Chapter six
Will opened his
mouth to say something and then closed it again. His face confused for just a
moment. Then he seemed to collect himself. He straightened his body.
“Cloud…? I am sorry
General, but I have no idea what-“
“I found a copy of
your disposition sir” the General said softly.
“My what?”
“From the
incident. What you told the investigators.”
Will slowly walked
the several steps back to the stool and sat down, his eyes on the General. “The
disposition…? From..? But, no, that’s not possible. No copies, they were
burned, I saw…” Will seemed to sink further into the stool ,but then quickly
comeback up. “No. I will not call you a liar sir, but I sincerely doubt that
you have anything like what you claim, and if you think you do, it is most
certainly a fake. Now I think I have been most patient-“
“You remember
Inspector Emerson?”
“Yes… I do. Do you
know… Mr. Emerson?”
“Yes, that is I
did. He died a few months ago.”
Will seemed
shocked, he clearly had not heard the news. “I, I am sorry to hear that.”
“Yes, quiet a
shock. Happened upon a break in, in his own house…” the general said, his voice
getting quieter.
“Oh?”
“Yes. Two men, at
least, the maid saw them run away, after they shot Emerson in the chest.”
“That is terrible
news.” Will said softly.
“Yes. Seems like
they were looking for something.”
“I see. Did, did
they find anything?”
“I suspect not Mr.
Cogwright, I think they were looking for this…” The general reached into his
coat breast pocket and pulled out a small folded sheet of paper. Will’s eyes
went wide.
“This, Mr.
Cogwright, was given to me in an envelope by Emerson’s solicitor. It seems that
Emerson left it to me in his will. In the event that anything should happen to
him he wanted me to have it. Furthermore he left me instructions to read the
document in the envelope.” The General’s voice was now very low. A silence hung
in the air.
Will cleared his
throat. “Did you?… read it?” he asked. The general nodded. Will put his hand to
his forehead.
“Are they real…?”
Liza asked, her voice breathless, “Did you really see-“
“I don’t know what
I saw…” Will’s voice was small, he sounded defeated.
From across the
room Mary made a small noise.
Then she burst
out.
“I’m ever so
sorry! But would anyone mind telling me what on earth is going on?”
All eyes turned to
Mary and then back to Will, who was still hiding behind his hand.
Liza sighed. “It’s
a long story, but it seems that what Grandfather was given was a confession, of
sorts, by a young Mr. Cogwright about what happened-“
“Let me tell!”
Will had dropped his hand and seemed taken aback by the sound of his own voice.
“I ‘m sorry, but, please, let me tell. It is my story and I have never, ever
told anyone what happened that terrible day. Well, no one after I talked to the
inspector, that is. And he told me he
would never tell anyone either, least they lock him up as well as me. You see,
Ms. Gosling, the story is too fantastic to be true. And sometimes I doubt
myself even, but I swear, it is all true. Even, especially, the parts
that seem untrue.”
Will pulled
himself back erect.
“I had been
introduced to the art of flight by my father. I accompanied him on flights from
as far back as I can remember. He taught me how to fly, but more importantly,
how to navigate. The navigate using the sun and the stars. By the time I was 15
I was good, very good, at navigation. People actually began to hire me for
flights. At first it was just friends of my father, but soon I was leading
important expeditions. At 18 I was enrolled in his majesty’s air force. From
time to time I still went on trips with my father, but they became fewer and
fewer. He began to make solo journey. He would never tell me where he was going
or what he saw. All I knew is that he felt like he was on the verge of an
important breakthrough.
Then, when I was
21, he came crashing into my room one morning. He told me that he had finally
found it. I had no idea what he was talking about of course, but I soon began
to get a clearer picture. My father said he had found cities in the clouds.
Floating cities with people in them, in the clouds.”
Mary put her hand
up to her mouth to stifle a small gasp. Lize’s face had a wide smile plastered
on it.
“Of course I did
not believe a word of it. And I told him as much, I am ashamed to say. But he
persisted.
Then one day he
went off to explore his city in the clouds and… and he never came back.”
Will gave a deep
sigh.
“Never came back. So,
I decided that I would follow him, take the route he had mentioned, and see
where is went and , possibly see what he saw. It was foolishness, of course, a
wild goose chase. I could tell no one in the air force. But I did manage to get
two of my closest friends to help me. The three of us would set out on a hot
spring day to try and find the city in the clouds…”
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