Law of Kanya
Episode 1: The Family Secret
By Josh Buckby

Chapter 1

A sheepish smile dawned across a young girls’ face as she sat expectantly in her bed, favourite plush toy cuddled tight. Though she might easily appear it, sleeping was the last thing on her mind. The bashful look was one she’d become accustomed to making at her brother in awkward moments. For the first time all week, he’d walked into her room without a bedtime story in his hands, which could only mean one of two things.
Her smile would, under normal circumstances, break the tension. Somehow, things seemed different this time. With a sigh, the young girl propped up against her window and peered out to the world outside. It should have been a very cold night ahead, according to the TV. The kind of frigid night Kelly Houston hated so much, forcing her into an early bedtime just to keep her fingers and toes warm and toasty.
Instead it had grown oddly humid. A thunderstorm had taken her neighbourhood by surprise tonight. In Kelly’s tiny little corner of it, the houses were blanketed in layers of brown downpour. The street below her window was nearly invisible behind it, and a children’s playground she often visited just across the road had turned into little more then a muddy pool filled with lumps of colourful, misshaped plastic.
Far off into the distance, the Chicago skyline was a bright orange pastel mixed with hazed streetlamps and the foggy glare of skyscraper windows towering above. The towers lit up in full every so often with a boom and a bright flash, standing out like giant black monoliths. Fortunately, Kelly had never been scared of storms. It had been drilled into her from a very young age that those menacing booms were little more then clouds rubbing against each-other. She was, however, dreading the almost inevitable black-out they could suffer at any minute.
“It’s pretty out there tonight, isn’t it?” her brother mused.
“Yeah!” she squealed. “You should see those big towers! Sometimes they light up the rain, and it’s so heavy it looks like an enormous wave crashing against them! Sploosh!” Kelly made the sound effects and waved her hands in applause. Her brother continued to smile, slyly and silently.
He had clearly never bothered to take a shower after getting home that afternoon. His slick black hair was a wet and mattered disaster and his clothes, a bright red college jacket and jeans, were still damp from the downpour. It wasn’t like him to let simple things like that get him down, though.
“Is there no storybook tonight, Sam?” she asked, grinning and raising her eyebrow. “Does that mean ‘Sir Samedi the Gallant’ has returned to his kingdom?” He lowered his head as she said it, which seemed to unfortunately dash her hopes.
“I suppose that means I’m in trouble?” she deduced. The other possibility. “Look, if I broke one of Evan’s toys in his cupboard, just remember he locked me in there! I say he deserves it…”
“Whoa, easy sis!” Sam hushed her, glancing down the hall. “We’ll just keep that one to ourselves, shall we? Besides, mum won’t let me be that messenger anymore! No way, Kelly. She knows I’ve let you off the hook way too many times.”
The young girl giggled to herself and clapped her hands melodramatically to her face. “Oh no, she knows our secret! What ever will we do?”
“I don’t know… behave?” Sam asked, raising a disbelieving eyebrow of his own. “Eat your veggies, finish homework and stay in bed when told to?”
“Nuh-uh!” Kelly teased. “I’d miss out on the fun stuff that way!”
“Well, don’t fret then. ‘Sir Samedi’ is back for another wild adventure.”
“Really?” she squeaked.
Sam won her attention back with a wink. “Then his princess Kalina, with her flowing gold hair and dress awaits his court.” She stood up on the bed covers and curtseyed with her nightgown.
They were referring to a series of little make-believe bedtime stories the two had taken to heart. Sam had sprung it on her one night, and in no time at all it had bloomed into a habit. He would narrate while also playing Samedi, the white knight hero. Kelly was princess Kalina, full time fair maiden whose kingdom was often under attack. Not that she minded so long as her dashing knight was there to play rescuer.
She had thought it would be torturously embarrassing the first time, when her brother leapt into the part and introduced her role. She’d played along under embarrassing protest. Then, when he’d introduced the villains, Kelly had fallen off the bed and thumped her head laughing so hard. The evil wizard from the fiery north, and his bumbling manservant come to steal their love away… Barry and Bob.
She couldn’t stop laughing as he turned his overbearing bosses into the ultimate villains. Barry and Bob Strickland were contract builders her brother had, until very recently, been in an apprenticeship to. They were always working him to the bone and keeping them apart. They deserved every moment, and it was priceless.
Of course, that had all been the first story, and it had ended with the prompt banishment of the two from their kingdom. She couldn’t wait to see what his next one was going to be, or where it would take them.
“Well actually,” Sam began as she eagerly listened. “Sir Samedi walked into the court tonight to find the whole royal procession awake, led by King Douglas the Doughnut Scoffer himself! Have I mentioned he often wanted to name the kingdom Cakeoterria, if not for his daughter and queen Jade’s combined efforts?”
Kelly giggled aloud, wondering what her dad would think if he knew about his role in their pretend stories. “And rightly so!” she added in a snobby voice. “If the future ruler is just going to change it back anyway, why should he name it after something so immature?”
“Incidentally,” Sam began, frowning in uncertainty and smiling in expectation all at once. “What exactly were you going to name the kingdom when ruler?”
Kelly put on her biggest smile. “Why “Ponytopia”, of course!”
“Oh no-ho-hoooooo…” Sam hung his head and wailed. “What terrible Monarchy have I aided the creation of here?”
“You will do well to speak with dignity and honour to the future queen of Ponytopia, Sir Samedi!” Kelly snapped, pointing and ordering with an authority all her own. Neither one could hide their smiles. Sam tried to take back control before Kelly, he feared, would start discussing her politics or policies for such a frightful place.
“Queen Jade was there too, and also Kalina.” Sam went on. “They all glanced down from their thrones, a puzzling expression on their faces.” Kelly played along, though she didn’t have to try hard to come up with a genuinely puzzled expression.
“And one other was present…Samedi approached and saw what Kalina and the court were so astounded by. There was a furry little creature, only about as high as a child, standing with pleading eyes beside her throne!”
He looked frantically around the room before his eyes shot back to her, and the colourful little thing still clutched tightly at her side. “I don’t suppose I could borrow ‘Benjamin’, please?” he pleaded, clearing his throat.
Kelly realized what he was planning and groaned a little at the prospect. “Really?” she mumbled, looking at her blueberry coloured puppy dog before giving a long drawn out “Okay. If you really gotta…”
As she handed him her toy, Sam smiled and retreated below her bed. A moment later, Benjamin popped up and guided by Sam’s hands knelt beside her bed… er, that is… throne. Kelly rolled her eyes but happily played along, acting very noble and urging Benjamin to rise.
“Um… welcome to our kingdom!” she stammered. “May I ask why a… what is he supposed to be?”
“Good point, what he is’ gonna need a good, cool sounding name…” Sam said, popping his head up. He gave it a little thought. “How about ‘Kanyan’?”
“Kanyan?” Kelly giggled. “Why that? What is it?”
“Just a word I made up. You know, kinda sounds like lycan?” Sam added, turning him over. “Lycanthrope? Werewolf?”
Kelly snatched Benjamin back as the confusion faded away, making odd looks at Sam. “Excuse me?! My Benjamin is not playing some mean, spit drooling werewolf!”
“Well of course he’s not!” Sam explained further and smiled. “He’s playing a noble and proud warrior of the Kanyan race!”
Kelly just couldn’t imagine her cute little puppy in the role no matter how hard she tried, but she begrudgingly handed him back and allowed her brother to continue anyway. “Well Mr. um, Kanyan - May I ask why you have come?”
“Oh great princess Kalina,” Sam answered in the most youthful, innocent voice he could muster for her toy. “I have fled from a land far, far away in the hopes of finding a knight brave enough to save us. In our home, an evil dark lord has appeared, and is ruling our kind without mercy! Every day we slave to his every whim.”
“That’s so terrible!” Kelly scowled. “Can you do nothing to stop him?”
“We have tried to fight back, but in vain.” the puppy answered. “He has a ferocious dragon, a magical sword and an army of merciless barbarians!”
“Oh yes, these two make us do horrible, horrible things like toil in a mine, and hide in deep dark haunted forests. It would seem your kingdom, and its greatest knight, are unaffected, and our only hope…”
Kelly raised her arm. “Then I shall send…”
“Just then!...” Sam suddenly roared, leaping up and tossing Benjamin onto the bed. “There was a flash of light and the Kanyan was tossed at the foot of her throne! Beside Kalina was a fearsome black warrior with a fiery sword!”
Even though it was pretend, Kelly gasped and found herself unable to resist peeking for the ferocious knight. “Was it Barry?!” she shouted, albeit all the terror she conveyed was sucked out at the mere mention of his name.
“It couldn’t be, for Barry had been banished!” Her brother answered. “Never to hound Kalina again! No, this was some other foe! And before Samedi could rush to her side, there was a second blinding flash! Kalina had vanished as the dark knight withdrew his sword. And sitting on the throne…”
“Yes?” Kelly whimpered. “What happened to the princess?”
“Kalina was gone… The knight had turned her into nothing more then a harmless, furry little creature!”
“Wh… WHAT?” Kelly stammered, leaping back against her window. “You mean I’m a Kanyan now too?”
Sam snickered. He’d known the sudden twist would make her recoil. “I wouldn’t worry too much. You’re the cutest one imaginable! You have long curly hair and a big bushy tail with a bow in it!”
Kelly tried to imagine it for herself, her tiny little body being all cute, cuddly and fuzzy like Benjamin. It made her skin tingle. “But this sorta thing only happens to princes!” she snapped. “It’s princesses who break the spell, Sam!”
“Guess mom hasn’t let you see Swan Lake yet, eh?” Sam snickered.
Realising her brother wasn’t going to retake the dilemma, Kelly grumbled to herself. “Well great – This can’t get any worse.”
“Well, ugh…”
“SAM!”
He leapt back into it before she could press a moment further. “Obviously the whole court was aghast, but they had little time for it all to sink in. As Samedi watched, the mysterious black knight held the flaming sword out to him! I am Morlock, Lord of the Kanyan lands! If you ever want to see your princess returned to her true form, then seek me out, gallant knight! We shall have a duel, to test your might and virtue!”
He wrapped his arm around Kelly just so and started laughing manically. She flailed, as she imagined any princess turned into a cute little critter would. “No! No please! You have to come and save me! You’re my only hope, Samedi!”
She leaned up to his ear. “I did get away, right?”
Sam tugged on his collar.
“Samedi leapt at the evil knight and the young girl, but he wasn’t fast enough. With another blinding flash, the princess and the dark knight vanished.”
“Oh no…” she whimpered. “I’m his prisoner! What happens next?”
Sam grabbed her toy again. “The Kanyan wandered over to Samedi’s side. I was afraid something like this would happen, he gasped. Morlock knew you would never turn us down, and has come to strike a blow before you could come to our aid!”
“Mission accomplished.” Kelly grumbled, doing her best to offset the dreary mood. “I know it’s just pretend but I don’t like being a werewolf!”
“Then I’d best get to rescuing you immediately, eh?” Sam added. “Very well, Samedi told the Kanyan. I shall travel to your lands, and seek out this evil Morlock to restore my princess. He shall pay for his evil ways!”
Eager to speed up her rescue, Kelly snatched Benjamin back. “I can help you!” she explained, waving him around. “I know a spell that can transport us to my home immediately. Take my paw, and let’s go!”
Sam snickered at her ingenuity, and did as he was told. “Very well Benjamin! Onward, to glory! Princess Kalina will be mine again!… On Friday night.”
“Yeah, We… Oh nooooo!” she gasped long and loud. “You didn’t! you aren’t…”
“Sorry Princess…” Sam snickered. “To be continued…” Kelly felt like she honestly should’ve seen this coming.
“Awwwww…” she groaned, throwing her head back. “You mean I have to be stuck like that until you come back on Friday? No fair!”
“Aw, I didn’t mean it like that!” he grinned, hugging her. “It just seemed appropriate! Come on, cheer up! It’ll all come good then, won’t it?”
That little reminder was already making her forget all about her alter ego’s troubles, her mind anxiously drifting to that day. Sam’s contract was coming to an end that very week, which meant he’d be back to stay in Chicago again. She couldn’t wait for that moment, and now, this story would be the icing on the cake.
“I’ll get dad to make a huge dinner and we’ll get you to sleep over that night. But we won’t actually sleep of course! We’ll stay up late and play games and watch movies, and finish the story together!” She already had the whole evening planned out in her imagination.
“Not if I say anything about it, little missy!” a stern female voice cut in.
Kelly and Sam suddenly realised their mother had been leaning against her door for the better half of the story, but she had a cross look on her face.
“That wasn’t a very nice thing to let happen to your princess, either!” she scowled at Sam, causing him to blush. “Come on, it’s a fantasy! I have to do a kidnapped maiden story! It’s an obligation! Tradition!”
“Maybe so, but everyone knows she wouldn’t be turned into a little puppy by such an evil wizard…”
“I… wouldn’t?” Kelly asked nervously.
“Of course not!” her mother laughed. “You’d be a cutesy-wutesy little mousy like Toby!”
“Rat, mom.” Kelly rolled her eyes and corrected her sharply. “Toby’s a rat. You checked that dad didn’t sneak any mousetraps out, right?”
“Every night, three times over before bed.” her mom chuckled. “Speaking of, it’s eight-o-clock now Kelly. Time for you to check in.”
“Awwww please?” she cried out again. “We wanna play some more!”

“No, eight is definitely lights out time for you!” Sam added in their mothers defence. “No arguing out of it this time!”
“Samedi, you big traitor!”
Sam laughed, wrestling playfully with her for a moment before finally calming her down and settling her into her bed. She slumped down on her pillow, her long brown hair uncurling around it. “Stay the night.” she pleaded further. “Please? You can sleep on the couch! Mum and dad won’t mind, will you?”
She glanced at her mother, who only shrugged. Sam kissed her forehead as she cuddled her plush toy. “No I’ve gotta go. I’ll be back tomorrow, I promise. And when I stick it to Barry and Bob on Friday, I’ll let you know all the juicy details.”
“Oh, I really can’t wait! I love you so much for this.”
“Right back at ya. Goodnight.”
“Night, Sam.”
Of course, she’d already reserved other plans in her head. Pulling the covers up, Kelly only pretended to go to sleep as Sam walked to the door. “That was a surprisingly hammy performance, even for you.” her mother chuckled.
Kelly peeked through the rugs, only to find Sam smiling back at her. “You’d do no less in my position.” he said softly. “She needs the assurance right now… Hey, I can see you missy!”
Giggling, Kelly retreated playfully under the blanket, just long enough for the voices to dim as they shuffled away from her door. “Yeah, I’ll be back around four tomorrow. I wish I could be here sooner, but with the contract ending, Bob’s men are being rough on me again. You know how they get.”
“Is it true? Did you really argue out of the contract with them?”
“I meant every word, mom. Four more days and they’re history!”
“Hey, aren’t you going to tell your baby brother too?”
“Evan? Hmph - like he would really care.”
She could hear their voices become muffled and distant. Kelly settled Benjamin down on her pillow and, tossing the rugs back, she jumped out of the bed and crept into the hall. At once she was like a ninja, stealthily gliding against one wall and bobbing and weaving between lamp lights.
Evan, the youngest of her siblings’ room, was just across from hers. Getting past him unnoticed wasn’t going to be an issue; He was sitting on the carpet in his pyjamas, bathed in the soft glow of his TV, eyes glued to the screen like a zombie.
She rolled her eyes and followed Sam’s voice as he made his way down to the first floor of their house. Kelly approached the railing beside her parents’ bedroom at the end of the hall, and trained her ears for some sign of noise from below. At the bottom of the staircase and to the immediate left was the garage. Kelly knew Sam would be close. He was storing his jeep in there and she couldn’t imagine him leaving without it in this weather.
“So where are you going after the hotel?” her mothers’ voice drifted up from below. “You know the spare room’s packed? I don’t think you can stay here.”
The two suddenly wandered in from the lounge room, and Kelly ducked against the rafters.
“I figured.” Sam answered. “It’s okay, I’ll line up some apartment somewhere close. Not going to be difficult with my resume. Hey, just where is dad?”
He waved his hand at the room they’d just come from, and their mother took a bewildered glance inside.
“Good question. Wait, has he gone gallivanting off to clean the spare room out for you? Doug, if you are…”
She looked and shouted upstairs, nearly catching Kelly in her line of sight. The little girl thudded against the wall and held her breath.
“Hey, if dad did, it had nothing to do with me!” Sam shrugged.
“I should hope not!” her mother said crossly. “Oh, and are you leaving right now? We’re not going to find you in there at three in the morning again, are we?”
“No, no!” Sam protested, rolling out his words embarrassingly. Kelly paused in confusion; why was her mother talking so harshly? There must have been a night where Sam stayed later then usual, and got caught out by their parents, but she still wasn’t used to her mother ordering him around like that.
“I let a few drinks get to me that night!” he explained, scratching his head in a guilty fashion. “Lost track of time. I’ll just do a bit of work on the jeep and I’ll be gone.”
Her mother hadn’t lightened up. “Sam, it’s not that I don’t trust you, but this is all very sudden. Anyone would think you were up to something!”
“Hey now, don’t talk like that!” Sam frowned, reaching out and hugging her tenderly. “Don’t do that to me. I’m not about to get on your bad side now. Kelly would never forgive me!”
“I hope not, Sam. I really do.”
She waited and watched her mother wander back into the kitchen, before making her move. Her only intention as she’d pursued Sam was the slight hopes of weaselling the rest of the story out of him. Except now, she was wondering if her mother was right. If Sam was planning something, there was only one thing she could think of.
He’d done it once before; nearly broken her heart when he did. This was something she had to know for sure…
“Sam?”
Her brother saw her creeping down the stairs. “Kelly, you’re outta bed?” he whispered, gritting his teeth. “After I just said before… If mum catches you, we’ll never hear the end of it!”
She ran forward and grabbed hold of his legs, the only thing she could reach for a hug at her age. “I don’t want you to go away again.” she said softly, and tugged on his jeans. “Promise me you won’t!”
“What do you mean? We just spoke about this…”
He looked down sheepishly, but it didn’t take long to figure out what she was so worried about. Sam knelt down and placed his hands on her shoulders. “Oh Kelly, I’m not going to take another job so soon! I wouldn’t do that to you!”
“You said that last time.” she frowned. “And then those two made you stay away for months and months... I don’t want that again.”
“Those two deceitful little… yeah, I know.” Kelly could feel his fingers clench against her soft skin. He could mock Barry and Bob all he wanted, but deep down she knew he hated their methods almost as much as she did. “If I had my way, those two morons would be on the other side of the universe!”
Her smile crept back. “I promise, okay?” he said solemnly. “It’ll be a long time before I get back into any contract business. And when I do, it most definitely won’t be with those two bozos. Does that sound fair?”
“I guess so,” she mumbled. “I’m sorry.”
“No, I… I suppose I deserve it.” he smiled, rising back to his feet. “I walked out on you last time but it won’t happen again, I swear to it. Do you need me to take you back to your room?”
“I’m not scared!” Kelly pouted. “Except maybe of magical black knights who kidnap fair maidens and turn them into puppies! Oh, can’t you tell me anything more?”
“Well… no, it’s best I save it till Friday, isn’t it?” he stammered.
She hung her head and sniffled, making Sam gulp and reconsider, lest she bawl her way back to bed. “Okay okay, one more thing. Spoilers but… I’m thinking of making this story be your adventure, not mine this time!”
“R… Really?”
“Uh-uh! And that’s all you’re going to whittle outta me till Friday.”
“Oh alright.” she said glumly, and shrugged.
“Okay then my brave little princess. Head on up. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Night, Sam!” she smiled, and started towards her room.
“Don’t go having any bad dreams on my account, okay?” he added, and marched back into the garage.”
“I won’t!” she squeaked back. “It takes a lot to scare me anymore…”
She had tempted fate, and no sooner had she spoken that she heard an odd noise. A sharp crackling. It was the kind of noise her brothers’ drill made when it hit metal and sent sparks flying, but surely he wouldn’t be doing something like that at this time of night?
With an uncertain frown, she turned back to the door. “Sam? Are you alright in there?”
“Yeah, sure!” her brother mumbled quickly. “Go on up, kiddo.”
Brushing her curiosity back and hoping it was just Sam mucking around with his tools, she turned and attempted to put her foot on the stairs. At once, there it was again – a rough crackling and zapping that sent a chill down her spine.
She peeked through the railing, catching a glimpse of the door, and there was a bright flash from inside. A flash, and strange electrical sounds? Was it the storm, perhaps? No, before the flash, she was certain she had seen real sparks flooding out of the garage.
“Sam?” Kelly asked, a lot less confident then before. “Are you there?”
This time, there was no answer.
“Sam…” she quivered. “Okay, it turns out I am scared. Sam?”
The empty silence from her brother made Kelly start to shake like a leaf. She jumped clean off the ground at a sudden flash of lightning, booming thunder shaking the rivets of the house a few seconds after. Still, she was certain what she’d heard was distinctly different.
Her eyes adjusted after the flash, and mustering all the courage she could, Kelly crept toward the door. The faint glow of an eerie blue light began to seep out as she neared, like some unseen monster waiting to clutch her. With every step she took, she shook. She knew, after all, she was only a little girl with nothing but her pink nightgown for protection, and no idea what she was walking into.
“Uh… Hello…” she heard her brother mumble, very nearly inaudible. Thinking it was to her, she was about to open her mouth when a completely unfamiliar voice filled the garage. “Oh it’s you again. Why have you contacted me this time? Do you wish to take me up on my offer?”
“Yeah. Honestly, I don’t have much of a choice…”
The blue light was just about bathing the front of her body, and it was clear now something foul was up. What was it, and just who was that strange voice? It sounded friendly enough but was distorted, as if the person had a speaker up to their mouth. Tilting her head, she peered into the room and called out.
“Sam? Bro? Are you…”
Sam stood stiff like a soldier in front of his jeep, having yet to acknowledge her. Kelly lost the courage to speak or even move as she realised what was waiting for her beyond the doorway.
In front of her brothers’ car was a giant wall of light – a brilliant, dazzling blue. It looked just like a whirlpool, swirling and sinking into itself, like a door opening to another place or time. However, it wasn’t so much what was waiting on the other side that made her gasp, as what had already come through…
Against the blue was a grey, slender shape that towered over her and her brother. It was a blur, but it didn’t look human in the least. In fact, to be perfectly frank it looked like… like a vacuum cleaner! Kelly wanted to laugh, wanted to giggle aloud at the sight of it but was far too baffled.
She gasped softly, but just enough to draw their attention. Sam swung around, a practically horrified look on his face to see her there.
“Kelly…!”
The blur was rising, getting bigger and taller. Before she could discern what the shape really was, Kelly was forced to shield her eyes. The worst thing she could have possibly hoped for struck as she stepped away, and with a mighty screech the lights all throughout the house flickered and died. Lightning had struck and darkness engulfed her, but the portal, the alien figure and her brother remained.
It was the last thing she saw, frozen like a photograph, before Kelly’s little mind reeled… What in the world was going on?!