Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

In another place and time, there were nine kingdoms. In each were kings and queens, princes, knights and more.  In parts of Midgard, lords and ladies ruled over their lands and vassals.  Some were kind and just.  Some were cruel and vile.

King Odin of Asgard was known amongst the realms as the most ardent seeker of peace.   But his son, Loki, had raised his own army and his efforts to conquer the world had only been halted by the bravery of a handful of heroes: The Avenging Knights.  Since then, the peace had grown weak and fragile.  

And amongst all this, there was a servant.  The minstrels would never sing songs about this unimportant girl.   Their songs were about The Avenging Knights who still rode the land.  The tales folks wanted to hear were of sweeping battles and glorious victories.

Darcy was elbow deep in water, scrubbing a pile of pans from the afternoon meal, when one of the pages barrelled into the kitchen.  The young boy skidded to a halt beside her and gasped for air.  “Darcy, you must come.  Her ladyship is on the tower again.”

If her hands weren’t already occupied, Darcy would have felt the urge to throttle someone.  Maybe Peter the Page.  Or she could try throttling herself.  While Lady Jane was a kind mistress to all who served within the castle walls, she also had an obsession with the stars that littered the night sky.   Despite tuts from various ladies-in-waiting over the years, Jane had decided the best view was on the east tower where the stone structure was in desperate need of repair.  As the stairs in that tower were also well rotted and threatened to collapse at any moment, few of the servants were brave enough to retrieve the lady when it was time for important matters like meals and bathing and such. 

Peter leant over Darcy’s bucket, gripping the wooden rim with his little fingers.  “Please.  The steward says it is most important she is not late for dinner again.”  The boy was only in his ninth year and he stared up at her with beseeching eyes. 

Darcy restrained her sigh.  She did have a soft spot for the younger servants.  “All right, but you need to keep scrubbing at the dishes for me while I’m gone.  Otherwise Cook will be in a rage before the evening is over,” Darcy said as she withdrew her hands from the bucket and quickly shook off the water.  As soon as Peter had started on the first plate, Darcy hurried from the kitchen and made her way through the halls.      

Passing through the looming, darkening courtyard as she approached the east tower, Darcy regretted leaving her woollen wrap by her bedside.  Summer was well past and the chill of the night was a tingle upon her skin.  She had at least paused to retrieve a candle burning upon a mantelpiece and it was a relief to cup her hand around the flame for warmth.  But the flame was also a necessity; it was unlikely Lady Jane had thought far enough ahead to leave lights to guide her path out of the tower.  Though should Darcy’s candle burn out they would likely repeat their bruises and grazes from the last time they stumbled through the darkness.

The musty air hit Darcy as she pushed open the wooden door in to the stairwell.   With a wrinkle of her nose and shallow breaths, she edged around until her toes hit the bottom step.  From there it was an almost practised climb up the spiral.  Jump the fifth step, stay to the right on the ninth and so on. 

After the third landing, Darcy could see glimpses of the night sky through the hole in the ceiling where the stonework and frame had broken away in clumps.   Most of the roof still remained; perhaps only a fifth had dissolved into nothing.  Lady Jane was oblivious to the risk of more stone giving way beneath her feet.  As Darcy climbed the finals steps, she moved cautiously and tested the strength of the floor with a nudge of her toes.

“Isn’t it stunning?” Jane exclaimed.  The lady leant against the parapet, her long dark hair blending into the dark sky behind her.  Her enthralled expression remained focused on the stars while her hand scribbled at a pile of parchment.  Jane’s drawing were nothing new to Darcy, even if she didn’t understand them fully.  The lady had tried to explain on many occasions. She would corner Darcy in the corridor and talk about the stars moving, what it meant about the world and how all the pictures proved it.  And it would all sound exciting but Darcy could only nod and try to excuse herself so she could get to the kitchen before the pies started burning.

“Indeed m’lady,” Darcy replied.  “But they will be here again tomorrow night.  However the rats will come eat your dinner if you don’t get dining soon.”

That did draw a laugh from Jane.  “We both know that it’s Peter who keeps sneaking the bread rolls from the table, not the rats.”

Having grown up in the castle and being only a few years younger than the lord’s only daughter, Darcy and Jane had a familiarity that went beyond the usual reserve.  So as they were alone, Darcy did not refrain from rolling her eyes and reaching to tug on Jane’s silk sleeve.  “When you come work in the kitchen, then you can comment on our rat situation.  Until then, your job is to eat the fruits of our labour.   So it’s time to move m’lady.”

“But I’m so close to understanding...” Jane protested while her writing became more frantic.  Darcy felt this would require more drastic intervention.  So she reached across and snatched the quill from her lady’s hand.  Jane spun on her heel, mouth agape in shock.  Darcy simply took a step back and dangled the quill over the edge of the parapet, one eyebrow raised warningly.

“You wouldn’t...” Jane said slowly.  “Darcy, I must write down my thought before I forget them.”

“If I give it back to you,” Darcy replied firmly.  “You have until I count to sixty and then you must to come to dinner.  Is it a promise m’lady?”

Darcy had returned to the kitchen only to be ordered to wash and change, as quick as could be, as the lord had requested she serve the evening meal.  The smell of warm bread teased at Darcy’s senses while she carefully deposited a dish of freshly baked rolls before Lord Erik.  He inclined his head in recognition before Darcy moved down the table to lay the next plate beside Lady Jane.  This evening she was the lone servant, as father and daughter were eating alone in the lord’s private chambers rather than the dining hall.  A slightly unusual occurrence but not unheard of.     

It was not long into the meal when Darcy learned the reason for the privacy.  She was pouring wine into Lord Erik’s goblet while he speared some of the roast pheasant and looked towards his daughter.  “I have some good news Jane,” he said, forced cheer apparent beneath his northern accent.  “Word comes that Prince Thor is travelling through our lands and wishes to visit for a few days.  He and his knights will be here the day after tomorrow.”

Jane’s fork clattered to her plate.  It even stunned Darcy enough that she was forced to jerk the wine bottle to stop the goblet from overflowing.  She managed a surreptitious glance towards the other woman.  As feared, the lady’s face was tight and pale.  Prince Thor was not an agreeable subject.

“How long exactly will a few days be?” Jane asked from between clenched teeth.  “Long enough to marry me off in?”

“My daughter,” the lord replied through a sigh.  “Must we go through this again?  You are betrothed to a good man.”

“A good man?” Jane exclaimed.  “Must we go through his adventures in the summer of my fifteenth year?”

Darcy snorted but quickly adopted an apologetic look after the disapproving glare Lord Erik threw in her direction.  Though in truth, it had been a tumultuous period that Jane referred to.  Prince Thor had spent the months in their castle to become acquainted with his betrothed.   A few years older than Jane and thus several years older than Darcy, both women had initially been impressed with the dashing good looks of the prince.  Their admiration had soon turned to irritation at the arrogance of the young man.  Thor and his soldiers in attendance, known as “The Warriors Three”, had ridden wild over the countryside.  They fell into scuffles and rumours came from the neighbouring village of much carousing.  

When Thor did deign to spend time around the castle, there would inevitably be conflict.  One of Jane’s projects that summer had been to improve Darcy’s proficiency at reading so the servant girl had been present for many of those confrontations. 

“’A... lady... must... never... dem... dem-o..,” Darcy hesitated over the word.  She looked up from the grass where she sat cross legged, seeking guidance from her ladyship. 

Jane smiled down from her chair, a parasol keeping the sun from her eyes.   “Keep sounding it out.  You can do it,” she encouraged. 

Darcy stared at the small bound book in her lap again, puzzling out each letter in her head.  “Dem..on..st... demonstrate?”  She was rewarded with a nod from Jane.

Resuming her reading, Darcy was interrupted by a rusting noise deeper within the forest.  They had spent the afternoon in a small clearing at Lady Jane’s insistence with the hope that the dense thickets of trees would deter Thor and his compatriots.   However the noises did not prove to be a deer or rabbit as Darcy hoped.  Instead the prince burst into their refuge, clearing the brush with his hammer. 

“Lady Jane!  I am grateful to have found you,” Thor said.  “Your father was in fear when you did not return at noon.”

 “I made it quite clear that I would be away from the castle for the day.  My absence from lunch was expected,” Jane replied in a dismissive tone.

“My lady, these woods provide inadequate protection for you to linger with naught but a maid.  I insist you return with me now.”  Thor sounded like he would brook no argument.

“I have lived by the forest my entire life,” Jane said, equally as firm.  “I am quite able to handle myself.”

“Come now Jane...”

“No.”

Thor huffed as he stepped forward.  “I will carry you over my shoulder if I mus....”

Before Darcy knew she had moved, she had lobbed the small leather book straight at Thor’s head.  It hit him right in the middle of the eyes with a clunk before dropping to the ground. 

Now Darcy would admit that it had been more luck than not she’d hit her target.  But she could not have predicted that the prince would have stepped on a wet patch of grass right at the exact same moment.  Nor that the surprise of being thumped with a pile of parchment along with the slippery ground would send Thor flying onto his back. 

Jane clamped her hands over her mouth, her eyes wide with surprise.  Darcy stumbled upright and crossed the grass to assess the prince.  In the few seconds it took, Thor was already sitting and shaking his head.  Darcy skidded to a halt and curtsied.  “My apologies your highness,” she said automatically.  Though after a pause she added “But the lady did say no.”  She immediately began predicting the amount of flogging she would receive for assaulting a prince.  This was going to hurt.  But she still jutted her chin up defiantly.

“You have good aim little one,” Thor said slowly as he got to his feet.  “Just beware the targets you choose in future.  Not all will be as kind as me.”  He retrieved the book and handed it to Darcy before he bowed to Jane.  The prince left them in the clearing without a backwards glance.

With a brush of her skirt, Jane nodded to her servant.  “Would you continue please?”

Darcy opened the book to the right page and located the sentence.  “A lady must never demonstrate... her... temper...”

“It has been nearly ten years since that summer Jane.”  Lord Erik’s exasperation brought Darcy back to the present with a jerk.  She straightened herself and carried the wine to Lady Jane’s empty cup.  There was a good chance Jane would be of need of the drink shortly.  “If you would have deigned to see the Prince in that time, you would understand how he has changed.  Matured.   The... issues... with his brother and the invasion of the Chitari.   Prince Thor is a better man now.  The knights who he rides with now are said to be equally as wondrous.”

Everyone had heard the tales.  The battle from just a few months before, when Prince Loki had lead an army to the edge of the world and threatened to destroy them all as he spread west.  The minstrels had sung of hideous beasts and deformed soldiers riding beneath the mad prince’s command.  But the heroes of the story were the Avenging Knights; a group of warriors who had driven back the invading forces.  Darcy had seen girls swoon around the fireplace at descriptions of those knights, though Darcy had heard at least a dozen different variations of the exact details.  But a fact almost all agreed upon was they were considered heroes throughout much of the land.

 “I do not dispute Prince Thor’s achievements in battle,” Jane said while reaching for her wine.  “I am glad his hunting practise had some eventual purpose.  But that does not mean I wish to be married off to him like some prized cattle.”

“Daughter, this has been intended since you were infants.  Our king is much in favour of the union proceeding.  It will strengthen the ties between Asgard and Midgard, something much needed after Loki’s war.  King Odin and I have given you both much time to adjust to the idea...”

“And what of the idea that this should be my right?  To choose whom I marry?”  Jane slammed her goblet on the table as she stood.

“Everyone knows you and the prince are intended,” Erik said firmly.  “If you were not to wed... no, Jane.   There is no choice in this matter.”

“There is always a choice father,” Jane replied coldly before lifting her skirts and running from the room.

After hesitating for a moment, Darcy began to clear Jane’s plates while Lord Erik sat back in his seat, rubbing his eyes.  “Take her food to her room in an hour or so,” Erik ordered wearily.  “She needs to keep her strength up.”

“Yes my lord,” Darcy replied with a curtsey, even though she already intended to bring the remainder of the meal to Jane.  She knew how to cajole the lady into eating whether Jane was distracted, stargazing or as in this circumstance, extremely unhappy.

“And Darcy...” Lord Erik began, fixing his attention on her.  “You must avoid giving my daughter false comfort in this.  You have been like family to her, the sister I was not able to provide.  I might not approve but it is true.  So do not fill her head with thoughts other than what must happen.  Jane will see her betrothed in two days hence and will be married to him when King Odin sees fit.”

Darcy paused with her arms full of plates.  “Even if it’ll make her so unhappy, my lord?” she asked in a subdued voice.  Lord Erik did not look pleased at the question from his servant but he simply nodded. 

“Happiness is not some fanciful dream.   It is something we must find where we can with what the world gives.  And the world takes much more than it gives,” the man said while pushing away from the table.  “This is something I learnt when my wife died.  And something you, Darcy, learnt many years ago.  Try and help my daughter understand to be happy with her lot in life.”

As she cleared the table, Darcy mused on the lord’s words.   It was true she had learnt at a young age that she needed to be ready to fight to just survive, let alone even hope for more.  But Darcy refused to believe you had to settle for what the world told you to be.    At least, that was what she repeated to herself while carrying Jane’s dinner to her bedchambers.  Because if Jane, the smartest person Darcy had ever known, was to be trapped in her cage of noble birth; what hope did a servant like her have?