Book One: Fate
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CHAPTER FIVE: The Voyage
The Sparda was undergoing its final checks and preparations before departure. Once all passengers were accounted for and all stock was loaded, the ships sails were launched up its sturdy wooden main mast. The large thick white fabric of the sails spread out like giant bird wings, catching the wind almost instantly, setting the ship in motion and steering away from the port of Wrathe. The power of the wind coupled with that of steam powered rotary motion at the rear of the ship allowed the Sparda to reach a reasonable speed as it bopped along the currents. Reaching Cattra on the other side of the boats voyage would take two nights and until then the group of young adventurers could relax on the ship.
Upon finding the groups room, deck two room six, there was some signs of a mix up. Within the considerably sized room were; the main bedroom with a large double bed, an en suite washroom to the far right of the door, and a spare bedroom with a single bed. Two beds for three people was not part of the plan, but this mix up was soon solved by Karen. In order to get her ‘favor’ from the Captain of Sparda, she had to give in to certain technicalities, one of which was the type of cabin they were granted. The room was meant to be for a couple and child.
Karen had quickly claimed the double bed in the main room by tossing her hilted dagger onto it. Joel rushed past Tylor, who stood in the doorway, and threw his backpack onto the spare room’s bed. He returned to the main bedroom with a smirk on his face. Examining the cabin, Tylor looked for a suitable place to set up his sheets. Though the floor was carpeted in a soft red material, he still would have preferred some form of couch to rest on, but unfortunately the cabin only had small seats.
For the most part the room was basic; wooden walls and doors, wooden chairs, and a table. Next to the double bed sat a dresser, and a mirror hung on the wall above it. On a similar small two drawer cabinet sat a lamp for lighting the night and on the east wall was a port hole. The doors leading to the spare room and washroom sat beside each other on the west wall from the doorway. Directly outside the door was a small path which led to stairs at both ends of a corridor, with rooms spread down each side.
Leaving Tylor and Joel to get settled in and unpack some of their belongings into storage space, Karen left the room for a short time saying that she had to retrieve something from the Captain. After a short time, she returned with a back pack saying that she had left it with the Captain when she first arrived in Wrathe. Not wanting to openly invade her privacy, Tylor took a quick glance as she rummaged through it and saw that it held clothing and other such things. Dropping some clothing out onto the bed she looked out a long sleeved, cream colored top, and a comb. Asking for some privacy to change, she suggested that the boys went looking around the ship, on a tour.
“Alright, we’ll be up on deck,” said Tylor.
Closing the door behind them, Tylor and Joel started walking along with narrow path to the stairs at the far end. There were two sets of stairs; one going up, and one going down. The ones leading up went to the main deck and the ones leading down went to the storage area for the stock the ship held.
Tylor was pleased they had two nights of rest; it was time to relax and reflect on what had been happening in his life. Before hand, he had always had too much to think about, but now he could sit and rest. He had a basic plan formed; to go find his mother, however, that did not seem like enough. He needed to work out the fine details. The basis of the reason for him traveling made him very unsettled and worried.
It was the start of two long nights on the ship. Joel shuddered to himself as he walked behind Tylor. Below deck it was not so bad; the motions of the ship were not as noticeable if you cannot actually see the waves moving about. Out on the deck, though, the waves were in full view, bobbing up and down constantly swaying from side to side. His stomach was doing somersaults already.
It was still as cloudy and miserable outside as when the ship left port. The wind remained constant, making the boat rock even more. A variety of different sized gulls circled the ship, passing through the masts and some walked the along the main decks, until the sound of footsteps scared them, causing them to flutter wildly while trying to sore back into the sky. Not wanting to venture near the edge of the boat or anywhere that gave a view of the waves, Joel stayed close to the center of the deck, trying not to give away how he was feeling.
“It’s getting really cold out here. I’m going to go grab another shirt. I’ll be right back,” Tylor said, disappearing back down the stairs to deck two.
Joel silently followed back inside to the base of the stairs, sitting down on them to wait for Tylor to return. He peered round the side of the stairs to see his friend reach their room’s door. He watched as Tylor knocked first and said something before slowly opening the door. He was probably checking Karen had finished getting changed. Startled, Joel jumped with surprise as he heard someone shout from down the hall. Peering round the base of the stairs again, he saw Tylor with his back to their room’s door. Saying something (which was too quiet to make out) he quickly walked down the hall to Joel. Tylor’s face had flushed a bright red, and he was trying very hard to hide it.
“What is it?” Joel asked, as Tylor walked past and started heading up the stairs.
Turning quickly, he waved his hand and said it was nothing. Chasing after him back out onto the main deck, Joel again asked what had happened.
“Apparently the washroom in our room has a steam powered shower. Karen decided to have one to try it out,” he gulped between breathes.
Tylor’s eyes narrowed as he watched the kids face explode into a fit of laughter. Questioning how much he saw, he knocked Joel around the head as a reply. Apologizing, but still grinning, Joel went silent. Changing the topic of conversation as fast as he could, Tylor pointed out it was getting quite late on in the day and that night was almost upon them. It seemed quick, but then the Sparda did not leave port until late afternoon.
Karen had mentioned that meals were served in the mess hall for the passengers. Inquiring as to how hungry Joel was, they decided to look for the mess hall to get their dinner. It was then that Tylor noticed that, although Joel was still laughing to himself, he looked slightly pale and had done since they had set out.
Wait a minute, Joel doesn’t like sailing! Tylor cried inwardly. Damn, how could I forget that? His father used to embarrass him with that story about him being sick all the time…Too much on my mind I guess. I suppose he did not want to say anything before we got on in case I told him to forget about going…
He sighed inwardly. Joel really did not want to stay on the island. He had seen the contempt in the kid’s eyes as they waved the island goodbye earlier that day. Did the people they were leaving behind even bother him? They might not see them again yet he did not seem to care. They would not see Old Man Copper, Samantha, or any of them.
“Joel, you should have told me. I forgot you did not like sailing,” he said gently.
His friend stopped on the spot and looked at Tylor, slightly embarrassed. He denied it at first, but seeing that Tylor had remembered the story he realized there was no point hiding it. Explaining that it was not as bad as when he was younger, Joel stated he could put up with it for as long as it would take them to reach Cattra. Nodding in response, Tylor carried on walking along the deck of the ship.
At the far end of a corridor at the eastern stairs below deck and near the steam engine of the ship, was the mess hall. Upon walking inside, they realized that it actually spreads across two decks and stairs within it led down into the actual eating area, where tables and chairs were laid out. The above deck area was where food was served by the sailors in white chef clothing with matching stout hats. It was mostly a self service affair, the cooks laid out what they had made and passengers were left to take what they like for dinner. The ticket price did not include proper served meals, it seemed.
Proof that the Sparda was more for storage and stock carrying than people carrying was apparent in the number of people coming for dinner. The room could probably seat and serve about thirty or forty people, but the room was not even half full. Also, most of the people who entered the room after Joel and Tylor sat down with their meals seemed to be lone traders. Joel had noticed one family with children, but that was it.
Fetching some plates, food, and drinks, the boys sat down at one of the many empty tables and began tucking into the meal. The main topic of conversation remained about the main land and what they hoped to find once there. Joel, it seemed, had high expectations of seeing more things similar to the magic sphere Karen had showed them. He also hoped to get some for himself and learn how to use them, which apparently was not that hard. Tylor wanted to see how different the people and places were to the island. The way Karen sometimes looked at him when he did not understand what she meant when talking about things that happened in the main land made him unsettled, so he wanted to understand better. He also hoped he would find out what Karen meant when she referred to “darkness” on the main land, but he kept that to himself.
Around ten minutes into the meal, Karen arrived. She no longer wore her chain mail or padded armor bottoms and top, she was dressed much more casual than before. She was wearing a long sleeved cream top, which hung over her waist, and long black trousers. It seemed dresses were not her style. Sitting down with them after getting her meal, Tylor noticed her hair was still damp; droplets were dripping down onto her shoulder. When she noticed him looking, he turned away. He could not forget the incident in the room made him very nervous. For the first time, Karen seemed a little uncomfortable too. Joel, on the other hand, was dumbstruck by her sudden change of attire and was practically drooling.
“Where’d you get the clothes, Karen?” his young friend asked in between chews.
Ah, the innocence of youth! Thanks, Joel, Tylor thought.
“I left my belongings with the captain when I first got here, like I said; he owes me a few favors. I’ve got all my belongings in the cabin now though, so I can finally get changed out of that sweaty armor.”
For the rest of the meal it was mostly Joel doing the talking to both of them. Neither he nor Karen asked anything directly to each other. After running out of random things to talk about, even Joel had stopped talking, which caused (what felt like) a long, and uncomfortable, silence.
Night had appeared quite suddenly. Once the group decided to leave the dining area, they walked out into a dark blue sky and the sun no where to be seen. The clouds, at least, had cleared up partly, meaning it would be a calm night. The first few pin points of light were already appearing, dotted around the sky and clearly visible through the holes in the clouds. Stopping near the stairs to the lower decks, Tylor rested his arms on the side of the ship, looking out across the sea. Joel stated he was going to the room, and disappeared below deck while Karen remained with him.
The sea seemed to stretch out forever around them and no land was visible at all. The sea still looked a little rocky, swaying in patterns that looked like tiny hills. Looking to his right, Tylor watched as Karen leaned her back up against the side of the ship, facing the opposite direction from him, with her elbows holding up her weight.
“Let’s just forget about earlier, alright?” she said, calmly.
Gulping, Tylor managed to stutter a yes. If that was her attempt to try and quell the silence, it had not worked. He now felt even more embarrassed, but she did not seem as bothered about what happened as he had thought.
Fine, she isn’t bothered? Tylor thought to himself, angrily. Then neither am I.
He felt himself calming down. There was no point being embarrassed if she was not, it was best to just forget about it and move on as she had suggested. Without putting much thought into something to say to break the new silence that had formed, Tylor commented on how nice a ship the Sparda was.
“You don’t like silences, I see. Want me to leave?” Karen replied.
She could read him so well. Apologizing and saying no, he went on to say that he felt a little embarrassed about what had happened. Shrugging, she told him to change the subject, but not to something as desperate as how nice the boat was. He half smiled. Was she trying to make him feel better? He felt like saying thank you, so she had to have been.
Unfortunately, another silence did follow. What reasonable topic could he pick that would not sound like a desperate attempt at conversation? She turned her head in his direction and said that if he had not thought of anything that she had a question to ask him. Nodding, Tylor asked to hear it.
“Why are you going to the main land?” she inquired. “It’s too big a thing for two boys just to be going sight seeing, so, why?”
He would not be able to tell her the whole story; it would only make her think he is insane. Just the basics would do.
“I need to go to the capital city so I can find my mother. Our village was destroyed so we’ve got no where else to go.”
The information about the village seemed to shock her. Asking for more details, he mentioned the savage storm that destroyed Samilo. He shuddered as he recounted what he awoke to find on that fateful day. The images of the crippled and torn body he saw being pulled from the rubble were still perfectly clear in his minds eye. Karen asked who he was staying with if his mother lived on the main land.
“I was living with my father, but…. he died,” Tylor answered.
It was her turn to apologize to him. She obviously felt that she had pried too much into his personal life. She explained that she knew how he must have felt and that she had also lost her parents when she was very young, but because she has so few memories of them it did not hurt as much to talk about them.
Having so few memories of both her parents? It made him feel sorry for her. Yes, he hurt more now at the loss of his father, but he had many happy memories to comfort him. Where were Karen’s happy memories?
“When I die and meet the reaper, I’ll give Death a slap for both our parents, agreed?” she smiled.
He laughed gently, then together with Karen.
“It gets easier, Tylor. I promise, it does,” she said softly.
Her words meant a lot to him. Was there light at the end of the tunnel? Who knew; she might have been right. Things were, sadly, more complicated than that. There was Tai, for one thing. What would he do if he met him right now? Would he talk to him or demand answers? Or maybe he would kill him in cold blood. He formed closed fists with both his hands, cracking his knuckles. Tai made his blood boil. Perhaps anger would take over and he would simply attack him. Maybe killing Tai would make his pain get easier now, rather than waiting for it to happen progressively like Karen said.
Could I really kill someone? Do I have the right to do it?
For all he knew, Tai could be a married man with many children. Would that effect his decision when he eventually found him? He would have to decide that when the time came. Such a meeting could all be part of the grand plan that the voice in his dreams spoke of; his destiny. Maybe it would eventually demand that he found Tai and they face off against one another. The voice had mentioned something about his father’s fate. Maybe the same fate lay before him.
“Do you believe in destiny, Karen?” he asked.
Sighing, he did not look at her. He still felt stupid saying it. That word, destiny.
“There are lots of people who think we all get put on this land for a reason, a purpose. And then of course there is those ‘God’s Markings’ that people talk about. It is all about belief, I suppose. It’s about having belief in the super natural, belief in the unbelievable.”
Asking what she meant by ‘Gods Markings’, Karen explained that there was a legend that revolved around the eyes iris. The coloring and shade of a person’s iris was the marking God gave them upon creation, which signified what kind of purpose and life was expected of them. Waving her hand, she added that fortune tellers made a business out of explaining the legend and the meaning behind iris colors and that he should try to find one in Cattra if he was interested in such things.
Agreeing, Tylor realized she had in a way dodged his question again, making him ask another question which was not about her. Maybe it was on purpose and she just did not like talking about herself, but she had been doing it ever since they had met. Or she could be being secretive for some darker reason. That was the problem with her doing it, he could not tell for sure. Though she did seem like a nice person, the thought of her deliberately holding things back made him very curious and, sometimes, a little angry.
“Karen, you didn’t answer my question; do you believe in destiny?” he asked again, more forcibly than before.
Startled by his persistence for a direct answer, she simply said “Yes”. He did not ask for a reason along with the answer, so he would have to be content with that, but she gave as little information as possible. Was he to assume she was a religious person or perhaps just a believer in tales of legends? He decided to try and pry more information from her.
“Don’t you feel…? Well, silly…. admitting it?” he said. “The concept of it is so strange…”
A half smile graced her face. She said that she did not usually feel silly saying such things, but now that he had pointed that out she did. Rubbing the back of his head, he apologized.
“It’s all about belief and faith, Tylor. People believe many things which others would call ‘silly’. I have faith that there is a guiding force in this world, that we are put here for a reason. And some of us have more important tasks than others…”
“…What do you mean?” Tylor questioned.
She stopped mid sentence and apologized for ranting on about ‘nothing important’.
“What brought on asking that anyway? Is something troubling you?” Karen asked, changing the subject swiftly.
She no doubt already believed that he was odd. Telling her about the dreams would be a stupid idea. She would never talk to him again or just laugh every time she saw him. Saying there was nothing wrong, Tylor decided to head down to the cabin as it was becoming chilly on the deck. Karen followed after him.
Upon entering their room, Joel was no where to be seen. He had lit the two oil lamps that rested in opposite corners of the room and shut a small dangling curtain over the porthole. Hearing a call from the washroom Joel shouted that they could not come in as he was in the shower. He added something about ‘damn pedals’ that Tylor did not quite catch.
Karen sat down on the large double bed next to her back pack. Dresses, combs, and hair accessories were now lying around the bed as well. Those had to be what the Sparda’s Captain was holding onto for her, though it did not seem like the kind of thing a person like Karen would have with her. Searching through the back pack, she pulled out a few sparkling orbs. Tylor recognized the amber like one as the sphere she had used to light their campfire when they were staying out on the way to Wrathe. There was another sphere which matched the amber sphere and the other two looked a dull gray. Tossing Tylor one of the amber magic spheres, she placed the rest back in her pack.
“No traveler should be without at least one fire sphere. They burn brighter and last longer than any lamp. Point, concentrate, and speak the word ‘fire’ to use it. It’s easy,” she stated, like reading it out of a manual.
Looking within the sphere, he saw the small glowing light which, when commanded by the activation word, would spark fire at whatever lay before it. Truly, it was amazing, but would he be able to command it? Placing it into his satchel, he decided he would practice with it once they were on dry land. Experimenting with a fire sphere on a mostly wooden ship would not have been the best of ideas.
Some time passed before Joel exited the bathroom with a towel around his lower half and one drooped over his shoulders. Flattening his hair with his hands, he complained about the pedal in the shower. Karen agreed with him that it was quite annoying to use. Standing up and looking into the shower, Tylor saw that to get water out of the pipe you had to push a pedal. That probably meant the hot water was not stored somewhere, more likely it traveled through the steam engine gaining heat. This meant, of course, there was no certainty it would always be piping hot, so it was not the best of systems, but at least they tried to offer passengers the chance to wash.
Explaining that he was tired and was going to bed, Joel entered his side room and closed the door. Opening it again, he threw out some spare covers he found in a drawer for Tylor and then shut it again. Tylor stood up and began laying out one of the covers for something to lie on. Karen walked past him and entered the bathroom with her backpack.
Blowing out the lamp closest to him, Tylor lay down onto the floor. It was quite comfortable considering he was lying on the floor of a ship. He would still probably awake with neck pain or something similar, but at least it was only for two nights. Karen came out the bathroom wearing a thin, smooth, silk, long dress. Trying not to stare, he heard her walk across the room and enter her bed.
“Ready for the other lamp to go out?” she asked, waiting for Tylor’s agreement, “alright then. Goodnight Tylor.”
Closing his eyes slowly, Tylor fell into a deep sleep.
You must be careful, he is near.
Quickly, Tylor spun on the spot. He had entered that dream again. There was no fog this time, however, and only the pitch black dreamscape was all around him. The voice was emanating from around him again, from every corner and direction at once, like a strong booming note played by an instrument in an empty hall. Asking who the voice meant, he waited in anticipation for a response.
Tai.
Gritting his teeth, Tylor remained silent. Did the voice mean that Tai was somewhere around him in the dreamscape or that he was on the Sparda? Asking for an explanation, all things remained silent.
“Damn you, tell me!”
He only meant to think his words, but somehow he had said it aloud. Silence was still his answer. If it was that Tai was on the ship with them, then he had to find him before they reached Cattra or he may never find him on the main land. Though he was still unclear as to what he would actually do when he eventually found Tai, he could not miss such an opportunity.
You must not face him yet. You are not ready. The powers of the Center Point must be awakened and perfected before you face Tai.
Was this more of his so called destiny? The voice seemed to already think that he would definitely try to fight Tai and that if he did it now, he would fail. How could it be so sure he would attack Tai? He had not decided that for himself yet and destiny certainly played no part in that. He did not understand the title ‘Center Point’ either. It was the first time he remembered the voice using that term. Could it mean him? He did not understand and answers were not forthcoming from the voice. There was so much he did not know, it was becoming too much for him.
“If you don’t start explaining things now, I’m heading back to Samilo,” he threatened.
You are…one of the Destined.
Tylor opened his eyes to see Karen looking at him. She was leaning over the end of her bed. Asking if he was okay, she pulled him up to a sitting position explaining that he was mumbling in his sleep and it sounded as though he was trying to call out to someone. Light was shining in through the porthole and its curtain. It was morning already and yet Tylor felt like he had not slept a wink. The horrible dreams in which that voice spoke to him always left him feeling unrested when he awoke and very unsettled.
The voice had called him a ‘Destined’ just before Karen had woken him up. The voice had said it like a title and not a word, referring to Tylor as one suggesting there was more than just him. He had asked for answers, but the droplets of truth he had received instead only formed bigger tides of questions. Regardless, a fresh new day of relaxing stood before him and such things could wait till later. And if he ran into Tai, then he would just have to decide things on the spot.
Joel, Karen, and Tylor spent the day doing much their own thing. Joel remained below deck for most of the day, not taking advantage of the good whether that had surfaced. He had found a book in a drawer in the cabin and wanted to read it. The subject of the book was fairy tales, but he would rather read that than wander around the ship. Karen sat admiring the view from the top of the stairs leading to the main bridge area where the ships movement and course were handled at the very peak of the ship. Judging by the speed the Sparda was going they would probably reach Cattra early tomorrow morning or even that very night depending on the amount of wind. Tylor wandered around the whole day, hoping for a ‘chance’ meeting with Tai if he really was on board Sparda, but no such meeting happened. His doubt in what the voice spoke to him grew and he began to feel that ignoring it seemed to be the best course of action if its predictions and information were inaccurate. Growing tired from walking around under the sun, which was at its peak, he took shelter below deck and relaxed in the shade.
For the rest of the afternoon the group stayed separate. A few hours later, Karen and Tylor returned to the cabin where Joel still sat reading. They had fetched some water and food to share for a late lunch.
“So, is the book interesting?” Tylor asked.
Joel shrugged and said that it was just ‘fairytale stuff’, fables and the like for children. It was bedtime story material and not particularly interesting. He commented that some of the art work in it was nice. Flicking back through to a page he had previously read, he twisted the book around and showed Tylor a picture in it.
The picture was of a gallant knight in shining silver armor carrying a huge, thick bladed, and bloodied broad sword, towering above him in one hand. His other hand held down the nose of a snarling green beast, smoke was rearing from its nose. It looked almost like a painting and was quite startling in its detail.
“The knight in shining armor is slaying the beast to save a beautiful princess,” Joel explained.
“Slaying a Salodar, to be exact,” Karen corrected.
Interested, and a little confused, Tylor asked her what she meant. Apparently, the Salodar creatures were real beasts that lived mostly in rocky mountain regions of Atra. Looking back to the large green mass in the picture from the book, he shuddered. That was a real thing, a real monster. Inem were nothing to be worried about compared to one of those things, but at least their trip would not be taking them through any mountains, as far as he knew.
“We don’t have to pass any mountains on the way to the capital, right?” Tylor nervously asked.
She laughed and shook her head. The two boys joined in. Tylor was slightly embarrassed at asking the question, but good times like that had helped him forget his problems. The dreams seemed distant as he laughed with them and he was sure--
A strong forceful pounding emitted from the cabins door. Swinging it open, two members of the Sparda’s crew entered the room forcefully. Following close behind was another man, slightly better dressed than the crewmen. The well dressed man stood tall and proud and had an emotionless face. The group stood too their feet, but were knocked back onto the large double bed by the sailors. Demanding to know what was going on, the large silent man pulled out a piece of paper and tossed it over to Tylor.
Examining the bit of paper, Tylor could not really make much sense of it. It was scribbled in very messy hand writing, but it did look similar to a page from the book he had seen being written in, back at the docks of Wrathe. Passing it to Joel and then Karen, they both seemed equally bemused. Saying he still did not understand, the large well dressed man huffed.
“Did you think you could get away with it?” he asked rhetorically and in an angry tone. “Thought you had got away with it, huh? Well what you didn’t know is that those tickets had been preordered, meaning the original owners names were on record next to the ticket numbers. Not so smart now, are you? You stupid brats!”
Tylor did not understand what was going on. Preordered? He was worried. What was the man talking about? Had they made a mistake when they got the tickets and signed in before boarding? It would not explain why he was so angry about it, though.
“We didn’t do the check list until last night, but when we noticed three completely different names had appeared next to tickets reserved for a family in Wrathe it all made sense!” he said, before turning to leer at Joel, “I also know the couple who preordered these tickets. They were married and had a child with them. Looking at your ages this confirms what I thought!”
Still not understanding, Tylor could only apologize and explained that he did not know what they were talking about. Turning to Karen, he saw her sitting quietly at the top of the double bed, looking directly at the floor next to her. When her eyes caught Tylor’s, she looked away and sighed.
“You ticket thieves get to spend the rest of the trip in the storage cellar! Once we get to Cattra we’ll give you to the knights,” the angry man explained.
Making a firm hand motion forward, the two sailors took a boy each, forcibly by the wrist, while the well dressed one walked with Karen. They were lead down the long corridor. People peered out of their rooms, some with confused looks, and others with angry and disappointed expressions. Tylor had never felt so ashamed, yet he did not even know what he was being accused of doing.
Further below deck and through a locked door, the group was pushed into a cold, dark, room. A sailor lit a torch in the top corner of the room and said that their belongings would be with them shortly. The door was then slammed shut and a clicking sound confirmed that they had been locked in. The room was quite large, but filled to the brim with old crates filled of various supplies. The actual area left for them to walk around in was slightly only larger than the cabin had been, but a lot dirtier. The floor was covered with a thick layer of dust and dirt. Breathing in air from the room was no better; it too was heavy with contaminants.
“They think we’re thieves!” Joel exclaimed, clearly very angry.
It was clear to Tylor now. There had been no favors owed by the Captain of the Sparda, or any discount tickets, or any other acts of kindness. She had done it. Looking over to the corner furthest away from the light emitted by the single torch, Karen leaned against a crate, silent and starring away from both of them. She had done it. She had stolen the tickets she used to get them on board the Sparda. He did not know whether to be happy or sad. Was the deception because of a strong urge to want to help them? Or did she just want someone to blame if they got caught?
When she went looking for tickets in Wrathe, she must have stolen them from this couple the well dressed man had mentioned, a couple, and a child. Taking the tickets and then writing their names on it made her think that she had gotten away with it. However, because that family had preordered, their names were already on the records so when they signed in their names at boarding, there was not a match.
Karen is a thief, a common criminal. How could she do that to us? Tylor thought. She’s ruined my chance of traveling to see my mother. They said we were being handed over to knights! God knows what that means. For all I know it could be execution…Why did she do it? I thought I was beginning to understand her and after she was so caring last night…but I don’t know her at all…
Tylor felt ill to his stomach and his young friend looked no better. Joel rested next to him, quite green in color.
What seemed like an eternity of silence passed until the clicking of the door unlocking was heard. It was half opened then the two back packs and satchel were tossed into the room, packed poorly and to the brim. The content of most fell across the floor, moving through the dust like stones through thin mud. Announcing that someone would be watching the door during the day and not to try anything, the door was then slammed shut by the sailor who had thrown their belongings in. Joel slowly moved across to the middle of the room and began putting clothes back into the packs. Tylor joined him to help. Karen still remained silent and stationary in the darkest corner of the room.
It’s your fault, damn you, Tylor hissed inwardly as he cast a passing glance in Karen’s direction.
He wanted to be angry and he wanted to shout at her. However, before that, he had to know why she had done it. What was the real reason for her stealing tickets for them? He had to know if the feelings he had seen her express the night before were not fake or part of the charade.
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