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Page 26
“Thank you,” he said solemnly.
“Anytime,” stammered Sybil, trying desperately to look anywhere but down. Across the roof, she heard Elijah groan as consciousness retook him. Sybil wondered if he was sorry, or angry or maybe a little bit of both. But the one thing she hadn’t expected were these words:
“The Bridge is open.”
Chapter 28 – After the Fall
An albatross is a beautiful bird. It’s huge and white, with black tipped wings and can cover great distances very quickly. The day the Sky fell there was one particular albatross who was flying around the Island of Damon. The albatross studied the falling Island in fascination, watching as the huge mass of earth and stone began to descend to the Burninglands below it. The albatross thought that it was about time. In its opinion, when things such as earth and stone went up into the air they invariably always had to come down. It had clearly just taken these islands a bit longer to do so.
As the Island fell, the albatross rose until it was level with it, watching the great beasts of the air gradually transform. But it did not linger long, for it knew such beasts had never played well with the other birds and it did not trust them to be any better after their transformation. It flew up, over the top of the Island, across the Burninglands, until it reached the Sea of Passing. A storm was brewing on the sea, but that did not concern the albatross. It was a bird of storms; it lived for them. It flew over the rough seas, hunting for prey, when it noticed a small fishing boat, battling amongst the waves.
The albatross descended to the boat where a man and what looked like a giant hunk of meat sat. The meat smelled strange and had a strange hook embedded inside it, but the albatross was hungry and so decided to take its chances. A strange guttural sound emanated from the meat. The albatross backed away, startled. The man did not notice. He stood on the opposite side of the boat, distracted by the business of the Sky falling. He wore loose, leather clothes and a short beard. Strange images were scattered across his body and half of his left ear was cut out. His eyes narrowed as he looked out across the waves, trying to make out the falling Islands.
As they fell, he pulled himself across to the other end of the boat and the albatross stepped out of his way, hopping onto the top of the rudder. The man lifted the meat up and it grunted unintelligibly at the contact. He dragged it over to the front of the ship, facing the descending islands.
“Do you see that, Jasmine?” he asked. “You should be grateful I left you your eyes so you can witness such a historic occasion. Those islands are falling back down. Soon they will cover the Burninglands and we will be able to return there, we will finally see our debt paid.”
The meat known as Jasmine just groaned, the sound like that of a beached whale. The albatross eyed her with curiosity. He had never seen a human which lacked so many of its parts.
“Yes, I know you will not be there to see it,” sighed the man. “It will be some time before we can get everyone together and probably some more time before we are ready to make the journey. But look, there in the distance,” he shifted the human up, angling its torso so its head could see the closest island. “The peninsula that the Seers found for us to land at, it’s still there. Crossing the Sea of Passing will be much safer now. If your children are strong then, I will take them; they will earn much glory fighting for us.”
The meat didn’t reply, but a strange water began to flow from her eyes. The albatross cocked his head, staring at the liquid. He had thought saltwater came only from the sea.
So Ends Book 1 of the Legend of EarthSky.
Afterword
If you’ve got this far, you’ve finished this book and you know that there is a sequel on the way. That sequel is, however, wholly dependent on you. Sadly, I can’t keep writing books unless they’re selling. If you would like to find out what happens next to Elijah or Sybil there are two things you can do:
Write a review!
Reviews are the only thing separating this book from every other book on the market (and that’s a lot of books). If you take two minutes to write a kind review, it would mean the world to me.
Tell everyone you know!
The more people who know about this book, the more people will buy it. And that’s a good thing (for me). So if you liked this book, spread the word! Use Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or whatever it is you kids are using these days. Speaking of which, feel free to follow me @paulwhowrites.
Lastly, thank you very much for giving my writing a shot and I hope you will read whatever else my addled mind comes up with.
Paul