Chapter 7
The Capital City
When the princess came out of the carriage, there indeed stood a kid in front of John, but not a human one, and very young. She indeed had the build of a human and there were some features that were animalistic. She was like a cat, with a muzzle like a fox. She had two big eyes. Two eyes—like he had seen before—that were graced with a turquoise iris. Now John knew she was the one who asked for help... in that dream.
The girl had a cat-like black nose and wore over her brow a silver tiara that held a green jewel in the middle, which disappeared into the strands of her hair. Her face was covered with a short, white fur and preceded after that into a dark blue like her hair. She had shoulder-length dark blue hair which was held together by a silver circlet. Her hair covered all of her brow besides the part that showed the jewel. She also had two fox-like blue ears, whose auricles were filled with a white fluffy fur.
The front side of her throat, which John was able to see, was also covered with white fur down to her bosom. She wore a half long, sleeveless, brown-golden dress without any decoration. Her arms were covered in a short, dark-blue fur, and she had on both of her upper arms, halfway up, a ring-like, white tattoo. Her hands were very similar to human ones, besides the fact that they were also covered in blue fur and grew longer, white finger nails.
Like the shadows of the other Cerinians, a tail grew out of her waist. Her tail was about the length of her upper body and the fur on it was also very fluffy, started in a dark-blue, and finally ended up in white. Her tail was also divided by two silver rings into three equal sized parts.
The short part of her legs that he was able to see was also covered with blue short fur. She also had two dark-blue, fur covered feet and stood in a pair of bronze sandals. Her feet indeed had the form of human ones, but she had only three fox-like toes with silver lacquered toe-nails.
She watched behind John and examined the dead Sharpclaw. "Is he ...?" She tried to ask a question.
"Yeah, he's dead. He can't do anything to you anymore." His leg got to him, which was clearly noticeable in his voice. "We have to get away from here; there are still many Sharpclaw in the environment."
"How do I know that I can trust you?" She asked cheekily.
"That's a good question: probably because I haven't tried to kill you, yet." The princess stepped back and made an angry and threatening facial expression. John had to laugh: "Don't worry, if I was here to do something to you, I would have done it already." He smiled. "I'll introduce myself. I am John O'Neil and am at your service majesty." John bowed down as far as his injury allowed him to demonstrate respect for the princess.
A rustle was heard behind the bushes and the three Bafomdads jumped to John and snuggled against him and purred in happiness that he was alright. The princess was startled and gave a short scream at the sudden appearance, but managed to cover her muzzle with her hands.
He kneeled down as far as possible to pet his friends. "And these are my three friends." He pointed to the Bafomdads with his right arm. After that they turned around to her. Her fear quickly became happiness, which also migrated to her face. Even John could definitely see that.
"Bafomdads? They are so cute!" She said with a voice full of awe and the three rabbits jumped squeaking to her. The princess knelt down to hug the three of them at the same time. After their short greeting she stood up again and looked happily into John's eyes: "I'm princess Krystal of Cerinia. It is a delight to meet you Mister O'Neil."
"Just call me John."
"Good, John. How did you know about my capture?"
"First of all, a man named Randorn told me that you were in danger." The ears of the princess rose in curiosity. "Second, I had a dream about you." Now she made a slightly confused physiognomy. "I don't know how, but I heard you and then that monster. That's how I knew someone was in trouble and Randorn just confirmed my suspicion."
"What is your plan? How have you planned to get me out of here?"
"I actually thought that my friend would come for us, but he is not coming."
"Could you even count on him?" She asked bluntly.
"Hey, he made the distraction, and he burned some of our enemies after all."
"Well, where's he got to—" Krystal drew in a breath. "Watch out behind you John!"
John turned around and from behind him came four Sharpclaw, ready to attack him. Shortly after that, more appeared and surrounded and zeroed in on the princess, the Bafomdads and John.
"We're surrounded! Krystal, come quickly!" John pulled his sword and was ready to fight.
"But you're still injured!" Krystal reaffirmed.
"That won't interest them much. My friends, you have to protect the princess!" The three Bafomdads understood and formed a protection circle around her, with their ears upstanding and a quiet, high threatening growl.
Already the first two Sharpclaw attacked John. He activated the sword aura and killed them with two quick and targeted strokes to their upper body parts. The sword's aura expired stupidly after that. "Darn, I overdid it!" John spoke in an angry tone. "Now we've got a problem princess!" He yelled to her without turning around. "Come on! What are you waiting for you damned lizards! Come and get me!" He swung his sword threateningly into their direction.
Shortly after he ended his sentence, the enemies dropped their weapons in fear and ran for their lives as they disappeared into the darkness.
"I don't look that threatening! Are you alright princes—" John turned around and saw now why the Sharpclaw had taken flight. In front of the princess stood thirty men, Cerinian soldiers, protecting and threatening, in armor, with their weapons pointed in John's direction. Their armors looked not unlike a knight's; they were a white metallic alloy and glowed slightly. The armor was made up of corset, on whose forefront and rearward portions was seen a different archetype on every single soldier. They were braces on their upper and lower arms, armor-plated trousers, cuisses, and armored boots. They didn't wear any helmets.
John saw that they all had the features of foxes and as far as he could see they were all male, but they had, like Krystal, bigger eyes in a blue tone. Some of them were similar to the Indians, with ragged, white tattoos on their faces. Basically they had lines that were drawn off and on and they also had an arrow tattooed onto their cheeks. They had the same fur color scheme as Krystal, but their faces were overgrown with blue fur. Some of them had a white stripe on their brow, which reached to the backside of their heads. That stripe was thin and acute at the front, and became a bit thicker in the middle before gradually growing thinner at the opposite end. The tail of the male Cerinians was more scrubby and tousled than the one from Krystal, and protruded from the rear of their armor. They looked mad and vengeful to John and growled a bit.
John mentioned that the Sharpclaw were no danger anymore, but the Cerinian soldiers could possibly attack him. He thought it would be better to put his sword away to finally show that he was no enemy. He came to help the Cerinians.
"Ta schu tumaruk!"One of the soldiers, who appeared to be their leader, spoke.
"Sorry, but I don't understand you."John answered and pointed with his unused hand to his ear. But the soldier didn't understand him and prepared to attack. John also put his right hand on the grip of his sword. The Bafomdads grew frightened and hid themselves behind John.
"So gate ne grom!" A voice within the crowd spoke and the soldier ceased his actions and turned around. The crowd dispersed, showing Krystal. "Te mak no jemisch to namtak se Sharpclaw. U te ne sai tes?" The soldier first bowed in front of her and then again to John. Then the princess spoke to John. "Please excuse this soldier; he thought you were a member of the Sharpclaw army. He just wanted to protect me." John bowed to the soldier to show that he accepted his apology. "Now please give my men your weapon and the rest of your things. They'll hold them and we will then ride back to our capital city. You are our guest John. Before we leave, two of my men will tend to your leg."
The soldiers didn't look like they wanted to help him. Not until Krystal ordered them with a hand sign did two of them move toward John. The soldiers held onto their weapons, ready to draw at any time. John uncoiled his belt that held the sword's sheath and gave the sword to the first soldier. Then he took his backpack with his MP3-Player from his back and gave it to him also. The second soldier showed John with his hand that he should sit down on a log and he did. He built John a splint for his leg so he could walk. After he finished, John stood and tested the splint. Despite its poor appearance, it was noticeably robust, but his wound still ached quite a bit.
After his short inspection, the soldier ordered John with another waving of his hand to follow him into the jungle. John followed him, the little rabbits at his side, through the jungle. Because of the splint, he was not as agile as his leader and had to take detours quite often to by-pass a big rock or a stump.
After several hundred meters of distance, they reached a clearing where horse-like, furred animals, with a saddle on their back grazed. Some of them were tied to a carriage. To his amazement, the CloudRunner Kyte waited in the distance for the other people.
Some of the Cerinian civilians just went into the carriages, but when they saw John, they ran.
"I told you that we'd make it. And you didn't even get a scratch. You really gave them hell," said John happily when he reached him. The Bafomdads greeted Kyte.
"The darkness gave me the needed cloak. They didn't know what was happening to them! Yes, I am all right, but you don't look that good," he mentioned and pointed with his beak to his broken leg.
"That's just a scratch. I'll be okay in no time!" John made a snide hand movement towards his wound. "Hey, where did you learn to spit fire?" John asked, curious.
The answer came relatively sedate. "I don't know. As per our eldest almost everyone of our home world could do that."
"Could you bring me to the capital city of the Cerinians? I feel uneasy about those mounts."
"That's why I am here! The Cerinians only had enough carriages for the soldiers, the civilians, and the princess. I am here so that no one has to walk and slow down the rest of us."
Because everyone wasn't ready, John and Kyte had to wait. John sat down in the soft grass and Kyte sat beside him while the Bafomdads played a bit on his back. A while passed and John watched his new environment and the soldiers with their animals. They never lost sight of him. When he looked around, he saw that at least one pair of eyes watched him and their heads turned away as soon as eye contact was made.
When the leader gave the sign that they were ready to leave, John stand up once more and climbed onto the back of Kyte and onto the saddle. He held the Bafomdads tight again. When all of them were ready, Kyte lifted off and the others started moving.
Meanwhile, the sunrise had started and John grew very tired. On one hand, it was because he was up all night and fought. On the other hand, it was because his wound hurt him badly. John again was able to enjoy the landscape. Behind them, where they had started a short while ago, a dark cloud was raining on the fresh battlefield. In front of them was the orange morning sun in a cloud free heaven.
From time to time, John would look down to see if the Cerinians were still there, but because of the thick canopy of leaves he barely saw any kind of sign. When they rode through a clearance, he saw that the soldiers had made a circular defense around the princess and the civilians to protect them if necessary. Their formation changed every once in a while and was suited to the terrain that was around them. The circle turned then into a square when they reached hills or turned to an arrow when they crossed a river. Their situation often demanded that from them. Only the princess and the former inhabitants stayed in the middle of the formation. The princess always sat upstanding and protected by her own private army.
This flight took longer than the last one, John thought. In doing so he totally forgot that he had slept during the last flight in the middle of the night.
When they paused on their journey to feed the animals and serve water, John noticed that the soldiers watched him yet again. They evidently thought that John was some kind of a monster, because every time their eyes met, they turned away. He couldn't understand them, but Kyte would sometimes translate what they said so that he was up to speed.
Princess Krystal was totally shielded from Kyte and John. They didn't trust them and that's how they showed it.
"Since when do you actually speak the Cerinian tongue?" John asked Kyte one time.
"You know," he started. "We CloudRunners have lived in the Capital City since we escaped Scales. There we gained asylum from the King. However, a conflict between us and the Cerinians broke out and so we left the city to be able to live on in peace."
"I see. That's why they stay away from you. Why did you have a conflict with them?"
"Back then I was a child, but I remember the reason. The populace thought that we would eat too much of their food and we wouldn't spare anything for them. We tried hard only to eat the most necessary, not to bedevil the population. But they didn't believe us and so we had to leave. Since then our peoples have never had anything in common until this day."
"It's horrible that people argue and only think of themselves. It wasn't that different at my place." John shook his head.
"I don't care about what happened, but the Cerinians still judge us for that. I hope they will change their thoughts about us soon."
John fell asleep for a while.
It was afternoon when they arrived at the fields of the capital city. It was a big and wide area, where corn-like plants with very big, almost cherry-sized kernels grew. He watched the farmers at work and the farmers watched them. It appeared that they had never seen a CloudRunner before.
Finally the capital city came into view. In front of them stood a gigantic complex, surrounded by huge, grey-white walls. The first thing he saw within the city was the palace, which stood in the center of the city. It was made up of the grayish-white stone too. Every hundred meters stood a tower for defensive purpose. On these towers stood gadgets which strongly resembled turrets that had decorations similar to Krystal's tattoos. John saw guards patrolling the towers and walls. "I think it's better if you land outside of the city. The people could get deranged if they saw CloudRunner with a stranger and Bafomdads on his back landing in the middle of the city." John explained to Kyte.
"I guess you're right. It arguably is the better way." Kyte validated.
They landed at the same time as the riders on their horses and the carriages arrived at a big gate which was at least as high as the wall and was totally made up of a blue-white glistening metal. John could identify some symbols on the gate, but he didn't know what they meant. He dismounted along with the Bafomdads and bid farewell to his friend. "Bye for now Kyte."
"See you soon." Kyte soon soared into the air and disappeared on the horizon.
John turned around to the soldiers, who still watched him suspiciously. They opened the door with a touch of their hand. After their leader touched it, it grew covered by hundreds of blue bright lines and it opened slowly but steadily.
When the gate stood open, John let the carriages, the soldiers, and the princess pass first and hobbled after everyone when they passed him with the Bafomdads on his back. John now stepped onto a paved road, which superseded the previous dirt road.
He saw, in almost every house close to the gate, kids, parents, and elders, who moved to greet the princess, the soldiers, and the civilians heartily. Some buildings were covered with a white metal and they looked futuristic, unlike like the cottages back at the village. Many of the buildings had a trapezoidal construction and were built in different sizes. Like other buildings, they had windows too and on their sills often stood flowers. They passed trees that were just a few meters high with umbrella cuts
Now John clearly saw the differences between the male and female Cerinians. The women were a bit smaller than the men and had the same outline as human women. In contrast to the males, they were cat-like in features, but they still looked definitely like foxes. Most of the women had shoulder length hair. They also wore trousers or short skirts most of the time and for it a matching top. Their cloths had a blue and white tone often.
In order to remain unseen, he stayed in the shadow of the archway and watched for a moment. Everyone was happy. Even the soldiers finally showed some emotion and seemed to be happy to be home. Everyone was happy and laughed. John didn't want to interrupt that gleeful moment with his appearance and his strange look, but shortly after he ended that thought he was already located by one of the citizens. The voices of the occupants fell silent when they saw a being that looked similar to them, but walked with a splint along with three Bafomdads. The younger foxes grew frightened and hid behind the older ones, but still watched from their cover. The boys often wore a shirt and trousers made of cloth and the girls, also like the older ones, had small cat-like features, wore either dresses or like the boys a shirt, but with a skirt.
Krystal climbed from her mount and walked to John's direction. After a few steps she stopped again, raised her arm, and pointed with her finger at John. "He tes nem ku ha deno Sharpclaw. He sa men nu opoko." She said to her people and mumbling started. Then she turned to John's direction and the mumbling hushed. "I will order one of our inhabitants to bring you to our hospital: there, one of our doctors will take care of you." John bowed thankfully.
After that, an inhabitant came over to him and showed him with his hand that he should follow him. He picked up his backpack and followed.
Author notes: Well yeah, they arrived at the capital city and John got again the feelings like on his home planet. Let's see what the future will bring ^^
Translation with the help of DarkInSpace
And before I forget, the following chapters will be much longer (about 7k words more or less)
Hope you had fun at reading ^^
