The old priest’s presence remained, long after he had left. Kailas was consumed by thoughts of cursed forests and her destiny. As the days went by, a sense of foreboding grew until it seeped into her bones.

She had been saving for months — selling old jewellery and stashing a portion of her earnings inside her mattress, the only place she could think of where her father would not find it.

The Pride of Ithos Darg departed fortnightly from White Star Harbour. A ten-day sea journey around the northern bulk of Ithos Darg would take her to Goldlight Bay, the gateway to the royal city of Ordasius. She had purchased a berth. All she had to do was pack.

Four days after the old priest’s visit, Kailas crept from her room before dawn. She left an envelope for her father on the kitchen table. There was nothing in it he hadn’t heard a hundred times before, but it gave her closure. She had done her best.

Outside, the factory funnels were black towers in the dark. She wrapped a shawl over her hair, shifted her rucksack on her shoulders and checked the streets were clear before heading west.

Kailas stuck to the shadows as she passed the factory gates, crossing street after street until she reached the heart of the Blackmetal district. The area would come alive soon enough, but for now the streets were deserted.

Her breath plumed white as she passed empty cab hailing points and shuttered shops. By the corner of Anvil Row, the last road in this district, a man lurched from the shadows, making her cry out.

She grabbed the small paring knife tucked under her belt and whipped it free, waving it at the man and baring her teeth.

The man staggered to the other side of the street and vomited into the gutter.

Kailas put the knife away with a shaking hand, and hurried on past Execution Square and the black stone hulk of the prison. From there, she followed the main road heading west, to the harbour.

The sky lightened, revealing the emerging bustle of morning trades. Kailas passed taverns with their doors flung open, lit by storm lanterns. Sailors sat on benches, taking their morning repast – a pint of beer with plates of pickled eggs and bread. The aroma of pies, hot from the oven, made her stomach grumble.

Shutters rattled as shopowners opened up, metal clanged as street-vendors assembled their stalls. The buzz of conversation and laughter took the edge off her nerves.

By the time she reached Bayside Market, the number of carts, traders and people going about their business forced her to the side of the road. Traffic rumbled over the cobbles. Pungent gusts from the morning fish market carried on the whipping breeze.

Once she had reached the sloping harbour road, she stopped under a shop awning to push back some wayward strands of hair beneath her shawl. Her wavy, chestnut locks made her stand out, compared to the majority of Mealduthians, whose hair was slick and black. Kailas had an Orthmian mother to thank for that, but little else.

She often wondered how things would have turned out if her mother had stuck around. From what Father had told her, she had been expecting a sweet-smelling newborn, not a child exuding the stink of torquor rock. Kailas hadn’t smelled right, and she hadn’t looked right either — Mealduthian babies had no colour in their chubby cheeks, no rosy hue. They stayed chalk-white no matter how hard they bawled.

Stolen story; please report.

Within days of being born, her mother had shoved Kailas into her father’s arms and fled Ithos Darg, leaving him to raise her. Kailas’s earliest memories were of evenings spent in smoke-filled bars and gambling dens, when she should have been safely tucked up in bed at home.

White Star Harbour appeared over the next rise as a forest of masts. Towboats, packet-ships, cutters, and small boats of all shapes and sizes bobbed about in the harbour waters. A barge was moored alongside the customs warehouse.

Guards patrolled the dockside with brutish dogs on leads. Kailas searched the harbour for Dock Three, but spotted the ship first. The Pride of Ithos Darg was an enormous merchant barque with the Governor’s white star painted on her prow. She carried trade cargo below, and berths for passengers along the upper decks.

With the arrival of dawn, the topmen scaling the masts were visible as silhouettes against the rising sun. Only the small skysails were unfurled. The huge swathes of gallant and topsails would stay stowed until the ship had left the harbour.

Kailas headed down to meet her ship. The Pride was lashed to three stone bulwarks by coils of thick rope. Two gangways were down. The first, by the rear bulkheads, led to the cargo decks. A gang of stevedores hauled barrels inside using pull lines. One young lad was stacking loads on handcarts to be taken inside the yawning bay. When he saw her, he gave her a wink.

The second gangway was for passengers, with a queue already forming. Kailas’s heart skipped when she spotted a Governor’s inspector waiting at the bottom. He looked imposing in his black greatcoat with its white star epaulettes and polished, leather boots. Beside him stood a ship’s officer in uniform.

She got in line, rummaging inside her cloak for her boarding pass.

The Governor didn’t approve of healthy citizens, with the capacity to work and pay him taxes, leaving for the glamour of Ordasius without good reason. She’d wanted to purchase a return ticket to avoid arousing suspicion, but couldn’t afford it. False papers were out of the question, for the same reason.

The passengers ahead of her were finely dressed, with their cases and bags stacked to one side. A string of crewmen carried the luggage onboard.

As Kailas reached the head of the queue, she wished she’d brought more clothes with her. The fact she only had a rucksack looked odd.

The Governor’s inspector looked her up and down, expressionless.

‘Name?’ he said, leadenpen poised over a list written on slate.

‘Kailas Darkchar.’

He located her name on the list and put a tick by it. ‘Destination?’

‘Goldlight Bay.’

‘Everyone’s going to Goldlight Bay.’ He clucked his tongue. ‘Where will you go from there?’

‘I have business in Ordasius.’

The inspector scribbled a note and paused.

‘You haven’t booked a return ticket.’ His eyes bored into hers. ‘Why is that?’

Kailas held her nerve. ‘I don’t know how long my business will take.’

‘What is the nature of your business?’

None of your business! she wanted to say. Instead, she trotted out an explanation she had sweated over last night. ‘I’m researching styles and leathers for my father’s shoemaking business.’

‘Your father’s address?’

Kailas clenched her fists. There wasn’t any point giving a false address, as they had her name. Although she had no love for her father, she hoped his interrogation would not last long.

Her spirits took a slide when the inspector felt in his pocket for a red chislechalk, and marked a star by her name.

The previous passengers hadn’t got a star by their names. What did it mean? Would they stop her boarding? Would they send inspectors to her father’s house straightaway, or would they wait a week. Five weeks?

‘Very well. You can go.’

Kailas put her shoulders back, took a steadying breath and approached the officer, who inspected her boarding pass before stamping it.

EMBARKED

At the top of the ramp, she stopped to look back. Beyond the growing queue of passengers and the busy harbour, the rising sun revealed the chaos of factories, towerhouses and looming citadels that made up Mealduth.

Back home, her father would soon awaken to her letter, and an empty house.

Kailas turned her back on the city and ducked inside the passenger deck, before guilt could change her mind.