Chapter 4: Emergency Evacuation
Am hour had passed since Wolfgang and Blaze had started their journey. Wolfgang had planned precisely on where to go first, whereas Blaze had no idea where they were going. She felt it was only natural to ask.
"Er...Wolfgang, where are we going?" she asked.
"We're heading for Volstead" Wolfgang explained. "To stock up on supplies. As you can see, we're quite short"
"What's the plan for trying to find Silver?" Blaze asked. Wolfgang was quiet for a minute before explaining his plan.
"As I'm sure you're aware, there are other castles and cities in the land. King Tinder works closely with the monarchs of these cities in order to maintain a healthy balance when it comes to things like money and the environment" he explained. "Recently, we lost contact with one of the kings. His name was King Marcelino"
Blaze could just about remember the name. It was spoken one night during dinner when Tinder was formulating a plan about how he would attempt to heal the shattered economy of Zanskar after Gustav's money sapping regime was stopped.
"Why did he disappear?" Blaze asked.
"He disappeared a few weeks ago" Wolfgang continued. "Plus, the city in which he reigned, named Laleh, has also fallen under attack recently. I think there may be a link between Silver's kidnapping, King Marcelino's dissappearance and the attack on Laleh, so my plan is we head there and see what we can learn. We'll also be stopping in other areas and see whether they could help us"
"But how will we find it if it keeps moving around?" Blaze asked.
"I figured it can't stay in the air forever. You'll have to forgive me Blaze, but this will be a long trail of our emotions and our strength. Not only do we have to save Silver, if he even survives, but we also have to put that floating castle out of operation before it can cause any more damage, and bring justice to the person behind this all. Even if it takes years, it is my duty to get it done"
Blaze looked to her side, watching as the empty plains rolled by as they travelled.
"I guess this was the kind of duty Silver was talking about..." she murmured to herself.
Another hour passed. Blaze looked past Wolfgang and saw Volstead in front of her. She remembered Volstead as being the place of rest and recovery during her adventure three years ago. It was where her love for Silver really blossomed as they teamed together to defeat Gustav and save the world from his tyrannical reign.
"Ah, I haven't visited this town in a long time..." Wolfgang said quietly to himself. "I wonder how my men are doing at the Volstead Inn..."
But something was amiss. Blaze had been paying particular attention to the sky, which was getting cloudier and cloudier by the minute. At first she saw it as normal, it was going to rain and they would have to just have to put up with it until they had better cloaks to fend off the rain. But as the clouds converged, the sky started to darken, and from all around them, a strange humming noise was emitting.
Blaze lifted her head when he realised that they were enshrouded by this noise.
"Wolfgang...can you hear that?" Blaze asked.
"Hear what, princess?" Wolfgang asked back.
"The noise around us...the humming" she explained.
"I can't hear it. Maybe my age is getting to my ears" Wolfgang answered.
"Well, the sky's getting awfully cloudy and dark...and I can hear a humming noise" Blaze mentioned. "Come to think of it, it's getting stronger..."
"...I can hear it..." Wolfgang responded quietly. Suddenly, he sat bolt upright and commanded his horse to gallop as fast as possible. Blaze almost fell off from the sudden shock, grabbing onto Wolfgang to ensure she didn't fall off completely.
"What are you doing, slow down!" Blaze shouted. The humming was becoming more intense, like a gigantic bee's buzz. But Wolfgang galloped even faster towards the town of Volstead.
"I recognize the humming..." he said. "It belongs to...oh my..."
Blaze watched as Wolfgang's head craned up towards the sky. She too decided to look up and got a nasty surprise at what she saw...
It looked like a giant, earthy spire piercing through the thick blanket of clouds. The humming noise seemed to be coming from this great earth spire that slowly descended from the sky. Wolfgang gasped as his fears were confirmed. He raced faster than ever, much to Blaze's confusion. She was shocked that such a strange sight was emerging from the sky, but she didn't know what exactly it was. Was it a meteor? Maybe a fragment of the moon had fallen off and descended upon the land. But what was most frightening was the fact that the spire was hovering right above Volstead.
"Wolfgang, what is that thing!" she shouted amidst the rising winds and the drizzle.
"The floating castle" Wolfgang said abruptly. Blaze then shot her gaze back up to the spire and gasped.
"...That's the castle?" she bellowed in the noise. The castle started to reveal itself, sat upon the great stone spire, with many tiny pipelines and scaffolding, platforms and the like surrounding the spire. There were also giant cylinders emitting blue flames coming from the spire, having newly been revealed by the castle's descent.
Wolfgang then looked back down towards Volstead. "We've arrived..." he said quietly to himself as they galloped into town.
Within the town of Volstead, the townspeople were in a panic at what was happening. Some of them had shut themselves in their houses whilst others were preparing to flee. Wolfgang cleared his voice as soon as he gained entry.
"Everybody, you must evacuate this town at once!" he ordered. He rode his horse up to the Volstead Inn.
"Men!" he shouted.
Suddenly, out of the front door, armoured guards started to run out, in awe of who was calling them.
"Captain Wolfgang!" one of the greeted. Blaze remembered the guards as Wolfgang's unit. The same soldiers that were once out to kill her before Silver defeated Wolfgang in a duel, earning his trust and alliance.
"There is no time for formalities, gather the horses and start evacuating people at once!" he ordered.
Suddenly, the ground started to shake even more as the humming noise suddenly turned into a mechanical, high pitched sound from the air. Everybody looked up to see the rock formations on the spire slowly moving upwards, sliding atop and across each other, revealing a sight that would almost stop Blaze's heart. For unravelling above them, revealing itself from the camouflage, was a great silver laser cannon.
At once, Wolfgang and his men started to warn everyone to evacuate, and not to hide in the doomed town. The guards took as many as they could hold onto their horses, whilst the rest abandoned what possessions they could carry and flee. The giant laser cannon started to charge, a blue aura enveloping the entire contraption. At once, everybody in the town started to flee, whether they were on horseback, or all they could do was run. The entire town was hidden beneath the imposing shadow of the flying castle as the beam was about to fire.
Blaze and Wolfgang were riding with their backs to Volstead when they heard an extremely high pitched sound, accompanied shortly by a thunderous crash. The explosive sound behind them almost caused Blaze to go deaf. Her senses were all knocked out at once by the destructive roar of the beam, and as she looked back, she felt her heart stop in agony as she saw a great blue beam crashing down onto the town, enveloping it in a foggy, fiery explosion. The laser, within seconds of firing, diminished and faded into nothing. The dust and debris setlled, revealing the ruins of once a thriving town.