by DP Scott
Running around the castle looking very official in his black uniform, Hete was now recognized by most of the Veectoreze he encountered. He stopped to speak to every one of the sentries he saw, trying to sound authoritative but pleasant. “It would be wise not to question this request. The Queen…, I mean the surprise speaker will not be happy unless all the Veectoreze on Zard are there to meet her. After all, it will be a wonderful feast with every delight from Veectors being served.” Leaning closer Hete whispered, “You have a right to attend. I think I heard that you were instrumental in the capturing of the kingdom. Yes, yes, she would like you to be there especially,” said Hete with a friendly grin and wink.
The word about the feast spread quickly and was reinforced when the guards saw the Urite servants preparing the Grand Dining Hall so beautifully. For over one hundred round tables had been draped in gold tablecloths to match the elaborate gold and silver filigree wall hangings. In the middle of each table there was a sizable light globe, which hovered ten inches above the surface. In orbit around each globe floated the nine planets of the Solar System. Today it was the planet Veectors not Zard that was the largest and most outstanding.
Visions of vast rewards were all the Veectoreze sentries could think of when they saw the decorated hall, and this alone caused excitement throughout the castle. Hete had done a good job at making each one of them believe they personally had been selected by Detis to come. He had a slight issue with the guards at the barracks because they were unwilling to leave the prison unguarded, but Hete in his way convinced them with certainty that the barracks were inescapable, and in the end these sentries too had agreed to come to the feast to receive their rewards.
As Hete hurried back to the Vaulted Room, he entered to see Tete, Fete, Nete, Rete, Vete, Cete, Mete and Wete in their best, but slightly tattered outfits standing a respectable distance from Saturna. They each held a shiny black gas canister with a flexible hose hanging down along the side. While Saturna talked excitedly about her plans to regain the castle, the Kievils made no eye contact and stood looking at the ground, some swinging the hose of the container back and forth.
“So my friends, I will lead you through the tunnel system to the balcony. We’ll have to be extremely quiet. When we get there, you will position yourself evenly around the area and put on your mask. I will signal to you like this to turn the gas on,” Saturna explained as she raised her arm in the air bringing it down quickly.
“Do you understand?” she asked, wondering why they all looked so disinterested.
There was no reply, only concerned looks on all the faces of the Kievils as they briefly looked up once and then down again at their hairy feet.
“Maybe I should go over the instructions again,” she said, worried they were having trouble comprehending.
Noticing Hete at the back of the room, she motioned for him to enter the group. “Hete, could we speak privately for a moment?”
Walking over to meet him, Saturna took him out of the hearing range of the other Kievils. “We may have a bit of a problem. Your friends won’t say one word to me. I’m not sure if they understand anything I’ve said,” she whispered in his ear.
“They understand Saturna and they’ve all used sleeping gas before. They’re just afraid because they recognize you as the inhabitant they put in the space pod. They didn’t know you were the Queen of Zard and now they are worried you’ll put them in prison after they complete this job.”
“Oh my, I should have realized that. Thank you Hete for clearing this up. I’m so glad you arrived when you did.” Smiling, Saturna returned to the group of Kievils huddled together. “My dear friends, Hete has told me of your concern. I understand some of you helped Detis place me in the space pod the other night, not knowing I was the Queen of Zard. I give you my word, witnessed by Peep, that none of you will be punished,” she said with authority. “Detis is a cunning and ruthless inhabitant, who has stolen my kingdom and will begin to rule Zard tomorrow if we don’t stop her tonight. If we allow the Veectoreze to rule the Solar System, life as we know it will change, and the freedoms that you enjoy today will be gone forever.”
Saturna could see the Kievils beginning to relax, so Hete was right, they were worried about being punished. “If you agree to work with me tonight and pledge your allegiance to me as the true Queen of Zard, I promise to hire each and every one of you to assist Hete as my personal servants. Will you agree to this?” she asked.
The Kievils began to grin, looking at one another in delight. Uncle Tete finally broke the silence puffing out his chest while adjusting the collar of his olive green shirt. “I think I can speak on behalf of all of us, we most humbly accept your offer, Your Majesty. We thank you very much for your forgiveness and kindness.”
“Well then, let’s get to work, time is of the essence!” Saturna replied, walking the line and touching the shoulder of each one of them as a welcoming gesture. When Saturna approached the youngest Kievil Wete, he stepped towards her, and wrapping his arms around her legs, he hugged her tightly for a few minutes. Tickled, Saturna rubbed the top of his head and was surprised at how soft the ebony fur felt.
“Will I get a uniform like Hete?” he asked quietly.
Saturna laughed and said, “You most certainly will. Once we take back the castle, you will all be issued uniforms exactly like Hete’s, given a place to live, and all the food you can eat.”
The huge smiles on the faces of the Kievils were contagious, even Peep had to chuckle at the complete change in their disposition. In one big thump the eight Kievils sat down on the floor and began to adjust the settings on the large canisters for easier gas expulsion. Uncle Tete called out the correct coordinates in his booming voice and the rest of the Kievils turned the little square knobs of the cans completely focused on the job.
Very proud he had been able to help Saturna deal with the Kievil issue, Hete left the group. He quietly approached Peep, who stood on a table engrossed in a computer chip part, which was almost as big as she was. Whatever she was fixing Hete couldn’t understand. It seemed like she was wasting time running her hand over and around the shiny object.
“Peep, I need to speak with you about something,” he said in a worried voice.
Peep glanced up and then returned to her work. “I’m listening Hete, but I have to keep going as I’m having trouble overriding the program.”
“Alright, remember when you said I should make a formal announcement. I don’t know what to say because,” Hete paused feeling embarrassed, “…because I’ve never been to a dinner where there were announcements and I don’t know what they are.”
“Oh Hete,” said Peep as she stopped working and looked at him. “An announcement is just a speech where you talk about what is going to happen. You’re very good at communicating, so just speak from your heart and remember you are doing this for Queen Saturna and the kingdom. The only issue you need to worry about is you have to keep talking for at least ten minutes to keep the Veectoreze distracted. Can you do that?”
“Yes, I know I can! Everyone always says I’m very good at talking. Thank you for helping me,” replied Hete with a laugh as he began to plan out what he would say at the dinner.
