Upon entering the courtyard yet again, we both could see how chaotic the workers were. Maids, and kitchen helpers were constantly dodging each other, as everyone was in someone's path, with the most dangerous spot being the entrance to the keep. A small army of maids, was marching across the yard, carrying baskets of laundry, and other fabrics. The washers, who wore the same dresses as maids, yet far dirtier, were working constantly, with a pile of dirty fabrics to their side. In the meantime, kitchen helpers, walked with platters of ingredients. I didn't know when the party was exactly to begin, yet the stables remained fairly empty. Probably only the fort's crew had their horses around, and not a single carriage in sight.

  "Seems like the little army of servants is causing a lot of chaos. If I had to guess, lord Otto is equally as busy as they are?" I looked towards sir Erwin, who quickly nodded along to my words.

  "It's as you say, Miss Karya. I will go and see his Lordship and recommend your services to him as agreed previously, so you can relax after the busy day. Around the evening, you should be called over for the audience, or in the morning at the latest."

  "Tomorrow? Do you perhaps offer a place to stay the night in the fort, or should I go look for something back in town?" Hearing that I might need to wait till the morning, I tried to bat my eyelashes at Erwin, in hopes of persuading him.

  "You're a guest that I brought over, and I'll see if there is anything for you, so no need to go back. Before the nightfall, I'll inform you where you can sleep, I promise."

  Getting a promise from a knight was a really good thing, as it ensured he would try his utmost to uphold it properly. So when he excused himself with a polite bow and walked towards the keep, I decided to uphold his knightly honor, and not laugh when he bumped into one of the maids, causing her to drop a basket full of freshly cleaned fabrics onto the ground. Instead, I've decided to take a look around the surrounding area, beginning with the battlements, as currently the courtyard seemed far too busy for not only my liking, but also for casual conversation with the busy workers.

  Walking onto the battlements, I immediately noticed that the guards were surprisingly well-equipped. Each of them wore a standardized armor, consisting of long, chain shirts, that stuck out from under their tabards, and chain leggings. All of them also had armored mittens and kettle helmets, giving them a very professional look, especially with the coat of arms that was portrayed on the tabards. A large green cloth draped over armor, a white shield in the middle of the chest with a black fort with the gate wide open, and inside the gate was a large key, with a clover. Most of them had a bardiche axe, and an arming sword at the side. But some held crossbows, with the string pulled back and bolt ready to shoot. They looked fairly vigilant, looking out into the tree line and observing the movement, as if something was about to charge the walls at any moment, so I approached one of the guards, who stood by himself.

  He was barely taller than me and held a crossbow, and when he looked over at me approaching, I could notice he was around his mid twenties, with a poorly shaved beard, yet a bushy black mustache.

  "Hail, guardsman, how's the duty?" I asked cheerfully, trying to be friendly towards him, but it was seemingly not needed.

  "Oh, good day, miss. Duty's good, nobody is besieging us yet, so I have a bit of time to chat. Do you need something?" His voice was far deeper than I would expect from his appearance, which was quite the surprise.

  "If you don't mind, I wouldn't mind a little chat." The guard gave me a nod and relaxed his stance a bit. "Seems you stare really deeply into the wilderness, which would make me guess that you're dozing off, if not for the fact, that all your fellow guards are equally vigilant in their observation. Expecting something dangerous to come out?"

  "Aye, we do. Armed men are skulking in the forests and threatening the caravans, so we need to be sure to be careful whenever someone's coming in or out of the fortress."

  "If they're just bandits, why not send out a party to hunt them down?" As soon as I asked the question, he pointed towards the horizon, and specifically to the sole guard tower far into the woods.

  "Can you see the building? That's where the border is on the map, but in reality, this fort is the border. That tower is the northmost civilized point, and past that are wild people and things happening, so we never know what's coming."

  I didn't respond, as I looked deeply into the wilderness. It was vast and peaceful. I could see the forest line break in a few places far in the distance, but I didn't know if those were bodies of water or grassy plains. I've stared for a good minute, wondering what is over the map's edge. The terrain looked similar to how the rest of the kingdom's north was, but I had no idea what life was like there, far away into the unknown. Then I remembered I was in conversation with the guard, and I looked back at him, noticing him smiling.

  "Really, a mesmerizing sight. But you said these were men attacking caravans? So, the rumors were true? There were people in the far north, not yet civilized?" My voice came out higher than I wanted.

  "Aye, and there's a lot of them. Obviously, less than in big cities and towns, but there are tribes and other gatherings. Sometimes their representatives come over to attempt diplomacy, but I can't tell you more about it. I am a simple guard, so I'm not part of the diplomatic meetings. Only his Lordship's personal guard and most trusted advisors are present."

  The guard then picked up his crossbow properly and looked into the distance, sighing deeply.

  "If only all of them were this open to talks. There's a lot of different groups, and only a few of them want to talk with us. And a lot of them are attacking our supplies and travelers, raiding for the goods and weapons." He only shook his head and faced me again, changing his sour expression for a happier one. "But anyway, miss, my name's Wilhelm."

  The sudden mood and topic change gave me a bit of whiplash, and I needed to blink a few times to be back on track. "Name's Karya, nice to meet you." I've extended a hand, and he immediately shook it, afterwards he went back to looking over the forest, as I walked down to the courtyard. It was still filled with servants, who were scattered across the entire place, some of them were of higher standing and were shouting orders at the others. But besides waiting for Sir Erwin to come back, I had nothing better to do, so I sat by the empty table in one of the courtyard's corners and waited.

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  The evening light shone over the walls, painting the wooden roofs in orange and red glow, while the yard was covered in shadow, so deeply that braziers had to be lit to provide sufficient light. One of the guards was walking with a torch on a pole, lighting up all the light sources around the fort's inner, and outer spots. No longer on the bench, now I lie in the hay pile next to the stables, still waiting for news from Sir Erwin, or any other servant that might provide me with an answer to what shall I do. A patrol of a few soldiers was sitting at the table, where I previously resided at, and chatted while waiting for the previous patrol to come back to change them. The boredom was getting to me, but suddenly I noticed the guards standing up fast, looking towards the keep. Of course, I also looked over, hoping that it was my saving.

  To my delight, it was Erwin, the knight, who came to my rescue from the dried grass where I rested, and immediately stood up, hoping for good news. His neutral expression was telling me nothing.

  "I'm back!" He spoke, as he bowed courtly. "Brought good news for you, miss Karya. His lordship will meet with you in the morning, and in the meantime, you will occupy one of the free chambers, but first you're to go through the kitchen and collect yourself a nice meal." His big smile was making him look far younger, yet it didn't take away from his noble looks.

  "Oh, that's very generous of his lordship. I will thank him tomorrow during an audience then. But do you perhaps have any idea, what sort of work would he have for me?"

  There was a reaction, an eye twitch here, a slight furrowing of brows, that quickly turned away into the cheerful expression. "No, sorry, but I could not tell you. Now, excuse me, I still have some business to do. Your room is right above the kitchen, so you will not get lost." He gave me a much simpler bow than previously and moved towards the gate, which he passed in a fast walk. There was a horse waiting for him, with another knight.

  But I did not pry that much, simply cleaned myself from all the straw that was sticking from between the belts and buckles in my outfit, and walked towards the kitchen's side entry. I already knew where it was, thanks to my observations during the wait. Inside, there were two maids, one snacking on an apple as she stood, and another other one was seated by a table and eating some cut of meat in gravy. They immediately straightened up when I entered, and observed me for a moment, judging who I might be.

  To ease the tension, I've decided to speak first. "Hello, I've been told to collect a meal for myself. What food could I take?"

  The reaction was immediate, as the standing one - a blonde - immediately pointed with the half-eaten apple, towards a half-full table of food. Seems that all the work, that the servants did was well paid in dinner. And as I approached, I had a rich palette of what I could partake in, mainly meats and salads. I quickly looked over for a small platter that was free, took a small twinned skewer, and picked up a few small cuts of meat, and covered them generously in gravy from a big pot. As a side to my dish, I went with a veggie salad, that had many colors swimming in the thick cream. Thinking that I might need some refreshment, I looked for any untaken pitchers of liquids, and I found one, only to be disappointed to find it was full of water, so I put it aside.

  As I finished and turned around, I noticed the eyes of the maids on me. This time, the sitting one spoke - a brunette. "And who might you be, that you're piling up this much food? I've never seen you here before." While the blonde had an ordinary voice for a young woman, the brunette spoke with a heavy rasp, very unfitting for her looks. But as I looked further, I could notice the creases in her skin, signifying far more years of life than I had assumed in the beginning, and all thanks to the lighting.

  "I'm a mercenary, came for work to his lordship Otto. Had to prove I can fight with the knight Erwin, so I expect a lot of exercise tomorrow." I've realized far too late what I just did. Both women looked over at each other with cheeky smiles. I've just committed a terrible crime, of allowing two gossipers to hear fresh news right from the source! I immediately walked past them, and entered a well-lit corridor full of doorways, and a staircase at the end, towards which I immediately walked.

  Usually, the castle and fort corridors were like a maze to me, where rooms led not to corridors, but to other rooms. Yet here I was, in my room in less than a minute since I left the kitchen. An actual impressive feat of engineering! But dawdling at how the rooms and stairs are placed doesn't fill your belly, but the food in my hands does, so time to eat!

  The food was very delicious, the beef was medium rare, the gravy was thick and creamy, with a strong flavor, just the way I liked. Salad was decent, but certainly not the best of all the ingredients, with noticeable taste of vinegar in it, yet in the end I ate the meat AND the salad. But something was wrong, and I knew exactly what. The feeling was terrible, as my stomach was full, yet I still hungered.

  I stood up slowly from the chair, walked over towards the bed, and set down my shoulder bag, opened it, and pulled out all the things from it. A purse with my coins, a cloth package with dry smoked meat for rations, a bundle of rope, a large knife used for all-around camping situations, a bundle of wool for burning, and finally a bundle of thread with a needle. With all my equipment unpacked, I then removed the fake bottom from my bag, where a bunch of vials were tightly packed in between layers of leather, pulling a second from the left, leaving only 3 filled remaining. The liquid inside was red, and viscous, almost black in the shade, yet the worst offender was its temperature. The liquid was cold and needed heating.

  I've placed the vial on a small piece of wood, placed it in front of the fireplace, and waited patiently. The cracking of fires, as the wood was consumed by the flames, filled the room with sound, as I was dead silent, staring at the vial, while very carefully listening to the sounds from the outside. Under no circumstance could I allow anyone to see, what I was about to do, not because it was unspoken of, but because of how intimate the process was for me. I always compared it to a situation where I would be changing, and not wanting to be seen naked, which, in some form I was, forced to drink blood from a vial, as if I couldn't hunt for my meal.

  Finally, when the liquid was warm enough, I lifted the vial and stirred it sharply, twirling it around to put some motion into it, and make sure there was no staleness in the glass, before I uncorked it with a pop and moved it towards one of my fangs. When the tooth was surrounded by the warm liquid, I could feel my heart start beating faster, and my mind begged my body to start the process. I closed my lips around the glass tightly, and sucked in the air with my mouth, feeling how the warm blood started rushing its way through the canal inside of my fang. In the blink of an eye, the entire content of the vial was consumed, and I could feel myself partially sated with the sanguine fuel, which quickly got absorbed into my own bloodstream, combining with it. With the small ritual completed, I hid the empty container back at the bottom of my bag, covered it back up, and started stowing the contents back in their place. This day was far longer than I'd like it to be, but not much can I do about it. Simply repack, and get under the blanket, and attempt to sleep, hoping that the morning will not be too harsh on me.