The kDira's World Anthology

by K R McClellan

  “This is what we call the subway,” Tina said, motioning up and down the passage with her arms. “This thing here is called a railcar,” she continued, pointing at what kDira had thought was a strange building. “It “is what we will be traveling in. We have modified it for comfort, so it is very nice to ride in for the few hours we will be traveling. Shall we?” she asked, motioning to the doorway of the car.

  “A… railcar?” kDira asked.

  “Yes, that’s right. Please, climb in, and we will get you back to your people.”

  kDira looked at the others, and then at Tina. Hesitantly, she stepped up into the railcar. Inside was as plush as the king’s chambers at the Karn Palace, only fresh and new, and apparently recently cleaned; it smelled fresh. kDira thought it looked as if it had been for royalty.

  Agis helped Winter into the railcar and assisted her into a plush seat.

  “Mum, this is wonderful,” Winter exclaimed.

  “I know, Winter. It almost seems too nice.”

  The rest of the group boarded the railcar, including Director Davis and Doctor Philantry, who went directly to Winter and asked to look at her leg.

  “These pills will help you with your pain,” the doctor said, handing Winter a small bottle containing several small white objects.“ “Take no more than two a day with water, not bryne. They should last you until I come back.”

  “Okay,” Winter said with a slight smile as she put the bottle of pills into her small pack.

  The others found seats, while another member of the strange new tribe went to one end of the railcar and sat in the first seat. He fidgeted with some controls, and the railcar began to quietly rumble. Shortly after that, it started to roll towards the tunnel. Each of the Blackhorn grabbed their seats tightly as the new sensation of motion washed over them.

  “You’ll get used to it very quickly, my friends. Most find it very enjoyable. Would you like something to eat or drink?”

  “I am hungry!” Agis offered without hesitation.

  “Yes, I can say that I am hungry too,” Omiroe agreed.

  “Well then, I am sure we have something here for you to enjoy.”

  Director Davis went over to a box at the rear of the railcar and pulled out some strange packages and wrappings. She placed them on the counter between the kitchen area and the dining and seating area and began to open the packages. She spread out plates and utensils, then brought forth a pitcher of red liquid.

  “Please come here and help yourself. I am sorry, we have no bryne, only what we call bug juice. It’s a sweet, fruity drink that, I think in this case, tastes like strawberries.”

  The Blackhorn laughed at the drink being called bug juice, but they eagerly got up and went to sample the offerings. Except Winter. She remained seated, just watching the doctor caress her leg.

  cHAPTER 27

  After a few hours travel, during which time the Blackhorn and the members of the underground tribe spent time getting to know each other better, the railcar slowed and entered another cavernous chamber like the one they had just left behind.

  “This is where we stop,” the director said. “I hope everyone enjoyed the ride. It is much nicer than walking, I think.”

  “It certainly saves time,” kDira agreed. “So where are we now?”

  “We are directly below a city that you know by the name of Lexton.”

  “That is the abandoned city we found after we defected from Hayden,” Acetec said.

  “Before we go to the surface again, I should return your weapons to you,” the director said, opening a large cabinet off to the side of the kitchen area of the railcar. From it, she removed several bows, quivers with arrows, swords, and daggers and handed them to Ari, who in turn passed them out to whom they belonged to. Each Blackhorn was glad to have their weapons back in hand.

  The group exited the railcar, and the doctor led them to another strange door.

  “This is another elevator that will take us to the surface,” he explained, waving everyone into the lift once the door had opened.

  “I will never get used to all this magic,” kDira said.

  “Agreed,” Agis said.

  The elevator came to a stop and opened into a large room strewn with debris and rubble. Ancient furnishings were in various stages of disrepair or decomposing. The group left the elevator and the doctor led them out the main door into what was once the main street of Lexton.

  “Do you mind if we follow you to Blackhorn?” Director Davis asked. “We would love to speak with your Interpreters.”

  kDira looked at Agis, who shrugged. “I guess that would be okay. Since you already know where we are, it’s not like we are giving out position away.”

  “Great. Shall we continue onward?”

  “Let us go,” kDira said, taking an active leadership role again now that she was in her familiar environment.

  Malak sat on his throne in the center of the main ground floor chamber, a naked female sitting on the floor on either side of him. He nibbled on some spiced, dried rock-goat and sipped mollyberry bryne.

  “King Malak, we have returned from Blackhorn,” a young warrior said, having just come back from patrol. Driden and his male partner Jax looked tired and ready to bathe but seemed to have important information for their leader. Several days had passed since kDira and the other Blackhorn had disappeared from the grasp of the Midlanders, and Malak had waited anxiously for the return of this particular patrol, sent out days before Winter had even been brought to the village.

  “Yes, what did you learn from your patrol near the Blackhorn village?”

  “Sylys, kDira… and the rest… Winter as well…”

  “Spit it out, kreb!”

  “My King, they returned to their village three days ago.”

  “How could that be? They left here but four days ago. There would not have been enough time for them to travel that distance. Have you gone mad? How could it have been kDira and the others?”

  “They were with others of a tribe we have never seen before; Outsiders. The outsiders went to the Blackhorn village with kDira, stayed for a brief time, and then left. We followed them to an abandoned ancient village a distance from the Blackhorn village, but then they too disappeared.”

  “Are these people magic? Are they the ones that made the Blackhorn disappear into thin air?”

  “King Malak, I do not know.”

  “Of course you do not know, imbecile! Your mind is too puny to wrap your head around the concept of magic.”

  “Yes, King Malak.”

  “Go now. Get rested and refreshed. Tomorrow you will take us to this ancient village. We will find out what this all means.”

  “Yes, King Malak,” the flustered young warrior said, backing through the doorway.

  “Nonham, come here” Malak commanded.

  Nonham, who was sitting at the side of the room, made his way over to Malak and stood before him.

  “Yes, my King?”

  “I want you to organize a party of about a dozen fine warriors to join me on a quest to find out where these outsiders are coming from, and just what role they play in all of this. I want provisions for ten days. We will maintain secrecy, and just maybe we will see where these outsiders are coming from.”

  “Yes, Sylys,” Nonham said, turning and leaving the chamber.

  “And now, my lovely little flowers, if you will join me in my chambers upstairs, I need to release some pent-up frustration.”

  “Please, my King. We are so sore; you work us so hard.”

  “How dare you refuse me!” Malak yelled. “You will have plenty of time to rest up after I leave for Blackhorn.”

  Both girls began to weep as they rose to their feet and walked slowly to the stairway to the upper level.

  “Unless…” Malak said with a wicked smile, “I decide to take you with me?”

  The two crying females climbed the stairs as Malak stood there, smiling. The idea of a weeklong trip didn’t seem so bad if he could take his two f
avorite females with him. Who would tell him no? No one.

  “I am very intrigued by the possibilities,” Elick said to a room full of Blackhorn gathered to discuss the outsiders and what they proposed. “Guller, what do you think?”

  “As an Interpreter, I am also very interested in all they have to offer.”

  “But it means a complete change in everything we know,” kDira said. “Our entire world will be different. For that matter, it already has changed. We know things we didn’t know but a few days ago.”

  “kDira is right,” Elick agreed. “But it is not too late to stop the progression. We could bid them farewell and go on about the lives we have always known. But how can we turn down the opportunity to move forward, to learn more things? How can we not allow ourselves to gain a technological advantage over all the other tribes in the known world?”

  Several in the room nodded in agreement. Ari, standing with Omiroe, stepped forward a bit and spoke.

  “I think the most immediate concern is Malak and the Midlanders. Without a doubt, he will make more attempts to kidnap one of our Princess Mothers, or just as bad, murder any one of us on principle. The technological advantage could be a war-ender of grand proportions.”

  “Ari is right,” kDira said, smiling at her friend. “I don’t think Malak will ever stop trying to hurt us. He has too much of his father’s evil in him.”

  “The outsiders said they would be back in seven days, a week they called it. But they are hoping to get a breeder for their own use, at least for a few seasons. We would have to bring it up to our Princess Mothers to see if one would be willing to go to the outsiders and stay with them. And more importantly, bare them children.”

  “I will do it,” a voice came from the corner of the room. Seated there was Winter, her injured leg propped up onto a short stool. “I will volunteer to be their breeder, for a few seasons.”

  “Winter,” kDira said. “You must stay here. I cannot permit you to go away. No, I forbid it.”

  Winter stood up on her good foot, and Acetec handed her the crutch. She made her way over to the center of the room near her mother. She looked at kDira, and then Agis.

  “Are you saying that your offspring are too good to volunteer for something like this? You’d rather send someone that is not of your blood to go there? Possibly one that is not willing? I am willing. I will go. I will make that sacrifice.”

  “Winter, you do not know what you might be getting into.”

  “I know they can tend to my foot better than Whetstone can. I know that I will be no good at hunting for a long time, and I certainly cannot fight like a warrior now. Maybe in a few seasons my foot will mend, and I will be able to perform like a true Blackhorn Warrior again, or at least, a Princess Mother. But for now, I want to do this. I want to do my part. Charlomine has proven herself in battle. And Star will be finishing her kreb training soon. You have a small army of your own right here. When the outsiders come back, I wish to go with them.”

  kDira looked at her daughter, fully grown and behaving like a leader. The pride in her swelled, and she put her hand on Winter’s cheek. Tears welled up in her eyes.

  “If we need you, you must promise me you will come back to kick some Midlander butt, okay?”

  “Yes, mum. I will be back so fast they will not know what hit them.”

  cHAPTER 28

  “What is this place?” Malak asked as the Midlander party entered the outskirts of a decaying city.

  “It is an abandoned city, called Lexton, an hour or so from Blackhorn,” Driden said.

  It was obvious that the buildings were being reclaimed by the earth; vegetation was growing everywhere, and the walls and streets were cracking apart. Metal carts were parked along both sides of the main road, rusting away to nothing. Many of the carts had trees growing right through them.

  “I have never been here before. Why do you suppose that is?”

  “It is pretty well hidden, off any of the main pathways. You really have to know it’s here, or you could completely miss it.”

  “This is very interesting. We will make a camp in one of these buildings and watch for anyone coming or going. But be quiet. Should someone come by here, we don’t want to alert them to our presence.”

  “Yes, my King.”

  “Let us make our way into town and find good places to keep watch. Once we settle in, we will send out hunting parties to harvest some fresh meat.”

  Malak began moving into Lexton, his two girls in tow wearing only light robes. Twelve other Midlanders followed, weapons ready, studying every window and alleyway looking for signs of danger as they proceeded.

  “This place will do,” Malak said, stopping at a rather large, fairly well-preserved building near the center of town. “Let’s go inside and see what kind of accommodations might await us. If it’s nice, we will make this our camp.”

  Inside the structure were many rooms, most with deteriorating beds and furniture. It appeared to Malak that it might have been a barracks of some sort, but there were no signs of weapons, and the decorations, though falling apart, appeared to be too lavish for mere troops. Malak and his entourage made their way to the third floor using the staircase in the middle of the structure. Malak found himself a larger series of rooms that he claimed as his own. His girls would be staying with him. The windows in his new chambers overlooked the main road through town, and he believed that it would prove a strategic vantage point should someone come strolling through the town.

  The others in the group spread out through the building and found rooms for themselves, all with windows that overlooked the main road as well. They were instructed to set watches to monitor the streets below and to inform their king if they saw any movement.

  Malak settled into a soft chair that had managed to survive the century or so since the Great Cloud. His girls were instructed to sit on the floor at his feet.

  “I find this chair to be delightful. When we go back to Blackhorn, you two will carry this chair for me. You will be happy to do that, won’t you?”

  “Yes, my King,” the two answered in unison.

  “Now, let me rest. I am weary.”

  At about midday on the third day watching the streets below, one of the Midlander warriors came running into the king’s chambers.

  “King Malak, three outsiders are leaving the city. They came out of one of the buildings down towards the edge of town. Shall we go after them?”

  Malak thought for a moment. “No, let them leave the city. When they are gone, we will go and see if we can find where they came from.”

  “Yes, my king.”

  Malak and the rest proceeded down to the ground level and went up the street once they had given the outsiders plenty of time to disappear into the woods. The warrior that had spotted them leaving led Malak and the others to the building he had seen the outsiders come out of.

  “This is the place, Sylys,” the warrior said. “They came out right here.”

  The warrior led Malak to a door that was hanging from its hinges, leaving it permanently open to the outside elements. Malak entered the room and saw the overturned furnishings and rubble that littered the floor. On the far wall was what appeared to be a set of sliding doors that were cleaner than the rest of the décor.

  “Help me push these open,” Malak said to the other warriors in the room. Two came over to try to push the doors open, but the doors would not budge.

  “Two more, get over there to help them,” Malak ordered.

  Again, it was no use, the doors would not budge. Malak’s temper was rising, but he refrained from showing it outward.

  “It will not budge, my King,” a warrior said.

  “I can see that. Well, if we can’t get in on our own, then we will have to get an invitation. Driden, bring me the girls. Do it now. Quickly!”

  “Yes, my King,” Driden said, turning and rushing out onto the street and back towards their camp building.

  Several minutes passed before Driden returned, bo
th girls herded into the room ahead of him.

  “My girls, I have a very important mission for one of you. If you volunteer, and do your job well, you will be treated like a queen among the Midlanders, with my personal promise I will never touch you again. You will be royalty and have your own servants. Which one of you will help me out?”

  Each girl looked at the other, and both immediately nodded that she would volunteer for the mission.

  “Both of you? That is very brave of you, but I only need one of you. One will stay here with me. But which one should I send on this mission?”

  “You, what is your name?” he asked the smaller of the two girls.

  “Dahlah,” she said without looking up.

  “That’s right. I knew that. So Dahlah, you agree to do this mission?”

  “Yes, my King.”

  “And you will do the things I need you to do?”

  “Yes, my King.”

  “Then here is what I need you to do,” Malak said as he put on some leather gloves and pounded his fist into his hand.

  “Welcome back to Blackhorn, Doctor Philantry, Director Davis,” kDira said, greeting the outsiders as they entered the gate. “Who is this with you?”

  “This is our engineer, Mister Lucas Brown,” Miss Davis replied.

  “What is an… engineer?”

  “Hmmm. Well, I guess it is something like your Interpreter, but they use math and physics to solve problems.”

  “A problem-solver. You could have just said that.”

  “You are right,” Tina said, laughing.

  Winter was with her mother and Agis was walking across the Plaza to where the visitors were.

  “Have you made your decision?” the director asked.

  “Well, yes we have. Winter has agreed to go with you for two or three seasons, long enough to give you a female child. I would like to go back with you for a short period to learn more about your people and your magic so that I am comfortable with allowing my daughter to stay with you.”