Woodbridge Recollection : The Hidden Kingdom

Chapter 5: Woodbridge.

The drive remained silent for up to thirty minutes. The silence seemed to stop bothering me when the highway passed by the seaside. I had never been to a beach before; which only pressed my interest in it more. I suddenly yearned to stop there and stand on the shore. It was beginning to look more crowded as the beaches turned into long spaced docks. Many boats filled the docks up.

When I sat forward in my seat and turned towards my window to watch the passing shores, Zacarias seemed to notice.

"T'is Knysna Lagoon, lass," he said.

I sat back in my seat.

"We're in Knysna?" I asked.

"Yes," he answered. "Woodbridge is hidden in the forest. Part of the Kingdom reached the Lagoon too, but no one goes there because of the lagoon restrictions. Good thing too, otherwise they'd find the kingdom."

None of this made sense. How could there be a kingdom hidden between the forest and the lagoon? That was a rather wide space to occupy. How would someone not notice such a large isolated area?

I decided that it was best to not ask questions. Things were already weird enough as it was.

I watched with intense observation as Zacarias continued along the main road passing the lagoon. Eventually, he turned off onto another road and then made another turn onto a rather old deserted looking road. As he continued along it, the tar seemed to end off and the road became dirt. Zacarias continued to drive along the dirt road. The further we moved, the more the vegetation seemed to thicken around us.

I sat forward in my seat once again when I noticed the road coming to an end.

The car slowed down to a stop at the end of it and then Zacarias cut the engine. He pulled up the parking break and then removed the keys from the ignition.

"What are we doing?" I asked.

"Going te' Woodbridge," he said as he opened the car door. "Get out."

I furrowed my eyebrows and scoffed.

I quickly unbuckled my seat belt and then got out the car.

"In case you haven't noticed, the road ends there!" I pointed at the end of the road. "I don't see any kind of civilization out here."

Zacarias walked around to the back of the car and opened the boot.

"That's because we canne' drive there," he said.

I slammed my door shut and moved over to the boot.

"We have te' continue on foot," he continued as he slipped a backpack onto his shoulders.

"It's freezing out here," I simply said as a matter of fact.

"Aye," he agreed. "I recommend that we keep moving, then." He lifted another backpack from the boot and pressed it into my hands.

I looked down at it.

"What is this?" I demanded.

"I figured that ye' might want yer' essentials," he said. "I packed it before we left yer' apartment; some clothes, yer' bag, a pair of shoes or two."

I glared at him intently.

"And you couldn't have mentioned this before?" I snapped. I had been wearing the same clothes for more than twenty-four hours. I could have cleaned up a little, brushed my hair or put on new clothes!

"I was too busy trying te' keep ye' from running away," he said as he slammed the boot shut.

I shot him one thick sarcastic look and then slipped the backpack onto my back. What a stupid excuse.