In a dingy basement, room in the slums of Thaldun city, lit by a mixture of silver and red light from the two overhead moons. The light able to pass the grimy half window illuminated four shapes huddled under a thin sheet and blanket on an old bed. Suddenly, the silence of the night was broken by a scratching at the lock; it turned and unlached with a click. A teenage boy then opened the door, slowly closed the door, and, walking into the room with soft footfalls, dropped a few wallets on the small table before crawling into the bed and falling asleep, becoming the fifth. Far away, the silver and red moons continued their journey across space in the sky above, uncaring about the world below.
The following day, Sky woke up, slowly raising himself out of the bed. Trying not to wake the others, in the room lit only by the sunlight pouring through the window, he walked over to the cracked mirror, looked at his dirty reflection, ran his fingers through his long black hair, and sighed. He then turned to the table behind him and noticed three wallets. Grabbing them, he opened them up and counted the bills: one gold crown, seven silver blades, and thirteen copper shields, coming out to one crown, eight blades, and three shields. Elated, he smiled. They could pay the rent for two crowns this week with the money.
From behind him, the others had started waking up. The youngest, a girl with blonde hair and brown eyes, greeted him. “Mornin', Sky,” she said, the sleep still evident in her voice.
“Good morning, Lily,” he replied in a whisper, trying to let the others sleep as long as possible. " Do you want some breakfast?” he asked.
“Yes, please,” Lily replied. Sky then reached into the cupboard, grabbed an apple, and tossed it to Lily. She caught it and walked across the creaking floorboards to the table, an odd-looking creation the group had built by placing broken wood planks over stacked bricks. Plopping down in one of the three chairs, she happily bit into the apple.
Seeing this, Sky released a sad smile, put on his worn shoes, grabbed his coat with the hole in the left pocket, and with a last glance back at Lily and the other three still sleeping, he went out the door.
The morning air in Thaldun was crisp and cold, carrying with it the stink of the slums as it hit Sky's face. Turning out of the alleyway where his house was, he turned onto Kelthorn Street and began walking south to where it met the main road. Once there, he joined the crowds and headed towards the docks to find work.
Leaving the poor western district, he entered the busy southern port district. Here, the scent of smoke and sea mixed, replacing the smell of the slums. The port district was a mix of factories, docks, and warehouses. It pumped in goods and business daily, making it the great beating heart of the city.
A sizeable naval transport unloaded soldiers as they formed ranks and marched north to the military district. Most would die within the month, while others would return as heroes. If I didn’t have the others to look out for, I would have joined up long ago, thought Sky to himself. A quick death on the battlefield with a chance of a better life beats slowly dying in the slums with no way out.
Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.
As the crowd walked past the factories, some began to peel off and head inside. These people were the lucky ones with full-time factory jobs, and although worn, they had clean clothes and full stomachs. A few others followed them; these people were hoping for an opening they could fill. Some of them got lucky, but most would go home with nothing.
Sky continued down to the docks, the scent of the sea overpowering the smoke, looking at the lines in front of each one. He selected the third shortest and queued up. Docks 3B and 12A always had the shortest lines, but 3B was gang-controlled, and 12A would only sometimes pay up at the end of the day. The queue for dock 7B moved rather quickly today, and after a half-hour, Sky reached the front. As always, two men sat behind a table; one was the dock's foreman there to register his name, and the other was a military grunt there to both try and recruit him and keep the peace.
“Name and age,” asked the foreman with a grunt.
“Sixteen, Sky,” he replied. Then, looking at the uniformed man starting to speak, he said, “No.”
The military grunt began to open his mouth in protest, but holding up three fingers, the foreman cut him off.
“You, on Crew 3, Next!”
Sky quickly hurried along, seeing the signs with five numbers on weathered poles. He promptly stood under the three, along with others. He waited until 25 men had gathered. There were a few around Sky's age. Most of the men were in their twenties, and a single man looked to be about forty. Sky was pleased that no one in his crew was underage, as he had experienced this, and it always led to problems. The southern country of Delenthiem had passed a law forbidding people under ten years of age to work. This law went over fine with the people on the southern continent, but in the already poorer central continent territories' poorer districts, children would often lie about their age to get a day job and bring home some change. The underage workers led to anger from adults who were unable to get any work. This rage would, more times than not, lead to an investigation in which corrupt officials extorted all parties involved, or someone ended up dead.
He was snapped out of his thoughts when the crew leader arrived, introduced himself and led the group down the dock towards the large cargo ship covered in barnacles and its towering sails.
“We are to unload all the cargo in the third hold and bring it to warehouse 17,” the crew leader told them. He then looked at Sky and the other two young workers and asked, “Is this anyone's first time working at the docks?”
“Yes,” a voice said from behind, and Sky quickly turned to see who was stupid enough to admit that. There, with his hand raised, was the older man. Upon closer inspection, his clothes were much nicer than anyone else's. Must have been a factory worker who recently got let go, thought Sky.
“Well then,” the crew leader said joyfully, “I'll show you how things work here. First, look at how this rope is tied, as you may need to redo one just like it.”
The man let out a breath of air, glad that the crew leader was so understanding. He quickly walked over and glanced down at the knot, trying to figure out how to retie it if needed. At that moment, a boot slammed into his back, and a loud crack resounded. Sky and the others watched as the man went over the side of the dock, falling four meters into the water with a loud splash and disappearing under the waves.