The parade was a marvel. Everyone who was anyone in Hergonte, the capital of Silvandia, came to see. The return of the Great Heroes. The Demon Lord was no more and it was time to honor the people who had destroyed him.

  First in the parade came an honor guard of a hundred mounted knights, shining brightly in their white ceremonial armor. Then came five hundred foot soldiers in their blue and black parade uniforms, marching smartly in step.

  Behind them came the King and Queen in their golden carriage, waving to the crowds. Then came the Royal children, ages seventeen down to seven.

  And finally came the Heroes! Each one in their own open carriage. Erik the Lightning Sword, leader of the party. Karvik Iron-shield, the party’s front-line bulwark. Erika von Helphyre the Bowmage, rogue huntress. Sarsten the Firestorm, battle mage. Felestina Fairyfriend, healer and apothecary.

  Behind Felestina’s carriage came more carriages of Ministers and other dignitaries. Then more soldiers and more knights.

  Finally, last and certainly considered least by everyone involved - when they remembered she was there at all - came Rina, the scullery maid. Who set up the camp, gathered the firewood, cooked the food, did the laundry, carried their bags, foraged for herbs and vegetables, did the shopping, and … well, you get the idea.

  Rina wasn’t actually part of the parade. Who wants to cheer a scullery maid? No one. She was riding in the baggage cart that followed along behind. Drove it herself, actually, as all of the coachmen had been given the day off to watch the parade. Just Rina and a donkey she had named DonkeyDonk. Because, let’s face it, naming wasn't part of Rina's skillset.

  Let’s look back a year or so to see how Rina’s remarkable journey began.

  It was an ordinary day. Rina was hard at work washing the dishes in the scullery. A hot, humid, dingy sort of place with no air circulation and very little in the way of creature comforts. Rina was employed there, along with three others, to wash dishes morning, noon, and night.

  She also had other duties on an as needed basis. These duties ranged from helping the laundry maids, to helping the sub-assistant cooks, to scrubbing floors, etc.

  On this particular day, Rina was interrupted in her dishwashing duties by an order to go to the sub-basement and bring up a basket of potatoes for the cooks. Drying her red, chapped hands on her apron, she grabbed a wicker basket and galloped down the stairs.

  She was a little surprised to see the Chamberlain there with the castle Quartermaster. They were deeply involved in a discussion of procuring ingredients for an upcoming event, so she just ignored them and moved to the big bins in the back.

  There she was surprised by a rat. Or perhaps the rat was surprised by her. We’ll never know. She gave a little squeak (Rina, not the rat) but got right down to it, grabbing the stick of wood kept by the door for just this purpose and swinging away!

  But as it turns out, this was no ordinary rat. It was a demon rat, which no ordinary stick of wood can dispatch. The rat, in fact, could easily be said to have the upper hand in this situation. Advancing on Rina, red eyes glowing in the dim cellar, it bared its teeth and chittered menacingly.

  Rina was not intimidated. Rina was not, in fact, an ordinary scullery maid. She had a secret weapon just for this occasion. A power passed on from mother to daughter for generation after generation for as long as anyone could remember. Raising up her right hand, Rina casually incanted “Ibi suus non ponitur cura in aedificio!” while making subtle gestures with her fingers.

  A magic circle appeared above her hand and then disappeared in a flash of light. As the light struck the demon rat, it froze in place and then slowly collapsed. Deader-‘n’-a-doornail, as they say in the village.

  Rina calmly picked up a dustpan and scraped the rat into it with the stick. Then took it over and dumped it in the trash bucket.

  Dusting off her hands ceremonially, she then picked up her basket, loaded it with potatoes and scampered back up the stairs without looking back.

  She never noticed the two men still standing in the basement. Frozen in place, jaws dropped down to the floor.

  The parade came to its conclusion at the palace’s grand entrance. All of the important people proceeded to the throne room. The King and Queen took their seats on their thrones. Their children were arrayed to either side. on the top level. The next level down was for cabinet ministers, the next level for high-ranking nobles, and so forth.

  Once everyone was in place, the Heroes marched in. Lining up in front of the King they each took a knee, bowed their heads, and waited.

  “Raise your heads,” intoned the King in a solemn voice. Then he stood and came down the steps. Taking his ceremonial sword in hand, he knighted each of the Heroes. Then he bestowed gifts.

  Each of the Heroes received the title of Count. Each of them received a large parcel of the Crown Lands which would become their County to rule. Each of them received two sacks of gold pieces to fund the organization of their lands and hold them over until they began generating tax revenue. Each of the Heroes really ‘cleaned up’ with the rewards. Their effort and sacrifice paid off well.

  It should be noted that Rina, along with DonkeyDonk and the baggage cart, had been diverted to the back entrance. She was met there by a footman, who took charge of the cart and baggage.

  Rina said goodbye to DonkeyDonk and was guided inside to receive her reward.

  There are rewards promised and rewards received. Let’s look back for a moment to the day that Rina was added to the Heroes’ expedition.

  The day after the incident with the demon rat, Rina was called into the Head Maid’s office. This was unusual. The Head Maid would never normally deal with someone as low on the food chain as Rina. It’s entirely possible that the Head Maid didn’t even know where the scullery was, let alone who labored therein.

  To Rina’s even greater surprise, she found herself confronted by a high-power trio: the Chamberlain, the Head Maid, and the Palace Herald. All people leagues above Rina in terms of social standing and many layers above her in the Palace org chart. Needless to say, Rina got a little bit nervous.

  “What is your name?” inquired the Herald in a deep sonorous voice.

  Rina gave her best impression of a curtsy while bowing her head and said, “Rina Lassant, Sir”

  “What was that magic you used in the cellar yesterday?” asked the Chamberlain.

  While Rina’s magic was passed down from mother to daughter, it wasn’t really a secret as such. It just never got talked about much because it had limited utility. So Rina had no qualms answering the Chamberlain’s question.

  “It’s called Purify, Sir,” Rina answered, now a bit calmer. “It’s not much use. It kills demons and can remove demonic curses.”

  “Why do you say it’s not much use?” asked the Head Maid, eager to get in on the grilling.

  “Well, it’s not like I hang out in places where there are a lot of demons, Miss Head Maid, Ma’am.”

  “It was useful yesterday.”

  “Well, yeah. But I didn’t really need it. I could have just run around screaming ‘Demon, demon, demon” and somebody would have come and killed it for me. If anything, it just increased my efficiency. Which is good, because, you know, us scullery maids don’t ever get much time to just run arou-”

  “Can you do it now?”

  Rina thought for a minute. “I can, but you won’t see any result unless there is a demon or a curse.”

  The Herald removed a fist-sized glass ball from the pocket of his coat. Inside the ball, a murky purple-black mist could be seen. “This ball contains a curse that was removed from a person by a mage.”

  “Oh! Mages can do that? Aren't they just the coolest? That will work. Here we go!”

  Rina held out her hand, “Non est Dana, tantum Zuul,” she intoned with appropriate gestures.

  Magic circle, white light. As the light washed over the glass ball, the dark mist turned silver-white. Rina reached out and touched the ball. “It’s not a curse any more. I wonder what it is now, though. Maybe a Blessing?”

  The other three in the room stared at the ball for a moment before the Herald cleared his throat and said, “I’ll have it checked out. That’s all for now. Dismissed.”

  Rina gave her pretend curtsy again and ran away.

  ###

  The next day, Rina received another summons, this time to the Herald’s office. The Chamberlain, Head Maid, and several other people that Rina didn’t recognize were there.

  “Rina,” said the Herald, “We have an assignment for you. You will be well-rewarded for this and we will hold your position of scullery maid open for you until you return.”

  Rina gave her little curtsy again. A connoisseur of curtsies might have detected a bit of skepticism in the movement - definitely not excitement - but nobody present made any comment.

  “We want you to go with the Heroes’ Party to confront the Demon Lord.”

  “Say what?”

  “You will have all of your travel expenses covered, along with uniforms, clothing, and equipment.”

  “Umm…”

  “You will leave at dawn from the Palace’s north gate. Be there with your baggage on time, please.”

  “Uh…”

  “Dismissed!”

  Rina was guided (i.e. pushed) out of the room by the Head Maid. The Head Maid gave her a piece of paper and said, “Take this to the Quartermaster’s office. They will give you traveling gear and fresh uniforms. I will come to see you off tomorrow.”

  ###

  Early the next morning, a dazed Rina was sitting in her little room, looking at the bag she had packed. There wasn’t much in it, just some changes of clothes, a little preserved food she had begged from the cooks, a blanket, a tiny tent, and a spatula. She sighed.

  She gave a startled jump when she heard a knock at her door. Getting up, she found the Head Maid and a Palace guard standing in the hallway.

  The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

  Rina grabbed her bag and followed them out into the Palace courtyard. There she found the Heroes, an escort, the baggage cart and her future friend DonkeyDonk, who she met for the first time that morning.

  The Heroes were riding horses. Rina was thrown on the cart like just another piece of luggage. Karvik Iron-shield raised a horn to his lips and blew a mighty blast. The Palace gate opened and the Heroes rode forth!

  Followed by Rina and DonkeyDonk with the cart.

  After the award ceremony, the mighty Heroes were invited to a banquet of epic proportions. Thousands of people were in attendance - anyone and everyone who considered themselves to be anybody made sure to wrangle an invitation.

  Rina, however, found herself once again in the Head Maid’s office. This time there was only one other person there. The assistant to the Head Maid’s third assistant. Rina didn’t know her name.

  “Rina, thank you for your service,” she said in a deadpan voice. “Here is your reward.”

  She clinked a rather anemic bag into Rina’s hand. Rina looked inside and saw a few gold coins, a few silver coins, and several bronze coins.

  “That is your back pay for the year you have been in service with the Heroes’ Party. Plus eleven and a half percent extra for hazard pay. Go now and see the Scullery Chief and return to work. Dismissed.”

  Rina was a bit stunned. She had imagined that the promised reward would equal a little bit more than her back pay plus eleven and a half percent. She stumbled down the corridor to the scullery.

  ###

  “I’m sorry, but we filled your position. You were gone almost a year, you know.”

  “But the Head Maid told - “

  “Sorry. You’re not welcome here. If you wanted this job, you shouldn’t've left.”

  “But…”

  “And turn in your uniforms before you leave. Our records indicate you have three sets in your possession.”

  “I’ll have to go to my room and change - “

  “We gave your room to the new girl. And before you ask, we got rid of your belongings months ago.”

  “Er… Then how will I change out of my uniform?”

  “Go naked for all I care. You can look in that box over there. I believe there is some castoff junk in there.”

  Rina was feeling overwhelmed. This really wasn’t going at all like she had expected. Even putting aside all of the promises, she had at least expected to be put back to work in the scullery. It was the lowest of the lowest of positions in the whole Palace. Surely she should get at least that much back when she was sent out on a year-long mission without so much as a by-your-leave.

  Shoulders slumped, she began digging through the box. The only thing that fit her was an ancient summer dress which had originally been a dull brown. Somehow it had been stained with something that bleached it randomly in big splotches. Rina didn’t have a mirror to look in, but she imagined it made her look like some kind of pigment-confused cow.

  Taking her spare uniforms out of her bag, she put everything into a pile and handed it over. The scullery chief had even arranged for a guard to escort her out the gate. How kind of him.

  Standing at the side of the road, Rina looked back at the Palace. She’d had a good few years there. Hadn’t really had a chance to do anything but work hard, but at least she’d had good lodgings and adequate food.

  Shouldering her bag, she started heading into town. She was thankful in several ways. For one thing, she had a little bit of money. Not enough to buy a room at an Inn or anything, but enough for food for now. Second, she still had her camping gear. Third, she had learned enough over the past year to get by in the woods. Finally, it was early on a sunny summer day. She had time to get out of town and there should be plenty of forest bounty for her to find and cook up for supper.

  Choosing a direction at random, she set off, humming a jaunty tune to counterbalance her heavy heart.

  It didn’t take long for the Heroes’ Party to establish a pecking order. There were five Heroes, plus DonkeyDonk and Rina. That was pretty much how the pecking order fell out as well.

  A case might be made for Rina being above DonkeyDonk in the pecking order. After all, she drove the cart and was his master while they were moving. But on the other hand, whenever they stopped for a break or for the night, Rina had to see to DonkeyDonk’s every need.

  In the same vein, while anyone in the party could freely order DonkeyDonk around, he really only had one useful skill. He pulled the cart.

  Rina, on the other hand, was hard-working, resourceful, diligent, and could carry out just about any task around the camp. Couple that with the fact that she was employed as a scullery maid, the very lowest rung on just about any ladder you can think of, and you can rest assured that every person in the party saw her as their personal servant.

  Rina wasn’t happy about this, but what could she do? She didn’t have any sort of power at her disposal for shaping her role. She just had to grin and bear it.

  Which isn’t to say she didn’t need some training. And the Heroes weren’t too shy to train her. After all, it was an investment in their own future comfort.

  Rina learned how to set up tents, dig latrines, and forage for wild herbs, vegetables, and fruits. She learned how to make a campfire and a dozen different ways to fire it up. She learned campfire cookery.

  The Heroes spared no expense in buying her all she needed to contribute to their comfort. This caused some mild discomfort for DonkeyDonk, who had to drag everything around in the cart.

  So Rina worked from before sunup until nearly midnight every day. Her only rest came when she was driving the cart and the few hours she was able to sleep every night. At least the Heroes didn’t make her pull guard duty.

  Rina strolled casually through the market place. She didn’t really need to buy anything, although she did stop and get a little packet of spices and some salt. The rest of her walk was just window shopping.

  The sun climbed to the top of the sky as she was nearing the city’s west gate. Frowning a little, she looked up and decided there was one thing she actually needed. Looking around, she spotted a young boy sitting forlornly next to a blanket covered with what looked like second-hand clothing.

  “Hello,” she called to him, squatting down so as to be close to his eye level, “do you have anything like a sun hat?”

  The boy looked scared of her for a moment, then started rooting around in the pile of cloth. Once, twice, thrice, he pulled out hats and tossed them near her feet.

  Checking them over, she had to think that these were three of the ugliest hats she had ever seen. Perfect! Choosing a floppy wide-brimmed hat that was the color of moldy potatoes, she jammed it onto her head.

  “Do you have any ladies underwear?” she asked next.

  The boy turned bright red and handed her a sack before turning his back to her. She wanted to laugh at how red his ears were but decided that would probably strike a mortal blow to a fragile young ego.

  She looked through the sack and pulled out a few rather generic-looking undergarments. Then, pulling off her hat, she placed the underwear inside and held it up. “How much for these?”

  The boy turned and looked afraid again. She took pity on him, “The hat, three brassieres and three sets of bloomers.”

  He turned even redder and held up two fingers. Did he mean two silver?

  “I’ll give you one silver and three coppers.”

  He found his voice at last. “One silver and five coppers.”

  Rina dug out her purse and selected the coins. Dropping them into his hand, she said, “Thank you!” Put the underwear in her bag, jammed the hat on her head and flounced off.

  Let’s take a moment to examine our heroine. For heroine she is despite what everyone in this world seems to think.

  She had grown up in a village and was a village girl through and through. Which is to say that she was of average height, full-bodied without being fat, generally healthy, and strong due to long days of hard work. Her skin was fair but tanned on the arms, face and neck. She had a few freckles on a round face with no other distinguishing features. Her hands were bigger than average, calloused, and covered with small scars.

  Her hair, which she kept cut at shoulder length, was a dark brown and quite thick. Her eyes were also brown. Coupled with her tanned skin and mottled brown dress, one can understand that she gave an overall impression of brownness. If she stepped into a freshly plowed field, she would probably disappear. The newly acquired moldy green hat was the one splash of color in her ensemble.

  Thus it was that Rina set out through the city gate with a gleam in her eye, a tuneless whistle on her lips and a jaunty tilt to her floppy hat.

  On her first night with the Heroes’ Party, Rina struggled. The problem was lack of equipment.

  Rina had a knife. It had been a butcher knife from the Palace kitchen. Somehow it had broken; the blade snapped in twain roughly a third of the way from the handle. Rina had found it in the junk pile and rescued it some time ago.

  Erika von Helphyre had caught a brace of rabbits and given them to Rina to dress and cook. Unfortunately, to dress a rabbit you need a knife with a point.

  So Rina was just sort of sitting there on a stump, wondering what to do when Karvik Ironshield noticed that she wasn’t cooking his dinner.

  “Oi! Girl! What’s wrong? We’re hungry!” Karvik was the sort of big gruff man who always spoke loudly and with exclamation points.

  “I’m sorry, sir,” said Rina. “I don’t have the proper tools to dress the rabbits.”

  “Hmph! Oi! Erika! Get your rogue ass over here and finish your work. This girl can’t skin a rabbit!”

  “Piss off you old fart-eater! Do it yourself.”

  “You’re the hunter here. You should at least show the girl what to do with wild game before setting her loose on her own. And she doesn’t even have a proper knife!”

  “All right, all right. I’ll take care of it.”

  So Erika came over and showed Rina what to do with a rabbit. Which she actually already knew, village girl that she was. But the Huntress had the right knife to use which helped a lot.

  After supper, when Rina was busy cleaning up the cooking area, Karvik came up to her and handed her a small knife in a sheath. It looked like crap; all beat up and covered in some kind of hardened black goo.

  “When we get to the next town, we’ll buy something to clean that up with. I reckon it’s a good knife there. Found it in a dungeon a while back. You can keep it.”

  Rina bowed her thanks. True to his word, Karvik later found some cleaning solution and showed her what to do. Later she realized that the little knife was made of mithril.

  It should be obvious by now that we have been neglecting one of the hardest working of the party of Heroes: DonkeyDonk.

  Upon returning to the Palace, DonkeyDonk was shoved into a pen next to the back stables and largely forgotten for a couple of days. Not even a small sack of coins for this hero. After a few days, he was sold off and moved to a stable on the edge of town.

  DonkeyDonk was not happy about this. First of all, he was a pretty athletic donkey and didn’t appreciate being penned up for most of the day. Second, he was missing his servant.

  His servant had been a very nice and dedicated girl, always aware of his needs and very diligent. When working with the Heroes Party, DonkeyDonk had received room (occasionally) and board (most of the time). Plus his servant brushed him thoroughly every day and gave him ear massages.

  In contrast, although the room and board here was more consistent, the servants were decidedly lacking. DonkeyDonk thought of them as temporary help, since they all seemed to be bucking for more prestigious postings with the horses.

  DonkeyDonk didn’t like horses. They tended to be arrogant bullies. And they didn’t work nearly as hard as others - donkeys for example.

  Early one morning, DonkeyDonk was standing on three legs, idly chewing on a stalk of hay and meditating. One of the help had been in to clean the stall (poorly) and dump some grain in his box. Then they left without bothering to give DonkeyDonk a massage or brush out his coarse mane. DonkeyDonk sighed as the door banged shut.

  Then his eyes widened as something failed to register. That being the little click that the latch usually made. He froze for a moment then casually ambled closer to the stall door.

  Not latched.

  DonkeyDonk listened carefully. He was the only donkey around and the horses were further down in the barn. The servants were all at the far end away from the big door.

  DonkeyDonk knew an opportunity when he saw one. Carefully nosing open the door, he nonchalantly walked out of his stall, out the big door, and out of town.

  Rina sat by the campfire drinking tea from a wooden cup. She’d spent quite a bit of time staring into the flames, and was considering turning around to gaze at the stars for a while.

  She’d made her way out of town down the West Road. After a few miles, she had decided to set off cross-country because she didn’t really feel like dealing with people. There seemed to be no shortage of idiots wandering down the road who felt they could in some way “assist” a young girl traveling alone.

  So she made her way across a field of grass into a copse of trees. Once she found a suitable clearing there, she dug a fire pit, set up her tent and settled in. She needed to think.

  Two nights and days of thinking, however, had not yielded any thoughts worth acting upon. She would need to move on again in the morning as she’d foraged most of the edible plants in the area. Rina sighed and took another sip of her tea.

  That’s when she heard a rustling in the brush behind her. She casually reached down to grasp the hilt of her knife, then turned around.

  Just in time to see DonkeyDonk’s head emerge from the shrubbery. He looked surprised, then confused, and finally happy to see her.

  She smiled, “Hey, DonkeyDonk! What are you doing out here?”

  “Eee-aaaw,” said DonkeyDonk.

  “Well, whatever, I'm glad to see you.” And Rina ran to give him a hug. DonkeyDonk nuzzled her hair softly as she wrapped her arms around his thick stubby neck.

  They stayed that way for some time before DonkeyDonk realized that Rina was crying. “Oh, DonkeyDonk, I'm so scared. What am I going to do now?” she cried out and began sobbing hysterically.

  DonkeyDonk took this development stoically. Gently whuffling into her ear with his best consoling whuffle while wondering when, exactly, his servant was going to pull herself together and feed him his supper.