A Duck's Luck

A Day in the Castle

The guards led the children throughout the main hall of the castle . There were tall , golden pillars lining the sides of a large red and gold carpet , leading all the way up a long flight of stairs . At the top were two thrones ; one big and the other , small . The walls on the inside of the castle where a royal shade of purple , pink accents lined the ceiling and floor , and the tiles on the ground didn't have a single dirty spot . Delilah almost thought that the carpet was floating .
At long last , the kids were finally able to stop walking . As they did , they watched two ladies in big , poofy dresses walk towards the thrones from the side . One was tall and elegant looking , with a long white trail behind her . The other was small yet graceful , with sparkles in her eyes . They sat down and the older looking lady grabbed the staff that was between the two thrones . While she adjusted her gown , one of the knights spoke . " Your majesty , we found these trespassers on the border of our territory . " He then told the queen about the encounter with the worm and some other things , to which the queen just dismissed . " Thank you , that'll be all captain . " She said . The knights bowed and left , leaving the three kids standing at the bottom of the stairway by themselves .
" So uh , is she gonna do anything about us or ? " Dewey whispered two the others , breaking the awkward silence . Delilah and Webby shrugged and as they did , the queen started to descend the stairs , the princess staying behind on her throne . Her gown was the same color purple as the rest of the castle , and it was detailed with beautiful feather accents . She looked as if she was gliding down the stairs with such a big dress . " Listen , your majesty , we just came here to look for directions to find- " Delilah began , but the queen held her hand up and she stopped .
" Please , " She began . " You may call me Charlene . "
Delilah stood there a little confused . At the same time though , she was relieved . " But , this doesn't make sense ! We just trespassed ( unknowingly ) and you're being nice to us ? " Webby explained , stepping between her and Delilah . The queen chuckled and explained . " Don't worry , I'm very much aware of who you kids are . You all remind me of people I once knew . " Charlene motioned towards the kids to follow her up the stairs , and they did . Following behind was the princess from earlier . Dewey slowed down a little to catch up with her . " So , " he started , leaning his elbow on the princess's shoulder . " Are you a real princess ? " He asked . She nodded meekly , turning her head away . He could sense something was wrong , but he didn't know what it exactly was .
Meanwhile , the queen had been explaining to Webby and Delilah a great tale from her past . " Long ago , when the kingdom of Peaconia was in danger , three noble adventurers offered to help my husband in battle . " The group walked past a large portrait of a king , who they could only presume to be the previous ruler of this island . " But when our troops failed and the king was no more , they were able to defeat the great evil that once threatened this land . " She praised , stopping in front of yet another large picture hanging on the wall , the frame golden and exquisite . The kids looked up and , while a little shocked , they wouldn't have been able to think of a better guess of who those three adventures may have been . The large painting portrayed Scrooge , Donald , and Della , all on horseback in special knight armor . " I wonder why Scrooge never told us about this , " Webby mumbled as the three kids admired their parents in painting form . After another moment of looking , they turned to face the queen , who was looking out one of the large glass windows facing the royal garden . " Even though that was so long ago , I still remember it like yesterday . " She sighed , but then smiled at the group of young children . " But I just know that you three must be their family , and of course you're always welcome here . "
" How can you be so sure though ? You don't even know us ,, " Webby asked , unnerved . Queen Charlene chuckled once again and simply responded , " I just know . " She then motioned for the princess to come forward and placed her hand on her shoulder . " This here is my daughter Amira . Dear , why don't you take these kids to go get cleaned up and fed , who knows when the last time they ate was . " Delilah thought about it and she herself realized that the last time she had eaten was dinner the night she left ; and she was most definitely starving . Charlene patted her daughter's head and turned to continue walking down the corridor while Amira led the kids into a tall dressing room . Here , the kids were given new , more clean clothes . Delilah ; a poofy dress , and for Webby and Dewey ; new , clean suits . Webby wore a skirt with hers . As the kids looked at themselves in the mirror , Delilah turned to Amira who had been waiting for them . " Hey , do you know anything about Eris ? " she asked . Amira turned and gave her a confused look . " You mean the goddess ? " She replied softly . Delilah nodded excitedly , and Amira then pulled her out into the hall .
" What do you need to know about Eris for ? " Amira whispered in a quick tone . " Well ,, she kidnapped my dad and , well , I want to rescue him . " Delilah explained her story to the princess in front of her , and Amira listened intensely . Her expression had changed from soft to now serious , and she then grabbed Delilah's hand and led her throughout the castle . After what seemed like a couple of minutes of twists and turns around the castle , the two girls finally came upon a pair of giant doors . Amira pressed on the two doors , pushing them open with a wave of dust floating up in the air . Delilah swished her hand around to clear the debris and when she did , what she saw was quite possibly the largest library she had ever seen . There were rows and rows of bookshelves that stretched on for miles both left and right , and it smelled of dusty paper . As she looked around , she followed Amira deeper into the library . They slipped around corners , avoiding guards and knights watching by every side . " Why do we have to sneak by them ? " Delilah had asked at one point , and Amira responded quietly , " I'm not supposed to be in here , usually if I want a book I'm supposed to ask one of my maids to get it for me . " The two finally came across a shelf of particularly dusty and old books , and Amira began to scan through them . She picked them off the shelves , more dust and debris floating up each time she moved one . Delilah followed her until eventually she picked a specific book off the shelf . " This book can tell you all about Eris , " Amira explained . " And between you and me , " She then leaned down to Delilah's level , " I have been noticing strange green fog down east , " Delilah took the book from Amira and opened to a page . It was a relatively short book , but at the same time all the pages were jam-packed full of writing and letters and pictures ; even some diagrams .
Just as quietly as they had gone in , Amira and Delilah successfully snuck out of the library and back down the hall from which they had come . While they walked , Delilah carefully tucked the book into her bag to read later . Right now though , she was starving . She was also thinking of her dad though . She could almost imagine him , trapped inside of Eris's evil lair ( whatever it may look like ) . She then looked at her poofy dress to try and distract herself from being sad . Even though she knew she was going to find him , she felt her optimism was too much this time , unlike all the other times where she was absolutely sure of something - this time she wasn't so sure . Would she , Webby , and Dewey be able to save her dad ? Webby and Dewey certainly were very good adventurers but Delilah wasn't . She always left it to the adults or the more skilled kids to take over all the hard work , all she did was cheer them on . Every time they would return from an outing she couldn't help but feel guilty . Eventually , she started thinking what's the point of going if you aren't even going to help ? Delilah was so busy thinking , she didn't even realize that she was now standing in the middle of a giant dining hall . There was a long , round table placed in front of her , and on both sides were Dewey and Webby , chatting about their adventure so far and consuming everything on the table . Delilah decided it was time to put her thoughts aside and focus on eating ; it had been about almost 2 days since she last ate and she didn't know how much longer she would last .
After eating , the kids followed one of the maids to the room they would be staying in for the night . Although Delilah wanted to find her father as soon as she could , she figured a nice long rest would be just the thing she needed to regain her strength and energy to continue the adventure . " Wow ! This room is huge ! " Webby gasped as they roamed their room . There were three beds , each one stuffed to the brim with pillows and blankets , and a variety of other peacock themed objects and accents . Dewey jumped on one of the beds , claiming it as his own , and it wasn't long until he declared a pillow fight with Webby . While they did , Delilah got herself propped up in bed and pulled the book Amira had picked out for her . She set it on her lap , then promptly began to read under the light of her bedside lamp . She quickly learned that Amira was right , there was just about everything about Eris in this book . From the tale of how she started the Trojan war to just how many kids she had , Delilah read on and on . " C'mon Delilah , come play with us ! " Webby called out , a pillow pressed against her cheek . " Yeah ! You've been reading that book for almost an hour , and books are super boring , so why don't you come join the pillow fight ? " Dewey added . Delilah looked up from her book to face her cousins and , while she really did want to know more about Eris , she figured that it would be nice to take a break from all the seriousness that she had radiated the whole trip . " Alright ,, I'm coming ! " She called out to them , setting the book aside and picking up her pillow . As she did , she was bombarded with fluffy pillows hitting her in all directions , and she laughed .
The rest of the night , the kids tossed and hit each other with pillows , feathers flying everywhere . By the time they had finally gotten tired , it was almost 1 AM . They said their goodnights and crawled into their beds , snuggling up in the pillows and blankets until they drifted off to sleep . Of course , despite the fact she was very tired , Delilah knew she had to continue reading on , so she did . She flipped back to the page she had been reading previously and continued to read further and further down the page . Eventually , she came upon a particularly helpful section in the book . Where to find Eris . As she read on more , she discovered that Eris lives in an extraordinarily deep cave that goes almost straight to the core of the Earth , becoming extremely hot . What's more , there were bits and pieces of tales from other adventurers , describing their experiences on how their deepest and darkest fears came true , and some even were never heard from again . Delilah gulped , thinking of how maybe her terrible fears would come true too , but at the same time - it was just a book . Maybe they weren't true . But everything up to that point had been accurate , even the green fog Eris unleashes upon her targeted areas , so it couldn't be that far-fetched .
Delilah then decided that that was enough reading for tonight . She had found just what she had been looking for , a place to associate Eris with . She placed the book aside once more , this time in her bag again , then snuggled up in the fluffy and soft pillows of her royal bed , staring at the top of the canopy that surrounded it . She thought of her mom , her sisters , and more so than anyone else , her dad . She really hoped he was okay , she missed him a lot , but she knew her dad was one of the greatest adventurers ever , and she knew he would be okay . Thoughts still floating around her head , she closed her eyes and finally yet slowly fell asleep , having the first real sleep she'd ever had since leaving the house boat .