?”
“Dad, all of your jokes are lame.”
There was laughter all around, and then silence, the type of silence caused by a loved one leaving. Mith hugged her mother and said goodbye. Mr. Hardel hugged his wife and said goodbye. Loria Hardel bid a fond farewell and walked into the sunset, her golden blond hair blowing in the breeze. Mr. Hardel hugged his daughter close, not knowing that he would never see his wife again. Two weeks later a messenger arrived in Rerum to give the news of a fatal cave-in that occurred in the Mountain Region. A cave in that resulted in only one death, the death of Loria Hardel. In the six months since her death nobody had ever found out why she was in the cave. Mith had vowed that day that she would never do anything dangerous in her life. A strange promise to make, but Mith was sure that her father would not be able to make it through another death in his small family. Now Mith was involved in something dangerous, and she knew that she had to continue. Her father’s life might be at stake.
Mith had awoken from her nap. It was dark in her room; only a small amount of light could be seen coming from the crack under the door. Mith rolled over to face the window, away from the light. She had been fighting tears since thinking about her mother’s final farewell. Usually they would have come by now, but this time they did not. Mith knew she was becoming stronger, and soon she would not cry when thinking about her mother. She secretly wondered if that was a good thing. Would it somehow affect her love for her mother?
It couldn’t have been too late, at least it did not seem like it was too late. Slowly she got out of bed and put her shoes back on. Then she went to the door and opened it very slowly, just in case it was really late. The palace was darker than it had been earlier; the only lights came from candelabras spaced around the entire floor. The light flickered a soft glow giving the area an ancient feeling. She looked around and then headed for Ludus’s room across the hall. Opening the door she could hear Ludus snoring from his bead. Mith closed the door quietly and decided to look around a little before going to bed for the night.
A feeling of adventure stirred inside her. With every step she imagined she was one of the founding ladies back in Memoria, and with every step a follower of Hulius could jump out and grab her. With this train of thought the palace grew more sinister than it had appeared before. Danger now lurked around every corner, but it was alright because she knew it was a false danger. And then she thought more along the lines of present day. That she was Mith Hardel and that a minion of Oldo could be hiding behind any corner. This idea scared her a little too much and she tried to forget about it. But it is hard to forget a scary thought sometimes, and this was one of those times. Wishing that thought had never crossed her mind Mith wandered the halls nervously. The ceilings rose so high above her; there were times where she felt much smaller than she actually was.
After turning into several dead ends, which she was certain were not there earlier, she arrived at a room she wanted to see most of all. The giant golden doors reached the ceiling. Mysterious shadows were reflected from the large cauldrons a lit with fire on each side of the doors. Mith looked both ways and then tiptoed near the door. She looked both ways again and got even closer. Every step caused a barely audible sound across the marble floor. She inched closer and closer to the forbidden room. Her hands were now only inches from giant silver handles. Closing her hand around them, she pulled.
“Mith, what do you think you’re doing?” Came a familiar voice down the hall.
Mith quickly let go of the handle and looked to see who was there. It was Mitchum; he was covered in shadows at the end of the hall. He came closer with a confused look on his face.
“The doorman told you never to go in there, it could be dangerous.”
“Can’t you just tell me what’s inside? If I don’t know I’m just going to get more and more curious.”
Mitchum put his hand on Mith’s shoulder and started leading her away from the doors. “It’s a secret, Mith. What lies behind those doors is never to be known. There are things in there that should not be let out.”
“Like what?”
Mitchum shook his head. “I cannot say.”
“I won’t tell anybody, I promise. I won’t even tell Ludus.”
“No, no, no, now just forget about it. Now if you’re hungry you can go down to the kitchens and they’ll give you something to eat. When Ludus wakes up, if he wakes up tonight, I will tell him the same thing.”
“About the food or about that room?”
“Both.”
“So where were you just now coming back from?”
“I was visiting some old friends and places. And I wanted to see if I could still navigate my way around this place, which I can.”
“Did anybody remember you?”
“Oh, absolutely, I caught up with people I did not even remember until I saw them.”
“That’s nice. I think I’ll go to the kitchens now. Where is it?”
“Go all the way down the stairs and think about food, you’ll find it.”
Mith stopped walking. “All I have to do is think about where it is, and I’ll find it?”
“Yes, it’s the magic that does it.”
“I almost forgot about the magic. So does that mean if I want to get back to the room I just have to think about it?”
“That’s all there is to it.”
Mith thanked Mitchum for the information and started for the kitchens. At first she managed to get back to the mysterious room before she thought about the stairs. Next corner she turned were the stairs. After reaching the first floor she thought of food. She walked down the hall and instead of ending up in the main hall she came upon the kitchens. The ceilings in the kitchens were half the size of the ones in the hallways. This room, despite its size, was very spacious. About thirty cooking stations were placed around the walls. Only a few were being used at that time. She went up to one and asked the cook, who wore a white tunic, how she got food. The cook pointed to a staircase right next to the door she had come in and said that it was all up there. Mith thanked the cook and climbed the stairs.
On the second level were many tables scattered around. Each table originally had four chairs, but by now some had six and others only one. The place was a mess; the dinner rush had ended only minutes earlier. All four walls had counters organized by type. The entrees on one wall the deserts on another, while the drinks and salads also had their own walls. Mith first got a drink, there were many different kinds. There were glasses filled with all sorts of liquids, all different colors. Most of which Mith had never seen. She picked water to be safe and headed over to the entrees wall. A lady behind the counter asked her what she wanted, Mith asked for fish. The lady left for a moment and returned with a slab of meat on a plate. Mith had to ask what it was; she was not used to having fish given to her already prepared. The lady claimed it was a plaatip, Mith had never heard of that fish and wondered if the lady had any idea what that was either. After deciding that the fish was safe to try, she found a table with three chairs and sat down. There were not many people in the dining area that night. She heard from a guard passing by that they were all outside getting ready to march back to the bay in the morning. She stopped the guard and asked exactly where they were going. He stated that the orders from the king and queen were to go to the jail in the bay and capture Oldo. They would be leaving at first light.
Mith ate her fish, which was better than she had expected, thinking about the jail in the bay. She had lived so close to it for so long, not knowing that trouble brewed inside. After finishing her fish Ludus arrived at the table. Mith had
not noticed him coming up the stairs, having been so deep in thought. Ludus did the exact opposite of Mith, getting food he had never heard of on purpose. He had a piece of meat on his plate the size of his head, with a large bone sticking out of it. As well as having a brown drink that Mith thought looked more like mud, though she was not about to tell Ludus that. Ludus then ran up to the dessert counter and brought back two bowls of chocolate pudding, another food they had never tried. He placed one next to his plate and the other in front of Mith.
“What is this?” Mith asked, poking the soft substance with the same utensil she used on the fish.
“No idea, just eat it. It looks good, doesn’t it?”
“If you say so.” She said with a frown.
Mith tried the pudding; it was like nothing she had ever had before in her life. It was so sweet. The kids had had sweets before. When they were good the elders would give them some sugar. But this was so much better than just the sugar. There were more flavors in it than that. She could not tell what the flavors were, but they were good. In fact it was great, stupendous, amazing. It was as many superlatives as Mith could think of. She downed it in seconds and almost ran to go back up to get more. Ludus looked after her, surprised. He would have gotten a second bowl also, despite having not even tried his yet, but he was currently trying to tear through his giant meat with just his teeth. Mith returned and ate the second bowl.
“The man up there says it’s called puden or something like that.” She recalled, missing her mouth with her fork and spreading pudding on her cheek instead. She wiped it away with the fork and ate it anyway.
Ludus watched as Mith got a third bowl and then tried for a forth. Then she complained that the man said she had had enough. It reminded Mith of when Ludus had smelled the onion Mitchum had cooked, but she did not care. Annoyed, she decided to wait until morning and have more for breakfast.
“I think I’m going to head back up now.” She told Ludus as she got up from the table.
“Alrught ha fon.” He said through a mouthful of meat.
Mith left the dining area and went back to the main hall. She could hear the militia outside setting up camp for the night. There was nobody around, she found this odd. Instead of returning to the stairs Mith went to the main entrance and peeked out. The doorman nodded to her as she reached the door. The land outside was covered with people in black standing around tents. No fires burned as with the night before, the temperature here was much more pleasant. Mith closed the doors and returned to bed for the night.
Ludus finished his food after a while but did not go back up immediately. Instead he continued to sit and drink more of the brown liquid in his cup. It was good, whatever it was. The room was almost deserted now; even the people behind the counters had already left. The extra food had been placed out for those coming up late. Only a few militia guards remained, they sat in a far corner. Every so often Ludus would peek over there to see what they were doing. He noticed Bern and Lapp were amongst the group. Something about the situation made Ludus feel like a real adult for the first time. Sitting alone in a mess hall with soldiers does that to people.
Ludus turned his head to face the guards and nodded. Lapp nodded back, he was the only one who actually noticed anybody else was in the room. Ludus waved and Lapp did the same. Lapp raised his cup and Ludus did the same. Then Bern called to Lapp and he looked away from Ludus. The lights dimmed as some of the candelabras were put out as a suggestion for everyone to clear out. Ludus took the hint and left, leaving his cup and plate on the table as everyone else had done.
Candelabras had been put out all around the palace. The walls seemed to move with ghostly shadows dancing all around. Several times Ludus thought he saw people in the halls. With a second glance he realized nobody was really there. He imagined what it must have been like four hundred years ago when the palace was new and the lords and ladies were living there. The idea spooked him a little and he decided to run the rest of the way to his room. While running the palace really came alive, shadows created figures on every wall. Ludus ran faster every time he saw one. Shadows started looking like tall hairy beast men, and Ludus was sure every single one of them was Oldo. Finally he made it to his room and caught his breath outside the door.
“What happened to you?” Mith asked from her doorway across the hall.
Ludus looked at Mith and was surprised to see her wearing pajamas. “Where did you get those?”
“On my bed, I’m sure someone left something for you too.” She said, drying her hair in a towel.
“Where’s the wash room?”
“Full of questions aren’t you? Didn’t listen well to the guide?”
Ludus gave her a scowl. Mith returned the look and pointed to the door next to hers. “Mitchum is in there now, so you are going to have to wait.”
“I’ll wait till morning. Good night.” Ludus went into his room and shut his door behind him. On the bed was a pair of pajamas just like Mith had on. It was a loose fitting shirt and pants set, each having splotches of five different colors on them. Ludus was certain it was the ugliest color scheme he had ever seen. After changing he threw his dirty clothes on the floor near the door, hoping if someone sneaked into his room they would trip on the clothes before reaching him.
Later that night Mitchum sat on his bed waiting for his hair to dry. He grabbed his bag from the floor and peered inside. Various things were scattered about. He took out the bowl and spoon, a small pan, a jar of dumplings, and some paper. The paper felt odd under his fingers. He opened it and read aloud what it said.
“Lessons for the dumb: or how to—”
He could not continue. He felt extremely embarrassed about the whole thing. In a sudden rush of anger he ripped the paper into as many pieces as he could and took it out into the hall. At the first fire bowl he dropped it in, wishing he had never even thought of writing it.