Chapter 3 - A Flying Start (2)

Sighing at the thought of the Amazing Eyewear System, Dexter now rummaged through his bag and dragged out a rather torn and dirty map. They had to find the most direct route to King Incarnate’s castle, which was conveniently situated close to a border of Landscape. Unfortunately this was the border furthest away from where they were.

“I think we should cut through in a westerly direction,” said Dexter, and traced a route on the map with his finger that would take them across a mountain, through a forest and then over some uncharted territory. “Let’s get going.”

With these words, the two would-be heroes set off on their journey. There were no crowds cheering them off, no last fond farewells or words of wisdom and encouragement. Only old MacTantrum, Inventor of Opposable Tongues, saw them go and ran excitedly into his house to add their departure to his list of unremarkable occurrences devoid of interesting features.

oooOOooo

Dexter and Sinister took the only road out of Blinkburg, trudging along unhappily. The future looked bleak, mused Dexter, and to top it all his feet hurt already and they had barely set off.

Soon Dexter murmured, “It’s this walking that gets to me.”

“What was that?” asked Sinister, whose thoughts had been engaged by the intricacies of moving his limbs.

“I said this walking gets to me,” replied Dexter, rather irritably. If he was going to have to repeat everything throughout this journey, he’d …

“We could fly,“ Sinister remarked casually. “Could be faster, you know.”

Dexter stared in surprise. The boy had hidden depths to him!

“Of course, Sinister! You’re right! We’ll take the next turnoff and head down to Storkfield. I’m sure we’ve got enough money for an economy class flight!”