The Broken Kingdom (36 page)

‘I wouldn’t do that.’ she said far too
calmly for Vann’s liking.

Now that the sword was no longer waving
around Vann scooted around and touched her shoulder, pushing her
gently back towards the camp. ‘Maybe that’s not such a bad thing.
The ehlkrid probably find it more threatening that way.’

Riley nodded irritably. ‘Yes, but it… it
does not feel nice.’

‘I know. But maybe it’s for the best.
Anyway, Karesh is back.’

‘Already?’ Riley asked narrowing her eyes.
‘I thought he had already gathered all that were close.’

‘I think he already knew where they were.’
Vann replied. ‘And had already convinced them to come with
him.’

‘Yes, he must have. He was easier to deal
with when he was terrified of me.’

‘He’s still terrified of you, and so am I,
Riley the Very Fierce. Now come on, we have to get everyone
organized.’

‘Vann, perhaps you should handle these ones
by yourself.’

‘I don’t think I should do it alone.’ The
gemengs were already treating him as somewhere above Karesh and
below Riley, and now Riley introduced him to the newcomers in the
same way as Karesh, as someone having position and authority within
the tribe.

Galis and Bulag’s child had been born a few
weeks ago. Riley had been more aware of the tension building
between Galis and Karesh than Vann had thought.

Galis had recovered quickly from the
pregnancy, and it appeared that Bulag was going to be mostly in
charge of the children (a fact that confused Vann – surely newborns
needed their mother?). As soon as Galis announced she was ready to
take up the duties of a warrior again, her eyes fixed squarely on
Karesh, Riley had immediately taken her aside.

‘Galis, I’ve been watching you.’

Galis had tensed, and looked down on the
smaller woman, ‘yes, my lord?’

‘You did an excellent job keeping my people
together in the mountains, and you’ve proved yourself again
reintegrating them with the tribe and training them.’

‘I am pleased you are pleased, Master.’

‘Indeed I am, and I have a special task for
you, if you accept.’

‘If you wish it, I will do it.’

‘Well, it’s a lot of responsibility, Galis.
I can handle the ehlkrid by myself, I don’t really need any help
for that.’ Riley said, and waited for Galis to acknowledge her
strength.

Galis bowed her head. ‘Yes,’ she said, a
hint of reluctance in her voice.

‘But training the children in the new ways,
I can’t overstate the importance of that. And I simply don’t have
the time to devote to that. I would like you to take over the job
of training any new warriors, adult or child.’

Galis paused, a curious look coming over her
heavy face. ‘Training the warriors?’

‘Yes. You will report to me directly.’

‘You, not Karesh?’

‘Karesh isn’t here enough, I have him on
other duties. He assists me with the entirety of the tribe, he has
that rare mix of intelligence and strength that I need in the
people I choose to help me. I need you to help with the
trainee-warriors. With Karesh, Vann, and now you…’ Riley smiled. ‘I
hope you can all work together well, I can’t have you undermining
each other.’ She said warningly. ‘Otherwise that defeats the
purpose of having you help me.’

Galis turned that over slowly, ‘so, I will
be responsible for training those who wish to be warriors?’

Riley nodded.

‘Very well,’ Galis said seriously, ‘I will
accept.’

Afterwards, Vann had expressed his surprise
at Riley’s decision.

‘Vann, I’ve noticed she doesn’t like taking
orders from you or Karesh, but the thing is, she
does
. She
is stronger than you Vann, and thinks she’s stronger than Karesh
too. I can’t tell you how much of an improvement it is, that she
obeys those weaker than her. And the children who were with her
haven’t reverted. I’ve watched her while she’s been here, I’m
satisfied with how she’s been training the children. If there’s a
problem, I’ll remove her.’

‘She’s not really
that
good with
me.’

‘Lately?’

Vann didn’t say anything to that.
Particularly since Riley had started introducing Vann to the
newcomers as someone with authority in the tribe, Galis had rarely
questioned Vann.

‘She’s ambitious, but that’s not something I
can fault her for. She’ll be motivated to prove herself to me.’

‘Alright, you know the gemengs better than
me.’ Vann relented.

‘You’re doing well with them,’ Riley said,
her eyes sparkling, ‘you never show them fear.’

So far, Riley hadn’t been proven wrong.
Galis had thrown herself into her new duties with a vengeance,
eager to prove herself to Riley. She still viewed herself as
competing with Karesh for Riley’s favour. As long as they didn’t
try and sabotage each other, the competition between Karesh and
Galis didn’t worry Riley.

‘So, will you meet the newcomers on your
own?’ Riley said, breaking Vann out of his reverie.

‘I’m just helping you, Riley. You’re still
the one who’s doing all this. You’re still the leader.’ he
said.

Riley thought about that for a while.
‘Alright. We’ll do it together.’

There was a certain fragility to the
newcomers. With only ten warriors, Karesh could only gather small
groups at a time and safely escort them back to the campsite. But
that way it was easier to incorporate the newcomers into the tribe.
The newcomers were all the same; small, isolated bands of ragged,
thin gemengs with haunted looks to their eyes. None of these
gemengs were confident or brash, they were not like the now
long-gone gemengs of the Plains. At best, a few of the leaders had
a grim strength to them. But seeing the state of Riley’s own camp,
they did not object to her leadership.

When Riley met the first group of newcomers,
she realized the coming of the ehlkrid had been harder than she’d
thought.

Slowly, the campsite grew and changed.
Inside the shields, more tents were built and placed carefully so
many more people could fit comfortably. The Suntree was still the
centre. Riley herself always stayed outside the shield now, as did
Vann and Aerlid. Those who could not fit inside the shield rotated
with those who could, so everyone had the same amount of time
sleeping in safety. Newcomers, and some of the original children,
had been trained and claimed the status of warrior, signified by
bands of woven grass as before. They were much easier to train than
the original gemengs. Mostly, the newly minted warriors guarded the
campsite. Occasionally, Riley also took them out hunting with her
and gave them the chance to fight ehlkrid. She wanted to be sure
they would be capable should the campsite be attacked.

As before the collapse of the mountain,
Riley began setting up a council responsible for deciding on the
laws of the tribe. It was more informal than before, as her tribe
kept growing and she didn’t want to exclude those who came late
from participating. Eventually, she hoped they would make decisions
and mete out punishment without her babying them.

Inside the shield the ballgame was played
between the trees. Riley didn’t want the younger children playing
outside, in case they moved too far from the shield and attracted
the attention of the ehlkrid. The campsite was dismantled and
reconstructed frequently anyway, when the gemengs switched places,
so it was not too difficult to get the gemengs to move the tents
back to the edge of the shield so the game could be played in
safety. There was another reason for the frequent destruction of
the campsite; Riley wanted her people to be ready if they had to
move quickly.

The original gemengs knew the ballgame and
were happy to play. Riley had them teach it to the newcomers. Teams
were created that incorporated old and new. It did not take long
for the gap between old and new to disappear entirely. Vann played
the game too, but not with the children. He played with the
warriors, much to Riley’s consternation. But they had talked about
it, and so she put up with it.

When Karesh arrived he was tired and
pleased. Riley greeted the newcomers and the whole process started
again.

Karesh would not leave immediately, and the
warriors would switch. Riley had him stay a few days, he was still
her second in command and she didn’t want it to be too difficult
for him return to that role once he finished gathering the stray
gemengs.

It was on one of those nights when Karesh
was back that Riley noticed an unusual gathering around Aerlid.

Riley walked over. Karesh was there, as were
Adila and Vann. Her gaze lingered on Vann’s back for a moment. Then
she tore her eyes away. With him so close all the time, these
thoughts tormented her endlessly. They were impossible to ignore.
But she had too, she couldn’t send him away, and he’d made his
feelings abundantly clear.

Someone else was there too. She couldn’t
tell who, it seemed like a thicker, darker patch of darkness that
was human shaped, and yet lit in various places by a faint light,
like starlight.

‘What’s going on?’ Riley asked.

‘They are making a flag.’ Karesh said,
pleased.

‘Who is this?’ Riley asked.

‘It is a Night.’ Aerlid responded. ‘A
valkar, perhaps the strangest and most reclusive of our people.
They fade away at dawn and come back at dusk. They seem to get on
well with the Sunsingers.’

‘What’s this got to do with a flag?’

‘Just wait.’

Riley couldn’t see what the Night was doing.
It handed something to Adila. And then with Adila’s light Riley saw
what she held in her hands. It looked like a piece of the night
itself.

‘Thank you.’ Adila said in valkar.

If the Night said something Riley could not
tell. And then it was gone. It was difficult to say how she
knew.

Adila handed the piece of night to Aerlid.
Riley stiffened at that. Vann touched her shoulder and she relaxed,
though now she felt uncomfortable for a different reason and the
flag became difficult to focus on.

Soft, silvery light sprang up on the large,
rectangular piece of night. It outlined the shape of a tree. And
then Adila took it. Blooms of fire appeared on the tree.

‘My flag is going to be the Suntree?’ Riley
asked.

Karesh nodded. ‘No one else has one.’

Adila handed Karesh the flag. ‘We can hang
it above your tent.’

‘Are you going to start calling me Riley
Suntree now?’ she asked suspiciously.

‘We haven’t decided yet.’ he replied. ‘But
do you like the flag?’ He held it out so that it flapped in the
light breeze.

‘It’s very nice.’ Riley said. ‘Though I’m
not sure I want to be Riley Suntree.’

‘We’ll keep that in mind.’ Karesh
replied.

‘Thank you.’ Riley said dryly.

She and Vann headed off towards her tent.
There was little distance between them as they walked. Riley felt
like she couldn’t breathe. She wondered if he noticed. Perhaps it
would have been easier in some respects if he wasn’t here, but at
the same time Riley felt as though she needed him. She needed
someone with whom she could remember herself and why she was doing
all of this. Occasionally when she was with the gemengs she would
be hit by a sudden vertigo, as if she couldn’t remember why she was
being so harsh and scary with them, as if the mask had become
herself. But then she would work her way back to her original
purpose, create some needed distance between herself and what she
pretended to be. Karesh, though he knew her goals, did not help. He
wanted the Riley that could command the fear of the gemengs. But
with Vann she didn’t need to worry, it was as if all the
pretend-Riley’s slipped away. She felt as though when he looked at
her he
saw
her. It was liberating and intoxicating.

Every day they talked long into the night.
They talked about everything, including her plans. They discussed
the possibility, which seemed so far away, that they might one day
incorporate Astar and Coastside into the tribe.