The Belladonna

Chapter 21 - Karniva

The city was like nothing Sky had ever experienced before. The sights, sounds and aromas threatened to override her senses as she stepped off the pier and into a small market place. Sky checked that her pistol was in her waistband and covered it with her shirt. The ground was sandy and as it moved away from the water it began to slope up the main street.

Sky moved over to its path as she passed merchants trying to sell their produce. She scanned their stalls mesmerised by it all. One man held up a beautiful scarf that looked like silk and grinned at Sky. She shook her head and continued up the hill. When she reached the shops setup in old buildings she stopped. Sky turned and looked down the hill back to the shore. The Belladonna's dark flag flapped in the wind as if it was saying goodbye to her. Sky smiled and looked back to the top of the hill.

The Kings palace loomed over her proud and noble. Sky squared her shoulders and launched into a sprint eager to get there faster. She ran past the many citizens of Karniva barely seeing them and loving the way the wind blew her hair back and filled her lungs with it. Never had she felt to light and free. The bliss from Dustin's kiss still in her mind Sky ran like a child up the main street tempted to spin in circles in her jubilance.

The people of Karniva gave her concerned looks as she whizzed past them not slowing in her haste to reach the palace. It was so far way but with each step she drew closer and The Belladonna farther away. The buildings became more exquisite the deeper she got to the centre of the city. No longer made of rotting wood but calved stone with metal trimmings added for no other reason than to look pretty.

Sky passed a group of women dressed in colourful dresses. She recognised their hollow empty eye's immediately and slowed her pace. That could have been me. Sky though back to the whore whose on Rendes and Madam Lane who had always told her she was welcome.

"What you look'n at?" One of the women met Sky's gaze. "Think you're betta than us do ya?" The other whores looked to Sky too all with hostile eyes. She didn't reply because she did not feel better than them, she was simply overcome at where her life could have gone. "Get lost. No man will eva want a bitch who dresses like a boy! At least we're desirable."

Sky frowned at her personal jab but said noting as some men laughed and stumbled over to the women seeking their attention. Shaking her head she moved on thinking how she'd left her childhood home at the right time. Her good mood slightly hindered Sky picked up her pace. The palace was close to her; the front gates just coming into view. Sky's heart beat faster as she pushed her legs harder.

She came to a screeching halt, her shoes making tracks in the sandy road. In front of her was a wall of red and blue. The officers had created a blockade in the road outside the front of the palace. All of them were armed with piked rifles and had stern expressions. Sky frowned.

Why would the King need so many men here? Sky realised that behind that gate was the man who had ordered all of the people on Harpers Isle to be killed.

Curiosity surged in her to know why but she pushed it down. Focus on what you have to do.

Altogether there were around thirty men. Sky wouldn't be able to simply duck pass them unnoticed and she racked her mind for a way to get into the palace. Moving down one of the narrow paths between two buildings, Sky aimed to cut around to the side and check the other gates.