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 turned 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
