“Sylys Hayden, this has been a wonderful evening,” she said, standing, “and I thank you for allowing me to sit in your company, but I must now rejoin my people for the remainder of the evening.”
She made her way on shaky legs down to where Agis was sitting next to Edu.
“Edu, please allow me to sit here, there is an empty chair next to Sylys Hayden,” she said.
Edu smiled and complied. kDira sat down next to Agis, who looked at her and smiled.
“Look who came back down to eat and drink with the lowly krebs. Her highness herself, Queen kDira,” Agis said with a smirk.
“Keep it up kreb, and I will have your male parts removed in the square as punishment.”
“More bryne, my leader,” he asked, holding a flask up to her.
kDira offered her empty mug and Agis filled it quickly.
kDira raised her glass, and Agis, Omiroe and Isiath did so as well.
“To the Blackhorn,” she said.
“To the Blackhorn!” the others echoed.
Then out of nowhere, “To the Blackhorn!” echoed from the chamber as all present repeated the toast.
As the party died down and everyone began to leave, kDira thanked Hayden for the celebration, then headed out onto the main roadway towards the Plaza. As if waiting for the right moment, Agis joined her on her walk, and she smiled.
“Your sneaking ability is severely diminished this evening,” she said, half laughing.
“Wasn’t sneaking. Just thought I would walk with you,” Agis said, embarrassed.
“You couldn’t sneak even if you weren’t full of bryne,” she said to him.
“Why didn’t you spend the night with the King of Midlandia? I am sure the invitation was made clear,” he said, showing some of his feelings.
kDira stopped, as did Agis, now a step ahead of her, but he did not turn to look at her.
“I did not spend the night with Hayden,” she said, “because he is not a Blackhorn.”
Agis slowly turned to look at kDira.
“I only like Blackhorn males,” she said, causing Agis to smile.
“Is that the only reason?” Agis asked.
“That,” she said smirking, “and that I didn’t want to hurt your fragile feelings,” she said with a laugh, pulling away and walking quickly towards the Plaza.
“You are crazy, you kreb! I have no feelings for you,” Agis protested, as everyone around them began to look on. He began to pick up his pace to catch up with kDira.
“You are the one that has feelings for me, admit it,” he demanded.
kDira stopped again, as did Agis, this time facing her. kDira put her arms up around his neck, and looked him in the eyes.
“I think you’re okay, for a kreb,” she said, again with a smirk. “But remember, we have a lot more new krebs to choose from as of tonight, maybe I will go male shopping.”
Then kDira pulled away and, now entering the Plaza, turned towards their hut.
“Yeah, well there are a number of new female krebs too, maybe I will go shopping as well,” he said, almost to himself. kDira kept walking and entered the hut, Agis close behind.
Once inside, kDira took his hand and led him over to their area where they disrobed. Once more they were intimate, not realizing it would be quite some time before they ever would be again.
cHAPTER 9
The next morning everyone began making ready for the trip to Karn City. In addition to the five original Blackhorn tribemates, the twenty-five new members were milling around the Plaza with packs and weapons. Everyone was given several botas of water and bryne, plenty of dried and spiced meats, and everyone’s weapon was sharpened keen.
kDira walked out to the Plaza and as she approached a small gathering of the new tribemates, she looked around to assess the new crew that she had. The size of the individual Midlanders turned Blackhorn was not overly impressive, but she could work with them. To kDira, it appeared as though they were up to the task.
“Excuse me,” kDira called out to the gathering. Only one or two acknowledged that she had spoken.
“Excuse me!” she called out louder. Again, few realized she was talking.
She walked up to the largest kreb in the group that she could find and asked him directly, “What is your name, warrior?”
“My name is Fralek,” he answered without even looking at her. She glanced over at Agis, who was getting visibly nervous.
“Fralek, who is in charge here?” she asked him in her most authoritative voice.
Fralek raised an arm to point towards another in the group, when kDira grabbed it, and gracefully but forcibly flipped him over her back and onto the ground with a thud. Just as quick, she pulled her knife and placed it at his throat as the entire Plaza became silent.
“Wrong answer, kreb!” she said with authority. “I am in charge here. My name is kDira, do not forget that. Do not answer that question wrong again!” she said loudly, first looking at Fralek, then up at the new tribe members. “Do you understand, Fralek of the Blackhorn?”
He hesitated, digesting what had just happened.
“I understand, great kDira,” he said trying not to move his neck against the razor-sharp blade of her knife.
“Does everyone understand?” She called out to the entire Plaza.
She could hear the affirmative response, but it was not very enthusiastic.
“I will ask one more time,” she insisted, “and if I don’t hear you well enough I will cut this krebs throat and we will be one warrior less. You answer me back with ‘Yes, kDira!’ Do you understand?” She yelled.
“Yes, kDira!” reverberated through the Plaza.
“Very well,” she said, pulling away from Fralek, who in turn stood up quickly. A trickle of blood dripped from his neck, though he didn’t seem to notice.
“Everyone gather over here,” kDira motioned to have them come stand before her. They complied without complaint.
“I know you have heard the story of what brings us here today,” she began. “The Blackhorn are all but gone, the five of us, before coming here, we are all that remain. You have suffered losses as well, and are left without a Queen Mother. In Karn City, we hope to find the two that we lost, and one will go to the Midlanders. We need to get past the Valley of Death, and with the help of a map the Interpreter gave us, we will hopefully find out where they are keeping them. Some of you will likely die. But the greater good is at stake. The futures of our tribes are at stake.”
She paused to let that sink in. She looked around and noticed that she did have everyone’s attention as she hoped.
“Who is in charge?” she asked.
“kDira!” they responded.
“Who?”
“kDira!”
“Thank you. These four here,” she said pointing to Agis, Omiroe, Edu and Isiath are my firsts in charge. At some point, I may divide you up to go with any one of them. In my absence, they are in charge. Understand?”
“Yes, kDira!”
“Good! Finish making ready, we leave shortly,” she said as she turned and walked over to Agis and her other friends.
Agis looked over at Edu, who looked at Isiath and then Omiroe.
“Who was that? Who was that talking?” Agis asked, this time with a smirk on his face.
“I think that was the leader of the Blackhorn,” Edu said smiling.
kDira began to blush, and turned her back to the newest members of the tribe.
“Okay, you krebs. Get ready, I don’t want to have to leave without you,” she scolded.
“Yes, kDira!” the four chorused.
kDira thought better of striking out at her friends like she might have in the past. She now had to display some discipline. If she was going to be in charge, she had to appear to have authority, and control. Most of all, showing favoritism would be looked upon as poor leadership. She understood this, as she had been on the receiving end of poor leadership before and did not want to make those mistakes, now that grand expectations
have been placed upon her.
As everyone seemed to be finishing up their preparations for their trek, kDira called out once more to the tribe.
“I need to know who are the senior warriors among you? Who has the most leadership experience?” she asked.
Everyone looked around, as though they were a bit intimidated into not saying the wrong thing.
“Come now, there must be some leadership among you? Come forward,” she called out.
There was a bit of a pause before anyone moved, but slowly two came forward, one male and one female.
“I am Ari,” the female said with confidence. Ari was a tall, muscular woman who, like kDira, seemed to favor the bow over long swords. “I have led armies into battle. I have led search parties. I feel strongly I am a good leader.”
“Confidence is good, nice to have you among us, Ari,” kDira said. “And you are…?” she said, looking at the other, a medium sized, fit looking older male with a long sword in an ornate sheath. He certainly appeared as though he were leadership material.
“I am Threg, I have been leader of krebs training and have also led parties into the wilderness and into battle,” he said with authority.
“Glad to have you, Threg,” kDira said.
“You two,” she went on, “will be my second-in-charge to help me get to know and understand your fellow former Midlanders. I wish we had more time to get to know everyone better before we leave, but we do not have that luxury. Agreed?”
“Agreed,” the two said, not quite in unison.
“Good. Everyone!” she called out to the tribe, “Ari and Threg will be tribal leaders helping me and my friends get to know you all and understand you better. Understood?”
“Yes, kDira,” they called out.
“Good. Make ready. We will be heading out shortly.”
Threg and Ari set about seeing that everyone was on track to head out, Agis and the others were doing the same. There would be no carts this time, no cat-pult, and no molten cat-tails. On their backs, they carried only what they absolutely needed, and nothing more.
Elick came to the Plaza to bid his friends good-bye. With him was a young kreb male not yet fully grown.
“kDira, this is Noske, my young apprentice. He is a fast learner and should be ready to relieve me in a season or two,” Elick said confidently.
“That is good to hear, my friend,” she said. “We will see that you make it back to us.”
“I will count on that,” he said with a smile.
“Blackhorn ready?” kDira called out to the group.
“Ready, kDira,” came the confirmation from Ari and Threg, as well as Agis.
She looked over her small army and considered whether they had what it would take to defeat the Karn in their grand city, but then she put the question out of her mind. They had to defeat them. There was no other option.
Led by kDira, the small army of new and old Blackhorn warriors headed out of town and made their way back to the Great Highway. From there they headed west. By nightfall they found themselves standing on the edge of the Valley of Death.
Miles in the distance they could see lights shimmering in the clear night sky.
“Karn City,” Ari said, confirming kDira’s suspicions. “It looks a lot closer than it is. From here, two days, at least.”
kDira looked over the valley and was in awe of what she was seeing. Even in the evening light she could see the destruction that must have taken place to create it.
“Let’s bed down,” she said to her tribe. Everyone dropped their packs and began laying out their bedrolls for the night.
“Agis and Threg, come here, please,” she asked.
They posted in front of her, a bit more formal then she cared for but she let it go.
“I need you two to set up some watches for the evening. I want two people on watch at any given time during the night. How long the watches are, I don’t care. You work it out,” she ordered.
“Yes, kDira,” they said, turning, except Agis who took a moment to glance at kDira. She understood he was not happy to be taking orders from her.
kDira placed her bedroll near the center of the camp. When Agis went to roll out his bedroll, there was no room near her, and he found a place towards the outside of the camp. They lit no fire, and dined on a bit of dried meat before lying down to sleep.
The night went by uneventfully, and by the time the sun was breaking the horizon, most of the camp was packed up and ready to enter the Valley.
kDira, like many others, took a moment to step away from the camp and relieve herself. As she finished and stood, she saw Agis making his way over to her.
“Why do you treat me as though I mean nothing to you?” he asked.
“Agis, things are different now. Things must be different. I cannot show favoritism towards you or anyone, at least not now,” she said with little emotion. “It is necessary. Maybe when all of this is behind us, we can be something more, but right now I just need to keep control without distractions.”
Agis did not like the words he heard, but he understood. He turned and walked back towards the group.
kDira watched him go a moment, then she finished dressing herself and went back to the group as well.
“Threg and Ari,” she called out. “You will lead us through the Valley of Death.”
They both nodded, and answered, “Yes kDira.”
“When everyone is ready, lead the way,” kDira confirmed. “Alright, let’s make ready.”
As they fell in line and entered the Valley, one large boulder stood out on the side of the path, and kDira stopped to take notice.
“Does anyone know what this says,” she asked, pointing to ancient writing on the rock face, chiseled into the vary rock itself.
“Our interpreter once knew what it said, it has something to do with why this place is called the Valley of Death,” Threg answered, stepping up.
“I wish Elick was here to read it for us,” kDira said. “It might have a clue as to what we face ahead.”
She studied it a moment, and then she waved everyone onward.
The path was rocky; no cart could have passed through. Sometimes continuing onward meant climbing over rubble, or going around. There were signs of old rock walls, crumbled down to the earth by some great force. There were rusted hulks of metal carts of strange designs and colors, built almost like little huts. The land had not come back to reclaim these things, only the wind and sand that blew through for centuries have taken their toll on the relics.
Occasionally they would come across remnants of bones that were bleached white from the sun, and though they gave up no actual clues as to their origin, kDira could only imagine that they might have been the citizens of this great city long ago. How many might be buried under the rubble, she wondered? What a tragic, terrible loss this was. How could a world bring itself to this point?
They passed another pile of broken civilization that consisted of twisted beams of metal, larger than anything kDira had ever seen before.
“A smith could make a million swords out of all that metal,” kDira said to herself.
“I imagine, it was the tribe with the most swords that destroyed all of this,” Agis said, kDira not knowing he was there.
“I don’t ever what to visit this place again, when this is over,” she said.
“I am sure you are not the only one,” said Agis. “This place reeks of death and evil.”
“The Valley of Death, appropriately named, I think,” she said.
“Agis, give Threg and me a moment to talk.”
Once again kDira got the look of displeasure, but he did not argue. Reluctantly, he moved his way back into the column of trudging tribemates.
“Threg,” she began, “I want honest answers, understand?”
“Yes, kDira,” he said, formally.
“Threg, I want to know where your allegiance lies,” she asked seriously, “is it with the Midlanders or the Blackhorn?”
“My allegianc
e lies with you, kDira. We are now Blackhorn.”
“But answer this,” she said with a skeptical tone, “why would you give up your tribe and willingly join mine, all on a march into what could be certain death?”
He paused a few moments as they walked along the path.
“When looking at the options of dying as a motherless tribe or dying as a warrior, I chose warrior. I think the others feel the same way,” he said.
So, let me ask you this,” she continued, “what is stopping you from running back to your tribe with our breeders when this is all done?”
Threg laughed a bit louder than he probably wanted too.
“Was that funny?” kDira asked with a tone of authority in her voice.
“Hayden didn’t tell you?” Threg asked with a smile.
“Tell me what?”
“He laid down a decree that if any one of us were to return and try to reenter the Midlanders, we would be put to death,” he said, laughing again. “That tends to take away any idea of running back from this point onward, doesn’t it?”
“Yeah, I guess it does. Can you speak for everyone that their allegiance is with the Blackhorn? Do I have anyone to worry about?
Threg thought for a minute. “I cannot think of anyone that doesn’t want to be here. We volunteered. I think you have proven yourself a worthy leader, at least so far. Your friends are good, solid warriors, I don’t see that we will have any problems.”
“Thank you for your honesty, Threg. That will be all for now,” she said, dismissing him.
As they reached mid-day, the path led them to a small cluster of make-shift huts. kDira called the tribe to halt, and they did so silently.
“Ari,” kDira asked quietly, “do we know anything about this place?”
Ari looked at Threg who shook his head and shrugged his shoulders.
“We know nothing about this place,” Ari said. “The last time anyone of the Midlanders was this far they either never came back, or never mentioned it. It could be new.”
The kDira's World Anthology Page 9