Silver Lines (Sky Forever Volume 2)

Chapter 24: King's Core

We decided not to stay long in Newfieldstown and got straight back on the road. We were now bound for King's Core, the capital city, and it would take us three days to get there. Those three days passed smoothly by. Nothing tried to kill us, a few travelling salesman tried to sell us their goods, and we had plenty of fuel and food for the journey. The only problem was money. The gold we'd salvaged from 'The Lady Seasick' wasn't enough to last us much longer and we needed another source of income.

The wildlife of Beran was slightly more exotic than Azterak. Colourful Beranian birds fluttered in and out of the trees around us. At one point, we passed a field of Red Cows which were a type of cow native to Beran. I remembered my dream on the ship about the field of Red Cows but I didn't mention it to anyone.

We reached a huge lake called King's Water. On the other side of the lake were more hills and over the hills lay King's Core itself. We could only just see the tops of some of the huge spiralling towers that stretched up out of the city into the sky.

"We can either travel around the lake, which will take another day," Kay said, "Or we leave the cart, find a boat, and travel across it, which will take a few hours."

"I don't know if I'm comfortable on water after everything that happened last time." I said.

"Yeah, but that was the sea," Storm said, "This is just a lake."

"And it doesn't look like there's going to be bad weather any time soon." Lonely Soul said, gazing up at the clear sky.

I looked over at Amber who shrugged, "Sorry, I really don't want to travel on a cart for another day..."

I was clearly outnumbered, so we set about finding a boat. Along the shore there was a small shack with an old man sitting inside.

"Are there any boats around here?" Storm asked.

The old man nodded and pointed behind us. There was a pile of small rowing boats amongst the shadows of the trees that we'd all missed.

"It'll cost you." He croaked.

I gave him two gold pieces, which he tested with his teeth. He gave a satisfactory nod and waved me away.

Each boat only had room for three people so we took two; Amber, Storm and Lonely Soul on one, my father and I (with all our bags) on another. Although I didn't particularly enjoy the experience of being on water again, the reflection of the sky in the lake was breathtaking and the sound of the oars lapping in the water along with the Beranian birds singing above us as they fluttered about was therapeutic. A large crimson and yellow bird soared out of the forest to the right of us and flew overhead, giving a musical cry.

"A Punane Glider." my father said, "Such a majestic creature."

"How do you know what type of bird it is?" I asked.

"I did a lot of reading in prison." He answered, "There isn't much else to do."

We rowed in silence for a few moments. Amber, Storm and Lonely Soul could be heard chatting a few metres away in their own boat.

"So what exactly happened between you and Jasper?" Kay asked, suddenly.

"He tried to execute me." I replied, "I wasn't sure why at the time, but I understand now that he just wanted to kill you. And the next best thing was me."

"I'm sorry for everything I've put you through, Jared." My father said, "I truly am."

"Yeah, so you keep saying." I looked away across the water as Kay carried on rowing.

"Anyway," He continued, "Once we find Neo, everything will finally be alright."

"What are we actually going to do if we find him?" I asked.