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.When Ileft the Bear, I thought I'd left this behind me too.Ick.I hate pot-scrubbing.The stone-walled kitchen, too small for the number of people crowded into it, was ill-lit, withonly two lanterns for the whole room, cramped and hot; in the inevitable confusion of dinnerpreparation it had been fairly simple for them to slip into the root-cellar to hide, then to lureindividuals away and knock them out with a song of sleep.Their victims would be found inthe cellar some-time tomorrow, but the chances of their being discovered before then wasfairly remote-Talaysen had waited until the last foray after roots and onions was over beforesending them to dreams.There was no reason for anyone to go down there now, and rawroots weren't high on anyone's list of edibles to steal.King Rolend's expert handling of hispeople extended to his kitchens and servants-they were all well-fed, and if they stoleanything to munch on, it would be a bit of meat or a pastry, not a raw onion.The pot-scrubbers ate first, even before the courtiers and high servants that the meal hadbeen prepared for, so the only time anyone said anything to Rune and her fellow cleaners, itwas about the dirty dishes.Other than that, they were left alone. She freed a hand long enough to wipe sweat from her forehead and the back of her neck.The other three had taken the place of other cleaners and sweepers.Gwyna was twostations over, in charge of pewter mugs and utensils; Talaysen and Sional had been incharge of carrying garbage out to the compost-heaps.Now they waited, brooms in hand, forthe signal that the nobles were finished eating.That was when they and the other cleanerswould trot up the steps into the dining-hall-That is, that's what they would do if they really were sweepers.The lowest of the low, the invisibles.Dull-witted, just bright enough to clean up after others,not bright enough to be any danger to anyone.That was the kind of servant Talaysen hadbeen looking for to impersonate.Someone no one in his right mind would ever suspect.It wouldn't be long now.The great ovens were closed; the last of the pastry courses hadbeen sent out.Servants were trickling out of the kitchen, in the opposite direction of the stairthey were going to take; heading for the barn-like servants' hall and their own dinner.A gongsounded above, as Rune watched them out of the corner of her eye.That was the signal thatdinner was over, and no one was lingering over food or wanted something else.The cooksgathered up the last of their utensils and dropped them in the nearest dishtub.The cleanerscould now begin their job-The chief cook and all her helpers swept out of the room, chattering and complaining, whichleft no one to oversee the kitchen itself.The drudges on dishwashing duty were normallyhalf-wits at best, like Maeve; dull creatures that would do anything they'd been set at until thelast dish was washed, or until they were stopped and set on something new.They wouldn'tnotice when Gwyna and Rune left.Talaysen and Sional hung back from the rest of the sweepers; like the drudges, thesweepers weren't the brightest of folk.Probably no one would notice that they were missinguntil noses were counted-and then it would be assumed that the missing men were either offdrinking filched wine, or tupping the missing drudges.When servants were missing, theirsuperiors generally assumed "improper conduct" rather than anything sinister, and thelowlier the servant, the more likely that was.That was why Talaysen had chosen the ones hehad; the ones thought to be shiftless, ne'er-do-wells.When he and Rune had made theirearlier foray into the kitchens, there'd been trouble with those two men over laziness andslacking.For the kitchen steward, it would simply seem a repetition of the same, with the tallsimpleton drawn into the group to make up a foursome.Gwyna and Rune dropped what they'd been working on back into the dishtubs and joinedthe men.As they had figured, the other drudges didn't even look up form their work."Follow me," Talaysen whispered, propping his broom in an out-of-the-way corner full ofshadows where it might not be seen for a while.Kestrel did the same
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