Chronicles of the Kiridians
Chapter 16

For even in oppression you will overcome

That is not to say the journey will be easy

Your opposition may win the battle,

Your victory lies in the war itself

“We were lovers”

A gasp escapes my chest as I wake up to the entire cell standing around me. I’m drenched in sweat. Surely what just happened wasn’t actually true. Surely the old me, whoever that is, didn’t really fall in love with the king that is trying to destroy us?

“Oh my gosh, you were snoring,” exclaims Raina as she sticks her hand to help me up. “We heard a loud commotion, and then a few minutes later you were being thrown in here unconscious.”

I grab her hand and sit up, only to feel instantly light-headed upon doing so. The world starts to spin and I fall back onto the ground and throw my arm over my eyes. “What happened?” I retort. That’s the question of the hour. What is the deal with Lena and King Delmund? Did everyone know or were they a secret?

Is this even something that I want people to know about?

“Kara, honey?” mom gently says as she puts my knees in her lap. I open my eyes to see her hobbled over me sitting down looking hopeful at me. “Are you okay? Do we need to do anything to help right now?”

Yeah, let them shoot me dead next time.

“No,” I manage to pipe up as I slowly start to sit up. Mom helps me get to a sitting position and I look around the group in fear. I don’t know what to tell them. There’s not an easy way to say “Hey, by the way, kids, I was having an affair with your dad, but that was the old me. I’m the totally hip new Lena now.”

“We don’t have time for all of that,” says Brodie standing up. “We need to get out of here, and we need to get whichever sibling is currently in that pod,”

He points across the hall to a pod that is not unlike the one he and Raina inhabited for sixteen years. There is a look of urgency that he has as he doesn’t remove his hand from his pocket. He looks back at me, eyes with a blazing fire, and nods.

“Are you okay to go?” he says. “We are busting out of here. We don’t have a lot of time to wait once the alarms start going off.”

“I’m fine,” I begin, “But how do you expect to break out-”

Before I can even finish my sentence Brodie takes the laser blaster he stole from the guard at the door and pulled the trigger. Glass shatters, and a red light fills the hallway and the surrounding cells. Without hesitation, he runs over to the other cell and blows the glass away with the laser and opens the pod. It reminded me a lot of the Fourth of July with all the colors that are lighting the area. Mom quickly helps me stand and we are running out of the cell right as a beautiful blonde girl jumps out of the pod with Brodie’s assistance.

Unsurprising to no one, the halls are not in the best conditions for prisoners to storm them. They’re narrow and unforgiving as we wind through the sharp turns and corners. Joey grips onto the back of my shirt in pure terror and I hear him whisper something in my ear that sounds like a prayer. Joey isn’t exactly who I’d call religious, but this seemed to bring it out of him.

We continue to run down the halls and end up at a giant wooden door. I look behind me at Brodie and the beautiful girl who each reach for their LOTUS, and both freak out when they realize they’re no longer wearing it. “They must have got it when they brought us in,” says Brodie looking at me apologetically.

“Well this is a problem,” says Raina looking at her siblings and me. “If only someone had grown up around the castle as a kid and found out all the secrets,” she pouts as she quickly walks over to her long lost sister and gives her a hug. “Oh wait, someone did,” she squeaks as she presses a brick that is on the wall behind her sister. The wall begins to open just enough for a person to squeeze past. One by one we file into the bricks and maneuver around the area to make room for the next person.

As dad enters the opening last, a burst of light comes from the opening of the giant wooden door right as the walls are closing.

“We need to move now,” whispers Raina. “I don’t think guards know about the passages, but Father certainly does, and I have no doubt that he will send them through the tunnels to look for us,” she grabs her sister’s hand and starts to quickly walk through the passage leading us to our next destination. “We have a lot we need to catch up on.” she begins to fill her sister in. “Firstly, that tomboy but still kind of cute brunette girl standing in the back is Lena,” she says pointing to me. “No offense, Kara,” she quickly exclaims.

“None taken,” I say not entirely sure if it’s true.

There really is a strong family resemblance in Raina and her siblings. Especially her sister and her. If I didn’t know that she was older I would have thought them to be twins. From the pictures that I’ve seen of all of her siblings, Brodie looks just like their eldest brother. Joey has stopped whispering feverishly as he grabs my hand and squeezes.

“We really went on an adventure, didn’t we, Kara?” he asks me with a smile.

I snort. I can’t help it. It’s such a Joey thing to say. Only he has the emotional ability to go from almost having a nervous breakdown while running from intergalactic guards to cracking jokes as we sneak around a top-secret chamber. “I guess we did, didn’t we?”

The group stops and I almost slam directly into Brodie as I stand on my toes to see what is holding us up from moving forward.

Three blue dog-like creatures stand in a triad blocking the pathway from moving forward. They’re extremely skinny, with super sharp noses that resemble a knife. Their eyes are all black, and their ears are jagged and pointed up into the air. Upon taking notice to us, the three creatures stand up on their hind legs, and their arms contort into humanized versions of their previous limbs.

“Bountidos,” whispers Dad to mom.

“Boun-WHAT” squeals Joey. “Can’t we just have a free getaway? Is it really too much to ask?!” he whisper shouts at the sky.

“Do not make sudden movements,” says Raina. “They’re trained to effectively sedate someone and get them back to whoever trained them. Bounty hunters use them in Kiridia to catch the criminals. Father must have released them when we escaped into the tunnels.”

“Anya, what’s the plan?” asks Brodie urgently as the Bountidos begin to circle around us, getting closer as each rotation happens. “Use that knowledge of animals that you’ve read over the years and put it to good use!”

Anya maneuvers to the front of the group and looks at the beast that circle around her. “Klueedaun” she speaks to the creatures, but nothing changes as they continue to circle around us. “Klueedaun artesste” she commands.

One of the creatures gets back down on it’s hind legs and bows it’s head to Anya as she reaches down and touches his head. She begins to pet it, and the creature starts to act like a dog that is playing with its master as she plays with it. The other two creatures have stopped their circling and instead have turned their attention to the creature that is being affectionate to Anya.

“What kind of a witch are you-” Joey gasps

“Shh!” whispers Raina harshly. “You don’t want to upset these things.”

Anya stands up and whispers something in the Bountido’s ear. It looks at its comrades and begins to make a gurgling sound at them. The other two Bountidos glance at each other and a snarl escapes both of their lips.

“This could end badly,” whispers Anya to the group. “The alpha has submitted, but if the other two decide not to follow, they could simply kill the alpha and take us back to Father.”

Anxiety begins to rise in my chest as I realize the fate of everyone I care about lies entirely in the paw-like limbs of these alien animals.

The snarling intensifies, and the creature that Anya convinced to submit is now standing up on it’s hind legs again, only this time he’s facing his comrades.

“We are going to have to run when they begin to fight,” says Anya.

“What about the one that’s helping us?” I say astonished. “We can’t just leave it, can we?”

“It’s not always about being fair, Lena,” says Anya glancing my way. “Sometimes it is about overcoming. Overcomers aren’t always known for their selflessness.”

The creatures lunge at each other, and Anya quickly moves out of the way and continues down the corridor. Whines erupt in the tunnels and I’m left feeling guilty for this animal who was once considered an enemy.

Thank you for your help.

We arrive at a dead end, and Joey let’s out an audible sigh. Raina taps him on the shoulder and smirks. “Relax, I have this,” she says with a wink as she walks over to the wall and taps another brick. The wall begins to open again, once again barely big enough for a person to fit inside, and we begin to shuffle through and arrive in a pink room.

Dust has settled on every surface in the room. Once fine silks have since lost their colors, and various bows and shoes are left scattered around the floor. A broken lamp sits on the floor, and Raina walks over to it and begins to pick it up. I walk over to her and tears are welling up in her eyes.

“The last time we were in this room, Nana had to break up a fight between Anya and me. It was the night they took me out of my room. I had just gotten back to Kiridia and was getting ready to leave the ship when she came into my room and told me about their plan. I threw a fit and things got physical.” tears are now falling down her face as she throws the glass onto the floor. “Alpha, I was an idiot.”

“I don’t blame you, Rains,” says a sweet voice.

She comes up behind us and puts her hand on Raina’s back. She has a strong maternal vibe about her. You can tell she has been the one that took over that role when their mother died. She turns Raina around and embraces her in a hug, “I’m just happy you’re okay, little sister.”

Their sentimental moment is interrupted by the sound of a lock turning and the squeaking of a wooden door. The king and three guards enter the room. They hold their blasters pointed at us, and a smirk is on the king’s face as he claps his hands.

“I must say you, children, never cease to amaze me. I perhaps trained you too well, Brodesius,” he chimes. “It’s time for you kids to stop being silly and go back to the cell. You’ve had your moments of adventure and excitement, but you failed, and now it’s time to face reality. You’ve been caught.”

“This isn’t what a father does,” Brodie retorts to his Father. “You should be ashamed of yourself. I replace solace though that without Edwin none of this can happen,” says Brodie with a triumphant smirk.

If we weren’t in the situation we are currently in, I would probably be impressed with the amount of confidence he exudes. He would have been a great king. A bit impulsive, but he definitely had the skills and knowledge to be successful at it.

“All in good time,” says Father as he motions for the guards to begin rounding us up.

This isn’t how it’s supposed to happen!

A feeling of urgency shoots through my body. I’m once again thrown into a haze as unknown power begins to move through my veins. My hair begins to lift around my head again, and I feel my eyes turn green.

“Don’t just stand there!” screams the king. “Shoot her!”

They shoot syringes at me, and I hold up my hand. A green bubble shoots around our party and the syringes bounce off of them and into various places around the room. “No,” I demand feeling my feet lift off the ground. “This ends here!”

A green light appears out of nowhere and falls on each of the guards. I have no idea how I’m doing any of this, but I was always told it’s stupid to look a gift horse in the mouth. Whatever I’m capable of doing, he’s obviously scared of me to have these syringes on standby. It is time for me to embrace my past.

No matter how much I don’t want it to be true.

The guards fall over one by one and King Delmund is left standing there defenseless in front of us. Brodie and my dad rush the king and grab onto his arms as he struggles to get them to let go of him.

“You think you can get out of here?!” says the king angrily. “This is fortress!”

“But we have the key,” says Anya standing up. “Coming into the room with only three guards, father? Did you really expect us to not have some sort of plan?” she crosses over to her dad and slaps him in the face. The entire room is silent as she stares at him dead in his eye. “That is for leaving me in a pod for only Alpha knows how long,” says Anya.

“Sixteen years,” says Brodie.

“Nonetheless,” says Anya with disgust. “Lena has full access to her powers. She’s not afraid to use them. You’re going to escort us to the edge of the property and we are going to leave this Alpha forsaken ship.”

“Anya, you’ve grown cold,” the king states.

“Well, I’ve had years in cryosleep to help that process,” she says icily as she bends down next to one of the guards and grabs the handcuffs off his belt. “Put these on father,” she demands Brodie. “Let’s get out of here.”

“I might have made a mistake in my excitement to keep you kids on the ship,” says Delmund as we leave the room. “But if you think you’re just going to waltz out of his ship, you’re sadly mistaken.”

“What shall we do then, friends?” asks Anya. “Tap dance? Maybe we can do ballet if that suits his royal majesty fancy?”

A chuckle escapes Raina’s body as she follows Anya at the front of the group. “Nice to have you back, sis,” she says.

“Lena, be ready to attack anyone that doesn’t obey our orders,” commands Anya as she continues to walk. “We take no prisoners in war. Remember that.”

Her face is stern, and her words dance around my head as the memory of the Bountido and its sacrifice fill me with guilt. The sound of its whine accompanies the memory as I recall the last words she said to me in the tunnel.

Overcomers aren’t always known for their selflessness.