“I don’t know what you are talking about.”
“No? You don’t know about the four members of your tribe sneaking out? Not even your loving brother, Tuviast? He left without telling you? That doesn’t seem likely.”
“What do you want from me? What do you want from all of us?”
“Right now, I want the truth! Why did your people sneak out?”
“I do not have to answer to you. You told us when we got here that we were free to come and go as we pleased. Now some leave and suddenly it’s a criminal act. Make up your mind, woman!”
It was as though the air had been sucked from the room. The Queen stepped back, shocked at the total lack of respect, the likes of which she had not experienced in years.
“I could have you killed for that, Blackhorn bitch.”
“But you don’t have the nerve to take me on yourself. It would take an army of your warriors to take me down.”
The Queen took a step forward toward kDira. “Do not test me, Blackhorn. I am far more powerful, even by myself, then you can imagine.”
The Queen straightened up and was suddenly calm again. “Guards! Get the two girls and bring them with us!”
“Don’t you touch my girls!” kDira said, attempting to stand up but restrained in the chair by the three guards surrounding her.
“If you hurt one hair on their head,” Agis said, “I will personally come after you!”
“Oh, will you now?” the Queen said, chuckling. “A cripple like you will do… what? Hit me with your crutch?” She took a few steps toward of Agis, and without warning, unleashed a mighty kick on his bad knee. Agis cried out in agony.
“Get the girls!” the Queen again demanded.
“You crazy bitch!” kDira screamed. The Queen just glanced at her with a smile.
The Ravengard soldier found the door to be locked. He took a step back and gave it a good kick. The door flung open with a bang. Before he could take one step into the room, he was pierced through the neck by an arrow from Charlomine’s bow. A second warrior made a move to step in and was treated to the same by one of Star’s arrows.
The room turned to chaos. kDira took the distraction to elbow two of the guards beside her in the groin and then she jumped up and ran for her knife. Inches from reaching the knife, she felt her scalp wrenched with an iron grip, causing her head to snap back and stop her from reaching her objective. She turned to see the Queen holding her hair.
kDira attempted to sweep the legs out from under the Queen, but the Ravengard leader was ready, kicking kDira in the stomach before kDira could even lift her leg. The Queen then released kDira’s scalp, letting kDira crash to the floor, unable to breathe.
kDira looked up and could see Charlomine and Star being led out the door, their cries for their mother the only sounds kDira could hear, until she could no longer hear them. Then she became fully aware of Agis sobbing in pain, his knee bent completely backward.
The four Blackhorn made good time, finding their way out of the backstreets and onto the main roads that lead to the east and away from the major metropolis. They spent little time looking for things, deciding that the return trip would be the best time to gather anything else they might need.
Tuviast, though the youngest, made sure that his younger age and smaller stature didn’t hold back the others. He was determined to pull his own weight and carry his own load.
Ahead lay Santa Paula. It would be about four more hours down the road, but they agreed it would be a good place to stop and rest. Lucas reminded them that Santa Paula was where they had found the water on their travels west, and he was hoping there might be more to be found to help them cover the remaining ground to Mojave.
kDira was livid. As she did her best to tend to Agis’s leg, she swore that she would take up her sword and go after the Queen herself. She didn’t notice that the Queen’s soldiers had taken her weapons, and those of Agis, as well as removed the two injured guards.
Agis’s knee was bad. Any attempt to straighten it out brought cries of anguish from the injured man.
kDira cried.
“This is all my fault. I have to do something,” she said through her sobs.
“kDira, you had no idea it would come to this. You are doing what you can; no one expects more than that.” Agis found it hard to be reassuring considering the amount of pain he was in, and seeing his knee bent the wrong way. “Come on. I need you to straighten my leg out.”
“But it will be so painful for you. I couldn’t bear to put you in that much pain.”
“Do it, kreb!” Agis demanded in a voice he rarely used, especially with kDira, “or are you too scared to take on a true Blackhorn warrior.”
kDira felt her mood shift. She knew that it was just an act to snap her out of her funk, but it was working to some degree. She wiped her eyes and took a deep breath.
“Okay, kreb, you win. Do you want something to bite on?”
“Sure, put your fingers in my mouth while you do this.”
kDira smiled. “Okay, mighty warrior, hang on to the chair.”
The warrior’s scream pierced the air as kDira pulled with all she had to get the knee back into alignment. When the scream stopped, it was because Agis had passed out from the pain. His hands relaxed on the arms of the chair where he had managed to tear holes in the fabric with his fingers. But at least the knee looked to be back in proper alignment.
With Agis unconscious, she went to find his brace. She also took a quick look around the living quarters for anything that could be used as a weapon. When she looked into the girls’ room, she was shocked to find that although the guards had taken the bows and arrows from the young ones, the girls’ swords were still standing in the corner, untouched.
She found Agis’s brace as she entered the living area again and knelt to put it on her mate’s knee. As she manipulated the brace, Agis stirred and moaned in pain.
“Shhhh,” kDira said, hoping to soothe Agis just a bit. She snugged the brace around his knee, then moved to his side to softly caress the side of his face.
“Take the girls and lock them in a room below my chambers. I will see that they are mated right away.”
“Yes, my Queen,” a Ravengard warrior replied.
“And don’t you touch them yourselves. I reserve the right to choose the proper mate for my new breeders.”
“Yes, my Queen.”
Queen Lehentis made her way up the last flight of stairs into her own chambers. Once inside she went straight to the room that Ari has been banished to and leaned her head next to the door.
“You can come out now, my dear, we have much to discuss.”
Ari opened the door and walked past the Queen, staring angrily into her eyes. The look did not go unnoticed by Queen Lehentis.
“What was that look for?”
“I don’t appreciate being treated like this. I am not a prisoner here, am I?”
“Of course not, but I suspected that you would begin to feel dissatisfied with your life here. I also suspected you would eventually want to return to your Blackhorn friends.”
“And if I did?”
“Let’s go for a walk, my dear,” the Queen said, stepping toward the door, holding out her hand for Ari to take it. Ari ignored the gesture but followed as she was told. The Queen led Ari outside and down one flight of stairs, where the two approached a room with two Ravengard guarding the door.
“What is this?” Ari asked, afraid of the answer that would be given.
“I believe you know these two?” The Queen nodded to a guard, and the door was opened.
“Ari!” cried Charlomine at seeing her old friend. Charlomine and Star were sitting on a bare floor on the far side of the room, and both jumped to their feet at the sight of Ari. Both were stopped by the two Ravengard warriors when they tried to run to Ari.
“What is going on?” Ari demanded.
“What is going on, my dear, is this: If you want these two fine females to remain healthy and happy, within
reason, of course, then you will continue to be my little puppet. You will not backtalk me, you will not so much as even whimper in displeasure, or these two fine you girls will become much less… happy.”
“Ari, get us out of here!”
“Don’t worry, Char… Star… everything will be all right.”
Ari could hear her name called one more time as the door was shut and locked. She turned to the Queen and stood face to face with her. “If you so much as harm one hair on their innocent young heads, I will…”
“You will what?” the Queen said, an evil smile on her lips.
“I will kill you.”
“Maybe a day or two of the girls going without food will be enough to tone down your anger. Are you sure you want to keep up this attitude?”
Ari looked at the Queen and took a deep breath. Then she backed up one step, gathered her thoughts and, when she felt her pulse slow down just a bit, lowered her eyes.
“I am sorry,” Ari said, sheepishly.
“I’m sorry… what?”
Again, Ari drew a deep breath. “I am sorry, my Queen.”
“That’s my girl. Now run along upstairs and get dressed for dinner. Wear something extra pretty; we have some celebrating to do.”
cHAPTER 23
“We have to get the girls,” Agis struggled to say.
“We will, but I need you to be strong right now. I can’t do it alone.”
“Who said you’re alone?” came the voice of Omiroe as he stepped through the door, followed closely by Acetec, Porelle, and Bracken. “I heard there had been some trouble.”
“The Queen and her goons came and took Char and Star,” kDira said. “Then she broke Agis’s leg further. I don’t think he will ever use it again.”
“Porelle, run and get Whetstone up here right away.”
The Blackhorn warrior ran from the room to find the elder healer. Though Whetstone’s ways were ancient, he could sometimes find a way to ease pain or mend wounds that seemed beyond help.
“Certainly, the Queen will be ready for us to come to try to rescue the girls,” Agis said, trying desperately to sound as though he could ever be part of the plan. “There is not much we can do until Tuviast and the others get back with the weapons. That is our only chance, but the risk is high that the Queen may do something horrible to the girls before then.”
“Well, we can’t just sit here and do nothing,” kDira snapped.
“How about me?” Agis asked, with an entirely different tone. “What if I do something?”
“I don’t mean to be cruel, but what can you do? You only have one leg.”
“But I do have something she wants,” Agis continued, placing his hand on his crotch.
“I should run you through for even thinking that,” kDira yelled. “How could you even consider that?”
“Listen to me. She wants to breed with me. If I trade her that luxury for the girls, she might just go for it.”
“I will not hear of it!”
“I am no longer any good to this tribe. I cannot fight. I can’t even walk without help. Let me do what I can. If nothing else, it will buy us some time until the party returns and gives us a fighting chance.”
kDira turned her back on Agis, and the room fell silent. The anger welled inside her, barely topping the grief that she felt, knowing that it may just be their only option right now.
“You would do the same, even without my approval,” Agis said.
“That would be different…”
“Would it? If it were for the good of the Blackhorn, you would offer yourself to the Karn King. I know you.”
“Damn you,” kDira said, turning and facing him. “Damn your kreb ass.”
As they walked into Santa Paula, the four agreed to take some time and search the town for water, provisions, and anything else they felt could help them in their task. They agreed to meet back up at a grassy area they had picked out, one block off the main road they had been following. To the northwest was a strip of buildings that showed immediate promise.
The first shop they came to had a lot of items that made absolutely no sense to the three Blackhorn, but Lucas explained that many of the items were used for hygiene and other similar functions. He went into the store quickly, asking everyone to wait for him a minute. When he came back out, he had a sack full of items that he said would help with pain, infections, fevers, and other afflictions.
They walked past a couple more stores before Lucas brought them to a stop.
“Well, well. Look at this,” he said, pointing to one of the large stores in the middle of the strip of buildings. “What we have here is a sporting goods store.”
“That’s right!” Tuviast said. “That store I found the gun in also said Sporting Goods on the side. Do you think there are guns in here?”
“There is a very good chance! Come on!” Lucas exclaimed, running ahead to the front of the building. He was a bit discouraged to find the windows were already broken out, suggesting the possibility that the store had already been looted. “Let’s hope there are still some good things inside.”
They stepped through the window frame and into the dark store, Tuviast taking the lead.
“In the other store, the guns were all the way to the back,” Tuviast said, leading the other three further into the store. “Come on!”
Tuviast called it correctly: the firearms were in the very back of the building, behind glass just as they had been in Mojave. The other three caught up and stopped, in awe of the wall of weapons.
“I find it so hard to believe that all these weapons were just left here,” Lucas said. “I mean, considering the impending holocaust.”
“Legend says that no one saw the Great Cloud coming,” Cayban said. “One day, all the people on all the lands were gone except a very few, who became the tribes we know today.”
“I think you are correct,” Lucas said. “It’s just hard to believe they had no warning at all.”
“Are we here to talk history or to get these weapons?”
“The weapons, of course,” Lucas answered. “This is great! We can cut a week off our trip by getting the guns here. Now we just need to find cartridges. Let’s see if we can find the ammo first before we start worrying about the guns. Once we find ammo, we can figure out which cartridges go with which guns, then decide which guns we want to take back with us.”
“Is this what we’re looking for?” Benithan called from an aisle over. He held a box over his head with one hand, and in the other hand, he had several bronze-colored cylindrical objects.
“That looks like what we need. Let’s each grab several different boxes and bring them to the counter in front of the guns.”
The party of four spent the next several minutes carrying many boxes of ammo over to the gun case, piling them on the counter as instructed.
“How did they keep track of all the different kinds of ammo and guns?” Tuviast asked. “Wouldn’t it make more sense to have just one kind of gun and one kind of ammo?”
“The different styles of guns had different purposes. Some were for hunting; some were for fighting; some were just for shooting fun.”
“Seems to me you can do all that with one bow. Why would you need more than one kind of gun?”
“Good question, but we should save that discussion for another day. Let’s see what we have so we can pick the right guns that match only a couple kinds of ammo. This will make it easier for us to keep track of which ammo goes with which gun and help prevent us from overburdening ourselves with what we have to carry back to Ravengard.”
“Sounds like a good idea to me.”
“We will help you to her chamber,” Omiroe said as Whetstone wrapped and braced the broken knee of Agis. “Acetec and I will assist you, unarmed.”
“I don’t like this idea one bit,” kDira protested once again. “Even if I felt good about what you are going up there to do, I think you are walking into a trap. I can’t afford to lose three of my best warriors…”
<
br /> “Two,” Agis corrected. “I certainly cannot be described as a warrior, not anymore.”
“I can’t afford to lose you, no matter how much you think you burden us. I need you.”
“I know. We will be fine. We need to do this.”
kDira looked at her mate, the look in her eyes slowly changing from anger to concern. “Don’t you leave me here alone, you stupid kreb.”
“I will be back.”
“You didn’t object to me calling you a kreb. I think that is a first.”
“I will be back, my beloved mate.”
kDira had never heard Agis use the word beloved before, let alone about her. She could not help but become choked up.
Agis got up onto his feet with the help of Omiroe and Acetec. kDira gave him a tight hug and a warm kiss. She feared it might be the last time she would ever get the chance to do that.
The three slowly made their way out the door and toward the stairs. It would be a long and painful walk for the disabled Blackhorn, even with the help of his friends.
Once down the stairs and out the side door of the building, Omiroe and Acetec gave up supporting Agis, deciding it would be easier to just carry him to the Palace of the Crowne, where a guard stopped them. They set Agis down to stand on his good foot.
“I am here at the Queen’s request,” Agis said to the guard.
“The Queen sent for you? No one informed me.”
“She invited me days ago. Send someone to let her know that Agis of the Blackhorn is here to mate with her; she will let us go up.”
The guard looked sideways at Agis. “She wishes to mate with you? A cripple?”
“I wasn’t born this way, idiot!” Agis retorted. “Send someone now! The Queen will be waiting.”
The guard turned and called to one of the others in the back of the lobby, who came running. “Go to the Queen. Tell her Agis is here to mate with her.”
The younger, obviously lower ranking warrior, did a double take.
“You heard me, now go!”
The kDira's World Anthology Page 56