All Aboard

So breakfast was finished and their belongings were all loaded on the carriages. Come on children go collect your fur coats and winter boots. Meet us by the front entrance.

By this time the King had managed to convince his children and wife it was going to be a great adventure.

They arrived at the docks in plenty of time. The queen and Maye hadn’t dressed for the occasion despite what the king had advised. The docks were cold and smelt awful. The dockworkers were all dirty and spoke in a way they had never heard.

Salhuta the prince had listened to his father and was dressed in warm clothes. His sister elbowed him and called him daddies boy In front of the ship’s crew. This made him look foolish. It didn’t go down too well with the prince.

The King and all his workers boarded the ship Shalapoon and they were taken to their quarters. The King and Queens cabin was the best on the ship although the Queen had plenty to say about the cleanliness of it.

The children had a bunk room by the side of their parent’s room. To say they were disgusted was an understatement. Complaint after complaint came from their mouths until the King told them they could swap rooms with some of the ship’s crew if they liked. Yet once they saw the squalor the crew were sleeping in their bunk room was luxurious and they stopped the complaining. “I told you this is a learning adventure the sooner you stop complaining you’ll start enjoying yourself.” said the King.

The king kissed his wife goodby and he and his map plotters made their way to Captain Bells quarters where they looked over maps and came up with the safest route. The King stated it was so good to be back at sea. He wanted to use his old maps as he trusted them and his plotters. The maps they made had never failed him in all the years he’d been at sea. The plotters looked at each other and smiled. Captain Bell couldn’t deny or refuse the Kings request as he was the King after all and he had funded this voyage.

What the King didn’t realise is that the plotters were not faithful to him. That they had been plotting his demise for many years and were using this voyage to their advantage. They had tampered with all the routes taking them through troubled waters.

Once all the food, medical supplies, crew and other merchandise were on board. The Command “aweigh anchor” was given and they started to leave port. The children where both running on deck by now and looked at each other saying “good bye dry land hello sea. “

The Journey Begins

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