The Lord of the Plains (53 page)

Riley’s turn.

She shook his hand. He held on to it for a
moment.

‘So, do all the girls in Astar look like
you?’

There was something about the way he was
holding her hand, something in his tone and the way he looked at
her that made Riley feel suddenly ill.

Peitar.

‘She’s a gemeng.’ Alann said in that hard
way of his.

‘Really! Wow, best looking gemeng I’ve ever
seen! Hey, why don’t I show you around Coastside? I know this great
little place to eat, I know the food in the Blocks sucks-’

‘No.’ Riley nearly shouted. She backed away
so fast she bumped into Gepis, who was sitting next to her.

Crestfallen, his smile vanished.

Before he could say anything Alann said to
the squad. ‘Depraved wasn’t the half of it. We have a lot of work
to do here.’

Lunch didn’t go any better.

Riley watched in disbelieving shock as men
came up and offered to show her around Coastside. Then when she
said no,
another
came up.

Gepis had a sick look to his face. Leili’s
expression changed between outrage and horror. Captain Turis merely
looked determined.

‘I’m a
gemeng
.’ Riley said weakly for
the umpteenth time. What was
wron
g with these people? She
couldn’t eat. Peitar’s face, sickened by her unintended deception,
swam before her eyes.

‘Do you have scales?’ the current one asked
levelly. ‘Because if you have scales, you need to tell me now.’

Riley stared at him.

‘Is that a yes? Ok, where are they? Are we
talking big scales, little ones?’

‘She’s not going out with you.’ Alann
interrupted, his face dark.

‘Wasn’t asking you.’

‘Go away.’ Riley said, ‘just go away.’

As soon as he turned to leave another man
had jumped up, ready to come take his place.

That night Riley ate dinner in her room. She
couldn’t handle any more attention today. She just considered
herself lucky she wasn’t staying in the dormitories.

Alann brought her dinner. He thought it was
a good idea she spend the night inside too.

‘We have a lot of work to do here.’ was all
he said as he left.

Chapter 40

Vann heard about the arrivals from Astar
from nearly everyone he ran into that day.

He hadn’t met them, didn’t want to.

So while those who were excused from the
gemeng demonstration due to injuries still showed up to gawk at the
new arrivals, Vann was busy by the bay. He didn’t feel the need to
see an Astarian gemeng fight the submariners. How stupid was that?
As if they didn’t know about gemengs in Coastside. It was a
joke.

Right now he was leaning against the
railing, his gaze locked on Dr Ralis’ villa.

It didn’t look any different.

The fact that the Astarians had gone in last
night and evicted Dr Ralis and his daughter and confiscated all
their possessions, well, you couldn’t tell from here.

Chapter 41

‘She shot me down.’ Gavann said to Vann over
a cool glass of beer. ‘Well, I mean, she shot everyone down, so I
don’t feel so bad.’

Gavann had not been injured in the Molk
attack but due to the lack of submarines he and most of Vann’s
submates were on shore duty.

‘Hmm.’

‘You should’ve come watch the demo.’

‘You’re not serious.’

‘Yeah, it’s stupid. But I’ve never seen a
girl like her.’

‘We’re talking about the gemeng?’

‘Yeah, no, the Astar girl just looks like
all the other girls, pretty, but,’ he shrugged, ‘thinks we’re all
depraved, so not going near her. But this one has hair darker than
Azra’s! And these really green eyes! And a gemeng! Have you ever
been with a gemeng? No! No one has!’

‘Please, don’t mention Azra. And uh, Gavi, I
wouldn’t want to go out with any of the gemengs around here.’

‘Yeah, but she only has a few scales, Feilin
said.’

They stopped talking and looked up at a
commotion near the entrance.

‘That’s them!’

Vann saw a group of four. A big, brown
haired guy with a face like a brick. And… that must be the gemeng
he thought.

She was standing near the back of the group,
glaring at everyone. That was a very vehement, stay away from me
kind of glare.

The brick faced guy was talking. ‘So this is
what you do with your time.’ his voice carried over the crowded
patio of
The Porpoise
and out into the night.

Vann wasn’t paying a lot of attention. Hair
as black as night. True black, not dark brown, swept back from her
face. It was long, a wavy fall of blackness that reached past her
shoulders. As he looked more closely his eyes widened. Black? Black
was a pale word to describe that colour. It was… it was
alive
. There was no way to describe the strangeness, inhuman
otherness that was that colour. It was something else masquerading
as black. He squeezed his eyes shut and opened them again, trying
to clear them. What did that feel like? Would it feel like hair? Or
would it be something else? Something as other in touch as it was
in look? And then the colour seemed to shift and hide, become more
human. He stared at it hard. Had he imagined that? As he looked the
sense he was looking at something inhuman came back. He shook his
head. He moved his eyes elsewhere.
Maybe it’s just because I’ve
never seen black hair before.
He moved his eyes to her face and
had to hook his heels around the chair legs. What was hiding in her
hair shone from her face. Her skin was white. You didn’t see white
skin in Coastside often. You had to be dedicated to
not
get
a tan in Coastside. But it was not white like Mr Geiba’s or
brickface’s though. He felt a strange awe deep inside as he looked
at her. If the essence of life could be forced into one colour or
face it had been done here. She was not human. You could not for a
second look at this woman and think she was human. Humans paled
beside her. Humans looked like ghosts beside her. How could such
perfectly white skin seem to shine with life? It made a strange
contrast with such black hair. But not a contrast. They were the
same. In all that mattered, her black hair and white skin were the
same. That was how it was supposed to be.

‘Vann.’ Someone was talking but Vann didn’t
hear. There was something unsettling about her. But at the same
time… something in him wanted to get closer. Would she feel the
same as a human? Surely she couldn’t. It would have to be something
else.

She moved like nothing he’d ever seen. As
different as the rest of her. As easy as liquid. Movement suited
her. And then when she paused to glare a little longer at someone
he realised stillness suited her as well. Whatever state she chose
to take, when she took it he could not imagine her ever doing
anything else. She was a part of the world in a way the other
people in this room weren’t. As if she lived here and they were
just visiting.

And to see her
fight
.

Something in him flip-flopped.

It was almost a little scary to imagine this
creature fighting.

‘
Vann
!’ Gavann hissed in his ear
again.

Gavann was well aware Vann was ignoring him.
His friend had his eyes glued to the gemeng girl.

Gavann kicked Vann under the table. He
had
to hear this!

That was enough to snap him out of it. Vann
was almost relieved, actually. He shook his head and gave Gavann
his attention. ‘What?’ he asked.

‘Listen!’

Brick face had been talking all along, Vann
realised. As soon as he turned his attention back to the Astarians
the gemeng had his attention.

And it was still there. All those thoughts
were still there.

And then she looked at him.

He felt a jolt. He shivered.

Her eyes were green, he realised. Gavann had
mentioned that. He was too far to see clearly.

What would he see in her eyes? The same as
he’d seen in every other aspect of her?

Then she turned away.

Brick face had stopped talking.

And just like that she walked away.

Vann didn’t move. He felt like all the air
had been knocked out of him. He couldn’t move.

‘Can you believe those guys! Depraved? What
the hell does that mean anyway? The gemeng was nice, though,
right?’

‘Right.’ Vann answered, and he downed the
rest of his beer. ‘Right.’

The next morning Vann went to the
demonstration.

All the submariners in Coastside at the
moment were gathered in an open space in the Blocks. The ground was
bricked and there were a few trees around, shading the buildings.
They stopped the dorms from getting too hot in summer.

The submariners were gathered in a loose
semicircle. Opposite them were the three human Astarians. In the
middle was the gemeng, looking as pleased to be there as she had
last night.

When Vann looked at her he realised he was
much closer than last night. What he saw from afar last night hit
him like a sledgehammer this morning.

‘Everyone who is not injured will fight the
gemeng. Every day. Until you learn proper fear.’ Captain Turis
announced. Not everyone had fought yesterday as the Astarians had
arrived too late in the morning. Most of the submariners had
already left by the time they arrived.

Vann jerked his eyes from the gemeng to
Captain Turis. It took more effort than he cared to acknowledge. He
felt a prick of intense dislike for the man. The submariners
did
fear gemengs. They knew all too well what they were
capable of. They just didn’t let that control them. This Astarian
fool had
no idea
.

And then his eyes belonged to her again.
What was her name? She was travelling with them, surely they knew
her name. Why not use it?