Days passed (or what seemed like days to Daphne, as day and night followed no set pattern -- sometimes they would sail under the stars, under strange constellations that she didn't recognize, and sometimes they sailed under a sun that blazed hot and cold) and the Land of Black Trees grew nearer. She could see it on the horizon, a small shape that steadily grew larger and larger.
Daphne turned and looked out the starboard side into the deep ocean and saw that the Nowhere City was still the same distance away. She didn't know how it was able to float on water or how it was even able to move when she wasn't looking, but it did.
"It's not really there," Long Jenny said one time when she caught Daphne looking. "It's just an illusion that makes it look like it's there."
"So where is it?" Daphne asked.
"Nowhere," Jenny said. "Some say that it's in the center of the Storylands, but the Storylands don't have a center. It's neither Here nor There, so it's Nowhere."
"Who built it?"
"No one," Jenny said, which made sense to Daphne until she thought about it (that happened quite a bit when she was conversing with the Captain, Jenny, or the crew). "Just ignore it," Jenny said. "We have other problems to worry about."
"What do you mean?" Daphne asked.
"Sorry, I shouldn't have said anything."
"No," Daphne said, "please, tell me."
Jenny frowned and then pointed at a spot in the sky behind them. "See them dark clouds?" Daphne nodded. "They've been following us. And not only that, they've been growing bigger. Becoming a storm. Which means we've got the Parliament of Fowls following us."
"The Parliament," Daphne said. "I've...encountered them before. Well, three of them."
"There are lots more," Jenny said.
"I may have done something that displeased them," Daphne said. She told Jenny of her encounter with Charing Cross and her refusal of his offer.
"You did right," Jenny said. "Becoming one of their Eyries ain't pleasant or so I've heard. But for them to follow you...that is something more."
The next day, Daphne spotted two shapes in the sky coming towards them. As they grew closer, she recognized the pigeons she had met, Leicester and Trafalgar. They landed on the rigging of the ship and that's when Captain Brown came forward with his cutlass, yelling, "Fowl creatures! I'll not have you on this ship, now or ever!"
"No, Captain!" Daphne yelled. "I know them!"
Indeed, Leicester and Trafalgar were yelling her name. "Daphne!" Leicester (or possibly Trafalgar) said. "We've come to warn you."
Captain Brown lowered his cutlass. "Warn her?" he said. "But you're part of the Parliament, are you not?"
"We were," Trafalgar (or possibly Leicester) said, "until the treaty."
"Treaty?" Jenny asked.
"The Parliament made a treaty with the Skin Within and the Discordant Symphony," Leicester (or possibly Trafalgar) said, their voices quick and hushed. "They are conspiring to capture Daphne. We said we would help her when we met and so we have turned into traitors, left the Parliament, and come to warn you."
"Thank you," Daphne said. She didn't know what else to say; no one had become a traitor for her before.
"Our vows demanded it," Trafalgar (or possibly Leicester) said. "And we didn't like the look on the Skin Within's face or the strange notes made by the Discordant Symphony. They want you for something and it's not good."
"Then we need to keep moving," Captain Brown said. "Keep ahead of that storm."
"You can't," Leicester (or Trafalgar) said, "you can't outrun the Parliament."
Captain Brown smiled. "Who said anything about outrunning?"
They loaded one small rowboat with supplies and Jenny lowered Daphne (with Leicester and Trafalgar) on board. "It's not far from here," she said. "Easy to row to."
"You're going, too," Captain Brown said to Jenny.
"But Cap'n," Jenny protested.
"No," Brown said. "I made a vow, too, remember? You and her and those two birds, you find your way to the Land of Black Trees, to the court of the King of Trees. You do all that and you'll never lose your way, Stormalong Jenny. Goodbye."
So Jenny lowered herself into the rowboat as well and Daphne saw she had tears in her eyes. She wiped them away and started to row. Daphne watched as the larger ship moved away and she asked, "Where are they going?"
"In the other direction," Jenny said. "They're leading the Parliament away, giving us a chance."
"But what happens when the Parliament finds them?"
"This is the Storylands," Jenny said, her head lowered. "Not everyone lives."
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