The kDira's World Anthology

by K R McClellan

  “Not now,” he whispered. “Right now, the Queen needs us.”

  kDira relaxed, and nodded in understanding.

  The march of Karn lasted several minutes, though it seemed like hours. While some held spears and pikes, others held bags of what the pair could only guess to be food or loot.

  “Bastards,” Agis whispered under his breath.

  After a long procession, the last of the Karn passed by. kDira and Agis rose to their knees and looked up and down the road. It was clear.

  As they got up to stand on their feet again, they looked at each other, and without a word they began sprinting the last stretch to the camp. kDira ignored her tired and aching body, her legs willing her to drop down to the ground and rest. She could see the gate of the camp, and she was not about to rest now.

  She and Agis slowed only when they entered the all-but-destroyed gate. Coming to a walk slow enough to observe what had taken place, kDira’s heart was beating out of her chest.

  “What did they do?” she asked looking at the carnage. There were dead bodies lying everywhere. Some were merely kids, too young to be krebs. Blood was everywhere.

  “The Queen!” kDira yelled, running off to the Queen’s temple. Agis was close behind.

  Blackhorn had been pillaged almost beyond recognition. It was obvious that the Karn wasted no time in looting everything they could find, sparing no lives along the way.

  Down the narrow road past some of the larger huts and workshops were several older beasts that were too old to work plows, their blood also spilled right there in the street.

  As they approached the Queen’s temple they feared the worst for their Queen. The door to the temple was ripped off its hinges and torn to shreds. Much of the door frame was broken and sagging as well. kDira and Agis bent down to look inside. It was dark, and the smell of blood was strong.

  There were several of the Queen’s kreb guards lying gutted and broken on the floor. Even the Queen’s feline was lying in a pool of its own blood.

  “The Queen’s chamber is in the back,” kDira said, trying to sound hopeful.

  Agis, short sword drawn, followed kDira to the back were the door to the chamber was half open.

  The two peered into the room cautiously, expecting the worst. There in the middle of the room they saw their Queen, tied to a chair, head hanging limp, chin pushed up against her chest.

  They rushed over to her, Agis checked for signs of life and began untying her hands.

  “She’s alive,” he said. His emotion was showing in his voice.

  “Queen Dachraolene! Queen Dachraolene! Are you okay? My Queen…” kDira said, trailing off.

  Queen Dachraolene opened her eyes and raised her head.

  “kDira? Agis. You made it back. I knew you would,” she said.

  “What happened, my Queen?” kDira asked, though she already knew the answer.

  “Karn came into town in the early morning hours. Slit many throats before anyone knew what was happening. Started asking everyone they found about Nepra and Abril, wanted the breeders. When our people refused to give them up the Karn sliced their throats and moved on. Then they rounded up all the children they could find and dragged me out before them. They asked again, told me they would cut a child’s throat every minute they didn’t get the breeders,”

  Queen Dachraolene started to sob. Her badly beaten eyes swelled with tears, her broken mouth dripped with saliva and blood.

  “My Queen, what happened next?” kDira asked.

  The Blackhorn Queen looked up in horror, her now free hands covered her face.

  “I couldn’t let them harm the children. I gave up the Princess Mothers. I gave them your Nepra and Abril. I let them take them, I couldn’t let them hurt…” she broke down again, sobbing harder.

  “Queen Dachraolene,” kDira insisted, “where are the children?”

  “Once they had the breeders,” she said between sobs, “they killed them all, right in front of us. Right in front of me and the Princess Mothers, they murdered every one of the children. Their screams, their cries for help…” the Queen broke down and could no longer control her emotions.

  kDira, a tear in her eye and hatred building in her heart, stood.

  “Why didn’t they take you, my Queen?”

  There was a moment before the Queen could compose herself again and speak.

  “They felt I had already been spent. Twenty children and too old to bare more, I was not useful to them. They wanted to leave me here, they beat me until I blacked out, I think they wanted me to tell of their terror.

  “I will show them some terror,” kDira proclaimed.

  “You and me both, partner,” said Agis. “We will recover our breeders and avenge the death of those children and citizens that had no chance.”

  “NO,” the Queen said sternly. “We are finished. You must save yourselves. Two is no match for Karn. There are so many and now they have our breeders. They will grow and be a force that no one can stop.”

  “We will stop them. If it takes a century, we will have our revenge,” declared kDira.

  “My kDira, you are special, I have always felt that. But you must let this go. Find some place safe to spend the rest of your lives together. Someplace far away.”

  “My Queen, are there any other patrols still out that have not checked back in?”

  Queen Dachraolene slumped back in her chair.

  “My Queen?” kDira said concerned.

  “Two. Two patrols,” the Queen said as though losing strength.

  “Agis, help me get her onto her cot,” kDira said. Agis sheathed his sword and helped lift her from the chair. Together they guided her to her cot and laid her down. They pulled a blanket over her. kDira pulled her bota bag from her side and offered the Queen some bryne.

  “My Queen, when are the patrols due back?” kDira asked.

  “Soon. Tomorrow, maybe,” the Queen said faintly.

  kDira looked up at Agis, “We will wait for the patrols. We need to think, to plan.”

  “Agreed,” said Agis.

  “We should build a fire, we have bodies to burn,” said kDira. “A lot of bodies.”

  cHAPTER 4

  The mountain of bodies was staggering, and the stench was intolerable. As they set the mound ablaze the first of the two remaining patrols entered camp, obviously stunned by the site unfolding before them.

  “kDira! What happened here?” the older of the two called out. Edu, a male and one of the oldest krebs in the tribe, crossed to the pair as they tossed the last of the younger bodies on the fire.

  “Edu, the Karn… they attacked while we were out on patrol. They killed everyone, everyone except the Queen, and they took the Princess Mothers. You must go see the Queen, I fear she may not have much time left on this world.”

  Edu, followed by his patrol partner Esenice, a female who appeared to be in shock from the site of all the carnage, quickly went towards the Queen’s temple.

  “How long do you think we should wait for the other patrol?” Agis asked of kDira.

  “I think we should give them until mid-day tomorrow. After that, we must decide the plan of attack on the Karn,” she replied.

  “Do you think it’s wise to go against the Karn? The Queen said we should just go elsewhere and live the rest of our days in peace,” he said, sounding very unsure of his future.

  “I can’t think of doing anything but getting revenge on the Karn, and regaining our Princess Mothers. For the future of the Blackhorn, this is the only option. Together alone, the Blackhorn is dead. Twenty years more, maybe. Then we’re gone forever. I cannot allow that without a fight. If we are doomed, then I say we go out with a fight.”

  Agis pondered that as they stepped back from the growing fire. The weight of the situation heavy on their hearts, and emotions were quickly turning from sadness to rage. Agis knew she was right.

  “If you fight, then I fight,” he said looking over at his partner. “We will fight.”

  Edu and E
senice could be seen walking towards them again. Esenice was crying, and Edu was visibly upset.

  “The Queen has passed on,” Esenice said. Esenice was slightly younger than kDira, and smaller in size. In fact, she was rather small for a kreb, but her spirit, stamina and reflexes made up for what she lacked in physical strength and size. Even though she had the heart and soul of a warrior, she cried. They all cried, except for kDira. kDira told herself she would cry when the fight was finished. She didn’t have time or energy to cry now.

  “She told us to go out into the world and finish our lives in peace,” Esenice added.

  “We have to fight back,” kDira exclaimed. “We cannot let this go unpunished, even if we die trying.”

  “I agree,” said Agis.

  “Agreed,” confirmed Edu. “Esenice?”

  “Let’s kill them all,” she said with the warrior spirit she was known for.

  “We know of a back entrance into the Karn Keep. We found it by accident when we were exploring the Ocheebee Pass,” said Agis.

  “The Ocheebee Pass?” Edu exclaimed. “What were you doing in the pass?”

  “It had never been fully explored. The Karn have a structure spanning the canyon walls,” interjected kDira. “Now we know where they are and how to get to them. We just need a good plan, and we need to surprise them like they surprised Blackhorn. Then we can reclaim our own.”

  Agis said, “We need a good plan. We can’t go in without planning our steps carefully.”

  “Agreed,” said Edu.

  “Are there any other patrols out?” Esenice asked.

  “There is one other. Agis and I planned on giving them until tomorrow mid-day before we move out. Hopefully they will be back by then.”

  kDira paused a moment. Then she continued.

  “In the meantime, let’s see what we can find that the Karn might not have been pillaged; food, weapons, tools, whatever we might be able to use to stay alive, or to use against the Karn. We should split up, Edu and Esenice you head to the north end of the village, Agis and I will cover the south end.”

  With that the two patrols went their ways without another word.

  The south end of town, though now cleared of the bodies of the fallen Blackhorn still had the air of death everywhere they looked. Blood stains could be seen in all directions and in every doorway.

  Agis went in one hut, as kDira explored another. They search every nook and cranny looking for anything that might be useful. There wasn’t much left but bits of food that must have seemed too small to bother with. Partial loaves of bread, and a few chunks of dried poultry and chideer were all they could find. To a small group of four, or six if the third patrol made if back in time, it would at least be a day’s nourishment.

  kDira moved on to the next hut, and then the next, gathering tools and bits of food, but nothing that would help her in her fight with the Karn.

  As she and Agis cleared the huts, they advanced down the road to the hut of the Interpreter. Inside were piles of manuscripts from the Olden Days that might have a key, a hint to an advantage they could use against the Karn. But without an interpreter those manuscripts were useless. kDira paused before going in, wondering if she could get anything at all from the many tomes that the Interpreter has stored there.

  She was about to enter when she saw eyes peering from behind the partially open door. She readied her long knife in preparation for an attack.

  “Who’s in there?” she demanded.

  “Who’s out there?” came a frail voice of an older male.

  “Interpreter? Is that you?” kDira asked. “It is I, kDira of the Blackhorn.”

  The door slowly opened to show a small framed, aged man, face framed with a long white beard and matching bushy eyebrows.

  “kDira, is it?” he asked.

  “Yes, old man. How is it you are you still alive?” she asked.

  “Superior hiding skills, and a flexible frame,” he said, pointing to a small opening in the floor. “I hid under there until I could stand it no more. I heard no more sounds, and quite frankly…” he drifted off.

  “Quite frankly what?” Agis asked, kDira not knowing Agis was standing behind her.

  “Quite frankly, I had to urinate. One can only hold it so long at my age. Since, I’ve been trying to clean up a bit. Where is everyone? I heard awful sounds, I hope everyone is okay.”

  “Interpreter, everyone is dead. All but four of us, and maybe another patrol, we are all that’s left”

  “And what of the Queen? The Princess Mothers?” he asked, obviously shaken.

  “The Queen is dead, the Princess Mothers have been taken from us,” kDira told him with heavy heart.

  “How terrifying! Who… who was it? Who would kill all of Blackhorn?”

  “It was the Karn. Interpreter,” kDira continued, “is there any knowledge in those manuscripts that can help a small group like us see victory over the massive Karn tribe?”

  “There are tomes upon tomes of things that describe how in the Olden Days they could kill countless people with one package that exploded with the fire of the sun. We have nothing like that now. We have nothing that will unleashed fire like that.”

  “But there has to be a way. We must find an advantage over the Karn or the Blackhorn are truly lost,” kDira explained.

  “Let me tell you what we know,” kDira went on, “about the Karn and their keep. Maybe you can come up with something that will give us an upper hand, long enough to get our breeders back.”

  “Agis, I will inform the Interpreter of all we know, you go and finish searching this end of the village,” she said with a voice of authority.

  “Yes, Captain kDira,” Agis said with a hint of disrespect. It wasn’t lost on kDira, and she glared at him as he walked out of the Interpreter’s hut.

  kDira began to tell the Interpreter of the Karn stronghold, and how it spanned the canyon. She told him of the passages, and the long tunnel upward and out. He listened as though he were a child listening to a fairytale, like the people that listened to his theater readings at night. He was intrigued by all that kDira told him. When she was done, and he had no more questions, he spoke.

  “I will ponder this. Let me consult the tomes, and I will have an answer for you by tomorrow,” he said, encouragingly.

  kDira leaned forward and kissed him on the forehead, and thanked him. She went outside to meet up with Agis and punched him in the arm.

  “Ouch, what was that for?” he yelped.

  “For calling me Captain.”

  Omiroe and Isiath, two strong male krebs, returned from patrol early the next morning. After the emotions of learning the fate of their tribe, and the explanations of what had happened and what actions the other four intended to take, they settled in on planning and controlling their hatred, for now.

  They joined kDira and the other three sitting around an open fire, drinking bark tea sweetened with a little mollyberry bryne and eating days old bread they had found in the camp.

  “So, what is the plan?” asked Isiath, a warrior of good size and bulk. He carried a long sword on his waist and a bow much like that kDira used, but in addition he also liked to use a spear as a walking stick. His thought was that he would have it always under any situation. That strategy had paid off for him more than once in the past when being ambushed by Karn patrols.

  kDira plotted out the location and the layout of the Karn keep in Ocheebee Pass, and the back door exit that came out at the edge of the forest.

  “I think if we can block their exit from the tunnel,” kDira explained, “then plan a surprise attack from the canyon keep we might have a chance.”

  “I might have a better idea,” Agis interjected. “What if one of us could get down the tunnel at the back door, sneak through the keep and locate the Princess Mothers and get them back out before we attack. At least they would be safely out of there before the chaos began.”

  “Agreed,” said Omiroe, another strong warrior, whose weapon of choice was a cro
ssbow and a short sword. “The safety of the breeders is priority.”

  Most of the group nodded in agreement.

  It was at this point that the Interpreter made his appearance. He walked over to the circle of warriors, and everyone waited anxiously for him to speak. He paused, almost as though he was giving another theater performance.

  “I can help you take down the keep. Take it right to the ground,” he said with a smile. “But it will take some work, and a lot of strength to make it happen.”

  “Tell us what to do,” Isiath said standing up. Omiroe and Agis stood up as well.

  Edu, somewhat older than the other three, slowly stood up.

  “I am not as young and strong as these younger ones, but I will offer my hand as well,” he said.

  “Come,” said the Interpreter. “I will show you what we need to do. kDira and Esenice, you come along as well. I have something for you two to do that is just as important.”

  All six followed the Interpreter over to where the stables were now lying in a crumbled heap of lumber and debris.

  “We will need six good strong beams and posts. Long ones,” said the Interpreter. “kDira, you and Esenice gather all the twine and rope you can find, we’ll need that too. And when you’re done with that, gather up all of the jugs and flasks you can gather and bring them here.”

  The six began working on their assigned tasks, working with a purpose and never once taking a break until they finished what the Interpreter had told them to do. The males all made short work of removing the timber from the stables, the females gathered the ropes and twines they were asked to get, then set about the village to gather jugs.

  The Interpreter showed the males where to lay the timber and how to arrange it.