Erik trudged down the hallway, shoulders slumped, and hair neatly brushed back. He sighed inwardly as he headed toward the kitchen to attend his normal duties of washing the dishes during the feast that kin Ivar, his boss was holding. Erik entered a room with a low ceiling made entirely of cobblestone except for the floor, which was marble and quite cold to his bare feet. He waved greetings to a few of the other kitchen staff and headed for a small hole in the floor with water in it. One of the kitchen servants handed him a plate and he dipped it under the water, shook it around a bit and handed it back.

The kitchen door burst abruptly open and Harold, Ivar’s main servant walked into the room, red in the face and his eyes squinting. This just made him look like a sort of owl with what few strands of hair he had crowning the top of his head.

“What’s taking so long? The King needs more food for him and his,” his face curled into a grimace. “Esteemed guests.”

“We’re cooking as fast as we can sir,” one of the chefs replied, obviously tired.

“We also need a new waiter, the other one has been executed,” Harold stated, almost as an afterthought. Erik froze, knowing that Harold would choose the first person he sees to be the new waiter, and he tried to make himself as inconspicuous as possible.

“You, get up from there and grab a platter,” Harold said. Erik did nothing. “I’m talking to you doing the dishes!” He barked and Erik stood up slowly and walking over to a small desk with platters on it and grabbed one.” Now get out there!” Harold yelled and Erik walk a bit faster out of the kitchen and into the dining hall.

Magnus, at the other end of the table, was quite fit and his clothes were completely clean, and he was chatting easily with the other kings. Modi, to the left of Ivar, was quite quiet and instead was eyeing everyone as he drank from his mug to avoid suspicion. The other king Erik didn’t know his name, he only knew that he wasn’t from his home country like the other kings. He was chuckling lightly at the jokes being told by Magnus and talking easily with him. Erik walked up to the table and set down a platter of food. When one of the Modi reached forward with his knife to cut his food, Ivar’s eyes narrowed and watched him until he was sure he was just cutting his food. Erik realized that Ivar didn’t trust anyone at the table, he walked back to the kitchen and thought of something he could finally do to get out of being a servant.

After collecting another platter of food and setting it down, he walked over to Ivar.

“Whaddya want?” Ivar grumbled.

“Your majesty, I think these people are trying to kill you,” Erik said. Ivar glanced quickly over to the other kings and grumbled.

“As if I didn’t already know that.”

“I can do something about it if you want,” Erik suggested.

“Well do it,” Ivar ordered.

“Not so fast, I’ll need pay,” Erik rubbed his index and thumb together.

“How about a plot of land?” Ivar said after a bit of thinking. Erik turned away and grabbed a few spare knives from the kitchen, grinning slightly to himself. He walked over to the king he didn’t know but overheard his name as Richard and said

“Your highness, Modi seems to want you dead.” Richard quickly glanced at Modi, who was glaring at him as he drank his wine.

“You may be right,” Richard whispered, and Erik handed him one of the knives and said,

“Keep that just in case,” and walked to Modi, grabbing a cask of wine so he wouldn’t raise suspicion. As he was pouring Modi’s cup he whispered,

“Richard is going to kill you, be ready,” Modi recoiled slightly and caught Richard inspecting him. Modi grimaced slightly and he gripped his cutting knife. Erik went back and forth between the two for some time, each time whispering warnings about the other and raising their suspicion, until finally, Modi leapt out of his chair at Richard with his knife raised. Richard, having barely any time to react, raised his knife and as Modi drove his knife into Richard’s heart, Richard’s knife pierced Modi’s stomach. Magnus stood up, dumbstruck at what just happened, and Erik walked behind him and rammed his knife into the back of Richard’s neck. He took a step back as Magnus slumped onto the table, completely lifeless and took note of the sheer surprise on Harold’s face.

“Well your highness, I’ve held up my end of the deal,” he said and Ivar looked at him in suspicion.

“There’s a small town just south of here, you’re mayor now. Get out,”

With that, Erik walked out of the dining hall and took some of the carpet when Ivar wasn’t looking and fashioned them into shoes. Then he packed up his personal belongings and headed south.