Chapter 4: Mysterious Markings
With the angle food cake put away and everything else back in its proper place, Haru collected the parchment and made her way out the door.
With a mixture of nerves and anxiety, Haru lifted her hand that revealed the cat's eye ring and directed her aim towards the archway. Determination keeping her fears at bay, she drawn out the image of the cat kingdom in her mind to give the ring an extra nudge of magic. Within less than sixty seconds, the archway began to glow a bright blue as the air buzzed with a whoosh sound. As soon as the portal opened, Haru sprinted like a cheetah on a hunt towards the swirling blue before it vanished with a soft ding sound.
Unlike her last visit to the kingdom, Haru found herself in a spacious room that she never saw before. The room was a perfect 360-degree circle with red curtains concealing half the windows. There was no furniture except for two large wooden chairs in the center of the room. The largest chair had engraved fish on the head set while the smaller version on its left had engravings of cattails. The decor was nice, but Haru didn't have time to dally around since both thrones were vacant and she needed to find Lune and Yuki.
After ten minutes of wondering the hallways and searching in any cloth covered doors, Haru finally found a pink cat dressed in only a veil carrying a stack of fabrics down the hall.
"Um... excuse me, could you tell me where I might find the king and queen?"
The pink servant turned to see who the speaker was, she was so surprised that she almost dropped her load. "M-Miss Haru...what are you doing here?"
"I need to talk to Lune and Yuki, do you know where they are?" Haru asked again.
"Y-yes, I believe their majesties are still in the library."
"Great, thank you, ahh...how do I get there?"
The pink cat turned her head towards the hall from behind, "Just go down that hallway, go up the stairs on your left, and go all the way to the end of the hall where you should see a large curtain with an image of a scroll above it. You'll be able to locate their majesties from in there Miss Haru." Turning her head forward to face the young woman again.
Haru nodded her head, "Straight ahead, left stairway, door with a scroll; got it, again, thank you."
Haru dashed in the direction the pink cat had instructed until she ran through the red curtain and almost knocked down Lune in the process as she collided into his chest head on.
"Ompf ...Haru?..What are you doing here?"
Once Haru made sure Lune and herself were alright, she gave her reply in embarrassment, "Sorry Lune, I did intend to run into you, but not like that."
"Its fine, no harm done." Lune rubbed over the sore spot on his chest. "Again, what are you doing here Haru? Did something happen recently?"
"You tell me Lune. Is there a problem in your kingdom that needed the Cat Bureau's assistance? If there is, I want to know so I can help."
Lune gave her a puzzled look, "I'm sorry Haru, but there's no problem here...not since my father blew up the tower."
Haru blinked in shock, "Then...you didn't send this letter to Baron?" Haru raised the parchment still clutched in her hand to show her friend.
Lune quickly scanned through the letter before looking back at Haru. "Haru, I'm afraid to say this, but it wasn't me or Yuki who wrote this."
Haru sighed, "Well...can you tell me what it says and who signed it?"
Lune shook his head sadly, "I can't Haru, its not written in cat." Lune gave her back the parchment.
"What do you mean its not written in cat? Aren't the symbols the same as-"
"Its not." Lune interrupted, "There's no pictures of cat figures or fish and eyes to help clarify it...Isn't Baron at his office to tell you what it says?"
"No Lune, Baron, Toto, and Muta are gone. I went over there after lunch for a visit, but it was empty. This letter was under Baron's desk when I was looking around."
"So..do you think there just answering a call for help?"
"Its possible, but it worries me not knowing the situation, especially when I don't know who or where this letter came from."
Lune inhaled deeply before exhaling slowly, "If it'll help ease your mind Haru, your more than welcome to use the library. Yuki's still in here somewhere, I'm sure she'll be more than happy to help you translate the scrolls."
"Thank you Lune, who knows maybe I'll find a symbol or two that'll match." Haru couldn't help but smile as she shrugged her shoulders.
Lune returned the smile, "With you determination skills, I'm sure you'll find something. If you'll excuse me Haru, I need to contact Natori from retirement...apparently he's the only one who knows where the Cat Laws are kept." With that said, Lune left to do his duties while Haru went off in search of Yuki.
"Find anything interesting?" Yuki came up next to Haru, looking over her friend who was squinting her eyes in concentration as her gaze shifted back and forth across the many scrolls that lay across the table.
Haru sighed, "No, not yet, but I'll keep looking."
"Haru, I know your determined to read the letter, but keep in mind that Baron can take care of himself. Plus, he's not alone; he has his friends with him. They'll come back and be fine." Yuki tried ease her friend's worries.
"Yuki, he doesn't have all his friends with him right now. I know you're trying to help me and I appreciate it...but I want to make sure this letter isn't some type of threat or something."
Knowing that her friend would not be swayed to relax, Yuki nodded and continued her search for any other scrolls that might prove something useful, leaving Haru to ponder on her own.
'Come on Haru, it shouldn't be all that hard to figure out a few written pictures. I mean it was easy deciphering the scroll that happy brown cat gave me...Then again, I already knew what it said after it was too late'
"What should I do?" Haru whispered so softly that not even the wind could catch it. 'I know these pictured symbols look similar to the cat's design, but Lune already said its not in his language. So...who's language is it?'
A good amount of time passed by as the two friends' worked hard to solve the encrypted like letter until a brown cat with rosy cheeks and dog like ears came bursting through the library curtain.
"Your Majesty, the Head of State Akshan and his wife Kalika from the desert regions are requesting some information on how to grow cattails from the sandy deserts."
"Mmmm...cattails in sand...yes, I think there is a spell in here somewhere." Yuki walked out of sight now on a different mission.
"There are deserts' in the cat kingdom?" Haru raising an eyebrow at her question.
Nodding his head enthusiastically, "Why of course Miss Haru, there are deserts that are hot, lush forests that are full of plants, and many other places in the world of cats."
"Really, I thought the cat kingdom was just cattail fields with a castle."
"Oh no Miss Haru, the castle is only the crown jewel as well as the oldest structure in our world. There are many different sections out there with its own leaders."
"I'm not sure that I understand."
"I'm surprised Miss Haru, all the leaders from different regions came to see you at your celebration when you were engaged to His Highness."
Haru couldn't help but feel annoyed by the cat's assumption of her ever agreeing to such an arrangement. 'After all this time, he still thinks I actually had severe wedding jitters when I escaped.' "First of all, the engagement was a misunderstanding and Yuki makes a far better ruler than I ever would. Secondly, I think I do remember seeing cats with different outfits; were they the ones sitting around the tables in a circle?"
"Yes, they are the leaders who manage their own territories and help keep the kingdom in balance."
"So...its like Japan having a leader, as well as America, Russia, and so on."
"I don't know the workings in your world Miss Haru, but the territories consists of leaders from the Mao, Qitat, Chat, Cattus, Gata, Pisica, and Kut regions."
'Huh...I guess our worlds aren't so different; go figure. If I wasn't so worried and Lune and Yuki weren't busy, I'd ask them to show me around the cat world. I bet Baron would be interested in seeing more of the kingdom, Toto could explore new skies, and Muta could eat different foods.
I wonder how different the cultures are from Lune's- ...Wait, stop the presses! Lune said the letter wasn't in his language but could it be that it was written from one of the other cat regions that Natori just said. Mmm...it's a long shot but it's the best lead I have at the moment.' just as Haru was about to ask Natoru, Yuki came back with the scroll in her paws.
"I believe this is what our friend, Akshan was looking for Natoru." Yuki handing over the scroll.
"Thank you, Your Highness." Natoru gave a final bow before exiting the library.
"Yuki, the kingdom consists of multiple cultures, does that include different languages?"
"I'm afraid not Haru, cat speech is all the same, but if your referring to writing, cats would change a marking or two but in the end it would make no difference."
The hope that Haru had allowed to take root had now just withered under the intensity of Yuki's words. Haru lead out a huge breath of air, "Well it was worth a shot...no matter I'll keep looking." Haru continued her task in searching as Yuki continued to bring more scrolls.
A couple of hours ticked by and the two friends hadn't gotten any closer than before. Eventually, Lune came back with Natori following from right behind him. "How the search going Haru?"
"I'm afraid we haven't come close in the search, Lune. You weren't kidding when you said it wasn't the same. " Lune gave her a sympathetic smile.
"Your Majesty, you requested my presence to find some hidden documents." Notori's voice gave the young king's mind a sudden jerk to his other reason of being in the library.
"Yes Natori, I need to find where the Cat Law scrolls are being kept, if you please."
"Right away Your Majesty." Natori walked along the long table to fulfill one duty to royalty before going back to his private hut that rested under an oak tree. Never thinking he would be back here again since the last monarch put lot of unnecessary stress on him for trying to keep a human bride to join the royal cat family. He glanced briefly down at the parchments that lay scattered in front of the young human female before taking his slanted eyes toward the shelves. The purpled robed cat only took four steps before he suddenly went silently still. 'Did I...just see what I think...I saw? No couldn't be...could it?' He took in a shaky breath before looking back over Haru's shoulder to get a better look at the right hand corner of the yellow colored paper. What he saw only confirmed his suspicions. "Young lady, where did you find that symbol?" Natori pointed on the page.
"You mean the one that looks like the head of a lacrosse with a short stick?"
"Unlike your first gift for your friend, this symbol stands for a musical instrument called a sistrum. Now, where did you find this? "
"I found it at the Cat Bureau, why? Do you know something about this letter?" Haru held her breath as she waited for the answer to spring foreword.
"I don't know what it says, but I know where I've seen that particular symbol and who it belongs to."
"Where have you seen it Natori?" Lune couldn't help but be intrigued at the sudden discovery.
"I suppose you'll want me to show you Your Highness?"
"By all means, please show us Natori."
Natori sighed, "Very well Your Majesty." Natori exited out of the library as the rest of the company followed behind.
They walked out of the palace and made there way onto the pathway above the maze toward the remaining section of the main tower. "It's a fortunate event that your father didn't destroy the historical section of the tower or there wouldn't be any history left at all." Natori commented as they entered through one of the openings in the wall.
"So...the symbol is somewhere on these walls?" Eagerness laced through Haru's voice.
"Precisely Miss Haru. If I'm not mistaken, the symbol that you seek is over on the left side of the criminal's history."
"Muta is not a crimal." Haru spoke, defended of her friend.
"Mmm...yes." Natori not paying Haru any mind to what she said. Instead he kept his focus on the single marking of a short pole that held an incomplete long hoop with three lines running across the inside it. Making it look like Haru's description of a lacrosse stick.
"Natori, you mentioned that you knew who the symbol belonged to; who is it?" The snowy white cat asked for the first time.
"If you look underneath the symbol, you'll notice three other symbols that are circled with two loaves, a vase, and a sitting female. That indicates the name to whom the symbol belongs to."
"What is the person's name?" Haru getting a little impatient by how slow Natori was explaining.
"Her name is...Bastet."