Disclaimer: Do I really have to do it again?...(receives glare from numerous lawyers in black suits standing nearby) Oh well. Not mine, it's all Studio Ghibli's, except for whatever you don't recognize from the movie. (looks at the lawyers) Happy?

Lawyers: (nods happily)

Ellenlome: Creepy….

Whispers of a distant land: Chapter four

Two days later, and after a good night's rest, Baron - in a midnight black suit for the occasion - was looking at the close-by city of Raïtal, watching its numerous citizens going about their daily routine. It was obvious however that something was not quite like it seemed, and that all the hustle came from the royal palace. Some time ago, Toto had gone there so he could see his "contact" at the palace. But before Baron could worry any more about his friend, a rustle of feathers made him jump back into the shadows of the tree hole he was hiding in. Sure enough, two birds came in, one a giant crow, and the other what seemed to be a very small, very nervous pigeon. Baron sighed in relief.

"Baron? You there?" whispered the crow.

"Yes Toto, I'm here" said Baron as he stepped out of the shadows. "I assume he is your contact at the palace?"

"Yes," answered Toto. "This is Omar, royal advisor to Emperor Hanakash. I saved his life a few years back, right Omar?"

Said Omar nodded, before saying a bit fearfully: "You didn't tell me your friend was a cat! How do you expect me to sneak in a cat in the palace? What with the war and all that…"

"The war?" Baron queried. This was a new development, but again with Fento involved he shouldn't be surprised.

"Yeah, Omar told me on the way here that the Empire is at war with the Kingdom of Cats. Has been for officially three days now."

"Mmh, right after Fento left the capital. Quite strange that he didn't say any of this to Lune, don't you think?"

"Listen," interrupted the pigeon, "why exactly are you here? I can't stay away from court very long you know, my absence will be noted."

Baron turned his gaze to Omar, his green eyes glowing in the dark and giving him quite a frightening appearance. "We're here because we need information on the visit made by Ambassador Fento a few days ago, and on the current situation in the Empire. Also, the ambassador's companion, Advisor Natoru, didn't come back with him. We believe he is being retained against his will, and his location is all we ask."

The pigeon rubbed his wings together, clumsily trying to mask his nervousness and failing miserably. "This is quite a lot you ask of me; I could loose my position for this. It would be treason, who knows what the Emperor will do if he finds out…"

"Listen," cut off Toto, "do you have the information my friend requested? If you do, and if you don't say any of this to anyone, we won't say anything either and I will consider your debt towards me as paid."

Omar cocked his head to the side, wringing his wings together in what he thought was an attitude of deep thought. On one hand, he risked to have his treason (for that was it) to be discovered and his head quite possibly taken off (he shuddered at the thought), but if he wasn't, then he would be able to live his life peacefully enough afterwards, and would not have anymore contracted debt towards the big crow. On the other hand though, if he did not give them the information they wanted, he was quite certain that the cat would eat him (Baron had no intention of doing so, but Omar didn't know that of course) right here and there, and, being quite the superstitious type, he thought that his soul would then be held in debt eternally to the crow. In both scenarios, his life was at stake, but in one he had a slight chance of survival, albeit a very thin one. As he looked back at the two others, he saw the cat's eyes glow again, with what he thought was hunger. It was all it took to decide the nervous pigeon.

"Alright, I'll help you! But you promise you won't tell anyone, right?" he said finally.

"We promise," said Baron.

"Then wait for me here, I'll go and fetch you a disguise," and with that said the pigeon took flight. As they watched the bird disappear into the traffic of the city, Baron asked Toto:

"Think he could turn us in?"

"Nah, he hasn't got the guts to do it. That pigeon is the worst case of nervous paranoia I've ever seen" answered Toto with a smile.

Toto was right, Omar would not turn them in, although he briefly though of doing so as he flew towards the palace. But no, he couldn't go back now, not when he had already betrayed the Empire. No, he would have to keep to his end of the bargain. Of course, someone other than Omar would have probably surmised by now that if he turned the two companions in right now, he would become a favorite of the Emperor and a hero of his people for putting his life on the line and tricking two dangerous criminals so that he could alert his sire to the impending menace they presented, and also preventing the escape of another (in his mind) dangerous criminal and assassin from the Kingdom of Cats. But of course, Omar didn't think of that. The poor pigeon had had his life in danger (or so he thought) so many times before that he had become completely paranoid about it, and had a way of twisting things around so that he only saw the bad sides of anything. Thus, he didn't think of turning the two in to the guard, and carried his end of the bargain by returning shortly after with what appeared to be a cloak made out of crow feathers.

"What is this?" asked Baron with interest.

"A cloak I wore last year at the Carnival. A brilliant idea of the Emperor where we had to disguise ourselves as another bird. If you wrap yourself in it and lay low on Mr. Toto's back, he can appear to be a slightly deformed crow. No one will notice you."

"Thanks Omar," said Toto, inclining his head slightly to the pigeon. "Now, do you know where Advisor Natoru is being held?"

"Yes, yes, I recall he's been taken to a cell in the dungeon while waiting for the Emperor to decide of his fate."

"The dungeon?" asked Baron. "Where is that?"

Omar pointed to a tangled mass of roots and a dead tree a bit to the right of Raïtal. There seemed to be several grey birds - they were too far away to be identified – patrolling the base of the "dungeon", and on the top of the pile was stationed a lone hawk, no doubt as a sentry.

"That's the dungeon?" asked Toto. "Doesn't look very big, you guys must not have a lot of criminals around here."

"The real dungeon is underground," replied Omar, "what you see is but the entrance. And if you are to get inside, you'll have to get past the guards and Amiki, the hawk."

"Hm, we could try a night entry," mused Toto as he flapped his wings in annoyance.

"You would get caught!" cried Omar.

"Why is that?" asked Baron.

"At night, Amiko, an owl, is the sentry. Nothing escapes his gaze!"

"Really?" Baron replied with some interest. "And I suppose the change in sentry takes place at sunset?"

"Of course, there is no other time," answered Omar, obviously proud at something, although they had no idea what.

"Hm. Well then, I suppose that all you have left to do is to tell us everything you know about Ambassador Fento's visit then, and about this war the Empire seems to be planning."

Omar was more than eager to get rid of them, and proceeded to tell them everything he knew. When he left an hour later, the two friends had a much better understanding of the situation. They had to grant Omar that: he was a great history teller.

"What do you plan to do?" asked Toto when the pigeon was gone.

"Wait," came the reply.

"Wait! Is that all? What for?"

"Wait until sunset, when the sentry change takes place. If I am correct, the hawk will be too tired from his day and intent on looking for his replacement to be vigilant and the owl will still have the light of the sun disturbing his vision. It will be the perfect time for us to sneak in."

"And what of sneaking out?" asked Toto, still a bit worried about the whole thing.

"I guess I'll have to think about that. When I come up with something, I'll tell you."

Toto rolled his eyes. He knew he wasn't going to get anything else out of him until sunset. Guess I will just have to wait then. And with that they settled down, watching how the guards patrolled around the dead tree. With some luck, they would find a dead angle from which they could swoop in when the time came.

Review responses:

Earthangel: Thank you so much! (blushes furiously) I'm your favorite author? Wow. Cool. Thanks. Anyway, I can't answer your question, but I think the next two chapters should help you with it. - (hint, hint) Oh yeah, I'm doing a double posting, just for you! Hope you like it! ;)

Author's note:

Yeah, I know, I'm evil. You guys are probably cursing me for cutting right now, but I promise there's more to come! See! Another chapter! Double posting! Yeah! - (all the characters in the background have big sweat drops on their heads).

Muta: I think you're scaring them.

Ellenlome (kid voice like): I am?

Muta: Yup.

Ellenlome: (pouts)

Haru: She's on sugar high.

Baron: Not that she's any different when she's not.