The Lord of the Plains (65 page)

‘Yes.’ he agreed, ‘But they can’t. You
needn’t worry about that Riley, you’re perfectly safe.’

Riley didn’t respond. That didn’t help.
Idly, Riley wondered what part of her would make it to a necklace.
There was a heavy, oppressive feel to this place. The fear was
hidden, in a way. But it was there, under the snarls and taunts.
Friends, family, none of that meant anything. A moment of weakness,
a moment of truth, and it was all over. Your mother would rip you
apart and leave you to the wolves. She wondered for a moment if
they could be anything else. And then she remembered herself. If
she
, who was stronger than all of them, couldn’t be
different and a part of their society, what hope did any of them
have?

Since that night Riley was less discreet in
her forays into the gemeng’s camp. She didn’t want to hide and
cower from monsters like Reklash. So she began going into the camp
during day time again. The children still bothered her, the adults
were still disgusted by her. But it made living here easier for
her. Rocks and taunts were easier for her to deal with than
fear.

At the moment Riley was not quite in the
camp. She was just past the edge, where the grasses had not been
flattened down. Her back was to the camp. Her senses focussed on
the world beyond- the sounds of bugs, animals, wind, the sound of
blades of grass rubbing against one another. It wasn’t quite as
relaxing as looking into a forest, though it was much better than
looking into the camp.

‘You waste your time patrolling!’

Riley nearly jumped. Startled, she turned.
It was Gakra. He was big and brawny and had an aura of command
around him. Perhaps command wasn’t the right word. Gemengs were
very careful around him. No one questioned his authority. Riley
could almost smell the fear, so carefully hidden, whenever he was
around. Two gemengs stood behind him. All three of them wore a
collection of dirty, blood-stained bandages. They still weren’t
entirely healed from their fight with Riley.

Gakra’s lip was curled in disgust, his hard,
scarred face a mask of contemptuous anger. He spat at her feet.
‘What would you do if you came across a warrior?’ he growled. ‘You
scare off nobody. You are useless.’

Riley gazed at him for a moment. Then she
started to walk past him. He grabbed her shoulder. His claws were
not long, but they were strong and sharp.

It hurt.

Riley stopped. Her eyes narrowed.

‘You strong outside.’ he sneered. ‘But weak
inside.’ He jabbed her chest, hard. ‘Weak where it counts.’

He spat on her.

Riley’s eyes narrowed in anger. She clenched
her teeth. She was very aware of him, of his hand painfully
gripping her shoulder, of the spot where he had jabbed her, of his
sweaty, unwashed stink. Anger flared. And then she swallowed it.
And instead of doing all the things the anger demanded, she did the
thing she had thought of. The thing she had seen adults do to
children.

Riley slapped Gakra lightly on the cheek.
And then she continued walking, breaking his grip on her
shoulder.

There was a scream of rage from behind
her.

Riley heard him coming. Fear thrummed within
her. But she stood her ground. The charging gemeng tribe leader
barrelled into her.

She didn’t even tremble.

‘No.’ Riley said, using the same amused tone
she sometimes heard from the adults. She turned to face him. Then
she slapped him and shoved him lightly away. She fixed an amused
mask in place. ‘You think you’re a warrior?’ she smiled. ‘You need
a few more years yet, foolish one.’

Gakra was frothing with rage. Strangled
sounds were coming from him, as if he was too angry to form words.
The two gemengs behind him were trembling. Riley noted it. She
wondered for a moment how she would have dealt with the tribe if
they’d come at her in groups instead of one at a time. And she
wondered how far she could push this.

She smiled again. It was no longer an amused
smile. ‘You’ll wash my clothes today, foolish one. I expect you by
the river before noon.’

And she turned and left.

Riley waited by the river, her arms crossed
over her chest. Aerlid was sitting calmly on the ground behind her,
doing Aerlid things.

Noon came. There was no sign of Gakra.

Riley waited some more. When the sun was no
longer directly above, she stopped waiting. She left the river
camp. Wherever she went, she went there unseen. Everything seemed
normal. Right up until supper time.

It was when the sky started darkening that
the outraged shrieks started. Aerlid looking up from the Aerlid
things he was doing and glanced in the direction of the gemeng’s
camp. Then he looked back down.

Riley was back at the river camp by then,
had been for some time.

Moments dragged by.

Aerlid began preparing dinner. Riley offered
to help and was given a scolding.

The signs of her unease were small, but they
were there. Her eyes, darting towards the gemeng’s camp and back.
An intermittent frown.

Aerlid served dinner. He was the picture of
calm. His steady gaze as he handed her a bowl seemed to say, ‘calm
down.’

They began eating. It was soup made of a mix
of gathered vegetables and a small animal unfortunate enough to run
into Riley.

Riley paused suddenly, the spoon halfway to
her mouth. She looked towards the grasses.

Aerlid looked too.

A rustling could be heard. A moment after,
the grasses parted. A group of gemengs stood before them. Little
children were gathered around the adult’s feet. Gakra was not among
them.

Why would he be? That would be a sign she
might be worth something.

‘Thief! What have you done with our
stores?!’ the leader of the group demanded. It was large and smelly
and dressed in animal skins and trophies and of indeterminate sex.
So just like any other gemeng from Gakra’s tribe.

Riley’s nervousness disappeared. A coolly
amused expression snapped into place. ‘I’m eating.’ she scolded.
‘You let your children bother you when you’re eating?’

‘Such poor manners.’ Aerlid added.

A low growl came from the leader. Riley and
Aerlid ignored it.

‘Where did you put it, slave? I can see our
food isn’t here! You stay to protect us and yet steal our
food!’

‘They think we’re here to look after them.’
Riley said to Aerlid.

‘Wherever did they get that idea from?’
Aerlid asked.

The entire group began yelling and screaming
and demanding to know where their food had gone. Finally, one of
the children ran forward and tried to snatch Riley’s bowl from her
hand.

Without a word Riley stood and grabbed the
child by the scruff of its tunic. She slapped it across the face,
hard enough that it hurt. Then she shoved it back towards the
gemengs and sat down to resume her dinner.

An adult stepped forward. It looked like a
female, though Riley wouldn’t have bet anything on it.

The woman growled, ‘you can pretend all you
like, but we know why you’re here. You’re weak. Soft.’ she spat.
‘You stay to protect us. Keep our stores. You’ll return them before
we come to harm.’

The woman turned and stalked off. The other
gemengs followed her lead, but not without some parting
insults.

The next day, just after the time the
gemengs usually ate breakfast, Riley entered their campsite. As
soon as she emerged from the grasses all eyes were on her. It did
not take long til most of the tribe had gathered at the edge of the
camp to glare at her. Gakra was not among them. Riley’s eyes
wandered over the gemengs. They were silent.

‘A foolish child, the one you call Gakra, is
the reason you were denied your evening meal. Due to your lack of
manners last night, breakfast will also be denied.’ As soon as
Riley finished speaking angry yelling broke out. Riley ignored it
and turned, heading back to the river camp.

During the rest of the morning they received
more visits from angry gemengs. Most of the tribe stayed away
though.

Not long before noon Aerlid returned the
food they had stolen and hidden. After it was returned Riley
carefully concealed herself and watched. She did not reveal herself
until the gemengs began eating.

Then Riley strode purposefully from the
grasses. She walked right up behind a certain female gemeng and
yanked her to her feet. The woman squawked, her meal toppling to
the dirt.

‘Not you.’ Riley said. ‘You have chores to
do, foolish one.’

‘Grr! I am Adema Sharpteeth! I am a warrior
of Gakra’s tribe, slave!’ She wriggled and fought violently, but
she was not able to break out of Riley’s grip. If she had been,
Riley would not have been able to so easily defeat her entire
tribe.

‘You’ve chosen a name for yourself? A bit
premature, don’t you think?’

Adema Sharpteeth howled and clawed at
Riley’s face.

Riley frowned at her. ‘Would you like to
face me,
Adema Sharpteeth
?’ she asked curiously. ‘Prove
yourself worthy of that name if you want to use it, until then, you
are foolish-one.’

Riley let go of her. She shoved her ahead of
her and said, ‘Now you’ve gone and torn my clothes. We’ll add
fixing that to your list of chores, hmm?’

‘I am not foolish one!’ Adema screamed. ‘I
am Adema Sharpteeth!’

‘Perhaps you shouldn’t act so foolish then.
But I have no time for your games.’ Riley grabbed her again and
proceeded to drag her bodily towards the river camp, as she’d seen
adult gemengs treat misbehaving children.

‘This might not have been a good idea.’
Aerlid began that night, after foolish-one, formerly Adema
Sharpteeth had gone home. ‘You’ll be fighting with them constantly
now.’

Riley shook her head. ‘Just because I’m
staying here to protect them doesn’t mean I have to let them treat
me like that.’