The Quest for the Crystals: The Book of Wind by E.E. Blake
~
A large, burly, human fist swung its thick sausage-sized pointer finger back and forth in tune with Beethoven’s Allegro con Brio, which played from a hidden speaker somewhere in the large-windowed office. The curtains were drawn to keep the outside light out. The only source of light in the otherwise darkened room was a small lamp on the Man’s large oak desk.
There was a gentle knock and the door into his office creaked open. He listened as quiet footpaws drew near.
“I have returned, Master.” The translated voice through the buds in his ears crackled under light static from the translator around his neck. He was both relieved and annoyed to hear her weak voice that tried so hard to prove herself stronger than she really was.
“Report,” he ordered, finger still swaying in time with the music.
“He’s got an accomplice now – a female skunk. Additional troops have been stationed outside of Garia, in case he shows up during the engineer conference on Thursday.”
“Good,” he murmured, and then said aloud into the device around his neck which translated his native tongue into the Vidian language, Sa’suiden, and vice-versa, “The last thing I need is for him to steal an airship and cannon blast this castle and the entire continent with it.”
Prime Minister Zoot Lablanche swiveled around in his chair to meet his youngest though most loyal soldier of the Alliance Army. “Kira,” he murmured to the orange tabby cat kneeling at the bottom of carpeted steps up to his desk.
“Yes, my Master?” she asked with head bowed.
“Look at me,” Zoot rasped in a low voice.
With reverent hesitation, the tabby lifted her chin to face her master who was cast in the shadows of the dark office with only the orange glow of the desk lamp offering a source of light.
Zoot leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. He reached up to the translator around his neck and tweaked the knob at the side to advance the frequency level. He turned off the classical music that he alone on Vida had any knowledge of, and headed down the steps below his desk. He rubbed the crown of Kira’s head as he sauntered past, to the large curtain-drawn window at one side of his office.
“I’d like you to take a unit of soldiers to Syreen,” he said. “It is clear that our little friend is a sharp burr in our side. I’m concerned for the safety of Vidians everywhere, considering how dangerous he is. I have a dark feeling that this heretic will try to ambush Lieutenant Yaschire and his unit during their trek to the Dead Wood. If anything is to happen, I need you to intervene.”
“Yessir,” Kira nodded. She chewed on her lips and looked at Prime Minister Lablanche. He stared back at her.
“What is it, Kira?” he asked.
“Master … I – I don’t want to sound out of line, but…” Kira swallowed hard. “Sir, may I please stand?”
“I’m not stopping you.”
Kira rose to her footpaws, and respectfully bowed her head. “Master, why do we need the Crystals? Aren’t they supposed to keep Vida in balance?”
Zoot tugged back the golden-tapered drapes and gazed out into the dark, jagged mountains and cliffs below Castle Leblanche that riddled every corner of Doblah. In the far distance, he saw the peak-roofed houses of an old small town where the Alliance barracks stood.
He sighed, and closed his eyes. “I need you to trust me, Kira. Do you trust me?”
“Wh – of course, Master! Yes, I trust you with all my life! Please – I’m sorry if I was out of line, I didn’t mean…”
“Continue your trust in me, Kira,” Prime Minister Lablanche said. “Know that what I do is for the best for Vida. You are dismissed.”
Kira stared at him for a long while. She genuflected and left the office without a further word.
Zoot watched her pull the heavy wooden doors shut behind her. He gazed back out the large window, and small sneer formed across his human lips.
As long as the heretic can’t get to an airship, Vida is at rest, he thought.
But as long as the heretic held Nimbus, rest was no option for the Alliance.