The Lord of the Plains (67 page)

‘Well, you certainly have a good memory.’ he
muttered. ‘But you are right. Pure ehlkrid eat each other. But for
most anything else, ehlkrid meat is like poison.’

‘And the deer… that wouldn’t have had human
in it, would it?’

‘No,’ Aerlid confirmed, ‘that was part
ehlkrid, part deer… the ehlkrid weren’t very discerning, when they
were here. I imagine many of the ocean gemengs don’t have any human
in them either, and are a result of ehlkrid breeding with other
animals.’

‘Alright. When do you think I can go get
that other tribe to protect this one?’

Aerlid stared at her. ‘You are not troubled
by what I have told you?’

Riley frowned. ‘I don’t understand.’

Aerlid observed her for a moment longer and
sighed. ‘Now you know what you are. Doesn’t that… doesn’t that
affect you in any way?’

She didn’t understand the question. ‘I’m
Riley.’ she said. Human, ehlkrid, valkar, gemeng, the labels didn’t
matter to her own idea of herself. All it meant was that she could
be slightly less worried about letting gemengs try and rip her to
pieces.

Aerlid continued gazing at her. Finally he
said, ‘it would be better if they came to you. Do you have no
questions about your family? Your mother and father?’ he asked, his
voice a mixture of shock and almost, a bit of accusation.

‘Oh.’ Startled, she thought for a moment.
‘Are they alive?’

‘Your mother is, I’m sorry your father… he
died before you were born.’

‘Ok.’

‘Does this not upset you?’

Riley just looked at him.

And he could see the words meant nothing to
her.

Chapter 56

Night descended. Daklis had not come to her.
No one had. Aerlid briefly left the river to find out what was
happening. Daklis’ tribe was gone.

It doesn’t really matter.
Riley
thought, still a little disappointed. Even if Daklis’ tribe
wouldn’t follow her, at least they hadn’t all thrown themselves at
her. She was in the same position as this morning.

It hadn’t gotten any worse.

Riley gazed up at the stars, her arms
wrapped loosely around her knees. Aerlid was singing to the moon
again.

She didn’t like the feel of this place, yet
it was so familiar. Fear and violence hung heavily in the air.

Like the gemeng village of her youth.

Like Astar.

It would be a relief to leave this place, to
be somewhere people weren’t afraid all the time, even if the only
reason was because there
were
no people.

Riley spent the rest of the night pondering
that. Leaving would be a relief, but she couldn’t help a heaviness
in her chest at the thought of how these creatures lived.

Aerlid stared at her. To say he was shocked
would have been an understatement of the highest order.

He could barely speak.

He managed weakly, ‘could you repeat
that?’

Riley had a grimly determined set to her
face. ‘I want to stay here.’

‘And command this tribe and lead them to a
brighter tomorrow?’ Aerlid paraphrased. He felt ill.

‘I want to try, Aerlid. Maybe we could
change things here.’

He blinked, trying to clear his eyes. Surely
his senses were failing him. ‘How?’ he demanded.

‘I don’t know.’ Her determination wavered
for a moment. ‘I don’t know how or if we can. But we have nowhere
else to be. We don’t lose anything by trying.’

Aerlid closed his eyes and took a few deep
breaths. ‘Riley, these creatures are made of human and ehlkrid. If
I had to, I don’t think I could pick which species was more
violent. You know, before the ehlkrid came the humans were always
fighting each other. If they didn’t have gemengs now they’d
still
be fighting each other. Violence is in their
blood.’

‘Further, these people neither love nor fear
you. They won’t listen to you. You’ll be constantly fighting with
them. Whichever way you look at it, this is an impossible task. And
it’s not our problem, Riley. We’re not responsible for how these
creatures choose to live.’

‘I see. Still, I would like to try. Do you
have any suggestions?’

‘But I don’t think this is a good idea..’
had she heard a word he’d said? She’d
looked
like she was
listening. Perhaps he’d been imagining that.

For a moment Riley looked confused. ‘I
understand your concerns, but I would still like to try. I don’t
think I would be happy if I left here without trying…’ her voice
trailed off. Then she said more matter-of-factly, ‘So, do you have
any suggestions?’

Aerlid paused. He heard the sadness in her
voice. ‘And what of my opinion?’ he asked, his voice gentler.
‘Shouldn’t we make this decision together?’

‘I thought we just did.’ She looked at him
as if he was being obtuse on purpose.

‘That felt a lot like you deciding to
me.’

They stared at each other for a few
moments.

Aerlid sighed, ‘I understand you feel bad
for these people, I understand that. But it is impossible, and you
aren’t responsible for how they live. Please, explain why we should
stay.’

Riley, puzzled, spent a few moments in
thought. What more could she say, other than that she would regret
not trying? ‘This is a horrible place,’ she began slowly, ‘I don’t
want to live here. But…’ she hesitated, ‘I’m strong. I can leave if
I want. Maybe… it’s not so easy for them, maybe they don’t like it
here either. So I would like to try… and there is nothing else we
would be doing if we didn’t try. So if we stay a little longer, we
don’t lose anything. We can try. I would like to try. I need to
try.’

Aerlid scrutinized her hard. ‘Alright.’ He
said with a defeated sigh.

Chapter 57

That afternoon Riley and Aerlid made their
way to the gemeng’s campsite. Riley strode purposefully over to
Gakra, who was holding court in the cleared, central area. She
stood behind, looming over him. He ignored her and continued
talking with the group of gemengs sitting around him. Riley waited
for perhaps half a minute. And then she yanked him to his feet. The
look of surprise on his face was priceless.

‘Gather your
tribe
.’ Riley ordered.
‘Or is even that beyond you?’

Gakra glared at her. He didn’t try and free
himself from her grip though. Perhaps he knew he
couldn’t
,
and it would just make him look more foolish. ‘Why?’ he
growled.

‘Because I
say
so.’

‘Gather them yourself!’

Riley lowered her voice to a whisper. ‘Are
those trophies important to you?’

‘What?’ he didn’t whisper.

Riley tapped the string of claws and teeth
wrapped around his body. ‘Is this important to you?’

‘Why?!’

‘I let you pretend to be a warrior because
it amuses me. Letting you disobey me, however, is something
else.’

Gakra was silent.

‘Do what I say or I will no longer let you
pretend. And I’ll take those trophies from you.’

Gakra glanced down at his trophies. Then he
glanced up at her. He pulled himself roughly from her grip and she
let him.

‘Agra, Duka, go gather the tribe! The slave
wants to talk!’ he yelled at the gemengs, who were still sitting at
his feet.

Riley slapped him. ‘Don’t call me slave,
foolish one.’

It took some time to gather the tribe. Some
were out hunting or foraging and had to be found. It was late
afternoon by the time the tribe was gathered before her.

Riley gazed over the dirty, ugly, brutish
faces and felt a moment of trepidation. How was she to do this? She
pushed those thoughts away and focussed on what had to be done.
There was only one thing these creatures respected, and she needed
respect or fear or
something
from them before she could
change them. She arranged her features in a look she hoped was
equal parts annoyance and superiority. Anyway, it was a look Aerlid
often wore.

‘This can’t continue.’ she said, contempt
creeping into her voice. ‘You have embarrassed me enough.’

The anger that always hung heavily over
these people suddenly sharpened. It was hard to believe silence
could be so full.

‘You are a disgrace! How can an entire tribe
not have a single warrior in it? I come looking for a tribe and
find myself saddled with a pack of children!’ she waited a moment
for that to sink in. Then she continued: ‘well, no more! It seems I
have to train you myself.’

‘We won’t fight like you!’ came an angry
shout from the crowd.

‘You can’t even fight yourself! You use
those tools!’ someone else called.

Riley raised an eyebrow in mild surprise.
She hadn’t expected that. They had seen her defeat Daklis with her
bare hands.

Well, so be it.

She drew her sword from her scabbard and
held it out towards the crowd. ‘Fine. Come use it then. See if it’s
as easy to use as you think. Come on! Or are you cowards as well as
incompetent?’

A gemeng strode forward from the crowd and
grabbed her sword. ‘The knife too.’ he demanded.

Without a word Riley handed over her
parrying dagger.

The man looked from one weapon to the other.
Then he lunged at her, swinging the sword and dagger around
wildly.

To Riley, who was reasonably skilled with
those weapons, it was an appallingly stupid sight. He had no idea
what a fool he looked. But the rest of the tribe was egging him on.
Watching, Riley thought he might manage to be dangerous, though
only because he had no idea what he was doing. She figured it was a
chance she could take.

With ease she slipped inside the reach of
her sword. But the man didn’t seem aware of that and kept trying to
hit her with the sword. The dagger was unmoving in his other hand.
He didn’t seem able to focus on two weapons at once.

She slapped him lightly across the face.
Then she leisurely disarmed him and rescued her weapons. ‘Perhaps
you’d like to try against one of the other children.’ she said
dryly. ‘You can’t do much worse.’