by DP Scott
Chapter Nineteen
It was a royal reception. The tables were dressed in expensive linens and overflowed with fabulous dishes of rare foods from every planet of the Solar System. Delicious aromas filled the air and drifted upwards causing the inhabitants on the balcony to wish they were guests at the banquet. One Urite servant stood regally at each table welcoming the guests, assisting with the seating, and secretly counting the number of sentries. The pompous Veectoreze were arriving in full uniform, wearing the formal colors of Veectors, black and gold, in anxious anticipation of recognition. Most carried weapons, but politely placed them beneath their chairs. Chatting cheerfully amongst themselves and blatantly ignoring the servants who scurried about clearing plates and refilling glasses, the Veectoreze appeared to be enjoying the get-together. Almost all of the tables were occupied. The Veectoreze had arrived promptly at the time Hete had requested.
Saturna knelt at the edge of the solid platinum balcony railing, peering anxiously over the top when she could. She had crawled carefully on her hands and knees to position the Kievils around the perimeter of the circular railing, which skirted the gallery of Grand Dining Hall, and was now using Peep to run between them as a messenger. Luckily being short, the Kievils only had about an inch of their furry heads protruding above the balcony wall. And as Saturna was having difficulty seeing them, she was sure the Veectoreze would not notice the eight Kievils dotting the top of the room. Suddenly Saturna noticed the smallest Kievil Wete, who was directly across from her, smiling excitedly and waving. He had obviously found a stool or something to stand on and was enjoying the entertainment below totally oblivious to the danger his actions put them in. Just as Saturna tried to discretely warn him to step down, Wete abruptly fell. Whether he had been pushed or had tittered off his platform, Saturna didn’t care, she was thankful he hadn’t been spotted by one of the Veectoreze.
There were many more Veectoreze than they had expected--almost one hundred more according to the Urite servant’s count. Saturna was now worried the amount of sleeping gas would be inadequate. Although the Kievils had taken every container in Detis’s quarters, they only had twenty-one bottles, enough for two hundred and ninety, not the three hundred and eighty-one sentries sitting below them. Saturna immediately contacted Anton, who explained the effects of the gas would last ten to fifteen minutes with that number of inhabitants. This new time restraint made it impossible to disarm the Veectoreze, get to the barracks, and release the Zardites before they’d awaken. But the problem in leaving the weapons was it would be easy for the Veectoreze to escape from the Grand Dining Hall when they awoke, even if the doors were bolted. Her original plan to have the Zardite army surround the Grand Dining Hall, forcing the Veectoreze to surrender inside, would now have to be scrapped.
“Welcome, welcome my friends. We are celebrating a great day and one that will go down in history for all to remember,” said Hete perched on a tall stool at the front of the room, looking very official in his new black uniform.
Saturna took a deep breath and slowly exhaled as she listened. He really is a dear little creature, she thought. I truly believe he didn’t understand what he was doing when he helped Detis place me in the space pod. Thinking about how her plan was proceeding, she reached down to the floor to get her gas mask ready and suddenly realized she had absent mindedly set it down in the tunnel. Her stomach churned and she felt a shiver of coldness terrified if she didn’t find it soon, she would risk the affects of the gas and that would result in failure of her plan to retake the castle. “Think Saturna, think!” she yelled at herself. “I placed the mask somewhere when I stopped to help Wete and…?”
Crawling quietly, but quickly on her hands and knees, she rushed back towards the secret passageway to retrieve it, her thoughts racing wildly as she tried to remember where she had left the mask. She could see Peep several yards away curiously watching her actions. There was no time to explain. Saturna signaled Peep to get into position because the time to start the gas was rapidly approaching. Peep was the only one without a mask, and therefore would have to make a quick dash down the tunnel before the vapors were turned on.
As Saturna approached the passageway, it took a few moments for her eyes to adjust to the darkness. She remembered placing the mask down when she helped the smallest Kievil, Wete, catch one of his three containers, which had slipped and started rolling backwards down the walkway. But where did it happen? Taking a few more steps she thought the mask should be here, yet she could see nothing but dust. “Voices, that’s odd, I can hear voices,” whispered Saturna. Sure enough, she could hear a conversation through the wall. Feeling the rock for a thinning area, which usually indicated a secret door, she fingered a large crack in the brick. Her hand touched a cluster of delicate cobwebs and she grimaced as she cleared them away before placing her ear against the cold surface.
“My apologies Thor, the officers who placed you in the barracks did so because you were wearing a Zardite uniform. I don’t understand why they didn’t recognize you from the competitions; just remember they are lowly Veectoreze sentries. That of course is no excuse, so I’ll deal with them later,” said Pont, waving his hand back and forth with importance as he spoke.
Thor stood at attention although Pont had told him to relax. He was still angry at spending several hours cramped with the Zardites in prison. If it hadn’t been for an old Veectoreze school chum recognizing him, he still would have been there.
Picking up Thor’s hostility, Pont continued, “Have no hard feelings Thor, you’ll soon receive the honor you deserve. Now, when I left Veectors, I was told to prepare for Queen Detis’s arrival tomorrow. But I have just heard she is coming to a celebration tonight.”
“That is what the Kievil Hete is telling us,” replied Thor curtly, refusing to buy in to Pont’s poor explanation.
Pont shifted his weight from one foot to the other and tilted his head. He squinted his beady eyes trying to understand what Thor was saying. “Do you mean the stupid Kievil employed by Detis? Were we not officially told by someone on Veectors?” asked Pont.
“That would be the Kievil Hete. I don’t know where he got his information. Now if you will excuse me, I’d like to get ready. The celebration has begun and we are obliged to attend,” answered Thor.
“There’s no time to get ready! We must get to the Grand Dining Hall immediately…and bring your weapon, I’m starting to think something is very wrong!” yelled Pont.
