Sol's Shine and the Kingdom of Terra

Chapter 5 Ticket To Nowhere

 When morning came, the guard that Sol had left in the cell was found. It didn't take long for Lisandra to make a headcount of the people who were still in Luminar. Aside from just Sol and Hendrick, it took them approximately under twenty minutes to figure out that several others that came back to Luminar with Sol were missing as well. It was the natural assumption that they had all gone with Sol except for Jordan who was speculated to have gone with Crystal. Although Crystal had just speculated herself that something was up with Jordan because he had never caught up with them when they arrived in Barrow. Ella, Vincent, and even the queen herself were left to worry in Luminar while Crystal was left feeling betrayed.

And while all of those events occurred, Sköll was still searching for the abandoned railroad tracks Hendrick claims to exist. Near a mountain range and close to a dense pine forest, Sköll was now casually taking a stroll. One of the wheels to the wagon they all rode on almost looked like it was going to fall off and Sol was starting to grow some doubts if the area they were in would really have any sort of tracks. "Let's stop using the wagon here. Sköll is strong but he still gets tired just like the rest of us." Sol said as he got off of the blood wolf's back. Sol took the harness away from the wolf when he took the moment to rest.

Jordan circled in one spot to take a look at the area they were in. "This doesn't look like the type of environment where railroad tracks would be built, Hendrick! You better not be lying to us." "Does it look like I have any use for lying boy? This is my chance to escape and I'm not going to ruin it for anything." Yvonne picked up her prosthetic leg to kick Hendrick forward which almost made him stumble to the ground. "Watch it girl!" "Just hurry up and help us find those stupid tracks." Yvonne told him as she picked up Cinder's head from the wagon.

Hendrick pointed toward the pine forest which seemed like it headed down a small slope. "Just through there should be the tracks. I would recommend splitting up to find them since it could all be covered by moss or dirt or whatever. Tough to find unless you have a good eye." Sol took a rope from the wagon to tie Hendrick's hands behind his back. "You're not going to split from me. If you try anything stupid, I'll light your butt on fire." "Ha! You want to lecture me about doing something stupid after the stunt you pulled? Unlike you, at least I don't pretend to be a good person ya stupid demon."

"He just doesn't know when to shut up does he?" William complained. "He appears to be a sociopath." Cinder added. "Call out to everyone once you think you've found something. Come on." As soon as Sol gave the word, everyone split off into the area to hopefully find what they were looking for. Everyone's eyes were glued to the ground as they kicked and swept piles of leaves and sticks in hopes of finding something that didn't look like it belonged in a dense forest.

Most of the forest floor appeared to be dark as casted shadows from the treetops blocked the light's path, making their search just a little more difficult. It was at least obvious enough to Jordan that the original thought process in building this railway was to put the tracks together first and cut down the trees later, at least the ones that wouldn't get in their way. In either case, he knew the dwarves would still have to lay all the pieces down in a flat area to prevent any train from falling over on its side. That made hills and slight slopes easy to ignore.

Jordan wouldn't even be surprised to see some slight adjustments to the terrain in order to find the tracks. Although he wasn't so sure how much he would really be able to find due to the whole project being abandoned. If finding the tracks wasn't hard enough, it was still Jordan's job to keep Sköll fed. He pulled an arrow from his quiver and wandered a little farther off to make sure he was more isolated. All Jordan had to do was make sure he didn't accidentally hit anyone he was with and to hunt, he needed to be completely focused and in a quiet environment.