• The Quiet Maid

    tab It was the day of a tournament in the Kingdom of Kayon. Lords and princes from all around had gathered for it, ready to practice their sword skills. The tournament prize was one thousand gold pieces. This was what one of the maids heard, and found herself annoyed by it. She had been enslaved in her youth, and while her current holder was not abusive, they never noticed her for work well done. Nor did they seem to notice her at all. She despised the tournament because she knew she'd been purchased from the slave holder for a mere ten gold pieces, and because no one even let her try to use a sword because she was just a girl. Despite her stomping around just minutes before the tournament, carrying a sack of laundry over her shoulders, no one noticed her. She was called the Quiet Maid.
    tab Suddenly the man in charge of the tournament released a roar, looking around at those expected to participate. The swords that had been assigned for the tournament were missing, and the prize could not be handed out until they were found. All of the knights, mercenaries, and bandits who had arrived to participate began to shout out, threatening each other and demanding to know who had hidden the swords. Each one of them came up with a creative threat for each other. In his fear the Lord of the Manor declared a reward equal to the prize money would be given to anyone who could find the lost swords.
    tab The words of the lord went from his lips to the ears of a mouse. That mouse squeaked and made its way back to the Quiet Maid, who sometimes fed him crumbs. It climbed up the Maid’s shoulder and whispered the news into her ear. The Maid grinned widely as she held the mouse in one hand, kissing it on top of its head. “Thank you little friend, now we shall be free together.” She whispered as she slipped the mouse into her apron’s pocket.
    tab The Maid walked down the hall and into a cellar that led to the spring she washed the laundry in. She was the only one to go down there at all, since she was the only servant, and the Lord’s children were long gone. She crept down the steps, past the bag of laundry at the top step. She soon reached the bottom one, where the swords lay in their barely cove red hiding spot. The Maid scooped all four weapons into her arms as she stood up, walking into the hall and making her way to her Lord’s study. Without a word, she dropped them on the desk and held out her hand for the gold.
    tab Once the gold was counted and in her apron, careful to avoid her mouse friend, she pulled out ten pieces and dropped them on the desk. The Lord, no longer her master blinked, then nodded as she walked out. The Maid smiled quietly as she walked through the men shouting threats at each other, near violence so they could fight each other for profit, not one of them taking a second look at the quiet girl as she passed between them, and she liked it that way. Eventually the Lord of the House got to handing the swords out, and the tournament occurred. By then the Maid was far away, having used to rest of her money to buy a cottage and a small bakery, where she lived her life with her little mouse friend.
    tab So they all lived happily ever after.