[ferretchucker]

III
It was morning. Isaac hadn’t closed his eyes for the entire night. Whenever he tried all he saw was his sister being killed by those creatures. At around three o’clock in the morning he got out of bed and took a walk around the castle. He purposely avoided his little brother’s room. He knew if he went near it he would tell his brother what happened. He wasn’t ready for that yet.
The prince try to recall what had happened in his head. His sister was in love with a man his step mother was in love with. His step mother then tried to have his sister killed. Isaac walked along running this through his mind, trying to work out anything, anything at all which made have made the queen act so irrationally. It was then that it struck him.
The man. The man his sister had been in love with was still in the castle somewhere, he may not even know what had happened. Isaac broke into a sprint, passing one of the early morning cooks getting ready for breakfast. The rosy cheeked woman did not smile at him though. She only hung her head in an apologetic manner.
The wooden door burst open. Alan had been waiting in the kings room all night for the queen to arrive. He woke from his light doze with the noise of the opening door. He felt his inner pocket. The knife was still there. All ready for it. He had the vial of poison. One stab of the coated dagger would finish off the queen for what she had done to his love.
Alan stretched his head out just far enough to make out a tall, quite muscular figure in the doorway, looking around. It wasn’t the queen, so who was it? Alan shuffled along the floor further, but then the figures head turned. It had turned and was looking right at him. Alan wasn’t sure if the figure could see him though. Maybe it was too dark. But the answer came.
“Good Morning, I don’t think you’re meant to be in here,” Said the figure in the doorway.
*
Bartholomew was awake and bustling around the kitchen, giving orders. He had been up for five hours already, and had only drifted off to sleep seven hours ago. The butlers life usually consisted of late nights and early mornings, burning the candle at both ends one might say, but even this was a bit much for him, and the lack of sleep had affected his mood, which, on top of the death of the Princess and the revelation of what the queen had done, the usually bright and cheerful Butler was one that you would not want to be around.
“Keep it moving, that bread needs to be done in five minutes!” shouted the butler, passing one of the cooks.
“Will the king even have his appetite?” replied the cook, “after what’s happened, surely he’d rather mourn his wife and daughter.”
“Hold your tongue lest you’d like me to cut it off! You do not know what you are talking about, and do not mention that woman in the castle ever again?”
“Which woman?” asked the cook; none of the staff had been informed of anything except the deaths.
“The ex-queen.” Answered Bartholomew. Before the cook could take the matter any further, a loud clang across the other side of the room sent the butler away. Another one of the cooks, the latest addition to the cooking staff, had dropped the butter dish and it had hit the side of a pot above a fire. As a result, the butter had melted.
“You fool!” shouted Bartholomew, “That was one weeks worth of butter! Leave, now!”
“Sir, I think you need to calm down,” Said one of the older cooks, Leslie.
“Yes…yes you’re right. I’ve got a lot of things on my mind. And…get all the staff in here.”
“They are sir…” said Leslie.
“No, all the staff. From the whole castle. I want them to meet me here in ten minutes. All the guards, everyone.”
The cooking staff looked at each other, then all left and spread across the castle, spreading the message. Within fifteen minutes, every chambermaid, cleaner, cook, guard and gardener was inside the kitchen. It was extremely crowded and it was a bit claustrophobic. Bartholomew climbed on top of a worktop, which was quite difficult considering his age, put his thumb and index finger inside his mouth and whistled. Immediately all went quiet.
“Everybody…there isn’t any really good way to tell you this. We are all in severe danger.”
Straight away, people began to move around in a panicked way and an unmistakeable sense of fear shot through the room.
“Now. There are certain actions that must be taken to ensure all of your safety. The first, nobody leaves this castle after dark. No exceptions. The second, do not leave any windows or doors open. The third, all gardeners must be in at least a group of three, with at least one guard.”
“What?! We can’t do that! There’s not enough time in the day to cover all that land if we’re all clumped together like a pack of foxes?” Shouted one of the gardeners. She was an elderly woman and was known for arguing. Three years ago she got in a conflict with one of the other gardeners after accusing them of stealing. The argument was settled but Bartholomew still didn’t like her very much.
“Be quiet! This is for all of your safety! One of…one of our staff died last night. I don’t want a repercussion of that!”
The room suddenly fell into a state of panic. People shouting, moving around and knocking things over. People rushed out of the room shouted, but none left the castle, for fear of being killed by the unknown to them force that had killed one of the peers. Outside the kitchen, in the passage leading to the dining room, the King was suddenly shocked by the sudden appearance of half the castle workers rushing past him. One of the women screamed they were all going to kill her. Bartholomew followed, shouting after them to stop, but was in turn stopped by the king, who pushed him into the dining room.
“What on earth were those people so scared about? You did not tell them of the current situation I presume?” said the King.
“Yes…well, not all of it. I simply gave them warnings of how to keep safe.” Answered Bartholomew.
“Well that is the worst possible thing that you could have done! Now the castle will be working like a broken clock!” shouted the king. Bartholomew stepped forward so he was only inches away from King Albert.
“I will not put your bed being made and room being cleaned before my staff’s lives. Now I realise that you are under an immense amount of stress, but so am I. I have served in this building for over six decades, I served your grandfather. I love this family like each and every member of it were my own. I’m nearing the end of my time and still haven’t done anything that will be remembered.”
“How dare you say that? It will be a long time before you are forgotten.”
“Wait, let me finish. Your father used to always say, ‘People always say I have five children, but I don’t. Everybody in this castle are my children.’ Your father was a noble man, as was his father. I have seen people come and go from this castle. I dedicated my life to this job so much, I missed my own daughters death. I have a year at the most left. I’m surprised I’m still alive now. I have seen seventy eight years. I don’t know how could have survived that long, but I have. Now, if I dropped dead now, I will be remembered as the man who kept this castle going, and lived for two lifetimes. But above all, I want to be remembered as the man who loved, and protected the people of this castle, my children.”