CHAPTER TEN
Elliott groaned as he opened his eyes. Everything was blurry. Oliver was next to him, coughing and wincing from the impact of the ground. Elliott scanned the woods and comotion around him. He could make out the trees and bushes all around him and, moving between them, a group of figures wildly erupted around the boys. It frightened Elliott. The figures he couldn’t make out- they seemed to jump around like savages. Things became more blurry and his eyes closed once more.
Oliver didn’t know how long he had been out, but when he opened his eyes to the grass and scattered parts of the sky taxi, his chest felt a sharp pain. “OWE!” he yelled, gripping his chest.
“That one there’s hurt,” a strange and heavily accented voice more yelled than spoke. “Yep, better put ‘em both in the pot, see what happens,” another voice shreaked.
At the sound of the pot, Oliver winced again and the pain made him close his eyes once
more.
​
The boys couldn’t tell how much time had passed when they woke, but they knew it had been a good while. They both came to at the same instant, as if something or someone had woke them. They were laying down and, as their vision returned, through the bright sunlight streaming in they could see before them a gathered group of wild-looking children.
The group were mostly older kids and their hair was knotted and stuck out in every direction. Most of them were missing teeth and wore clothes that were ragged and dull. Though they were all kids, their faces seemed much older than their bodies.
Oliver sniffed the air, “Ewe, brother, it stinks here.”
As he spoke, Elliott smelled the stench and immediately knew it was from the crowd around them. He looked into the gazing faces, mostly smiling an awkward and crazed expression, before he noticed that they were in some sort of stone structure. It was rectangular and climbed high, but only allowed enough room for the brothers to sit comfortably in it.
The crowd blocked the only exit from the room. One of the wild children close to the boys turned and yelled behind him, “Hey they’s awake now and smellin’ stuff.” The crowd erupted in laughter and yelling, which was frightening to the boys as it sounded more like wild animals than children.
Oliver moved close to Elliott and spoke as quiet as he could to still be heard over the noise by his brother, “Brother, I don’t like them. Let’s get out of here.”
Then one of the wildlings yelled louder than the others, prompting attention toward him. He was a tall boy with scraggly black hair. “Hey, I know!” He waited until enough of the others were looking his way. “They’ll make the decision! They look like they know stuff!”
This erupted the crowd, which had grown substantially to yelp and scream once again. The boys could only see the strange crowd through the rectangular opening in the room they were in, but could see a large patch of trampled dirt and other structures like the one they were in, all standing at different heights just opposite of where they were.
The yelling crowd went from a happy yipping to an angry roar in an instant and a pile of a few of the children grew. They seemed to be fighting all of a sudden and they piled on top of each other like two football teams trying to secure a fumbled ball. Those that didn’t jump on the pile jumped up-and-down around the group.
Elliott turned to Oliver, “Ok, this is wierd. I think now is a good time to sneak out of here.”
The boys stood quickly and exited the small structure. They could see that there were about a hundred children all around, all in similar appearance to the group that had greeted them. The large crowd sat up on top of the rectangular stone structures, yelling down at the fight and in trees and bushes and even hoping out of holes in the ground like gophers.
Oliver didn’t realize he had stopped moving to look at the odd group. He’d never seen such behavior. Part of him thought it would be fun to play along, but the better part of him decided that they were quite scary and he ran to catch up to his brother, who had crept past the crowd and was headed toward the end of where the structures stood and the woods began.
The two had almost reached the shade of the dense trees and thick overbrush when a scratchy boy voice pierced through the noise, silencing all the others. “Hold it right there!”
Elliott and Oliver immediately knew that the voice was referring to them. Elliott debated just running into the woods just ahead of them, but thought that the wildlings would be able to catch them without a head start. So, the two turned slowly toward the sound of the voice.
All of the children now faced the boys with angry faces. The brothers could now see that, though the crowd was mostly boys, there were a few girls there, still missing teeth, still dressed in rags. The buildings were vertically rectangular and stuck out with no apparent pattern to them at all. The ground was dirt and there appeared to be nothing beyond the small stretch of land that they were gathered on, meaning that there were only clouds beyond this area.
A heavy-set boy with wide shoulders pushed kids out of the way, making his way toward the boys. He wore a shirt with many different colors woven together and, when he reached the boys, he placed a large tophat on his head as if to signify some kind of importance.
“Now hear this,” he said sternly, “I’m the mayor of this town and if you two just think yer gonna go-”
Before he could finish his sentence a deeper, more-boisterous voice shouted, intentionally drowning out the first one, “Naw, naw, naw! He ain’t the mayor any more than a fishton is a hognon is a featherpop.”
Elliott and Oliver looked at each other, confirming between them that neither had any idea what was happening.
The second voice appeared and stood next to the first one with the tophat. It was a tall, thin
boy with sharp features- the exact opposite of the boy next to him. He looked angrily at the stout boy and huffed before reaching behind him and carefully lifting a small tophat onto his head, apparently attempting to signify that he too was important.
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
The two tophat wearers stared at each other for a long moment before a girl’s voice rang out from behind them, “Rednoy fer mayor!” This sent the crowd into an uproar and more fights broke out, kids piling up on top of each other.
The two “mayors” held eye contact with each other without flinching as the crowd billowed behind them. Oliver glanced around in amazement of the strange people. He stepped to the side to see past the mayors and stepped on something that caught his attention. He looked down and moved his foot to see that it was a tooth just lying on the ground.
Just then, the immense sound of a cannon shook the ground and an eruption of flames and black smoke darkened the sky above them. The powerful sound of the blast took the attention of the wildlings and they all looked to the sky as if the sight of a cannon blast was the greatest pleasure they could imagine.
After the smoke had mostly dissipated, a younger boy yelled, “We warrin’ again?”
The tall mayor stuck his hand in the air and yelled, “Nope, not at this time.”
The stout mayor, not wanting to allow the other to give commands, yelled behind him,
“Nope, we aren’t right now...” he hesitated, attempting to figure the reason that the other mayor had said no, before making a guess, “because, uh, because these two here gotta do their rightful duty to the West End.”
Oliver, without thinking, asked directly, “What’s the West End?”
All the children gasped and looked at Oliver.
The tall mayor tilted his tophat and spoke down to Oliver in a condescending tone, “Mah
boy, this here is the West End. Where you will pledge allegiance to and fight with all of your ability for.”
Oliver looked strangely at the tall boy and then to his brother, then back to the stout mayor.
“Huh?” he said, shrugging.
The stout mayor quickly interjected, “What this, er, chap here means,” he motioned toward
the tall mayor, “is that you two fellas... with yer vast wisdom,” he tilted his hat as he said it, “are gonna decide who the rightful mayor is.”
The tall mayor spoke just before the other had finished, “That is, of course, your first duty in contributing.” He stood up straighter, “And, most certainly, your most important of contributions.”
Elliott was confused and cautiously asked, “Uh, what contributions?”
The two mayors answered in unison, “Politics!”
The crowd began whooping and holloring, half of the bunch yelling “Rednoy for mayor!”
the other half yelling “Mayor Blueney is truney!”
Oliver turned away from them and toward the woods. He thought about how fast he could
run and if they could get away if they went then. He was feeling the impulse to flee and the tall mayor noticed. He reached down and put his hand on Oliver’s shoulder.
“Yer a bright, smart, intelligent boy, right?” he didn’t wait for an answer. “You obviously support Blueney, right? Let’s go on ahead and cast that vote for Blueney and be done with it. It’s the right thing to do.”
This was making Oliver very uncomfortable and his face became angry.
The stout mayor with the large tophat moved really close to Elliott and whispered, “Now, you obviously want what’s fair and just and want to make sure none of that tall doofus’s fingers go an’ take yer stuff for no reason at all and even more than that, what about invaders?”
Elliott was very confused.
The stout mayor glanced back at the tall mayor, who was scowling at him, before leaning back toward Elliott and continuing, “We got to stick together, you and me. We’re just alike and got to take care of each other, right?”
Elliott didn’t quite see what he meant.
He only paused a moment before continuing, it was clear that he wasn’t concerned with Elliott’s actual answers to the questions, “So, obviously, as a decent boy, you are...” he raised his voice so that all would hear the last part, “for Mayor Rednoy!”
The crowd erupted once more and the tall mayor attempted to speak over the noise,
shouting, “Now, wait just a dog-durn minute! He ain’t said a thing yet.” The crowd ignored and shouted at each other. It was clear to the boys that this was a normal occurance there.
There were more fights that broke out and one of the stone structures suddenly crumbled to the ground, sending dust flying up into the crowd. This made the crowd more agitated and the two mayors began yelling at each other, shouting about “justice” and “righteousness” and “invaders” and “warrin’.”
The cannon erupted once again and all of the wildlings gazed toward the sky to watch the blast spread out. Elliott looked down to his brother, who was also starring at the blast in the sky, mesmerized.
“Come on, Oliver,” Elliott whispered, shaking his brother to, “let’s go now, quick.”
Oliver wasted no time and ran for the woods. Elliott raced behind and the two ran as quickly as they could through the thick growth. Vines and tree limbs scratched over them as they wove between thick trees of various shades of brown. It was only then that Elliott noticed the trees seemed different than any he’d seen before. Still, his fear of the wildlings didn’t allow him to stop and look closer at any of the natural growth.
There was a scream from far behind them. The boys knew it was the wildlings realizing they had escaped, which caused them to press on even faster. The woods went on-and-on. Elliott had seen the treetops on the sky taxi ride to Capital Island, but didn’t realize just how long the stretch of land was.
Oliver jumped through a bush of large, green and yellow leaves and immediately stopped short. “Whoa, brother!” he yelled.
Elliott had already jumped through the bush and caught himself just before running right off the edge of steep cliff that fell into cloud.
The boys leaned over, panting and wheezing in the thin air. They both sat down at the ledge to catch their breath but the activity and fear of their pursuers made them weak.
Between breaths, Elliott spoke, “Oliver, we should rest here- I don’t think they will find us.
They won’t see us behind this big bush.”
Oliver laid down on the ground. “I don’t hear them following,” he managed to say.
Elliott met his brother on the ground and the two looked up, past the trees’ branches, at the
bright sky. The sun had moved to cast afternoon sun, but there were stars already appearing in the sky above.
Oliver immediately fell asleep from exhaustion. Elliott took longer, but as he slipped into sleep, he thought that perhaps being so high in the atmosphere and there being less air between them and space was the reason that the sky was so strange and how they could see the stars and night sky, even when it is not yet night.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
A chirping sound whistled into Oliver’s ears and he opened his eyes. He was laying flat on the grass and remembered the escape from the wildlings on the West Side of Capital Island. The sunlight stung his eyes from overhead and he could smell wild berries. As his vision came to, he saw the source of the chirping sound. A bird’s head was looking down on him from the bush that the boys were hiding behind. Oliver stared at the long beak of the tropical bird - it looked kind of like a toucan to him. However, when the bird noticed Oliver looking back up at it, it crawled through the branches of the bush, revealing it’s body, which was very much like a chimpanzie.
Jumping up from his place on the ground he screamed, “What the heck?!” He adjusted his glasses to see. The sudden change caused the strange animal to climb back into the bush.
Oliver screaming woke Elliott and he sat up. “What? What is it, Oliver?”
Oliver pointed at the animal, “Look at that thing!”
Elliott crawled quickly toward Oliver before even looking at the curiosity. His eyes grew
wide at the strange animal. “Whoa, what is that?” he asked.
Oliver relaxed a little and stepped toward it. The animal didn’t jump away, but kept it’s gaze on him. “It doesn’t seem mean,” Oliver said, slowly moving closer.
“No, it doesn’t,” Elliott replied. He was still unsure and cautioned his brother, “Maybe you shouldn’t be going toward it.”
Suddenly, the bird-monkey perked up and looked in a different direction. It chirped a couple of times and then jumped through the bush, disappearing into the woods.
Elliott stood and his brother looked back at him. Elliott was about to ask questions about the animal and if his brother had seen anything else, but something caused him to stop. Even though he were far from the Queen, the Teacher, or anyone who would notice him being curious, the effects of the cloud island rules were already causing him to think differently.
Oliver walked past his brother and looked over the cliff at the endless sea of clouds. “You know, brother,” he said in an almost guilty tone, “I haven’t really thought about our family down there, or school, or any stuff from down there, really.”
Elliott thought for a moment and responded, “You know, I haven’t really either.” This was strange to Elliott. He usually would have worried a great deal in an abnormal situation such as this, but he found that he was thinking less of life before and more on life in the cloud islands. He walked to his brother and spoke softly, “Oliver, I think something weird is happening to us.”
Oliver looked up at his brother, “What? What we’re thinking?”
“Yeah, I think so.” Elliott scratched his head and looked back at the woods. “Come on, Oliver, let’s get back to the castle.”
The two began walking into the woods in the opposite direction of the wildlings on the West Side. Elliott figured that the castle must be that direction, since the West Side was on a narrow end of the island. There’s was only one other direction to go in.
After a while of walking, Oliver noticed a couple of creatures scurrying on the ground and running between the trees. At first he thought they were squrrels, but as they moved closer to the brothers and darted to the side, the boys could see that they were much more curious than any woods animals they had seen.
The heads of the creatures were like squirrels, but they had beaks like small birds. Their bodies were like rats, but they had six legs and feet. Their tails were like possums, stretching far out behind them. These were very strange creatures indeed, and their six legs carried them siftly across the leaf-covered ground and up the trees around.
Elliott was starring at the small animals scurrying around. He didn’t realize that he had stopped moving. Oliver said, “Brother, what is that?”
Elliott, without looking at his brother answered, “I don’t know, some kind of rat-squirrel or something.”
Oliver asked again, this time stressing to get his brother’s attention, “No, what is that?”
Elliott then looked to see his brother pointing upward at something in the trees above them. It was an even stranger creature, holding its sloth-like body between two vines. Rather than having a small sloth head, however, it had a stoney rhino head.
As the brothers watched on, a pair of bats flew right past them. Rather, they were bats with heads like ant-eaters, only smaller and long cat tails trailed from them as they flew upward and between the branches of the tall trees.
This was enough for Elliott, who then was worried about whether or not any of these new creatures bit or not. He looked back at his brother for a moment to give him a signal and then the two began running through the woods as fast as they could.
They ran for a long time, strange animal noises sounded around them, which only made them run faster through the trees. They finally saw a point ahead of them where the sunlight appeared to shine brighter and Elliott yelled between strained breaths, “Look! Maybe that’s the end of the woods.”
Sure enough, the two escaped the woods and stopped in a long clearing of grass and sand, the bright sun shining bright overhead. The two bent over onto their knees to catch their breath. The strained and coughed, still not acclaimated to the thin air.
Once Elliott could focus enough on his surroundings, he looked ahead to see that, a good ways ahead, the grass plain led to a sandy area with large stones. He then realized the constant sound of the propellors around the island. It was strange to him that he had grown so accustomed to them being around that the sound of them constantly whirlling had just become background noise, and even though they were scattered across the ends of all of the islands they had visited, he didn’t even notice them any longer.
“Hey look, brother!” Oliver shouted, before coughing again and catching his breath. “Over there is where we crashed those sticks.”
Elliott, looking on, realized that it was the “beach” that they had flown the stick fliers into with Gerd. There was no sign of the wreckage they had left after crashing. “Oh, good,” he answered, “if we go there, we’re sure to be able to find the castle. It’s got to be near there, right?”
Oliver instinctively began walking toward the rocks and sand of a beach that led into clouds, rather than water. The boys walked as fast as they could, though they felt tired from the fearful running through the woods. It didn’t take long before they were at the sandy, rock-covered beach. Elliott kept his eye in the direction away from the clouds, figuring that the castle should be nearby. Oliver looked down, looking for pieces of the stick fliers they had flown earlier onto the beach. The boys were both lost in their own thoughts when they were alerted by the sound of a young girl’s voice saying, “Hi.”
The boys, startled, looked to see a little girl sitting atop a large stone. She had long, dark hair and her ears were pointed. Her face shown an expressionless gaze.
Elliott addressed her first, “Hello, I’m Elliott. What are you doing up there?”
Oliver didn’t wait for her to answer, “I’m Oliver. What are you doing? Is the castle close to here? Do you know the witch?”
Elliott corrected, “No, Oliver, she not a witch- she’s the Queen.”
“Oh, right,” Oliver responded, not to Elliott, but to the little girl, “do you know the Queen? What’s your name?”
The girl’s eyes had opened wide. She seemed unsure what to do and just stared back at the brothers. After carefully considering her words, she responded, “I’m not supposed to be curious. They get mad when you are curious. I ran here so I would learn to not be curious.”
Elliott remembered the rule. “Oh, yes. We’re not being curious either. We just need to get back to the casltle. It’s ok to tell us your name, right?”
She looked to the side, considering the question before sliding down off the rock and onto the ground. She then ran around the boys and darted off away from the beach. She had run a good ways away from the boys when she stopped suddenly, turned to the boys, and yelled quickly, “I’m Rita- the castle is this way- I’m from the North Side- this is the South Side - goodbye.” Without waiting for anything from the boys, she turned and ran over a hill and out of sight to them.
Oliver looked to his brother, “She’s wierd.”
Elliott was exhausted and just wanted to be somewhere where he could rest. “Come on, Oliver. She said the castle is this way.”
The boys pulled themselves in the direction that the little girl had run, dragging their sore feet slowly. The landscape was different as they walked further into the island. They could at that time see more trees scattered around them and the grass was thick and dark green. Oliver ran to a tree with a bundle of what seemed to be grapes and the boys ate to get their energy back.
As they were eating the sweet fruit, a familiar sound of clanking and heavy footsteps caught their attention. The boys hadn’t noticed the knight from the castle approaching until he was close by. The axe in his hand still managed to make a thud on the ground as he walked with it.
Once he reached the boys, he reached up and pulled the mask portion of the suit upward, revealing the sharp features of his face. His broad chin stuck out over the bottom of the helmet as he spoke, “Eh-hem. The Queen has been alerted of your presence on the Island and has requested an audience with you in her chambers.”
Elliott responded, hoping for clarification without having to ask any questions that would come across as curious, “She wants to meet with us in the castle?”
The knight looked the boys up-and-down, “Hmm, yes she wishes to meet with you, but not like this, I guarantee.” He shook his head in a haughty manner, “You two must return to your chambers and rest and be cleaned before meeting with the Queen. You simply do not meet with her majesty in this condition.”
Oliver lifted his arm and smelled his armpit, “Oh, brother!” He looked to his brother, “Yeah, we’re stinky.”
***
It was a good distance the three walked before the boys could see the top of the mountain in which the castle was built around and even longer before they could see the doors entering into the castle walls.
There were propellors scattered between trees covering the entire distance that they had traveled and Elliott wondered to himself how it was possible for these contraptions to hold up such massive islands. He remembered Gerd pulling the “sauce” from a well and it occurred to him that, if the islands were full of this strange liquid, and the liquid made one lighter than normal, this could explain the islands floating. Still, he had seen only clouds beyond the islands with no holes to see below. This didn’t seem normal to him either, but he considered that they may be special clouds around the islands that help hold them afloat. All these questions Elliott had and was not allowed to ask them of anyone.
The journey with the knight took them over hills and through rocky paths before leading to the castle and down the corridor to their room. The boys wasted no time crawling into the beds they had been given and even less time closing their eyes to rest. The weariness from all the walking and running sent them both into a deep sleep.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Elliott awoke in the bed the Queen had granted him in the castle. For the first time since his brother and he were thrust up into the islands, he felt well-rested. The grey stone of the room seemed more welcoming than it had before.
He looked over to the bed where Oliver had slept and was alarmed when he didn’t see his brother.
“Oliver?” he called before jumping from his bed and rushing out of the wooden door to the outter corridor of the castle. He was relieved to find Oliver looking out of a window at the courtyard.
“Oliver, what are you doing up?” he asked.
Oliver glanced back at his brother and then pointed out at the big tree in the center of the the courtyard. “I saw some more of those bird mouses!” he said, excited.
Elliott joined his brother and looked through the rectangular opening at the strange, colorful foliage. This, too, seemed more normal and welcoming than it had before. It occured to Elliott that he felt comfortable being there, as if it were his home. He shook his head back-and-forth to pull himself out of the feeling and reminded his brother, “Hey, Oliver, remember what we need to do here. We have to find a way back down to the Earth. We have to figure out how to get home.”
Oliver, suddenly realizing that he was forgetting his home on the Earth, focused on his brother. “Right, brother. We got to get home,” he adjusted his glasses and moved away from the corridor window.
Then, the familiar clank of the big axe on the stone ground and heavy footsteps of the knight caught there attention. Soon, he appeared before them with a stoic look on his face. He hadn’t bothered shutting the helmet since revealing his face to the boys. “Follow me,” he said without emotion.
The boys followed silently around the corridor and to the entrance to the Queen’s chambers. The knight turned and stood guard at the large, arched doors. He didn’t speak, but the boys knew that they were to go on into the chambers.
Elliott went first, carefully pushing the doors open. Oliver followed close and the two walked through to the center of the room. The light from the sun lit up the stained glass around the tall ceiling, sending rays of different colors all around the room. This time, as the boys took in the ornate surroundings of the circular chamber, they both noticed that things were slightly different than the previous trip there. Though both boys noticed this oddity, neither drew attention to it. And, though it was strange to them, neither of the boys were as afraid this time entering and facing the Queen. It seemed to feel almost normal to them.
The Queen was sitting on the throne looking down on the brothers. Her expression was difficult for the boys to tell if she was happy, angry, or without feeling at all. She was still, like a statue, as the boys entered and waited until they had stopped in the center of the room before she spoke. “I understand you visited the West End.”
“Yes, we-” Elliott was interupted by Oliver who yelled, “You mean the crazy people?”
It almost looked as if the Queen were smiling a little at the corners of her mouth, “Yes, they are as you say.”
Elliott explained, “Yeah, we were stuck there and had to escape. We were scared that they
were going to follow us into the woods and to the castle!”
“They would never do that,” answered the Queen, “they are trapped.”
Oliver perked up at the response, “What? No they’re not. We ran out of there into the
woods.”
The Queen inhaled slowly, “The Wildlings in the West End were not always Wildlings. They
committed offences and were conviced into practicing an ancient witchcraft- one that takes hold of one and enslaves the mind. You may have heard it as a different term,” she looked down at her long fingernails, “politics.”
Elliott crinckled his face in a confused expression, “So, they are in prison? But, like a prison that isn’t in a building?”
“Precisely,” she replied looking back at Elliott, “it is a prison in the mind. Rather than working together they argue endlessly with no regard for what will actually benefit them.”
“But, they could stop and leave,” Oliver offered.
“Yes,” she said, “they could, but they never do.”
Elliott looked away, considering the oddness of the idea. The Queen, seeing that he was
being curious about the ways of the Island, changed the subject, “I’ve summoned you two because I have a task for you. I’d like for you two to see some of the other islands.”
Elliott and Oliver both were having a hard time not being curious of what was in store for them on the other islands.
“I’ll have a sky taxi take you to see Desert Island first, it’s an interesting change.” She lifted a finger slowly and looked away from the boys. It was a strange motion and Elliott wondered if she were somehow calling a sky taxi to them with some kind of magic. She continued, “Then, you may go to see the Usubarab Islands, where most of the citizens live. Eventually, you’ll need to return to the Teaching Island, however.”
Oliver became upset, “I don’t want to go there! I don’t like the Teacher.”
Elliott added, “Yeah, she’s nothing like the teachers we had back on-” he stopped, realizing he was about to mention Earth. The Queen stared at him with a scowl on her face. He became scarred, remembering that she had warned them of being locked away if they were to mention Earth. The thought of him and Oliver debating and fighting in the West End made goosebumps rise on this arms and he shivered. “I mean,” he said, “she’s not very nice to us.”
The Queen relaxed her expression, “It is no matter. You will do as I wish of you.” The doors opened, as if automatically, behind them and they looked back at the exit from the chambers. “Now, go,” the Queen motioned for them to leave, “I should like to hear of what you think when you return.”
The boys met the Knight outside the door and he immediately began leading them down the far hall toward the outside landing for sky taxis. It was a fairly long walk around the corridor, which was always a bit awkward with the Knight not speaking.
Oliver had no regard for awkwardness and spoke to the Knight, “Hey, what’s your name?”
The Knight slowed his pace and turned slightly toward the boys walking behind him. He had an expression on his face that was somewhere between bewildered and annoyed. He didn’t answer and turned back toward the front. Still, his pace remained much slower and eventually he responded, “Rufus.”
Elliott wanted to be polite and asked, “Should we call you Rufus, then?”
Once again, the Knight delayed before answering, “I don’t know.”
Oliver immediately countered, “What? What do you mean?”
The Knight then stopped walking and turned to face the boys. It was apparent that he was
choosing his words carefully, “No one has ever asked what to call me. So, I don’t know. You see, I am just the Queen’s and the castle’s loyal aid. I do not have an active role in happenings of the islands or the stories of the people. I am but a side character in the larger plot. I move you two and others along when it is necessary and that is my purpose - I have accepted that. I am not important.”
Oliver adjusted his glasses and looked at the shinny blade of the axe, glimmering above the knight’s head. “Well, I like your armor suit,” he said, “I think you’re important.” Oliver liked the Knight, Rufus.
Elliott chimbed in, “So... can we call you Rufus?”
The Knight looked up at the stone ceiling for a moment and responded, “Yes.” He then turned and resumed his pace for the boys to follow. As he had turned, Elliott thought he saw a slight smile forming on his lips.
They reached the wooden doors and Rufus opened them, flooding sunlight into the corridor. He stood straight postured next to the door, allowing the boys to walk out on the grass landing where the red ski taxi they had previously ridden in was waiting.
Oliver ran straight to the vehicle and jumped in the back of it. Elliott, remembering the crash from the other, older sky taxi, was hesitant but made his way carefully into the riding area next to his brother.
The boy with long blonde hair was driving once again and started the propellor and lifted off as soon as the boys had gotten in. Oliver was feeling friendly and jumped up and yelled at the boy over the whoosing of the wind from the propellor, “Hey, what’s your name? I’m Oliver.”
The boy looked back at Oliver and rolled his eyes, “Yeah, I’m Hux.”
Elliott added, “And I’m Elliott.” But, the driver paid no regard to comment. Elliott then realized they hadn’t told the driver where they were going and he yelled, “Oh, we’re going to-”
He was cut off by Hux, “Yeah, I know - Desert Island.” He sighed loud enough for the boys to hear over the propellor, “The most boring place in the sky.” He didn’t turn from looking forward at all when he addressed the boys.
Hux made it apparent to the boys that he was annoyed to be transporting them and, after some time without speaking, he yelled back, “You might want to take a nap or something - it’s a long trip.” In a lower tone, the boys could hear him say, “And, I don’t want you annoying me anymore.”
The wind noise from the propellor did make it difficult to have a conversation and the boys found themselves to be dreary. Oliver waisted no time curling up next to Elliott and, with Oliver sleeping next to him, Elliott dosed off quickly. He was thinking about the term “Desert Island.” He thought it was a strange name, one that meant something different back on the Earth.
