“Sit down, Agis!” the Queen ordered, “or I will break her damned neck right here and now!”
Slowly, Agis returned to his seat, looking at the helplessness in Ari’s eyes.
“Now, as for you, my dear, when I tell you to do something, I expect you to do just that, nothing else. You do not go running off to see your friend or go for a walk by the beach. You do what I say, and only that. Is that understood?”
With the last bit of her energy, Ari nodded. “I can’t hear you!” the Queen barked.
Again, Ari nodded and managed to squeak out a “Yes, m’ Queen,” before the Queen released her. Ari slumped forward in her chair, gasping for air.
The Queen continued over to the bryne table and poured another glass of bryne. “Here you are,” she said, placing the glass in front of Ari. She moved to her chair and seated herself. “What do you say, dear Ari?”
Ari looked at her, tears welling in her eyes. “Thank you, my Queen.”
“Now, isn’t this nice? A nice meal, good friends, and pleasant conversation. It doesn’t get any better than this. Agis, pass the seaweed, please?”
Lucas and the boys filled Edu in on the details of all that had gone on at Ravengard prior to him showing up. They explained about the Queen, putting the Survivors to work on the fishing ships, and the mistreatment of the Blackhorn.
“I think we should camp here for the night,” Lucas said to the group, now five strong. “Let’s find a structure that will be safe and comfortable for us to sleep in, then we will head out first thing in the morning. We will be fresh and ready for the long haul back.”
“I understand your desire to rest and your reluctance to travel at night,” Edu replied, “but I think we should get back as soon as we can. We can enter the city under the dark of night. From what you have told me, we don’t know how much trouble they might be in. That Queen sounds pretty unpredictable.”
“She’s crazy,” Tuviast exclaimed. “I say we go back now as well. The sooner we take over Ravengard, the better off we will be.”
Everyone looked around to see what others were thinking or going to say. No one said anything.
“Do we agree, or disagree?” Edu asked.
After a moment of silence, everyone voiced their agreement.
“Good. Then let’s get these guns loaded and ready to use. We all have holsters, so be ready to pull your small gun if you need to, but remember those bullets work just as well on us as they do on Ravengard. Be mindful of where you are pointing them.”
“We understand,” was the common reply.
The group spent the next half an hour loading all the weapons, and Lucas made sure that all the guns were set to safe. He explained what needed to happen, like taking the guns off safe mode, should they need to use them.
The boys each carried one of the large black rifles, as well as a holstered nine-millimeter sidearm. Tuviast carried one of the rifles as well but stuck with his .357 revolver. After an hour of carrying the heavy rifle, Tuviast was feeling the effects and returned the rifle to one of the wagons hauling the remaining guns and ammo.
The five travelers continued onward as they watched as the last slivers of light fell below the horizon to the west. They were fortunate to have half a moon to travel by on this dark evening.
Repeating the previous session, Agis was on his back in the Queen’s bed, Ari lying across his lower abdomen, her mouth around Agis’s member as instructed by the Queen, but this time the Queen was sitting in a chair, partially clothed, watching. She could see Agis becoming more and more aroused, and Ari seemed to be getting more and more comfortable with what she was tasked with doing.
Ari was doing the best she could to put the situation as far out of her mind as possible. She thought of nothing, anything, everything, except what she was actually doing. And then, without warning, the Queen broke the trance.
“Okay, that’s enough. Now get on top of him.”
Ari hesitated, spittle running down her chin, doing her best not to gag at the thought of what she had been doing, and what was about to come.
“Go on now. Make me proud! Get up on top of him.”
Ari pulled away from Agis, then climbed up onto the bed to straddle him. She wasn’t sure what to do next… she looked confused.
“Here, let me help, you damn ignorant dolt.”
“No!” Agis said, stopping the Queen in her tracks. “I will help her.” He looked at Ari, her tears dripping down onto Agis’s chest and neck. “I will help. Okay?” he asked Ari softly.
She nodded and wiped her eyes.
Carefully, gently, he lined up his manhood with her virginity and began to push.
kDira stepped out onto her small balcony, missing Agis as she watched the final rays of the setting sun. She wanted with every fiber of her being to run up to the Ravengard Queen’s chambers and slay her, putting an end to this madness. She knew that day was coming, and it relied on the young ones getting back safely, with the promised weapons.
Winter stepped out onto the balcony and put her arm around kDira. She had decided to stay with kDira while Tina Davis and Agis were elsewhere.
“You will make a great Queen Mother one day, Winter.”
“One day in the far future, when you are old and tired.”
“I feel old and tired.”
“Mum, I hope you have at least one good fight left in you.”
“Me too, Winter, me too.”
cHAPTER 29
“You have had your way with Agis and I,” Ari said, standing in front of the patio door looking out to the night sky. “It is time to make good on your agreement. Let the girls, and Agis, go back to their people.”
“My, oh, my!” the Queen said with a laugh. “You get a man inside you, and you turn into a Queen Mother just that quick! Okay, my dear. Call the guards in here to help get Agis back home. I will see that the girls join him on his way down. But you will stay with me, understand?”
Ari scowled at the Queen, but then relaxed, not wishing to have the situation reversed for the girls and Agis. “Of course, my Queen. Where else would I rather be?”
Ari walked past Agis, sitting in a chair with his leg propped up on a stool, on her way out the door to get the guards. Shortly, she returned, guards in tow.
“Guards, help Agis down the stairs and out into the open area below. On your way, stop downstairs and get the girls.”
“Yes, my Queen.”
“But then,” the Queen continued, “I want you to send the girls to get kDira and all of her Blackhorn friends to gather down below as well. I wish to make an announcement. Get their friends from the barracks out there as well. Make sure there are enough lanterns and torches for everyone to see me. Quickly! I do not wish to wait all night.”
“Yes, my Queen.”
The two guards helped Agis out of his chair and began helping him to the door.
“It will be easier to just carry him. He is pretty worn out.”
The two guards picked Agis up in a seated position and made their way out the door and down one level. As ordered, the girls were released and quickly ran to Agis, throwing their arms around him.
“Father, what is going on?” Charlomine asked.
“We will talk about it later. I don’t want to linger here any longer than we have to.”
The guards passed orders to light up the courtyard for the Queen’s announcement, and then picked Agis up again and continued their way down the stairs, the girls following close behind.
The reunion was touching, but short-lived. As everyone gathered, kDira noticed that the Survivors were being brought out as well. Tina Davis ran to kDira to exchange greetings and hugs.
“What do you suppose this is about?” Tina asked.
“I don’t know. Maybe she’s going tell us we are free to go?”
“Where’s Ari?”
“I would guess she is still up there with the Queen.”
“Come, my dear. Come, see how a Queen addresses her followers,” the Queen sai
d, stepping out onto the balcony. She could see the gathering of the Blackhorn and Survivors, as well as multitudes of Ravengard citizens and warriors. The Queen never felt so powerful. “Come, stand next to me.”
Ari stepped out with the Queen and stood next to her side. The Queen put an arm around Ari and held her other arm in the air to quiet the masses.
“I guess that answers that question,” Tina said, far down below, looking up at the Queen and Ari.
Once the crowd fell silent, the Queen began to speak. “My loyal Ravengard, and Blackhorn guests, tonight marks the end of one era and the beginning of a new one. First off, I want to thank King Agis for making his body available to me. He has performed magnificently. Let’s have a round of applause for King Agis!”
There was a half-hearted round of applause, mostly from the Ravengard.
“King Agis?” kDira asked.
“She wouldn’t stop calling me that,” Agis said, sitting on one of the few benches in the courtyard. “Believe me, it was not my idea.”
“And you can ask dear, sweet Ari here,” the Queen continued, “he was fantastic!”
“She wasn’t given a choice, kDira. Nor was I.”
“I know. Ari came and told me.”
“I have asked Ari to stay with me and be my personal guard, even a General in my army, but I got the impression that she would rather be among her own kind. Is that right, Ari? Would you rather be with the Blackhorn?”
“They are my people, my friends.”
“It would break my heart to let you go. But when you love someone… truly love someone, you don’t keep them caged up, you let them go. So, I say, go. Go now and be with your Blackhorn friends.”
“My Queen, thank you! Thank you!” Ari turned and took a step toward the door, when suddenly her neck snapped back, her hair in the grip of the Queen’s tightened fist.
“Not that way, stupid girl, this way!” the Queen yelled.
With one swift motion, the Queen reached down and grabbed Ari’s legs behind the knees and, lifting her up by her hair and legs, threw Ari over the railing.
There were several screams from the crowd below, but kDira just stood in stunned silence as she watched her dearest friend, one who had saved her life so many times in the past, plummet to her death before her very eyes.
With the thud of Ari’s body hitting the concrete below, the gathering went silent. Landing flat on her back, Ari’s death had been mercifully quick. Agis stood there in shock. Slowly kDira stepped over to her friend, Winter by her side. kDira knelt next to Ari and put her hand on Ari’s face, feeling her own life falling apart as she stroked Ari’s cheek.
Omiroe and Acetec helped Agis over to Ari’s body. Agis, at a loss for words, put his hand on kDira's shoulder. kDira looked up at him, and Agis was surprised to see that kDira was not crying. Winter, like her mother, was not crying. Then Agis recalled one other time when the sadness of events would have turned a normal person into a sobbing fool. That time was many years ago after the Karn wiped out all but a few of the remaining Blackhorn tribe. It was back then that kDira told the others that she would find another time to cry. It was back then that kDira had become the leader of the Blackhorn.
kDira stood up and looked up at Queen Lehentis. The Queen looked down, an evil smile upon her face. kDira walked back, away from Ari, to get a clear, unobstructed view of the Queen.
“There, Queen Mother, your tribe is complete again!” Queen Lehentis called down to the Blackhorn leader.
“I swear with all of my being, that I will see you dead!” kDira yelled back up. “I will destroy your army and come for you! You have sealed the fate for yourself and your tribe!”
“I suspected you would take this badly. Guards! Take them all and seal them in the barracks. Except for Agis; see that he is brought back up for my pleasure!”
“You lying bitch! I will kill you! I… will… kill… you!”
The Ravengard army closed in around them. kDira went quickly to Agis. “We need to fight back, and we need to do it as fast and as hard as we can. We must find a way. I can’t stop them from taking you, but you need to find a way to stop her, even if it means killing her yourself.”
“I will do whatever I can. You take care of yourself, and the girls.”
Quickly, several armed Ravengard warriors made their way through the crowd and grabbed Agis by the arms and dragged him toward the Palace of the Crowne.
“You hear me up there?” kDira screamed as Ravengard closed in around her and her friends to take them away. “I will see you dead!”
“Take the poor darling away. Let her scale fish for a few years. Teach her how to mop fish guts off the deck of the boat, and if she steps out of line, don’t hesitate to flog her.”
pART 4
Handbasket
cHAPTER 30
“Easy guys! I’m going, I’m going!” Agis protested at the rough handling he was receiving as he was being dragged up the stairs. “You wouldn’t want me to tell the Queen that you harmed me, would you?”
“I don’t think the Queen cares much about your health and comfort at this point.”
“Oh. Well, that’s good to know.”
Without hesitation, Agis spun in the arms of his captors. In doing so, he managed to free one hand and in a swift motion, grabbed a knife from one of the guard’s sheathes, and plunged it into the unsuspecting Ravengard’s upper thigh. Blood spurted everywhere as the guard screamed in agony.
Trying to react, the other guard released Agis’s hand to grab his own sword. Agis, trying to stand, slipped on the blood of the first and went tumbling down the stairs, his damaged knee taking a good portion of the impact as he came to a stop at the first landing. The agony was so great that Agis blacked out for a moment.
“No, get him!” the wounded warrior yelled at the second guard, who had stopped to check his condition. The words seemed to snap Agis back to reality, and the need to ready his knife became his focus.
The warrior came down upon him hard and fast. With a quick thrust, his sword stabbed deeply into the chest of Agis. Agis, already numb from pain, countered with a blow of his knife to the neck of his attacker. With only a hissing sound coming from his mouth, the Ravengard warrior fell sideways and tumbled down the next flight of stairs, splattering blood everywhere.
Agis, using every bit of his strength, pulled the sword from his chest, then used it as a crutch to get back up onto his good leg. Taking time to evaluate his situation, Agis noticed the injured warrior on the stairs just above him trying to draw his sword from its scabbard, but his position was such that the railing on the stairs was keeping him from being able to fully extract the sword. Before the Ravengard could find a solution, Agis reached up and slit his throat.
Agis stood there a minute, trying to catch his breath. He considered climbing the rest of the stairs to take on the Queen, but he knew he would not be able to do that. He knew that he was hurt badly, probably mortally, and he didn’t have a lot of time left. He would try to get away and hope that he could find a way to help his friends directly. He reached down and put his fingers in the puddle of blood on the floor, some his, some Ravengard, and drew a picture on the white wall before hobbling down the stairs.
As the door clanked shut behind them, the Blackhorn found themselves locked into the barracks with the Survivors. kDira looked around and realized that everyone was looking at her. Tina, Omiroe, Acetec, all her daughters, stood close before her, with everyone else circling outward from there, waiting for her to offer direction.
“I… I don’t know what to say right now,” kDira said.
Tina stepped forward and embraced her. kDira looked at her, tried to speak again, but the words were just not there. “I know, kDira,” Tina said. “Take time and sort out your feelings. We understand the pain you are feeling right now.”
Though kDira wanted to be the strong leader she once was, she found herself sobbing in Tina’s arms. Winter stepped next to them and joined the embrace, but then she pulled aw
ay.
“Here is what we are going to do,” Winter said, loud enough for all to hear. kDira's sobs stopped, and she turned to look at her daughter. “We are going to put a stop to this once and for all. For the Survivors among us, you need to find a way to get out of here. I don’t think these Ravengard are too smart so there might be another way out they haven’t thought of.”
“Blackhorn, there are lots of beds in here that have metal parts. We need to make weapons… clubs, spears, whatever you can with whatever you have, and we need this done fast. The Ravengard may be well-armed and well-armored, but I bet one Blackhorn can take ten Ravengard.”
“By my calculations,” Elick said, “We will need to take out twenty, maybe more, each.”
“Then we will take out twenty!” Winter exclaimed. “Go now! Find us a way out and create weapons to defend ourselves!”
“Winter,” kDira said, managing to calm herself. “The boys will be here with weapons in a week. Once they get here, we won’t need to fashion weapons…”
“Mum… Queen Mother, I know you want to believe that that is our answer, but I honestly think we don’t have that long. We need to act now. I am not going to go against your orders, and I am only taking charge because you are not thinking clearly right now, and our people need someone to lead them, but I think we are better off getting ready to take care of ourselves now rather than sitting around wondering who will die next. And do not forget, she has Agis. He could be next to come tumbling to the ground.”
“No,” countered kDira, “that she will not do, not now. She will wait until I am watching. She has other plans for him.”
“You may be right, but I still think we need to take action.”
“Of course, Winter, you are right, and you have the right idea. Please, continue to take charge; think clearly where I cannot. But remember, you are with child. Do not put yourself in a situation where you could put that child at risk. You will never get another chance to have Aaron’s baby; you must protect the one you have.”
The kDira's World Anthology Page 59