The Broken Kingdom (13 page)

When Rose arrived on the beach, they all
came to watch; Riley, Vann, Karesh and the other nine gemengs.

Riley still wore the clothes of sunlight.
Adila assured her new clothes were coming.

Rose faced Aerlid as the others formed a
semicircle around them. Adila stood behind Rose, not quite a part
of the observers or the participants.

Rose’s expression was no different than
usual. But then, her usual expression was a frown.

‘Aerlid,’ she snapped, ‘along with
everything else, your actions have caused great divisions among the
valkar. People wonder if Moonsingers are somehow damaged.
Kalkaluna’s name, not heard for centuries, is once again spoken. If
there is another split in our people, this will also be on your
shoulders.’

Aerlid frowned. ‘You can’t keep the valkar
together, Judgement Master? Kalkaluna committed her crime millennia
ago, during one of the earliest Ehlkrid incursions, before the
Sunsingers were able to reach the sun.’

‘She was a Moonsinger, you are a Moonsinger
and you have both killed. Her crimes caused the valkar to split.
I’m afraid yours may do the same.’

‘I’m sorry, I wasn’t thinking of that at the
time. I’m glad to know what your biggest concern is though.’ he bit
out acidly. ‘Though perhaps such a split would please you. Only
those related to and close friends of Kalkaluna exiled themselves
from the valkar. Perhaps Adila will now do the same?’

‘Your levity does you no service now.’

‘I’m being quite serious, Rose. That this is
your greatest concern worries me more than the thought of the
valkar splitting again. I am here to be judged, not talked to.’

‘Hold out your hand, Moonsinger.’

And the judgement began. It took much longer
than her judgement of Riley, or Adila’s of Vann.

She only used one seed, but it grew slowly
and wrapped Aerlid tightly. The rose petals were thick, and vividly
red. As before, the thorns did not pierce his skin, though as he
was a valkar, that did not mean they weren’t hurting him.

And then it was done.

Rose stepped back. She spoke her judgement
in a terrible voice, ‘your name will be stricken from the valkar.
You will be bound in sunlight, forever awake. The moon will never
again shine on you, and you shall never be able to imagine it
again. Song will be taken from you. You will be alone, lost and
forsaken by all. And when you fade away, your lady moon will reject
you. Though that is not in my power to ensure, my judgement has
assured me it will be so.’

Neither Adila nor Aerlid looked surprised.
Aerlid looked terribly ashen, lost and alone.

Riley turned to Adila. ‘Is that a bad
thing?’ she asked.

A great pain visible in her eyes, softly she
sighed, ‘Nothing more terrible could happen to a Moonsinger.’

Chapter 17

T
he valkar were gone.
Rose had at least brought some clothes for Riley, though she hadn’t
seemed happy to be a delivery girl.

The clothes were of the rich, deep black,
like her previous valkar made clothes. The cut was also similar.
Riley seemed very relieved to be out of the clothes of
sunlight.

She and Vann were on the beach, Karesh was
also nearby.

‘We need to get you back to Coastside.’
Riley was saying to Vann. They had not spoken much since her body
had returned.

‘No.’ Vann responded. ‘I’m staying with
you.’

Her brows rose in surprise. ‘Vann-’

‘It’s not up for discussion.’ he said
firmly.

‘And your Commander is ok with this?’

‘It doesn’t matter.’

‘I’m not starting a war over this!’

‘I don’t think you have to worry about that,
Riley.’

Riley’s face clouded. ‘I think I do.’ She
said, her voice suddenly icy. ‘And I cannot trust your word alone.
I need a reason.’

Vann could understand that. ‘I’ll tell you.’
he sighed, suddenly he felt ill. ‘But… there’s something else you
need to know first.’

Vann looked at Karesh. Then he looked back
to Riley. Riley had caught the look and now looked from one to the
other.

‘Master,’ Karesh began hesitantly, ‘we are
all that is left.’

‘Excuse me?’

‘The mountain collapsed, Master. Everyone
else is dead.’

Riley’s face went slack. She stared at him
blankly. Then she simply said, ‘what?’

Karesh gestured to her to follow. He led her
up the beach and pointed towards the mountain. So close, yet they
had kept her away from this sight til now.

Riley followed his gaze to the mountain
range visible in the distance. One peak was missing.

For a long while Riley said nothing. Then
she looked at them both. ‘This can’t be true.’

‘I’m sorry, Master, it is. It happened while
we were out scouting. The mountain came down. Everything was
buried. We could not stay and try to find anyone, we needed to
protect ourselves from the ehlkrid.’

‘My sword is in there.’ she said slowly,
thickly. ‘Isn’t it?’

Karesh nodded.

‘So I need a new one.’

He nodded again.

She looked between them again. Then suddenly
she walked off into the desert, towards the mountain. Karesh did
not follow, but Vann did. She walked very fast. Vann had no chance
of keeping up. Soon he stopped, he had no water or supplies. He
headed back to the beach to wait.

Riley was not thinking, not feeling. The
desert sun did not bother her. She did not feel her dry mouth, her
burning skin.

She walked across the desert. She came to
the mountain, climbed it. The path was different than she
remembered. It was like climbing a different mountain.

She reached the top that was not much of a
top anymore. Now it was more of a round hill. She saw the Plains
before her. She looked down at the rubble.

This could not possibly be real. How could a
mountain just fall down? How could everyone be dead?

Faces flashed through her mind, snatches of
conversation.

Gakra? He couldn’t be dead.

But no, he had to be. Karesh and nine others
she did not really know. They were all that was left.

Names, she counted them off. Names of people
that had to be alive. But they were not part of the ten gemengs
left.

How could so many people just be gone?

She thought of Adlak then, the games he had
organized. Children playing that ball game in a big cave. Grief hit
her hard. Things had been
changing
. Fear had faded from the
gemengs. There was still fear of the ehlkrid, of her. But not of
each other.

She thought of the cave the children played
in. In her minds eye she saw the roof collapsing, children
screaming, dying.

Her stomach knotted. She felt sick.

She stayed up on the mountain for a long
time.

It took her a long time to realize what
exactly she was feeling. She was appalled, devastated, sickened and
disbelieving. But though the names were of people she knew, though
she had brought them to this place, there was a distance. As if she
had felt this pain years ago and come to terms with it, or as if it
was another person’s pain. Being trapped in her own body, and then
losing it, Aerlid’s betrayal, forced a distance between herself and
this. It was a distance she wasn’t sure she liked. A distance she
wasn’t sure was fair to those she had led and let down.

She had brought them to this place.

How did mountains just
collapse?

I was here,
she realised. Onsa’s
statement made sense now. She didn’t remember, but she knew that
monster must have saved her life.

She stood, looked around one last time. Then
left. Everything was gone. Everything she had worked for… buried
beneath what had once been a mountain.

Failure clung heavily to her as she walked
down the mountain, back to the desert. It lodged inside her like a
knife, curled up with the grief and gave another layer to her
despair.

Everyone was gone. Months had passed, any
chance for a rescue was long gone. Those she had not led were
likely dead as well, eaten by the ehlkrid.

The world was an empty place now. She was
not a lord of anyone or anything anymore. But she did not think she
had the stomach to try again anyway, even if there had been anyone
left.

So she did not think of that now. She just
thought of putting one foot ahead of the other. And she made her
way back to the beach.

Night had fallen by the time Riley returned.
Vann got to his feet as soon as he saw her. She walked slowly down
the slope towards the beach, her head down.

Now was not a good time to talk to her, but
he needed to. They were alone on the beach and he could not keep
this from her.

‘Riley!’ he called and walked over to her.
She looked up dully. Her eyes were red but dry.

‘Riley, I need to tell you what
happened.’

Riley put her hand to her forehead and
closed her eyes. Then she nodded. ‘Fine.’ her voice was thick.
‘Surely things can’t get any worse?’

‘It was the humans, Riley. They blew up the
mountain. They laid charges when they came to visit.’

Her eyes snapped open. Then with a sharp
scream she slammed her hand against the cliff side. ‘I just can’t
pick who to trust, can I!’

‘I’m so sorry.’

She leant against the cliff. Vann didn’t
know if she was crying or not.

‘I’m sorry, Riley.’ he said quietly. ‘I
didn’t know, neither did Messenger. But I… had to tell you.
Coastside wasn’t involved, but… you mustn’t trust Astar or
Coastside again.’

Riley shook her head, all he could see was
her hair.

‘This isn’t your fault. They betrayed you. I
let you down.’

Riley pushed herself from the cliff wall. ‘I
don’t want to talk about this anymore.’ and she strode back out to
the desert.

Vann saw she didn’t go far, just stood and
paced.