Luna Meridian's Arc

Chapter 3 of 3

Luna counted the coin on the tavern table at dawn. Four days of road stood between them and the next hold. On foot, with a lute, a bass, a guitar, and a drum kit, they would arrive dead on their feet and unfit to play. She needed a wagon by noon or the tour ended before it started. She walked to the stable behind the tavern. The stableman scratched his beard and named a price. It was three times what the pouch held. He would not come down. He said a cart with a beast to pull it was worth what it was worth. Luna went back to the loft where the band still slept. The practice space above the tavern smelled of last night's sweat. Jade slept curled around her guitar case. Riley Crash sat up first, sticks already in her hand out of habit. Riley Thorne swung her legs off the bench and reached for her bass. "We're short," Luna said. "We can't buy a wagon. We can't walk it either." Jade sat up. She pushed purple hair out of her face. "Then we earn it here. One more night." "The steward said play once and go." "Not the tavern." Jade nodded at the window. Across the yard a smaller building leaned under a slanted roof, its colored glass panes bright in the morning sun. A hand-painted sign advertised the loft for rent by the hour. "That place hires out for private shows. Merchants pay to book bands for guild suppers. I saw a notice tacked by the door." Luna went down and read it. A wool guild wanted music that evening for a contract signing. The pay was posted. It would cover the wagon and the beast and leave a little over. She walked back to the tavern steward. She asked if he would keep his room quiet tonight and let the band play the guild supper across the yard. He shrugged and said the guild's coin was not his coin. They played the supper that night in the rented loft. The wool merchants sat at long tables. Luna kept the volume down for the first two songs. By the third she let Riley Crash open up. The merchants stopped talking and started listening. The guild master paid in full at the end and added a copper for the drummer. At dawn Luna walked to the stable with the fresh purse. She counted out the price. The stableman handed her the lead of a broad, patient mare hitched to a flatbed cart with slat sides. The bed was long enough for the kit and the cases and three sleeping bandmates while one drove. Luna climbed onto the bench and took the reins. Jade loaded the guitar. Riley Thorne laid the bass across a folded blanket. Riley Crash tied the kit down with rope. The road east was four days long. Now they had wheels under them.