Silver Lines (Sky Forever Volume 2)

Chapter 5: Sly Bob

We had been walking for hours and had finally reached the Run. We had told Storm that we intended on heading South, so she had used the moss growing on the trees to know the direction we were going in.

"Moss mostly grows on the North of trees." She had said, "Except when you get really South, then it starts growing on the South of trees."

Using this knowledge, she had led us West and out onto the road. The Run wasn't as stony as the Trayl, in fact it was more solid and flat and all together easier to walk on. But I was still starting to feel exhausted.

"Could we maybe rest for a little bit?" I asked, wiping some sweat from my brow.

"Why?" Storm asked.

I adjusted the bag of supplies that was hanging over my shoulder, "We've been non-stop since we set off."

"I thought you wanted to get somewhere." Storm said, bluntly.

"We do." Amber said, "But there's no rush, really."

"Oh, okay." Storm said, "Then sure, we can rest. Where do you want to rest?"

I spotted a small brick wall a few metres off the road, "Over there?"

The four of us wandered over to it, dropped the bags down and sat.

"Where is it that you guys are going, exactly?" Storm asked, flicking some hair out of her face.

"Honestly, we don't really know." I said, "Somewhere snowy."

"We're actually looking for Jared's father." Amber explained, "We think that he lives in the South somewhere."

"I never actually knew my father." said Storm, "He died before I was born. I was raised by my aunt."

"What happened to your mother?" Amber asked.

"She died too." Storm answered, "It was some disease that killed her."

Neither Amber nor I knew what to say to that.

"I knew my father." Lonely Soul said, "Although, I can't really remember much about him. Not even his name. Only that he was quite important to a lot of people."

"Was he famous?" I asked.

Lonely Soul just shrugged.

"Can you guys hear that?" Amber asked, looking around.

I listened and heard a rattling of some sort. It got gradually louder and started sounding like horse hooves.

"It's coming from over there." Storm said.

We all looked to see an open-top cart led by two horses trotting up the road. Driving it was small, dishevelled-looking man, wearing worn-out clothes and a dark green, woolly hat.

He spotted us as he got nearer and brought the cart to a halt when he reached the wall.

"Good day, travellers!" He called, cheerily.

"Good day." I replied, on behalf of the group.

"Do you not have a vehicle?" He asked, looking around.

"Nope." I said.

He looked back at us, "Well then. How about a ride?"

We all looked at each other.

"How do we know we can trust you?" Amber said.

"Do I look like a dangerous man to you?" He asked, scratching a boil on his nose.

"Suppose not." Amber replied, looking him up and down.

He adjusted his hat, "So, are you wanting that ride or not?"