Once again, they came to the bend just before the keep, and they readied their weapons. kDira readied her bow and Omiroe readied his crossbow. The rest readied their swords.
Slowly they edged around the bend in the canyon looking high and low for any Karn. They did not see any, except for the dead ones on the floor of the Pass that were now drawing flying creatures large and small. Several blackwings were pecking away at the carcass of one unfortunate Karn. As the group approached, each blackwing flew off in its own direction to perch upon a rock ledge and wait for the threat of the Blackhorn Tribe to pass by.
Carefully, the six stepped and climbed over the rubble of the fallen span, Edu again helping the elder Interpreter in places where he struggled.
Once past the span the path returned to much of what it was previously, but as they progressed further north the floor of the Pass grew wider, and the walls grew taller and steeper. They saw no more rock-goats this day, so their meals were made up of the last of the previous day’s rock-goat and a few more sips of bryne.
As the day came to an end they had found no other caves or shelter so they were forced to find a place near the side of the canyon wall where some large boulders jutted outward from the face of the wall, supplying at least one direction they would not have to guard against.
They rested without laying out their bedrolls, and no one really got much sleep, except for the Interpreter. The Interpreter did not have the instinct that the warrior krebs had, and as an elder among them he felt that he was well taken care of. He was.
Quietly, the younger five talked amongst themselves.
“The Karn said that they are so big we could never conquer them,” kDira said quietly. “Do you suppose that is true?”
“If they are going around destroying tribes for breeders, and depending on how long they have been up to this, they could be growing faster than we can imagine,” Isiath said.
“With our two Princess Mothers,” he continued, “they will grow that much bigger, and we must hope that they bear no more breeders themselves.”
“Nepra and Abril,” kDira said. “Let’s not forget that they have names. They are our tribemates too.”
“Agreed,” said Agis. “It’s too easy to think of them as property to be regained. They are most likely not being treated much like royalty. Much the opposite, they are most likely being treated as slaves.”
“Elick,” came a voice from the dark.
“What was that?” kDira asked, startled.
“I have a name too,” said the Interpreter. “My name is Elick.”
Everyone looked at each other, and then looked at the Interpreter.
“Welcome to the tribe, Elick,” said kDira.
“Thank you,” Elick said. “Now, can you all stop talking so an Interpreter can sleep?”
Everyone laughed, and settled down to rest. At some point, everyone nodded off and got a few hours of light sleep.
The next day went by uneventful, though they managed to kill a large lizard to provide some sustenance from the day’s hike through the Ocheebee Pass. Again, they found a place to bed down at the end of the day, with expectations of reaching the end of the pass sometime in the coming day.
The next morning, they arose and continued onward hoping to find some water and more food. They grew fatigued and hungry as they continued onward. It wasn’t until mid-day on the third day since the sacking of the Karn Keep that the walls of the Pass started to seem shorter, and the width of the Pass narrowed.
Soon the canyon fell away and became a path in a field going north. On the horizon they could see mountains, but between the distant range and where they stood they could only see low rolling hills and valleys. The ground cover was green and the sun was high in the sky. Only a small number of trees broke up the green rolling landscape ahead. The path took them over the next knoll, and then the next. Over the third rise they stopped to gaze at a path below like no other. Running east and west was a path that was easily twenty strides wide. It was made of a stone unlike any they’d ever seen.
“That, I believe, is the Great Highway. This must have been carved out of rock back in the Olden Days,” Elick, the Interpreter said. “It’s cracked now, look how the weeds and plants are growing through the stone and breaking it up,” he said, “but I believe at one time, back in the Olden Days it was all one piece.”
“One piece,” said Isiath, “that’s impossible!”
“In the Olden Days, they could do things that we do not understand,” Elick explained.
“That’s just crazy, Interpreter,” the warrior argued, “where would they find rocks this long, and how would they put them in place?”
“Interpreter, uh, Elick, why would they need a path so wide?” asked kDira.
Elick pondered the question a moment. “Maybe it was used to move larger armies, many carts and many wagons? I do not know. Without my tomes in my hut I cannot research it.”
“Well, two days East,” he continued, “and we should be finding the Midlanders.”
“What do we know about them, Elick?” Agis asked.
“Nothing. Not a thing,” the Interpreter replied.
“I bet they don’t like the Karn,” said Agis.
“Agreed,” said kDira in a voice mocking Agis.
cHAPTER 7
Walking the Great Highway was far easier than any other path they had ever traveled. There were almost no obstructions to negotiate, except for an occasional tree that might have fallen, blocking part of the Highway. Never did they need to leave the path to avoid anything lying in the way.
It was close to mid-day and the Blackhorn tribemates were getting exhausted from the heat. Their supply of bryne was dwindling, and the group knew they needed to find water and even some food soon. The road they traveled led them over a small rise, then down to a shallow valley. The Great Highway cut a path through some dense trees, and they decided to take some shade away from the path until the sun went down a bit.
They entered the wooded area hoping that it was hiding a spring or a bush of mollyberries. They found neither. kDira and Agis decided to set out to look around the surrounding area while the remaining Blackhorn sat on stumps and fallen trees to rest.
kDira and Agis circled the area once, then went out a bit further and circled again the other way.
“I just noticed our marks are healing,” kDira said, looking at her arm, then Agis’s.
“I forgot all about them. They look pretty good,” Agis said.
“How are we going to conquer the Karn?” he asked.
“I don’t know. I hope the Interpreter comes up with something. I mean, Elick,” she replied.
“Elick? Who knew he had a name?” Agis asked laughing.
kDira laughed too. Then her world grew dark.
With a roar, a large black beast tackled her with a massive thud, taking her hard to the ground.
Agis had only a moment to react, as he watched his partner disappear under the massive animal that pinned his partner down. He drew his sword as the beast raised its massive clawed paw and strike downward at kDira. It was only her warrior reflexes that saved her from being ripped to shreds as she rolled her body out of the path of the massive paw. Only her shoulder caught the ripping terror that would have been her face had she not moved. Still pinned down, the black beast raised a paw again to strike once more.
It was then that Agis thrust his sword into the side of the giant beast. The skin was tough as the bark of a tree, and the sword only penetrated a short distance. Growling in pain, the black monster of an animal back-handed Agis and he went flying. The animal stood up, looked down at kDira, and turned to face Agis.
Agis scrambled to his feet and went in defense of his tribemate. Swinging his sword wildly, he connected with the beast across the chest and though he could see that he had done damage, the animal seemed to only become fiercer. Again, his massive arm swung and knocked Agis to the ground.
As the beast moved to attack Agis, a single arrow entered the
animal’s torso and penetrated deep into its chest cavity. The huge black animal stood up high on its hind feet and growled a blood-curdling howl. kDira knew her arrow did serious damage. Again, she loosed another arrow, and again it pierced the animal’s chest. Again, the beast howled, but this time it dropped down on all four feet, and began to hobble off. A third arrow from kDira dropped the beast to the ground. She ran over to Agis who was lying on the ground unconscious.
“Agis, are you alright?” she asked, concerned.
Slowly, and to kDira’s relief, he came around.
“What was that thing?” he asked, knowing kDira didn’t have the answer.
Then they heard noises coming from the woods. They stood and readied their weapons for another round of attacks.
To their relief, the sounds were coming from tribemates coming their way.
“It’s about time you showed up. Had to kill this monster all by myself,” Agis said.
kDira back handed him with a thud.
“I killed the beast, with no help from Agis,” she retaliated.
“I helped.” he protested.
“What beast?” Edu asked.
They led the newcomers over to the fallen animal. They were all in awe of the massive size of the beast. Though not as large as the beasts of burden, it was far larger than any meat eater they had ever seen.
“Interpreter, do you know what that is?” Agis asked.
“It looks to me like what they called a blackber,” he said. “There are other kinds too, different colors, but judging from the color, it’s a blackber.”
“Can we eat it?” Isiath asked.
“I don’t know about you, but I’m going to try,” kDira said.
“I’ll gather some wood,” said Omiroe.
“Agis and I will start dressing this beast out,” said Edu. “Interpreter, can you tend to kDira’s shoulder?”
“I will do that,” he said.
The wound could have been far worse, had kDira’s reflexes been less than what they were. Elick did the best he could to get the lacerations cleaned with a bit of bryne, but some water would certainly help a lot.
“Omiroe, you and Edu set out and search for some water,” Elick said. “With all this vegetation, there must be some water somewhere. Just watch out for any more blackber. Agis, Isiath and I will work on dressing out the blackber and maybe kDira will build us a fire?”
kDira nodded her acceptance to the challenge. Though her shoulder was in pain, it would not be the first time she had to work through an injury to get a needed task done. It was expected that all pull their weight, even when injured, when possible.
The blackber proved plentiful in meat, and they wasted none. With the fire that kDira had just managed to light, they began roasting massive pieces. They needed to cook all they could tonight in an effort to prepare it to take with them the next morning, otherwise it would spoil faster. The make-shift spit that kDira had fashioned bowed under the weight of the blackber flesh. But it managed to hold up to the task.
At about the time the first batch of blackber meat was coming off the spit, Omiroe and Edu returned.
“Look what we found!” said Edu, excitedly tossing his bota to Isiath. It was full. Isiath popped the cork and took a sip.
“Aaah,” he said, smiling, “you found water!” He took a long draft of the cold fresh water and passed the bota bag over to Agis who did the same.
“There is a stream just a short way in that direction,” Omiroe said, pointing south.
Omiroe shared his flask with Elick, who eagerly drank his fill and passed the leather bota to kDira.
“How far away is it?” the Interpreter asked. “Can you get more in short time?”
“It is just a short distance away. We can get more very soon,” Edu replied.
“Then let us eat and drink, and then we shall fill our botas full of the bryne from the earth and be grateful for our luck.”
The blackber was tough and stringy, nothing like chideer or even rock-goat, but they ate it with vigor and were glad to have it. What they didn’t eat they cooked thoroughly, even to the point of over cooking it to completely dry it out to make it last several days into their journey. When everyone had their fill, Elick cleaned kDira’s wounds thoroughly, this time with water, and when finished Omiroe and Edu went back to the stream to fill every bota with water.
The sun was beginning to set so the tribemates rolled out their bedrolls and planned a watch to look out for more blackber.
Agis and kDira placed their bedrolls close together, a short distance away from the others, yet close enough to not jeopardize their safety.
As the fire, the sun and conversation died down for the evening, Agis and kDira lay closely together. With Omiroe standing first watch, and the others drifting off to sleep, they were intimate.
The morning was warm and dry. Everyone got their fill of water and cooked blackber, and after topping off their bota bags one more time, they packed up their bedrolls and gear and headed back out to regain the Great Highway.
They made good time in the cool morning hours, but it was beginning to warm up as the sun rose higher and higher in the sky. They did not bother to stop and rest any more than necessary, but at times they had to wait for Elick the Interpreter to catch up. Being almost twice their age, he had a bit of trouble keeping the pace that the younger Blackhorn could maintain.
At one such stop they sat in the stone path and ate a bit of blackber and drank water. Elick was visibly tired, but he did not complain. It was necessary that he keep going, he could rest at sundown.
It was then that kDira stood up and readied her bow. Everyone took notice.
“You’re awfully small in numbers for a wolfpack,” said a voice in the distance.
“We are not a wolfpack. We are the last of the Blackhorn, and we will fight to the death, so unless…” kDira said sternly.
“Relax, little Blackhorn girl. We are not here to harm you,” said the voice.
Everyone stood to see who was talking, a dark skinned male taller than most, with no shirt and only a wrap of leather around his hips. He had a bow and quiver of arrows, and a sheathed short sword tied to his waist, but no weapons were drawn. In that moment, they could see many more dark-skinned fighter males and females, twenty or more total, stepping out from the wooded area that lined the Great Highway.
“Who are you?” kDira demanded.
“I am Sylys Hayden, of the Midlanders,” he said. “What are Blackhorn doing this far away from home?”
“Karn attacked our tribe, killed all but us. Took our breeders,” kDira replied, still a bit stand-offish.
“Were you all hiding from a fight?” he said provocatively. Is that how you survived this attack?” He looked straight at kDira as he said this, as though trying to provoke a response from kDira.
“Listen, Midlander…” kDira said, drawing her bow and readying an arrow.
“kDira, easy now. They mean us no harm,” Edu said, putting his hand on kDira’s shoulder and pulling her back a bit. “We were on patrol and returned to find our tribe had been slaughtered by the Karn.”
“Karn,” Sylys Hayden said. “The scourge of the world, they are. They took our only mother also. How many did they take from you?”
“Two,” said Elick.
“You are awfully old to be a warrior,” said the Midlander to Elick.
“Elick,” kDira said pushing herself one more time to the front, “is our Interpreter.”
“Interpreter? Very good. Ours was killed in the last Karn attack. How nice yours is still alive.”
Agis pushed himself between Elick and the Midlander, his hand on the hilt of his sword ready to react if necessary.
“Relax, Blackhorn. We are not here to attack you. If we’d wanted to, we could have done it hours ago when we first saw you.”
“You’ve been following us?” Agis asked.
“It wasn’t hard. You make enough noise to wake the dead,” Sylys Hayden joked.
�
�So, tell me,” he went on, “What brings you down this old road? Why do you come to Midlander country?”
“We want to settle the score with the Karn. We heard that Karn City was this way,” kDira said.
“You’re going to attack the Karn?” Sylys Hayden asked, laughing. The rest of this tribe laughed as well.
“I don’t see what is so funny,” kDira said obviously irritated.
“Karn City is so huge it would take an army of hundreds to take them out. And even then, they live in ancient structures from the Olden Days. There is no way to find your way around and stage an attack. The Karn are invincible now. This is something we have come to accept. At least, without our breeders, they have left us alone. All they seem to want is to get bigger and bigger,” he paused. “You should accept it too.”
“Have you heard of the Karn Keep?” kDira asked.
“I have heard stories of it. It is buried deep in the Ocheebee Pass.”
“We took it out. Us alone,” kDira said, boasting. She went on to tell the details of the attack, of the cat-pult, the molten cat-tails, and the loss of Esenice.
“We took it down to the ground in rubble,” she continued. “We will find a way to defeat the Karn in Karn City and get our Princess Mothers back.”
“Let us take you to Midlandia. You will be welcome and we will see that you are fed and allowed to rest. Then we will discuss your future.”
“Can we meet with your King?” Edu asked.
“You already have,” said Sylys Hayden. “Come.”
Dumfounded, the Blackhorn gathered up their things and walked the Highway with the Midlanders at a brisk pace.
“How many do you have in your tribe, King Hayden?” Edu asked.
“I do not respond to the title, King,” he said. Please refer to me as Sylys Hayden, or just Hayden.”
“Then you can call me Edu,” the Blackhorn warrior replied.
“We have just under 100 krebs left, no breeders, and as I said before, our Interpreter was killed in the last raid,” Hayden said as they walked.
The kDira's World Anthology Page 7