The Best of Luck: Chapter 3

“This is bad,” a boy up ahead said. He shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose. “This is very bad.”

“Emery, it’s going to be fine,” a girl beside him said, pulling the green cloak she was wearing tight around her as a cold breeze rushed by. She tried to give him a reassuring look, but he didn’t see it as he was still looking at the ground and shaking his head.

“It’s really not,” he insisted as he paced down the street, and the girl had to jog a little to keep up with him. Stress laced his voice as he ran a hand through his short, disheveled hair. “Any other feast, we could screw up and it would be fine. But not this feast. Not today. Cadence is going to kill me.” The boy paused, narrowing his eyes at the ground accusingly. “Although, this is technically his fault…”

“Oh, come on, Emery,” Opal tried to reason with him, but his stress was contagious and slowly spreading to her. “He can’t blame you for someone else not doing their job,” she said, causing the boy to groan. “Plus, there are so many performances tonight. The king won’t miss one violinist, will he?” This statement caused Emery to stop in his tracks, right at the place where the path split before them. They could go right to the castle, or left towards a small cafe with a less than appetizing smell coming from it. 

Emery bowed his head, pursing his lips tightly and looking at Opal, who immediately knew she had said the wrong thing.

“Yeah, you’re right. You’re right, of course,” Emery said, feigning a smile and clapping his hands together, leaning towards her. “Why would anyone miss one violinist from an entire ensemble? Oh!” he exclaimed before she could answer, pointing a finger in the air as if a thought had just popped into his mind. “Maybe because this man was our only violinist!” The boy’s cheeks were bright pink and he looked like he was either about to explode or faint. Opal didn’t know what to say as she stared at the fanatic boy, but luckily, he had enough words for both of them.

“The violin is the king’s favorite instrument! He only has one violinist, the best in Westwind! This party cannot happen without him.” Emery ranted, his tone sharper than it should have been. It wasn’t Opal’s fault she knew little of his crisis. As a knight, it was hardly her job to know what the king's favorite instrument was. When Opal looked at him in distress, the boy’s shoulders sagged and he sighed. He should not be dumping all of this on her.

“I’ve heard there’s a violinist in this area everyone loves,” he said, trying to change his tone to a more optimistic one. “Though I’m not exactly sure where.” 

His optimism didn’t last long. 

“I never come over to this area. The roads are all twisty and chaotic. How does anyone find anything!?” With this exclamation, Emery threw his hands out to the side in exasperation. Wildly enough, this wide gesture turned out to be the solution to his problem. For as his hands shot out beside him, his left hand slammed into something, and that something yelped and stumbled backwards. Opal’s hands flew to her face, and she gasped at the same time Emery spun around to find a girl clutching her face with one hand and holding a violin case in the other.

“Oh my gosh!” The boy exclaimed, instantly horrified. “I am so sorry!” he started rambling, looking over the girl as she held her nose. She couldn’t help but groan.

“It’s fine,” she mumbled from behind her hand, giving her face a couple good rubs before letting her hand fall back down to her side.

“I am so sorry,” Emery started again, cringing when he saw how red the spot he had smacked her was. “I wasn’t looking where I was…” his voice trailed off as his gaze fell from her face down to her hand, and he saw that she was holding an instrument case. Suddenly, he was less interested in his apologies. 

“Is that a violin case?” he asked, thinking it looked to be the right size and shape of one, though he wouldn’t have been surprised if he was imagining it. Much like one imagined an oasis of water in a dry, hot desert, he very well could have been imagining this violin case in his time of need.

“Um, yes?” Marley answered hesitantly, looking at the strangers before her skeptically.

“Are you the violin person?” the boy asked, and the hopeful tone in his voice was a bit unnerving to Marley.

“Um, what?” she asked, scrunching up her face in confusion and wiping her still somewhat moist eyes on the back of her sleeve. Emery looked her up and down with a slightly judgemental look on his face. He was quickly assessing if taking a random stranger off the street in place of his missing violinist was a good plan. Finally, he nodded.

“You’ll have to do.” 

Suddenly, Marley’s free hand was snatched up by his and she found herself being dragged at quite a rapid pace down the path. The girl’s eyes widened and her chin jutted back in shock as she almost tripped over his feet. 

“Wha - what is happening right now? What are you doing?” The dumbfounded words spilled out of her mouth as she shot the boy a baffled look. He didn’t catch it though, his eyes glued determinedly on the path before them. 

"Hello?” Marley pressed in growing annoyance. She gave her arm a good tug, but the boy did not let up.

“Emery, I don’t know if this is a good idea…” Opal finally spoke as she jogged to catch up to Marley’s captor. Emery held up a hand and cut her off, straightening his shoulders back as he did. He opened his mouth to say something, but then he closed it, and tilted his head back to face Marley.

“What’s your name, again?” he asked with a squint, never slowing down. Marley’s face crumpled in confusion.

“What?” she asked loudly, and Emery straightened up again.

“Miss What,” he repeated, and Marley glared at him for the terrible joke, though it was short lived. “I am commandeering you in the name of the king.” Shock spilled over Marley’s face, and her eyebrows shot up as she looked at Emery like he was insane.

“You’re commandeering me?” she repeated in a high pitched voice, wondering if he had meant to say her violin. But he didn’t backtrack. He simply nodded his head proudly.

“I don’t think you can do that,” Opal whispered from behind him, and Marley nodded her head in agreement.

“Yeah, I don’t think so either. I have somewhere I need to be. I’m performing at CJ’s Cafe in like -” she started to say, but the rest of her words were lost when the rest of Emery’s sentence suddenly registered in her mind. 

“Wait a second,” she said, the shock melting to intrigue, “did you say, in the name of the king?”

“That I did, Miss What,” Emery said with a firm nod, maneuvering haphazardly through a crowd of people and also nearly slamming Marley into a lamppost. Then he mumbled to himself under his breath, as if he was taking notes, “Performing at CJ’s. That’s a good sign. His musicians are always highly qualified.” Marley rolled her eyes and gave him a look, suspicion mixing with intrigue.

“My name is Marley,” she finally told him, and he smiled, pleased that his horrible joke had worked.

“Miss Marley,” he amended as they walked, “his royalness is in desperate need of a violinist tonight. It is his birthday and he is having a feast to celebrate, and we need you to play for him.” Marley scoffed, looking between both parties with disbelief.

“Really?” Marley asked, no longer buying a word he was saying. “The king needs me to play for him tonight?” Right.

“Yes, that’s what I just said.” Emery picked up the pace, glancing at a large clock standing on a street corner. “And he needs one soon.” Marley felt her cheeks go red with impatience, and she tried once more to break free, simultaneously digging her heels into the ground.

“You’re insane!” she told him, finally pulling hard enough that Emery stopped. The boy dropped her hand and whirled around. He looked incredibly peeved that his captive was not cooperating. Marley almost toppled to the ground when Emery unexpectedly released her, but instead the momentum knocked her into the girl that had been trailing behind them. Opal effortlessly caught her, swiftly stabilizing her again and making sure she didn’t drop her violin case.

“Look,” Emery began, not even phased that the girl nearly fell. “I am the prince’s personal servant. And this is Opal, one of the king’s knights.” He gestured to Marley’s savior, who looked very uncomfortable with the whole situation. Instantly, Marley’s head whipped around to face her. At the same time she gave Marley a small wave and a smile, Marley’s mouth fell open, and she tried not to sound too astounded.

“You’re a knight?” 

Opal nodded with a small smile, pulling back the thick robe she was wearing to reveal the royal insignia on her chest, shocking Marley. Marley blinked several times to make sure she wasn’t just imagining things, her mouth still hanging open.

“So this is real?” She asked after a moment, her heart rate picking up its pace. “You actually need a violinist for the king? For tonight?” She turned back to Emery, who had his lips pursed and was tapping his foot impatiently.

“Yes. And as fate would have it, the task has fallen to you,” Emery said flatly, taking up Marley’s hand once again. The girl narrowed her eyes and swiftly took her arm back. Emery matched her stare. “So, you can either perform for the king, or spend tonight and many more in prison.”

“Emery,” Opal hissed at him. She could practically feel Marley’s heart stop. She cast the girl an apologetic look. Marley needed a minute to process all of this, but it didn’t seem like she was going to get one. But thoughts were beginning to form in her head.

If this was real and these two were serious, which she was beginning to believe was the case, this might be a fantastic thing. She would be inside the castle. She could walk around and look at things, perhaps even overhear things. This might be the opportunity she needed to gather more information about the king’s totem and put the final pieces of the puzzle together.

Also, she would be playing her violin in the castle. For the king. And for everyone else who was there. A chill ran down her spine at the thought of it. She had never played for a crowd bigger than the dining room at the tavern. Speaking of that…

“Look,” Marley said hesitantly, and Emery let out another huff, glancing once again at the clock. “I have somewhere I need to be. I’m supposed to play at CJ’s today and I can’t -”

“We’ll get someone else to play there,” Emery immediately said, desperately trying to get her moving along. “It won’t be a violinist, because apparently they are in short supply,” he muttered the second part bitterly, shaking his head indignantly. “Any other instrument, we have. I’ll send someone over as soon as we get you set up.” Marley made an indecisive face, but Emery was done with the debate. 

“Did you hear the part about me throwing you in jail if you don’t come with us?” he asked, pinning her with a look. Marley narrowed her eyes at him again, slightly tempted to whack him in the nose as he had done to her.

“You don’t even know if I can play,” the girl said defiantly, but Emery was already pulling her along again.

“If you get up on stage and suck, that will be your head, not mine,” he said, and both Marley and Opal’s jaws fell open.

“Emery!” Opal breathed in disbelief, looking at her friend who had clearly lost his mind. “Come on, this is insane!” The boy did not deny it, but he also didn’t back down.

“This feast has to be perfect, Opal,” he told her firmly. “For Cadence’s sake.” Marley wasn’t sure who this Cadence person was, but she did not like him. Not if he was the reason for her kidnapping.

“The feast starts in five hours,” Emery began saying once they had made some distance, and Marley suddenly found herself being dragged onto the castle grounds. As fast as her mind was racing and her heart was beating, she couldn’t help but pause for a moment to admire the sight before her. As soon as her feet stepped over the border between the town and the acreage that belonged to the royals, the grass was instantly greener and softer. She had been there about fifty times, but she was always sneaking around and in a hurry. Technically she was also in a hurry this time, but it wasn’t her hurry. 

The path they speedily walked along was well-paved and very neat, unlike the dirt walkways throughout the town that quickly dirtied one’s shoes and apparel. There were dozens of tall, decorative bushes lining the walls that surrounded the enormous castle. Knights paced back and forth along the grounds, skillfully avoiding the plethora of statues and ornaments the king had scattered around the green field. There were fountains flowing with colorful water and small hedges that lined the walkways and made magnificent designs. They also passed by several miniature stone structures that people were bustling in and out of, and it appeared they were draping lights and sparkly decorations around the ivy that already adorned the architecture.

However, even though all of these things were beautiful and exquisite, the most striking thing before Marley was, as always, the castle. It wasn’t built like any castle Marley had ever seen before - not that Marley had seen many castles - but she had read and studied pictures of dozens, and Westwind’s was by far the most brilliant. It was constructed of shapes and configurations that wouldn’t normally go together, but somehow when it came to the castle they made it work. The mansion was asymmetrical, built tall and proud in some places and short and simple in others. Marley had read that this was because kings and queens liked to add new sections to the castle when they reigned to make sure that a piece of themselves was permanently left there. Marley had thought it was a wild concept when she read about it, especially when she got to the portion about a king who had made his new addition to the castle float above the others. However, when she saw it in person, it was truly magnificent. Somehow, despite how different the various areas were, they all came together and made what could only be described as a work of art.

“Marley. Marley!” 

Hearing her name snapped right next to her ear, in addition to the grip that tightened on her arm, Marley was yanked from her state of awe and dragged back to the situation at hand. 

“Did you hear anything that I just said?” Emery asked, looking down at the girl with an irked expression on his face. It was clear he already knew the answer to his question.

“I, um-”

“I said,” Emery huffed as they walked up the steps to the enormous front doors of the castle, “I’m going to send you to a room with the rest of the musicians where you can get the music and warm up and all that jazz. Actually,” he immediately stopped himself and corrected, “there will be no jazz. Do not play jazz. The king does not like jazz very much-”

“Emery,” Opal sharply interrupted his ramblings. Emery instantly shut up and nodded, refocusing as Opal stepped ahead of them and led them into the castle, which Marley was still secretly admiring. 

“Hopefully there will be enough time for you to learn the songs,” Emery continued.

Marley smiled to herself. “How many songs are there?” she asked, curious about her performance now that she was actually in the castle. 

“Eh, three or four,” Emery said absentmindedly, clearly beginning to think of other things that he needed to be doing at the moment. Now that he had a violinist in the castle, he had other situations he needed to fix and attend to before the feast. “Oh, and you won’t need that,” Emery said, grabbing hold of Marley’s violin case. 

Marley whirled around. She could feel herself beginning to spin from the overwhelming emotions of the moment.

“What? I thought you kidnapped me so that I could play the violin for the king,” she said sharply, the aggravating boy setting a fire in her eyes. Emery didn’t miss a beat in answering her, and with the same amount of sass nonetheless. 

“Exactly. You are playing for the king, so you will need a violin fit to play in his court,” he told her, then looked at her case. “Granted, I haven’t seen your violin, but if it’s in any shape similar to this case, it will not do.” 

Marley had to bite her tongue to refrain from shouting at him. 

“There will be a new one waiting for you in the sixth door to the left,” he said. Then, before Marley could speak, he continued, “And I didn’t kidnap you, I blackmailed you. There’s a difference.” The boy almost had a joking tone to his voice, like he thought this was amusing somehow. However, as soon as he saw that Marley was quite unamused, and maybe slightly on the brink of melting down, his smirk faltered and his shoulders sagged a bit. 

“Look,” he said, much more gently than he had spoken to her thus far. “I’m sorry for dragging you here, but I really need you to do this for me, okay? I need you to do this for the king. And, I swear, I’m actually a nice person, when I’m not frantic.” He was doing his best to sound reassuring, but it was not working. And when Marley appeared completely unconvinced of any of these things, he added, as if it would help, “You will get paid well tonight and I will get someone to take your place at that cafe right away.” 

Those were the best things he could think of to say, and when Marley still didn’t look convinced, the only move he had left was to give her a firm pat on the shoulder before he left to attend to other duties. Every part of Marley wanted to protest, but at this point, there wasn’t a lot she could do. It was a done deal. In just a few hours, Marley would play for the king. 

On the bright side, she was actually standing inside the castle. As she began to gather herself, she thought again about the possibility of obtaining more information about the king’s totem. She would be in the castle for several hours, around a wide variety of people. Surely there would be gossip to be overheard. 

Her mind moved from the king’s totem to her own performance. As Emery had said, she would walk away with a nice paycheck. If she performed well. But what if she performed terribly because of her nerves and ruined the king’s feast? What would happen to her then? But just as quickly as that thought popped up, it was shut down. Either she didn’t have the capacity to fathom that terrifying idea, or she was confident enough in her musical ability to know that wouldn’t happen. As spontaneous as all of this was, Marley could work with it. In fact, it was a little exciting once she realized she didn’t have anything to lose. Yes, she would be playing for the man she despised most in the world, but the rest of it seemed like a nice adventure. What if he loved her music and she became his trusted castle musician, only to betray and destroy him when she found his totem. She would love to see that look on his face.

“Hey!” A loud voice suddenly called out to Marley. She jumped in surprise, startled from her thoughts, as a boy about her height came jogging up to her. Marley’s tilted her head, pointing a finger at her chest questioningly. She snuck a glance over her shoulder, thinking the boy must be talking to someone else. 

“They need more help in the dining hall,” the boy said hurriedly, coming to a halt in front of Marley. Nope, he was talking to her. “But before you head there, I need you to take this to the musicians.” He shoved a stack of papers at Marley. She instinctively grabbed them so that they didn’t go flying everywhere. 

“I, uh-” she started to say as she looked confusedly at the stack of sheet music piled on top of her arms.

“Thanks!” The boy cut her off. “The ensemble should be in one of the practice rooms down the hall. Then you can head to the kitchen.” 

Marley scrunched up her face in confusion, unable to read the boy. It sounded for a moment like he knew who she was - the new violinist - and it would make sense for her to take the music to the musicians. But then he wanted her to go to the kitchen? Did he know who she was? And that wouldn’t actually make sense, as she had only been hired moments ago. But he seemed so sure of himself, and so sure that she belonged in the kitchen. Clearly, she didn’t.

“Yeah, I’m the violinist, not a servant,” Marley said a bit more rudely than she had intended. Apparently her mouth was still full of some leftover sass she had meant to use on Emery. The boy winced and scrunched up his face almost painfully when she spoke. He looked over his shoulder as if to see if anyone had heard her. When he saw that everyone around them was too occupied with their own scramblings to pay attention to their conversation, he looked back at her and spoke in a quiet tone. 

“First, you really shouldn’t talk to the prince like that. If my father heard you he would probably throw you in prison and that would suck. Second, my violinist is a man, and you are not, so deliver this stack to the musicians, please, and then hurry to the kitchen. Thank you.” His voice, though quiet, was curt and he seemed certain that Marley would do as he said. 

Marley didn’t budge. Shock and confusion shared her expression, and she squinted at the boy as he nodded once more then gestured in the direction of the hallway she was to head down. Again, Marley stared at him for a moment. Then she found her voice and she said the only thing she could think to say.

“I can’t tell if you are joking or not. Are you?” 

The boy continued to smile, but his eyes narrowed and he tilted his head slightly. Marley’s confusion seemed to be contagious.

“I’m… not?” he said hesitantly. He clearly was not used to people speaking back to him. “I need this delivered. It is important. It’s the music for the feast.”

“Okay,” Marley finally said. She did not know what to make of this boy. Was he telling the truth? Was he actually the prince? Nothing about him screamed or even whispered royalty. In fact, he almost reminded Marley of herself, unsure and lacking confidence. She wasn’t completely convinced Emery hadn’t just dragged this guy in from off the street, as well. “It’s in good hands,” she said, nodding her head and then turning toward the hallway.  

“Thank you!” she heard him call out, and she couldn’t help but shake her head. What an odd conversation. As she walked down the hall, Marley refocused herself. In just a few hours, she would be playing for the king. She really needed to see the music and practice. 

Marley soon arrived at a room with closed doors and a wide range of musical sounds coming from it. Assuming this was her destination, Marley knocked on one of the doors. However, she quickly realized that no one would hear her through all that noise, so she drew in a deep breath and opened the door herself.

“Oh, thank heavens!” a short woman exclaimed, reaching out and grabbing the stack of music from Marley. “We’ve been waiting to see which songs the king chose!” 

Marley gave the woman a small smile, rubbing at her arms as the pressure from the stacks of paper was finally gone. The woman didn’t notice as she was already handing out the music to the other musicians. A sense of dread swept over Marley as she realized none of these people knew about the change of violinists. Marley groaned. This was madness. 

“Um, hi,” Marley said tentatively as she followed the lady around the room. It was difficult to keep up with her and the woman made no attempt to acknowledge Marley’s presence. When the woman finally looked back at Marley, she seemed annoyed.

“Can I help you?” she asked, dismissively. Marley summoned her courage.

“I, uh, I’m Marley,” she said with her hands pulled tightly behind her back. She paused and then quickly continued as the woman began walking again. “I’m not sure word has traveled around yet, but um, I’m the new violinist.”

Instantly, the four people closest to Marley choked on what they were playing, their eyes going wide. In front of her, the short lady whirled around. “What?” she hissed, an appalled look sweeping over her face. Marley knew the reaction wasn’t personal, but she couldn’t help but wince at the pure mortification in the woman’s voice.

“Yes. I have been hired to play the violin tonight,” Marley stated, getting straight to the point so she could get straight to practicing. They were really running short on time here.

“What?!” the woman shrieked this time. And then words began pouring out of her mouth faster than Marley could comprehend them. “What happened to Cyrus? Did they fire him? They can’t just switch violinists on the night of the feast! What are they thinking!?” Marley cringed at how upset the woman was becoming, but there was nothing she could do about that.

“How good are you? Where have you played before? What are your credentials?” The questions never ended, and all Marley could do was stare.

“I uh,” Marley stuttered, shifting uncomfortably under the woman’s stare. She couldn’t tell if she should tell the truth, lie, or just say nothing. “I play at Thatcher’s tavern?” 

The woman’s eye twitched. 

“You… what?” 

Silence was the correct answer. Marley sighed, truly feeling bad for the woman, but knowing they needed to get moving. She needed to start practicing.

“I’m the best you’ve got,” Marley settled on, giving the woman an apologetic look. There was a moment of silence.

“Fine. That’s - that’s fine,” she started to say, holding her hands in front of her as she tried to speak in a proper voice. “This is fine. We can do this.” She was very much trying to calm herself down, though the shock was still evident on her face. “Let me get you your violin and music,” she said.

The short lady scurried off into the chaos, leaving Marley to stand there awkwardly. She fiddled with her hands behind her back, nodding in silence as she tried not to make eye contact with the musicians around her. Luckily, the woman was quick. She shoved a violin toward Marley and then handed her a stack of music. Marley set the music on a nearby stand and placed her violin on her shoulder. She quickly began reading the music and hearing it in her head.  

The woman watched her for a moment and then muttered under her breath, “I hope you're a quick learner, for all our sakes.” 

“Don’t worry,” Marley muttered in response. She had already begun memorizing the notes on the page. “I am.”