(Adventure Adrian and the Kings) The Herald Quest

Chapter Eight

EIGHT

  Three days had past without any problems. No one had tried to chase me. Nothing had tried to bite my head off and I hadn’t been whisked off to yet another world against my will. You could say that things were looking up.

I was getting stuck into my new routine and was treating it like a holiday I suppose. I can’t say I wasn’t anxious though. A few days ago I’d been just another 14 year old kid on a school trip. But now all of a sudden I had a part time job as a peasant worker in a weird land and was living with pint-sized strangers I barely knew at all. Maybe I’d hit my head on that roofing a little harder than I’d thought.

But I was sure that Aunt Edna would come to collect me and would bring answers to explain all this craziness. She said she would see me soon enough and had never broken a promise yet. Surprisingly I felt really good. Being a bit of a loner as I think I mentioned earlier, I didn’t really have any friends to miss. Aunt Edna was my only family and I trusted that she’d led me towards a good bunch in the Jackerby’s.

But it was still important to hide the fact that I didn’t actually have a clue where I was. And I found some of the things here very strange indeed. The last thing I needed was Jay and his family thinking I was crazy and throwing me onto the streets to fend for myself.

Mr Jackerby had decided that Jay and I would spend the early morning, just after sunrise, by picking goonaberries from the pink barked trees. These odd little fruits tasted like lemonade with a chocolate flavoured twist. The soft coloured orchard certainly was stunning in the morning.

I grabbed the ladder and moved on to the next tree before carefully climbing to the top. It was my job to pick the fruit from the branches and throw them down to Jay who was waiting with his giant basket at the bottom.  Jay told me that his Dad made the berries into a sweet tasting drink that he then sold at local markets.

From my elevated position I could see an amazing view of the landscape and what the locals seemed to call the Kingdom. Now I’d heard of capital cities and counties of course but the idea of a Kingdom seemed so old fashioned.

Far away in the distance, beyond the ploughed soil and crop fields, I could see stretches of green grass and forests. A little further away I spotted a number of larger towns and even further away on the horizon was a vast, rocky mountain range.

At the summit of the tallest peak I could just about make out the silhouette of a grand castle. I couldn’t help but notice that the skies directly above it were strangely dark and had a massive, swirling black cloud filled with light flashes above it.

“Looks like a storm’s brewing,” I shouted down from the tree before pointing north towards the thick and circling cloud.

“What do you mean?” Jay asked. “It’s a lovely day.”

“No. Over there to the north,” I told him. Yet Jay simply laughed to himself.

“What’s so funny?”

“There’s always a storm over there,” Jay replied and then continued to collect the loose berries from off the ground. “That’s the Shadowlands.”

A Guide to the Living World                   Page 159

Shadowlands, The

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This particular region lies at the northern tip of the Kingdom in the Dark Mountains and has as recent, horrid past. Before the Kingdom War, this area was a glorious home to former ruler, Great King Aradus and his band of Noble Knights.