The Lord of the Plains (97 page)

Riley explained the situation to the
gemengs. They could use the valkar shields to protect themselves
from the ehlkrid and stay locked inside the caves. Or they could
not use them, and continue fighting the ehlkrid every night, as
they had for the last two weeks.

The procedure for voting was somewhat
involved. The gemengs would never vote to use the shields if anyone
else knew what they were voting. And so a system with stones,
blindfolds and another large cave was concocted.

The meeting was adjourned, the gemengs filed
out of the cavern in a disorderly manner. When they were gone only
the council was left.

Voices were quickly raised and answers
demanded as confusion abounded.

Riley silenced them. ‘This is not a choice I
can make alone, for all of you. The ehlkrid are not a threat to me
in the same way they are to you. I will not be voting, or giving
you my opinion. You need to decide how you want to live. The voting
will begin tomorrow morning. It will continue until everyone has
voted, however long that takes. I will require your assistance
organizing it.’

The voting lasted three days. When it was
done, Riley entered the cavern. It was a cave that split off into
two parts. Voting had involved a gemeng entering alone and throwing
or placing a rock in one of the two offshoots of the cave. The
gemengs were blindfolded, and no one else was allowed in the cavern
with them. They were allowed less than a minute to make their vote,
in case any attempted to move the rocks around.

When she entered she was not that surprised
at the outcome, the support of it however… She rubbed her forehead.
She glanced from one side to the other. She had thought at least a
few would vote for a shield. But one side was brimming with stones,
while the other was completely empty.

Riley exited the cavern and walked the short
distance to the cavern where the gemengs were gathered and
waiting.

Her voice carrying easily around the echoing
space she said, ‘the shields will not be used.’ She was quiet as a
roar filled the air. The gemengs whistled and hooted and clapped
and pounded their feet. It took some time for the noise to die
down. ‘The shields will be kept in case of an emergency. Another
vote will be carried out in the future.’ She did not know when, but
perhaps the situation would change.

The address was soon over. Riley quickly
found Aerlid. ‘Aerlid, those two moon shields, can you set them up
in the upper and lower secondary entrances?’

Aerlid nodded. His agreement obtained,
Riley’s attention was instantly drawn back to the preparation for
the nightly fight.

She didn’t mind. A part of her enjoyed it.
Her concern was for the gemengs. Every night many were injured, and
deaths were unavoidable. There were a number of couples now, and
that number was growing. Even so, gemengs did not breed so quickly
that this could be sustained forever.

Chapter 82

Riley watched Aerlid work, fascinated.

They were in a side tunnel that led to the
surface. If the ehlkrid managed to get into the caves, it was a
good chance it would be through here. The tunnel was already
guarded, but Riley had decided one of the moon toys would also be
used to block it off.

Aerlid had spent the last half hour fiddling
with the toy where the wall joined the floor. He sung all the
while. It was daylight outside. During the night Aerlid was too
busy healing to do this.

By the time Riley arrived to see how it
worked Aerlid was stepping back from the toy, still singing.

His song was cyclic, Riley could recognize
it repeating itself. And it was fast.

The pale orb wobbled, then it rose. It moved
along the side of the wall, not quite touching it. As it rose it
changed. It started as a full orb, and then got smaller, like the
waning moon. As it approached the top of the tunnel it was a tiny
sliver. And then it disappeared, before reappearing again as a
small sliver. As it travelled down towards the floor it waxed. It
reached the bottom of the opposite wall. Riley watched, amazed. It
was still. And then it started rising again, going back the way it
had come. It got smaller til it reached the top, then it started
getting bigger again until it was back where it started. Then it
began rising again, but this time it did not go all the way. It
stopped at about half moon.

Aerlid‘s song slowed down and became more
relaxed, until he was just singing one note of the whole. Then he
stopped.

He sighed and stepped back. He glanced over
at Riley. ‘There. That’s done. No one will be able to pass this
way. You wanted the next one over on the other side?’

Riley nodded. She turned her attention back
to the little moon. It did not look like it would stop anyone from
passing.

Aerlid waved at the tunnel. ‘This is its
plane of movement. Its night sky. If someone passed through it the
movement would break. It wasn’t strictly designed as a shield,
though it’s quite strong. It will stop ehlkrid coming through
here.’

‘Alright.’ Riley said. ‘Is the next one like
this?’

Aerlid shook his head. Then paused. ‘A bit.
It will cycle in the same way as this, but it will take up the
entire tunnel. It won’t move around.’

Riley was very tired. She had not yet slept
today. Neither had Aerlid. ‘Make sure you get some sleep after
this.’ She said. Aerlid looked tired, and Riley felt a twinge of
worry for him. She knew how healing people tired him out.

He nodded his agreement.

Riley, satisfied, departed and headed back
to her cave. She did not stay long. She picked up the radio and
made her way to the surface. She blinked in the bright morning
light. The mountainside was not quiet. The bodies of the ehlkrid
had to be burned. The mountain had to be checked for any cracks or
weaknesses created by the fighting. Some of the ehlkrid had the
concerning ability to slice up rock a bit too easily for her
liking. A few gemengs were just out here to enjoy the daylight and
fresh air.

Riley stayed near the entrance and turned
the radio on. She felt the familiar mix of dread and anticipation.
The excited tingle, the worried heaviness. In some ways, it would
have been easier to ignore him. But it wasn’t his fault she felt
this way. And she needed him to convince the humans she could be
trusted.

She did not have to wait long before she
heard Vann’s voice crackle over the radio.

As always, she felt a rush of relief. He was
still alive.

‘Riley?’ he began.

‘Vann. I’m here.’

‘Are you alright?’

‘Yes. Nothing has changed. The ehlkrid still
attack every night.’

Even through the radio she could hear
concern in his voice. ‘Coastside and Astar haven’t been attacked.
But some… things have been seen. Flying.’

‘During daylight?’

‘No. Night time.’

‘They still won’t attack during the day.
Aerlid doesn’t think the ehlkrid will start hunting humans until
the gemengs are gone. But you still need to be careful. If an
opportunity comes up, they’ll attack.’

They had talked about this before. Gemengs
made better prey, they were… a more nutritious food source to the
ehlkrid due to their ehlkrid blood, and they probably weren’t that
much more difficult to catch than humans.

‘Aerlid also said the valkar shields might
be keeping them away. They might be confusing Astar for a valkar
city.’

‘We have people working on improving the
shields at Coastside. Have you heard anything from the valkar?’

‘Not recently.’

‘I have to go soon. There’s been talk of
sending a delegation to the caves. They’re thinking if they can see
the ehlkrid close up it will help us when we need to fight
them.’

‘As long as they know the danger, humans may
come any time, Vann.’ Quietly, she hoped the ehlkrid did not attack
the humans any time soon. The hope was borne more out of fear of
what that would mean for her tribe than anything else.

‘Alright. I’ll pass it on.’

Goodbyes were said. The conversations with
Vann were always very formal and business like. They could be no
other way, she was aware he did not make these calls in private.
But really, what else was there to say?

The radio went silent. Riley, tired, turned
it off and headed back to her cave. The radio could be recharged by
a solar charger, so running out of energy for it was not likely to
be a problem.

Riley stored it in its place among her other
meagre possessions. Gratefully, she fell into bed. She had plenty
to think about, but straight away she was asleep.

Riley awoke as the sun was setting. She was
used to this now. Quickly she checked her weapons and headed
towards the surface. It might have seemed a better idea to stay in
the caves and merely defend them, instead of fighting the ehlkrid
on the surface, but the ehlkrid could attack from a distance,
slashing with a tail, spitting acid and breathing fire while the
gemengs could only fight at close quarters. It would have been too
easy for the ehlkrid to kill the gemengs guarding the cave
entrances without being in danger themselves, before rushing into
the caves.

The warriors who would take the first shift
were already here. Riley could fight all night, the other gemengs
could not. The gemengs fought in groups of about five. If one group
could take down three ehlkrid before needing to head back to
safety, it was considered they’d had a
very
good night.
Riley only interfered in what her gemengs were doing if it looked
like the situation was getting out of control. They were ready. She
was ready.

The sky darkened, the last glimmers of light
faded away.

Every night the ehlkrid came sooner after
the sunset and left closer to sunrise. They did not yet arrive as
soon as dark fell, they still had to travel to the caves from
wherever they hid during the day. Wherever that was; the scouts
Riley sent out to find their hiding places had so far been
unsuccessful.

They did not have to wait long. The
monstrous creatures that bore more resemblance to beasts and
nightmares than humans or gemengs were soon upon them. Snarls,
grunts, the crunch of rock beneath claws, paws, hooves, became the
new sounds of the night. The insects and birdlife were long since
quiet.

Her people fought. Riley waited. She looked
over what was now a battlefield, shadowy shapes clashed against one
another. Her eyes had adjusted quickly to the night. She saw three
gemengs distracting an ehlkrid and trying not to get killed. The
other two members of the group were trying to hack at the creature
from behind. Her gaze moved on. She needed to choose her opponent
carefully.

Her eyes latched on a giant centipede with
legs that were nearly as long as her, its body suspended on those
spindly structures high above her head.