There were mounds of various cutlery and dishes that needed to be scrubbed in the castle kitchen. The kitchen was hosted on the left side of the castle near to the main ballroom for easy access for kitchen workers, maids, and footmen to serve illustrious guests. Its floor consisted of a broken tile with a faint moon pattern with chips of it being missed here and there the farther someone explored the kitchen. In the center of a kitchen, amidst the bustle and clangs of dishes and cooking, a wide table was placed. Overhead the table hung bulbs of plants and long herbs connected by strings of twine to a crisscross wooden support beam the size of a bench attached to the ceiling of the Kallondonan castle kitchen. Pots ranging from silver metal pots the size of cauldrons to the pots capable of brewing a nightly calming tea known as Thistleroot inhabited the kitchen shelfs and hung over stoves. The kitchen staff swarmed the kitchen as the Banquet of Alodis was going on overhead.
But standing on the throne of her glory and power was Head Royal Cook, Lara Bristwater. Cook Bristwater was notorious for running a tight ship. She handled the running and schedule of her kitchen with an iron grip, the same grip that allowed her to become a master in her own right from the School of Agriculture. While in the kitchen, her umber cloak was hung on a nail jutting from the side of a stone wall in the kitchen. However, she wore her dark tan tunic with a white apron washed in foods and drinks of all colors, mainly illechon wine. The tan armguards that captured her wrists bore a specialization mark of a leaf for farmland and her own personal master insignia of a wooden spoon. Cook Bristwater's face bore the signs of a woman aging well even with her broad stature. The cook's hair was bound in a net of strings tied chaotically to tie her long wheat-colored hair into a sizeable bun. She had large hazel eyes, her one claim to beauty. However, beauty is only valued so far in the culture of Kallondona. Cook Bristwater's intelligence was far more valued than any preconceived notions of beauty and she was said to be as sharp and witty as Alodis herself.
"Dash some cloves into that squash soup! It won't taste like Autumn unless it has cloves, Persiphus" Bristwater shouted over the bubbling of whatever concoction she was making to serve as a side dish.
"Yes, Cook Bristwater" Persiphus, the Head Kitchen Assistant said sufferingly.
"Persiphus, wipe that tone out of your voice. Just became your name sounds like syphilis and the legend of Perseus combined does not mean you have to undertake the irritability that results from both things. Whelp, act like your age!" Bristwater said with a huge smile that showed the lack of teeth on the left side of her mouth after she got into a brawl with a castle guard. The castle guard was forced to resign his position, but the cook kept her position due to the fact that not many men or women were royal head cook worthy. This was another reason some say Bristwater is a legend and an admirable opponent in the field of combat.
Although Cook Bristwater regularly and delightfully bashed the intelligence of her Head Kitchen Assistant, Persiphus was actually an admirable young man of twenty seasons. He was still finishing his apprenticeship under Cook Bristwater before he could be a master. He bore the same symbols as the cook and would do so until he split off onto his own and designed his own symbol. Bristwater often joked that his insignia would be a dead fish to resemble the power of his intellect. Persiphus did not appreciate those remarks often made to him by his master, but he knew they were done in good humor, so he ignored them.
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As the Royal Head Cook and Head Kitchen Assistant finished preparing the third course of the meal, they could hear a great murmur arise from the banquet hall where their sovereign and his nobility sat in their black-threaded cushions atop the dark wooden chairs.
"I wonder what's gotten up into their heads" Bristwater remarked with a raised wheat eyebrow.
"Probably one of the king's famous contemptuous remarks" Persiphus chuckled. He was one of the few in the castle who admired the king's frivolity and foolishness.
As the pair continued working, they began to hear several terrifying shrieks emerge from the banquet hall. Moans and wailing began to rise in the air and the clash of swords and an ongoing struggle could be heard. The rest of the kitchen staff either ducked out of the room to investigate or to escape whatever ensuing conflict that was taking place between the king and his nobles.
"Persiphus, grab your weapon and your cloak. Some bad omen is nigh upon us. Quickly, now!" Cook Bristwater whispered.
Both Persiphus and Bristwater rushed to retrieve their umber cloaks. They grabbed the short daggers that were stuck inside their brown leather boots and fastened them to the belts on their sides. They then proceeded to run out of the kitchen and into the adjoining hallway that connected the kitchen to the banquet hall. As they ran down the dark brown oak floors, they passed several frames and figurines depicting the lunar cycle and the image of Alodis. As Bristwater passed the nearest figurine, she uttered a low prayer begging Alodis to come to their aid and show wisdom to the situation that awaited them in the banquet hall.
But what they failed to understand is that the one Alodis had sent to save their country had lost the battle and was faced with tragic decisions. Alodis had sent help, but the Kallondonan's foolishness had cost them all. The kingdom that valued wisdom above all other talents or skills lost their sovereignty due to their pride, foolishness, and even selfishness.
Screams continued to permeate the air and the Royal Head Cook and the Head Kitchen Assistant faced one of the most horrifying and arguably disturbing scenes they would ever live to see. It appeared that almost of all the occupants in the chairs were face down in pools of blood spreading from their open mouths. It was hard to say if anyone . . . or anything had survived.
What had gone so awry from the biggest event of the autumnal season? Who was behind the mass murder in the banquet hall? Was their sovereign even alive?