I turned around quickly, confused for a bit, lost for what to do. I headed for the bedroom door first and bolted it and then I came back to Danica who was clutching at the strong arms of the creature that held her at a choke hold. It began to flap its medium-sized wings preparing to fly away with her.
"Please," I beseeched. "Let her go. Please."
The Phantom creature only just grinned a scary grin and began to lift off.
"Avril!" Danica screamed as the creature began to gather momentum to fly toward the window. I rushed for the window and barred it with myself.
"Drop her," I commanded. It should listen. I had been the one to summon it, I think. It should listen to me. I had pleaded. I hoped commanding it would work.
Apparently, it didn't. The creature took Danica towards the door to escape through that; probably to crash through it. That was not good.
"Av....riiiiil!"
My mind was a mess and it was in overdrive as I paced and thought of what to do. I had to do this the way I had always dealt with these creatures before. I couldn't ask them to leave- not with the level of my experience, which was nonexistent at this point- so they had to be removed.
I searched for something heavy which I could also comfortably lift. The small table would do. I threw it at the creature and its grip loosened on Danica and she scrambled on the floor far from it while it followed her. It did not see me coming at it with my hairpin which I struck directly into its head between its eyes, digging into its brain.
A loud shriek left the creature as it burst and turned into a heap of black dust.
...Always target the brain; it was its core point of materialization.
I had learned this the hard way, and so it wasn't going to leave me so soon. Problem was, it wasn't always easy to get at a phantom creature's head.
All was quiet in the room for a while. I stood heaving in the moon-lit darkness as I watched Danica rub her hands over her neck which was red. She must have been wondering how a creature which had materialized out of nothing and had just perished to black dust had been able to scar her neck.
I had wondered about their capacity ever since I first saw phantom creatures.
"What was that?" Danica asked then.
I had been previously watching her discarded bracelet which lay at a corner of the room now.
I turned to Danica in response. I lied. "I don't know," I said. "But I'm glad it is gone."
Danica looked like she was glad too. We did not talk for the rest of the night and for days after that we would only share greetings, spoken quickly; sharing little conversation.
But she would learn to avoid me. She learned to not even come near me, the chill of that night fresh on her mind even after so long. She did not tell anyone about that night, not even the other Fae girls-who by the way did not care one bit about her. We would both learn to live like total strangers.
The next morning I reported to work with the rest of the workers. I was assigned serving duty.
The morning period had been merciful. We had only prepared food for the royal family for breakfast. At lunch though, the emperor entertained emissaries from the colonies- men and women sent by the kings of the smaller kingdoms- viceroys of the emperor
They had to be about a dozen and except they were pure animals, they shouldn't consume as much food as they currently did, but the carts piled and piled as we prepared to deliver the meal. The Royal kitchens was by now too used to serving the dining hall different choice meals that would return untouched.
Orla Spry patrolled the kitchen, getting everything ready. She picked us out to serve, pointing some of us who were cleaning plates and pans to take the carts to the dining hall that had a connecting walkway bordered with glass and vines.
When the first course was ready, Orla marched us, servers, to the Grand dining hall as we carried trays or pushed carts of food.
I had never been on serving duty before since I got here six days ago. And so I was not familiar with the route from the pathway, hence I had to stick closely to the others more experienced than me. There were several diversions anyone could easily get lost- and I was doing a lot of that these days, getting lost, that is.
Orla Spry walked quickly, uncaring that those who followed behind her-and were expected to maintain the same speed as her- carried trays of food and jugs of wine and mead, or pushed trolleys of meat and soup and bread.
We hastened to catch up with her as she made the turns. Finally, we were at the Grand dining hall. Elf guards were positioned outside the wide double doors. When they saw us approach, they pushed the doors wide open.
We entered the Grand dining hall quietly. It was large and airy with large half-shut windows and surrounded by drapery. The room did not have much light from outside, the windows restricted from opening completely. Lamps lit by dragonstone hung around the wide room giving it a more subdued and reverent atmosphere.
We shuffled towards the center where a group of nobles were awaiting their meal. I pushed a food cart as I moved towards the center dining area that had the table and chairs and of course, the noble elves who had come to speak with the emperor.
They were dressed in expensive outfits with visible jewelry for the ladies. But both the men and women had rings and rings on with costly stones protruding from them as they gesticulated while they talked.
They all had that olive skin that was common to most Elves and they looked so powerful and content. My gaze moved from person to person as I wondered what each was thinking; what would likely go on in the mind of such a person.
And then I saw him...The emperor. He had light silvery hair like they said, almost like my pale blonde hair, but his had a light lambent golden glow to it. His dark brows were relaxed in concentration as he observed some of his nobles and listened to what they said- most of it, their own sycophantic adulation of him, I was sure. His eyes were half-closed as he started at the table before him and my goodness, were they very beautiful. They were gray, with golden specks in them.
His lips were pale pink and sensuous and his nose sharply pointed. He radiated power and beauty hardly imaginable. Was this the tyrant emperor Tieran Volkov? I wondered. He did not look cruel and evil. He looked regal and noble.
I could hardly hide my shock as I moved closer and closer to the center table itself. No one had prepared me for this. I had no idea ...
I was staring at this ethereal beauty when I bumped into another cart. Orla must have told those in front to stop at one point and I hadn't noticed. I went straight for the Fae woman before me and she fluttered up immediately with the shock. My cart went for hers and I heard the steel pans fly off the dish on the top part of my cart.
For a moment all I heard was the pan clattering to the ground as the full, roast chicken on my cart came in full gaze.
I took in a gulp as I felt an uncomfortable silence surround me.
At least the food was unharmed, I told myself over and over again in my head.
I raised my head and my gaze met his. Tieran Volkov's gold-speckled gray eyes met mine. My heart seemed to have skipped two beats and I must have stopped breathing with the awareness of that stare.
His stare was unreadable and fixed on me and goodness knows I should have turned my face down at once, but I couldn't- I stared back entranced; enchanted.
I felt the Fae woman flutter down and pick up the pan covering her cart and I snapped out of my trance and searched the floor for the pan covering on my dish.
When I looked up, Orla was close to me, her gaze capable of freezing me. But she was being calm about all of this, surprisingly, because I knew she wanted to shower me with vituperations.
I still searched, dazed on the marble floors for the lid of the chicken on my trolley and I could feel Orla's voice; small and icy just over my head. "Find it. Now."
Thankfully, I found the lid and put it over the chicken and Orla clapped her hands again and we were moving to the dinning area proper again.
When we were there, we made a line where Orla picked out a Fae man who would be serving as taster today to convince the diners- and the emperor especially- that the food was not poisoned. The Fae man who had been carrying a jug of mead stepped forward and Orla gave him a small fork which he would use to taste a little out of each meal.
The rest of us dropped our heads slightly as we watched the ritual. I was informed about this routine earlier from conversation with some of the other Royal kitchens workers. The lucky person chosen to serve as taster would be first to eat even the emperor's food. And by the time such a person finished with the meals- a little out of each of them- such a person could be full already even though they had just been eating a small amount- that was how large the order for the emperor and his guests were all the time. Most of that food came back, but that was no reason for the original amount to be reduced, apparently.
While the taster for the night might be lucky in many respects as Orla usual chose at random, such a person had to count on the goodwill of their fellow Royal kitchens workers to not have tried poisoning the emperor's food. Hence, if it was poisoned, they went with the food.
Thankfully, the incidences of poisoning were few and far between. That was a good development as I could be picked at random one of these days with the way my luck was going.
The routine of tasting the meal was taking a while and so I raised my head to entertain myself with the faces of the nobles. Imagine my surprise when I found out that the emperor's eyes were on me.
I turned my gaze downward immediately, shock filling me. I had no idea how long he must have been watching me or from when his gaze must have been on me. I suppose I must have stuck out like an odd thumb the way I was: a human surrounded by Fae and Elf kitchen help with my striking pale hair and short figure.
And, adding my mistake earlier, I suppose all the other elves seated at the table were watching this walking disaster too.
I turned my gaze to the taster and found out that he was done and Orla was assigning some Fae girls to start serving the guests- starting with the emperor.
My gaze met hers and I saw her careful contemplation in the razors she sliced into me with her gaze. Finally, coming to a conclusion, she pointed me towards the opposite end of the table.
"Arrange the meals," Orla Spry commanded. "Start from that end."
She turned to the others waiting idly beside me. "What are you waiting for? Join her."
It was probably a good thing I began to present the meal on the table from the opposite end of Orla and the emperor. It was possible that I would empty a bowl of soup on the emperor's silvery locks, going by what had happened earlier.
I began to offload plates and trays of meals on the table, at the center of the wide table, just leaving the diners just enough space to have their plates and cutlery in front of them.
I worked diligently, knowing that this time if I made another mistake I would probably lose my job.
And then what? I was in the capital-populated by elves which meant that getting a job here: a predominantly Elven city- would be difficult. Elves would be prioritized before anyone else. I couldn't go back to Fae Boulevard to Lady Uma because it was so far away and I couldn't afford to travel by Pegasi-pulled carriage.
If I followed the passenger carriage, it would take me weeks to make my way to Fae Boulevard and it would deplete what little savings I had even gathered.
Hence, I had to not ruin what chance I had been given working here. I told myself this as I continuously brought food from carts and presented it. Scrumptious meal upon scrumptious meal I arranged on the table with the others as I made my way closer and closer to the head of the table where the emperor sat. I worked as sedulously as I could...but I still felt his gaze on me.
It followed me as I moved and it took all I had in me to not trip on the edges of my chiffon dress that was no different from what all the other royal kitchen workers that were female wore.
"You still dress them like the sluts of Sprite town, Lady Orla," someone said. "The Royal kitchens have not changed much, have they?"
He must have been referring to the dresses that we female Royal kitchens workers wore- a chiffon dress that wrapped around us to fall slightly on the floor, over our legs, our backs bare and the light fabric not going over our arms in the form of sleeves; only going around our chests and tying behind us, at the base of our waists.
I saw the noble Elf that had made that statement. He had bright blue hair and dark brows with a condescending countenance to him.
Orla did not lose her grace as she responded to him.
"Duke of Kairos," she said. "Happy to have you back in the capital after such a while. As you have seen, things have hardly changed. The kitchens' management are still enthusiastic about conserving fabric when it comes to dressing the workers; covering only the bare essentials while still trying to maintain a level of modesty."
"So you say," The Duke of Kairos replied.