CHRONICLES OF MERTH - MER'S DAY OUT CHAPTER NINE

Anfina forcibly led me back out through the shop. Because she was really pretty, all the men in the shop all kept turning their heads and staring at her. Several tried to speak with her, but she merely told them no with a wave of her perfectly manicured hand.
She led me right out of the shop. My spaceship was still there, but Felps and Dibs were nowhere.
"Wondering where your friends are?" Anfina read my mind. "They are out looking for you. They'll never find you of course, but they will find an android who looks exactly like you."
I followed her past the spaceship, and eventually she stopped and stood in front of a carriage.
It was quite a pretty carriage, made entirely out of shiny gold. It was large enough to house a queen and her family. I wondered if maybe Anfina herself was a member of some Royal family somewhere. Then I took a look at the horse who were going to drive the carriage, and they took my breath away!
These weren't the normal brown horse who grazed on Ground-Leaves in the field behind my parents' house, oh no. These were much more beautiful. Like Anfina, you couldn't help but stare at them. They had blood red manes, and their bodies were a kind of sky blue, and their hooves were pink, and looked as though they'd stepped into a pot of pink paint.
"Come, Mer!" Anfina's voice sounded so far away. I shook my head back to reality. The door to the carriage was open, and a long, slender arm was sticking out. A willowy finger was beckoning to me. With one last look at the horses I stepped into the carriage.
"Oh, at last. I thought you would be all day looking at my beautiful pets."
Anfina smiled. A summery smile, and called out: "Sky! Ariel! Take off please!"
I gave out out a yelp as the carriage started moving really fast. And then we were stroling along quite gracefully.
"Look out the window," Anfina orderd.
I pulled the curtain back, a little. I looked out the window and gasped.
"We are flying through the air at sixty miles per hour, we are at least three thousand feet above Merth right now," Anfina informed me.
Suddenly I realised something, and felt terrified.
"Where - Where are you taking me?" I choked out.
"I am taking you back to headquarters where, quite soon, you will begin your new life."
"I already began my new life a few days ago."
"Don't be silly Mer, this life will be much better than working for that oaf Rubean Harpwit."
I sighed, and decided there wouldn't be much point in arguing. Anfina had already shown me the skull of the man she had burnt to death, and I didn't want the same fate.
We'd been travelling for at least half an hour when suddenly: "Sky! Ariel! Land ahoy please!"
Anfina then turned to me, and said: "We are now situated at the headquarters where you are to start enjoying working alongside, and getting paid seventy-five per cent of the savings we make in a week."
We landed with a crash and a bang. I hoped that the horses - Sky and Ariel - were alright.
The door opened by itself, and Anfina ordered me to get out.
As I got out, I couldn't help whistling wistfully. I was looking at what looked like a large palace, the kind that was home to a Royal family. Again, I wondered if Anfina was a Queen or a Princess of some sort.
"Ex-Excuse me, are you a member of a Royal family."
Anfina stared down at me with a cold stare. I was scared that she was going to strike me dead with one blow.
"What makes you ask that?" She inquired.
"Well, we travelled in a Golden Carriage, and now we're standing in front of a huge palace."
Anfina stared at me. Then she smiled her nice, summary smile.
"Yes. My father lives in the palace. He is Angora, King of Pizza."
I gasped. The city of Pizza was the place that exclusively made pizza. It was the only place where pizza was made. That's why pizza was called piza. But the city of Pizza was one of those mystical place; nobody knew where it was. I felt very honoured. Like how King Arthur must have felt when he'd found the Holy Grail.
"Come," ordered Anfina. "I would like you to come inside and meet my father. He is simply dying to meet you!"

Meanwhile...

Dear Mum and Dad,
I have moved on from the Woslings' home. We looked for Mer together, but with no luck. Right now, I am headed for the hot desert of Chilli Con Carne. I know how much Mer loves that yucky stuff, so I thought I would go there.
Although, if I don't find him there, I could try the city of Pizza. I know how everyone says it's a mystical place, and nobody will ever find it, but I have a strong feeling that Mer's there. Don't ask me why, it's just a feeling.
I am moving on now, I'll write when I get another chance to.
Love from Juniper.

Karina lay in the dark, thinking about her two sons. She was really worried about them, and worried in case they were worried too. The last letter from Juniper told her he was in Chilli Con Carne. That made her really worried. Chilli Con Carne was a dry country. no-one could ever survive in it's severe heat. And how could Juniper have a feeling Mer was in Pizza? Everyone knew that pizza was exclusive to Pizza, that's why it was called pizza. But nobody knew where the city of Pizza was, unless you lived there.
"Karina, you awake?"
"Yes," she answered, knowing that it was a pretty stupid thing to say.
"Karina, you're still worried about the boys, aren't you?"
"Mmm."
"Well, don't be. I know in my heart they can take care of themselves. That's how we brought them up, wasn't it?"
Suddenly, Karina wanted to push her husband out of bed. He didn't care about their sons. She was about to push him out of bed, when he got up and went to the bathroom.
Karina lay in the dark, thinking about her two sons.

Chilli Con Carne was a dry climatised country. I hoped I would find Mer pretty quickly, because I was starting to get homesick.
I missed Mer. And I missed Mum and Dad. I didn't know if they read the letters I wrote to them. Whenever the bird that delivered the letters came back to me, I'd ask them if they'd written a reply, but the bird always shook his head no. I hoped theyt wrere reading the letters, even if they weren't writing back. If they were it would show them that I was determined to find my brother. I came to Chilli Con Carne because I knew that chilli con carne was Mer's favourite fdood, so I thought he would've come here. The other place I could try was Pizza, because pizza was Mer's other favourite food. But looking for Pizza would be a quest and a half, because it's supposdly a hidden city, where nobody knows where it is.
The afternoon sun beat down on me, making me even hotter than I already was. I was starting to feel quite ill as well, and I really wanted a drink of clear liquid. I looked around me. No clear liquid anywhere! I felt even iller, and, even though I hadn't eaten anything, since leaving the Wosling country, I felt like throwing up. That is exactly what I did, before everything went black...

"Hey, where's Mer?"
Felps was loading the ship up with more gas. "What?" He snapped, as he finished.
"I wonder where Mer went?" Dibs answered back.
"He's in the ship."
Felps and Dibs got back inside the ship, and Felps was just about to take off, when:
"Uh, Felps, he's not here."
"What do you mean?" Felps looked all over the ship. "Where was the last place you saw him?" He asked.
"In here, when he got off to gas up."
"He probably sneaked off to the shop. Come on."
"Has anyone seen a skinny boy?" Asked Felps, as they entered the shop. Everyone looked at them, and shook their heads.
The pretty girl who was serving a costumer said: "I saw a skinny boy. He was with a woman who looked very much like a siren."
"Thanks," said Felps.
They exited the shop.
"Where could he be?" Said Felps.
"Hey, look, Felps."
Felps looked in the direction where Dibs was pointing. He found himself looking at a strolling golden carriage, which was being pulled by two blue horses with red manes.
"Dibs! Mer's gone missing, and all you can thin about is some golden carriage?"
"But Felps, I've a strange feeling that Mer's inside."
"What! Don't be silly! I wonder where he could be?"
"Here I am."
Felps turned. Standing before him was a skinny boy with gingery hair, unmistakably Mer.
"I found him! Where have you been, Mer? Come on, we haven't got all day. I want drop off this delivery by sundown at the very latest. Come on!"

Find out what happens next in Chapter Ten...