The Broken Kingdom (33 page)

‘Your magnificence,’ Riley said as she bowed
low. It was not hard to beg. If she failed to convince him of this,
everything would be lost. ‘I beg a favour of you.’

‘Hmm?’ He smiled, ‘speak.’

‘Your magnificence, I need a sword of your
making. Please, let me go on a quest to win this favour from you.
My sister, Ralana, asked the valkar to make me a sword to fight the
ehlkrid, but it broke. It was too weak and I am too weak to fight
them alone. Only a sword made by you is powerful enough.’

‘Any quest I send you on would be arduous.’
he said forebodingly. ‘You would probably die.’

Riley nodded. ‘Yes, your magnificence, very
likely. But without it I will surely die anyway. Please, your
magnificence, though I am unworthy, give me this chance. I will
likely miss the wedding-’

‘Oh no!’ Andalla interjected. ‘You are my
beloved’s family!’

‘Yes, I will apologise to my sister. But I’m
afraid I cannot wait until after, without a weapon, I will
die.’

‘Hah! You are unworthy and weak, but…’ and
he smiled very smugly. ‘I will give you a sword, it shall be my
wedding gift to you.’

Riley threw herself on the ground. She was
not acting when she said with enormous relief, ‘oh, thank you your
magnificence! Thank you! But please, I must have it now, before the
wedding, I cannot wait.’

‘If the ehlkrid are giving you so much
trouble, perhaps I should just destroy them now.’ He said in an
amused tone.

Riley went cold at that tone, and she
allowed some fear to enter her voice as she said, ‘no, please, I
have not yet had enough time to prove my worth to you!’

‘Are you afraid of how I will judge
you?’

Riley didn’t reply.

Andalla laughed. ‘Good! Well… it would be
inconvenient to eradicate the ehlkrid before my wedding, and it
would distress my beloved if you were eaten before then, so! You
may consider yourself blessed, and with this new sword I give you I
expect to be most entertained by your antics! Rise! I shall make it
now! Bring me my pot!’

Riley hopped to her feet but kept her head
down. She kept thanking him, the smile on his face urging her to
keep going.

Andallites swarmed around them, four were
carrying the pot. They placed it in front of Andalla and glided
back, leaving space.

Andalla plunged his hand into the swirling
gold of the pot. And he pulled out a sword.

‘A sword fit to fight the ehlkrid!’ he
said.

Riley’s face suddenly fell. But it was not
just because Andalla was using the pot himself. No, the sword was
singing. It was like a choir was singing with the sword.

‘Y-your magnificence,’ Riley stuttered. ‘I
fear with your great bravery and power you can… you cannot perceive
how beneath you I am. I cannot charge in on the ehlkrid announced.
I must sneak up and fight them in a cowardly way, I am very
weak.’

Andalla blinked. He looked at the sword.
‘Ah, I see. You must fight like a worm, not a man.’

Riley nodded.

‘You are perhaps right,’ he said
magnanimously. ‘You are so far beneath me.’ He put the sword back
into the pot. And then he drew out another. But this one glowed
even brighter than Adila.

‘Your magnificence, I fear you have
overestimated me again. To fight the ehlkrid I must sneak up on
them at night. If I use this, they will see me. Though the sword
will not fail, I will.’

‘My, you are challenged, aren’t you?’

Andalla put the sword back into the pot. He
pulled out another one. Though it was golden and jewelled, it did
not glow or sing. He smiled and held it out to her. As it moved
through the air sparks and coloured lights flashed in its path.

Riley stared. ‘Your magnificence, this sword
is far too beautiful for me. Please, I am not good enough for
it.’

He frowned again. He put the sword back in
the pot and pulled out another. This one was purple instead of
gold, and the jewels were smaller, but more numerous. As he held
this one out a loud whooshing sound could be heard.

His expression darkened as he saw her face.
He put his hand back in the pot. He was glowering now.

‘Your magnificence,’ Riley said hurriedly.
‘Please, everything you think of is too wondrous for a worm like
me. If only I could show what was in my mind…’

Andalla made a noise of annoyance. ‘Yes,
you’re not good enough at all. Think hard now.’ He said and grabbed
her hand. He plunged it into the pot.

Momentarily surprised Riley closed her eyes.
She scrunched up her face as if she was concentrating hard. She was
in fact. She brought into her mind the image of a plain sword. But
she thought mostly of it killing Andalla. That was what she
focussed on.

And then just as quickly her hand was pulled
from the pot. She opened her eyes. She stared. In her hand was a
plain, unremarkable sword.

‘Really?’ Andalla said sceptically. ‘That’s
a sword?’

Riley nodded, she tried to contain her glee.
‘Oh thank you, your magnificence!’

‘You didn’t do it right.’ he said and
grabbed it from her hands.

Her heart plummeting, Riley could do nothing
but stare.

But Andalla merely inspected it. In surprise
he handed it back, ‘it will work on ehlkrid. Though it is very
ugly. I’m not sure I want people knowing I made that.’

‘Your magnificence, anything else would be
too good for me. Why, even this is.’

‘Very well.’ he waved his hand at her
dismissively. ‘You have your sword, and my beloved’s family has
their first of many wondrous gifts.’ He frowned at it again. ‘Take
her away.’

Riley did not object.

When she got back to the camp she headed
straight for Aerlid.

She held out the plain sword to him.
‘Aerlid. I need you to protect this sword, with your life if need
be.’

He raised an eyebrow. ‘Really? It doesn’t
look like much. And why me, may I ask?’

‘As I said, it is far more valuable than
you. And I’m asking you because it’s too valuable to fight with,
and I cannot protect it myself every second of the day. Neither can
Karesh if someone tries to take it.’

‘And how do you intend to fight the ehlkrid?
You know they tried to get in through the river while you were
gone. Karesh handled it well, no one was killed, though some were
badly injured. Don’t worry, I fixed them up.’

Riley instantly looked over towards the
river. ‘I’ll fight them with my bare hands.’ she said as she looked
back.

‘Very well. I’ll take care of it.’

Riley held his gaze for a moment. ‘If you
fail, for whatever reason, Rose will have you.’

Aerlid nodded, looking annoyed. ‘You’ve
gotten very threatening lately.’

Riley gave him an ominous look before
leaving.

Chapter 42

‘
T
he Master seems better
now.’

Vann nearly jumped in surprise. He turned
around quickly, ‘Karesh, I didn’t hear you!’

Karesh returned Vann’s surprised look, ‘yes,
I am good at moving quietly.’

Vann sighed. ‘Yeah, well, Riley’s feeling a
lot better now.’

Karesh’s wings fluttered, ‘so the Master is
not dying?’

Vann rounded on Karesh angrily, ‘you
knew
!’

‘Yes,’ Karesh nodded, ‘the Master told
me.’

‘Why didn’t you tell me?!’

‘If the Master wanted you to know, she would
have told you.’

Vann glared at Karesh and said nothing. He
couldn’t really argue with that.

‘The Master is well, she is not dying?’
Karesh asked again.

Vann looked at the shorter man more closely.
His wings were fluttering, an unsure look on his face.

‘Were you worried?’ Vann asked. The other
man didn’t
look
worried, but Vann had already decided that
Karesh was very good at keeping his feelings hidden.

Karesh didn’t answer for a while. Finally he
said, ‘I… helped the Master see that she needs to continue what she
was doing on the Plains… I can’t… I can’t help her if she’s sick.
If she dies… there is nothing I can do.’

‘Mmm, and her vision dies with her?’

Karesh nodded curtly.

Vann sighed and ran a hand through his hair.
‘No, she’s still not well.’ Karesh looked at him in alarm, his
wings wide. ‘She’s not sick like she thought she was, but she’s
still going to…’ Vann swallowed, ‘still going to die young.’

‘How long?’ Karesh pressed.

Vann felt a sudden flash of anger. Was that
all Riley was to Karesh? A means to creating a world without fear,
where the weak need not fear the strong, a world that Karesh
desperately wanted?

‘So, you just need her to survive long
enough to finish what she started?’ Vann said angrily, his jaw
clenched.

Karesh went very still. His eyes fixed on
Vann as if he suddenly saw Vann as a threat. It was enough of a
surprise for Vann that some of his anger leached away. He was
taller than Karesh, like everyone in the tribe except the children.
Still, he was human, and Karesh could
fly
.

‘I want her to finish what she’s started.’
Karesh replied, his voice muted. ‘It would be better if she lived a
long life, I don’t know how what the Master is trying to do will
survive after she’s gone.’

Frustrated, Vann didn’t know how to respond
to that.
Am I supposed to get angry at him for not seeing her
the way I do? Riley has encouraged the gemengs to view her as their
Master, and nothing else.
Still, it bothered him that someone
as close to her as Karesh saw her as purely useful, and nothing
else.
Now, with Aerlid… I’m the only one Riley has…
he was
struck by how isolated she was.

‘Can anything be done to help the Master?’
Karesh asked again, his body tense.

Vann looked back to Karesh, his lips pressed
together tightly. ‘The valkar might be able to help. I’ve asked
them, if there’s a way… I’ll do everything I can to help her.’

Karesh nodded firmly, as if to say, ‘so will
I.’

Chapter 43

‘
Y
ou will.’ Riley replied
brusquely.

‘You expect us to organize a celebration to
prove our ability to organize the wedding?’ Adila demanded
hotly.

‘I do. And more importantly, Andalla does.
Organize it Adila. You no longer have any choice in what
happens.’

Adila glared.

‘Adila,’ Riley said impatiently. ‘You want
me to tell Andalla of this?’

‘You’ll have your party.’ Adila said
angrily. ‘You expect Andalla to favour you after this? You are a
fool.’

Riley sighed as Adila stalked off
angrily.

‘Would you say they feel helpless right
now?’ she asked Vann, who had remained quiet.

‘Probably, and angry and frustrated.’

Riley nodded. ‘Good.’

‘Riley, I trust you, I just don’t understand
why you’d want this.’

‘I can’t tell you.’