Kris and Anthieyah sat in her kitchen when a knock came from outside. With some difficulty from the bandages Anthieyah got up to see who was there. Waiting at the entrance was Arnold and Kaitlyn.
"What brings you here?" she asked.
"Well, that's kind of what we were going to ask you," replied Arnold in an irritated tone. "Yesterday, we come here to meet up with Kris and Valerie to find you and them gone. So we go to the ruins and you weren't there either. The same was with Alex and Ellenah. We decided to try here again. Finally we found you. Where are Kris, Valerie and Alex?" He was clearly frustrated. Which for Arnold was a rare sight. "I would think someone would have the decency to tell us something."
"I'm right here," answered Kris as he came over to the door. He felt a bit ashamed that they had completely forgotten about them.
"Why in the world are you in that thing?" asked Kaitlyn.
"It's a long story, but it's why you couldn't find us and why the other two still aren't here," Kris answered.
"Well, we've got all day," replied Arnold. "Why don't you let us in and tell us the whole thing. It's the least you could do after running off and not even leaving a note for us."
Kris felt really bad, he had not thought about them when they left and he hadn't considered what would happen with them suddenly gone.
"Of course, would you come in?" Anthieyah replied moving aside to let them through. Though Kris had to move into the first room in order for them to pass. They gathered in the small kitchen and sat around the table.
"Alright, now tell us, just what happened?"
"Well, it started by Anthieyah getting captured by some vorlixx. So Ellenah and the three of us went to the ruins and put on these suits. We then went after Anthieyah in the hope she was still alive. When we found her we freed her and made a run for it with vorlixx hot on our tail. We eventually lost them, but at some point Valerie fell behind, possibly due to a suit malfunction. In any case, Alex and Ellenah went to find where she might be while I returned here with Anthieyah." Kris explained keeping the explanation as short as he could.
"Oh, my," exclaimed Kaitlyn when Kris had finished. "That's awful."
"Well, should we just sit here, or should we go out and help them find her?" asked Arnold standing up.
"No offence, but none of use are really cut out for this sort of thing and frankly if we're going to mount a rescue, we might as well get those who are actually qualified," Kris answered. "I feel that was already our mistake with Anthieyah."
"I suppose you're right," replied Arnold seating himself. Kris was unsure if he detected relief or disappointment in his tone.
"That means we'll have to go see Melan, doesn't it?" asked Kaitlyn.
"That's right," answered Kris. "We'll need her okay to enlist the aid of her warriors."
"Well, why don't we head over to see her? Getting in shouldn't even be a problem seeing as you are basically her secretary," Kaitlyn said looking at Anthieyah.
"True it will be easy to get in to see her if she is not currently occupied by town matters. However, Ellenah has been trying for several years to get Melan to authorize an attack on the vorlixx, with no success," Anthieyah replied.
"Well, this isn't exactly going to be an attack, merely a rescue operation," Kris clarified. "We'd only take what was necessary to get in and out without problem. Though I'm unsure as to just how many that would actually be."
"It matters not. Melan doesn't want to provoke the vorlixx in any way," answered Anthieyah. "She wishes to remain peaceful as not to provoke any more violence."
"Well we've got to try. If we don't, I personally won't be able to live with myself," Kaitlyn told them, clenching her hands into fists. "Valerie would do the same for any of us. Right?"
"Well she did go after Anthieyah," answered Kris. "That would suggest she would."
"I'm with you Kaitlyn," said Arnold.
"We should go see Melan immediately. Every moment we waste, we decrease our chances of finding her alive," Kris said standing up. "Anthieyah, you wanting to come along, or do you want to stay here?"
"I'm not as bad as I look," answered Anthieyah. "Besides, I'll make it easier for you to see her, so yes, I will accompany you. At least to Melan."
"Alright, but if you even think about going out to help Valerie, I will have to insist that you come to your senses and stay here," said Arnold. "You are in no shape to go gallivanting about."
"Despite how much I want to help your friend, I know well enough there's nothing I can do in my condition. I don't even know how to fight," Anthieyah answered, sounding a bit ashamed at that fact. Apparently it was something everyone should know, like being able to swim.
"Right, you're only a secretary, of course you wouldn't," Arnold replied more to himself than Anthieyah. Being in the primitive world, it just seemed natural to him that everyone could fight.
"It's okay Anthieyah. None of us do," Kris told her with a comforting smile. "That didn't stop us from going after you."
Anthieyah worked a week smile.
"Let's get going," Kaitlyn reminded them "Anthieyah, are you going to need any help getting there?" she asked getting to her feet.
"No, I can walk fine," answered Anthieyah with a sense of dignity.
They didn't pursue Anthieyah's condition and they left her home to pay the village leader a visit. It was late morning so the market was open. The streets were now filled with woman. Most of whom stared at the group as they made their way through, mostly at Kris though as he was still in the armor. In a few minutes they arrived at the building in which Alex had taken to calling, the Brown-house. None of them fully understood why, but assumed it had something to do with the White House in Washington D.C. None of them found it amusing, but with nothing else to call it, that's what it became to them.
They went up to the entrance with Kris in the lead. Still in the suit, he clanked noisily as he moved about. From he noise, he doubted Melan didn't already know they were there. At the entrance he stopped to let the others go in before himself. With the armor on, Kris had actually found it hard to match pace with the others. He seemed to keep speeding up and continuously moved too fast.
Inside they went straight to Melan's "office". Anthieyah took the lead into the room, no doubt to inform her of their presence and to check if she was even there. The group was in luck, for a moment later Anthieyah motioned for them to enter. Silently the group obeyed filing into the large room. They looked to the end of the room, where standing at the end of the long rectangular table was Melan leaning over some project she was working on. There was no one else there so they did not have to interrupt anything. She didn't even seem to notice their appearance even after Anthieyah had already come in a moment earlier.
When she heard their approach and the racket made by the mechanical suit she looked up. The first thing she saw was Kris and the armor he was in. This startled her for a moment but soon recognized Kris's face peering through the head peace. Despite her reaction, Melan showed little of the surprise she must have felt and her expression remained calm and composed.
"Can I help you?" she asked putting down a quill pen and sitting upright.
"Melan, we came here in the hopes you would help us search for our friend, who may have been taken by the vorlixx," Kris answered.
"Your friend is missing?" Melan asked, arching an eyebrow. Her face now showed signs of concern.
"Yes ma'am, Valerie was part of a small group made up of Kris, Alex, and Ellenah, who rescued me from the vorlixx," answered Anthieyah stepping forward. "Unfortunately Valerie disappeared as we made our escape," she explained.
"I had wondered where you had gotten to," replied Melan. "The very fact the vorlixx captured one of us is very disturbing indeed, but I'm afraid I can't authorize any rescue. I will not risk multiple lives for a single person. Nor will I do anything that may antagonize the vorlixx into attacking us. They are agitated enough as it is. I am already very distressed to find that you have already committed one attempt to break into their nest. Do you realize what your actions might have done?"
"We only wanted to save Anthieyah," answered Kris protectively. "No one deserves to be just left behind without a fight."
"Anthieyah is a good friend and my half sister's daughter," replied Melan. "But the safety of the village is my first concern. Your actions may have just led to more attacks from the vorlixx. They are powerful predators and very little seems to trigger retaliation from them."
"But Valerie's still alive. Are you really willing to sacrifice a life?" asked Kris.
"If it means avoiding a conflict and keeping even more lives from being taken, then yes. I feel that it's an acceptable loss," answered Melan. "But I want you to know I do not make such a choice lightly. I have to think of what's best for the whole and not just of the individual."
"I could have told you that wouldn't have worked," Anthieyah whispered to Kris. He cast her an annoyed glance then returned his attention to Melan.
"Well consider this, if we don't do something, the vorlixx may take it as a sign that we are weak and they could get away with it as often as they'd like. You'd have even more attacks," said Kris moving right up to the table, bending down to bring himself to eye level with the village leader. "Sometimes in order to not be bullied, you have to show that you are willing to fight back," Kris explained. His voice dropped and added o no one in particular. "Something I learned through personal experience." His mind drifted to his school years where he had been bullied before he had run away from home.
Melan didn't reply. She was thinking about what Kris had just said.
"I believe him in this case," said Anthieyah. "I've seen first hand that the vorlixx aren't just some mindless beast like we've all thought. I'm sure if we don't do anything they'll see us as weak and continue to attack us and the longer we don't do anything, the more frequent they'll do so," she explained.
"Exactly. I heard you were having little food to hunt lately. If you come across as easy targets, you're just a buffet waiting to happen."
"Anthieyah. Did you say the beast are not senseless?" asked Melan, her surprise showing through this time.
"It pains me to say it, but yes. They had homes and seemed to have order amongst themselves."
Arnold and Kaitlyn looked to each other.
"A second race of intelligent beings on a planet," Arnold whispered amazed.
"Amazing," replied Kaitlyn. "Next time we get Kris to explain things in full detail."
"This is just the tip of the iceberg," said Kris paying no attention to his co-workers and ignoring the fact that Melan would not understand his expression. "Something must be done to prevent them from harming anyone again."
"In order not to be bullied, one must sometimes fight back," Melan repeated quietly.
"That's right," said Kaitlyn. "I think. I'm not much for violence. I found that voicing your opinion and listening always solved situations. Except in this case, talking may not be possible. Though I will admit, in a school setting, if you show you aren't afraid, it has been shown to deter people from continuing to bullying you. "
Melan looked back up at the group assembled before her.
"You have a strong case. If what Anthieyah says is true about their intelligence, it may be better for us in the long run if we did something about your friend. You make a far more compelling argument than Ellenah ever did," Melan replied, almost casting them an approving smile. However her worries were too great to allow it to show.
"So, does this mean you'll help us?" asked Kaitlyn.
"Indeed it does. Anthieyah, I want you to go to the town well and spread the word to everyone you meet. Tell them I have an announcement to make and I want everyone to be there. So be sure that they spread the word too whomever they meet," Melan instructed as she stood up.
"Yes ma'am." Anthieyah answered and turned to leave. "Well come on you lot, you heard her, we've got to go spread the word," she said to the others. Taken aback by her sudden act of authority they looked at each other strangely and followed behind her.
The group filled out of the Brown-house and onto the streets where they went on to the center of town where a well was constructed for everyone to access. It was in the middle of a large open space within the confines of the buildings and was filled with a good deal of woman passing by and collecting water for their homes. They split up, going to different areas of the place and began to spread the word. Sharing the news with everyone they met.
"What does Melan even have to do before she gets here?" asked Kris as he moved over to Anthieyah after the place had completely cleared of everyone. They had all stopped what they were doing to pass the word on so all would hear.
"She simply needs to get ready to make a speech to the whole town."
"I guess so. But what could she possibly have on such short notice. There's no time to write anything down."
"She needs her special robes that reminds all of her authority and must wear it during any situations such as this." Anthieyah continued. "As for the speech, she is most adept to inspiring the people with little time to prepare."
"Ah. A tradition thing," replied Kris not bothering to ask what she needed the robes for.
"Besides, she has more time than you may realize. It will take a while for most of the town to assemble," Anthieyah pointed out.
"Fair point."
"I personally am curious as to what she will be saying," said Arnold joining them.
"Yeah, I would say that is interesting all of us. Don't worry though, we'll find out soon enough," Kaitlyn replied as she joining up with them. "Looks like we've got the well to ourselves now," she said smiling, but quickly cleared her throat when none of the others laughed.
The four of them stood by the well and after a short time watched as women began to fill the area. As they started to appear, many of the warriors had come in with wood and quickly put together a stage where they had Kris and Anthieyah step onto to stand and wait there for their leader. The stage was about a foot high and about ten, twelve feet wide. It was thrown together with great speed, but seemed rather stable. Though in his armor Kris rather wanted to be off it as soon as possible as it would creak with his every movement. This resulted in him remaining as still as possible.
After Nearly half an hour, many people had gathered. It looked like most the town had already come. Kris wanted to say there were more than he suspected, but then he did know the town was the size of his hometown in Saskatchewan, which had a population of nine to ten thousand.
A couple minutes later Melan came towards them, she was now wearing a fine red robe and in her hand was some kind of staff. There wasn't anything particularly special about it. It was just a long fairly straight stick with some colorful rocks embedded in it near the top with some feathers of brilliant colors tied just beneath them.
"Indian or witch doctor comes to mind," Arnold whispered to Kaitlyn.
Kaitlyn only chuckled a bit, doing her best to keep her amusement to herself.
Kris standing on the stage with Melan noticed that many in the crown were looking at him. Probably wondering what the heck he was wearing and what he was doing up there. It was probably the first time the people looked at him for a reason other than him being a guy. He had been stared at by some of them while walking through town, however this was different. He was on a stage right in their view. He felt he was on display. It made him rather uncomfortable with all the eyes upon him. He wondered how women handled fashion shows. He felt like he was being judged.
Melan stepped up. Two woman warriors followed behind her, taking up a position to her right and left at the back of the stage. She looked over the crowd for a moment then addressed them in a voice that projected strongly that it reverberated over the entire area loud and clear.
"Woman, as you know, for the longest of time I have done my best to avoid a conflict with the vorlixx. I have ignored their random attacks on lonely people and let them take them away, but no more. I recently received some advice and I believe that in order not to be bullied, sometimes one has to fight back. Otherwise they will only continue to walk all over us. So I say to you, are we going to just sit back and let the vorlixx walk all over us, or are we going to stand up and show them that we will not be pushed around like a branch in their way. I say it's time we snapped the branch back at them."
There was a murmur of agreement throughout the crowd. Anthieyah cast Kris a glance when Melan used his quote. He couldn't help but crack a smile himself, despite his feeling that he needed to be stone cold like a soldier right now.
"A friend has been taken by the vorlixx. I intend to go after her. I am looking for volunteers who will go with me and show the vorlixx a thing or two. This is to be a full on attack." Melan finished. "When we are finished, I hope to leave behind the knowledge that we are no longer a mere toy that they can play with at their leisure."
She looked at the crowd. At first there was no show of hands. Then slowly but surely some started to go up. As more went up, more followed and were raised faster. Within a few minutes over half the crowd had their hands held forward above them in a fashion far more simlilar to a nazi salute than a simple raised hand.
"That's what I wanted to see. Those of you who have volunteered get your hunting equipment and other such weapons and prepare to move out within the next two hours," Melan told them. "Those of you who have no weapons of their own go to your neighbors and borrow theirs."
The woman immediately began dispersing to go to their homes to retrieve their weapons mostly used for hunting or ceremonial purposes. While they did, Kris, Kaitlyn, Arnold, and Anthieyah stood on the stage with Malen and watched them go
"From what I've been told about the vorlixx, do you think even with all these people, you can fight them off?" asked Arnold.
"Considering the fact that this was your idea, I would have thought you'd be more sure of this," answered Melan. "But yes. The vorlixx live in a pack and they can't range in numbers more than a few dozen. Besides, we do not need to wipe them from existence, but cause them enough damage that they'll think twice before attack any of us again."
"Oh, that few? Somehow I expected there to be more of them to be considered such a threat," said Arnold.
"We've never encountered more than a handful at a time, indicating that they only have a small number."
"Uh ma'am," Anthieyah interrupted.
"Yes Anthieyah."
"Well, during my captivity, I did make one very big discovery, that I had forgotten about till now. There are easily more than a few dozen." she said a little nervously. Not surprising considering what was at stake.
"Just how many were there?" asked Melan giving her secretary a stern gaze that would send a cat scurrying.
"The place they brought me was filled with them," Anthieyah answered her voice growing ever quieter.
"It's true, I was there to," said Kris.
"And you want me to just charge in there, why did you not mention this before? Vorlixx are ten times more dangerous than any one worrier."
"Well, I figured you already knew," answered Anthieyah her voice very low. A girl who had just been struck for poor behavior.
"They've never been attacked by us before. It's always the other way around," Kris replied. "We should hold the advantage catching them off guard like this."
"I didn't know," replied Melan not taking her eye of Anthieyah. "While that is true. It's been our superior intellect that has probably kept us from already being wiped out. They are much faster and stronger than we are, that even with our superior numbers we can fall. So unless we coordinate our efforts, our victory will be far from a success. This is why I tried to never get in a conflict with them. If they ever saw us as a real enemy, as well as a food source, they would no doubt come at us with full numbers and wipe out most of us."
"If the vorlixx are what you say they are, then an all out attack is inevitable. The best you can do is prepare and attack them before they come here," Kris replied. "Might as well use the element of surprise while you still can."
Malen looked out past the town, to the trees in the distance. "I just hope I haven't made a big mistake."