Sol's Shine and the Kingdom of Water

Chapter 14 Beyond The Red River

 As far as the king knows, he was told that Vincent was just another person that came with them on Krissy's ship. Not showing his face had its benefits and the person known as the "doctor" was considered as an escaped convict even though he was actually the same person. All he had to do was wear a different outfit and that was that. Ever since they departed from Atlaqua, the king had agreed to take Sol up north to the border that separated them from the Kingdom of Metal on one of their airships.

Sol had already asked the king himself why they couldn't pass the border but was told that the king didn't have a clue either. Ever since before they departed Atlaqua, Sol was told that something was taking down their airships the moment they came close to the mountain range border that separated their kingdom from the orcs. The king properly introduced himself to Sol and the Kinrocs as Quill and the ride they were on was more or less just a reward that Sol earned for helping them out with the Shining Giant.

Made by dwarven technology, the airships were primarily used by the atheras who had dreams of flying but knew they never could and the chances of any airship being owned by an athera were at least 4 to 5. If not owned by an athera then it would be owned by a dwarf. Lilac was resting along the railing that overlooked the entire land and she figured that there had to be some sort of catch as to why they couldn't just use these airships to cross the mountain side border. Even if they all said that they didn't know what it was themselves, she figured that they had all the time in the world to figure it out anyway. Yet the king didn't elaborate on how the airships went down in the first place, just that they simply did.

Their destination was approaching and both Lilac and Ella couldn't help but notice the giant river that flowed in between the mountain side. The giant river indicated that the border was currently receiving plenty of more rain than the Kingdom of Water. Over the railing, the sisters could see a decent sized town that didn't seem to get hit that hard by the drought thanks to the large flowing river next to it. Vincent came over to his daughters to relay a message given to him from the crew onboard. "We're going to land shortly. There's an opening spot next to the river this airship is going to rest on."

"Do you think anyone else has any clue on why these airships can't cross the border?" Ella asked her dad. "I never asked them. I assume that it has something to do with that however." Vincent pointed to a spot in the river which had the front of an airship sticking up out of the water with its mechanical wings still attached to the ship and floating on the river's surface. Multiple holes could be seen in the ship's body and wings like it was brought down by multiple cannon balls. As they all scanned the river, they realized it wasn't the only wrecked ship. There were plenty of more airships that crashed into the water. To them, it felt like they were all looking at a graveyard.

They could all feel the ship descend closer to the ground and Vincent was starting to get a bad feeling about whatever they were going to find. He knew they weren't all that safe no matter where they went but he still couldn't help but feel anxious. They were all essentially stuck in a cage and he was never able to free himself. Now that his daughters were stuck in the same death trap that he was in, his priority of getting home changed to protecting the both of them. As relieved as he was to see Lilac and Ella again, he couldn't help but feel like they were in harm's way which only doubled his stress.

Sol looked around for the king as the airship finally landed on the ground. He finally found him as he was getting ready to exit. The atheras flipped a switch and wooden stairs started to come out of the ship, revealing that they were hiding in the wall of the airship's exterior. Each step came out one by one out of the wall, extending downward. Sol approached King Quill before he could step down with the rest of his crew.

"Are you sure anyone from that nearby town didn't see anything? Or at least tell me that there were some survivors that could describe what happened to those airships." Sol told him. "No survivors. As for that town, they couldn't tell us anything either. It all happened at night and no one was awake. Now that you're here though, you can actually help us solve this mystery. If you can get into our kingdom then I'm sure you can help us get out of it too." The king patted Sol on the back and that was all that Quill had to say to him before leaving the airship.