From Londoner To Lord

Madam Helga smiled. "You don't have to pay anything for that. At least for this winter, the supply of coal for heating will be free of cost."

What? Could that really be true? Hyola couldn't believe those words. There would be enough coal here for them to use around the clock? That meant nobody would freeze to death this winter! While at the quarry, she had been worried about which of the slaves wouldn't survive the coming winter, but here, that wouldn't be a concern at all. She wouldn't have to worry about waking up next to a cold corpse, like in many of the past winters at the quarry. If anything, a warm place to return back every evening after work would make their lives comfortable.

Hyola frowned. Huh... Comfortable... Like the lives of nobles? From what she had overheard in the stories from some bandits at the quarry, she was pretty sure that even the commoners living in Cinran had to brave some of the milder winter nights without coal to save it for when it got really cold. But here they would be able to burn coal every single night? And they didn't even have to pay for it? Just who was this baron? He could have made a good amount by selling that much coal. Or did he not need that coin at all?

Madam Helga's next words interrupted Hyola's thoughts. "You all have been through a long journey, so you should rest here now. But I need a few of you to come with me to the kitchens so I can show you the place and so you can bring food and water for the rest of you all. I also need one of you to tell me how many of you are sick or injured so I can talk with the supervisor about providing enough Losuvil paste for you."

Immediately, Hyola raised her hand for it, and following her lead, a few other young slaves volunteered as well. How could it be that the baron could afford to provide losuvil paste for all of them? She had certainly heard about it in the past, but as a slave she never had any income to be able to buy it, not that it was even possible to buy it at the quarry. However, some of the slaves including Darora - the guy who was a good friend of hers at the quarry - had lived in Cinran in the past, but buying any losuvil paste had always been too costly for most of them, even when they weren't slaves. But now they were all going to get losuvil paste if they were sick? And for free?

Hyola shook her head in disbelief. The surprises never stopped coming in this village, did they? At least they were good surprises for the first time in her life...

They followed Madam Helga back outside the door, and walked towards the door on the right side of the outer gates, where a couple of guards were talking next to those burning braziers which had been kept under an overhang of the roof. The guards being here made sense. The baron wouldn't want the slaves to run away with that coal, after all.

They followed Madam Helga through the snow, and entered that room - which turned out to be the kitchen - and immediately Hyola's nose was filled with the delicious smells she had found earlier. Inside the door, she saw that in the light of a few other braziers, there were a few people working next to a huge cauldron which had something bubbling inside it. It seemed like the food preparation had already been done earlier, and those cooks were just keeping an eye on the food now.

On the far side of the kitchen, there was a mud oven, where a few other people seemed to be busy with something. Could they be baking fresh bread for them? Hyola salivated at the thought. It had been months since she had tasted any bread. She really hoped there would be some bread for them tonight.

Noticing them, an older man who was sitting on one side, stood up. "Madam Helga! The food is 'bout ready now." Then he looked at the slaves who had volunteered to bring the food to others. "Oh, are these the stonecutters?"

Madam Helga nodded. "Yeah, let's give them some food now. They must be starving."

"But most of us don't have any bowls to take the food in..." one of the slaves protested. "Although we could still share the bowls like we did at the quarry."

Madam Helga smiled again. "No need to worry about that." Then she pointed to a corner, where there were many tall stacks of wooden bowls kept next to each other, and explained, "When Lord Kivamus had sent Hudan and the other guards to rescue you all, he had anticipated that you wouldn't have much with you. He regrets that he couldn't provide you and others with better clothing yet, but he had still ordered the carpenter's apprentice to make more than enough bowls for anyone who needed it. You all can keep them with yourself if you want to."

Madam Helga pointed to another side of the kitchen, where there were a few barrels of water kept next to each other. "You all can take as much water as you need from here anytime. The barrels are kept inside the kitchen which usually has a fire burning most of the time - with someone keeping an eye on it, of course - so the water never freezes here. Lord Kivamus does have plans to dig a new well nearby - and well water never freezes in Tiranat - but that's for the future. For now, these barrels have to be refilled by someone from the well at the market square, but it'll do the task for now."

Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

Hyola was feeling completely overwhelmed by now, but she tried not to think too much about so many unexpected but good things happening to her and the others.

Then she saw the older woman point to her and the other slaves - no, not slaves, she pointed to the stonecutters - and told them to fill a few bowls with water and take them to the others inside the longhouse while the cooks started distributing the food. Hyola gave a nod, and walked along with others back to the other stonecutters to provide them with water, and by the time she returned, she saw that the cooks had already started pouring the stew in bowls.

Hyola was at the front, so she got the first bowl from the cooks, along with a generous portion of bread. She had been trying to control her emotions for a while, but as soon as the savory smell of the meat stew and the sweet smell of the freshly baked bread hit her nose, she finally broke down into sobs.

Was she imagining everything? Was all this just a dream? Was she still lying hungry and cold inside one of the huts at the quarry close to starvation, which had led to her start dreaming of such wonderful food? She didn't know. So she took a bite of the bread to test whether it was really a dream, and her sobs only got louder when she realised that it was real. Food couldn't possibly taste this good in a dream!

She leaned towards the wall for support, and nearly lost her balance since she couldn't see clearly between the tears, but Madam Helga immediately held her in a hug and prevented her from falling down, while someone else took the bowl from her hands for now otherwise it would spill all over the floor.

"Don't worry, dear," she heard the voice of the older woman reassuring her while patting her back gently, "this is not a dream."

Had she really been speaking out loud? It didn't matter... This wasn't a dream...

"But I thought..." she mumbled between sobs. "I thought this was a huge jail... and that the baron was going to kill us for our wagons..."

"It's nothing like that, dear," Madam Helga muttered in a soothing voice. "You are far away from the bandits now. You don't have to fear for your life anymore. You are safe here."

Hyola only clutched her tightly in response, while sobbing. She really was inside a warm building, with fresh food waiting for her. It was real...

*******

After a while, Hyola and the other volunteers had distributed the food to the other stonecutters along with a general supply of losuvil paste for anyone who needed it - which was basically all of them. Madam Helga had also stayed nearby in case they needed any help while they all finished their food. Most of the stonecutters seem to have tears in their eyes as they ate the warm food with a generous amount of meat in it, along with the bread. And not just that, there was more than enough of it for anyone who wanted seconds, which was a completely new experience for them.

Once they were done, the stonecutters didn't hesitate in asking Madam Helga to thank the baron for them. The older woman just nodded with sadness in her eyes, and then exited the door, probably to return to wherever she lived.

Hyola immediately got up and followed her outside, but she found that Calubo was still waiting for her there. Earlier, when she had seen him there when bringing food from the kitchen to the others, she had wanted to hit him for not making it clear that they were just going to a newly built building outside the village, instead of a jail or to be executed. But she couldn't really say anything, since it wasn't really his fault for her mind running to such conclusions. However, she just couldn't bring it in her mind to forgive him completely at the time, so she hadn't talked to him then.

"Why were you crying earlier?" Calubo asked with a frown.

Ignoring him, she accused, "You said that Tiranat was only a small village. I haven't been to many places outside the quarry, but I don't think any other village has walls that high, even if they are only made of logs and not stone."

Calubo just shrugged. "I've lived here for more than a decade under the previous baron, but there were no walls here before Nokozal had kidnapped me a few months ago. But Lord Kivamus doesn't want to let bandits enter the village ever again, and having strong walls is a basic requirement for that. I don't know much about him but he is certainly very different from the previous baron, or from any other noble I have heard about, and he seems to have some big plans for the village, not that I know any more than that." He continued, "Although I thought I did tell you at the quarry that there was a lot of construction work going on in my village..."

"Yeah, that you did," Hyola muttered. She looked around the square shaped courtyard, "Why do they call it a long house anyway. It should better be called a giant house or maybe a square house."

Calubo laughed. "Yeah, I was confused about that as well. But someone told me that it really was supposed to be a single long building in the beginning, but then the plan was changed by the baron, and three longhouses were built in a square shaped design to be self-sufficient and more defensible. But it was called a longhouse in the beginning, and the name just stuck."

"Calubo, we gotta go," one of the guards called out from near the outer gates, where Madam Helga was also standing.

Calubo gave her a parting hug, and jogged towards them.

But before they left, Hyola ran towards them as well, and looked at the older woman. "Madam Helga, will the baron come back to the longhouse block again? I want to thank him for everything he has done for all the stonecutters."