“So, you are content just living out the last of your days without the possibility of the tribe living on?” Edu asked.
“We are not a warrior people. We do not have wolfpacks anymore. Haven’t had wolfpacks in many years,” he explained.
“Don’t you think it’s time you started again?” kDira interjected. “The Karn have your Princess Mother and two of ours. Unless you want to allow the world to be overrun by the Karn, we have to do something about it now.”
Sylys Hayden didn’t answer that question. For much of the rest of the day they walked in silence. As the sun began to go down, kDira began to wonder if they were going to stop for the night or keep going. She knew Elick was getting very tired.
“Shouldn’t we be stopping for the night?” kDira asked.
“We are but a short distance from the village,” Hayden said, “we will continue on.”
They did continue on for what seemed like hours, but after turning onto a path to the north and traveling a short distance, then finally they came to a wall of logs and a gate that was shut. Torches lined the top of the wall and emitted an eerie glow.
“This is Hayden, let us in,” he commanded. And without hesitation the gate opened and everyone passed inside unquestioned.
In short time, a feast was prepared of chideer and poultry, vegetables and fruits. With it came a lot of bryne in flavors kDira and the others had never tasted before.
After the meal, Hayden stated that in the morning he would discuss their future plans with them, and showed them to an unused hut. Inside they found plenty of soft blankets and more flasks of bryne. It did not take them long to find a comfortable spot to lie down, and it wasn’t long before they fell asleep. Except kDira. kDira slept very little. She did not fully trust the Midlanders, though she couldn’t put her finger on why. Maybe it was Hayden’s cockiness, or maybe it was that they accepted them too easily. They had given her no solid reason not to trust them, she just had that gut feeling that not everything was as it seemed. If the Midlanders were to betray their trust, she was going to be ready.
cHAPTER 8
Sometime, in the middle of the night, kDira unwittingly fell asleep. She woke with a start and the sun had already risen. She looked around at her tribemates, all of which were still sleeping.
Needing to relieve herself, she found her way to the chamber pot, carefully stepping over each of the sleeping males in the hut with her.
Having tended to her bodily needs, she made her way outside and found a fire to sit next to until her friends woke up.
To her surprise, she found Sylys Hayden sitting on a large log next to the fire pit in the center of the plaza area of the village.
“Good morning, brave Blackhorn warrior,” he said once again as though trying to elicit a response from kDira.
“Good morning, oh great King,” she replied with the same sarcasm.
“Would you like some bark tea, kDira,” he asked.
“That would be wonderful,” she said, taking a wooden cup of hot liquid from the King.
“You don’t sleep as late as your friends,” he asked.
“I have a lack of trust of unknown things,” she said. “No offense to you and your kindness, but you could have slit our throats in our sleep before we even knew what was happening.”
“What would that accomplish? We are not warlike. We are not Karn,” he insisted.
“I apologize, but recent events have soured my trust of anyone outside of our own tribe,” she said, looking a bit ashamed.
“So, have you decided how you will defeat the Karn?” Hayden asked.
“It is not for me to decide,” replied kDira. “It is something we must all discuss. We have no leader.”
“Surely, you realize that you are their leader,” he said. “You would be their Queen Mother of you were a breeder.”
“Do not joke of such things.”
“You do not see how they look to you for leadership?” Sylys Hayden continued. “You are their driving force.”
“It’s true,” came a voice from behind. Agis had awoken to find kDira gone and made his way from the hut to the plaza where the Midlander and kDira were sitting.
“Nonsense,” she exclaimed. “I am no more a leader than a small pup-dog is a wolfdog.”
“That’s why you bark orders all the time…” Agis said, jokingly.
“You two spend a lot of time together, I can tell,” Hayden said with a smile.
“More than I care to think about,” kDira sneered at Agis. “But it does not get us any closer to knowing what to do about the Karn,” she said attempting to change the subject.
“Well, you can’t just go running in and kill everyone, throw some flaming pots and bust some walls, and be done,” Hayden stressed. “Karn City is a large, spread out place of sky high buildings from the Olden Days, and tunnels with so many side tunnels one could be lost forever and never find their way out. Many of our scouts have never returned after trying to explore even the outer fringe of the city.”
Hayden paused to let that sink in. The rest of the Blackhorn were now finding their way beside the fire.
“Sylys Hayden was just telling us how impossible it would be to take on Karn City,” kDira informed the newcomers.
“See, you’re a leader…” Hayden said.
“Hayden was saying,” she interrupted, “That the city is from the Olden Days, with sky high buildings and endless tunnels.”
“And,” Hayden added, “you still have to cross the Valley of Death. That takes two days, without any streams or game for food. And the heat…” he trailed off.
“What is the Valley of Death,” Elick the Interpreter asked.
“It was created in the last days of the Olden Days, before the Great Cloud. There was a great fireball that sprang from the sky itself that lifted half of what was Karn City into the sky and dropped it over the entire earth as ash and dust.”
“Back before the Karn killed him,” Hayden continued, “our Interpreter would have theater and tell of the end days, and how Karn City was a thriving world of its own, a tribe with one hundred thousand people or more! After the great fireball, the people were all but gone, and then after the Great Cloud that came many days later, the city became empty.”
“A hundred thousand…” kDira said under her breath. “I cannot imagine a tribe that big.”
They all sat in silence for a few moments.
“Where did your Interpreter find these stories?” Elick asked.
“It was in his ancient tomes. You are welcome to look at them if you like.” Hayden said.
“I would be honored to examine your tomes,” Elick said, excited.
Hayden called one of his villagers over and asked him to show Elick the way to the Interpreter’s hut.
“If anyone can find a way into Karn City, it is Elick,” kDira said.
“Well then, let us eat. I will see that your Interpreter gets some food as well,” Hayden said.
Almost as if on cue, several Midlanders brought plates of spiced meats, eggs and cups of rock-goat milk. There was plenty, and the Blackhorn tribemates ate until they were full. kDira hadn’t realized how tired and hungry they had become, and the Midlander cuisine was exquisite.
“So let me ask you this, and I hope I do not insult you,” Sylys Hayden said, getting back to business, “why don’t you join our tribe? Become Midlanders. We have plenty here to share and I am certain you can pull your own weight within the tribe.”
kDira looked at Hayden, and for the first time considered if she was speaking for the group, or actually taking a leadership role as Hayden had suggested.
“You are without breeders as well,” kDira pointed out, “therefore you are as dead as we are without a future or any hope to grow, and most certainly to be destroyed by the Karn eventually as well. You are greater in numbers than we are, but dead, none-the-less.”
She looked at her tribemates, and it appeared as though they agreed with her assessment. Without breeders, all tribes
are dead. She looked back at Sylys Hayden.
“You are wise, kDira of the Blackhorn. But to rush the Karn is a certain death as well,” he said.
“I would rather go out fighting for my tribe, than die a slow death waiting for my time to slip away,” she answered.
“Then let me make a proposal,” Hayden said as a merchant trying to sell an unpopular item, “what if I offer up several of our warrior krebs to assist you.”
“In exchange for… What?” kDira asked on the defense.
“Let us have one of the two breeders, and your Interpreter until he can train a new Interpreter for us.”
Agis stood and put his hand on the hilt of his sword, ready for attack.
“You want one of our breeders?” Agis asked loudly.
kDira, noticing a fair number of Hayden’s men were alerted to the possible hostile actions by Agis, motioned for him to sit back down. Wisely, he complied with her wishes.
“I know it is a difficult request,” Hayden continued, “but as you stated, we are dead without breeders. If we help, we must have some compensation.”
“Our Princess Mothers are not property that can be traded,” kDira stated strongly.
“Talk it over with your people, brave kDira,” Sylys Hayden said, motioning to her tribemates, “I think you will come to the right decision.”
“I am not the leader!” she said, but he had walked off. She turned to her fellow Blackhorn.
“I am not the leader,” she said, more trying to convince herself than anyone else.
“But you are, kDira,” said Edu. “You have always been the leader. You are why we are here.”
“Agreed,” said Agis.
“Shut up, you kreb,” kDira said, hitting Agis in the arm.
“Agreed,” came a chorus from everyone else.
“Then let us praise our leader, kDira,” said Edu.
“Praise, kDira!” came the chorus again from everyone else.
kDira was caught between emotions of joy and sadness. She was honored to be thought of in such a way, yet scared to fail those that put their trust in her.
“However short lived that may be,” said kDira, “I will be your leader.”
“So, what is your decision, Queen kDira?” Agis asked, knowing the look he would get calling his friend ‘Queen’.
“Not Queen. I will not be called Queen,” she said strongly.
She thought for a moment. She knew that giving up a Princess Mother, assuming they made it back alive, would be difficult. They do not even know for sure that they are still alive, though the odds are that the Karn are not about to kill their most valuable possessions.
“kDira,” Omiroe said, breaking kDira’s thoughts. “If we were to give up a Princess Mother, in trade for a small army of Midlanders who know the Valley of Death and Karn City better than we do, then I think the price is worth it. Alone, we will most certainly fail.”
“The Princess Mothers are Blackhorn,” kDira insisted. “They are as much a part of our tribe as you or I.”
“But not only will we have a better chance,” Isiath said, joining the debate, “but we would be gaining a strong ally in the Midlanders. Not only would we be giving the Blackhorn a fighting chance, but the Midlanders as well.”
“How could we possibly tell one of our own that they were bartered to another tribe?” kDira asked the group. Could you do it?” she asked, looking at Isiath. “You?” she asked Edu. “Which of you could look them in the eye and tell them?”
“I think that is a job for our leader,” Agis said.
kDira looked at him, then the others who were nodding in agreement.
“I did not ask for this position,” she said.
Sylys Hayden invited the Blackhorn into the Great Hall located at the center of the village. It had obviously been damaged from some attack in the past, but it seemed very sturdy and it must have held up to the attack well enough to remain standing today.
The Great Hall had a large table, enough for 30 people to sit, and chairs all along the outside of the hall as well. Seated in most of those chairs were Midlander warrior krebs of both male and female. Agis and the others looked them over as they walked into the hall. They wondered to themselves if they were being led into a trap. If that were the case, they were ready to fight to the death if necessary.
Sylys Hayden stood at the head of the table and motioned for his guests to sit near him at the far end. Elick was standing next to Hayden, and when the others took their seats, he joined them as well.
“Your interpreter,” Hayden began, “has uncovered ancient maps of what it now Karn City. I will let him fill you in on what he has found.”
“Thank you, Sylys Hayden,” the Interpreter said, standing. “I have been in discussion with several warriors that have surveyed the city as best they could without giving away their position, and compared to the maps I discovered, I have narrowed down where the leadership of the Karn would most likely be.”
“It is my guess,” he continued, “that our Princess Mothers would be very close by.”
“The Karn are very strong, but not very bright, nor are they independent,” Sylys Hayden interjected. “If you cut off the head, the body does not know what to do.”
He looked at his guests, and saw confusion.
“If you take out the leader,” he explained, “the rest of the Karn will not know what to do.”
“So, how do we get to this place you have picked out as the most likely place for the King to be?” Edu asked.
“In the Olden Days, the cities had elaborate tunnels underneath. These tunnels went practically everywhere,” Elick the Interpreter explained. “I have a map that shows which tunnels to take to get us close to just about anywhere in Karn City that we need to go. In fact, one tunnel goes directly under the target point I have pinpointed.”
Elick held up the ancient map of the city.
“This is where I would expect to have the highest chance of having the Karn royalty. This one,” he said point at a spot near the center of the map, “is the king’s palace from the Olden Days.”
“I have to agree,” said Hayden. “The Karn are very prideful, and would flaunt their status by residing in the vary buildings that the ancients used to house their kings. And according to the last reports we got out of Karn City, this one building is the only major one that is still primarily intact.”
“So, the question still remains,” he continued, “do you accept my offer, or do the five of you take them on by yourselves?”
kDira shot a glance at Elick.
“Certainly, you do not intend to take your Interpreter into Karn City?” Sylys Hayden asked in disbelief. “He would not make it past the Valley of Death, let alone survive a fight with the Karn?”
kDira thought on that a moment. Hayden was right, of course.
“He will be safe here, for at least as long as the Midlanders are safe,” Sylys Hayden assured her. “I am sure if the Karn find out that the Midlanders helped you, they will not be happy.”
“I am sure,” kDira agreed.
“If we promise you one of our Princess Mothers, can you assure me she will not be mistreated?” kDira asked, concerned.
“My dear Blackhorn friend, she will be our queen!” Hayden assured her.
“We would like thirty good warriors in trade,” kDira bargained. “Not just for the attack on the Karn, but as Blackhorn from this day forward.”
“They must swear allegiance,” she continued, “to the Blackhorn, and none other.
“I will offer twenty-five, but on the condition that we do get a breeder as our queen. No queen, then the warriors are returned to us, no matter how many might be left, to fight off the Karn that will most certainly be seeking revenge.”
“And,” he continued, “we keep Elick the Interpreter for as long as it takes for him to train another for our own.”
kDira looked at her fellow Blackhorn, then to Elick. She became painfully aware of the weight of being a leader. She, however, saw no
other option.
“Circumstances seem to dictate no other solution. I will take your twenty-five, fine warrior krebs in exchange for a Princess Mother,” she said with a bit of sadness, “and allow you the company of brave Elick the Interpreter until he can train another.”
“A brave and logical decision from the leader of the Blackhorn,” Hayden announced. “Now, let us feast on chideer and rock-goat! Let us celebrate our union and drink to our future. Let the bryne flow freely!” he announced to the room.
Several Midlander citizens began bringing platters of food to the table and cups and mugs were dispersed to everyone and just as quickly filled.
“kDira, sit with me at the head of the table. We shall get to know each other and talk about our tribes. I think we have much to share and learn,” Sylys Hayden called out. kDira looked at Agis who just as quickly nodded his approval. Agis found a seat further down with the rest of his Blackhorn tribemates, old and new.
The food was plentiful and the bryne even more-so. At the end of the chamber a group of three musicians played a strange rhythmic melody on drums and wind instruments carved from wood.
Several young girls and boys, too young to be krebs, danced around the room in bright costumes adorned with baubles and beads, and bits shiny metal dangling from the garments. The Blackhorn were not used to this much of a production. kDira was used to a more down-to-business formal meeting. Though she had to admit she rather enjoyed the entertainment and celebration, yet she feared it may be short lived.
She also enjoyed the company of Sylys Hayden. He had a confidence and intellect that she hadn’t seen in any other warrior. He would joke and she would laugh, and as she drank more bryne the funnier Hayden’s jokes seemed. She glanced at Agis who seemed to be having an enjoyable time with the other Blackhorn. She did have feelings for him, she was aware of that, but he was a kreb, like her. There was never a point in staying with just one mate, when mating was not an option. Even breeders don’t stay with just one man in order to keep the tribe strong.
She looked back at Hayden who was telling one of the servers to get more bryne. He was handsome and strong. Certainly, Agis would understand if she enjoyed an evening with him. It was then that she realized that the feelings she was having were not ones she wished to allow to continue.
The kDira's World Anthology Page 8