The Broken Kingdom (31 page)

Her eyes narrowed again, ‘I’ll think about
it.’ was all she said before walking away.

A few days later, Riley was called on for
her chaperoning duties. Once in the Kingdom of Andalla, it was easy
to sneak away. Andalla and Ralana did not pay much attention to
her, and besides, the Andallites helped her.

Hidden by wan clouds and golden light, Riley
said to the Andallites in a low voice, ‘I need you to take me to
the Land of the Ehlkrid. And bring me back here afterwards.’

‘That is the land of our enemy.’ The
Andallites said in the unsettling way they had.

‘I need your help. I also need you to
suggest to Andalla that he should give gifts to his bride’s
family.’

‘How are we to do that?’

‘When royalty get married among the valkar,
each family gives gifts to the other to show their skill and power.
The side that gives the best gifts shows their superiority. Say it
anyway you want, he doesn’t even have to agree. I just need you to
mention it so it’s in his mind.’

‘You want us to mention gifts.’

Riley nodded.

‘But not convince?’

She nodded again.

‘We will mention them.’

‘And the ehlkrid?’

There was silence among the Andallites.

‘Where do you want to go in their land?’

‘Do you know the Dragon ehlkrid? He lives
near the King. I need to go there. Please, if I don’t the King may
come and ruin our plans.’

‘Your plans. Andalla will kill you if you
fail. Not us.’

Riley nodded.

‘And you must kill the King too.’

‘I’ll try. But Andalla first.’

‘Very well.’

And suddenly she was swarmed by the golden
beings. For a long time she felt like she was suffocating in a sea
of clouds. And then suddenly dark red sky, empty air and black sea
greeted her. One of the Andallites was with her, golden and
still.

‘Hurry.’ was all the Andallite said.

Riley saw she was on the island with the
tunnel to the Dragon’s cave. Quickly she headed down the dark,
winding tunnel. At the end she found the Dragon, the same as
ever.

strange one
. he
greeted her.
have you been kidnapped
again?

His voice boomed and thundered in her mind,
threatening to shatter it. But she didn’t want to waste time. ‘No,
I need your help.’

‘I’ll try, but I need your help.’

‘Andalla is going to marry a valkar
princess. The best time for the King to ruin everything will be at
the wedding. You must convince him, and don’t let him know I was
here. The King must wait til the wedding, no sooner.’

‘Thank you. I have to go.’ And Riley raced
off down the tunnel to the waiting Andallite. As soon as she
appeared she was snatched back to Andalla’s kingdom. The trip back
was as uncomfortable as the trip there.

Andalla and Ralana didn’t appear to have
noticed her absence. She hoped she wasn’t the one being taken for a
fool.

Chapter 39

R
iley entered her tent,
grim faced. Her arm was bandaged. She couldn’t remember how it had
been cut. That seemed to be happening a lot lately.

She picked up a cloth to start cleaning her
sword.

Bright red bloomed on the cloth, she cried
out in surprise. She dropped her sword. And then she yelped again
as she narrowly missed cutting off her foot. She hopped away.

She undid her boot. There was a shallow cut
on her foot. Her eyes wide, she backed away. Everything needed
bandaging. How had she managed to cut herself? She had never been
clumsy. It was as if her body just wasn’t working well lately.

And most of the time she didn’t even notice
her lapses.

She managed to bandage her various wounds.
Sitting down, she tried to clean her dagger. Rattled, she was more
careful. But still, the dagger slipped in her hands. It didn’t draw
blood, or leave much of a mark, but it hurt.

Breathing hard, Riley threw the thing over
to her sword. She tried to calm down, but the pain in her hands and
feet kept intruding, and with it the only explanation. It was too
horrible to consider, but the pain kept bringing it back, closer
and closer. Breathing heavily, on the verge of tears, Riley put her
head in her hands.

And she couldn’t help a few sobs.

Sounds came from outside. Riley looked up
just as Vann poked his head in the tent.

‘Riley?’ he asked, ‘Are you alright.’

She nodded, pushed down the intruding
knowledge once more. ‘I’m fine, Vann.’ she stood.

‘Are you sure?’ he came closer. ‘What’s
wrong?’

She shook her head. ‘It just hurts, that’s
all,’ she half lied. ‘You know little cuts hurt me a lot. Let’s go,
we have a lot of work to do.’

Riley did not put it off any longer. Later
that day, when Vann was busy elsewhere, she called Karesh into her
tent.

‘Master?’ he asked.

Looking distraught, unable to hide it, Riley
said, ‘Karesh, you know I am half human half valkar.’

He nodded.

‘Do you know what that means?’

He shook his head, cautiously attentive.

‘Before me, the longest anyone like me had
lived was fourteen years. Guess how old I am.’

His eyes widened. ‘I-I don’t know,
Master.’

‘I’m nearly twenty.’ she gathered her
strength and said, ‘Karesh, I… I’m getting old. For what I am. I
don’t know how long I will live, but Aerlid told me it would not be
very long. Karesh, you may have to lead the gemengs when I’m
gone.’

He stared at her a moment, his face slack.
He was silent for what seemed a long time.

‘Karesh, you need to take care of Vann. He
may not like it, but you’ll have to take him back to Coastside.
It’s the only place he can be safe.’

‘Master,’ he said, ‘I will take care of
Vann. But I cannot… I cannot lead the gemengs. They will not follow
me.’

‘Karesh, you didn’t think you could be my
second in command. You have exceeded all my expectations. If the
time comes you have to take my place, I know you can do it.’ she
paused again. ‘It’s a lot to ask, Karesh. So if you don’t want to,
I will understand. But just know I trust you and I believe in you.
So if you choose not to take my place, don’t let it be because you
don’t think you can.’

Karesh fell silent.

‘That’s all. You may go.’

Andalla’s garden seemed to get worse the
more Riley visited it. She trailed after Andalla and Ralana, a
cloud of Andallites following.

She was distraught, distracted. She was not
the type to dwell, she had never spent much time thinking of what
ifs and might have beens, but her declining health was like
quicksand. Aerlid had told her thirty to forty years. But she was
failing now, so would she spend the next ten or more years in a
slow decline? Would she watch as her body failed, as the simplest
tasks became impossible? And how would she lead the gemengs? She
couldn’t. She wondered what would be worse, the slow decline or a
quick collapse. But then Adila might soon be cursing her with
everlasting night.

She was jolted out of her dark musings as
she nearly ran into Andalla and Ralana, who had stopped.

Andalla was frowning at her.

‘So sorry, your magnificence.’ Riley
managed. She pulled herself together then. She might not have long
(or perhaps she’d have
too
long), but she needed to get this
done.

‘My people will take you and my beloved back
to your world now.’ he said, his tone suggesting he’d had to repeat
himself.

‘Your magnificence, I wondered if I might
stay here a while with Ralana. Perhaps she could show me where she
will be staying in your palace.’

‘You have seen my palace.’ he stated.

Riley hesitated carefully, then she said,
‘your magnificence, there are certain things about the wedding that
ought to be discussed in private.’

‘Oh.’ He thought about that for a moment
before saying, ‘yes, of course. I imagine you’ll be very busy.’

Riley nodded.

‘Very well. The Andallites will return you
when you are done.’ He turned to Ralana and they said their
goodbyes.

Riley drifted away, not wishing to pay
attention to this, but not wanting her mind to stray.

Then he was gone and Ralana said, ‘I’ll show
you the palace. It is most magnificent.’

Riley nodded and followed. Once inside Riley
did not speak until Ralana had shown her around a bit. She
pretended to be paying very close attention. She was already more
familiar with this place than she wanted to be.

‘So,’ Riley began, once they were in an
upstairs, windowed hallway, ‘how are you planning on decorating
it?’

‘Decorating?’ she asked, her eyes wide.

‘Of course. You are to be his wife. It is
your duty to make a home fit for him, he’s not going to be content
with you putting trees everywhere. You do know how to cook, don’t
you?’

‘Cook?’

‘Of course. You have thought about this,
haven’t you?’

Ralana shook her head.

‘Well, at least you have time. You’ll have
to make a list, you can get what you need as wedding presents.’

‘Oh, I don’t need presents.’

‘It is tradition. Come, let’s start a list.’
Riley turned to the Andallites and asked for pen and paper. On cue
they presented a long, narrow roll of parchment and a quill.
‘You’ll need a carpet for this hall for starters, and some
tapestries.’

The words appeared on the parchment, the pen
unused.

‘Vases.’ the Andallites added. ‘Candles.
Lights. Curtains.’

Riley nodded and they kept walking into the
next room. ‘And for this room too of course. Couches and tables and
mats,’

‘But there is already furniture here.’
Ralana stated.