The Alpha King Call Boy – Chapter 87
The plane ride was the fastest but least comfortable part of the trip out to the moors.
The flight was eight hours, nothing too dramatic, but I simply cannot stand to full height inside of an airplane. It was a relief to finally straighten my spine all the way when we disembarked.
The overnight train was another story. Kayden and I had reserved a two-bedroom sleeper car with a private bathroom. We boarded after nightfall, and it appeared either the train was mostly empty, or all the other riders had already tucked in for the night.
it didn’t take long for the lulling sounds of the train chugging along the tracks and the
losed into his room and I’d just lai
back to my bed, sat and lifted the lid.
neat little square.
d in the faint but distinct scent of Fiona. My head dropped back against the wall and my eyes closed with the first whiff. It was an unexpected co
low.
k of what an oddly sentimental thing that was to do.
he wine.
train windows, the spectacular landscape outside suddenly became visible.
re. A picture of oblivion.
presence here, unlike in the city where it only ho
had wanted to see this.
cal bus into the nearby town, where I wasted no time beginning my interviews.
, and more beautiful sights in the tow
e patriarch was widely considered the town historian.
e into view below us as we crested a hill.
a woman not fifty yards from us, partway down the hill, hanging damp laundry on a line. Kayden and I were surprised to see her, but it appeared she’d noticed
though it were perfectly uninteresting to see two strange men approaching her remote homestead.
e woman slowly, and when we were close enough to earshot that I didn’t have to yell, I introduced myself and Kay
time, but kept her lips pressed closed and her eyes on her task.
ten years ago.”
looking at me. “Folks that live on the moors, lived here their whole lives. Not a place to move to.”
line gracefully, and the woman swiftly clamped it into place with a couple of wooden pins. It was nothing to her, something she’d done a million times and would do a million more, but struck me as remarkable, a kind of seamless cooperation with nature that I respected.
name since I knew her.”
ed, squinting against the yellow sunlight, and gave me and Kayden each a couple seconds of long, hard stare.
ween her hip and elbow, and began to waddle away in the direction of a cottage at the bottom of the hill.
ned to each other, be
t us. Then she shook her head and resumed her route.
sing we were to follow, we
ner, smoking a pipe. As much as our arrival had strangely not surprised the woman, the man likewise seemed unfazed, only sliding his eyes sideways to watch as Kayden and I stepped over the threshold into their tiny home.
two chairs back from a rectangular table, then shuffled off into the small kitchen, depositing her basket on a countertop as she went. I
d myself to the man as Kayden and I padd
t seemed to be the pace of things here.
ney, “John, these men are lookin for someone.”
y now. Short, with a small frame and medium brown hair. A soft-spoken and gentle person.”
a gruff voice. He rose from his chair. His back was angled sideways, but still he reached an impressive heig
nd I need her help with something back home.”
e that looks like what you’re describing. Not ten years ago, not toda
spied a flash of red.
up a metal pail, and locked eyes with me.
eared.
table.
or polite formalities.
ed to be headed.
standing near a walking path with the bucket in hand, w
w me see her, she took off again
ed.