The Lord of the Plains (93 page)

She heard Vann say behind her, ‘Is she
alright?’

‘Yes,’ Aerlid’s voice came, ‘she’ll be
fine.’

The roses that sprouted from this seed were
fantastical, multi-coloured. The smell was strong and sweet. The
other roses had little odour.

Rose sighed. Her frown was deeper than
ever.

‘I have judged her.’

Riley could not see the faces of anyone but
Rose, and even she was hard to see. Leaves and roses were hanging
from her head, obscuring her vision.

She heard someone say, awe in their voice,
‘and?’ it sounded like Mr Briggs.

‘She genuinely wishes for peace.’

‘You seem upset.’ Messenger was saying
carefully.

‘She’s part human.’

‘And?’ Messenger prompted.

‘Humans are violent.’

Mr Briggs grunted. ‘I assure you, Astar also
wants peace.’

‘No. Astar wants to eradicate gemengs from
the Earth.’ Rose replied, her eyes flashing, her back straighter
than ever. ‘I do not have to judge you to see that.’

‘Gemengs are violent. Peace with the gemengs
has never been possible, it will come only when they are gone.’

‘Now that,’ she said, the corners of her
mouth curling up, ‘is a very human thing to say.’

‘Mr Briggs.’ Vann said coolly. ‘I think we
know now that isn’t true. The fish people have never harmed us,
they are our allies. We have a chance we’ve never had before, to
make peace with gemengs. We can’t throw that away because of what
happened in the past.’

Mr Briggs grunted again.

‘Um, excuse me.’ Riley said. She felt six
sets of eyes on her. ‘Mr Briggs, I don’t ask you to trust me. I’m
not asking you to do anything except prepare Astar for the ehlkrid
and to not attack me. Let me show you I mean Astar no harm, that I
have not lied to you. And Rose, can you get these roses off me
now?’

‘I think they look very nice.’ she
replied.

‘Of course you do.’ Aerlid muttered. ‘Take
them off Rose, go plant them somewhere.’

‘I don’t need your advice, Moonsinger.’ But
she stepped forward anyway and gently began untangling the plants
from Riley. Well, she was gentle with the plants, not so with
Riley.

When she was done Vann came up to Riley and
touched her elbow. ‘Are you alright?’

‘Yes. I think I would have preferred it if
she’d just hit me.’

He smiled. ‘It feels kind of strange,
doesn’t it?’

She shrugged and wriggled her shoulders.
‘Kinda.’

Vann looked back to where Messenger was
waiting for him. Mr Briggs had already left.

‘Goodnight, Vann.’ Riley said. ‘I’ll see you
tomorrow.’

‘Right. Goodnight.’

They parted ways.

As he walked back to the camp with Messenger
Vann had a pensive expression on his face.

‘What are you thinking about?’ Messenger
asked. ‘What Mr Briggs said?’

‘No. His views don’t surprise me. As long as
he doesn’t actually attack her, I think in time he’ll be able to
see she’s not an enemy.’

Messenger sighed. ‘I hope so. I think it’s a
chance we can take, have to take. With this ehlkrid story we have a
reason to fortify Astar and Coastside anyway, even if she’s
lying.’

Vann nodded. ‘If she was planning on
attacking, why would she be telling us to improve our
defences?’

‘Exactly.’

There was silence.

‘Messenger,’ Vann began. ‘What do you think
of Riley?’

‘What do I think of her? What do you
mean?’

‘I mean, you think Rose is lovely.’

‘She is. Even Mr Briggs thinks she’s
lovely.’ This had not been Mr Briggs first meeting with Rose. She
had, a few times, come to get Vann right from the human campsite.
She had stalked in, head held high, back straight. Vann had thought
Mr Briggs might invite her to stay for dinner. But he hadn’t, and
had given Vann permission to leave with her. ‘It figures a
Coastsider could seduce a valkar.’ and Messenger sighed. ‘You lucky
ass.’

Vann bit back a smile. ‘Come to Coastside
some time, Messenger. I’ll introduce you to women nearly as lovely
as Rose.’

‘Hah, I don’t think there’s any such thing!
But I think I might take you up on that offer.’

‘But Riley, what about her?’

‘Hm, I don’t actually know. Sometimes I look
at her and she seems human. Other times I don’t know what she is… I
don’t quite know what to think of her.’

Vann sighed. ‘I don’t know what she looks
like.’

Messenger shrugged. ‘Maybe it’s better that
way. Could you be her friend if you did?’

Then the day to say goodbye came.

Riley and Aerlid stood watching the convoy
as it got ready to head back to Astar.

Mr Briggs and Messenger had already said
their official goodbyes. Riley had extended a personal invitation
to Messenger to return whenever he chose. He’d seemed pleased.

Last night Rose had already said a terse
farewell to Vann. He wouldn’t miss her, and he didn’t think she
would miss him either. But now it was time to say goodbye to Riley,
and Vann didn’t know what to say.

Aerlid walked out of earshot, giving them
some privacy.

‘Riley.’ he began.

‘Vann.’ Riley said with a smile, though it
didn’t quite reach her eyes.

‘I… I don’t know when I’ll be able to see
you again.’

‘We’ll see each other again.’ she said
confidently. ‘And until then, we can still talk.’ and her smile
widened.

‘The radio is supposed to be for official
business only.’ he said, smiling back.

‘Well, Mr Briggs agreed it would be better
if I could talk to you or Messenger, any other Astarian might not
listen so well.’

‘So I’ll hear from you.’ he said with
relief. He realised then he did not want to leave. He wanted to be
a part of what she was doing here. But not just a part of it, he
wanted to be able to listen to her and help her and know what she
was thinking. And maybe share something of himself too. He thought
then of Zap Zap. Well, it wasn’t as if he’d be doing
nothing
in Coastside.
I’ll be able to talk to her. It won’t be so
bad.
‘Maybe you should come and visit Coastside. You really
missed out last time you came.’

‘Would you show me the leapers?’ she asked,
her eyes lighting up.

He gaped for a moment before recovering,
he’d been thinking more
restaurants
, not dangerous, leaping
monsters! ‘Well, maybe. I guess if you can hold your own out here
you can handle a leaper.’

She nodded seriously. She pulled something
out of her pocket then. It was the leaper claw he’d given her, Vann
couldn’t help a small smile that she’d kept it. ‘I look forward to
it.’

‘Maybe I can show you some other things as
well.’

‘Can I go on a sub?’

‘Um, maybe we’ll talk about that when you
get there.’

‘Ok.’ her eyes were glittering, as if it was
already promised.

‘Goodbye, Riley.’ he said. He reached out
and touched her arm. ‘Good luck.’

She placed her hand on top of his for a
moment. ‘Goodbye Vann. Say hi to Zap Zap.’

‘I will.’

‘And… be safe.’

‘You too.’

She withdrew her hand and he let go of her
arm. He walked back to the truck. He turned. She waved, he waved
back. He got into the truck and she was hidden from view.

He sat next to Messenger, the door was shut
behind him. Inside it was closed and dark- but very safe. Or so he
was told.

‘You know, I’d like to spend more time
here.’

‘Really? Why?’

‘I like getting to know other people.’ he
smiled. ‘There’s so much to learn Vann, so much more than what’s in
Astar.’

‘Well, while you’re waiting, Coastside is
always available.’

‘Hah! I’ve already made up a few excuses for
why I need to get transferred there!’

Soon after the humans left Riley’s tribe was
also on the move, heading quickly towards the mountains. Gakra and
Karesh were waiting.

Chapter 77

The night was dark. Only low and weary
sounds were made by the tribe; the sound of someone rolling over, a
snore, a low whisper. It had been a hard day’s march. Riley was
feeling the passing days heavily. She wanted to get back to the
rest of her tribe. She wanted to prepare the caves. Everything
needed to be ready before the ehlkrid came.

She sat outside her tent. The night was warm
and she thought she might sleep outside. She looked up as Aerlid
approached. As usual, his tent was set up near hers.

‘Aerlid.’ she said softly. He looked up at
the sound of her voice. ‘Can we talk?’

‘About what?’ he asked as he sat down beside
her.

‘I have some questions about the
valkar.’

‘Go on.’ he replied.

‘Aerlid, what do they eat?’

‘Ah,’ he sighed. ‘Thank you for not asking
Adila. Well,’ his tone changed as he went into answering questions
mode, ‘it depends. Rarely do they eat. Adila can get all the energy
she needs just by sunbaking. If she’s very tired, she’ll eat, but
not what humans eat… Valkar do not kill. Plants or animals.’

‘By sunbaking?’ Riley repeated in whispered
awe.

He nodded. ‘Rose should be able to get what
she needs by walking upon the earth. With the city in the air it’s
harder for her and those like her. The Queen’s Garden helps.’

‘What do they eat then, when they do
eat?’

‘What Ralana gave you. She asked a tree for
it. That is how the valkar get all of their materials, by asking
the earth and the trees and the animals. Some valkar can also make
things from what is around them, they can rearrange what’s there,
what’s in the air and the dirt and make something. That’s very
difficult though. Adila usually does that, she’s not so good at
talking to plants.’

‘They’re very different.’ she said
pensively.

‘More so than you can know.’ he sighed. ‘I
think I must explain something to you, Riley. I don’t think you’ll
understand, but I should say it anyway. Also, you must never tell
anyone.’ his voice hardened. ‘Not Karesh, not Vann, not
anyone.’

Riley let that sink in before she nodded.
‘Alright, Aerlid.’

He paused. ‘I- I need your promise. It’s not
that I don’t trust you but…’

‘I promise.’

‘No. I can make it so you
can’t
say
these words. Will you allow me to?’

She hesitated. Then she nodded. ‘Ok,
Aerlid.’

He sighed, relieved. ‘Alright. Valkar cannot
kill, Riley. It’s not that they don’t want to, or think it’s wrong.
It’s just that they can’t. Not plants. Not animals, not anything.
When a valkar says a human is violent it is not the same as a human
saying a gemeng is violent. Humans can choose whether or not to
kill. Valkar can’t.’

In the darkness, Riley watched him
intently.

‘I doubt you can understand. It took the
humans hundreds of years of living side by side with us to
understand. To even be near a human who kills something to eat,
merely so they can survive, is very upsetting for a valkar. The
valkar created food for the humans who lived with us to eat. I
think even Rose does not understand. That’s why her judgement upset
her. It did not occur to her that a human could wish for peace and
still be capable of murder. But that’s probably good, she has never
lived with humans, never been forced into a situation where killing
would make things so much easier. If she never understands the
violence, or the reasons behind the violence, of humans, I will be
happy.’