The Broken Kingdom (35 page)

The Dragon’s long neck snaked down into the
cave.
hello, strange one. the news has spread
far. Andalla is dead. the King has left his island, he has fled
somewhere. when will you kill him?

‘Can you talk a bit quieter?’ Riley
asked.

is this better?

‘Thank you, yes. Not yet, it will take some
time. Dragon, I may need your help when the time comes.’

ask it.

‘I’m not sure exactly how I’ll do it yet,
but I may need you and the other ehlkrid.’

i can secure their cooperation but briefly.
but if that is what you need, you will have it. the ehlkrid fear
you now, and that sword.

‘Do they fear me enough not to attack me or
my people?’

i cannot say. but if any of yours wander
away from you, they will surely attack.

Riley nodded. ‘Alright, thank you,
Dragon.’

we will be waiting.

Adila returned her to the campsite. Riley
thanked her and immediately set out to perform an experiment. She
gathered some of her people and asked them to stay outside, she
with them.

‘What are you doing?’ Adila asked her.

‘I’m seeing if gemengs can stay outside the
shield safely now. We don’t have many warriors for the number of
people we have, and the shield won’t be large enough if Karesh
finds as many people as he thinks he will.’

‘That’s unnecessary. The valkar can enlarge
the shield.’

‘Maybe. But I’d prefer it if the valkar did
not help me so much. If they do, it has to be a willing trade. I
don’t want my people to start thinking they can demand whatever
they want from the valkar.’

Adila looked surprised. ‘You have been
learning much from Aerlid.’

Riley’s expression cooled somewhat at
that.

‘I will make a… warning system then. So your
warriors have enough time to respond if ehlkrid do attack. Though…
while I am here, I would not expect the ehlkrid to attack.’

‘They’ve already tried coming in by the
river once.’

‘Mmm… I was not here… I think Aerlid…’ she
sighed, ‘Aerlid perhaps confuses them…’

‘A warning system would be useful.’ Riley
said quickly, not wanting to talk about Aerlid any further. ‘What
do you want in exchange?’

‘Consider it a gift, for killing
Andalla.’

Riley frowned.

‘You took a big risk that benefits the
valkar greatly, it is more than enough for a little warning.’

Riley nodded. ‘Alright. I’ll accept it. I do
have another question though.’

‘Yes?’

‘Well, it seems like it must be hard to be a
judge, if you can’t judge any of your friends.’ It was a thought
that had occurred to Riley after Adila’s frequent insistence that
she could not judge Aerlid. She had briefly, and uncharitably,
wondered if Rose had become the new Judgement Master because she,
presumably, had few friends.

‘Ah,’ Adila’s eyes widened. ‘No, that is not
quite… Aerlid is-was,’ a pained expression came to her eyes as she
stumbled over her words, ‘he is very special to me.’

Riley frowned. Adila waited expectantly.

‘You were good friends then?’ Riley finally
asked, and couldn’t help feeling a little sad. She was not the only
one who had been hurt by Aerlid’s actions.

Adila laughed, amused, though her eyes were
still pained. ‘That wasn’t what I meant, though we have never been
anything
but
friends, it is… valkar live a long time, so I
never thought there was any need to rush…’

Riley frowned.

‘Oh dear, this reminds me of when you
thought Rose just wanted to chat to Vann.’

‘What? Wait-!’

‘Oh, look, perhaps he can help.’ And Adila
called Vann over.

Immediately, after Adila repeated her words
to him, Vann’s eyes widened.

Adila smiled and said, ‘well, I think Vann
can clear things up for you. Excuse me.’ And she departed.

‘Was she saying she liked Aerlid, like Rose
liked you?’ Riley demanded.

‘I thought that was pretty clear. I’ll have
to remember how slow you are with these things if…-’ Vann
replied.

‘If what?’

‘Uh, nothing.’ Vann responded quickly and
flashed her an easy smile. ‘Anyway, I think Adila cares for Aerlid
much more than Rose ever cared for me.’

‘Oh.’ Riley’s face fell. ‘T-that’s so
sad…’

‘Hmm?’

Riley put a hand to her eyes, to shield her
face, suddenly overcome with emotion. She had never considered
Aerlid might have feelings like that, he was always just Aerlid.
She couldn’t help thinking of all the time he might have spent with
Adila, all the time Riley might have been able to get to know him
better and been his friend, instead of sort-of child, now that she
was older. So many things were never going to happen now.

‘Riley?’ Vann’s voice snapped her out her
thoughts.

Riley shook her head and sniffed. ‘I’m
alright, I just-, no, I’m alright. Look, I need to keep a watch for
any ehlkrid activity, I’m doing a bit of an experiment. Why don’t
you go back inside the shield?’ she glanced quickly at the gemengs
who were staying outside with her. Hopefully they had missed her
brief lapse.

Vann hesitated for a moment before
nodding.

Riley spent the day watching carefully for
any ehlkrid activity. She had explained to her people what was
happening; they knew Karesh and all of the warriors had left to
search for other gemengs who had survived the ehlkrid. Riley
worried for them, and for herself. She’d given them Adila’s knife,
but she wondered if ten warriors would be enough to protect all
those they were bringing. She wondered if her presence, and that of
Adila, would be enough to protect the campsite. Riley was doing an
awful lot of solo hunting these days.

She stayed outside that night as well. The
ehlkrid did not come near.

Chapter 45

‘
V
earla, I sense you are
upset.’ Skachi, Speaker for the Master of the House of Corchanus,
spoke.

The valkar did not respond immediately. She
was in her cave, as always. She sat, looking out over the mountain
of Cavachi, her back to Skachi and her hands clasped tightly around
her knees.

‘Upset? Why do you say so?’ she murmured,
her voice less dreamy than usual.

‘Everyone who visits you says so, and I
myself have seen a change in you lately.’ He was worried; she had
been upset after the destruction of the mountain, but everyone
thought she’d recovered.

‘Saris has not come to visit lately.’

‘No, it is difficult for the Astarians to
come, the creatures you call ehlkrid make the route dangerous.’

‘Do you still speak with them?’

‘We have other means of contact.’

‘Such as?’

Skachi was momentarily taken aback by
Vearla’s uncharacteristic focus.

‘Radios. We speak by radio.’

‘So they still live.’

‘Yes, they are fine. How could they not be
fine? The valkar shields cannot be broken by the ehlkrid.’

‘Yes, but I have sensed… the Ehlkrid King
has been entering this world frequently… it pounds on my senses, I
cannot make myself ignore it.’

‘The Ehlkrid King? Those creatures have a
King?’

‘Yes, and he has been visiting this world
often, it is troubling…’

‘Why, Vearla? Surely the shields-‘

‘No, Skachi, no. Valkar shields will not
stop the Ehlkrid King, and they would not have stopped
Andalla.’

‘What, are you sure? And what is this
Andalla?’

‘A creature on par with the Ehlkrid King.
Yes, I am sure.’ And she shuddered. ‘Very sure. He visits this
world often, I fear what he may, why he is… if he comes here,
Skachi…’

‘Could you fight him?’

Vearla laughed a short, shaky laugh. ‘No! If
I was in a mountain, I could escape from him, most likely… but I
could not fight him. I could not protect you and your people,
Skachi. If he came here he would shatter our shield and… he would
kill all of the Raka-’

‘Vachi.’ Skachi quietly corrected, but
Vearla went on as if she hadn’t noticed, ‘You would all die, all
die…’ she made a choking sound.

‘Vearla!’ Skachi cried in alarm, more at her
distress than anything else, ‘please, do not fear for us, we
are-’

‘No, you would die. All of you. Do not doubt
me on this, Skachi, and do not argue with me. I do not have the
heart for it. I fear… I fear what the future brings, and I cannot
even guess now, it has all gone so differently than usual.’

‘What do you mean?’ Skachi asked, his voice
weak as he tried to process her words.

‘Andalla is dead. If the King killed him I
fear there is no hope, no hope at all. But if someone else managed
it… I can only hope they can… defeat the King as well, before he
turns his attention to the Raka…’

‘If someone else managed it then
surely-‘

‘It was most likely the King, or one of his
kind.’ Vearla cut him off, her voice heavy with grief. ‘Which… does
not really… Andalla would have probably killed you all eventually,
even if the King did not, but if it was one of the King’s kind then
Andalla’s death does not really help either… but what are the
chances someone
else
killed him? And even if they did, if
they do not… defeat… the King, Andalla’s death means nothing!’

‘Vearla-!’

‘I can only hope it was someone else,
Skachi, and that they will hurry and defeat the King. Who knows
when he will turn his attention here, or to some other settlement?
I… I could not bear to see you all die, not again…’

Chapter 46

V
ann walked over to Riley
as she knelt by the river, scrubbing furiously at something. She
stood. For a moment Vann’s eyes lingered on her waist, a strong
urge to reach out and touch her overcame him.

He shook his head and pushed it away. These
thoughts were far too common. Vann was not a fool by any means. He
was just as aware as everyone else that Riley was not ‘just a
friend’. At least not to him. He wasn’t sure what she felt. And he
couldn’t ask. He’d already done that to her, after the way he’d
changed his mind he couldn’t just start making declarations again.
No, if he was to do that he had to be completely sure that he would
never,
ever
change his mind. But how were you supposed to be
that sure? How could he know this feeling wouldn’t fade in a year
or two?

He was shaken from his reverie as Riley
turned away, looking furious.

‘It won’t come off!’ she cried.

‘What won’t?’ he asked, as he noticed she
was holding her sword in her hands.

‘Andalla’s blood!’ she waved the sword
around in quite a threatening manner. Dark stains covered the blade
of the sword.

‘Riley, you’re very scary when you’re doing
that.’

‘Doing what?’ she asked, lowering the sword
in confusion.

‘You’ve already broken my nose and given me
a black eye, darling, I’d prefer it if you didn’t start trying to
cut pieces off me too.’