The Broken Kingdom (20 page)

She was led to a suite of rooms a short walk
away from Andalla’s. Andalla bid her goodnight before gliding off
to his rooms.

The room was the same as the rest of the
palace. Cloudy.

At least she was allowed to wash the paint
from her face and get out of the ghastly dress and jewels.

Her clothes had been saved at her
insistence; the Andallites had wanted to throw them out.
Gratefully, she got back into her normal clothes, which had been
thoroughly washed.

Though the bed was large and soft, she had
trouble getting to sleep. At least, she had been too exhausted of
late to dream.

At least there was no night in this
place.

The next day Andalla insisted on spending
more time with her than the Ehlkrid King had. He showed her around
the garden and the palace. But he soon grew bored with her and
commanded his Andallites to finish the tour. He glided off to do
who knew what.

Riley, dressed as terribly as last night,
glanced around at the advancing Andallites.

‘I wish to talk with you.’ Riley said
firmly.

They gathered closely around her. So close
and so eerily similar, Riley found it very uncomfortable. She
struggled and pushed them away, forced them to give her some
space.

‘Please, don’t stand so close.’ she
insisted. ‘Do any of you have names?’

One answered. ‘We are the Andallites.’

‘So you have no names?’

‘We are the Andallites.’

Riley suppressed a sigh and pressed forward.
At least, when Andalla wasn’t around the names didn’t do anything
to her. ‘I was told you and the ehlkrid used to be the same. Is
this true?’

There was some nodding.

‘Can you tell me what happened?’ she
insisted.

‘We are what Andalla wishes us to be.’

Riley tried a different tactic and began,
‘Andalla has told me he will come to my world and kill the ehlkrid.
In the process, many of the people of my world will die. Is there
any way I can stop that?’

There was silence among the Andallites.

Then from the crowd, ‘we must do as Andalla
wishes.’

Like the ehlkrid.
Riley thought. ‘And
if Andalla were gone, what would you do?’

They were astonished by the very
thought.

‘Do you know any way I can kill the Ehlkrid
King or Andalla?’ she asked, surprising them even more.

Silence stretched out, the only sound was of
breathing.

‘Fine. Do you know any way I can leave?’

‘Andalla wants a valkar wife. You are a
valkar.’

‘Could you help me leave?’

‘We must do as Andalla wishes.’

Riley pushed past them to a low cloudy
bench. She looked around, irritated. ‘What’s wrong with this
place?’ She asked in frustration.

‘Andalla made it.’

‘Is this the best he could do? He couldn’t
make food with taste?’

There was a shaking of heads. ‘Andalla is
thoughtless.’

‘Hm. And how did I get to the bathroom the
other day? You moved me.’

‘This is how it is supposed to be. His
kingdom is of cloud, in myth it changes. He has given us some power
to change it.’

Riley frowned. Little of this information
was of interest to her, but collecting information was all she
could do at this point. ‘What was that pot?’

‘It is Andalla’s pot. One of the human Gods
he took the form of had a pot. So he made a pot.’

‘What can it do?’

‘It makes whatever you wish, if it is in
Andalla’s power to make. It is made with his power.’

Suddenly Riley became thoughtful. ‘Can
anyone use it?’

‘If he allows it.’

And then one added, ‘what you imagine in
your mind is what it makes. The clearer the image, the better the
item.’

Riley looked quickly into the crowd. That
was the first sign of initiative she had seen from these creatures.
But she could not tell them apart. She did not know who had spoken.
But perhaps who did not matter, only that one had.

Barely a few days had passed before the
Ehlkrid King appeared in the golden skies.

He swooped down and scooped her up. As
helpless as ever, Riley resisted the urge to fight. She didn’t want
to end up drowning again.

He smiled that devious smile at her as he
flew towards his own kingdom. The sky changed to blue. To see a
colour other than gold was immensely refreshing to Riley. But all
too soon it was gone, turning into an ugly red.

‘Pleased to see me?’ The King asked. ‘I’m
afraid I’m going to have to insist you take your clothes off.’

‘As long as there’s something else I can
wear, I would be happy too.’ Riley replied. She wore an ugly dress
and crown. Her own clothes were in Andalla’s palace somewhere.

‘Certainly. I wouldn’t want you to get
cold.’

Riley fell silent. The ocean and cave
appeared below.

‘But tell me, who would you prefer, myself
or Andalla?’

Riley didn’t respond.

‘Well?’ he prodded.

‘I can’t decide.’ she responded.

His laughter rang out over the barren, empty
world.

A few days later, she was back with
Andalla.

Chapter 25

E
very day they waited for
Adila to arrive was like torture.

They called her every day, many times. But
the Sunsinger was as slow as ever.

Vann couldn’t understand everything the
gemengs said to each other, but he could tell they were uneasy. At
night they huddled close together, taking watches in groups of
three or more. During the day they never went anywhere alone, and
hurried back to the group as quickly as possible.

Vann was surprised at the change that came
over Karesh after Riley’s kidnapping. Frequently, the gemengs had
what looked like discussions about what to do. From their tone,
Vann thought they were afraid. He didn’t blame them. They had
Adila’s knife, but still the ehlkrid approached, watching from a
distance. What would happen if they decided to attack, now that
Riley was gone?

Vann didn’t know what Karesh said to the
gemengs, but he spoke calmly and firmly, his stance confident.

‘What’s going on?’ Vann asked, the third day
after Riley was taken. He spoke in Astarian, and then repeated
himself in Plains speech.

‘They are not happy,’ Karesh managed to say,
switching between Astarian and Plains speech. ‘The Master was
defeated… never before… they are not happy. They’re afraid.’

‘I’m not happy either.’

Karesh shook his head and frowned. ‘The
Master
cannot
be defeated. Difficult. It is good though that
they still fear the ehlkrid… even if Master has shown… weakness…
they want her back to protect them from the ehlkrid.’

It took a long time for Vann to understand
this much, with much back and forth in both languages. He felt like
he was missing something, but the effort to communicate was
exhausting him.

‘You seem to be able to reassure them.’

Karesh nodded curtly. ‘Master’s way. We
prepare for ehlkrid attack. We must stay together, only together
can we beat them. I need to keep the tribe together.’

At this, Vann felt a hint of Karesh’s
struggle, which was mostly hidden from him by the language
barrier.

‘Well,’ he said cautiously, ‘you’re doing a
good job so far.’

‘They are afraid. If I don’t show fear, if I
am confident while they are afraid, they will follow.’ And then a
surprised looked dawned on his face. ‘Strange for people to follow
me.’

‘You make it look easy.’

Karesh’s wings fluttered. Vann glanced at
them, then back at Karesh’s face. He’d developed the habit of
keeping an eye on Karesh’s wings when they spoke. Their twitches
and movements often revealed Karesh’s feelings even when his face
didn’t.

‘I am…’ he shook his head. ‘I am not happy
either…’

And Vann wondered if he might have been
about to say he was afraid.

‘I have to keep them together, for Master.’
Karesh’s big dark eyes moved to Vann’s. ‘You approve of my
methods?’

Frowning slightly, Vann nodded. ‘Yeah. I’ve
got no… no complaints about that.’ And he forced a smile, wondering
when Adila would arrive.

Adila arrived a little over a week after
Riley’s kidnapping. As soon as he saw her, Vann jumped to his
feet.

The gemengs followed as he approached
her.

‘What is it?’ she asked. ‘You call me so
often.’

‘Adila, there needs to be a way to contact
you quicker.’ Vann responded. Adila shone like the sun, but his
worry dampened and killed any attraction he might have felt.

Her eyebrows rose. ‘I came very
quickly.’

Vann bit back a sigh. ‘A man flew out of the
sky and kidnapped Riley. We don’t know where she is or if she’s
alright.’

Adila fell still. Then, ‘what did he look
like?’

‘I didn’t get a good look at him.’ Vann
turned to Karesh, who came forward.

‘Dark and… everything fit together well.’ he
said in his way, ‘He was very powerful. The Master fought, but he
didn’t even notice.’

‘It is the Ehlkrid King.’ Adila closed her
eyes for a moment. ‘I will speak to him, but there may not be
anything I can do.’

Vann suddenly became very calm. ‘Do what you
can.’ he said in a firm tone. ‘If you need anything from us, let us
know.’

Adila nodded. ‘I will. And… I’m sorry.’