2 Ch 2 : Docks

The rest of the night was surprisingly tame. Nobody else had caused him trouble in the slums and before he had known it, he was in front of the tunnel. The underground tunnel was one of those places that was nearly pitch black in the night, as they only bothered to light it up when the trains would be passing by. So the lantern he held in his hand was the only light that was going to be guiding him through the darkness. He remembered how he could hear the train trudging along the tracks on nights where he couldn't fall asleep. The engine was loud and the high pitched ringing of the horn could be heard anywhere in the city. As he held out the lantern in front of him and walked, he noticed just how quiet it was. Every step he took on the rails seemed to bounce off of the tunnel. The water droplets from the ceiling dripped slowly onto the ground, creating small puddles on the rusting rails. The place was poorly maintained, but it was still somehow functional. Once Red was about halfway through the tunnel, he turned around and saw that there was no longer any light coming from the entrance, only the small flickering light that resonated from his lantern. He didn't know how long the tunnel was, but he knew that eventually it would have to come to an end.

Just like everything in life.

The distance wasn't going to be a problem, but he could feel the water on the ground soak into the bottom of his shoes making all of his steps feel like they were on quicksand, sinking into the earth itself. Despite how dark and silent everything was, it was still strangely peaceful. It was a sharp contrast to the large gatherings and lavish parties held inside the palace that had a place of familiarity.

The small light in the distance set him back into reality. At first he thought it was the lantern in front of him, but after squinting his eyes and moving the lantern to the side, he could see the end of the tunnel. Upon each step the light grew brighter, and by the time he had reached the end of the tunnel, the light outside was almost blinding in comparison to the darkness inside, even though it was only the pale moonlight hanging over the area. Red scanned the outside area, and could see the docks in front of him. There were many different types of ships resting against the shore. Various longboats, fishing boats, and travel ships were all anchored against the shore, bobbing slowly side to side with the wind. As he walked closer to the docks, he could feel the cobblestone ground turn to wooden planks over the sand. He sat down on one of the benches, and allowed his body to relax. He had been walking for what felt like hours, and the watch changing positions confirmed it.

"Seems like you got here alright" a voice said from afar.

Red instinctively rose up from the bench, his hand driving into his pocket for the knife as he scanned the area for the voice.

"Relax Red, it's just me" the voice called out, "Up here"

Red looked above and saw him standing on the deck of one of the longships. Good old Ilek.

"Seems like you made it here alright, that's good to know. Ilek said, eyeing him down.

Red removed his hood and stared at Ilek for a few seconds before answering

"Yeah, it all went more or less according to plan." Red stretched out his hand, and the blood from earlier was still on there, although less pronounced

Ilek raised one eyebrow in slight confusion.

"Do I.. want to ask what happened with that?" he said pointing at Red's hand, before tossing him a cloth to wipe it on.

Red remembered the earlier encounter with the man.

"No, I think we're good." He grabbed a crate laying outside on the ship walkway and wiped his hand over it, the blood thinning and staining against the crate.

"You know, we're both extremely lucky. I never thought how soon it would be that I would be able to meet your demand for a safe solo journey across the ocean." Ilek said, his eyes focused on the ship.

"Yeah, it's honestly a bit unbelievable how early we got this opportunity, but even if the wait was longer I'd still commit to it".

Ilek thought for a second, and pulled out a few pieces of torn up papers. "Trying to understand these letters you sent me was confusing, you know?" he said before laughing. "You really wanted to make sure that nobody could link these letters to you, that's how I knew you were serious."

"Yeah, I've had to think about this for a long time to make sure I was ready and capable."

"The one thing that doesn't make sense to me though" Ilek said scratching his head. "You planned this out for so long, yet you still haven't told me why you're even doing this."

Red paused for a moment and looked down, before looking back up to him

"I'm really sorry Ilek, but I really can't tell you. Not because I don't trust you, but because I can't have anybody finding out what I have to do there. I don't want the kingdom hurting you."

Ilek let out a sigh. "I figured as much Red. Even when we were younger you've always been really quiet, I guess some things just never change."

"I know I have a really hard time showing it, but I'm truly grateful for you for this. I owe yo-"

"You don't owe me anything." Ilek said, cutting him off. "If anything, I owe you for everything all those years ago when that happened." His voice became quieter and sad as he remembered the past.

Red stared at the boat and looked out at the sea.

"I don't have to know what your plan is, I'll support you regardless. Because all those years ago, you were the only good person to me." Ilek said holding out his hand

"Thank you Ilek." Red held his hand out, and they shook hands.

"Well, we may as well start boarding. Don't want another person to cut your hand up again while we wait now would we?" he said with a laugh, his joyous personality coming back.

"Yeah, we should," Red replied as Ilek led the way forward to the longboat that they were going to use.

"I've been polishing this baby up, it's good you told me in advance so I could get her ready for you" Ilek said as he began to move a few crates from the docks onto the ship.

'What are you doing" Red asked

"Well, I have to make sure that when I return that I have crates on board, but I'm only dropping you off so I can't do any trading. I'm just gonna use these to make it look like I went trading."

"Are you sure that'll work? Wouldn't they realize you were using the same crates?"

Ilek shrugged his shoulders. "It's unlikely, usually the guards don't inspect our hauls very often. It's only when things are being delivered to royalty that they end up caring."

"Alright, if you think that's the safest thing to do"

As Red jumped onto the ship from the docking boat, he noticed all of the crates lined up all the way from the backside of the upper level of the deck. There were so many crates that it made it difficult to walk to the front where the wheel was.

"I'll do a final check on everything and then I'll let you know when we're ready to set sail" he said as he began to climb the wooden ladder to inspect the sail. "You should check out the lower level, make yourself at home"

Red responded by going down the steps of the ship and opening the door. Inside was a hallway that had two doors on the left and right sides. He opened the door on the left and found a small room with only a bed on the side of the wall. The room was illuminated by a small torch resting against the hall.

He sat down on the bed and before he knew it, fell fast asleep.