Dusk Till Dawn (Being Rewritten!)

Part 1: A Fateful Encounter.

Looking around her, Melody marveled at the beauty of the castle as she walked through its large halls with a stack of clothes meant for the prince’s chambers. The young woman had only been working at the castle for a short while and was still unfamiliar with most of the castle; in fact, she was having trouble locating the prince’s chambers to bring him the clothes he would be wearing for the day after today.

The tapestries lining the wall caught her attention as they told the tales of heroes long lost to world, but not yet to history. The candles all around the castle illuminated the portraits found in some of the main halls telling the stories of past kings and to remind the people of Dusk of the hardship they have went through. Footsteps could be heard echoing all around the empty halls.

It was nearing the end of the day and the people of the court needed to get ready to attend the dinner for the night before retiring to sleep or talk about politics.

As Melody continued to walk through the quiet halls looking for the prince’s chambers, something caught her eye. She walked over to the sparkle on a small table which stood between two pillars with benches on either side of those. The item she saw was a box with a glass top. Shifting the weight of the clothes to one hand she gently opened the box to discover gentle music filling the hall.

Quickly shutting it she looked around hoping no one else had heard. When no one came to confront the noise she opened the box up once more and listened carefully to the tune. It was light and soft with a taste of magic. A small figure twirled around as the music continued to play.

Too engrossed with the music, she did not hear someone walk up behind her. When the shadow fell over her, she panicked quickly shutting the box with a gasp and turning around to face whoever had caught her. Yet while turning, she managed to elbow the poor man and drop all the clothes on the floor.

“I am terribly sorry,” she muttered as she helped the man stand before picking up her clothes.

“No, I am the one at fault. I should not have snuck up behind you and for that I apologize. Now, is that your music box?” the man asked as Melody looked up at his kindness.

He was significantly taller than her, but since she was not very tall to begin with it was easy to be. His blond hair seemed to dance with the light of the flames as his eyes gave off a brilliant blue hue. Melody had never seen him once since she had started working, but there must be thousands of nobles she had yet to meet so this was no exception.

The only thing she had to worry about was him telling the head mistresses about the clothes she dropped or even her elbowing him to get her into trouble. His simple white pants caught her attention till she looked up slightly and saw he was wearing a simple tunic while in his hands he carried a riding whip.

Could be part of the court or just some help at the stables?

“It is not mine. I saw this here on the table and wondered what was inside when I saw the glass top. When I opened it the music started to play,” she said softly as the man looked past her at the box.

“I see. I wonder who left it there then?” he turned to leave, but Melody was not too sure if she could trust him.

“Please, sir. If you could keep this between you and I, I would greatly appreciate it,” she knew it was a long shot, but if it was worth a try; she squeezed her eyes tight waiting.

“Of course,” she flung her eyes open to look at the beautiful smile the man put on his face to show he would do as he promised.

“Thank you,” Melody said curtseying deeply to show her respect. She would later recall how similar the man had looked to the portrait of his mother which hung only a few feet from where they had stood.   

For now, thoughts about the clothes she had dropped came to her mind as she hummed the song from the music box to herself. At the end of the long corridor stood a single door. There was no indication of it to be the prince’s room, but the one who had sent her with the clothes told her it would be the last room down this corridor. Swallowing to gather her courage Melody knocked on the door.

Please be there, she thought to herself. Yet no one came to answer the knock.

“I have the clothes for tomorrow, sir,” she said meekly as she stood in front of the door. Still no answer came.

She turned around and closed her eyes with a sigh as she continued to walk away when she suddenly bumped right into a solid object. She fell backwards, the clothes scattered on the floor. Rubbing her nose she looked up to find the object she had walked into.

“Hello again,” the man from earlier with the blond hair and blue eyes.

“Please forgive me,” Melody closed her eyes in fear. Rumors had filled the air with talk of nobles mistreating servants for their wrongdoings. Perhaps this man was the same way.

“It was an accident. Here, let me help you up,” he held out his hand trying to show her she had nothing to fear.

At first she hesitated to grab the hand since she was not sure if he was really just trying to be kind, but the look in his eyes was pure. The man helped her up and then grabbed the clothes and gathered them into his hands. He then turned towards Melody.

“Thanks for bringing my clothes by the way,” he opened the door to the room and left Melody standing outside with a gaping face.

“Y-You are Prince Aiden?!” she gasped realizing she had never greeted him with respect and he had seen her drop his clothes twice. Things were going to be rough for her it seemed.

“Yes, but like I have been trying to tell you, I will not tell anyone about this. I know what goes on to those who get punished and I really do not want to see you get hurt just because you seem to like bumping into me,” he chuckled slightly as he watched her.

“But-”

“No buts. Just go about your normal duties with peace. This stays between us besides you helped me with something already. The music box belonged to my mother and someone set it out for me to find. I had a hard time finding it until you opened it and it started to play,” Aiden explained as Melody saw for the first time the music box in one of his hands.

“Oh,” was the only thing Melody could think of to say while Aiden laughed openly now.

“Come now, you should probably head back to the mistresses before she notices you are still not back yet,” Melody nodded and left Aiden to close his door so he could get ready for dinner.

Melody walked the way she had come thoughts swirling in her head. How could she have acted like in front of the prince? What if the king found out? How would she get a job to help her family? With each question that passed she felt more and more in the slumps.

Could she really trust the prince? Was he even known to help servants? She would have to talk to the others and find out. Although more than ever, she wished she could have brought Blue with her here in the castle.

You called, came a soft reply in Melody’s head.

Blue, I miss you and I am confused, Melody said to her best friend who happened to be the one companion she could always count on.

Dear child, you are working at the castle of course you would be so. Just keep trudging through and keep your head low. You do not want a noble against you, Blue said huffing at the last part.

Thanks, but I think I already know that. I just wish I could pay off the debt sooner so I could leave, Melody could hear the small annoyance in Blue as she spoke to him.

Stop whining and get the debt paid off. I do not like this place any more than you do, Melody cringed at Blue’s harsh words, but knew he was right. The more she worried about her situation the more she would mess up and get stuck working her longer. Are you heading to bed now?

No, I have to go to the mistress and see if I need to do anything, Melody replied as she took a right.

Do not stay up too late, Blue said before wishing her a silent good night.

I finally added the music box song after I got permission from the composer. It was really nice of dearlykat to let me use their original composition so please don't forget to check out their other videos. 

http://www.youtube.com/user/dearlykat