The Lord of the Plains (66 page)

Aerlid shrugged. ‘Alright.’

Riley gazed into the fire, troubled. There
seemed to be no place in the gemeng society to be anything other
than a murderous beast. Even if there had been the desire among
some to be something else, well… Riley had seen firsthand what
would happen to them.

She could understand, almost, the fear the
humans had for these creatures.

Chapter 55

When gemengs from another tribe were finally
spotted heading towards Gakra’s camp, it was a surprise- for Riley
at least. It had been a few weeks since she and Aerlid had arrived
at Gakra’s tribe, and in all that time they had seen neither hide
nor hair of any other tribe.

All that had changed.

‘They’re coming.’ Riley said to Aerlid when
she returned from her patrol. ‘Do you think they’ll line up and
attack me one by one?’ She didn’t think she could deal with them if
they all attacked her at once. Even if she
could
, some would
be able to sneak past her and attack the camp. Even if Aerlid
helped, there were just too many of them.

Aerlid was silent for a moment as he
thought. Then he said ‘Perhaps. But only if you challenge their
leader to a fight.’

Her gaze darkened. ‘I don’t want to end up
protecting
two
tribes.’

‘No. You’ll have to kill the leader. Then
you should be able to order that tribe to protect this one. Then we
can leave.’

Riley glanced towards Gakra’s camp. She
didn’t know if she had it in her to kill a person when she didn’t
feel threatened. She turned back to Aerlid and began speaking.

When she finished outlining an alternate
plan he mulled it over for a moment.

‘I suppose it could work.’ he said finally.
‘Killing the leader would be less risky though.’

Once the plan was decided on there was
nothing to do but go and
do it
. Riley quickly disappeared
into the grass, heading in the direction of the attackers. She had
not gone far when she suddenly heard wild yells and hoots. And they
were not coming from the direction of Gakra’s camp! Astounded-
could the attackers really be announcing their presence like that?-
Riley quickly headed towards the source of the noise.

Riley found the attacking gemengs by nearly
running three of them over. It was difficult to see far in the tall
grass. She was momentarily startled- and so were they- but she
recovered quickly.

‘You!’ she cried quickly, ‘take me to your
leader! I challenge the leader of your tribe!’

The atmosphere changed instantly. The
gemengs puffed up, cocky grins jumping onto their ugly faces.

‘You fight Daklis? Huh! You soft! He rip you
apart and use your head for a bowl!’

Riley stared for a moment. Then she said,
‘are you going to take me to him or not?!’

‘Huh! We take you to Daklis! See you killed!
Then we take your tribe, use them as slaves or eat them!’

‘Eat them! Too weak to be slaves!’

‘Pah! I smell them from here! Taste bad!
Just kill!’

‘Hey!’ Riley interrupted, ‘you’re wasting my
time! Are you taking me to Daklis or not?!’

‘Huh! Soft woman, wants to die quick!’

‘I think I can oblige you, softie!’

Riley was in no mood for this. She only had
three of the attackers here, and until they brought her to Daklis,
who knew what the rest of their tribe would be doing to Gakra’s
tribe?

Riley solved the problem rather easily by
punching the closest gemeng in the face.

He went down like a brick.

‘Huh…’ the other two stared down at their
unconscious comrade.

‘Take me to Daklis. Right. Now.’

One of the gemengs disappeared while the
other started leading her somewhere. The third was left where he
lay.

It did not take her long to realise she was
being led back to Gakra’s camp. When they arrived Riley was greeted
by the sight of familiar tents and faces, mixed with a whole lot of
unfamiliar faces. It seemed Daklis’ entire tribe had descended on
Gakra’s tribe. It was crowded. But they weren’t fighting. They were
just waiting.

Riley spotted Aerlid. Their eyes met for a
moment. And then a creature stepped out of the crowd. It was about
her height and had green, scaly skin, like a snake. It had two
muscular arms with short but very sharp claws on the end. Its face
was human in shape and it had dry, yellow hair growing from its
head.

‘I am Daklis, Lord of my tribe, you
challenge me?’ Daklis’ voice was surprisingly human. It did not
hiss or slur its words. It was when it spoke Riley noticed small,
white teeth in its mouth. Like the teeth of human babies.

‘I do.’ Riley said, while her eyes moved
over him, noting everything. Then, remembering her manners, she
added, ‘I’m Riley, nice to meet you.’ She had a strong urge to
shake hands, but she managed to overcome it.

‘It will be nice to kill you.’ He agreed.
Daklis lunged at her, not a moment after he had finished
speaking.

Riley felt a moment of trepidation, but she
stood her ground. This was not being careful at all. Daklis
collided with her. Riley did not even tremble, though inside she
was. She did not know this creature’s strength. Perhaps he would
tear her to pieces.

But the only other option was killing
it.

Riley allowed Daklis to claw at her. It
burned and stung and her clothes were getting ripped, but he did
not draw blood. Then Riley shoved it away and turned her back on
Daklis. He threw himself at her again, and bit her arm. Her skin
burnt where Daklis gnawed at her, as if he was slathering poison
over her arm. She roughly pushed Daklis away and turned her back on
him again.

‘I asked to fight the Master of this tribe!
Why have you sent this child out to me?!’ she demanded angrily.

Daklis’ tribe erupted in angry muttering.
Gakra’s tribe remained silent. It sounded like a swarm of bees.

Daklis got to his feet. He didn’t say a
word, but his eyes glittered with rage. He began circling around
her warily. Riley glanced at him once and then ignored him. Daklis
attacked from behind. He came in, claws ready. Riley spun. She
grabbed his hand and she slapped him lightly across the face.

‘No. I do not have time to teach you how to
fight, little one. Go fetch your master for me.’ Then she threw
Daklis towards his tribe. He sprawled on the ground at the feet of
its subjects.

A few outraged screeches punctuated the
angry drone. Daklis got to his feet. He watched her, and said
nothing.

Riley gazed at the crowd imperiously. ‘I do
not have time for your games. Is your master so cowardly?! I will
be waiting by the river.’ and she pointed towards the river camp.
‘Do not disappoint me!’ and she turned and stalked from her
audience.

Back by the river camp Riley inspected her
stomach. She found herself trembling as she looked at the long
grazes and rips in her clothing. If Aerlid had been wrong that
thing could have killed her, and she would have allowed it. She
shuddered. When she looked up she found Aerlid was watching
her.

‘You were not in any danger.’ he said
calmly.

‘How do you know that?’ she felt a little
ill. Daklis may not have more than grazed her, but it
hurt
.
And he had
wanted
to hurt her.

For once Aerlid did not make a big fuss
about her asking.

‘It is a bigger question than you think.’ he
said slowly as he glanced off to the side. ‘You are a gemeng, but
you are of a different mix than the other gemengs.’

‘I think I would like to know now.’ she
said. Perhaps knowing would ease her fears if she had to do this
again.

Aerlid smiled a little smile, his dark eyes
lighting up, but when he continued his voice was serious. ‘Well,’
he said as he made himself comfortable on the ground, ‘do you know
what gemeng means?’

She shook her head. Aerlid knew she didn’t
know, though perhaps this way made it easier for him to talk.

‘It means ‘mixed’.’ he said, his intent gaze
fixed on her. ‘Most gemengs are a mix of human and ehlkrid. You are
human and something else.’

Riley knew that word. ‘Like those monsters
that attacked us sometimes in the forest?’

Aerlid nodded. ‘Yes. The ehlkrid were here
long, long ago. They mixed with the humans and that’s where the
gemengs came from. There are no longer any pure ehlkrid here. They
left. But I know no gemeng of ehlkrid and human blood could hurt
you. You are from my own people, Riley, and the valkar are stronger
than the ehlkrid. Of course there are always a few exceptions, but
on average, the valkar are much stronger than the ehlkrid. A pure
ehlkrid would endanger you, but not a human ehlkrid mix.’

‘You should feel things as much as a human
does, or more. What would kill them wouldn’t you, it won’t damage
you the same. That is how it is with the valkar. You have nothing
to fear from the gemengs here.’

‘Hmm,’ she mused. Then she frowned, ‘why on
earth wouldn’t you let me play with the cats then?!’

Aerlid stared at her in disbelief, before
exclaiming, ‘you were a child!’

Riley considered that carefully for a
moment, unbothered by his affronted stare. ‘Alright.’ That all
seemed to make sense to her.

‘So you are a valkar then?’ she asked after
another moment. ‘You are not a gemeng?’

He nodded.

She was silent for some time. She was not
thinking about herself.

‘Why are you not with the valkar?’ she
asked

He blinked in surprise. ‘Uh…’

‘You don’t need to tell me.’ she said,
seeing his expression. She wondered if they were all gone too, like
the ehlkrid. And thinking that, she regretted asking. However she
had another question, ‘do the ehlkrid eat each other?’

Startled, he said, ‘why do you ask?’

‘I remember the gemengs in that village we
went to wanted to eat the deer. You said they weren’t strong
enough.’