The Island

By Nathan Rogers

The Island soars through the clouds keeping everyone safe from the terrors of the world. Hounds patrol the city to enforce order, but Sky and the other imps chase and play in the narrow streets anyway, magnets for trouble. Bored with the small realm of the flying Island, Sky longs for adventure and daydreams about the mysterious lands that lie below.

When an act of mischief goes terribly wrong, Sky is thrown from the Island into a strange and terrifying new world. Hunted for reasons she doesn't understand, she is forced to use every bit of her wit and cunning to survive. But will it be enough as her murderous pursuers close in?

The Island is a fun fantasy adventure for children and adults alike. Immerse yourself in a world of magic and excitement, with goblins, trolls, fire-breathing drakes, and more—available now in paperback from Amazon and as an ebook from Amazon, Apple, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and more.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Palliser Bay Press
• Release date: Feb 25, 2018
• ISBN: 9780473430399

Nathan Rogers

Nathan Rogers writes science fiction and fantasy both for children and for a more mature audience, but his debut novel is a fun children’s fantasy adventure called "The Island". He lives in New Zealand with his lovely wife, their two feisty kids, a deranged border collie, and a cat. The cat thinks that she is in charge. She is probably right.

Book preview

You need a name, he said.

I already have a name, she said. I’m Number Seven.

That is not a name. He rumbled low as he thought about it. I will call you Sky, because your hair is blue like the sky.

But the sky is grey!

No, the clouds are grey. The sky is blue.

She frowned. Are you sure?

Yes, I am sure.

Above

Chapter 1

They were ahead of her somewhere.

Sky darted along the thin, dusty passageway as it twisted around sharp corners, passing closed doors and shuttered windows before skidding to a halt at the base of a steep staircase. Narrow, uneven stone steps spiralled upwards.

Get outta the way, imp.

Sky hopped back into the nearest doorway. An old goblin in a battered bowler hat trudged down the last few steps, the tools on his belt clanking. A much larger and younger goblin puffed behind him, his back laden with a huge wicker basket full of bricks, his dark grey skin slick with sweat.

Sky’s pointed ears twitched at the sound of pans clattering in the house behind her. She zigzagged up the steps, squeezing past a frowning, old gnome with a bundle of washing. It might have been a woman, but it was hard to tell as even gnome women had beards.

Ascending the final stair, she entered a wide, covered alley lined on either side with houses, doorways and the occasional water-barrel. Thin shafts of light pierced the gloom through cracks in the ceiling. Sky chose left for no particular reason and trotted past crumbling bricks and rough stone. Hidden voices mumbled. A freezing wind funnelled through the alley, flapping the lines of washing hung across the road between second-storey windows. There weren’t any windows at ground level.

A cart rattled somewhere ahead and someone small flashed across the alley. Sky froze. Was that a giggle? She tiptoed along the wall towards an open sideway. More giggling. How did they expect to stay hidden if they made that much noise? She jumped around the corner.

Got you!

A gang of chattering, green troglodytes fell silent. Trogs weren’t big—not much bigger than imps most of them—but they always acted like they were. They swaggered about, pinching, pushing and shoving when they could get away with it. The gang all had red scarves tied around their necks. No one knew why trogs did things like that and trogs never told. They would just lie about it, anyway.

An ugly trog, bigger than most with beady eyes and a white patch on his forehead, stepped into Sky’s way. Who you think you got, midget?

Sky backed away, but the gang had her surrounded. Get lost, Bog, she said, trying to sound tough.

You get lost, Bog said. You ain’t the boss of me.

Yeah, well, you ain’t the boss of me neither.

Sky sidestepped, but Bog blocked her and grinned.

The trogs had been in the middle of stacking boxes onto a cart. Bog and his gang thought they were special because they made deliveries to the Palace and when someone caught them doing something they shouldn’t, they always claimed to be on Palace business. People let them get away with it all the time because no one wanted the Lords and Ladies mad at them if the trogs were telling the truth for once.

Off to the Palace, are you? Sky bobbed a curtsy. Yes, my lady. Yes, my lord. Don’t spill their cups of tea, house-trog.

At least we get to go into the Palace, Bog yelled. You ain’t never been there.

Who cares? Sky yelled back. You ain’t special. She stabbed her chest with a thumb. I’m an engineer. Without me, you and everyone else falls Below.

The gang cackled with laughter. An engineer? Bog snorted. You hatched what, half a year ago? You don’t know nothing.

Sky stamped her foot. I do too!

Bog grew pale through his green skin. The other trogs sidled away as if they had just found something far more interesting to do. Sky hunched her shoulders and shuffled around with a sinking feeling. A massive hound grinned down at her with his long, white teeth glinting. Two more lurked behind him.

Hounds were tall, lanky beasts with long snouts, shaggy fur, sharp claws, and cruel, yellow eyes. They guarded the Palace and watched the streets, always in a pack. No one crossed them. Ever.

Poor little thing, the hound leader said. It has blue hair. Is it cold?

The other two chuckled. What is it? growled the smaller one.

Apparently, an engineer, the leader sneered.

The three hounds sniggered. An engineer? the biggest one snarled. That’s a laugh.

Yes, the leader agreed. The troll is the Engineer, so he matters. The Lords and Ladies matter. We matter. He bent down and sniffed Sky’s hair. You, however, matter nothing at all, imp. When you Fade Away the troll will just find himself another.

No, he won’t.

Bog and the other trogs gasped, but the hound leader smiled, all fangs. His hot, stinking breath brushed Sky’s neck. Why not? he whispered. He always does.

Sky’s bottom lip quivered, and she balled her fists. She might be only an assistant, but she was still an engineer and there were only two of them on the whole Island. She worked on the Engine to keep the Island flying and safe. Even the Lords and Ladies didn’t do that. She shot the hounds a guilty look. They couldn’t read minds, could they?

The hound leader rose and smiled. You are in the way. Don’t get lost on the way home, little engineer.

Sky fled.

* * *

The alley was just a line of walls and closed doors, and it was a long way to the next corner with nowhere to hide. Sky’s chest tightened. She had answered back to a hound! What was she thinking?

Light glared through another narrow sideway across the other side of the alley. That might lead somewhere. Sky dashed across and squeezed through a gap big enough only for an imp. She squinted against the brightness at the other end. The wind from outside whistled through and whipped her blue hair across her face.

The gap led nowhere, ending after just a few paces before dropping away into the bright, blue sky. Sky peeked forward. Wispy clouds swept under the Island, mixing with puffs of black exhaust from the Engine, far above a few seagulls and a vast, dark blue expanse covered in fuzzy, white lines. Grunt had called it an ocean and said it was made entirely of water. He had also said the fuzzy lines were waves because the water moved by itself even though she had made him swear twice that he wasn’t joking. How could water move by itself?

Sky chewed her lip. She couldn’t go back. If she stayed inside the hounds could get her any time they wanted to, and the trogs would try to get her in trouble again for sure. Bog would, anyway. The only way to keep seeking was to go around the outside of the Island. She could still find the others and win the game. Going home meant losing.

Balconies extended in front of a row of houses in both directions. At the next house, a wrinkled old goblin in a red housecoat tried to hang sheets on a line. The wind lashed the washing, snapping it back and forth. Sky hopped over the railing.

I hope your pegs are good.

The goblin gasped and clutched her chest. Another imp! she cried. You little thieves are everywhere. Stay away from my washing.

Sky brightened. You’ve seen the others?

Seen them and chased them off, the goblin snapped. Get away with you.

Which way did they go? Sky said.

The goblin waved a hand. That way. Now get going. I won’t have you stealing my things.

The cold wind howled around Sky’s bare feet. Don’t want your things.

* * *

Sky swung over balcony railings from house to house. They were all shut up tight for the day—not that this could stop an imp—but she had a game to win right now. Something big moved out of the corner of her eye. Sky yelped and shrank back as a big firedrake glided underneath, sharp, yellow spines along its back, its black wings spread wide. It banked away into the clouds. Heart pounding, Sky stared wide-eyed until it was out of sight.

The balconies ended with a brick wall. Sky hooked her fingers into the cracked, red bricks, keeping her body tight against the wall while leaning out around the corner. A wooden windowsill ran along the outside of the next house, just close enough to reach. A small, red pot with bright, yellow flowers sat in the middle of the open window. Sky stretched out her foot. The cracked and peeling white paint on the windowsill was rough on her toes. Once her foot felt secure, she reached out a hand and took a firm hold of the window frame. She shifted her weight around the corner and moved onto the windowsill, immediately crouching down.

Hey! Get off there, imp!

Sky yelped and bumped the flower pot. It tumbled away, disappearing into the clouds. She snatched hold of the window frame with both hands to stop herself from following. The gnome inside the house threw up her hands. What have you done? That was my favourite! She waved a plump fist, then snatched a pan from the shelf next to her.

Sorry!

Sky scampered along the windowsill to the far side. There was no sill on the next house and no pathway, so nowhere to go. The gnome leaned out of the window behind her, waving the pan.

Get back here!

Sky leaped up, both hands finding the rain gutter, and wriggled onto the roof. There was just enough room under the house above for an old, copper, rainwater pipe gone green and a clump of stinkweed, which didn’t even have flowers yet but already stank.

She wrinkled her nose as the pounding in her chest slowly calmed itself. Clouds raced past below her. Time to go inside maybe, except the hounds were around somewhere. Better to stay outside even if people hated imps sneaking about. She still had a chase to win and who cared about getting in trouble with a few boring house owners?

* * *

Sky wormed along the copper pipe. Water gurgled inside as it made its way across several more roofs before disappearing downward. There was barely enough room to move between the layers of houses, even for an imp, and the gap was slimy with moss and lichen. Sky kept a firm grip as she edged forward. From somewhere above, a bucketful of rubbish flew out of a window, scattering in the wind.

A scruffy, brown rat nosed inside the broken pieces of a large, sandy-yellow eggshell next to the pipe. It regarded her with suspicious little eyes as she crawled nearer, then it skittered away at the last moment. Sky turned over the pieces of the egg and ran her fingers over the bumpy surface. It was way too big to be from a pigeon or a gull.

The pipe ended, twisting downward into a space between two houses. There was a little more room, so Sky twisted herself into a cramped sitting position and rubbed her knees. The wind whistled up past a wooden plank splattered with paint that hung against the wall on the far side of the gap by ropes at each end. The Island’s great shadow slid across the surface of the ocean far below. Gulls swooped through the clouds.

Sky eyed the distance to the plank. It wasn’t that far, and it had to be strong enough. Someone had been using it to paint the wall and everyone else was bigger and heavier than an imp. She shrugged and jumped. Her feet hit the board. It cracked against the wall and jerked sideways but she stuck the landing. Sky whooped and grinned with her arms spread wide as she waited for the plank to stop swinging. She hopped to one end and pulled herself up a rope, toes digging into the cracked and loose bricks of the wall, and squirmed over to the far side of the next roof. She peeked over onto a small balcony. Lush, green vines covered in red fruit grew up a wooden frame.

Sky slithered off the roof, dropped and rolled. The door to the house stood closed and the shutters of the only window were fastened. She snatched a tomato and popped it into her mouth. It burst and juice ran down her chin. Delicious! She grabbed another one and then sank to a crouch.

Now she had them.

Bean balanced on a balcony railing two houses over with his back to her, arms stretching up a wooden frame to grab handfuls of grapes. Willow perched on the roof above him next to a chimney, but she was looking right back with her tongue poking out. Sky held a finger to her lips and pointed at Bean. Willow grinned and nodded.

Sky slid over the next balcony, silent as a hunting cat, but she came suddenly face to face with an enormous, round goblin through an open window. Eh? What’re you doing? Bits of food sprayed over his bulging, grey belly.

Quiet, Sky whispered. I’m seeking.

The goblin glared and pointed his half-eaten bread roll at her. Not here, you ain’t.

Sky spotted the small, round face and spiky black hair of the goblin’s house-imp past his chair. Hi, Terri. She grinned and ducked out of sight. The goblin grunted something else, but that was it. Too lazy to move, probably.

Sky slipped over the railing to the next balcony. Bean kept popping grapes into his mouth one by one. Willow laughed above, both hands clamped over her mouth and her green mop of hair shaking. Sky crept forward, placing the outsides of her feet down first before rolling them onto the ground. No one could hear an imp if they really tried to be quiet, not even another imp. Mind you, the wind was blowing so hard that even a troll could have crept up on Bean right then.

At the last moment, Bean glanced around. Sky leaped into the air and yelled as loud as she could. Bean screamed and jerked, toppling backwards, arms flailing over the long drop Below. Sky grabbed his hand and hauled him to safety. I win, she laughed.

Willow dropped down next to them. Long way down, she teased. Can beans fly?

Bean scowled at her, his caramel-brown face pale and shaking. He threw a grape, but Willow was too quick. She snatched it from the air and popped it into her mouth. Scaredy-cat.

It’s not funny! Bean yelled. He shimmied up the wooden frame, holding the grapevine, and disappeared.

He’s really mad, Sky said. "Maybe I shouldn’t