The Lord of the Plains (42 page)

Mr Briggs picked it up and turned it around.
It did not appear to be damaged, but they could not see the
blades.

‘How do you make the blades come out?’
Messenger asked Recha.

‘They only come out in response to an
attack.’ he responded, having approached them as well.

‘How do you clean it? How do you check it
for damage?’

‘It doesn’t get damaged. They don’t require
any maintenance.’

Messenger stared at him, then back at the
Devlar in Mr Briggs hands.

‘Does it work on physical attacks, such as a
punch?’ Mr Briggs asked as he turned the Devlar slowly around in
his hands, examining it closely.

‘It works on any type of attack.’ Recha
said.

‘What powers it?’ Mr Briggs asked.

‘It does not require any power. It just
is.’

‘And does it have any offensive
capabilities?’

Recha hesitated. ‘The Devlar? No. No it
doesn’t.’

A thought sprang quickly into Messenger’s
mind, but he said nothing, and instead just wondered what other
gifts the valkar had given the Vachi.

‘Hmm. How would one attack an enemy if a
Devlar was nearby then? It blocks attacks from all sides, even
those not directly aimed at the wieldier.’

‘We have methods of fighting that work
around that.’

‘I see. And how is it operated?’

‘It responds to an attack. The wielder does
not control that aspect of it, though a trained warrior can defend
more effectively than one who has never used it before.’

Mr Briggs handed the Devlar back to the
warrior and turned to face them. He turned to the Speaker. ‘Are you
willing to trade these?’

The Speaker spoke and Recha translated.

‘I am afraid the material we use to make
them is no longer available to us. Because of this, we cannot trade
the Devlars.’

Mr Briggs nodded curtly, he did not seem
surprised or offended by this. ‘I hope you find the weapons of
Astar as interesting as I have found the Devlar.’

And then their time in the military section
of Cavachi was over. It was, after all, the first time an official
from Astar had come to visit. It would not do to share all their
secrets so soon.

The next day Messenger and Mr Briggs flew
home to Astar.

‘What will you tell the council, sir?’
Messenger asked Mr Briggs as Cavachi grew smaller behind them. The
area around Cavachi may have been free of gemengs, but that was not
true of the rest of the route. He would have to concentrate after
this and would not be able to talk so easily.

‘It was a fruitful meeting.’ Mr Briggs said
in his stern way.

‘Will you speak in favour of an alliance,
sir?’

‘Hmph, well if I don’t I’m sure you will.’
Messenger thought he heard a smile in Mr Brigg’s voice.

‘Of course, but what about you?’ Messenger
asked, dropping the sir in his need to know.

‘I believe an alliance will be of benefit to
Astar, Messenger, now concentrate on flying if you don’t mind.’

‘Yes, sir, sorry, sir.’ Messenger said, a
wide grin spreading across his face.

‘The Vachi are a wasteful and foolish
people, but I believe an alliance would be of benefit to Astar.’ Mr
Briggs finished.

He stood at the head of the conference table
before his peers, the Council of Astar. They were chosen solely due
to their ability and skill in their field. The table was unadorned
and practical and covered in notes both old and just written. He
dreaded to think what the council chamber of Cavachi looked like.
He suppressed a shudder.

The chamber was lit mainly by natural light
from heavy, reinforced windows. There were also artificial lights,
which at the moment were not in use, though soon they would be.
They had arrived in Astar near the end of the day. Outside the
window the sun was setting. The blue sky was turning pink. The
clouds lit from below in golds and reds and oranges. They were on
the second-highest floor of the building neighbouring the shield
tower. The shield tower itself was filled with nothing but Internal
Defence Force guards.

A thin man with receding brown hair and
glasses leaned forward, an elbow on the table. ‘I’m sorry, you
think we should ally with
gemengs
?’

Mr Briggs silently fixed his steely eyes on
the brown haired man, Metis Teilins. He knew this man. He was
highly competent, and the Head of Governmental Affairs, otherwise
known as the lumbering bureaucracy of Astar. He performed an
important though often ignored function. Mr Briggs did not like
him. He would not waste his words dealing with such nonsense,
because from this man it was, and one look said that.

‘Hmm, they don’t sound like us, what makes
you so sure they’re human?’ A woman leant forward, Ella Lesai, a
scientist and the Head of Research and Development. Brilliant and
absent minded. From her, the question was different.

Mr Briggs clasped his hands behind his back.
‘They received us with hospitality, they shared their food with us
and took care of the pilot who first made contact with them when he
was injured. That is why.’

‘I wonder what the tests would say, if they
have been isolated from us for so long.’ she mused, more to herself
than them. ‘It might tell us something interesting about the
difference between us and the gemengs, would they agree to a test?’
she said as she scribbled on her notepad.

‘I think the difference is obvious.’ said
Metis Teilins.

‘Oh no, some gemengs have no obvious
abilities above those of humans, and can hardly be told apart by
appearance, yet they are not human.’ Ella Lesai replied, ‘it’s
really very interesting. Are they coming here next time or should I
go there?’

‘Next time, we still haven’t dealt with the
issue of their humanity! Next time?!’ Metis said in a scolding,
insulting tone, though Ella didn’t notice.

‘Well if Mr Briggs is sure they’re human,
I’m willing to trust him.’ The youngest member of the council leant
forward, Garna Ulis, his bright eyes on Mr Briggs. He was the Head
of the Agricultural Division. He bordered on skinny and always had
a gleam to his eyes. The man was practically electric with
energy.

Metis shot him a withering glare, which
Garna ignored and said, ‘should we vote? A raised hand for
accepting the Vachi as human.’ he put his hand up and smiled.

Ella Lesai’s hand shot up, her eyes firmly
on her notepad and not on the vote going on around her.

In fact, everyone in the council put their
hand up except the bureaucrat. It was not surprising. Mr Briggs was
the head of the military. Of them all, he had had the most contact
with gemengs, aside from perhaps the Coastside representative.

Metis, a sour look on his face said, ‘very
well, I’ll accept the outcome, though it seems rash. I suppose the
idea of an alliance is straightforward from here. We may as well
vote.’

Everyone voted in favour, even Metis. Garna
looked at him curiously.

‘Well if I accept the proposition that
they’re human, then an alliance is the obvious next step.’

‘Oh, certainly,’ Garna agreed. ‘Now to
proceed, Briggs, do you think they’ll be insulted if we ask to give
them a human test?’

Mr Briggs nodded. ‘I believe so.’ he glanced
at the scientist, who was no longer paying attention, just
scribbling pages and pages of notes.

Garna gently touched her shoulder. ‘Did you
hear, Miss Lesai?’

She looked up suddenly, ‘hmm? Did you say
something?’

Everyone was looking at her. Explaining to
Ella Lesai that she wouldn’t be able to do her experiments could,
Mr Briggs thought, be the toughest part of this alliance.

PART 3

Chapter 33

Vann preferred to keep things simple.

He told the girls right from the start what
they could and could not expect from him. He stayed away from the
female relatives of his friends and he didn’t date girls in the
military.

It was for this reason he was standing
outside a pretty girl’s house debating whether or not to go in.

With his back to her house he had an amazing
view of Coastside. The honey coloured stone of the buildings leant
a warm glow to the city. With the sun setting, the stone seemed lit
from within, as though it were alive. The ocean breeze stopped the
city getting too hot in summer and too cool in winter. Right now,
the clear, clean blue waves looked like they were dancing with the
orange light of the setting sun. Further out past the bay was the
wide expanse of the ocean. He spotted the slight rise, the dark
bump above the waves that was Arling Island. Further out, though he
couldn’t see it, was Reezel Island.

He turned back to the house. Watching the
ocean had calmed him. It usually did.

He’d told Teila he’d come. Nothing had
changed between then and now. So, he would go in. He needed a
better reason than the rising feeling of I-don’t-want-to-be-here to
back out now.

It was a three story house. Teila lived with
four other girls, which was fairly common. The house had a small,
fenced off garden, and a tiled roof. A small window was set into
the door.

Stop stalling, he told himself firmly.

If anyone had been looking at him they would
have seen his mouth set in a grim, determined line.

In fact, someone was watching him.

From within the house came a loud, feminine
cry, ‘VANN’S HERE!’

Vann’s head snapped up at the sound and he
saw a shadow dart away from the window. The whole block probably
knew he was here now.

He looked back at the door. Someone was on
the other side and by the sound of it, having a hard time opening
it. Probably too excited or nervous to do it properly, judging by
how long it was taking.

The door was flung open and a girl who was
not Teila stood there beaming at him, her cheeks flushed.

‘She’ll be just a minute, would you like to
come in?’

‘No, thanks. I’ll wait out here.’

‘Oooh! You two make such a cute couple! I’m
so glad you’re back together!’

Vann closed his eyes. He didn’t say
anything. It was obvious, now, there was no point.

‘Oh, Diann, no, darling, we’re not a
couple.’

Vann’s eyes snapped open.

Teila, as lovely as ever in a new dress and
with a large, red jewel hanging from her neck just
so
, moved
towards Diann whilst making hushing motions with her hands.

Vann gave her a suspicious look, ignoring
where that jewel was hanging with a great deal of dignity. Diann
looked from him to Teila and back.

‘Oh, I’m sorry.’ Diann smiled brightly
again. ‘Silly me. Well, have fun.’ and she darted back inside.

Teila smiled tentatively and stepped
outside, closing the door behind her. ‘D-do I look alright?’

Looking at Teila was often enough to make a
man forgive her for whatever she’d done. Vann managed to retain a
residue of suspicion and kept his eyes on her blue ones. There was
a reason, a
good
reason, he had stopped seeing her. A reason
she had stubbornly refused to acknowledge.