Captain Cardinal and the Crimson Crest

By Clayton Varney

Captain Cardinal and the Crimson Crest is a fantastic voyage through a world 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. Along with the  remaining forces of Cloud Castl

• Language: English
• Publisher: Crown Books NYC
• Release date: May 16, 2022
• ISBN: 9781956095784

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Captain Cardinal

and the

Crimson Crest

Book 1

Clayton Varney

Copyright © 2022 Clayton Varney.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by reviewers, who may quote brief passages in a review.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

ISBN: 978-1-956095-77-7 (Paperback Edition)

ISBN: 978-1-956095-76-0 (Hardcover Edition)

ISBN: 978-1-956095-78-4 (E-book Edition)

Some characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

Book Ordering Information

Crown Books NYC

132 West 31st Street, 9th Fl.

New York, NY, 10001 USA

[e-mail]

www.crownbooksnyc.com

1 (347) 537-690

Printed in the United States of America

Contents

Acknowledgements

Chapter I: 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

Acknowledgements

This book has been a long time in the making, and I give glory to God and my Lord Jesus Christ for the honor of sharing something I am so proud of with the world. You are the Creator of the world and all that is in it, including me, and I hope this work truly honors You. Thanks to His Holy Spirit—a very real person, indeed—for the genius that you are.

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, and he was an outstanding trumpet player (to say the least), so I credit him also for my manifold creativity. Thank you, Jacob and David, my brothers. You always been in my life, pretty darn close for most of it, and we’ve all got a lot to be thankful for.

Chapter I

Dreaming

Dear chronicler, I must first humbly apologize. A clumsy version of this story was once recorded, but that impetuous storyteller unfortunately left out quite a bit and got a lot of it wrong. Nevertheless, I have spent nearly a decade researching what really happened from the captain’s log, his own private journal, and what those involved had to say of their fantastic experiences with the legendary Captain Cardinal.

We’ll begin his story at the events leading up to the cross-over, for you see, he was not always known as Captain Cardinal of Animystia. He had a life before, born on a different world, and given a different name. He was known as Jack Diamond from Earth, the legend among worlds. Jack grew up there and was 30 years old before the Animystians arrived, with whom he left.

Most of what was portrayed of Jack’s life before this night happened to be erroneous, which is fine because the bulk of it is irrelevant anyway. The important thing to know is that he had a thriving business as an exceedingly well-renowned woodworker and shop-teacher, and he was married to a woman he loved. He enjoyed all of his relationships, and he was really quite satisfied with the way his life was progressing. However, that world is a world of image and illusion, and although he couldn’t have told you before he lay his head down that evening, in the deepest recesses of his heart, there existed a longing for transformation.

As it turns out, Jack had always had a rampant imagination, and it was no oddity for him to often have dreams of a rather vibrant sort. Concerning this particular night, however, the images in his mind possessed the usual quality of spirituality mingled with a new seemingly tangible reality. He was even aware of the sensation of being tremendously impressed while gazing upon the brilliant images mysteriously staking their claim on the morphing plane of his imagination.

The tragic scene opened with a great betrayal at hand. He found himself looking intently into a great hall encased in a cylindrical stone wall. At its center was a round wooden table decorated with a blazoned phoenix crest, encircled by fourteen golden thrones, two of which were disturbingly unoccupied. Uneasiness was spreading among the authorities occupying the other twelve as to what was surely about to happen.

Directly opposite the vacancies were seated a regal pair, and it was given to Jack that they were the king and queen of this castle. What had distinctly impressed him was their unusual nature. In form and appearance, all of them were like men and women, yet with obvious avian 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. They can’t possibly win, one of them stated flatly. There was little in the way of visible agreement.

Jack watched as the king suddenly stood and gazed intently across the table, over the crescent-dipped backs of the unoccupied thrones, toward the barred castle doors. A split-second later, the doors exploded open, and as the smoke cleared, they all beheld whom they recognized as the two in question parading themselves into the great hall. Along with them were four other colorful characters, and the rebellious party of his mental play ran amok, defiling both artifact and character.

Two of the four had characteristics of fallen creatures who were not of their Avain kingdom. One of them possessed the qualities of a black and yellow hornet with a menacing spear to compliment his deadly stinger; the other features of an apple-green poisonous caterpillar with a maroon backside. She had four spiny projections; two just above her buttocks and two from her shoulder-blades.

Lord Mockingbird! Lady Vultura! What is the meaning of this insurrection? the king demanded.

The male traitor replied sharply, King Eagle, surrender the crown! Your mockery of a reign is at an end!

Lords, seize them! the king commanded.

The two largest Avian lords immediately leaped from their thrones and withdrew their broadswords. Leading the charge against their grey and plum-clad betrayer, Lord Osprey, who was seated next to the empty throne Mockingbird had callously forfeited. spread his enormous brown and white wings in a terrifyingly magnificent way and began to lunge toward him. His size alone would have been more than a match for Mockingbird, however, the rotten rebel had an ace up his sleeve. Withdrawing a weapon that seemed to Jack to take them all by surprise, he fired a metallic projectile straight at the heart of his would-be apprehender, who immediately collapsed lifeless to the hard stone floor.

Apparently confused by what he had just witnessed, yet aware that this peculiar weapon gave Mockingbird 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? Was Sir Osprey not your brother at this table? At our table?"

"Our table? Lord Mockingbird derided. You always claimed equality, but we were never equal. Furthermore, ‘Lord Mockingbird’ is disgraceful. Call me Major Mockingbird! I am your major failure. Your major downfall." The scene faded as subsequent images flashed in Jack’s mind: the murder, defection, and flight of lords; the death of the prince; the kidnapping of the queen; and the wounding of the king.

Jack then found himself peering into the king’s solar, where the injured, broken, and weeping ruler had been helped in the aftermath of the slaughter by two of the surviving lords. They had been there for the past two days, the lords standing guard while the king mourned and prayed, and he was currently 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 was the sound of a