Princess of Staves

By Kirk Donaldson

After the sudden death of her father, Inga Campbell did her best to keep the farm running. Rather than run from the debts her father incurred, Inga looked to the grace of the new queen, offering herself as a bondsman to work off a loan to repay the obligations. Soon she found herself serving Queen Danaria as the newly crowned monarch worked to undo the damage wrought by those who seem bent on destroying the Cairnsland and possibly the Empire itself.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kirk Donaldson
• Release date: Apr 19, 2020
• ISBN: 9780463000168

Kirk Donaldson

Kirk Donaldson is a technomage and storyteller.

Book preview

Princess of Staves

(Book 2 of the Nine Kingdoms Series)

Copyright 2020 Kirk Donaldson

Published by Kirk Donaldson at Smashwords

ISBN 9780463000168

Smashwords Edition License Notes

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Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

About the Author

Other Books

Connections

Chapter 1

Inga watched as the doors to the Keep got closer. She had seen hundreds of people go in, most of them coming back out. Some were smiling, some seemed upset. After half the morning waiting to have her request heard, she still was not sure how it would go. In the two months since the Red Queen exposed the man that people had started calling 'William the False', things had started to get better. They just had not improved enough yet.

It was just after midday before she made it inside. Bondsmen had been walking up and down the line with buckets of water and baskets of bread, handing them out freely. That alone had some people leaving. Inga guessed they had just come to ask for food. She wished her request was so easily solved. She was waved forward and stood in front of a desk with a wiry old man in Cairnsland tartan.

Your name, please? he asked politely, surprising her.

Oh, uh. Inga. Inga Campbell, my lord.

What is the nature of your request, dear?

She looked at him, glancing behind her at the line and remembering how many had come through already. I… I need a loan, my lord.

The man smiled, nodding and making some notes. Do you know your letters? Numbers and figures?

Yes, my lord.

He nodded. Are you with child?

No, my lord. I have not… she stopped, blushing.

The old man smiled fatherly. Nothing to be ashamed of, dear. How old are you?

Twenty and five summers, my lord.

Any special skills?

My lord?

Is there anything you feel you are especially good at? Can you bake bread or cakes? Work a forge? Balance knives on your nose while juggling goslings? Everyone in line laughed, the old man smiling and giving her a wink.

I keep house for my father… Or I did before his death. I can milk and tend cows and goats, and do laundry well enough, I guess. Chop wood?

The old man nodded, taking notes and smiling. Very good. Take this note through that door there. They will assist you further.

Inga curtsied. Thank-you, my lord. She hurried through the door before he changed his mind.

Inside the door, there was another desk, with three people behind it. One was a scribe, she could see, writing out and sanding pages, then handing them to the other two, who would sign and seal them. The person in the middle, another older man, waved her over, his manner a bit more gruff than the one outside, but still polite. He took the note she had and read it over.

Miss Campbell. How much do you require? he asked, handing the note to the woman on his left.

My father left me with a debt of 260 full gold, 15 full silver, my lord.

All three looked up, then at each other. The woman leaned forward, Left you with the debt? How so?

My Lady, he had taken a loan out against our land for seed and food enough to get us through until harvest. He passed after the delivery had been made, and I tried to return the seed and food. The miller said that my father had contracted for 20 bushels of grain. While our harvest could have easily paid that back and more, the value of what I returned was less than that. Even after selling the land and nearly everything else I had, I am still short. The miller is a good man, but he has too many bondsmen as it is, and I would avoid working in the pleasure houses.

The three looked at each other. The scribe wrote some notes, and the other two nodded. As the scribe went to work, the man spoke. We are willing to pay off your debt in full in exchange for a five year contract bond. You will be required to work as a maid in the Keep under the direction of Lady Aurel and myself. Your duties may range from cleaning the privies and chimneys to serving as an attendant for a noble in the keep. The full list of duties and restrictions is here. He slid a sheet across the desk. You will be paid a salary of three full silver per day, two of which shall go toward repaying the Crown and for your room and board. The remainder will be kept on account for you to use as you choose. Your contract will be for five years, or until your debt is paid in full, which will take five years and one month if you do not put any other money toward the debt. Is that acceptable?

Inga read down the list under her breath, Make beds, change and wash linens, assist with bathing, assist with dressing… She looked up. Um, my lord, not to seem ungrateful, but some of these seem…

The man smiled. You will be a house maid, Miss Campbell, not a dandy. If anyone, and I do mean anyone, makes unwanted sexual advances, you are to come to me, to Lady Aurel, to the Captain of the Queen’s Guard, or to a Justicar. Immediately. Am I clear?

Inga nodded. Then I accept, my lord.

Good. Make your mark here, please. He handed over a page the scribe had just sanded. Based on your story, I am guessing that it is Miller Davis that you owe?

She nodded, Yes, my lord. She read through it quickly, and saw it said almost exactly what he had. She signed and returned it. The man read it through again, nodded, and signed.

He and the Lady stood, extending their hands. Welcome to the Keep staff, Miss Campbell. If you would please follow Lady Aurel, she will get you settled in. I will see to it that Miller Davis has the money transferred to his accounts and that the debts are cleared.

Inga followed the Lady, Lady Aurel, through another door and deeper into the keep.

As a new bondsman, you will not be allowed to wear clothing beyond that required for your duties. Do you understand?

Yes, my Lady, Inga said weakly.

The Lady had led her to a wide hallway with doors every ten paces, some open. She stopped at a closed door with a key hanging on the handle. She took the key, unlocked the door, and opened it. Good, I thought this one was still available, she said as she entered.

Inga followed her through and gaped. The room seemed huge to her. Ten paces long, four paces wide, a wardrobe and bed. It was bigger than the house her father had owned.

You may store your things in the wardrobe. It is just past midday, but there is usually food in the kitchens. Dinner for the staff is officially before it is served in the banquet hall. If you have any questions, please ask. There are many new attendants, and you may not be the only one confused. Your apron is in the wardrobe, and the baths and privies are at the end of the hall. With that, Lady Aurel handed Inga the key and left.

Inga set her bag down on the bed, thinking how small the sum of her worldly possessions seemed. She pulled them from the bag, placing them on the small desk that was in her room: a small portrait of her mother and father, a hair brush, a sewing kit she kept with her, and a few books her tutors had left for her. She undressed, folding her kilt and bindings and setting them in the bottom of the wardrobe. She felt like she had let down her father. She took the apron off of the hook and tied it around her neck, then around her waist. She brushed her hair out before twisting it up into a bun like she had seen other maids wear. With a sigh, she closed the door to the wardrobe and turned toward the door that led to her future.

Inga padded down the hall, following the voices and the smells of food. She walked into a dining hall that was nearly as long as the storage barn that had been at the farm. Easily three hundred people could sit comfortably, and it looked as if half of the tables were full. A large sidebar was laid out with food, and she watched as bondsmen and freemen walked up to fill plates for themselves before finding seats. There did not seem to be any division between the freemen and bondsmen, and everyone chatted away. She made her way to the buffet, making herself a plate. She found a seat a few tables away from everyone and listened to the conversations. When she had finished her meal, she stacked her dishes along with the rest.

She wandered down the hall to the bathing area, cleaned up, then went back to her room and to bed. She read through the papers that had been left for her to read through. Just after sunset, she put out her lantern, curled up in the blankets, and went to sleep.

Inga was awoken by banging on her door. Before she could get up, the person had moved on down the hall to the next door, then the next. Someone was yelling about the new bondsmen orientation. She got her apron on, fixed her hair quickly, and went to open the door to join the quickly dwindling crowd she heard outside in the hall.

The door was locked. She looked at the handle in disbelief. She tried again, thinking it was just stuck. She twisted and pulled, and the door would not move. She screamed and hammered her fists on the door. She had not heard anyone in the hall outside for some time, and no one came to investigate.

'The key,' she thought. 'Aurel left me a key.' Inga scrambled around the room, trying to remember where she had left it. She pulled open the wardrobe and saw the key hanging there where her apron had been. She grabbed it and ran to the door, fitting the key into the hole. She cried out in frustration when she felt it catch. Whoever had locked her in had left the key in the door on the outside, and turned so she could not just push it out.

Inga started to panic. She was trapped, locked in her room. As far as she knew, the only person who knew she was there was the person who locked her in. She had to get out.

Think, Inga, think! she yelled at herself, looking around.

The key on the outside is the only think keeping me in here, so I need to turn the key and push it out. What do I have? She searched through her things, looking for something that might help. She pricked her finger on the needle from her sewing kit. Inga stopped, an idea forming.

Aven looked around the group of new bondsmen sitting in the room. He smiled as he watched Inga rush in, looking around to find a seat. "Ah, Inga, is it not? So nice