Palatinii Cycle

by G'vonni Avner

  The morning sun rose over the horizon in the distance, shining a new beacon across the land of Narque in a flash that wiped out the darkness and washed over them as a bright light. The spirit looked back at the light and shrieked. She evaporated within seconds.

  When the spirit was gone, Katie rolled over and spluttered on the ground, taking huge gasps of air.

  10

  The Treasure Down Below

  Tyson ran over to Katie to make sure she was all right. It was still fairly dark, with only the first of the sun’s rays making their way over the horizon. He bent down and felt her neck. There wasn’t any visible damage other than the red marks on her neck, which looked more like fingerprints than cuts. Tyson held Katie in his arms as she coughed and spluttered on the ground.

  “I’m fine,” she said weakly, trying to pick herself up from the ground. Tyson wasn’t convinced and helped her get up. He made sure that Katie was steady on her feet before releasing his grip on her.

  “I’m okay,” she said again.

  Cyrus came over. He looked solemnly at her. “We need to keep going,” he said. “I’m going to check and see if we can salvage any of our belongings.”

  He jogged back towards where the tent had been, but not before stopping himself and double-checking to ask Katie if she was all right.

  Katie stood there, rubbing her neck and looking at the ground. She felt fine, but she knew there was something wrong. Not with her, but something else. She wasn’t sure what, though.

  Tyson was standing close to Katie as if she were about to fall. Cyrus came back ten minutes later. “There’s nothing left. All gone, turned to dust.”

  “What made her disappear?” Tyson asked.

  “The sunlight must have done it,” Cyrus said.

  Katie looked to the sky. There wasn’t much sunlight and Katie could still easily see the stars. Though the sky was a lighter purple color than it had been an hour previously when the world had seemed pitch black. Katie pointed this out to Cyrus.

  “I think it is because she was so far from her resting place that even the slightest hint of sunlight caused her to fade away.”

  “Do you think she’s dead?” Katie asked. “I mean, you know, relatively speaking. Is she gone forever?”

  “No,” Cyrus said. “But for now. We should be safe, as well as the city folk who live in Ilon. But there will probably be a time when she returns for her next attack.”

  Cyrus looked behind him, towards Ilon. “I know we’re all tired,” he said, “But we should keep on moving. We no longer have any supplies, so we need to reach the city before it gets too hot.”

  Katie and Tyson agreed, so Cyrus led the way towards Brickdale Ridge. They were all exhausted but kept moving, even if slowly.

  “There’s something I want to mention,” Katie said. The thought had come to her suddenly, having forgotten it because of the spirit chasing after her.

  “Go on,” Cyrus replied.

  “Before the ghost attacked us, I saw the spirit of Serena.”

  “You mean Hammond’s daughter?”

  “Yes.”

  Cyrus looked mildly surprised. “What happened? Did she speak to you?”

  “Yes, well, not at first,” Katie replied. “She dropped a note which told me that my mother’s necklace was at the bottom of a sunken ship docked at Brickdale Ridge. That’s when she spoke and warned me that the evil spirit was coming.”

  “A sunken ship, huh,” Cyrus said. “Did she say anything else?”

  “No,” Katie said. “She disappeared after that.”

  Cyrus walked on silently for a while, thinking to himself. “If your mother’s necklace lies at the sunken ship in Brickdale Ridge, then we must find it.”

  “What if we don’t?” Katie asked.

  “Then we might have bigger threats than Nayara to come up against,” Cyrus replied. “But don’t worry about that now, I’m sure not much time has passed since the ship sunk, so no one should have found it yet. Regardless, let’s get there as soon as we can.”

  They walked on in silence the rest of their way, leaving them each to their thoughts. Katie was scared about what had happened. Not only because the spirit almost suffocated her, but because of the violence involved. Katie was uncertain why the spirit was so particularly vicious. She wanted to find out why so she could help the spirit and get rid of it. That way, everyone who lived there would be safe.

  It was not until late morning that they reached their next destination. Brickdale Ridge was a large city and port. The buildings were built primarily of a cement-like material that seemed to be mixed with wood shavings. The smell of salt and fish water wafted through the city, not an unpleasant smell, but nothing to be delighted about.

  Unlike Ilon, there were no walls that surrounded this city. It had a canal that swept through it and wound out of sight. Ahead of them was a wide, but short bridge that went over the canal that allowed travelers and goods to be carried over and transported to other areas.

  The roads were made of large granite-colored stones. Most of them were wide but there were a few walkways that were narrower and ran between buildings.

  Katie, Tyson, and Cyrus crossed over the bridge. They passed a short, bald man who was pushing a wagon of large, mostly dead fish, though the few were flopping their fins slightly, desperate for water. One even made it off the wagon. The bald man didn’t notice.

  Cyrus walked into an inn that had a large sign over it that read “Brickdale Lodge.” Despite the stone build, the inn had saloon doors. The inside was dim with a welcoming ambiance to it. There weren’t many people in the pub. There were three bartenders on duty, two of which were wiping glasses and the third milling around the tables, taking the occasional order.

  “Let’s grab a quick bite, get our supplies and be on our way,” Cyrus said. Katie wondered why they hadn’t just gone straight to the docks to find her mother’s necklace.

  When they sat down, Tyson asked, “Is there coffee in this world?” He was inspecting a menu that hung on a chain from the ceiling.

  “Why wouldn’t there be?” Cyrus asked.

  “I don’t know,” Tyson replied. “I mean, everything I’ve had here so far has been some real exotic fruit or part of an animal I never knew existed. So, you know, nothing normal to me.”

  “Soon you’ll find that even though this world differs from yours, the two are very much alike. You’ll get used to our food in no time.”

  They had a long brunch and relaxed for a while, though Katie was still eager to find her mother’s necklace. Cyrus called over the bartender and chatted with her. Katie overheard the conversation though it had no meaning to her. All she got was that he was asking about the sunken ship.

  Tyson had only been half-listening, being more interested in the pub. More people had come in for lunch. He watched the people for a while and observed that Cyrus was right; almost everyone here seemed normal. They didn’t differ all that much from humans on Earth. He noticed that they even had different races or ethnicities.

  After about half an hour, Cyrus waved goodbye to the bartender and stood up. “Let’s go,” he said, and Katie and Tyson followed him out of the inn.

  At this time of the day, the city was much busier, and they had to make their way through crowds of people. Up the street stood one of the taller structures that was three stories tall. Katie noticed that a lot of people younger than her were walking out of it.

  “Is that a school?” she asked.

  “Indeed, it is,” Cyrus said.

  Katie was sure that she would continuously learn more and more of Narque as she traveled it, though doubted it would ever cease to surprise her how familiar everything felt to her.

  With all the foot traffic, it took them just under an hour to reach the docks and shipyard. This was by far the busiest part of the city. Five large ships were docked, all with about a hundred workers carrying things back and forth and unloading cargo from the ships.

  Some workers were shouting. Katie tur
ned to see what the commotion was about. There was a large crate being lowered from a pulley, about halfway to the ground, forty feet in the air. The rope was frayed and was noticeably tearing apart. The crate was close to falling. There were four men below it, waiting to receive it.

  The man who was working the pulley tried to bring it back to him, but the rope kept tearing.

  “Leave it!” he shouted from the ship to the guys below. “It’s only fruit!”

  The men scattered to safety and the guy holding the pulley let it fall to the ground. The crate smashed to the floor. The wooden box broke apart in several pieces, sending out red and orange fruit that splattered on the street.

  “Wait!” One of the men shouted. He ran over to the splattered mush of fruit to kneel and inspect. After a short moment, he stood up and walked away, saying, “We’re all good here.”

  Ignoring the mess on the ground, the men went back to work, ready to receive the next crate.

  Katie, Tyson, and Cyrus walked by, unnoticed by the workers.

  “Isn’t it a bit dangerous?” Tyson asked. “To be doing that where people walk? Shouldn’t they leave a warning?”

  Cyrus shrugged. “What’s so dangerous about it? Did something fall on you?”

  “Well, no, but—”

  “Then there’s no danger,” Cyrus replied. “And why should they leave a warning when it’s very clear that they are working?”

  Tyson didn’t have an answer for this, so he said nothing.

  They kept on walking down the harbor, each anchorage with a ship, either docked or getting ready to sail off. They walked around for over ten minutes; the port never seemed to end. The further they went, the more unusual the ship’s contents were. When they reached a ship that carried furniture Cyrus stopped them.

  “Listen closely,” he said, leaning in closer to them. “The ship that crashed is not far from here. Apparently, it sunk while they were mooring it. Some accident. From what I can tell, no one can understand why they crashed.”

  Katie and Tyson nodded.

  “The ship was importing jewelry. It crashed about three weeks ago and only yesterday did they finish recovering all the cargo.”

  “So do they have my mother’s necklace then?” asked Katie.

  “I don’t think so,” Cyrus replied. “There was a rumor going around that there was something aboard that ship more valuable than any other piece of jewelry they were carrying, though I do not believe there is any connection to the necklace.”

  “What else could it be?” Tyson asked.

  “It does not concern us. We are here for the necklace, and the necklace only,” Cyrus said. “If we find anything else we are to leave it. We do not have the time to get arrested for stealing jewelry.”

  “Then how do you even know if my mother’s necklace is there?”

  Cyrus looked at her with a curious expression, as if he wasn’t sure why she asked that question, or the tone that she asked it in. Regardless, he answered her patiently. “Because of Serena. I think Serena placed the necklace there just before she saw you.”

  This made some sense to Katie, and she nodded.

  “All right, let’s get going,” Cyrus said. “If anyone else finds it before we do we’ll have trouble getting it back.”

  “Couldn’t they also use it as a weapon?” Tyson asked.

  “They could,” Cyrus said, “Though I doubt that most people would even know what it truly is.”

  Tyson and Katie nodded. Cyrus gave them a determined look and led them down the pier towards the ocean.

  The ocean was vast and blue, and in every other way just like the oceans on Earth. There were even seagulls that scoured the ground for food. Across the way, there was a beach, though it was accessible through the pier.

  When they reached the ship, Katie let out a gasp. All the ships looked large, but this one, even though much of it had been capsized and was underwater, looked larger than the rest. There was more room for ships to be docked, but this one was the last in line.

  Cyrus crept in the shadows, looking over his shoulder often. Tyson and Katie followed suit, though half-heartedly and didn’t bother much with the secrecy of it.

  “I don’t want to be seen,” Cyrus said. “Just in case.”

  Katie and Tyson looked around. People were walking by, and many more laying on the beach further away, but Katie was sure no one was paying them the slightest attention.

  They walked down the wharf. Cyrus stood at the edge, looking down at the wreckage. He contemplated for a while and then said, “We’re going to have to dive.”

  Katie already assumed this and wasn’t surprised. Neither was Tyson. In fact, when Katie turned back to look at Tyson, he had already taken his shirt off.

  “What?” he asked when Katie stared.

  Katie didn’t reply. She imagined what it would be like to be aboard a ship that was sinking. Then she wondered if anybody had drowned when this ship sank. Before she got too lost in her thoughts, Cyrus said, “Let’s go.”

  With saying that, Cyrus dove into the water and disappeared beneath its murky green surface. His head surfaced after a few moments and he turned around to look at Katie and Tyson before beckoning them with his head to join him. Cyrus hadn’t taken his shirt off before jumping in.

  Tyson quickly jumped in. Katie didn’t feel up to a swim but that didn’t stop her from diving into the water. Cyrus led them underneath a wooden platform that Katie thought must be part of the pier. There was an air pocket big enough to allow most of their heads above water.

  “So the search begins,” Tyson said, smiling. Cyrus returned the smile and dove his head back underwater. Tyson and Katie followed him. This time Cyrus went further than he had done last time and Katie worried about the oxygen level in her lungs, but Cyrus soon enough found another air pocket.

  “Our next dive will probably be long,” Cyrus warned to a spluttering Tyson and Katie, who were both gasping for air.

  Before Katie could react, Cyrus dived again.

  “Yeah ‘cause that last one was a piece of cake. Everyone can easily hold their breath for two minutes,” Katie said sarcastically. Tyson gave her a quick understanding look, took a deep breath and dove under. Katie followed him.

  One of the first things Katie noticed was that Cyrus was right; it was a longer dive. They made their way through debris and large pieces of wood. Ahead of them was the majority of the ship, mostly intact, just underwater.

  Katie and Tyson followed Cyrus through a gap in the ship’s hull. By this time, Katie was ready to breathe in water as she couldn’t stand not breathing for another second. Yet again, seemingly just in time, Cyrus had them resurface.

  This time they were inside the ship. They looked around the small air pocket that Cyrus had led them to. To their sides, there were the wooden walls of the ship that hadn’t been damaged by the crash. The water level rose up and down, unsteadily and erratically, occasionally rising high enough to immerse their heads.

  “From here things will get tricky,” Cyrus said.

  “And dangerous,” added Tyson, spitting out water.

  Cyrus nodded. “Right. We will have to be more careful. It gets hard from here to tell how far down we must go and how far we may have to swim before we can reach air again.”