Chapter 36

The King’s ship

I went over to Clyde, he seemed unoccupied so I started talking, “Have you connected to everything around here?”

“I hope so, everything that has a connection I’ve connected to. I even found something outside, I can’t tell what it’s doing but I hear a lot of other Felines.”

I had to think, was it the King’s ship? “Can you do anything to it? Like move something?” If he could, that would be it. I vividly remember Clyde moving the ship’s guns around and pointing them right over my head, not to mention consequently stalling the King’s slave enterprise.

“There’s seems to be something… the devices I’ve found are just audio receptors, but also have a potential to have created a field and… ah yes, I have it, there are some devices giving feedback if I give them instructions. I’d have to know what it is to work with it.”

“It’s a ship.” I said, hopefully solving the detail of getting us in and out of Xenobia City. That’s something I could really use when there. Plus, it has guns.

“Well, ok, but that still doesn’t give me much to work with, do you have the designs?”

“No, but…” I couldn’t just go in there and get a picture, even if I could I could probably just steal it anyways. Well, maybe, I’d still need Clyde’s help.

There are books all about the ship, it’s outline, all the mechanical sketches and diagrams. I had nearly read them a while ago. I grabbed that and showed it to him. “I think this is the basic outline of it. Maybe a bit different. This is the one I pulled you out of a few days ago. The one out there is a bit bigger.”

“I still might need pictures.”

“Have you connected up to my goggles?”

“Yes, and your suit. You seem to be in good operation today, though maybe a bit sluggish for some reason. I’d expect quicker reactions and walking speed from a young feline like you.”

It was the soreness from the fight, and the loss of the village. “Alright, I said, trying not to deviate. “But the goggles! I had seen that ship yesterday, just after I talked with you about going through your files.”

“I have the recording,” he said. “It’s barely visible with the lighting. I think I might be able to work with it.”

“There must be cameras in that place too.”

“There are.” He seemed preoccupied with something. “I see, let me just take a moment to configure the controls.”

“Just make sure to open the garage door before you fly it out of there.”

He opened the hangar doors in my hangar!

But just as I was about to talk some sense into him, the King’s ship flew in!

I grinned! My Clyde is back! He just needs some of that memory back as well.

I walked over to the ship stopped in midair right outside the hangar. Someone was hanging from it.

“What are you doing?” I yelled over to the Feline.

“What are you doing with the King’s ship?” They yelled back.

“I’m commandeering it. What do you think?”

I came closer to get a better look. The Maiden of Truth!?

“Clyde, lower her down! Slowly.” I yelled across the hangar.

“I never you knew you had one of these!” The Maiden of Truth accused me as soon as she got on the ground.

Uh-oh, there was a whole lot of things I haven’t showed her down here. “One of what?” I asked.

“Beneath the temple, the Huntress of the Felines has an underground hi-tech secret hangar!”

“You never asked.” I said. “Actually I didn’t want to show you. But still.”

“I always thought there was something like this in the temple.” She said curiously. “It was very vaguely mentioned in the books, nothing really stated that there was in fact a hi-tech hangar in the back of the temple.” She seemed upset now, “The King has one, you have one. Why don’t I get one?”

“You have a different tech.” I stated. “Very advanced in its own way.”

“Well put,” she said, taking the compliment and walking casually over to me while goggling at the wide open space of the hangar, bigger than the King’s by the way. “I guess I should say that I should be off and back to the village. I’ll tell them that the ship took off and is forever lost. And about saving myself I’ll have to tell them that I managed to jump down onto a tree and fall, gracefully, somehow not breaking all the bones in my body.” Her eyes wandered and a look I haven’t ever seen on her crossed her face. “But I thought you may need some help as well.” She looked like she was yearning for adventure. Had something changed in the village headquarters?

“You want to come with us? We’re going to the city.”

“If that’s where duty calls,” she said trying to look impressive. They can’t use my help there in the village. There’s no fortunes to tell and they seem to have it all under control,” she said with a hint of resentment.

“They kicked you out already didn’t they?”

“Not yet. But, as I tried to save the ship, holding on for dear life, they let me go. Nobody tried to save me. They would have tried to kick me out for being intrusive anyways. That’s why I ask.” She did seem a little intrusive, almost always, even if she wasn’t trying. “But, I think it was heading that way anyways.”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“So you’d like to intrude here and come with us to the city?” I asked. “I think we might need a bit of guidance, and orderly help. Who knows what we’ll run into there.”

“When are you leaving?”

“As soon as the King’s ship arrives. Which I think it did.” I cracked a smile.

I wasn’t exactly looking forward to it, but I think we do have her help now. “You should at least start cleaning up the insides of that ship and stocking it up. Clyde and I might have to do some repairs.”

“Clyde?” She asked.

“My mechanical friend.”

I forgot I had never told her, even hid him from everyone in the village, including her.

“He’s gone through quite a bit and won’t be the same, but he’s there,” I pointed, “being useful. He’s the one that got the ship here. Remember those bugs you planted in the ship a while ago? They seconded as a remote control for this ship.”

“Wow.” Was all she could say as she gaped at the huge ship, then Clyde, then the surrounding hangar. “Wow,” again.

She walked over to Clyde. “Hello, my friend. I am the Maiden of Truth. I’m sure you know of me. I brought Dawn here on her first day as the Huntress, learning and studying to become the greatest Huntress in all of history.”

“No.” Clyde stated. “I haven’t heard of you. But if you would like, you could inform me of yourself. Dawn has informed me I seemed to have lost a lot of memory and need to scan my databases further. So until then, please excuse me.”

“Oh dear,” she said.

“That’s what I was talking about.” I said. “It was a bad crash during the fight with the Ancients.”

She looked sympathetically at Clyde.

“I’m still very proud of him.” I continued. “He seems to still have all of his wonderful abilities as a super-computer.”

I had to unstick the Maiden of Truth from Clyde and get her onto cleaning the ship. Maybe, I thought, I might give her a quick tour of the underside of the temple. But on the other hand I might not, it would probably take too many hours, maybe days, showing her all around with her too-curious attitude. Plus we’re not staying here very long.

I found Bandera and had her help the Maiden of Truth in cleaning up the ship and getting rid of odd paraphernalia of the King’s, while I got the other Xenos to help move boxes and supplies we might need, not forgetting we’ll have time to come back and get more if we need too.

Then I had to help Clyde study the manual, figure out how to flip through hundreds of pages of technical manuals as quick as I could flip, as he doesn’t need much time to “study”, he just takes a picture of it and has a sub-circuit analyze it.

Not too soon, but not too long after, I had put my goggles on and started through the inside of the ship, checking to be sure everything was in tip-top shape. It seems it was, and mainly needed another fuel cartridge, which we should be able to get in Xenobia City.

That made me wonder about money. I know Clyde had a bank account in the city, he said he was doing quite some work and built up a good fund in case he ever needed it. But, the question now was if he still has access to it with loosing his memory and all. I took note to make sure we found a way to find money or make it.

It was about night time and everything was packed up and we were all ready to go. No use getting there in the middle of the night. Perhaps we’ll leave in the morning and make it there by mid afternoon. I heard the people in the city stay up late and don’t do much in the morning.

I put everyone to bed, including Clyde and got ready for bed.

Boy, was I going to miss this place. I know I’d come back eventually, but going to live in the city for an indefinite period of time was already making me home sick.

I pushed that feeling aside and reminded myself of the necessity of the situation.

I’ll come back.

“Dawn, I’ve found a place for you to stay. I saw you still have a little army with you. I know you wouldn’t want to live all cramped up with a handful of city-Felines and a number of wild village-Xenos too. So we’ve made arrangements. It’s not the best place, but it will certainly serve.”

“Thank you Ares,” I said, admiring that she’s still taking care of me. “Where do I go?” I asked.

“There will be a Feline correspondent waiting for you on the western side of the city. Just follow the train tracks and stop at the warehouses before you get to the iconic tower of Xenobia City. It’s the tallest and widest tower there. You can’t miss it.”

“Thank you again. And do you have any updates on who’s behind this yet?”

“Nothing much. But the pattern we spoke about earlier has kept coming up and the only thing connected with that is the combined forces of the Murid Mafia and the Canine Mafia, not to mention the Humans who have a small hand in it. There’s other gangs and Mafia running around in the city, Felines as well, but nothing that compares to the Murids and Canines.”

“So I’ll be after the Murids and Canines then?”

“Not exactly. That’s a start, but anything about them should be investigated. I know they have something to do with this, and whoever is controlling them I can only guess is the one we’re after.”

“Trying to get information out of them should be easy.” I said sarcastically. “I don’t think any of my army has made friends with either of them.”

“True, we’ll find a way. Good night, and I’ll see you in the city.”

I woke up that morning not as apprehensive as I was in a long time. I could say I wasn’t expecting anything could go wrong, or get worse. It’s already pretty bad, what else could go wrong. I’m not just saying that so that you think that it all gets even worse at this point. It doesn’t. I was just feeling down on my luck.

What luck after dying…

I walked out to the hangar, the usual crew of Xenos were there wandering about, getting back into shape etc. etc.

I went to the room of the Maiden of Truth, she was still sleeping, but I woke her up and told her to get ready, bring anything she wants, it’ll be a while before we’re back here.

I found Bandera, she was walking around, looking lonely, no doubt mourning on the past experiences. Though I thought she might have been a bit happier being here and with the Huntress. It was otherwise pretty bad. I don’t know who her family was so I asked her.

“I was already homeless,” Bandera said. “When the Murids shot down the village. My family was taken by the King to be slaves. I managed to evade the slave collectors as I was out in the forest playing with some friends. When I came home they were gone. I wasn’t worried, I thought they went to get some food or something, but when they didn’t come back that night, or in the morning I worried, so I asked the neighbors. They didn’t know.”

“So how did you find out?” I asked.

“The collectors came back to the house and tried to get me, but I escaped out the window and ran and ran, finally outrunning them and hiding in the bushes until I knew they were gone. I managed to sneak into the village and steal some food for the last few months until you found me, hiding in the bushes.”

“I have to say that’s pretty good to run away and not get caught, and by two Felines.” I smiled. “But you are a Feline too, probably one of the best.” I smiled again. “Maybe with a little practice and training you could be as good as me.”

“You think so?” She she said cheering up.

“I think so.” I was still smiling. “You might be able to get yourself some accessories too. I wouldn’t want a capable sister Feline unarmed in the city.” I flashed Ungu.

Her eyes lit up and she squirmed in near envy. “What can I do to get one of those?”

“Well, we’ll see. We can always come back and get something.” I said.

Her impatience was coming through, “What did you have to do to get that?”

“I fed the village.” I told her. “Remember the festival when I was announced the Huntress?” She nodded, she must have been just a few months old. “I went to the fields and brought back boar and antelope and buffalo.”

She was amazed, “But I couldn’t do that. Not now.”

“I think you could, if there was the feast again, but you wouldn’t need to. Maybe feeding these guys would do enough.” I waved a hand at the other Xenos around. “You’ll have to learn to hunt too.”

“I know. And I’m terrible at that.”

I thought for a moment. “We’ll get around to that.”