Chapter 30 Infiltration

❄️Snow❄️

Snow jumped out of bed.

“What?! Where am I?!”

She realized she was undressed. Her outfit was clean and hung neatly off the bed canopy. She smelled clean, like someone had taken her a bath. There was also a bandage wrapped around her hand. She put on her clothes before a maid with a collar walked in.

“Where am I? What happened to me?!” She asked the maid.

“Greetings princess, you are currently in the manor of house Rene”

“Rene? Lazarus?”

The maid nodded.

“I was informed to oversee you. I bathed you and cleaned your clothing. I was also instructed to notify you that Master Rene wishes to speak to you as soon as you woke up.”

“Take me to Lazarus then.”

Snow and Lazarus were sitting in the same room she had collapsed in before.

“Lazarus what the hell! You couldn't lead me a different way to your house?! That sewer system was dreadful! Hellish!”

“I apologize but that was supposed to be a last resort route. I didn't think you would actually need it.”

“Giant rats, a devil and a spider infestation?! You may as well surrender me to the guard!”

“I knew you had it in you, your strong Snow. Stronger than anyone gives you credit for. Think of this like a… test of growth.”

“A test!? How is climbing a spider infested chamber a test for anyone? I almost died from a single sting, let alone the amount of spiders that were in there!”

“Bah, lessons to be learned, nerves to be steeled. As long as you made it to the top, without angering most of them, your safety was practically guaranteed! See, I have the antidote for those redbacks. Antidote that you didn't even need by the way. You fought it off, truly amazing the body of a frostblood. I grow more fond of you every time we meet.”

“Lazarus I am not some tool or subject! You gawk me up and then have me do some ridiculous task! I am starting to think you are trying to kill me on purpose!”

“Again, I am sorry Snow. That was supposed to be a last resort.” He leaned back and put on a satisfied smile. “Now that you are here, allow me to assist you. I promise, no more tests. You are here and in good hands, now tell me what is happening. I understand there is movement among the knights, are you the reason?”

Snow told him everything.

“Frederick declaring war? That’s madness.” Lazarus questioned Snow’s assessment of the situation.

“Lussuria being taken, my guard missing, and the mediator doing all that is all true, I’m not making it up Lazerous, He’s going to declare war on us!”

“Ok, slow down. Let me think, Frederick just called forth a meeting prematurely, that certainly is suspicious.”

“He’s going to bring out the war declaration, why do you think he’s in a rush! He wants to get it signed before I get to the king!”

“For war to be declared the council needs to have a 2/3 vote as well as the King’s declaration. Both seem like an impossible task. If he is confident he can get it done, that is very troubling. By what means can he achieve this?”

“I don’t know but all the city guards and that crazy mercenary man with the eyepatch are all allied with him. What should we do?”

Lazarus looked up in thought before deciding.

“Alright, I will attend the meeting and try to stop this ridiculous proposal. As for your sister, Mountaineer Warden Isabella would be able to swiftly find her no doubt, but Warden Isabella isn’t in the city at the moment. I will send word to her about your sister, and she will return soon, hopefully.”

“I can’t wait for the warden to return, I need to find Lussuria. Don’t you have servants all over the market Lazarus? Someone must have seen something.”

“I can inquire but I am afraid we don’t have time.”

“I need to go to the king now then. I can stop both the decree and get the king to force Frederick to reveal where she is.”

“Getting to the king is no easy task. You are unofficially wanted by the city guard, Fredericks’s city guard that is. They no doubt have a perimeter set to catch you by now. We don’t even know if his influence has reached the royal guard of the regal district. I think you should stay here, it is far too dangerous for you to go out, because if you get caught and Frederick fulfills his plans, you will be publicly trialed and-”

“No Lazerous, I’ve done this type of work before.”

“That's not the same, the stakes are much higher. We are talking about imprisonment and death here, not sneaking into some belligerent drunk’s bedroom.”

“I need to do this, as the only available representative of the Lotus family, I can’t allow Frederick to get away with this, especially with my sister still out there.”

Lazarus rose from his chair.

“Very well Snow, follow me.”

Lazarus led her through his manor. Dozens and dozens of paintings were strung down all the hallways, it seems painting was more of an obsession than a hobby for him.

"I see you like painting a lot more than I thought.”

“I paint all my servants as well as my commissioners, I feel as if it gives them a special connection to me.”

They got to the end of the hall.

“Here.”

There was an oddly shaped silver door, Lazarus took out his keyring and unlocked it.

The room was filled with an entire wall of fabrics and in the center was a huge circular tailoring station that had various instruments. It made the portable station he used at Regalia seem like a joke. This one room must have been where he made all of his clothing... It was incredible.

“You are the only person besides me and a handful of my servants that has stepped foot in here.” Lazarus grabbed two sheets of fabric and brought them to the table and immediately began cutting and stitching them. “I don’t have much time, so forgive me if this is tight.” He said as he started his work.

“What are you making me?”

“An outfit.”

“For what?”

“It’s a disguise. You said you wanted to see the King, well there is only one person I know who has regular access to the King’s estate.”

“Who?!”

“You already know him.”

“Who?”

“The fat cherry.” Lazarus Gave a quick smirk.

“Sir Jirminshawl.” The whole reason why she was here in the first place, to make this stupid deal. Snow didn’t realize her face until Lazarus Looked at her with a malleable expression before going back to his work. “Would he even help me?”

“I honestly don’t know. That gluttonous hog would be open to a deal if push comes to shove though.”

“Fine, where does he live?”

“The west side of the district. I can get you in the residence but reaching Jirminshawl is something you need to do on your own. You will need to disguise yourself as one of his servants, he has so many that you won’t be noticed in there.”

After only a short moment Lazarus exhaled.

“It is done.“ He held up a dress…

Was it a dress? Or a flour sack, Snow couldn’t tell, it looked ugly beyond belief.

“That’s a disguise? Are you kidding me Lazerous? I know you're under time constraints but surely you can do better.

Lazarus Looked offended.

“I, for one think it looks satisfactory. It can even go over your current clothing.”

“That looks like a flour sack!”

Lazarus’s offended face lightened at a realization.

“Oh. I forget, you probably have never seen a traditional maid outfit. Yes its fashion looks horrid but that’s just how they are.”

“Lussuria would throw herself at Frederick’s stone lions over wearing that.”

“It is theorized that fashion was repulsive back then due to limitations, but I think the real reason for the maid uniform was so that the Lady of the house doesn’t get outshown by servants.”

“Maybe Sir Harper could use some of those in his manner. Then again, Lady Grace probably wouldn't care.”

“I see you learned of his indulgences.”

Snow shrugged, “Whatever. If it gets the job done, I don’t care. What about my hair? I will stick out like a sore thumb. Arthur used a crystal that changed my hair-”

“Nothing beats a good ole fashion wig!” He pulled up about 4 wigs from under the table. “Any preferences.” He held up a brown, black, red, and light green wig.

“I’ll take black.”

“Great choice, it compliments well with your eyes, so serious, yet cute. Anyways, the time for jokes are over. There is one more thing you would need to wear.” He put a collar on the table. “This should fit you.”

Snow looked at the collar. To which Lazarus acknowledged the look.

“All of his servants are slaves. It’s degrading I understand but a necessity in our situation. You can easily remove it, the lock on it is fake. It will open freely. “

Snow picked up the collar.

“Now Snow, are you sure you are ready for this? You can be safe here and wait.”

“I already made my choice.”

She latched the collar onto her neck.

Snow was inside the smuggling box that they arranged to get her in with. Her legs were squeezed up to her chest. She could only see the cloudy sky as it began to drizzle. Lazarus appeared peering over her.

“We are about to leave; I hope the accommodations aren’t too poor.” Lazarus apologized.

“You can’t bring me in a bigger crate. This is so- tight...” Snow was so tightly packed in the box.

“I have organized your crate to be brought in with Jirminshawl’s daily food supplies, Luckily for you Jirminshawl is a fan of my grapes. This is the only way to breach his estate this last minute.

“I understand, thank you Lazarus. Don’t forget to be careful yourself. Frederick will try to force you to vote for the declaration.”

“I will be fine, there are some things not even Frederick has jurisdiction over me in. Best of luck to both of us,” Lazarus said as the top of the crate slid closed. Snow was left in total darkness.

First Snow had to ride in a crappy carriage. Now, she found herself riding on the back of one, in a box that was tiny. The suffocating feeling was only suppressed by the constant rattling and shaking of the box. When the rumbling of the box finally came to an end, her stomach turned as she felt the sharp acceleration of gravity before the box banged against the floor. (Geez, gods forbid I was something fragile.) The movement completely stopped as well as the voices of the workers. Seems she had arrived at her destination. She waited a couple of minutes before she unlatched the box from the inside and slowly peeked her head out. The room was dark but there was light coming from the cracks of a door just in front of her. This must have been the pantry closet she was in. In that case the room in front of her should have been the kitchen.

Snow slowly opened the door and saw a cooking fire, a long table with sacks of food on it as well as greens strung up above it. It was indeed a kitchen.

She adjusted her outfit and proceeded to the kitchen exit. There was no door, so she looked both ways once exiting the kitchen. Nobody in sight, good. She knew Jirminshawl’s personal room was on one of the upper floors, she just needed to find stairs.

“Jen there you are! What are you doing!?” One maid had appeared from down the hall behind her.

Snow spun around to address the maid, who was storming her way.

“Oh, hi! I was...” She got caught off guard by this maid suddenly charging at her.

“No excuses, I need help with the food prep. Come- wait you aren’t Jen? Who are you?” The maid realized she was different.

“My name is uh, Emma.” She gave a false name and the maid seemed to be very confused before some enlightenment dawned upon her.

“Ohh you must be another new girl, my name is Orthia” She was very enthusiastic, “Well alright then, wow you have pretty eyes, let’s get to work. We need to prepare the Master’s lunch!” She was dragged into the kitchen and told to start cutting celery, carrots, and various vegetables for mid-day lunch.

“His Lordship likes tomatoes so make sure you cut a few extra, do not cut too low on the celery and make sure you check the carrots for insects.” The maid was grabbing some steak meat out of a salt barrel and laid it on top of the cooking pan. Snow grabbed some of the stuff that was asked and started to cut it. She remembered watching how Lamille used to cut the vegetables at home and did the same. After about two minutes the maid turned her way.

“Make sure you hurry up with those, they need to be prepped before-”

The maid noticed the vegetables. Snow had cut them all already.

“Hmm, that was quick.”

“Thank you, now that these are done, I need to go-”

“Now for the next thing. The Master’s favorite lemon sauce!”

“But I needed to-”

“No excuses! Peppers, onions, and lemons, go get them! We have to make sure the Master’s meal is fully done!”

Snow found herself not bad at culinary arts, however she felt more like a culinary slavery. When all the food was prepped, seasoned, cooked, and whatever the hell else you could possibly do in the kitchen she was dying to get out.

“Is that everything?”

“Yes, nice job Emma, that was pretty quick, perhaps you should replace Jen.” The maid shrugged as a joke.

“Thanks, Orthia.”

“I’ll bring this up to the upper servants so they can serve the Master. Stay here until I come back so we can clean the stables. The horses weren’t nice today... so prepare yourself.”

Quite gross.

“Ok.”

The maid left with the food.

Snow would rather forfeit her disguise than clean stables, so she quickly left the kitchen and trailed behind Orthia. Orthia left what Snow figured was the servant hall. This new hall had visible guards, but they should mind their own business if she acted normally. Snow walked at a pace a servant would walk. Quick but formally. Orthia reached a set of stairs. Snow slowed down so Orthia wouldn’t see her on the turn going up, then proceeded to climb them. In the middle of the stairway there was some sort of lift contraption behind a small metal gate that spanned the whole height of the stairs. It looked similar to something the construction guild would use. After two landings, Snow didn’t hear any further footsteps up the stairs, so this had to be the landing. Snow entered the new hall. Where the walls were painted in yellow and a fancy rug ran through the place that was mended in a swirl of silver. This had to be the floor. Getting to Jirminshawl was easier than avoiding the city guard it seems. Guess she should be thanking Lazerous. The disguise was working perfectly, until she was stopped by a different maid.

“Child, what are you doing here? This is the guest wing. You are not allowed here.”

(Jeez where do these maids keep coming from…)

“I.. I was told to help on this floor.”

“What task were you given?”

She tried to think.

“um…The housekeeper told me to assist with the linen.”

“The linen for the guest chambers is already clean and set. Gods, so Helga thinks she can dump another girl in my care.” This maid wasn’t too enthusiastic compared to Orthia.

Snow gave her best puppy eyes.

The maid sighed looking away, “Fine, come with me, we will find something for you to do.”

‘Find.’

It was more like ‘Find something NOT to do.’

Snow had a newfound appreciation for Lamille and the rest of her servants back home. After scrubbing clothes, beating an endless number of rugs and dusting every nook and cranny she dropped everything she was doing once the coast was clear. Leaving her tasks, Snow began to move down the hallway checking each of the doors in search of Jirminshawl’s room. She stopped around the corner of the hallway where she could hear two servants talking. The maid who gave her the tasks could be heard talking with another servant.

“Helga, I think you finally got a keeper who won’t get fired in the first week.”

“Hm? what do you mean?”

“That little girl, the new one, she’s so obedient and efficient.”

“What girl?”

“Emma.”

“There are no servants that go by that name here.”

Snow was still listening around the corner.

“What do you mean? She’s right over there.” They began to walk her way. When they turned the corner, all they saw was a lone duster set on the table.