“kDira,” Princess Mother Nepra said with a short-lived smile, as the King jerked her tighter against his chest, knife lightly cutting into her own.
“Let them go, Karn,” she ordered. “If you wish your own life spared, you will let them go now.”
“Whoooo arrree yooooouuu?” the Karn King hissed.
“I am kDira, leader of the Blackhorn,” she said with authority. “I am here with members and former members of the tribes Midlander and First Hill. Do you remember them?”
“Blackhoooorn dead,” the King argued. “We destroyed the Blackhoooooorn. We destroyed Midlanderssss. Destroyed First Hill tribe long ago.”
“Wrong!” she interrupted, “the Blackhorn have destroyed Karn Keep, and now the Blackhorn, Midlanders, and First Hill will destroy you.”
“Let us have our Princess Mothers back, and we might let you live,” she demanded.
“I will cut their throats right heeeere, and you will have fought and died for nothinnnng,” he said in his Karn-like tongue.
kDira looked at the Princess Mothers. They had obviously been abused, their will all but broken, bruises covered their naked bodies.
“Then this must end,” kDira said with certainty. “Ari…”
And with that one word, Ari loosed and arrow that struck the King right in the northward eye, penetrating his skull. Instantly the knives dropped to the floor, and the girls jumped away crying and they ran and threw their arms around kDira.
kDira held them both as they trembled in her arms.
“Are you okay?” she asked. “Can you travel?”
Crying both, they each shook their head in affirmation.
“Someone get them some garments to wear,” kDira said, escorting them to the door. In the outer chamber, she sat them down on one of the many long stools that adorned the room. Several of the Blackhorn Warriors brought robes and kilts for the mothers to try on.
“Find something that fits quickly, we must get out of here before the rest of the Palace awakens,” kDira insisted.
Two of the warriors were helping Agis and two others to their feet, both suffering wounds similar to those of Agis.
As they made their way back out to the outer chamber, kDira called for silence again. There were definite sounds of fighting going on in the stairwells below. Suddenly from both sides, Karn warriors, this time fully clad and ready for battle, barged into the room, their numbers easily doubling that of the Blackhorn.
“Make ready!” kDira yelled, and in an instant the Blackhorn had their weapons ready for another battle.
“Take the mothers back into the King’s Chamber and guard them with your lives!” she said, motioning to two of the Blackhorn warriors. In seconds, they disappeared back into the chamber.
Threg followed them, but Agis stood with the tribe. Everyone readied themselves for battle. The Karn began approaching slowly, not sure what to think of the Blackhorn coming from their King’s Chamber.
Then, to everyone’s surprise, Threg appeared from behind, pushing his way to the front of the ranks. It was then that the Karn flinched in terror.
Threg held up the head of the King, arrow still protruding from his eye socket.
“This was your King. This is your fate. You have sealed your fate by attacking the Blackhorn. Now you must all die!” Threg said.
“He knows there’s more of them than us, right?” Agis asked kDira. kDira did not answer.
Suddenly, without warning, the Karn attacked, and the clashing of steel once again rang out in the King’s Chamber. This time, the already strained Blackhorn were falling faster than before. kDira was certain that their fate was now sealed. The quarters were too tight for her to get to the front and start fighting herself, and she feared that her tribe would not hold much longer, and the Blackhorn were being crushed backwards as one after another fell at their feet.
But sometimes fate has another plan, she quickly realized. From the northward stairwell came some familiar faces followed by about twenty elder First Hill warriors. It was the stragglers that fell back on the trek across the Valley of Death, now led by Isiath and Guller. Wasting no time, they surprised the Karn by attacking from behind. Confusion among the Karn allowed the Blackhorn to spread out and take full advantage of the now changed odds. The sound of screaming Karn began to outweigh the screams of Blackhorn and First Hill warriors. Soon, the only sounds were the moans and cries of the wounded. Each Karn was put out of its misery quickly. The wounded Blackhorn attended to.
“Isiath, better late than never,” kDira said holding her hand out to shake his arm.
“I heard there was a fight here somewhere, I didn’t want to miss out,” he said.
“Good to see you, old friend. Good to see you,” she said with a smile. “We have the Princess Mothers, we are ready to go. Agis, have them come out here so we can leave.”
“Guller, I thought I told you to stay down below?” she asked.
“And miss all of this?” he laughed. “I think not.”
“Good to see you too,” kDira said.
“Omiroe, take some warriors and go back down the south stairs and see if there are any First Hill still down there and move them out,” kDira said. “Meet us over by the tunnel entrance. We will discuss from there how to exit Karn City the safest.”
“Yes, kDira,” Omiroe said.
“Isiath, were there any First Hill in the stairwell when you came up?” she asked.
“There were about eight of them on the lower levels, but then the only other ones we found were dead on the stairs,” he said.
“I see,” the Blackhorn leader said, solemnly. “Let us go. I want to get our Princess Mothers out of here before the rest of Karn City wakes up. We need to get them home where they belong.”
“Agreed,” said Agis.
“Shut up.”
cHAPTER 12
Several Blackhorn warriors led the way down the stairs, keeping kDira and the Princess Mothers, and Guller protected in the middle of the pack. kDira didn’t like the idea of herself being protected, but she wanted to see to the protection of the now liberated Princess Mothers.
As they made their way down the stairs it wasn’t long before they found themselves stepping over bodies, and though many of those bodies were First Hill warriors, an equal, if not slightly larger number of the bodies were Karn. The elder warriors had put up a valiant battle in attempting to stop the Karn advance, but judging from the numbers that entered the King’s Chamber, it didn’t take long for them to be overwhelmed.
“Guller, you should be proud of these old warriors, they fought well to the death,” she said to the elder Interpreter. “We couldn’t have done it without them.”
Guller remained silent. Level after level they made their way down, and to everyone’s relief they encountered no further Karn. But as they entered the outer area outside the Palace they could see that the sun was starting to rise. It would not be long and Karn would be everywhere, and once they discovered the carnage they would be looking for a new leader, and someone to blame.
Quickly, they made their way to the tunnel opening on the other side of the rubble. Agis, Threg and several others including two First Hill warriors were being helped along by others, their wounds too severe for them to walk very far, if at all.
Agis was suffering from blood loss from his leg wound, mostly. He looked pale and really needed to be lying down. Even the healthiest among them dreaded the return trek though the foul, disease ridden tunnels below. Almost everyone had wounds of some sort.
“Guller, how long for us to get out of the city if we don’t use the tunnels?” kDira asked.
“Two hours, maybe more. It’s unexplored territory,” Guller explained. “It could be death by infection for almost everyone if we go below. Who knows what terrible things are growing in that muck down there?”
“I agree. Let us head west and intercept Omiroe as he heads this way, and we will make our way out of town from there.”
“Yes, kDira,” Guller agree
d.
“Ari, you are my number one, let’s quietly get everyone moving west to meet up with Omiroe,” she said.
“Yes, kDira,” Ari said, snapping into action rounding everyone up and getting them moving. “Keep it quiet, we don’t want to wake the locals,” she instructed just loud enough for the tribe to hear.
As they reached the west end of the plaza they saw Omiroe and his warriors coming at a steady pace. As he met up with kDira, she explained that they would not be going underground to retreat out of the city. This news did not upset Omiroe or his warriors one bit. As they were as bruised, cut and battered as the rest, they too wanted nothing to do the certain death that lurked below.
“Ari, can you give me a head count?” kDira asked.
A few moments later she came back with her answer.
“We have forty-four left, kDira,” she reported.
“Forty-four,” kDira repeated. “We are almost down to half of what we started.”
“Most are Blackhorn, only twelve or so are First Hill, including the Interpreter,” Ari said.
“Okay, let us move out. We know we need to go west, let’s do it as quickly and quietly as we can, but I don’t want anyone falling behind,” ordered kDira.
With that, everyone picked up their gear, or injured, and they started their march out of the city. The ruins of great structures towered on both sides. Many rusted metal carts littered the streets that were slowly being retaken by the overgrowth of nature. Many of the structures were crumbling beyond recognition; others seemed untouched by many of the ravages of the Great Cloud or a hundred years of hostile weather.
Occasionally they would notice the flicker of a lantern high in a window opening, bringing home the fact that the Karn were not defeated, just decapitated.
More of the small creatures were scurrying about, some nibbling on dead creatures of unknown species, some chasing others away.
Occasionally they could hear Karn within the structures, yelling, or laughing in their babbling, guttural laugh that was sickening in its own way.
An hour passed and the sun was rising. The density of the city was getting less, but there were still a large number of buildings ahead, and they could hear noises behind them suggesting the city was waking up. kDira could see that they weren’t going to get out of the city before daylight, and a decision had to be made.
“Guller, I think we need to find a place to hide for the day, and head out again at dusk,” she said.
“I agree, let’s go into this structure here and hope no one is home,” he said, pointing at a structure that seemed fairly stable.
“Everyone, in here,” kDira said waving everyone to follow. Ari, Omiroe, take some warriors in ahead and make sure it’s clear.”
“Yes, kDira,” Ari said.
Six of them entered the structure. Within moment kDira heard the sound of swords striking bone, and the sound of bodies hitting the floor. Shortly thereafter Omiroe poked his head out of the doorway.
“Are you coming?” he asked with a grin.
kDira looked at her tribemate, and then with a smile proceeded into the structure, everyone else close behind.
“There were two in here,” Omiroe said.
“I don’t think they expected us to come walking in,” Ari said.
“Ari, we need to set up lookouts and watches,” kDira stated. “Can you handle that?”
“I will, kDira,” she answered.
Once everyone got inside the wounded were laid down and tended to properly. Six of the elders, two males and four females took right away to cleaning and bandaging wounds.
The Princess Mothers were also tended to, and offered food and bryne. Both Princess Abril and Princess Nepra fell asleep almost instantly. kDira wondered if they were ever allowed to rest in the company of the Karn.
kDira didn’t see Agis come up from behind.
“How are you ever going to tell them that one of them must go to the Midlanders?” Agis asked quietly.
“You are supposed to be lying down, kreb,” she said.
“I know I’m just a kreb to you now, but you didn’t answer the question. How will you tell them?” Agis insisted.
“I don’t know, I just will. The Midlanders will be far nicer to either of them than the Karn, I am certain of that,” she said trying to make it sound better than it is.
“If you think I like being the leader, you’re wrong,” she said to Agis. “I miss the days when all we had to worry about was taking a chideer from the woods so we’d have something other than dried fowl to eat.”
“I miss you,” Agis said.
kDira looked him in the eyes for a moment.
“You need to go lie down,” she said. “Now go…”
“Yes, kDira,” he said with a bit of a smile. He turned and found a place to lie down, and as he did so one of the First Hill elder females came over to look at his bandages.
“Guard and watch are set,” Ari said approaching kDira formally. “Is there anything else you need me to do? I’d like to catch a little sleep myself before we have to fight for our lives again.”
“Ari,” the Blackhorn leader said, quietly, “thank you for saving my life today. Twice.”
“Any one of us would have done it, I was just in the right place at the right time,” Ari said with a smile.
“I think not. I think you were looking out for me,” kDira said with a grin.
“Well, you are cute…” Ari said as she turned and walked away.
kDira looked around at the wounded, and at the warriors so willing to defend her and the Princess Mothers. She pondered if she was actually worthy to ask them to fight to the death, and how far they would follow her? She grew tired. The stress had begun to wear her down. She got up and walked over to where Agis was lying, now asleep. She motioned for the elder to move on to another, and she sat down on the floor next to her old friend. She looked at him, at his face and at his broken body. She reached across him and laid her head on his chest, causing a moan from Agis. She closed her eyes and slept.
kDira didn’t sleep nearly long enough when she was awakened by the sound of what seemed to be chaos from outside. She jumped to her feet and ran to peer out the windows with the other Blackhorn standing watch.
“I think they know we’ve been there,” the guard on watch whispered.
“They know someone has been there,” kDira corrected. “They don’t know it was us, not yet.”
“Go wake everyone up and get them ready, we don’t know how bad this might get,” she said quietly.
“Yes, my leader,” the guard said.
Quickly but silently everyone was awakened, everyone that was able came to their tired feet, and began making ready for battle.
Outside in the street, kDira watched as Karn after Karn ran in the direction of the Palace. Most had weapons in hand, and were dressed for battle. Suddenly, a Karn came running up to the door, and everyone ducked down out of sight of the windows. The Karn banged on the door loudly, and yelled in the Karn, guttural way, “All must go to the Palace! The King is dead!”
For a moment there was silence, but then the Karn banged on the door once again.
“All must go to the Palace! The King is dead!” he yelled once again.
kDira looked at the others, not sure what to do, when out of the silence a voice rang out, every bit the sound of a Karn.
“Alllllll right, I’m a going….” The voice growled.
kDira looked in surprise to see that it was Threg, still lying on the floor. She almost wanted to laugh but thought better of it.
“All right thennnnn, hurry along!” the Karn outside the door demanded, and then he went on to the next structure.
When he was out of sight, the entire chamber could not hold back a good laugh. They needed the relief in tension, if even for a moment.
“Threg, you are our honorary Karn interpreter,” she said with a chuckle.
“Well, I’m not in very good condition to fight, that’s for sure,” he said tryi
ng to sit up.
“That you are not,” kDira confirmed.
kDira walked over to Guller who was still sitting on his make-shift bed.
“So, what do we do?” she asked. “We might have an opportunity to sneak out in the daylight with everyone heading to the Palace. If we wait until dark, there might be a hunting party in the streets before we could get out of the city.”
“You might be right,” the Interpreter said. Certainly, if we had to fight our way out now, there would be significantly less Karn in our way then if we let them return. And I don’t think they will be in a good mood when they come back either.”
“And right now, I don’t believe there is anyone that can tell them who they are looking for. As far as they know, the Blackhorn are gone,” she said matter-of-factly.
“I believe you are right. Let us not waste time. We should make ready to go,” Guller said.
“I agree. Everyone,” kDira said turning to the others in the chamber, “make ready to head out. We leave shortly. Threg, can you walk?”
“Barely. It will be difficult, but I will try,” he said.
“Nonsense, Omiroe and Edu, can you rig up a few gurneys to carry the worst of the wounded?”
“I will see what I can do, kDira,” Omiroe said. With that he set off about the chamber to see if he could find the cloth and materials to fashion a make-shift gurney from.
“Everyone, take a moment to eat something, drink something, before we leave. We don’t know how long we will be on foot, so we need some energy. Blackhorn, share with our First Hill friends. We will prepare a feast for all when we get beyond the Valley of Death in the next couple of days.”
kDira opened her own pack and pulled out some dried fowl and dried chideer and offered half of it to Guller, who accepted it gladly.
“Thank you, kDira. You are a magnificent leader. Were you born into royalty?” Guller asked.
“Hardly,” she said laughing. “This was thrust upon me after the Karn all but destroyed our tribe. It was after I encountered the Midlanders. It was just a mutual decision by everyone around me that I should be leader,” she said as though it meant nothing.
The kDira's World Anthology Page 12
