text: We stepped off the boat and headed up the jetty towards the island. Immediately we saw two guards straight ahead. My feet stuck to the ground, the air chilling around my limbs. “What do we do?” I whispered. “Act calm. See what happens,” Alessia responded. We walked up to them, waiting to be questioned. However, as we passed they merely nodded and smiled. Now that we were on the island the restrictions of movement no longer applied. Instead, we were free to explore. We picked up our pace and scurried past the few rows of trees lest the guards change their passivity. We quickly found ourselves on a street lined with tall brick buildings on either side. Ahead of us, a few hundred metres away, we could see the prisoner being led through the town, the guards accompanying her. “We should keep our distance,” I said. “No shit.” Alessia rolled her eyes. We began slowly following them; our eyes pointed to the buildings around us, but the prisoner and the procession kept in our peripheral vision. “I thought you were against these little adventures anyway,” I said, raising an eyebrow. “I am when they’re just for fun. But, I don’t like being tricked, and I don’t want to go back to Runar without any idea of what they’re up to. We need to have something on him.” As we walked through the town, I was struck by how similar everything seemed to Tima Voreef. The elegant buildings with their large glass windows loomed over the street, the electric lights illuminating the gravel path below. I passed a building with a picture just like the ones I had seen affixed to the walls on Tima Voreef. A picture of a hand holding a spanner stood above bold red text. *Keep the wheels turning. Industry is vital for Ruthogrey Landfall.* Our walk felt like a dream. As though everything around us was just the smallest bit different, slightly out of place, and at any moment reality might shift back and we’d land back on Tima Voreef. I assumed during the day the streets would be as filled as they had been back on Tima Voreef. However, with the daylight gone, the bustle had left. Instead, pedestrians slowly wandered down the streets in ones or twos. Some enjoying a warmer than expected evening with a loved one, others slowly dragging their bodies home after pulling an extra long shift at whatever job they had. The street curved gently before opening out on a large square, where three wide streets met at a public courtyard - our own, one opposite, and one to our right. On the fourth side of the square, to my left, a lofty stone building stood watch over the three streets. The top and lowest floors of the building had windows, but between there was solid grey surface with a mural painted on top. Four electric lights, one at each corner, shone onto the mural. On it, was a painting of who I assumed to be Philomena Rubio, the president of Ruthogrey Landfall. In the corner of the mural, I could see the same signature that was on our paper. She gave a stern, maternal smile to the citizens in the courtyard. Long, blonde drapes fell down her back, contrasting her bronzed skin. Written next to her were the words “We will prosper from your efforts.” Even the murals contained an odd mirroring: Joan Moreno’s brown curls replaced with the golden straight lines of Philemona Rubio; a thank you for efforts made replaced with a thanks for efforts to come. But the ideas were the same. Alessia tapped me on the arm and nodded ahead. Off in the distance, the guards and prisoner stopped outside a large white building. Heavy wooden doors opened, and they stepped inside, disappearing from view. The doors shut once more, a thud echoing down the street. We could follow no further. We traced their route until we could see more of the building. It appeared to be some kind of a compound. Thick metal bars guarded the windows of the four-storey building. A wall at waist height ran along the roof, and I could see two guards observing the movements below. “Well, we’re not getting in there,” I said. Alyssia scrunched her face and looked around. She scanned her surroundings, until stopping on a building just before and opposite our target. It was an office block with glass windows stretching up four storeys. In the artificial streetlights, the building reflected back a stained version of the white compound. “Come on.” Alessia tugged on my arm. “I have an idea.” She pulled me towards the building, her quick footsteps scraping across the gravel road. She walked up to the door and pulled on the handle. It was locked. “You were planning on going in there?” I whispered, looking around in case anyone noticed us. “Uh huh,” she replied, reaching into her pocket, her hands held close by the handle. There was the muffled sound of the door jamming in the lock before the metal clicked and the entrance swung open. Alyssia walked through. “You coming?” I made one final check of our surroundings, before scampering after her inside. “You can pick locks?” “Not well. That lock’s more broken than picked now. But, I know a bit.” Alessia squinted in the gloom before heading for a staircase at the back of the building. “Where’d you pick that up?” I asked, struggling to keep her pace up the stairs. “My dad taught me when I was a teenager. Passed the time when bored on a boat.” “Any other skills I don’t know about yet?” “You’ll find out when you find out.” Alessia turned to face me, a wry smile on her lips before she disappeared up the next flight. As we climbed, less and less light penetrated the stairwell and we ascended into hastening dusk. As we reached the seventh flight of stairs, I could feel my thighs aching with each clamber. I had never been in a building as high as this one, and although I had walked up many hills, the steep ascent of the stairs quickly exhausted my energy. We reached the top floor and Alessia walked through to the front of the building. Grey light crept through the wide windows, giving just enough illumination for us to navigate our way past the desks and chairs to the exterior, where we could look out over the street. I moved hesitantly towards the window, before I remembered the view outside. Thanks to the bright electric lights, we could see out from the darkness, but those looking out at us could only see their own reflection. We were invisible. We watched for a while. On top, the two guards continued to half-heartedly monitor their surroundings. Occasionally, they stopped to walk along the top, cross paths, and stand where the other had been stationed. We waited, counting as the guards made their slow back-and-forth, lingering for some change in the pattern. Tired of standing, I sat cross-legged on the floor, my eyes ready for something, but being unsure of what. Then a light in one of the top-floor windows came on. I could see into a small office. There was a desk. On one side, a luxurious leather-bound chair, and on the opposite three smaller, but still comfortable-looking seats. A woman and a man walked in. The woman wore smart black trousers and a matching blazer. She had smooth olive skin, and long, curled, brown hair. I was struck by the odd familiarity of her face, as though I knew here, even if I couldn’t give her a name. I couldn’t make out what they were saying, only see their movements. The man gestured to a cabinet at one side of the room, the woman nodded. He walked over and took out a bottle and two glasses, pouring a clear liquid into them both. He pushed it across the table as the woman sat down on the comfier side of the desk. The man sat down opposite her and they spoke while the woman rummaged through the drawers in her desk. She found what she was looking for and left it open. Then, without breaking in conversation, she lifted her hands to her head, and removed the wig of brown hair, revealing a perfectly bald scalp beneath. My breathing paused and my eyes narrowed, my sights transfixed by the beautiful skin of her head. The man was unphased, and he continued talking, as the woman reached down to her desk and pulled up a long, straight blonde wig. Then it clicked. “No fucking way,” I said. “What?” Alessia said turning to me. “No. Surely...” I cut myself off, the words unable to keep up with the swimming thoughts. “What?” Alessia repeated, louder. I stood up as quickly as I could. “I need to check something. To be certain.” Alessia followed me as I marched out of the room and down the stairwell. “Do you want to tell me what’s happening?” Alessia called out, four or five steps behind. “In a minute. I just need to be sure.” I walked outside into the street. The cool night air bit against my flustered cheeks as I marched back up the road from where we’d come. My fists clenched, angry frightened blood creeping to the surface, turning my palms red. I leant into the stiff breeze, ignoring the frigid air stinging my eyes, until till I was back at the town square. I stopped and looked up. The large mural of Philomena Rubio stood before me. The olive skin. The long-blonde hair. The same woman who was in the office. The same woman who minutes before had been Joan Moreno, president of Ruthogrey Landfall’s sworn enemy. “It’s her.” “Wait. No?” Alessia said, beginning to catch up. “Yes. They’re the same woman. The two islands are run by the same people. We didn’t transport a prisoner. We just smuggled in the president of Tima Voreef.” “But why?” Alessia said, tilting her head, looking at the portrait. “Why fake the standoff?” “Have you seen these islands? Everything they’ve built? That war is what built all of it.” A sudden instinctual rage flooded my veins. I closed my eyes, suppressing it until I could locate exactly where it came from. “It’s Kadear all over again. A fake promise that galvanizes everyone. Just a different lie. It’s the same fucking con.” I let out a frustrated groan as my head tilted back to the sky. Alessia walked up to me and placed a hand on my arm. “We should get out of here. Back to the boat.” She pulled on my arm to shift me away from the mural. Slowly my legs complied, and we began heading back to the boat, Alessia still pulling me by the sleeve. “This whole place is built on the same lie,” I said. I looked up to the great buildings. Suddenly a fit of laughter overcame me, and I burst out into a snigger. All that intimidation, all the grandeur, now seemed strangely comical, like a child putting on a deeper, meaner voice. The curtain had been pulled back. That tension that weighed in the air had dissipated, and now I felt giddy. “Will you keep quiet? They haven’t been suspicious of us yet, but I’d like for them to not be.” “There is no war,” I said, unsure of my own smile. “Yes. But their guns are still very real,” Alessia replied through gritted teeth. She yanked on my shirt sleeve. The jolt forcing an exhale, and my laughter disappearing with it. We walked the rest of the way in silence until we were back on the boat “Well, we have our leverage,” Alessia said. I didn’t respond. Instead I headed to the nearest crate I could find, sat down, and buried my head in my hands. “You okay?” Alesia said, sitting on the side of the ship. I leaned back, returning my gaze to the stars for answers. “It’s a little close to home. These two islands. All these people. They’re living the exact same life I did before I found out the truth.” “Kadear is a long, long sail from here. This isn’t Kadear.” Alessia said, folding her arms. “I know it isn’t. But... it feels the same. The trick. I’m just repeating it. Alessia nodded. “What do you want to do now?” “Sail. Get out to sea. Away from this.” Alessia pulled herself back off the side of the boat. “We should probably check in with the Deer Drum lot anyway. Can you get the front?” I forced a smiled and pulled myself to my feet. I walked over to the rope at the front of the boat and untethered us from the island. As the currents pulled us slowly out to the sea I looked back on Ruthogrey Landfall and the buildings that dotted my view. I wondered how many people lived on the island, and how many of them ever had a sleepless night frightened, afraid of the coming war that would never arrive. \ Next chapter 2nd September (nb.