Deals With the Devil

Frog Legs

“You what?” Molly cried out.

Since Beth had returned extremely late the night before, Molly had already gone to bed when she arrived. So the following morning, Molly woke Beth up with questions about her date. As expected, Beth told her sister all about her evening. Granted, she did omit a few details such as the existence of Abaddon, but some things were meant to be kept a secret.

“I kissed him,” Beth repeated, smiling softly as she remembered the feel of his lips. Although she would forever deny how much she enjoyed that kiss. “It’s not that big of a deal, Molly.”

“Not that big of a deal?” Molly gasped. “Of course, it is a big deal, Elizabeth! Your first kiss is always a big deal! And to top it off, your first kiss was with a king!”

Before Beth could give her rebuttal, they heard a knock on the door. Waiting for them was Matilda. She held two identical letters; one for each girl. Glancing at each other, they simultaneously opened their respective, handwritten letters.

Dear Adira,

Due to such a wonderful date last night, I decided to host a banquet in your honor. Since this banquet is in your honor. There are a few details that I need to work out with your help. These details include ideal foods, music, and many other decisions that are important to the success of such a banquet. Even with such short notice, would you be willing to meet me in my office today at ten o’clock?

Sincerely,

King Seth

“I didn’t know your name used to be Adira. It’s such a pretty name,” Molly said with a frown. “Why didn’t you ever tell me?”

“I was scared you would send me back home. Once you told me that you couldn’t find the man who hurt me, I was scared that he would find me again if I went home. And I wanted to learn how to fend for myself, which I knew you would be able to teach me,” Adira explained. “But you can call me Adira if you’d like. What was your letter about?”

“Just thanking me for letting him take you out on a date and telling me about the banquet tonight. Yours?”

“He wants me to meet with him at ten to help with planning. I don’t know if I should go.”

“Why shouldn’t you? It’s just some planning for a banquet in your honor. I say you should go,” Molly said forcibly. “What could possibly go wrong?”

____________________________

At ten o’clock sharp, Adira stood outside King Seth’s office door. Taking a deep breath, she squared her shoulders and knocked on the door. When King Seth called for her to enter, she did so. She bowed her head slightly before taking the same seat as the last time she had been in his office.

“What is it that you need my help with?” Adira asked cautiously. King Seth’s grim face unsettled her even more than his cryptic letter.

“Everything,” King Seth grumbled, looking up to meet her eyes with a hollow look in his own. He motioned to the mess of papers scattered all over his desk. “I can’t make heads or tails of any of this! All I’ve gotten done was the arrangement of seats and who was sitting where!”

Adira pulled all of the papers into a neat pile and slowly distributed them into smaller piles across his desk. “Have you ever planned a banquet before?”

“Uh- no?”

“Figures. Luckily, Molly and I have had to help Mom plan a few at the pack,” Beth explained. “First of all, no one would ever plan a banquet with such short notice. Especially if they have never planned a banquet before.”

“That explains why Lord Sadiki, who normally plans these events, refused to help me,” King Seth muttered, glaring at the table. “Would you be willing to help me?”

Adira skimmed over her piles once again. “If you can manage to get the same music as the previous banquet and convince the cooks to whip up whatever they did last time, you might be able to get away with this. Now, giving the cooks this-” Adira pulled a small, folded sheet of paper out of her pocket. “-they might be more willing to help.”

“What is this?” King Seth reached across the desk, attempting to grab the slip of paper. When she finally gave it to him, he was surprised to see what was written. “How did you get this recipe?”

“While we were at the restaurant last night, I went and talked to the cooks. I claimed to have a dying nephew who just loved their frog legs, and I wanted to make him a batch while he was in the hospital.”

“Wow! But you’re right; the cooks will be thrilled to have a reason to test out this recipe. Thank you!”

They made a few more arrangements for the banquet before Adira stood up to leave, smiling. “I that is everything, I shall go and get ready for the banquet.”

“Actually…” King Seth said so faintly that Adira almost didn’t hear him. When she had turned back and was seated again, he continued slightly louder. “I want to make a different kind of deal with you.”

“What kind of a deal?”

“I call it an open deal. I will send Matilda to your room an hour and a half before the banquet,” King Seth explained slowly, wanting to say it perfectly. “If you agree to my deal, you will follow her. If you do not, you can send her away and she will bring you your dress after a few minutes.”

“So what is the actual deal?”

“I will help you prepare for the banquet in exchange for half of your weapons. Once you are dressed, I will help you do your hair and makeup.” King Seth saw her hesitation and quickly added, “I had four older sisters, so I know how to do hair and apply makeup.”

“I’ll consider it if you allow me to change in the bathroom.”

“Of course! That is what I was planning on having you do.”

Once again, Adira stood to leave. But as she walked out the door, she turned around and bowed. It wasn’t her typical bowing of just her head. No, it was a full bow from her waist. Meeting King Seth’s eyes, Adira spun on the heel of her boot and walked away.

Back in her room, Adira sat down on her bed. She had just under five and a half hours before she had to have a final decision for King Seth. Molly entered the room moments later with her dress draped over her arm.

“Sorry, I wasn’t able to get your dress. They said that it wasn’t done yet,” Molly explained, laying her dress on the back of her chair. Then she sat down beside Adira. “How did planning the banquet go? I know it’s not really your thing.”

Adira explained the open deal and the terms King Seth had given her. Once she was done speaking, the two girls sat in silence. They both had a fairly good idea of what Adira’s answer would be, and nothing Molly could say would be able to change her mind.

“Since you were in the seamstress’ office, did you happen to see my dress?” Adira asked, breaking the silence after a few minutes.

“I got a glimpse of another dress, but I’m not sure if it was for you.” When Adira prompted her again, she gave a brief description of the dress. “It was a deep red dress covered with black spots. Roses, perhaps?”

“That sounds very pretty,” Adira murmured, standing up and heading to the door. “I am going to see if the cooks have finished anything and would like some help.”

Molly gave her a side eye. “It’s nearly lunchtime. Is that the real reason you’re going?”

“You caught me,” Adira chuckled as she walked through the door. “But don’t worry, I’ll bring some food back for you.”

“You better!” Molly called out as Adira shut the door behind her. Both girls turned away from the closed door with grins brightening both their faces.

Adira turned down the hallway and walked quietly to the kitchens. The kitchens took up more than a third of the entire compound, and they were divided into three rooms; two smaller rooms and one giant room. First, there was the Boiler Room, where men took turns filling the backs of the ovens with wood and coal. They had to keep the fires burning at all times.

The other small room was the Washing Room. This room was not only the place where dishes were washed, but it also had an area dedicated to laundry. They also used a fire maintained by the men in the Boiler Room.

The third and largest room was the actual kitchen itself. It was a square room approximately the length of the longest wall of the hallway to the Throne Room. Even with its immense size, the room was full of people working hard for the night’s banquet.

Adira looked around the kitchen in search of a rather tall woman. When she finally spotted her, Adira smiled. The head chef, Chef Ambrosia, had her greying black hair pulled back into the perfect bun at the nape of her neck. She was working hard on her dish, but she waved Adira over the moment she saw her. Although the two had only met in passing, Chef Ambrosia had a near perfect memory and knew exactly who Adira was.

“How are you, my dear?” Chef Ambrosia asked when Adira arrived at her workstation. “I’m trying a new recipe that King Seth gave to me half an hour ago. Do you want to try it?”

On her workstation sat four bowls and two large plates. The bowls were lined up almost next to each other, ending with one of the plates. On the far left side, the bowl was filled with skinned frog legs. Next to it was a bowl of flour that appeared to have some seasonings in it. Then there was a bowl of whisked eggs mixed with buttermilk. The final bowl was filled with breadcrumbs. Finally, there was a plate that had some uncooked frog legs laid down, ready to be fried. Stacked on the other plate was a pile of fried frog legs.

“I would love to try them. They must be from the recipe I got from the diner,” Adira said as she grabbed a frog leg and took a bit. “These are even better than the one I had at the diner!”

“They should be,” Chef Ambrosia said proudly. “I added some of my own special ingredients.”

“Hey! You started taste testing without me?” King Seth exclaimed while he struggled through the people in the kitchens. When he saw Adira, he rolled his eyes. “I should have known that you would sneak in and steal my taste test.”

“Since she was the one who actually got me the recipe, she gets to have the first taste test. Outside of my own, that is,” Chef Ambrosia replied, smiling at Adira. She motioned to the plate. “Here. You can take one.”

King Seth grabbed the largest frog leg he could find and carefully tasted it. It must have passed his test because he tried to grab another frog's leg. Chef Ambrosia saw his attempt and rapped the back of his hand with the wooden spoon she always kept in her apron.

“You should know better than to try to steal some of my food. You may be the king of the compound, but I am the master of this kitchen.”

“Chef Ambrosia? Molly wanted me to grab our lunches while I was down here,” Adira said sweetly. “Would I be able to bring her some of the frog legs for her to try?”

“Of course, my dear,” Chef Ambrosia said with a smile. She transferred seven of the frog legs into a bowl with a lid and handed it to Adira. “Go ask Michelle for the rest of your lunch. I’m sure she’ll have some good treats for you two.”

“Thank you so much, Chef Ambrosia! You are the best!” Adira hurried off to get the rest of her lunch, aiming a smirk at King Seth.

King Seth gave Chef Ambrosia a betrayed look. “How come she gets more?” he whined, like a child.

“She asked nicely. Now, go bother someone else so that I can get more batches done for your little banquet tonight.”

_____________________________

Molly was sitting at the table when Molly returned, carrying their lunch. Instead of leaving her dress on the chair, Molly hung it on the horizontal pole over the top of her bed. She rushed to help Adira with the packages. There was fresh fruit, two loaves of fresh bread, and the bowl of frog legs.

“I thought they couldn’t replicate the frog legs,” Molly said suspiciously as she watched Adira dish out their food.

“They couldn’t. I just managed to get the famous recipe. They’re delicious!”

Both girls sat down to eat. By the time they had finished cleaning up and returned from taking their dishes to the Washing Room, it was about twelve thirty. Just shy of four hours remained in the imaginary hour glass.