Chapter 4 - total panic
Life at Hasty Castle was not bad at all. In a few months, Walter made some friends. Most people at Hasty castle were very nice. That was all very good, but he also made enemies. Usually Lord Leo would be sitting on a chair in the great hall to settle disputes and answer problems. Whenever someone came, Merek, the advisor, would often give Lord Leo bad advice, and believe it or not, Lord Leo actually sometimes took it. Well, at least the advice sounded bad. One time, A local farmer came over and told Lord Leo about how a pickpocket had picked his pocket and stole his lucky carrot. Merek's advice was: "Too bad!" Luckily, though, Lord Leo didn't follow that piece of advice.
It was the day of the harvest. The harvest was a good day for most people because the storages were filled with food (and more ants than usual). Lord Leo had told Walter in advance that he would host a great feast in honor of the harvest, as he had always done for as long as anybody that was anyone could remember.
Walter watched the farmers swarm to the super-mega-extra-green greenish green green fields and start using iron sickles to chop down the crops. One boy about Walter's age tried to chop down a plant with a nickle, like, the coin. Apparently, he'd heard his father wrong. Walter watched a pig that was running as fast as it could, pursued madly by a mob of farmers.
Walter heard the bell chime a deep gonging sound, which meant breakfast. Walter headed back to the keep. Soon he reached the great hall. After a short wait, servants once again came into the great hall and uncovered the food.
Walter was halfway through breakfast when Merek ran through the hall shrieking.
Lord Leo asked, "What is it?"
"Fire in the kitchen! Evacuate immediately!" Merek screamed, then ran as fast as his legs could carry him out of the great hall, tripping once or twice.
After hearing the news, everybody went all panicky. They were all headed for the nearest exit, except Lord Leo when he shouted, "My hall is made of stone! The fire will not reach here! Do not panic!"Dang, I need to put more jokes in. I haven't cracked one in at least three paragraphs!
Suddenly there was a loud BOOM, and Walter heard Alice saying "There goes the wine."
And then there was an unmistakable crackle and an orange flame near the passageway to the great hall.
"Impossible!" Boomed Lord Leo, almost as loud as the explosion of the wine. The fire was still spreading. Then Walter put 2 and 2 together to get 5, and saw a line of wooden block on the ground.
"WOODEN BLOCKS!" Yelled Walter. "Someone must've lit the kitchen up on purpose! We need to take away the wooden blocks quickly before the fire spreads to the table!"
Everyone rushed to the entrance instead of the exit to start taking the blocks away, and Walter and Alice, who had water instead of wine, took their cups too, refilling as much of it as possible.
Walter rushed down the hall reaching the end in seconds, but spilling half of his water. Alice took her time and had an almost full cup when she reached the passage. Everyone started throwing blocks across the room.
They removed one last block and slightly burned their hands. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. But then, more sizzling! The fire had jumped the stone and landed on the table. Everyone tried to blow the flame, out, but that just made it worse. Walter threw water from his cup, but there was so little left that nothing happened to the fire. It was Alice's cup that splashed on the fire directly, and after a bit of sizzling, the fire went out, leaving a big black mark on the table. Everyone breathed a bigger sigh of relief.
Lord Leo looked at the half-burned passage sadly. His best cook hadn't made it out, and neither, of course, did his spits, which were extra-long wooden skewers used to hold animals in place. Almost as soon as everyone had evacuated, everyone poured back in, inspecting the remains of the fire and the blackened table.
Everyone stepped carefully around the remaining fire and went into the kitchen. Everything was black, and the cooks felt around, seeing if they could salvage anything left over. The knives had made it, more or less. The handles had been burned up, leaving random pieces of metal.
"Well, everyone," Lord Leo announced, "These kitchens will hardly clean themselves. We must repair what is left of the kitchen. Moveit! Meanwhile I will try to find out who did this."
"It was the top cook," said a cook. "She wasn't looking and accidentally burned the kitchen."
"No, it was no accident. There were wooden blocks," Lord Leo. "Someone must have bribed her or blackmailed her. She wouldn't burn down her own kitchen. It was someone else that planned it, and believe me, I'm going to find out who did it and why, or my name's not Leo, and it is, so there!"
Walter watched the farmers swarm to the super-mega-extra-green greenish green green fields and start using iron sickles to chop down the crops. One boy about Walter's age tried to chop down a plant with a nickle, like, the coin. Apparently, he'd heard his father wrong. Walter watched a pig that was running as fast as it could, pursued madly by a mob of farmers.
Walter heard the bell chime a deep gonging sound, which meant breakfast. Walter headed back to the keep. Soon he reached the great hall. After a short wait, servants once again came into the great hall and uncovered the food.
Walter was halfway through breakfast when Merek ran through the hall shrieking.
Lord Leo asked, "What is it?"
"Fire in the kitchen! Evacuate immediately!" Merek screamed, then ran as fast as his legs could carry him out of the great hall, tripping once or twice.
After hearing the news, everybody went all panicky. They were all headed for the nearest exit, except Lord Leo when he shouted, "My hall is made of stone! The fire will not reach here! Do not panic!"
Suddenly there was a loud BOOM, and Walter heard Alice saying "There goes the wine."
And then there was an unmistakable crackle and an orange flame near the passageway to the great hall.
"Impossible!" Boomed Lord Leo, almost as loud as the explosion of the wine. The fire was still spreading. Then Walter put 2 and 2 together to get 5, and saw a line of wooden block on the ground.
"WOODEN BLOCKS!" Yelled Walter. "Someone must've lit the kitchen up on purpose! We need to take away the wooden blocks quickly before the fire spreads to the table!"
Everyone rushed to the entrance instead of the exit to start taking the blocks away, and Walter and Alice, who had water instead of wine, took their cups too, refilling as much of it as possible.
Walter rushed down the hall reaching the end in seconds, but spilling half of his water. Alice took her time and had an almost full cup when she reached the passage. Everyone started throwing blocks across the room.
They removed one last block and slightly burned their hands. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. But then, more sizzling! The fire had jumped the stone and landed on the table. Everyone tried to blow the flame, out, but that just made it worse. Walter threw water from his cup, but there was so little left that nothing happened to the fire. It was Alice's cup that splashed on the fire directly, and after a bit of sizzling, the fire went out, leaving a big black mark on the table. Everyone breathed a bigger sigh of relief.
Lord Leo looked at the half-burned passage sadly. His best cook hadn't made it out, and neither, of course, did his spits, which were extra-long wooden skewers used to hold animals in place. Almost as soon as everyone had evacuated, everyone poured back in, inspecting the remains of the fire and the blackened table.
Everyone stepped carefully around the remaining fire and went into the kitchen. Everything was black, and the cooks felt around, seeing if they could salvage anything left over. The knives had made it, more or less. The handles had been burned up, leaving random pieces of metal.
"Well, everyone," Lord Leo announced, "These kitchens will hardly clean themselves. We must repair what is left of the kitchen. Moveit! Meanwhile I will try to find out who did this."
"It was the top cook," said a cook. "She wasn't looking and accidentally burned the kitchen."
"No, it was no accident. There were wooden blocks," Lord Leo. "Someone must have bribed her or blackmailed her. She wouldn't burn down her own kitchen. It was someone else that planned it, and believe me, I'm going to find out who did it and why, or my name's not Leo, and it is, so there!"
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