Wow, there's only 20 chapters left! I'm going to post two chapter today so look out for the next one!
Enjoy!
Chapter 40 The Golden Kingdom
“Where are we even going?” Kalmar asked. This time they weren't actually thrown in the dungeon, instead Opal had put them on the deck where she could watch them intensely. She was making sure they didn't do anything funny or do any sort of anything that she didn't like.
She sighed and said, “We're going to the 5th land, the Golden Kingdom.” she said, staring off into the horizon.
“The Golden Kingdom?” Janner said, mostly to himself as he thought that this sounded like a place that you would want to go to and it sounded like a very mystical place.
Opal was still staring into the horizon and seemed to pick up on this even though he didn't say anything and she explained, “The Golden Kingdom may sound nice but it is a complete and utter wasteland. The only thing that exists in the Golden Kingdom is the First Falls. It was the first waterfall that was ever created in Aerwiar.” she said, still not taking her gaze off of the horizon.
“What happened to it?” Leeli asked nervously for fear of Opal snapping at her.
Opal sighed and said, “When the leaders of the Golden Kingdom got greedy, they tried to steal the complete crystal star. That was one of the reasons why there are now five crystal shards and I have to go on a wild goose chase with all of you to retrieve them. They tried to use the magic incorrectly to open the portal to the other world. And in doing so they destroyed the entire land and every living thing and nonliving thing in it!” Opal explained.
“So why are we going there?” Kalmar asked.
“Because! I need the crystal shard!” Opal said, putting her hand on her forehead.
“But if it's a wasteland, why would anyone put a crystal in a wasteland?” he asked.
“The crystal is not in the wasteland, it's hidden in the First Falls. And if I hear one more question out of you, I promise I will throw you and your family back into that dungeon!” Opal snapped.
“Oh, I am so glad I don't have kids!” she said, under her breath as the boat sailed on across the dark sea.
About 5 hours later, the boat stopped at a little tiny Island that had not much on it but a little deck. “Stop the boat!” Opal said. She saw the island.
“Why are we stopping?” Janner asked.
“Because someone is to give me the Emerald Kingdom's Crystal here. This is the only safe place where we can do it.” She said as she started to walk towards the dock.
“It's Mr. Stars, the wizard, isn't it?” Janner asked. He didn't really have enough time to process this, when she told them that Mr. Stars, the wizard, was in fact, her father. The news about Mr. Stars was still fresh to Janner and all the Wingfeathers as a matter of fact.
“Why would I tell you?” Opal asked, as she shook her head and walked down the dock. The moment she left and they were sure she was gone, all the kids rushed to the side of the boat and looked over the edge to see what was going on on the little Island. Opal walked out onto the island and they could see on the horizon a little small boat with dark green crystals covering it. They saw that waiting for her on the island was a tall man, hooded in a dark blue cape.
The two were talking for a while but they couldn't make out anything they were saying. But Kalmar wouldn't accept this so he tried to read their lips. “I think she's saying that a Toothy Cow took the spaghetti.” Kalmar said.
Janner looked at him like he was from outer space and said “why would Opal say that a Toothy Cow took the spaghetti?”
“I don't know? Would you know if the Toothy Cow took your spaghetti?”
“No, but why would the Toothy Cow take my spaghetti anyways? And also why are we talking about spaghetti and Toothy Cows when we should be trying to figure out what Opal and Mr. Stars are talking about?” Janner said, shaking his head at his crazy, funny brother.
A few moments later, they saw Mr. Stars take off a little silver backpack and take from it a green diamond shaped shiny crystal. He handed it over to Opal. She gladly took it and then turned around to the boat. Even though they both put on brave, strong, mean, faces, Leeli could see that Mr. Stars looked troubled when he saw his daughter. She couldn't see that from Opal, but she saw it in Mr Stars’ eyes.
The door to the boat burst open as Opal came bustling through with the crystal. “Four down, one to go! start the ship!” she said coldly to the guards, as she walked over to Janner's pack and placed the crystal inside.
For the remainder of the trip, the Wingfeathers tried to stay quiet because they knew if they pushed the wrong buttons, they would end up in that dark dungeon again which was something that none of them, especially Esben, wanted to do. Janner thought about writing more about the past adventures of the past few weeks, but he didn't dare to open his pack for the fact that Opal might think he was trying to steal the crystals from her. That was exactly what they were going to do, if they could ever get out of this boat.
They were all quite bored as they watched the waves crash beneath them. They were waiting for them to get to the Golden Kingdom. That's when Leeli came up with the great idea of playing the Get to Know You game.
They woke up the next morning to see in front of the boat, was a large land ahead of them. The land didn't have much color. It was as if all the color got sucked out of it, leaving sort of a faded mess.
Kalmar walked up to Opal and asked “Is that the Golden Kingdom?”
“Yes, that is the Golden Kingdom.”
“But it's so faded.” Janner added, as he was confused at why it was called the Golden Kingdom.
“Yes, it faded when the leaders used the crystal incorrectly. It destroyed every living thing on it, causing the land to turn into a wasteland of nothing more than just sand and the First Falls.” Opal explained.
“Why is it called the Golden Kingdom if it's all faded?” Sara asked.
“Because it used to be colorful before it was destroyed; it was a kingdom filled with gold and metallic colors. It was said that the castle was made entirely out of gold itself. And the spiers and turrets were made out of diamonds. And those diamonds actually grew on the trees and the crystals grew up from the ground. This was one of the prettiest of the five lands. But now as you can see, that time is over and it is now a Wasteland with nothing more than just the Falls.” Opal said.
“That's all you know?” Janner asked, unconvinced that this was the entire truth.
“Yes, that is all I know, for all of the Golden Kingdom's history disappeared and was destroyed with the rest of the kingdom. Now no more questions!”, she snapped, extremely irritated at all the thousands of questions these children were asking.
The boat dropped anchor once it reached the shore. And they let the dock down onto the shore. The moment that Opal set foot on the faded sand she breathed a sigh of relief. “Oh how long I've waited for this day!” she said, longingly as she, the Wingfeathers, and of course some of her Shapeshifter guards walked across the beach and followed Opal deeper into the Golden Kingdom.
Not another cliffhanger!