“I do not take this mark lightly. It was my oath to you… to the tribe. I would never do anything to hurt you, but I believe that this would be the best thing for all of us. We are stronger with the Ravengard. Alone, we are but a small band of wanderers.”
“We survived when we were a smaller band. There were but a handful of us left when we went on to conquer the Karn, twice.”
“You did it with the help of the Midlanders.”
“And with the continued help from the Midlanders, who are still with us, we will be fine, just like we always have.”
“Ari!” Winter exclaimed entering the room unexpectedly.
“Hello, Winter. I am so happy about the baby! That is wonderful news.”
“Thank you! So, how is life in the Queen’s Chambers?”
“It’s pretty nice up there. You should come visit sometime.”
“When I can walk those stairs on my own, maybe. Why is everyone so quiet? Why does everyone look so down?”
“Ari came to try to convince me to merge the Blackhorn with the Ravengard.”
“We are not going to do that, right?”
“Ari seems to think it would be for the best.”
“I don’t want to be part of these people. They are strange, and they look at us funny.”
“Don’t be silly,” Ari countered. “They are just people, like us only of a different tribe.”
“Ari,” kDira said, “you didn’t see them at the midday meal. They were savages, like they hadn’t eaten in weeks.”
“Mum stabbed one in the hand when he tried to steal some bread from our table,” added Winter.
“You’re exaggerating,” Ari said. “You are making up stories to try to convince me to leave. I don’t believe it.”
“Come down for the evening meal, and you will see. Something is not right about this place.”
“I will do that, and then I will see that you are making this all up. I shall leave now. Until later, Queen Mother…”
Ari backed away, then turned and left the room. kDira and Agis looked at each other, then at Winter.
“Mum, we need to get out of here.”
“I agree, but I don’t want to leave without Ari. She is a little mixed up right now, and I think she needs to wake up to what is going on. Let’s see how long we can stall this. If Ari does come down for the evening meal, she will see…”
“Nonsense,” Queen Lehentis said. “You will stay and dine with me this evening.”
Ari sat down in a chair just as a warrior brought her a glass of cold bryne.
“But my Queen, kDira seems to think that I need to see there is something wrong with the Ravengard that they dine with, and if I go and find that nothing is wrong, I can convince her to stay.”
“There is nothing wrong with my people, I assure you. There will be plenty of time to convince her to stay; tonight, you will dine with me.”
Ari put her glass down on a small table, stood up and walked over to the Ravengard leader. “Queen Lehentis, I know kDira. If I can show her how wrong she is, then I can convince her to stay. I insist that you let me go to dine with my tribe.”
Within a split second, Ari found herself on the ground, Queen Lehentis sitting on top, the Queen’s royal hands wrapped around throat.
Dazed from being slammed to the floor, Ari struggled to get away, alarmed and frightened by the strength the Queen had, pinning her down and choking the breath from her body. A rush of panic washed over her as she squirmed even more, to no avail.
“First off, the Ravengard is your tribe, and second, you do not insist upon anything with me. Do you understand?”
Ari made her best attempt at nodding under the pressure of the Queen’s grasp on her throat. She had never felt this kind of fear before, this helplessness. For the first time in her life that Ari could remember, she felt vulnerable.
“So, when I say you are going to dine with me, you know now that you will dine with me. Do you understand?”
Again, Ari nodded to the best of her ability.
“Good,” the Queen said, releasing her grip. She motioned to a warrior standing nearby, who came over and offered a hand for the Queen to get up off Ari. “Now go change into something pretty for the evening meal. I want to doll you up a bit.”
Ari lay there trembling. She heard the Queen’s words, but for the moment she felt paralyzed, unable to move. The same warrior offered his hand to help her up, but she swatted it away, instead rolling to her side and then on to her knees. She looked over at the Queen, who had made her way over to stand at the window, looking down upon her kingdom. Ari found her way to her feet, her trembling legs making it difficult for her to stand.
“Go now,” the Queen said, not looking back at Ari. “I find I have worked up an appetite.”
Ari turned and left the room.
The skinny elderly man made his way through the building to the wing where the Blackhorn had settled in. Lacking most of his teeth and suffering from a badly arthritic knee, he did his best to hobble up the stairs to the top floor where he assumed the leader of the Blackhorn would be. When he opened the door to the upper level, he immediately caught the attention of Omiroe who was just coming down the passage from talking with Elick.
“What do you want, old man?” Omiroe asked with authority.
“I wish to speak with the leader of the Blackhorn,” the old man said, barely above a whisper, looking from side to side as he said it. “It is very important.”
“You don’t look like you could be much of a threat. Come with me; I will take you there.”
“Thank you, brave Blackhorn, thank you.”
Omiroe led the old man down the hall, having to slow his own pace to match that of the frail old man he was leading. When he got to the end, he found the door to kDira's Chamber standing open. Omiroe peered in and saw kDira standing and looking out her window while Agis sat resting in a chair.
“kDira, please forgive the intrusion,” Omiroe said from the doorway. kDira turned and saw her friend standing at the door with a stranger. “This old man claims he must speak with you.”
“Yes? What is it?”
The old man took a couple steps into the room. “I wish to warn you about the Queen. She is dangerous. Do not take her lightly. She would torture me and kill me for even coming to speak with you.”
“Why would she kill you?”
“For what I am about to tell you. She is not of this world; she is a demon and evil through and through. She will kill you all if you cross her in the least. She will not let you leave here alive, and she will take the children and raise them to be Ravengard.”
“I am not going to let that happen.”
“And the food; if you displease her, she will cut off the food, and you will go hungry, and very often she is not pleased. Look at me; look at the others. We have not eaten much in days. Today was our first real meal in a week.”
“That explains why they ate like savages,” Agis said.
“It does,” kDira agreed. “What is it you could have done to anger her so badly?”
“Many of us work on the fishing docks. We must unload the catch from the boats and transport it to the warehouse for processing. If the wind blows in the right direction you can smell it here. If we don’t catch enough fish, then she keeps what we bring for herself and her guards and warriors, then we sometimes get the scraps to eat… sometimes.”
“That’s not right. Don’t the warriors ever hunt? Do they ever go after chideer or rock-goat?”
“I do not know what those things are.”
“What is your name, old man?”
“My name is Goffer. I am among the last of the generation before Queen Lehentis took power when the previous Queen died.”
“The old Queen, did she bear children?”
“Yes, she had seven. All were male except one; Queen Lehentis. Queen Lehentis killed her mother and took the throne.”
“But she has not had any children herself?”
“None of
the Ravengard here are fertile. Now that you have arrived with fertile men, she will be able to have children.”
“Not if I have anything to say about it.”
“She will not ask for permission.”
“She doesn’t know who she is messing with.”
“Be careful. She has a large army behind her.”
“We have taken on stronger armies.”
cHAPTER 13
“How do they know the Queen is fertile if she has never had a child?” Miss Davis asked. kDira's chambers were filled with her most-trusted friends, including Tina Davis and Lucas Brown. Elick and Guller stood silently off to the side, watching quietly. Omiroe and Acetec took more front-and-center positions, closer to kDira.
“The old man from Ravengard said that she has never birthed a child because every man is infertile,” Agis said. “Is that possible?”
“Not likely,” Miss Davis said. “The people living in this area had to have been exposed to the same toxins that the cities inland were exposed to. It is unlikely that the two areas of population would be affected so differently.”
“I think,” kDira said, “we need to plan on leaving this place.”
“The old man said that the Queen was not going to let that happen,” said Agis.
“I know, so we need to be sly about our intentions. Let’s be good guests and use our time here to see what goes on and how things work. If we can find an opening that we can sneak through, then we will use that to our advantage.”
“What about Ari?” Miss Davis asked.
kDira paused, considering her options. “I will talk to her before we make our move. I will offer her the chance to go with us. I suspect she probably will not.”
“And you would just leave her?”
“To preserve the tribe, of course. It would not be easy, but it would be necessary.”
“I understand.”
“So, what can we all do to help?” Omiroe asked.
“Tomorrow, I will follow the Ravengard down to see them work at the fishing warehouse. Omiroe, take a walk down the beach to see what stops us from just walking away to the west. Acetec, you do the same to the east. Elick and Guller, take Tina Davis and Lucas Brown and see if you can find any tomes or scrolls that can help us learn about the area, or show us a way to escape this place. We will meet back here before the evening meal and discuss what we have found.”
“How much longer until we force them to join the workers at the docks?” the General asked, looking out the window in the Queen’s chamber.
The Queen, milling about the bar trying to decide which flavor of bryne she would enjoy beginning her day with, said, “Keep those questions to yourself. You know Ari is sleeping in the next room. If she hears that talk she will not be cooperative.”
“I’m sorry, my Queen.”
Queen Lehentis, having poured herself a glass of a clear, bubbly liquid, walked over to the window to look down upon the activity of workers getting ready to march to the docks and warehouses to perform their required tasks. “General, I am bored. I thought Ari would be the spice that I needed, but I need something more.”
“Like what, my Queen?”
“I need a male. I need conflict. I want to create some tension. Just for fun. You understand, don’t you?”
“I am not sure. What male are you thinking of? And what kind of tension do you want to create?”
“Send Ari out on a hunt with her beloved kDira. They seem to live for the hunt. Have several of our warriors go with her. Make it all look official.”
“And if kDira does not wish to go?”
“Make sure Ari is aware of just how important these hunts are. She needs to know that we almost never go on hunts and if she misses this opportunity, there may not be another for a long time.”
“I will do that, my Queen.”
“Then, when she is out of the city, I will visit Agis. I wish to test his loyalty to his dear kDira.”
“You are a wicked woman, my Queen.”
“I’m just getting started,” the Queen said with an evil grin.
As kDira was exiting her chambers with the intention of going to the warehouses, she was startled by the approach of Ari and six Ravengard warriors.
“kDira, we did not mean to surprise you,” Ari said. “We have come to invite you and the girls to a hunt. The Queen has suggested that we enjoy some time together and bring back some wild game for an evening feast.”
“I was going to have a look around, Ari, maybe next time.”
“kDira, it’s important that we do this now. The Queen says that we must all pull our weight, and this is how she would like you… us, to pull our weight around here. We must go now while it is still early.”
kDira looked at her friend and detected not only a lack of sincerity in Ari’s eyes, but something else: Ari was troubled. Something other than worrying about going on a hunt was eating at her.
“Maybe a hunt would be good for all of us.” kDira agreed. “Let me get Charlomine and Star and tell Agis what we are doing so he won’t worry. I insist that Tuviast come along as well. He is my brother, after all.”
“Of course, Queen Moth… kDira.”
The slip-of-the-tongue was not lost on kDira as she went back to her chamber to tell Agis what she and her two younger daughters and Tuviast would be doing.
kDira, with Tuviast, Charlomine, and Star in tow, met back up with Ari in the passage. They had all gathered their bows and necessities for a hunt, and the young ones appeared eager for an adventure.
“Do we need these krebs with us?” kDira asked, referring to the Ravengard warriors behind Ari.
“They are hunters as well. If nothing else, they can carry our harvest back here for us. They seem to thrive on manual labor.”
“Good. I am getting too old to be carrying that much dead weight anymore.”
“I, as well,” Ari said, smiling for the first time in days. “Let us have an enjoyable and successful hunt.”
“Do you remember how to use a bow? I see you have a new one,” kDira said, looking at the shiny bow on Ari’s back. The grip was a brightly polished white, intricately carved, with a bronze arrow plate. The entire length of the bow was accented by a gold stripe that looked to be inlaid into the limb. “With all that shiny stuff on it, you will scare off any possible game we come across.”
“It was the Queen’s bow. She has entrusted it to me, to use whenever I hunt. She has named it Death String.”
kDira drew in a long breath. As much as she wanted to comment on the name of the bow – who names a bow, anyway? – she kept her comments to herself. She simply nodded a couple times, and the party proceeded toward the stairwell to make their way outside.
The hunting party headed east until the buildings began to dwindle and the terrain turned to wilderness. Though not as dense as the Kaiba Forest, this scattering of trees and shrubbery was a welcome sight to kDira and the Blackhorn hunters compared to the desert and city sprawl they had been exposed to recently. kDira looked at the landscape longingly, feeling that this was the true place her heart had been searching for. Once away from the city they turned north and east toward a gently rising mountain range.
“Where will we be hunting?” kDira asked the group in general, hoping that someone would know the answer.
“We will be hunting for rock-goat on the slope of that closest mountain to the north,” one of the Ravengard answered.
“Rock-goat, that’s good. Do you ever get chideer around here?”
The Ravengard didn’t answer but continued marching onward toward the mountains.
“Blackber? Brownber? How about some damn treecats? Anything?”
Still, there was no answer.
kDira looked at Ari, “Quite the talkative people, are they not?”
“They are here for one reason: to hunt. They are not here to talk.”
“What about you? Are you here to talk, or just hunt?”
“What would you like to talk about?”
&nbs
p; “What about you and the Queen? How about why you have suddenly gone to be with her instead of your own people?”
“We could all be one people, kDira. It doesn’t have to be us against them.”
“Is that what you want? Would it make you happy if I bowed down and kissed the hand of the Queen?”
“I do not wish to see you bow down to anyone, but I think it might be best for all of us.”
“Do you know what goes on among the simple tribe members within the Ravengard? Have you seen what they do?”
“I know they all work together to bring food into the tribe. That is not unlike what we… what the Blackhorn do.”
“You see? You still think of yourself as a Blackhorn.”
“I will admit, it’s not easy to change. But the Queen offers us a good life, a secure and safe life. What more could any of us ask for?”
“I fear that what you see as a good life is not what the rest of the tribe will see as a good life. Do you know that the people do not eat if they do not produce enough each day on the docks?”
The Ravengard hunters looked at kDira, as though she had spoken of a taboo subject.
“You see? They know,” she said, gesturing at the Ravengard. “They know what I say is true. Is this what you want for the Blackhorn?”
“I think it would be wise if you spoke no further of the subject,” said the Ravengard hunter that seemed to be the one in charge.
“I think you shouldn’t talk to the Queen Mother of the Blackhorn like that,” came a tiny voice from behind. kDira and Ari turned, as did the Ravengard warrior. Young Star was walking a few paces back, bow in hand, arrow nocked. Though she didn’t have the bow drawn, it was clear that she intended to have her mother’s back.
kDira smiled at her daughter. Charlomine reached over and mussed her sister’s hair and laughed, then everyone laughed. Star had managed to break the tension that was building.
“You can’t buy loyalty like that,” kDira said as they marched onward.
The Ravengard hunter grunted something unintelligible.
The kDira's World Anthology Page 51