A Servant Lost (Alys Book #1)

Chapter 1

            "I'll give you half of what you're asking for that loaf of bread," an older woman offered, pointing at the loaf she wanted.

The young woman behind the market table frowned, "But the loaf is perfectly good!" she argued, "I ask a good price."

The older woman made a sarcastic laugh, "Half price, or I'm walking away."

The young woman sighed. Half was not fair, but it was better than nothing. She also knew she should be thankful that this woman had even bothered to stop at her sad market table.

She nodded. The older woman almost smirked at the younger one's willingness to sell the bread so cheap. She reached over for the bread and handed the payment over. The young woman lowered her face, ashamed at how the older woman must see her. Young, dirty, and poor.

She shivered and tried to pull the worn out shawl she wore around her more tightly. It was warm for a winter day. The snow was melting, forming ugly, brown slush on the market place floor. It made the whole world look dirty and wet.

That loaf was only the second thing she had managed to sell the whole day she had stood behind this table. She had managed to trade two loafs for a small chunk of bear meat from another woman, but it would barely be enough for her to feed herself that night. Maybe it would go far enough with a little bit of bread. However, most of the bread would have to be saved to be brought back out to the market the next day, in hope that some more would sell.

Lords and Ladies, in their warm and beautiful clothing, walked through the market, only stopping at the tables with the best food, trinkets, or other materials that interested them. They did not even seem to notice the young woman selling bread. It was not like the woman was in a place that could not be seen. It was that important people like Lords and Ladies did not buy bread, or anything, from poor girls.

The young woman sighed again, and started to wrap up the four loaves of bread and placed them in her blanket. It would be dark soon, and she knew she would not be selling anymore bread that day.

It was a miserable walk back to the small shack that she made her home in. Muddy slush splashed her every time a carriage went by. It seeped into the holes in her shoes and squished between her toes. By the time she stumbled into her shelter, she was soaked to the bone. She closed the door behind her, set the basket of bread down on her crude table, and peeled off her wet clothing and shoes. The air was frigid, as the fire in her crude stove had long died after she left in the morning and was unable to attend it. Teeth chattering, she pulled another worn out dress on and turned her attention to starting another fire. After a few minutes, the smell of cooking bear meat was starting to take over the air in the little shack. The woman sat down on her hard bed made of boards with a few blankets on them. She was so tired. But after her small meal, she knew she would have to go back out into the cold and do the chores for the family that she boarded with.

Hours later, once her chores were complete, Alys pushed through the door of her little home. Much to her dismay, she was met with a cold interior, not the warm one she had expected. Frustrated, she closed the door behind her and went over to her small stove to light the third fire of the day.

As frustrated as she felt, she knew there was no point on dwelling on it. It could not be undone. The only thing she could do now was to go to bed and try to get some decent sleep before she would have to get up in the morning.

She stoked the fire, knowing she would have to get up in a few hours to re-stoke it, and crawled into her stiff bed.

It was still dark out when Alys pulled herself out of her bed and started to bake more bread. She was just pulling out the last loaf of bread when she realized it was time for her morning chores. Alys set out the bread to cool and grabbed a shawl as she went out the door.