Maplepunzel, Part 11

The trip was pretty quiet at first. Scott had to stop twice to shove the carriage out of the mud. Maple helped him the first time. The second time, it was so stuck, it took her, Walter, Scott, Betty, and the horses to finally yank it out. Hilary protested the noise and told Betty she was a princess, and princesses did not get dirty or lower themselves to help the servants. Betty obeyed her the first time, but the second, she ignored her, climbed out, and helped Maple shove at the back with her hooves.

Maple was really getting to like Betty. After the first few days, she stopped sitting in the carriage and trotted alongside it, her wide black eyes taking in every detail. She was probably getting ideas to write about, when she could write, Maple decided. Hilary told her to get back in the carriage and not get hurt, but Betty was too entranced by the scenery to pay her much mind.

As the days went on, the gray fetid swamps gave way to sun-dappled woods. It was nice to smell fresh, sweet air again! Walter happily ran around in the woods, chasing butterflies and gobbling berries from bushes. Betty joined him, Hilary scolding her for letting berry juice stain her pretty muzzle. Hilary held up the mirror so Jeff could see how lovely it was. Her stiff joints moved better in the pine-scented air. 

Eventually, the scrub pine gave way to whitewashed farmhouses and fields of waving grain. Walter, Betty, and Foley rode in the carriage now. Hilary used old fabric to make Walter and Foley collars like Betty’s. Foley didn’t mind his blue one. Eugenia twittered around him and said it made him look like a king. Walter did not like his green one at all, even if it matched his papa’s tunic. He was a big tough bear cub, not something to pet like Betty! 

Even the fields finally gave way to large stone factories on the river, belching smoke from high steel stacks and turning iron ore into pipes, wheels, and cannons. Betty flattened her ears and leaned into Hilary. Hilary coughed as the smoke irritated her delicate, aged lungs. Walter whimpered, letting his mama hold him close. 

Thankfully, they quickly left the industrial mills and made their way into downtown Pittsburgh Village. It was much smaller than Yorkalia, but also much sweeter. Yorkalia’s stately brick homes were replaced by lovely whitewashed cottages and stores with charming gingerbread trim. Scott stopped at an outdoor market teeming with fresh fruit and vegetables, fish, fresh bread and cheese, and iron pots and pans.

“I talked to the baker,” Scott said as he and Maple brought fresh bread, cheese, and fruit for the humans, carrots for Foley, and fish for Walter. “He said there’s jobs open at Wennaria Castle for a new gardener and an upstairs maid. Maple, you can take the maid job. It’ll put you in direct contact with Victor. I’ll take the gardener job.” 

Hilary made a face. “Surely you don’t expect a queen to work in a castle? And what about the animals? We’re practically running a zoo here…ouch!” Betty glared at her and stomped her hoof on Hilary’s hand. Walter growled, and Foley’s nose twitched more than ever. 

“I told him you were my mother.” Scott smirked. “You can do something like sewing, Hilary. You made those collars for the animals. I told him you could work on linens for the wedding. Walter will keep raccoons and rabbits who aren’t sweet like Foley out of the gardens.” Walter nodded with a determined look in his button eyes and swung his paws. He wouldn’t let any old bandits steal veggies from him!

“WHAT?!” Hilary screeched, her eyes as wide as she could make them. “Your MOTHER! Couldn’t you tell them something else, like I’m the head of the household or something?”

Scott shrugged. “I had to tell them something! It was the best thing I could come up with off the top of my head.” 

They finally followed finer carriages embossed with silver and fine iron wheels down the road to the castle. Scott stopped and asked directions from a regiment of the Wennaria Army. Maple had never seen such a peculiar regiment. The youngest soldier had curly gold hair, wore spectacles, and clutched a stuffed bear that looked like Walter. One soldier wore a patched flowered tunic and had a three-day growth. Another with a mustache had his jacket on backwards. The elderly commander was more interested in his magnificent black horse than his troops. And Maple could have sworn she saw one of the male soldiers wearing a pretty yellow dress with a matching hat and heeled shoes! 

Scott talked to the tall, commanding nurse with the long gold hair and the serious expression. “Nurse Houlihan says Wennaria Castle is just twenty minutes from here.” He smirked as the soldiers marched past them. “Frankly, she’s the only one out of that crowd I’d even remotely trust to know where she’s going. She looks like she could take on the entire Berlania Army with one hand behind her back and win.”

Maple spent so much time listening to Victor talk about Wennaria Castle and those who lived there, she felt as if it were her home now, too. She pulled out the ring and rubbed it in her fingers as they rode up the winding road and through the small garden of vegetables and pretty daisies that Queen Gertrude planted herself. She directed Scott and the carriage around back. Victor told her that the servants’ quarters were near the vegetable garden, and that Miss Mary the cook hired all the servants. 

Miss Mary was tall, slender, and wiry, with a cloud of dark curls and a sharp, no-nonsense face and keen dark eyes. “You look strong enough,” she croaked. “Done this work before?”

“She has,” Scott admitted. “And I’ve worked as a gardener many times.” He sniffled, trying to look despondent. “We need work to take care of our dear old mother. Our father recently passed away, and we and the animals are all she has left in her great old age.” Maple pointed to the carriage parked near the vegetable garden, where Hilary stroked Betty’s head. Walter peered in the door, sniffing for fish and wondering what his mama and papa were doing. 

“You, girl.” Mary pointed a finger at Maple. “You seem pretty quiet. Cat got your tongue?”

“No,” Scott put an arm around her and gave Miss Mary his most charming smile. “She was attacked by a witch who took her voice and our money, but she’s the hardest worker there is. She can cook, clean, and do everything that needs to be done. She’s especially interested in working upstairs. It’s easier for her. She can spend more time taking care of our mother.” Maple rolled her eyes but said nothing.

“Very well then.” Mary yawned, almost pitching over her navy-blue dress and ruffled cap and apron. “Darn it! I’m so tired. We’ve all been working like devils, preparing for the wedding between this…” she yawned again, “this upstart lady and our Prince Victor.”

Maple’s eyes widened. She tugged at Mary’s arm. “I think she wants to know about the Prince.” Scott frowned, looking concerned. “We heard he had a terrible experience. Something about landing in thorns and being blinded.”

“I’ll bet,” Mary covered an even wider yawn, “she pushed him into those thorns. That Maple of his acts all sweet around the King and Queen, but all she’s mean as a snake with all the servants. You’d be best to avoid her.”

Maple made a face. Scott nodded sagely. “Oh, don’t worry, ma’am. We’ll stay far away from her.” He watched as Miss Mary plopped at the old, worn table in the middle of the kitchen. “Are you all right, ma’am?”

“Huh? Yeah. Just tired.” She went to the huge ovens and removed a pot. “We’re been making gallons of this special coffee to keep everyone away. The party is supposed to last 52 hours after the wedding! That’s how many people they’re inviting to this little event! Trouble is, it seems,” she yawned and leaned on her arm, “doing the opposite.” 

She yawned and turned to Scott. “You’re both hired. If you don’t have,” she covered her yawn, “any place to stay, the gardener’s cottage is open. It’s not big, just two rooms, but it’s clean and has cooking facilities.” 

“It’ll do. Mother will love it.” Scott grinned. “Thank you, Miss Mary!” Maple gave her a hug…just as she passed out in her arms, snoring heavily. “I think we’ll go get, er, Mother settled in, then see what’s going on around here.” He shook his head as Maple leaned the older lady on the table and let her sleep. “I’ll bet someone wants the household to be sleeping and not trying to figure out what’s going on with Pavla.” Maple nodded furiously, waving a hand at the loudly snoring Mary. “We’ll figure it out later. Right now, we have to get Hilary and the animals settled.”

Maple loved the little cottage. Hilary was less enthused. It consisted of two whitewashed rooms. The large main room had a small hearth for cooking, a table and chairs, a lumpy old couch, and many hand-carved cupboards. The smaller room had two wooden beds with straw-filled mattresses and warm wool blankets. Hilary spent most of the time she wasn’t fussing over the spartan conditions sewing linens for the wedding in a shaky hand and drinking gallons of coffee Scott brought from the main castle.

While Scott chopped wood and weeded and harvested vegetables, Maple tended to the upstairs rooms. She scrubbed floors, aired out linens, fluffed pillows, dusted the chandelier in the hall, and polished all the furniture. It was hard work! Maple had never worked so hard in her life, not even when she was taking care of Hilary in the hovel. She had to feed the animals when she got back to the cottage too, and watch over Hilary, who spent most nights snoring over her linens.

Despite her silence, she had begun to make friends among the servants, too. Miss Mary and the butler Mackie knew they could trust the toughest jobs to her, and she’d make sure they were done perfectly. Maple never missed corners when she dusted and she knew how to make beds with military precision. 

She especially loved hearing Mackie’s stories as she had lunch with the servants in the kitchen. He had once been an actor, traveling from one side of the seven kingdoms to the other with his late wife Penelope. “You look a lot like her,” Mackie once said as they cleaned up the dishes from lunch. He yawned. “If your hair was longer, you could pass for her when I first met her.” 

He sighed. “I miss her so much…” She nodded as he leaned over and touched one of her short curls. Her hair had grown out a bit since Pavla hacked it all off, but it still wasn’t anything like it was. “She was the sweetest, loveliest woman. We were a team, Penny and me. She could heal a dead flower and make it look like new. You…you have that spark, too. I can see it in your eyes, even if you don’t talk.” 

Maple nodded. Mackie was a great guy. He’d helped her learn the ropes in the castle, showed her where the cleaning supplies were and how to handle the other servants. Though like everyone else, he kept nodding off. He once fell asleep over the Queen and King’s dinner, landing face-first in the mashed potatoes. 

She wondered if it was the coffee. Maple drank two cups of the stuff, and her eyes became so heavy, she fell asleep on the queen’s bed! Good thing the queen thought it was funny and only gave her a light scolding for rumpling her covers. 

Queen Gertrude and King Thomas were nothing but kind to her. Queen Gertrude even gave her a new dress, purple and green flowers with a ruffled embroidered apron, seeing how her old one was stained and ready to fall apart. “You should look like you work in a castle,” she said. “I like you. You’re a good, hard worker, and you always try to help out. I wish,” she added with a sigh, “that a girl like you had rescued Victor from those thorns! That Maple won’t even let me in to see my own son! I keep asking her how he is, and she keeps saying he’s fine, she can deal with him.”

The moment Maple saw Pavla come around the corner, carrying a silver tray with steaming coffee and griddle cakes and sausages, Maple ducked behind a suit of armor. She didn’t want Pavla to know she was here! How Pavla could even walk in that tight, slinky dark-purple gown, she didn’t know. She was wearing far too much make-up on that razor-sharp face, and frankly, Maple thought she’d wound her stolen curls too tight around her head. 

“Maple,” Gertrude grumbled, “you know I’m perfectly capable of taking care of my own son! I know what he needs.”

“Well,” Pavla insisted with a too sweet smile, “I’m his af-fianced, and I know even more what he needs. After all, you’ve gotta attend to all those weddin’ details. We’re havin’ three hundred people here in 52 hours. Soon as I give this out, I’m gonna go to the seamstresses and’ see how they’re doin’ with my dress. They keep pokin’ me with pins an’ not gettin’ anythin’ right.”

“From what they’ve told me when they’ve fit me for my mother of the groom gown,” Gertie added with a smirk, “you’ve been nothing short of a holy terror, giving impossible demands. Why do you want to get married in black?”

“Because white is so overdone!” She stepped past Gertie. “Excuse me. I really do need to tend to my a-fianced. He needs me, the poor thing.”

Gertie frowned as Maple hesitantly stepped out from behind the shiny suit of armor. “I don’t blame you for hiding. Wish I could.” She raised an eyebrow. “I know Scott says you can’t speak, but can you write?” Maple nodded. “Could you…spy on her? Keep an eye on her. I’ll do it when she’s in the throne room or with me and my husband, but I can’t be everywhere. I trust you. You seem to be a smart girl, whether you can talk or not. Be discreet about it. Don’t let her know. Report everything you see and hear to me.”

Maple nodded. If it would get her past Pavla and into Victor’s room, she’d do it. Gertie shook her hands. “Thank you! You don’t know how much this means to Tom and me. We just need to get past her and into Victor’s rooms. She won’t let anyone near him, does everyone for him. There has to be a way to distract her.” Maple swung her fists. She’d find a way, or die trying!