Captain Cardinal and the Crimson Crest E-Book

Clayton Varney

• Herausgeber: BookRix
• Kategorie: Für Kinder und Jugendliche
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023

Beschreibung

Captain Cardinal and the Crimson Crest is a fantastic voyage through a world full of colorful characters that come to life on its pages. The titular character is a hybrid of prophecy, bringing two worlds together. The Crimson Crest is his cloudship, which borrows its name from its bright red color. He and the remnants of Cloud Castle, along with new allies, must defend against dark and unexpected forces. A Tellurian (human) with the spirit of Animystia, Captain Cardinal is a hero unlike any other.

Leseprobe

Clayton Varney

Captain Cardinal and the Crimson Crest

This book has been a long time in the making and faced many challenges, myself being the biggest one. Thank you for sticking it out, Clayton. Glory goes to the Infinite Spirit and the Lord Christ within me, for illuminating the gift of imagination, and brilliantly teaching me the beloved to write in many ways through the process of writing this fantastic story. Having these wonderful characters to play with and letting them decide their own fate was such a joy Thank you also to my mom. You have always loved me and supported my creative spirit. I love you. My dad’s spirit is in heaven. He was an outstanding trumpet player, to say the least, and I credit him also for the part he played in my manifold creativity. Thanks to my brothers, Jacob and David. You have always been in my life, pretty darn close for most of it, and we’ve all got a lot to be thankful for. Thank you both also for helping edit and proofread this manuscript. Thank you also to everyone else who has been and iBookRix GmbH & Co. KG81371 Munich

Content

CHAPTER 1: Dreaming

CHAPTER II: The Impossible Choice

CHAPTER III: A Veiled Threat

CHAPTER IV: A New Creation

CHAPTER V: Mockingbird’s Nest

CHAPTER VI: The Grey Fox

CHAPTER VII: Chrysalis

CHAPTER VIII: Good for Business

CHAPTER IX: The Cobalt Cloud

CHAPTER X: Emergence

CHAPTER XI: The Masked Mimic

CHAPTER XII: Forgiveness

CHAPTER XIII: Captains, Compliments, and Condolences

CHAPTER XIV: Peregrine’s Return

CHAPTER XV: The Dome

CHAPTER XVI: The Ruby Edge

CHAPTER XVII: Black and Blue

CHAPTER XVIII: The King

CHAPTER XIX: Resurrection

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This book has been a long time in the making and faced many challenges, myself being the biggest one. Thank you for sticking it out, Clayton.

Glory goes to the Infinite Spirit and the Lord Christ within me, for illuminating the gift of imagination, and brilliantly teaching me the beloved to write in many ways through the process of writing this fantastic story. Having these wonderful characters to play with and letting them decide their own fate was such a joy

Thank you also to my mom. You have always loved me and supported my creative spirit. I love you. My dad’s spirit is in heaven. He was an outstanding trumpet player, to say the least, and I credit him also for the part he played in my manifold creativity. Thanks to my brothers, Jacob and David. You have always been in my life, pretty darn close for most of it, and we’ve all got a lot to be thankful for. Thank you both also for helping edit and proofread this manuscript. Thank you also to everyone else who has been and is part of this journey with me.    

AUTHOR BIO

 Inspirational author Clayton Varney presents beautifully crafted narratives that capture the imagination of a child and fascinate readers of all ages. He has many other outstanding gifts as well, including visual, audio, and screen talents. He currently lives in Midlothian, Virginia, and has an adorable black cat named Felicia. 

BOOK SUMMARY

Captain Cardinal and the Crimson Crest is a fantastic voyage through a world full of colorful characters that come to life on its pages. The titular character is a hybrid of prophecy, bringing two worlds together. The Crimson Crest is his cloudship, which borrows its name from its bright red color. He and the remnants of Cloud Castle, along with new allies, must defend against dark and unexpected forces. A Tellurian (human) with the spirit of Animystia, Captain Cardinal is a hero unlike any other.

CHAPTER I: DREAMING

Dear adventurer, let me first apologize. Over a decade ago, another version of this story was recorded by a rather impetuous storyteller who, to his own admission, left out quite a bit and got a lot of the rest wrong. Feeling a more accurate portrayal of this epic hero demanded my devoted attention, I have spent nearly a decade researching what really happened, making use of the captain’s log, his own private journal, and what those involved had to say of their fantastic experiences with the legendary Captain Cardinal of Animystia. Unfortunately, I have to say that this work was even stolen and printed before it could be completed, but the reader may trust this volume to be the definitive rendition of this narrative.

            The story of Captain Cardinal begins on Earth, with the Tellurian called Jack Diamond, on a night that would alter both his own destiny and that of an unearthly realm. As a Tellurian, he had a thriving business as an exceptional carpenter, a wife he genuinely loved to the extent of his ability, and some other very enjoyable relationships. He seemed really quite satisfied with the way his life was progressing, but he was yet unaware that Earth is a world of image and illusion, and in the deepest recesses of his heart, there existed a longing for transformation. He was thirty years old that night when the visitors from Animystia arrived, with whom he left.

            As it happens, Jack had always had a rampant imagination, and it was nothing strange for him to have dreams of a rather vibrant sort. On this particular night, they had their usual ethereal quality, though they were bolstered with a new seemingly tangible reality. Impressed, he gazed upon the brilliant images mysteriously staking their claim on the morphing plane of his imagination.

            The tragic scene opened on the cusp of a great betrayal. Jack found himself looking intently into a great hall enclosed within a cylindrical stone wall. At its center was a round wooden table, decorated with a blazoned phoenix crest. Encircling it were twelve golden thrones, three of which were unoccupied. Two were supposed to be empty, but tensions were mounting over the vacancy of the third. A regal pair sat in thrones with higher backs, distinguishing them as king and queen, and their son was to the king’s right.

What had distinctly impressed Jack regarding the assembled coterie was their unusual nature. In form and appearance, all of them were like Tellurian men and women, yet with obvious birdlike attributes such as beaks and feathered wings. The queen’s feathers were white as snow, and the king’s head and tail feathers matched his bride’s, though the rest of his plumage was a compelling dark brown.

Jack watched as the king suddenly stood and gazed intently above him through the skylight entryway. The latter noticed his betrayer, accompanied by five others, about to break in. The brutal grey-and-plum-clad figure had a terrifying weapon in his hand, and it was pointed at the king; Jack recognized it as a handcannon, but the assembly seemed to be thrown off by it. With a flash, the sound of a fired round penetrating the glass preceded a frightening injury to the king.

One of the two non-Avian adversaries was a black-and-yellow Vespan with a deadly stinger, who proceeded to shatter the bullet-cracked glass with a menacing spear, allowing the villainous party an entrance. The other had apple-green skin and spiny projections, like a poisonous caterpillar, one from each of her shoulder-blades and one from just above each of her buttocks. While the others had wings, she descended using a grappling hook attached to a device on her wrist.

            “Mockingbird!” a chorus of surprised and terrified nobles exclaimed.

            The ringleader touched down on the table in front of the royal pair and sharply demanded, “King Eagle, surrender the crown! Your mockery of a reign is at an end.” He cocked the weapon and aimed it at the king again, who had collapsed back into his throne. The latter’s hand was over part of his face, blood dripping through his fingers.

When Mockingbird’s accomplices began to engage, the prince commanded, “Lords, seize them!”

            The four Avian lords had already stood from their thrones and drawn their swords. One of the two largest was directly behind Mockingbird and, spreading his enormous brown-and-white wings in a terrifyingly magnificent way, began to lunge. The insurrectionist pivoted and pulled the trigger, then turned back to the king, the body of Sir Osprey bleeding out on the table behind him.

            At a loss, as Mockingbird clearly had the upper hand (for they had not but swords to defend against the ranged terror of a firearm), the king attempted to reason with his betrayer. “Lord Mockingbird, what have you done? Sir Osprey took up your appointment after you forfeited it. You were both like brothers at this table, at our table.”

            “Brother?” Lord Mockingbird spat derisively. “You always claimed equality, but we were never equal. I guess anyone can fill a seat at your table though. You certainly had no problem replacing me with…” he looked back with disdain at Sir Osprey, “this?” Resuming his stance, he went on, “Furthermore, Lord Mockingbird is disgraceful. Call me Major Mockingbird now. I am your major failure and your major downfall.”

The scene shifted, and Jack found himself peering into the king’s solar, where the injured, broken, and weeping ruler had been helped to escape Mockingbird by two of the lords. They were standing guard while he prayed. He was staggering over ancient-looking pages of sacred writings that were scattered about on the bloodied floor beneath him. With one of the tattered pages in his feeble grip, he cried out the name “Phoenix Prime!” pleading, “Let the prophecy of Captain Cardinal be fulfilled!”

            Suddenly, there came the sound of a mighty rushing wind, and the castle shook around them. On high alert, the two lords dashed into the room to investigate, but they were immobilized in wonder. Along with the king, they marveled as they beheld a bright crimson flame embolden the stained-glass window encased in the northern face of the cylindrical solar wall, which told of many things concerning Captain Cardinal. Awe further struck each of them as the bird of his namesake sprang forth as a tiny winged incarnation.

The little red avian creature alighted on the floor in front of the king and began to speak to him beneficently. “Fear not, King Eagle, I am Carnelian. Phoenix Prime has heard you, and your prayer is answered. I have come as an emissary to bring to you the one you need.” While the king wept with tears of relief and thankfulness toward Phoenix Prime, Carnelian commissioned him, “Have Sir Albatross and Lord Peacock ready the Crimson Crest. They must accompany me, and I will guide them.”

            “I understand,” the king replied, full of hope.

            “We understand,” they echoed.

            “King Eagle,” Carnelian exhorted, “pray for the one to whom we go, for he must make the choice to come back with us, or all hope is lost.”

            The dreamscape shifted again, and Jack was surrounded by clouds illuminated by crimson moonlight. Planks of glistening red wood and a tall mast of the same, along with a billowing crimson sail, revealed an airborne ship. Two animated silhouettes of distinctly different sizes were conversing about him at the helm. A third much smaller silhouette flitted into view, perched on the wheel, and chirped in a way Jack had never heard cardinals do before. He heard the name “Rainbow Veil,” and a swirling mass of every color imaginable (and even colors yet to be imagined) suddenly appeared. Just as the portal closed neatly around the rear of the ship, Jack woke up.

CHAPTER II: THE IMPOSSIBLE CHOICE

Upon his abrupt return to consciousness, Jack was initially perplexed regarding his whereabouts. As his eyes adjusted to the eerie pinkish moonlight spilling in through his window, he realized he had fallen asleep at the desk in his private study. Yawning and feeling more at ease, he stretched himself out over his velvet armchair. He glanced at the old-fashioned desk clock with the cardinal motif in front of him; it showed the time to be 2:42 AM.

            Rather that returning to sleep, he sat cross-legged in silence, contemplating that which he had just dreamed and its inherent meaning. While doing so, he noticed how the rosy light being cast across his cherry-wood desk enriched its color, and he remembered the blood moon in the December forecast. He wondered affectionately if his wife, who was away, was enjoying the phenomenon from her current vantage point.

            As he thought to open the window for a better view himself, he saw a swooping

shadow and heard a faint tapping sound on the glass. Completely forgetting the lunar spectacle, he carefully lifted the window frame, but the source of the distraction had gone. He remained alert and waited, not knowing what to expect.

            Frustration began to set in until his eyes met the old cherry tree, whose snowy branches might have clawed at the frosted window if the icy wind had persuaded them. He laughed and remembered the scarlet sky, taking it in before a tiny chortle echoed. Distracted again, he let his eyes descend to see a crimson bird not at all unlike the one he had just dreamed about. It perched conspicuously on the windowsill, peering up at him with eyes like flames of fire, igniting his imagination.

“Hello, Jack, I am Carnelian,” the creature formally introduced itself.

            The Tellurian suddenly realized his recent vision may not have been a dream after all. This conclusion demanded an explanation, and he was about to do just that when Carnelian leaped to his right shoulder and sharply bit his earlobe. Yelping in shock and disbelief, he clapped the wound with his palm to pressurize it. He swiped at and missed Carnelian with the other hand. It had been merely a peck, and he quickly determined the bleeding to be negligible, but was still very much annoyed. He attempted to retaliate, but the bird-form darted back through the window and retreated into the darkness from whence it came, robbing him of the chance.

Placing his hands on his desk, Jack stuck his head out the window in search of the elusive enigma, whereupon he saw something else that conflicted with his current perception of reality. “There’s no way,” he whispered, as he beheld an enormous object suspended in the moonlit sky, nearly indistinguishable in color from its circular backdrop. The mast and sails he had seen in his dream gained context as he began to realize that what he beheld indeed was a ship, constructed primarily of wood of a crimson hue unlike any on Earth and a vibrant reddish metal that was similarly unfamiliar.

The question of whatever mechanics allowed the vessel to remain airborne perplexed and intrigued him. He made a few hypotheses based on external observation and logic, and fancied being able to investigate the technology’s real secret at an opportune time. More pressing than the subject of his study was the implication of what was presently happening on his account. Continuing to survey the vessel as it descended, he marveled at the sight of the pair at the helm, whom he supposed to be the two with whom Carnelian had requested to make the journey, Sir Albatross and Lord Peacock.

“Ahoy there,” he heard one of them hail in a high tone he guessed must have come from Lord Peacock.