The Best of Luck: Chapter 1

It was Friday morning and Marley was running late. She shook her head as she reached back and tightened her frizzy ponytail. She picked up her pace. The kingdom of Westwind was still fast asleep. Marley had the streets to herself, which was good, because Westwind was not the easiest town to maneuver through, especially in a hurry.

Marley raced through empty streets, the patter of her feet echoing off the walls that protected people sleeping behind them. She bounded over barriers of bushes and splashed through decorative ponds to cut a straight path through the twisty town. Marley was glad no one was awake to scold her for racing across patios and properties, leaving muddy footprints behind. Normally she would never be so careless, but today was Friday, and the knights of Westwind could not miss training on Fridays.

Every Friday, Westwind invited knights from other kingdoms to come and teach them the ways of their worlds. In doing this, the knights of Westwind would be better equipped when they ventured to other kingdoms to help in times of crisis. Today, training was scheduled to begin extra early, which Marley had nearly forgotten about. Today’s training was going to be amazing. Through every stumble and tree branch scratch and cold splash of puddle water, her heart was racing with anticipation.

Things were always happening in Westwind. Nix, her hometown, was beautiful, diverse, and peaceful. It would always hold a special place in her heart. But Westwind was something else. Marley had grown up reading incredible stories about Westwind, its inhabitants and, most of all, its knights. Ever since the first page, she had known Westwind was where she wanted to be when she was old enough.

Distracted by her thoughts, Marley almost slid into the river that wrapped around the uppermost part of Westwind, where the castle grounds began. She caught herself as her toes began to skid in the wet earth. Just before she toppled into the water, she gathered her strength and leapt onto a rock in the middle of the stream. To the next rock and the next one after that, she hopped until she made it all the way across. 

Safe on the other side of the river, Marley began to sprint toward the castle when she suddenly felt her front pocket begin shaking. She paused for a moment and then reached her hand into her pocket, wriggling her fingers around carefully until they wrapped around a smooth, flat object. She pulled out a fragment of glass about the size of her palm. It continued to shake as Marley stared at it. 

If you knew how to do it, broken pieces of the same mirror could be enchanted and used to communicate long distance. It was a difficult thing to do, knowing how to enchant a mirror properly and finding the necessary supplies. Luckily for Marley, her mother was a wonder at those sorts of things. 

Every morning, without fail, her mom checked up on her through the mirror, making sure her daughter was doing well. It had been hard for her when Marley decided to move to Westwind, which was a three-day journey from Nix. She supported the choice, but she missed Marley dearly. 

Marley bit her lip, tapping her finger on the tape that covered the sharp edges of the glass, contemplating her options. She was nearly at the castle now, and she really needed to get there soon. However, her mom usually only called her in the mornings, and she didn’t want to miss out on that, either. And she didn’t want her mom to worry.

Marley walked over to a large rock next to a tree. She sat down on the rock and leaned against the tree, trying to calm her heart rate and breathing as she lifted the mirror to her face. Slowly, her mom came into view.

“So, how is Westwind’s finest knight doing this morning?” her mom’s chipper voice sang out as her face filled the glass. Instantly, Marley was beaming. 

“She’s doing pretty good, thanks for asking,” Marley answered happily. “And how is her lovely family doing?” Little pebbles on the ground crunched beneath Marley’s feet as she shifted her weight on the rock and cleared her throat, warming up her voice that hadn’t been used yet that day.

“It is Friday!” her mom exclaimed, and Marley laughed. As a school teacher in Nix, Marley’s mom was always full of excitement for Friday. “We are doing great and looking forward to the weekend! Do you have any plans? Getting together with any knight friends of yours?” she asked teasingly, smirking through the mirror.

“Oh yeah, possibly,” Marley said, pretending to be casual about the idea as she bantered back with her mother. She kicked a stone across the ground as she heard the first bird awaken and chirp behind her. “We might hang out and protect the prince a little, who knows.” She shrugged casually, and her mom grinned through the glass.

They had always had a great relationship, Marley and her mother, and Marley so badly missed being able to talk to her in person everyday. Marley’s mother gave a brief update of what the family’s plans were for the weekend, and Marley nodded along fervently, picturing the scenes as her mother described them. But then the topic of conversation turned to Marley, and the girl’s heart rate picked up a little.

“So, what are you doing today? What do your Friday knightley duties entail?” her mom asked. Marley bit down on her tongue but held her smile, drumming her free fingers against her thigh.

“My Friday knightley duties…” Marley repeated with a slightly forced laugh, buying herself a little bit of time to answer the question. “Oh, ya know. It’s no different than any other day. Protect the king, the prince, the people. Train a little here and there,” she replied vaguely, laughing once more as she ran a hand through her hair.

There was a pause on the other end, and the anxiousness Marley had felt when the questions shifted to her increased tenfold. She was pretty sure she knew what was coming next.

“I do wish I could come and see you, Marley,” her mom said, and Marley held her breath, trying to stop her heart from sinking. In the distance by the castle she could hear voices and she knew the knights were getting ready to train. She vaguely heard someone mention fire. “I want to see you in your element, training and being the absolute amazing knight you have become.” 

Marley clenched her jaw as she watched something bright flicker against the castle’s shadows, followed by awed exclamations.

“Are we -” her mom’s voice broke on the other end. “Are we allowed to come visit you yet? I promise we won’t embarrass you,” she added with a short, sad laugh that made Marley’s heart drop and her entire body ache. A cold chill ran along her spine.

That was so sad. 

Marley missed her family so incredibly much and they missed her just the same. She knew she was hurting them, keeping them away. She knew because she was hurting herself just as much. But they couldn’t come visit her, no matter how much she wanted them to. Not yet.

“Mom-” she started, then she had to stop to clear her throat and convince herself not to cry. Bright orange and yellow flickers danced in blurry shapes against the castle walls in front of her, and she realized the knights were training with fire of some sort. Marley swallowed hard, tilting the mirror away for a split second as she blinked back tears. She began to feel the heat of the fire that was still a ways away from her.

“Of course I want you guys to come visit and tell you all my stories and have you meet my friends and see the castle.” Don’t cry… don’t cry… just get through the excuses. Marley had said them a hundred times before and each time she had always managed to keep herself from breaking down. For her mom’s sake. She could do it again, one more time. It helped if she told herself it was just one more time.

“I just - I’m so incredibly busy you have no idea,” Marley forced a smile, pushing herself up off the rock and giving everything she had to regain some of her energy. She had to look and sound convincing. She had to make sure her mom didn’t have any doubts. 

“Every day it’s something new. I’m - I’m traveling somewhere or learning something or training.” Marley took a few steps forward, tripping over herself as she made her way back to the main path. The shouts of the knights grew louder and the fire hotter, and she could just make out characters holding what appeared to be staffs ablaze with fire on either end. It looked like fun, whatever they were doing.

 “I’m not even here half the time for you to visit, which is why I always come to you guys whenever I can,” Marley explained, distracting herself from the conversation by trying to figure out what they were doing. It suddenly hit her. “Like today. Right now. There are - there are Firespinners here today.”

“Firespinners?” Her mother repeated on the other end, and Marley pretended she didn’t see her mom wipe a hand across her cheek.

“Mhm,” Marley said, getting as close as she could without alerting anyone of her presence. She maneuvered around trees and hopped behind tall hedges to avoid being seen. She dropped her voice to a low whisper as she approached the group of knights who were standing in awe, watching the scene before them.

“It looks like they’re from Everburn,” Marley commented in reference to the people with the fire. “Listen,” she continued, excitement coursing through her as she whispered the last word and lifted her hand by her side. “If you’re quiet, you can hear the flames…”

Marley was so close to the displays of fire now, it felt like she was standing in the very center of the flames. The cold wind that had been keeping her company vanished, replaced with an intense, feverish feeling as the space around her was suddenly flashing with fire.

Several knights from Everburn stood before those from Westwind, each of them holding a different object in their hand. There was a girl with spoked fans in both hands, and another girl with something like a staff but much thinner. It had several spikes on each end with something that looked like marshmallows capped on every tip.

Marley’s eyes scanned the entirety of the scene before her. Then she settled on the man in the very middle of it all. He was so gracefully maneuvering a staff around his body, dangerously close, as fire flamed off both ends. He started slow at first, the flames incredibly high and hot. Then he bent down low, holding the staff directly out in front of him. His left hand was facing up, the center of the staff balanced perfectly on his palm. Then he took his right hand facing down and set the bottom of his palm on the base of his left fingers, right in front of and on top of the staff. The flames flickered dangerously close to his face, but he didn’t flinch. He smiled, rather, and after a second of being still, of letting the fire warm him, he popped his right hand back swiftly and smoothly, running it sharply across the staff. Instantly, the staff leapt out of his hand and twirled rapidly through the air, the flames erupting at the sides.

“That is so cool,” Marley exhaled quietly, holding out her hand to feel the warmth. She smiled softly to herself, an orange light flickering in her eyes as she watched. Her voice sounded as though she was in a trance, and perhaps she was, mesmerized by the burning colors.

“I think they came before sunrise because the fire is brighter before it gets light. It looks so pretty beneath the early moon,” Marley commented, keeping her mom in the loop since she couldn’t see as clearly as her daughter. “I think they’re going to teach us how to handle fire if Everburn ever needs us. They are just putting on a bit of a show first. I’ve read about them a little bit. I’m pretty sure people from Everburn can literally walk through fire and not -”

“I am so proud of you, Marley,” her mom spoke up abruptly, and Marley’s words were cut short as her throat instantly closed up. 

“W-what?” Marley asked, partly because she could hardly hear her mom over the sudden ringing in her ears, and partly because she had heard what her mom said and she really, really did not deserve those words.

Her mom repeated herself, and Marley shook her head, her chest feeling tight as she blinked to clear her blurry vision. The colors of the fire and the people began to bleed together as tears formed in her eyes, and she wrapped her fingers tightly around a low hanging tree branch.

“And I love you so much.” 

Please stop talking. Please, please stop talking. 

“I can’t wait until we get to see you again. It has been too long,” her mom’s voice sounded so sad.

“I love you more,” Marley choked out as she watched the Firespinners. The bark scraped against her palm once again, splintering her fingers as she tried to hold herself up. The cold wind returned a little, wrapping around her bare skin and sending another chill running down her. She leaned forward, attempting to get warm again. She missed the fire. She missed her mom.

“Well, I’ll let you go. I don’t want to keep you from what sounds like a very exciting morning,” her mom said quietly after a moment. For some reason, that made the urge to cry even stronger in Marley. She was so torn between desperately wanting this conversation to end and fiercely wishing her mom could stay forever. 

“I just wanted to say good morning and make sure you were doing okay. Have a fantastic day spinning fire and protecting the kingdom!”

“Always,” Marley responded, gripping the tree tighter. 

Then, before the glass cleared, the woman added quickly and excitedly, “And show me your armor next time! I haven’t seen any of your new designs in a while!” 

“Will do!” Marley exclaimed with the last of her energy. The nauseous feeling fully consumed Marley at the mention of her armor and, after exchanging a couple more “I love you’s,” Marley tucked the mirror back inside her pocket and swallowed the breakfast that tried to make its way back up to her mouth.

A heavy, dizzy feeling filled Marley’s body, and she had to lean her back up against the tree to steady herself. She turned back to the scene before her, to the knights and the Firespinners, relying on them to distract her.

The man with the staff was still going strong. Marley watched as he swiftly spun the object around in his hand, tossing it up into the air. The flames licked at the mist and the low clouds, flashing and flickering and spitting before the man caught the staff in his hand again. He didn’t even flinch as sparks trickled down his skin. He explained how learning to become one with fire, how eating and breathing it and moving with it would keep the knights alive should they ever find themselves in Everburn. The knights tried to listen, to retain the information he was giving them, but it was difficult to pay attention when he was putting on such a show.

The man’s feet seemed to hardly ever touch the ground as he bounded across it, taking his fire staff with him and flipping it around in his ever rotating wrists. Scalding halos of fire followed him as he spun the staff, wrapping it around his arms and neck and under his legs and down his back. He touched the cool part of the staff to his wrist, raising his arm so that the apparatus rolled down his forearm and along to his shoulder. Then he twisted and twirled and arched his body in such a way that the fire staff danced around his neck.

Marley was fascinated as she watched the Firespinner. The man was holding fire, something that could be so chaotic and get out of control so easily, yet he somehow made everyone feel calm and at peace with it. He even tapped himself at one point, the bright flames brushing against his body, leaving a thick, black blotch of soot on his side. He didn’t seem bothered by it, though. He just kept spinning. And dancing.

How Marley yearned to join them. She pictured herself jumping into the conversation as the fires started to dim. She imagined jogging forward, apologizing profusely for being late and then joining her fellow knights in this epic training session. She could see herself being the first to try her hand at the flaming staff, refusing to let her nerves get the best of her.

Instead, she watched from afar, as she routinely did during these Friday training sessions. Nobody ever even knew she was there. But she was. It was her way of trying to convince herself that everything was fine, that everything was as it should be. But it wasn’t.

Marley watched from the shadows for a while longer and then turned to leave before she was noticed. As she slowly walked away from the castle to the inn where she worked and resided, she thought about the last few months. About how all of her plans and dreams had come crashing to the ground.

Marley clenched her jaw as she untied and retied her ponytail, trying hard to focus on the silver lining she had created for herself, despite her current work and life situation. For she had found that, as boring and tedious as her job was, it gave her a lot of time to think about her new plan. Every day, she had time to really tarry over the new goal she had made for herself: to kill the king who had ruined her life.