Kingdom Fall (Ethereal #1)

- Chapter 27 -

The Port City

Sapphire

Sapphire watched the prince turn away from the captain with a safe grin plastered on his face as he signaled them to quickly walk away from the ship. The girl didn't like taking orders from anyone, but they really should start going if they didn't want to get into any trouble.

'That was close,' said prince exclaimed.

The children quickly left the port and entered the busy streets of the city, only to find herself in a very difficult situation.

She couldn't understand a word the people around her were saying. When she glanced over to Naajim, she noticed him looking around, trying to figure things out. And it seems, she wasn't the only one facing a difficult situation.

'This is a trading city,' muttered Prince Tyler, 'Surely most of the people here know Althean.'

Archie nodded in agreement.

'Well,' said Sapphire, 'We have Naajim.'

Their first stop was a small restaurant. Actually, it was the first restaurant they found. The inside of it was dark and a little bit crowded. The smell of oil and spices filled the air. The children rushed to fill up one empty table at the corner of the restaurant while they waited for the waiter to take their orders.

'What are we going to order?' asked Sapphire.

'Anything edible,' said the prince, 'And which had nothing to do with fish.'

After waiting for about a quarter an hour, a girl walked over to them. She looked at them and panicked, clearly seeing that they were foreigners. But she calmed down after noticing Naajim, only to panic once again when their eyes met. The girl ran off.

'W-what was that?' said Sapphire, turning to Naajim. The poor boy looked down, trying to cover his eyes.

'She must have gotten scared by his eyes,' said Prince Tyler. He leaned in closer to the boy's face, 'I wanted to ask you all this time, why is it so gold?'

Just as Naajim was about to raise his head, a bulky man with a beard and an apron came over. He looked at the foreigners and said, 'What can we get for you?'

Everyone was relieved that the man knew Althean.

'Anything that you gave, sir,' said Prince Tyler.

'Forgive the girl,' said the man. He glanced at Naajim, 'She says one of you is a deamon. Don't mind her. Then I will bring some flat bread and a meat gravy. Do you want something to drink?'

The prince shook his head, even though he seemed like he really wanted to. When the man left, the prince turned to the children and said, 'Deamon?'

Sapphire shrugged.

Naajim instead sighed and looked up, 'My eyes. They are of that of deamons.'

'That's ridiculous,' said the prince. 'If you are a deamon then what am I? The reaper?'

Sapphire saw Archie narrow his eyes and turn to the prince. He wanted to ask something, but he stopped and looked away. It took a while for Sapphire to understand Archie's dilemma.

'He didn't tell you?' said Sapphire without thinking twice.

'Tell what?'

'About us?'

'What's about you? He said you might be of help, even though I have no idea where you came from. Earic collects strange people by his side, so I wasn't so surprised.'