It’s nearly evening when other boats sailing the same way as us appear out of the salt spray, then get close enough that my spyglasses let me pick out people going about their business on board. Most of them seem to be carrying salvage and fish. I adjust my next tack so we’re going on a parallel path to them, and then we all sail into a sea fog so sudden, so wet and cold and thick, it gives me a fright like it slapped me. I ding the bell and wake Saleesi from her snoozing on the seat. ‘Oh,’ she says, stretching and yawning. ‘You found it.’
‘Found what?’ I ask, coz I wasn’t looking for no thick cold fog.
‘Valley of the Sun,’ she says.
‘Nah,’ I say, coz she’s asleep and not seeing things proper. ‘I jus’ found a fog.’
‘Sail on, you wormy-mouthed kid, and take another look,’ she says, all bossy even though she’s only a couple of years older than me tops.
So I do sail on, and I do take another look. The fog lifts suddenly and I’m under a clear sky and I’ve sailed through a ring of fog, a giant fog-ring made by little machines bobbing on the ocean. And right in the middle of the fog-ring sits something that makes my brain explode.
Boats, no, ships they’re called when they’re this huge. Mega ships, wide as islands, tall as mountains, lots of them sailing side by side, sides touching like they’re welded together. I count five across the front. I count two deep on this side and two more behind them. All of them going in the same direction but stuck together firm as anything. Firmer even than Licorice’s two hulls.
‘Wow!’ I say.
‘Yep,’ Saleesi says. ‘That’s the Valley of the Sun.’
‘But that ain’t no valley or island – that’s a pile of giant ships stuck together.’
‘A floating city. It controls all of the land on the north-east of this continent. Jus’ sails up and down, making sure all the people is doing what they should. Can’t sail out and attack a moving capital hidden in fog. Can’t tear down its sea walls. Can’t ever guess how close or far away they is if you’re up to something naughty. It’s the best capital.’
Way, way up on the floating mega ships, there’s buildings with lights on, there’s even trees growing, reaching up for the sky, rising and falling, all of it together on the wide sea.
‘Come on then, there’s pontoons on the leeward side. Let’s tie off and get aboard and find your friend. This low light will help.’
‘Is boarding illegal?’ I ask, coz I don’t wanna get into worse trouble and have Jag paying for more.
‘I dunno, do I? I’ve only been here pirating. Everything I did was illegal. That’s what pirates do.’
‘So will they arrest you here?’ I ask.
‘Nah, look at us. Two scruffy kids. They won’t much care at all about us. It’s that old Pirate Bradshaw they’ll be wanting for thievery and selling stolen goods, not me. Plenty of scruffy beggar kids on Valley of the Sun.’
We tie off on a floating pontoon on the side of one of the large ships. The whole thing is moving forward very slowly, silently along with the ship. Saleesi leaps off and strides along the pontoon like she could walk across the ocean.
I jump off and stumble after her. First the pontoon drops away leaving my next footfall missing, and then it’s running up to meet me. I drop to my knees and hang on and Saleesi laughs. She comes back and grabs my arm with her good hand and tows me past Uncle Croc, who seems to be sleeping, the gash on his head already dark and dry, up the jetty, up a rope ladder to another jetty, and up another ladder to an opening halfway up the hull of the mega ship. To the man with a sun crown waiting there she says, ‘Anyone go near our boat and that trained croc will eat them!’
He yells at her in that strange language and blocks the way.
‘I ain’t got nothing,’ she says and holds her hands out, palms up and nudges me with her elbow. ‘Show him your hands, he thinks you been thieving.’
I show him my palms too. Then Saleesi kicks him in the shin and shoves me past him and into the ship.
The man yells and swipes at us but we’re too fast and take off running. I check over my shoulder, and he’s jus’ grouching and frowning at us, and not chasing.
‘He jus’ thinks we’re hanging around down here begging or looking for stuff to steal,’ Saleesi says, slowing down to a quick walk. ‘He won’t bother chasing us, too many real thieves to keep his eye on,’ which gives me hope that scruffy kids can come and go without a problem at all.
